Atlas has it easy.

Most people, nope, that’s wrong. Some people are aware of the myth of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders.You know, there he is standing on…. well standing there holding the world on his shoulders. Naked. What was he standing on? Snot - now I have to go find that out. Anyway, as an administrator in June, I’m thinking about seeing if there is any way to do a job switch for a few weeks. Now, I know that this sounds strange, but a couple times the last few weeks it has felt like some comicbook badguy has crept into town and stolen all the common sense and I’ve been tasked with finding it and giving it back all with my wondercape and tights out for cleaning.(Don’t ask, don’t imagine, just read. Trust me on this one.)

Yeah, I know, that is why I get the big bucks. Let’s just clear that up by saying that, here the BIG BUCKS are more like middlen bucks with the wonderful opportunity to practice the “camera pose.” Why do you think administrators always take such good yearbook photos? Speaking of yearbook, why don’t they ask for the principal’s message at the beginning of the year? If I were to truly give my message now  …..I might not have anything to trade with Atlas.

I know it’s the end of the year and all, but if I’m being required to be on my best at this time of year how come others are being let off early? Did I miss out on the memo on good behaviour? Maybe it was one of the 300 daily email I get that I didn’t read clearly enough or didn’t have a subject. How hard is it to put a title in that line? Do people not realize that when you get 400 daily email, not having a title really slows down the whole email sorting process. In fact, a good title can really make or break the email for me. So, from the 500 odd email, those without a title go to the archive folder unless they have the name of someone I know wouldn’t send me a time-waster. (For those people, if you are reading this, it’s ok not to have a subject. I open your email regardless!) For all the others who are vying for my attention out of the 600 emails, no subject and archived you are. This account for about 400 leaving me with 300 to sort through and decide if I answer them “now” or do I put them on “hold” for later in the day. That’s my email sorting system. With 800 emails, I need something simple and quick.

It’s like common sense, that subject line, and lately there seems to be a shortage. So with my cape and tights being cleaned, starched and pressed, I’m trying to do this without letting on to others my hero identity, which actually isn’t tough because no one is noticing me until there’s a crisis and then, when I arrive, they disappear. Like “poof” gone.  “Go get the principal!” can be heard in my office from the far reaches of our known galaxy (the farthest point south on our playground) or, better yet, I can hear from the phone the secretary has answered and she’s two doors down the hall and mine is closed.(I tell everyone the lights are off to conserve energy and make it cooler in my office. Like flurescent bulbs give off heat! And they believe me!) Really, I’ve had all kinds of things just dropped off at my door. There’s a knock and when I open it, some students have been just left there with a note stapled to one of their shirts with a brief explanation of what happened. When I ask the students, they aren’t even sure which teacher was there because they left so fast.

Common sense. Missing in action. Get this - some of my students - between the ages of 10 and 12 - didn’t realize that if they threw rocks at one another, someone might get hurt and end up bleeding. Yes, you read that right. And they were just playing a game - which involved throwing rocks at each other. And - I quote - I didn’t know that if I hit him in the head with a smaller rock it would cut him. I didn’t know he’d get hurt. What do you say to that? I’m not making this up - 5 of them. (The team with only 2 did lose the game but had better aim because the others had the more severe damage.) That was morning of the second day.

Today, I entered the library to find 3 or 4 classes in the resource centre (that’s our new name for the library with a computer lab) and 1 teacher was visible. When I mentioned this, there were all kinds of reasons for me seeing only one teacher. All I can say is thank goodness the librarian was away for the afternoon or she’d have been having a coniption and I would have been the one she would have been having it on! We all know that, after the secretary and janitor, the librarian is next on the list of “Do not tick off!” Like, no one planned any activities so all these classes were sent to the computer lab. And like the rock throwers earlier in the week, there was a lack of understanding about why this wasn’t a good idea. Really, you cannot have 75 students on 27 computers. Some will be doing nothing which, in June, is not a situation I like - 50 odd students, mulling about with nothing to do and one person watching over them who is not armed. Visions of City Slickers II and the coffee grinder just popped into my head.

To top it all off, this is happening at a time when I’m trying to figure out teaching assignments and determine class offerings for next year which, by the way, have not gone any where near how I thought they would and, unless something happens involving the school to which we broadcast, we, yeah right we, there will need to be some changes which might include going from a 6 period day to a 5 period day. And you should have been a fly on the wall when I delivered that bit of joyous news. You’d think Atlas had dropped the ball and the world as we know it was going to end. And talk about being treated like a 7 year old - there were times I felt like I was back in grade 2 being scolded by the teacher. I’m the principal for crying out loud. “Did you count the selections right?” HUH???

A suggestion was just to have the students taking the class leave their other class the 10 minutes early. Hmmm - over an entire semester - about 98 days that’s, well, hmmm. Well I can’t count from the sheets how do you expect me to figure that one out? But I can tell you  that it’s too much time to miss from any class.

I just want some common sense to return for a few more days. Please. If you are the badguy who’s stolen the common sense, what do you want to have it returned? Wait, maybe if Atlas will just do a switch for a few days, then it would only be one world I’d be trying to hold up not everyone’s separate universe. You don’t know how many times I’ve looked at someone and thought “What colour is the sky in your world?” One world, the sky is blue, a few days. I only hope no other principal has thought of this before and Atlas is on to it. I’m not worried that he wouldn’t come back. I’m more worried that someone would steal his common sense and then we’d all be in trouble. “No Atlas, you can’t use it as a hackey-sack! I don’t think it’s good for the oceans! I don’t care what the rock throwers said, it will definitely hurt an ankle. Did you look at their foreheads? They threw rocks at one another!”

My wife compares all of this to giving birth. It starts out all fun, with some type of party which hopefully includes fireworks for someone. Then, as things progress you begin to remember how things were but you still don’t recall the end. There are moments of warm glowing happiness and times of really bad vomitting.  When the final few days arrive, you wonder if you’re going to make it at all, hoping it all will just end. Finally, when the moment arrives, you question your own sanity but almost as soon as it’s over and you hold that miracle in your arms, you forget all about what just went before. Sure, over the next few weeks, you’re reminded of it with pains here and there but, after a few months, you’re willing to have that party all over again. (Look, I’m a principal and a father of 7 children so this works for me!)  I’m at the “I just want it to end” stage. Grad is in 8 days. Birth.

Common sense. Maybe I’m the one who has none! Really, who’d want to trade with a guy like Atlas - all he does is hold up the world - I’m trying to help create it one student at a time. (minus the rock throwers would be nice. I’m just lucky the bars are close together on the windows or someone would have been buying a new window!Not. The bars I mean. They’d have had to pay for a new window. Hey, I don’t make that much!)

Transformative administration

Our school just finished DEAR reading time - 15 minutes of each day dedicated to reading. My book of the day is Transformative Assessment by W.James Popham. I’m just comfortably started the book and enjoy the dedicated time I can have to just read. Today I read a great line:

Instruction should not be an Ouija-boardlike game in which teachers guess what to do next.

I’m thinking that this could apply to so many areas of what we do in schools. In fact, as I’ve read, listened and reflected this year, it seems we need to really take the guessing portion out of what we do. We have enough knowledge about learning that we really don’t need to any guessing.

Over at Leadertalk.org, there have been a couple posts regarding dealing with teachers who are, for whatever reason, not doing as well as they should be in the classroom. The first was by Scott McLeod and dealt with dealing with teachers that were not meeting expectations. This was also the basic idea of Greg Farr’s post.  I read through these posts, thinking about what my role as an administrator, what I am currently doing and what I need to do. I look at how our school is functioning, what is going on in the building, how  people are feeling and a whole host of other factors and assess what areas need addressing.

Needs to be addressed

Now there’s lots of information on Transformational Leadership but this isn’t going to be one of those. In fact, this is going to be how administrators need to be willing to transform themselves, assessing what is happening around them and honestly evaluate areas that need to be changed, develop ways of doing that change and seeking advice in going about that change.

Just as classroom formative assessment helps teachers to address what is happening regarding the learning in their classroom, administrators need to be doing school formative assessment, adjusting what they are doing to help the learning that is taking place in their school. Just as teachers need to adjust to the students in the room, helping some more than others, partnering them, praising them and giving them constructive criticism to help them improve, administrators need to do the same.

Both Scott and Greg, and all the people who responded in the comments on those posts, addressed an issue that is sometimes hard for administrators to get a handle on - the teacher not meeting expectations. Now Chris Lehmann, in his commented noted that:

what of the struggling teacher? What of the teacher who is open to help, who is learning the craft, but has not mastered it yet?

I’ve known many, many teachers whose first year… even second year… were nothing short of train wrecks, but who were at nurturing schools with administrators and colleagues who helped them improve and became excellent, excellent teachers.

We have so many teachers in our systems whose potential remains untapped… let us not write them off before we have done all within reason to help them to become the teachers we need.

I agree with Chris, so does Gregg by the way. What about those struggling new teachers who need that help? It is important to help them and move them along, giving them access to tools, resources and other assistance to improve what they are doing. It is crucial to support them as an administrator and help them to become reflective professionals. But what about those teachers who are going through some sort of mid-career crisis? Those who seem uninspired or unmotivated? Or the teacher with only X number of years left? Or, or or or? What is an administrator to do?

This is where I see administrators being crucial in helping these teachers to move along, one way or another. They need to have the necessary tools to be able to be truthful with these teachers and offer them their support, not to get them out of teaching but to help them transform themselves. This is where reflective administrators can be examples for teachers, being willing to examine what they are doing and, if it isn’t benefitting the students, be willing to make the necessary changes very similar to teachers who change their instruction after they do formative assessment and identify areas their students need support.

Another way that administrators can be transformative is in their approach to changes and new ideas. My experience is that there are three ways administrators approach incoming changes: 1. Resist 2. Wait, evaluate, adopt 3. Jump in. The first and third are ones that, although popular with particular teachers, are not good for the school as a whole. The second allows for the staff to become somewhat comfortable with the change before things begin. In fact, as an administrator, I’ve learned that unless it is an emergency, the second approach is very practical for most decisions. Taking time to evaluate, find some data and do some thinking, is essential in making changes that are less disruptive and receive better reception from staff. This doesn’t mean all staff will like the changes but it does allow for a period of transition.

The technology thing

This is one area that I feel many administrators do not do as well as they could. In fact, my experience, although limited to what I hear and read through my PLN, is that many administrators are poorly informed about technology and resist or poorly informed and jump in. Too few are willing to take the time necessary to learn about different technologies, inquire about educational benefits or have enough information to at least discuss these with people who are dead against them.

Administrators must be the educational leader at the school and being unwilling to explore and question, discuss and inquire does not set the stage for being a leader that is willing to support and help those teachers who are struggling. I too often hear about teachers being moved or transferred because an administrator feels threatened by the “power” the teacher has with other staff or the way the teacher questions his/her ideas or whatever. It’s a sad day, indeed, when administrators in schools cannot see that they are to be the supporters of teachers who doing great things, helping teachers do great things not being power-brokers.

Administrators must begin to leverage the power that technology can give them - see that it can help them with organization, time-management, paperless work and staff communication and all types of things if managed correctly. It can also give them options that they didn’t have before like attending a web-based conference or class, using a video conference for meetings instead of driving or sharing documents without plugging up the email. It can also free up time which will allow administrators to get into the classrooms and build relationships with students and teachers.

Misleading title

The title was misleading on purpose. It set up the idea that there was going to be a discussion on the skills and traits of transformative administration. Instead, I wanted to focus on what this type of leadership does for the students, teachers and school and some of the key ways that it can also help the administrator. I know that it has sure helped me in building my PLN, gathering information, finding answers to different questions and other things. It has allowed me get connected with parents, students and staff. Best of all, it has allowed me to get in tough with the important things for me and allowed my passion for learning to grow and trickle out and affect others. I’ve come to see learning as a never-ending process that we have somehow turned into a grind for students and teachers. Exploring different ways to bring that passion back is something that motivates me and I’ve realized that the new technologies give me an advantage - something that I’m trying to pass on to other administrators. My work has just begun.

Do I have the passion?

First off, let me congratulate Chris Lehmann for a very successful conference at SLA. From all that I have seen and heard, the Educon2.0 was an incredible success. It is obvious that Chris had done a tremendous job of facilitating this learning experience for all who attended.  As Tim, 0ver at Assorted Stuff  posts,

I’ve never seen a school, where there is such a sense of community and collaboration. Students and staff at SLA really seem to be equal partners in the learning.

Indeed, this is a goal that schools all over are trying to achieve. With the focus on improving student learning being at the core of what schools are about, it seems that Chris and the teachers at SLA are on to something. It is obvious from the various reading that I’ve done, that those who attended were swept away. I mean, even ijohnpedersen commented that Once a year I get serious on my blog. Today felt right. Reflections on Educon Philly. http://snipurl.com/1yk4b 

As someone who couldn’t attend the conference, I am grateful to all those people who are sharing their notes and their links to the different sessions. It will take me time to sift through all these and digest the information. I agree with Tim about

However, more than anything else we need to continue and expand the discussions that began this weekend.

Improving education from the outside has never worked, not in my lifetime. The only way anything is going to change is by working from the inside.

We need to continue to expand the community of educators that was in Philadelphia this past weekend.

Exactly. We need to reach out to teachers and help them to begin using the tools.

However, this post is not about that. This post is about one administrator, who has for the last 15 years or so, has been working to bring technology into schools. This post is about how one administrator wants to reach out to other administrators and help them to understand how education can change, needs to change, as technology becomes a part of everyday life. It is about how one administrator continues to look for ways to network and make connections but, living the life of an administrator, doesn’t have the hours needed to do much more. You see, one other thing struck me in Tim’s post.

Another thing great schools need is a strong leader as principal -so I’m thinking maybe we could clone Chris.

Ok, so that’s not very practical. Instead we need to work to help our administrators understand that more trust in our kids and giving them more control over their own education can actually improve their learning. Test scores, too.

Then one of the commentors left this comment-

I couldn’t agree more, and it became painfully clear today as we held the second of three faculty interviews for a new lower division principal at my school. I left thinking, “where’s the passion?” Chris definitely holds the patent on passion in administrators.

First, I have no doubt that this wasn’t aimed at all administrators  but it did grate me some.  Oh well. Move on and I probably would have but I kept on reading through my RSS feed and came across Scott McLeod’s post over at Dangerously Irrevevant that was a follow-up to an earlier post. Now, Scott links to his earlier post, a follow-up post by Pete Reilly and Others who have commented. He finishes by saying:

We need to teach administrators about this stuff. Take a post like mine that gets some play (and also is of interest to school leaders) and show them how this works. Show them that the learning is in the dialogue and the interplay of ideas and that it’s not difficult to do. They need help seeing the power and potential. Lend a hand, won’t you?

As one administrator who’s working his tale off and trying to make a difference, I’m kind of deflated at the moment, to be honest. I don’t have a hope of being able to hold a conference or be able to do national presentations about technology and the power it holds for administrators. Heck, I don’t even get the chance with the administrators in my own division.  I might get a crack to actually do a small presentation at a small conference later this year, if my proposal is approved. I work pretty much in isolation, trying to gain insights and support from my small network. I’m trying to change things in my own school to make technology more accessible but am not always able to make headway. I’ve shared my own teaching experiences using technology, everything from using gliffy and bubbl.us to creating podcasts using audacity and trying out some of the online video editing software to sharing the use of social bookmarking tools, blogging and RSS readers. I worked to try to begin a ning group specifically geared to administrators and technology use but it’s not getting the response that I expected even once I threw it out to my twitter network.

Do I have the passion? I think so. But right now my passion is really burning wondering what a guy has to do to get someone to listen. Okay, maybe that isn’t passion but it’s still burning.  Most administrators I know are working in a situation where they have way too much on their desks. They are trying to do things that are being dictated from above while being pushed by the teachers within their own buildings, often with more than one competing agenda. Heck, I think technology is extremely important but I don’t have the time to always be up on what’s happening on Twitter or seeing who’s leading on twitdir. In fact, I’ve grown to really like Pownce because I can see it having some real use for my staff and even for students in particular instances.

All-in-all, I’m pretty frustrated with all this talk about administrators being the ones who are highlighted for needing help. In my experience, they are only a part of the puzzle. In fact, it is just as important to bring all the stakeholders online with this need for change. Policy and focus need to support the actions of technology use so that schools can move from casual use to assimilation where the technology no longer has that “wow” factor but is just part of the learning environment. This requires more than just getting administrators on board. It requires a reshaping of culture in order to see that learning does not span certain a period of time but is, in fact, a lifelong pursuit that begins at birth and continues until death.

Yes, I have a passion - for doing what is best for the students that come into the school each day. Sometimes, I have no time to even think about technology with all the meetings or dealings with students who are struggling or who are mad or bullied or …. and never mind those who don’t want to be in the building. Then there are parents who don’t agree with how we do things or how I do things. Like most public school administrators, I deal with whomever comes through the doors and whatever baggage they are carrying and try to make things work for them. If passion was all it took to get things done, I’d have accomplished much more in my time as principal. But it takes much, much more.

For those who are serious about wanting to have their administrators become better engaged with technology, send them over to the ning. I’m hoping it’s a place to share and grow as learners. My experience is that, like teachers, administrators listen to other administrators. They don’t have to do more than just look around but I’m hoping to bring together a collection of what I’ve gleaned over the past few years in regards to technology, learning and leading. Actually, I’m hoping to have others contribute - my stuff won’t take much space.  

What are you doing?

There’s a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon that has Calvin hammering nails into the coffee table. His mom comes in and freaks, saying “What are you doing?” There is a pause and then Calving replies “Isn’t it obvious!”

Sometimes, this is how I feel when I’m working with the various tools that I use each day at school. I think it’s obvious what I’m doing, kind of like hammering nails into a coffee table. And it may be obvious to others who are using similar tools and doing similar work. However, I think that many teachers react like Calvin’s mom - in some type of disbelief and shock. It looks like we’re hammering nails into their coffee table.

So, I wondering, in the same vein of my previous posts, what 5 tools do you think would be the best to use with teachers so that they don’t think we’re hammering nails into that coffee table.

My list looks like this:

1. pbwiki - staff wiki of information and events with calendar of school-wide activities.

2. eye-jot - introduced to me by Alec Courosa - just something fun that teachers can do. It is amazing how you can get teachers using things just for fun.

3. Audacity - recording using the computer lab instead of tape-recorder. Students like wearing headphones and having a microphone!

4. Zoho business - introduction to online desktop. Slowly beginning to look at using online document sharing.

5. Google Earth - there’s just so much to do with this program.

Okay, I now pass this on to the following three: Julie Lindsay, Mrs.Durff, David Truss

They can choose to participate or this will die a quick and sudden death.

It’s about the other person

Recently I’ve been involved in some discussions about how teachers might become better users of technology. It began with a post over at Dangerously Irrelevant where Scott McLeod posted

In many industries, knowledge of relevant technologies is a necessary prerequisite for either getting or keeping one’s job. Sometimes the organization provides training; sometimes the employee is expected to get it on her own. Either way, the expectation is that use of the relevant technologies is a core condition of employment.
Why aren’t our school organizations expecting more of their employees? Are we that desperate for workers?

The discussion that follows is worth reading just to see the complexity of the issue. Now, I don’t think that we are desperate for workers or anything like that but it made me wonder why it is that there are many teachers who are not taking advantage of these tools in their teaching.

Now Scott pointed me in the direction of Greg Farr, an administrator in Texas, who has some great posts about technology and its use in the classroom. I suggest that you take a look at what he has to say about technology use in education plus a whole lot of other things.

One of Greg’s posts deals with the use of technology and it being a tool that should be used just like all the other tools a teacher has at their disposal. He describes, very well, the whole idea that teaching is not about the tools but

True teaching and learning MUST allow for subtleties and nuance, for opinions expressed in tone of voice, for emphasis via a small hand gesture, or doubt cast with the slightest raising of an eyebrow.

He goes on to say

I maintain that TO THIS DAY the best way to assess a teachers ability is to take them outside, give them a group of 20 students, no pencils, no paper, no electricity, nothing but a pleasant day and a tree to sit under. And tell them to teach. A true TEACHER would take this opportunity and run with it.

I have to concur 100% with this. Teaching concerns human relationships. It is anchored in assisting students to add to their knowledge, seeking ways to scaffold learning to push them into places where they will need to stretch and question, examine, accept or reject and search for more. It is sometimes uncomfortable and challenging, frustrating and rewarding the whole while being centered around relationships.

A similar thing was happening over at Teaching Generation Z where Graham Wegner’s Parable2.0 provided for a great discussion about how teachers who are wanting to share their passion for the use of web2.0 tools often find it frustrating. The parable looks at how, in their desire to bring other teachers on board, often end up in a frustrating situation. The discussion that followed explored how many teachers identify with the parable and how it unfolded. One such contributor was Clay Burell from Beyond School, his blog looking at teaching, technology and a few other things. Clay’s comment

As a classroom teacher who does drive his own geeky projects, I know how overwhelming it can get - and I have the skills to survive and troubleshoot and tolerate frustrations and “Crosbian Messiness.” To expect others to be able to handle the strain of things too ambitious, or too time-consuming relative to the rest of the teaching load on the teacher’s plate, is dangerous.

is right on the mark. Those of us who are using the tools and doing various projects are able to do so because we have advantages that others don’t. Now, some of these advantages include what Clay points out:

skills to survive and troubleshoot and tolerate frustrations and “Crosbian Messiness.”

However, the one thing that isn’t stated is that many of us have created networks of other users and “techno geeks” with whom we can discuss, question, collaborate and bounce ideas off of. Many of us twitter, pounce, Facebook, Ning, …. sharing our discussions, thoughts and, now that we have developed relationships, parts of our lives. We have adopted the interconnectedness of the networks and built relationships which are now leading to people planning meetings at conferences (like NECC where I WON’T be going!) and personal rendezvous for such things as golf.

Relationships - this is what brings, and binds us, together. Whether it is Sharon Peters looking for feedback on a post, Alec Corous looking for assistance with web conferencing, Vickie Davis and Julie Lindsay discussing their Horizon Project, Will Richardson and his discussions of learning or Dan Meyers, who questions and challenges, helping to stretch the discussion, helping us to reflect on our ideas and thoughts while providing some great tools and insights into using web2.0 tools in teaching, these relationships help us connect and develop, grow and learn, keep our perspective and motivate us These relationships have become a large part of how we are growing and developing our teaching and understanding. These are the relationships that those teachers not engaged DO NOT have.

Showing other teachers all the tools isn’t what is needed. Helping them develop relationships and make connections is. We can show and demonstrate, rave and mandate; it will not bring others to question, grow and adopt. We have many examples of educators who are beginning to delve into using these tools. Overwhelming them with the possibilities just pushes them away. Helping them to build their own networks, seeking out teachers who, like themselves, are testing the water and encouraging them to continue in their own lifelong learning will empower them to develop even more. Not all of them will see the benefits of all the tools they encounter but the relationships they develop during this process will go further, I believe, to bringing about powerful change than any tech person can hope to do by themselves. Maybe that’s the lesson we need to take with us as we continue to approach those around us, showing them the power of our networks and the learning that these networks encourage. As was posted tonight on twitter

kolson29 finished watching really bad movie, off to bed. Twitterverse very different from even a week ago…….more “conversations”, less telling.

Let’s invite others to start their own conversations, starting where they are and moving forward instead of where we want them to be.

Looking both ways before entering the new year.

 The new year has arrived and I’m spending time back in my hometown visiting family. It’s always nice to come home to take some time to just visit and catch up. It gives me time to do some reading and blogging and just reconnect with my family - dysfunctional as we are. As I drove home, a 6 hour trip, I was reflecting on all the things that have taken place during the past year and looking forward to where things might be going in 2008.

As I look back at 2007, I marvel at all that has happened since I began really blogging in January 2007. I mean, I’ve met and interacted with a whole variety of different educators and technologists from around the world. I’ve learned a great deal about what tools are available and some of the great things that are being done in classrooms all over the world. I’ve been able to interact and expand my knowledge of teaching and learning and the impact that the technological tools are having, or could have, on the classroom.

As an administrator, I find myself to be a somewhat oddity in this blogosphere ether that we inhabit. I’ve come across a few regular principal bloggers but the list isn’t very long. Ive also read many a blog where principals are one of the main stumbling blocks in getting technological tools into classrooms. As my last post indicated, I’ve come to realize that these tools will become necessary components of teaching and we need to become active in promoting use before someone else comes to tell us what and how to use them. As an administrator, I’d better be assisting my staff in working with these tools and looking at ways to help them become part of the teaching pedagogy in the school.

As I look forward to 2008, I see ever so unclearly that we need to reconceptualize the way we go about doing “school”. As the web grows and tools become more available, it will be necessary to decide what and where these tools will be used. I mean, just look at the tools available at go2web20.net and you’ll see that there are multiple sources available for anything that you wish to do. I spent a few days just surfing and checking out many of the sites that are listed on this site. Some I found to be very userfriendly while some just didn’t do what I wanted them to do so I looked for another tool.

The following is just a fraction of what is available.  I found MeeMix radio to be very good and have used it a few times. I thought Gorillaspot has some good potential for creating online video especially in my Communication Production Technology class. We may use this to create our online trailers that the students are suppose to do. I’ve also added the liveZuu widget to see how it might help. I’m not sold on it but will be taking a closer look. I thought the  was a good idea and would work in an office or classroom setting. I’m going to give it a try after Christmas with the first staff birthday.  I’m also giving meemi a try just because it sounds like something that a might work for a group project. Mind42 is a free online mindmapping site that looks like it has potential. I won’t really know until we give it a spin in class! Scribblink is an online whiteboard that I’m going to give a try. It sound like something that would be very useful when teaching a distance ed class. Converttube  provides a way to convert youtube and such videos to other formats. Storyofmylife looks like an interesting site especially with all this focus on storytelling. I haven’t really looked at it closely but it looks very inviting. Mygetgo is another online organizational site that allows you to add your information and content. Much the same to netvibes and pageflakes. I like the backgrounds and will fiddle a bit with the modules before I give a screenshot.

Whew. I really didn’t mean to go that far but I just get carried away when I see what is available for use on the net and I’m always weighing the benefits of what I look at with what I’m already using since recreating a new startpage or adding yet another site does take a great deal of time. Right now, my main focus as an administrator is having staff use various online applications on a regular basis so that they become use to the routine of checking for updates, information and email more than once a week!

Looking back on 2007, I see that education and educators have made progress in using the technology tools but we haven’t re-visualized school by including them in the day-to-day happenings of our classrooms and our lives. It’s not that we throw out all we are doing but we need to reflect on what is happening around us and explore how it can assist us in what we are doing. Banning, confiscating and outlawing technologies won’t stop their use while letting them drive how and what we do isn’t right either. One of my greatest worries for the upcoming year is that instead of educators adopting these tools and using them, they will be “required areas of study” and become the “essential learning tools” that teachers will be mandated to use, following the prescribed online curricula that will be supplied. We have an opportunity to be proactive innovators but our time is dwindling. It can’t be long before someone, probably an administrator, figures out it might be easier to track if curricula are being followed by tracking usage of recommended online sites through a database, using particular tools to demonstrate and show particular things and having students complete specific information sheets to determine comprehension.

Rest assured, that administrator will not be me.

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Tags: administration, teaching&learning, future education, online tools, web2.0 tools, web2go20

Constructivist Administration - lifelong learning

I just recently joined the Fireside Learning Ning which was started by Connie Weber. I haven’t spent a great deal of time there yet, but I can sense that it will be another great place for networking and learning. As an administrator, I’m always looking for ways to help the staff with whom I work improve their teaching. This stems from my work as a classroom teacher where I spent 10 years developing and adjusting what I was doing. During this time, I completed my master’s degree and it was here that I began to question what I was doing and how I was interacting and teaching the students in my room.

When I began teaching, I was a typical lecture, show then have students do work type of teacher. I had success with students who were average or above but really struggled meeting the needs of other students. One year, I had a class with a number of students who needed me to do more for them but I felt I really wasn’t helping them like I should. During one of MEd classes, I was introduced to the work of Vygotsky and, wham, I was drawn in. I began to read and look for ways to move my teaching from the traditional style to a more constructivist approach. I also began to really look at the lives that my students were living which really helped me to understand better what we were dealing with in school.

Eventually, I moved from the classroom and into administration. Now, as an administrator I am thankful for all that struggling that I did trying to find my way in the classroom. My first few years of administration were trial by fire as I tried to bring what I had learned in the classroom to bare on an entire school and work with teachers in this manner. Actually, I was pretty bad at it. Looking back, I wasn’t a very effective administrator and ended up in more conflicts than I needed to be in. But like all things that didn’t start out being positive, that experience has really helped me in developing my own administrative style which definitely has its roots in constructionist theory.

At the school level, I try to encourage all the people there to remember that learning doesn’t stop but continues on. I try to support PD endeavours the best I can and look for ways to that will support the process of learning for everyone. During our Drop Everything And Read time, I encourage all people in the building to do just that. I demonstrates that this time is important and supports the idea that we all need to spend time reading. As an administrator, I try to model this through taking classes myself and sharing some of the things I’m reading with staff whom I believe will be interested.

The one thing that I really try to do is help teachers to look at different strategies for teaching. It also means that I try to visit their classrooms on a regular basis, seeing what they are doing and getting to know how they conduct their classes. This helps me when we have conversations about teaching and when I come across information that I want to share with them. Like students in the classroom, teachers are not all the same. Each one has their own style and way of doing things which are important to validate. Because learning is a lifelong venture, I want teachers to be confident knowing that I will support their ideas asking that they have a plan that involves reflecting on what they are doing. As a teacher, I found that helping students build their understanding was so satisfying and I want to continue this as an administrator. I think I’ve finally reached the stage in my administrative career where I can now focus on this much more, having become comfortable with the role that I am in. I also see that technology will be part of the learning environment regardless of how much people resist so part of my role is to bring this into fruition as painlessly as possible.

I remember as a teacher how I rarely talked about teaching and learning with my administrators. It wasn’t something that happened often. For me, I really want to encourage and grow these conversations. How best can this be done especially in the jam packed world of the teacher? How can conversations, especially around technology, best be begun so that people do not feel pressured and attacked?

I have often discussed on this blog that schools really need to approach things in a different way and one of my goals this year is to begin that walk. This will require change on many fronts which is not easy but, I believe, necessary for schools in order for students to become lifelong learners not repositories of information.

Is networking the answer?

How do you get other teachers started and dedicated building and participating in a network. How do we encourage teachers to be life long learners, to invest time in these technologies as they relate to the classroom. How do we show them what they are missing out on?

These were questions that Kyle left on my last post. Kyle is an intern and, I’m assuming, soon to be a teacher entering the profession with all the enthusiasm of someone new. Kyle’s full comment was very insightful as he wondered about the state of teaching and learning as it is buffeted by the changing winds of technology and 21st century learners.

As an administrator, these questions really made me sit back and ponder what it is that is needed to help teachers venture out and into some of the different networks that I and others are participating in regularly. So, like all good administrators, I asked a few teachers.

Their first response across the board was that the equipment had to work when they went to try it and there had to be someone close who could lend a hand it needed. Without this, they would get frustrated and stop. As one pointed out “I don’t have the time to wait for something that might or might not work. With all the demands I have, it is either working or I’m on to something else.” With all that is going on at the school things need to be working. As I stated earlier, some days teachers don’t have time to go to the washroom.

The other side of the coin is that there needs to be someone who can help them along WITHOUT making them feel like they’re unintelligent. In my younger years, my wife often accused me of this. Instead of patiently working through things with her, I’d get frustrated and finally just do it, usually right after a huge sigh. Not cool. Teachers often are made to feel inadequate because they don’t know how to do some of the simple things, like understand what URL stands for. As another reader commented

Increasingly, education has become more compartmentalized, the work load is more than ever before, and the support is not there.

Each area has its own set of acronyms for different things. It’s got to the point where, as an administrator, I’m not sure if my PGP needs an IEP or a PPP or if I should  just CRY because I forgotten where my CAR is parked today. Really. Some days, with the different meetings that take place, it’s a wonder that teachers don’t start an acronym wall in the staffroom so that they can learn the new vocabulary that is being tossed at them. Now, we toss in a bunch of other things like URL and IP address and UN and wonder why people are backing off going “NO WAY”. Especially when they hear me talk about the twits with whom I tweet to get insights and information. Now that sounds like a place to go for good information!

As for dedicated and participating in the networks I think that they need to be shown that it’s not an add on or something else to do besides what they are already doing. That it is an extension of their lives in a new context. I’ve introduced some teachers to some of the less intimidating networks but they still don’t see them as being really relevant to the day to day things that go on. So, I guess I’d have to say, to question 1, we have to make them less intimidating and more welcoming. Using Twitter might not be the best thing to start with because of the limiting 140 characters. That would be very hard for someone to handle right out of the gate. Something like Pownce, on the other hand, might just be the ticket. A slow introduction to a network where teachers can ease into discussions.

The next question is something that those of us using the tools really have to watch because these teachers are lifelong learners. I watch them as they try new things, read books and articles, discuss new strategies with people in the building and seek out conferences and workshops. They are trying new things and extending themselves. They’re learning, just not like we are. I have teachers who subscribe to Educational Leadership and read the magazine and books when they get them. Others are presenters at conferences while others work within the division on different committees. The teachers with whom I work have been willing to be pilot teachers for a whole host of things, from math to ELA and have taken part in benchmarking and test creating.

So, How do we encourage teachers to be life long learners, to invest time in these technologies as they relate to the classroom? We validate what they are doing and then we take the time to show them how they might be able to replace one thing they are doing with something else. Instead of ordering a magazine, they can read online. It saves them money and they can search out articles they want. But to make this replace the other, we need to show them how to search for articles, bookmark online using delicious or Magnolia. We have to take the time to demonstrate that we think it’s important enough that we’ll give our time to help them and then check in on them. Suggest an article and then discuss it with them. Get them to show someone else a great article or website. But give them the time. Heck, show them a site that will make them flashcards so they don’t have to do it themselves.

How do we show them what they are missing out on? I don’t think we can. See, it’s like the poor man that was happy with his life because he had all he needed and was content with it. When asked by a rich neighbour why he didn’t work harder or do more to get more money, the poor man replied that he didn’t need anymore. The rich neighbour, wanting to show the man what he was missing, asked the poor man to come with him the next day to see what he was missing. The poor man agreed.

The next day, the poor man was picked up by a servant who drove him to the mansion. Another servant answered the door and showed him into a very luxurious drawing room where the man waited and listened as his neighbour conducted business with all different kinds of people, arguing about prices and costs, threatening people who owed him money and making deals for lending out more money. At noon, the two had a quick lunch together as the rich man had to rush off to another business meeting. He told his neighbour to make himself at home and enjoy the day. That afternoon, while the poor man walked around, he noted that there was a huge library with beautiful padded chairs and a fireplace but not a book was open. He walked out into a garden in which two servants worked and when he tried to help they would have nothing of it as they didn’t want him to make a mistake with what was being done. All day long he wandered about, seeing people working and hurrying off to tasks but no one smiled or stopped to talk. Of course, there was no family, the man didn’t have time for one. So when the owner arrived home, the poor neighbour thanked him for the day and started off toward home. The rich man was puzzled. Didn’t he want to stay longer? What had happened? The poor man answered that he had seen enough and was sure he liked his life just the way it was. He may not have had servants in his home but when guests came, they would always find a comfortable chair and great conversation. He might not have a beautiful garden but he was allowed to touch and work with his. He could plant and grow and bring forth life without worrying if he displeased someone. He might not have a great library but his one book, the Bible, was worn from being read each day. When people passed by, they would stop and talk, exchange news and gossip with him, not rushing away from him. And truly, he didn’t have the money but what he did have was earned without arguing and meetings and he enjoyed the few things it afforded him. No, he figured that he’d seen enough and was content with what he had. And with a smile, he turned and headed home.

Take a look at how people see you? What do they see? Is trading what they have for what you’re offering going to bring them what they want? Are we offering something that looks inviting? If not, what needs to happen to make it inviting? How can we entice people when we looked tired or stressed or …. ? We can be excited about what we are doing but if we don’t take them along and infect them with the excitement, what will they see?

Now, I just have to practice what I blog

Time to network - forget about the social

Since Monday I’ve been having conversations about teachers and their lack of participation in social networking. I’ve been reflecting on the whole idea of teachers and networking. For years teachers have been encouraged to move out and interact with other teachers. They’ve been encouraged to share with other teachers, collaborate with other teachers and build relationships with other teachers. Some teachers have been more successful at this than others. Then the work of the various people empirically demonstrated that teachers who collaborated had students that were much more successful. Thus, teachers were encouraged to create teams and work and share. Again, some teachers were more successful at this than others. Finally, the work of Richard DuFour demonstrated that teachers who worked in Professional Learning Communities examining the data about their students were able to greatly improve the success of their students. Thus, for many, the PLC movement began where teachers were put into teams, identified particular areas of study to examine through data gathering and then adjust their teaching to strengthen areas that were weak. This cycle continues as students progress through the grades with teachers continuing to develop a new group of students.

My experience is that some schools have been very successful at developing their PLC’s and establishing benchmarks, goals and collaborating in all aspects of teaching. Throughout all these endeavours, the resounding idea is that teachers need time to accomplish these things. They need time to develop their  plans, test, review the data, implement changes and check. They need time to reflect on what they have done and establish a new focus. This time was not necessarily to be on top of their already full days but time was to be found for this in some way. In our school, I have been able to do mini-gym days so that teachers can have time together to work together.

All this was to be done in addition to: differentiating the curriculum for their students, assessment - formative and summative, check and track public illnesses, document behaviour that was unusual, track progress of students with learning difficulties plus a host of other things. Now, as we are in the midst of working through the whole PLC concepts, we are suppose to add another layer of networking - the global level.

I know, I know. The growth that individuals have seen in themselves has been incredible. The things they have learned would never have taken place any other way. Their students have been able to do a great many things that would have been impossible just a few short months ago. They understand when their students talk about Facebookin and twittering, texting and chatting. Their network allows them to share ideas and bring together voices that cover a wide variety of topics and ideas. Their schools have been able to implement networks that connect teachers, parents, grandparents and students.

My own growth has been substantial as I have learned a number of things from people as I peruse their blogs, look at the videos on their sites and discuss things with them. However, I’ve also noticed a gap between those who spend a great deal of time with their network and those who have only limited time.

Because I track the conversations of all the people who contact me on twitter, I get to see a great many conversations going on. However, in the past little bit, I’ve noticed that there are some people who everyone is following and get tremendous response when they tweet while others who don’t have many following their discussions get a limited number of replies, if any at all. So, when I began, I was expecting that whomever was following me would see my tweets when I posted them. Not the case. Actually, I’m not sure how many people actually see when I tweet. My network still seems limited despite efforts to read others blogs, answer their requests and so on. I know that it takes time to build these relationships but how long? And what if I don’t have the time like it seems other twitters do to chat and comment, to travel to different conferences or create presentations? What if, like so many teachers I know, I am working hard at just trying to do all the things that are requested of me by the parents, School Community Council, school division and other stakeholders? How do we expect these teachers will build these connections if they aren’t comfortable with technology? Who will respond to them?

I don’t argue that some of these networks are very important and I have made some great connections and am catching nuggets of information that I’d not have been able to get before. However, like in my f2f working position, I am not really “in”. As an administrator, I’m no longer a teacher and this creates some space between those I work with and myself. In fact, most administrators I’ve talked with find that this is the case. Well, in my online networks I find the same thing, mostly, I think, because I have no more time to dedicate to them than I am already giving and, therefore, am not a consistent contributor.

Yes, Dean, I’m taking the side of the teacher again I understand the power that networking has but I also see the real pressures that are going on each day in the classroom. To bring theoretical to reality, we need to bridge the time factor and until we see a change in what is being demanded of teachers and schools, I see this little revolution gaining ground very slowly. Eventually schools will be forced to address many of the issues that the people in my networks are struggling with, mostly in solitude and isolation. Maybe networks that we are seeing are really a result of people not being able to collaborate within their schools with other teachers and once change begins to take hold, we’ll see another shift in networks. I’m not sure that we’ll encounter the “social” networks that the youth have today regardless of what we are doing.

One thing is for sure, only time will tell!

Social Networks - why?

I had a busy morning at the school - there are many things to get done this last week before holidays. I know that I will not get them all done but I want to at least get them whittled down a bit. While doing various tasks I was able to keep up with what others are doing through Twitter and Pownce. Now, Pownce is a tool that allows you to share comments and thoughts with those people that you make friends, similar to what Twitter does. I am looking closely at this tool because I think it might have some use in the school setting so that teachers in the school could begin to use a social networking tool and become comfortable before venturing out on Twitter and other social networks. It might be a good way just to see how these networks work.

I also spent lunch doing some reading.  Dean Shareski has been having a conversation on his blog about the place of social networks and the use of tools for enhancing communication and connectedness. This all leads to what can and cannot be accessed in schools and what teachers will be expected to do, be able to use and be able to pass on to their students through the use of different tools. The two posts that Dean references demonstrate the frustration of people who are running into filters that block certain sites from being accessed. Now, I’ve run into this problem a few times with such things like Twitter and Blogger. I still cannot access my Blogger site from school. However, this is not the point of this post. My main purpose is to ask why we need to have these social networks available?

Dean points out;

Because most teachers do not practice or engage in the same kinds of online activities which for the most part is social networking, it’s going to be difficult for them to model. In addition, they likely don’t consider it a relevant topic of discussion amidst the daily work load they already face.

So, is it relevant to the daily work they face? With the number of initiatives that teachers face, do they have time? Some would say that time isn’t the question anymore. Instead, it is the reality that these are the tools of the youth which need to become part of the fabric of schools. Others would point to particular examples of teachers who are using these tools with incredible success.  One cannot argue with their successes and the incredible things that they are doing. However, it must also be noted that for teachers who are placed in the position of being required to prepare students for passing particular types of exams, there needs to be more than just the push to “get with the times.“

Teachers need to see that their time will be better used by using the tools. If you were in my school, you would not be convinced of this because of the difficulties that we have been having with our technology. We know that the IT department is working as quickly as they can but we are still lagging in computer availability. We’ve had some network issues which have frustrated teachers and students. Myself, I’ve found it difficult to use some of the tools I want just because of some of these issues. This has meant I have had to replan my unit a few times to accommodate these situations.

As someone who uses technology fairly fluently, I see that we need to teach students about the social aspects of these tools and the various morals and values that go along with them. We need to discuss bullying of any kind, we need to work through the appropriate use of tools like cellphones and chat while in a learning setting.  We should be able to discuss how people interact with others but I’m not sure that teachers need to use all these things themselves in order to discuss what is an appropriate way to interact with another person or appropriate behaviour in social settings.

Now, Dean refers to the following quote by Regina Lynne:

All adults who work with youth should be aware of how young people communicate, fall in love and stay connected; I encourage teachers to try social networking services, to have a blog, to text message with their own families and friends. Experienced teachers will not only gain a better sense of the world their students live in — indeed, a world their students are creating — they will have a greater understanding of the young teachers entering the profession.

And I agree, mostly. They need to be aware. They need to have an understanding but, I’m not sure they need to do all those things themselves. As a professional, they have so many different obligations besides just teaching. Maybe, if the social pressures that are placed on schools were to be redistributed to different organizations or people, then the teachers might be able to find time to do these things. However, as I watch this last week of school begin, I know that many of them are looking forward to the break so they can relax and take a break from the various pressures that they encounter each day. Some of them will take time to work online but many of them will use the time to re-energize themselves. They will spend time with family and friends, people they haven’t had enough time for because of the time they dedicate to school. They will reconnect with their personal networks which might include some online interactions.

Yes, teachers might find networking with other teachers to be great. They might find it useful, much like their students find it useful to text each other during class when they don’t feel motivated or surf the web or check email when their professors are not connecting with them. However, in my many discussions with teachers, they are so busy that they rarely have time during the day to go to the bathroom never mind check their email or check their network.  They work with different students, differentiating curriculum, helping their students to acquire the information that the curriculum has prescribed for them to teach. Because they are professionals, they are very aware of what their responsibilities are to their students and not just the academic responsibilities. They are making human connections that many of the students do not have and seeking to guide them through this time of school so that when they leave they can make good decisions. I think they are preparing them for the world after school because so much of that world will deal with interactions and making personal decisions.

As for networking, the I work with  uses various technologies to communicate. The tools work to keep all of us informed and help us to share ideas with one another. We discuss  concerns we have with students in our school, the problems that some of our students are facing and the different alternatives we might seek. We share links and other such information. We use tools that help us to be more productive and help us to stay in tune with the others in the building. For most of the teachers in this school, this is enough networking for them. As we struggle to work with students about bullying, peer relations, drugs, sex, dating, relationships with parents and the myriad of other non-educational concerns that come our way each day, time spent on developing other networks isn’t a priority.

Finally, as for the young teachers entering the profession, I’m not sure about this one. In fact, from what I’ve seen, these teachers are striving to come to terms with a whole host of things that are beyond networking. Most veteran teachers, where I work, are more than willing to lend a hand and assist any young teacher. I’m not sure how understanding texting and social networks fits in with that unless it’s networking with other younger teachers who are overworked and tired. In fact, it’s usually the young teachers who are having a difficult time with the many educational requirements like differentiation, class expectations, marking, parent interactions and covering the curricula that they get and who seek out the veteran teachers. As for using other online tools, I don’t see a whole lot of increase even when the tools are available.

I guess, as someone who has been developing a network for about a year, I do see the positives. However, I’m not all that convinced that it is what every teacher needs to have. There are times when, having thrown out a question or concern on one of the social networks to which I belong, I get no response. Yeah, I learn alot from some of the people but, and I again put this forward not as a complaint but as an observation, unless you are “in the group”, you might not get the networking you believed you would get.  I know that is how it sometimes seems to me whether it is here or twitter or other social networks. To be really connected, you have to spend time developing the relationships and, as an administrator, time with the students is more important than time online trying to make friends who will answer your questions when you ask.