What was I thinking?

This past week I received a tweet from RashKath telling me she had rewared this blog with the Thinking Blogger Award. Rashmi Kathuria has been a mathematiques teacher since 1994. She created Passionate Teacher’s Ning and has been doing some great work connecting and sharing with teachers all over the world. She has a great site for anyone teaching math.

I am very honoured that someone like Rashmi would think that highly of what I am doing here on my blog. Rashmi says

  Kelly Christopherson, a principal in a K - 12 school in Saskatchewan. He is a great administrator , educator helping and guiding teachers to use techology in classrooms . His posts are inspiring and very close to our daily life routine realities. He is guiding many teachers all across this globe on Passionate teachers ning also. Read his discussions, you will surely experience a new thing.

I am very honoured that Rashmi would pass this on to me.

About the award
The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote. (I couldn’t get the badges or the link to work!)
In addition there is a note: “Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all - blogs that really get you thinking! “

Five bloggers

This was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in a while. To pick only 5 bloggers that make me think was not an easy task since all the bloggers on my RSS Feed do that. In no particular order:

 Dean Shareski - I ran into Dean’s blog when I first began blogging. Since that time, I’ve had the pleasure of attending a few of his workshops, participating in a few online connections and learning from his vast experience with technology. Dean writes about a wide variety of things, has a great sense of humour and great knowledge about technology tools. He is one of my “must read” bloggers (he has some great dessert recipes and pictures of beautiful golf courses!)

Alec Courosa - Alec is a professor at the University of Regina. Through the various networks that Alec and I inhabit, I’ve found Alec’s technological expertise and his willingness to try new technologies to be a great help. Because Alec teaches a Master’s class that one of my colleagues is taking, I’ve been able to have a sneak peak into his classes and his teaching and he is one that walks the talk.

Susan Funk - Susan is a classroom teacher in Saskatoon. I met Susan through her blog and then f2f at a conference. Susan has just returned to the classroom after taking time off to do graduate work and it is great to have her perspective on school life as someone who is working daily with students in a setting that isn’t really condusive to technology use. The great thing about Susan’s writing is that it doesn’t just focus on technology but on many other aspects of teaching, particularly reading. It is great to travel along with her as she struggles with the different issues that she has in her class.

Principal’s Page - micsmith is listed in his biography for those who have nothing to do. All I can say is that if it every happens that micsmith becomes unemployed, he could write comedy. (Gaging from his one entry, this is not a far off possiblity - being unemployed)  I visit his page regularly because of his humour, wit and uncanny ability to make me feel like a small kid again (I only wet my pants once!) For me, he captures the administrator’s life with comedic accuracy. Laughter is good for the soul - this site does my soul good!

Glenn Moses - Glenn is a vice-principal in a charter school and is responsible for the e-learning of the school. I really don’t remember when or where we crossed paths but it sure has been great for me. Glenn discusses a variety of things on his blog with some of the topics focusing on technology while others examine a variety of educational issues.  As Glenn states in his short bio

 Glenn Moses is an assistant principal and teacher. He is trying to turn high school into something meaningful, figure out the best ways to teach students online, and make sure that all students have access to online content. It’s a takeover, not a makeover.

I appreciate Glenn’s honesty and his desire to do what is best for students. Great reading.

Each of these educators has had an effect on me as an educational administrator and are important people in my network. Give them a read!

Drifting

The past few weeks have been terrible blah. I’ve been keeping up with various readings and twitters but things seem to have ground to a period halt. It’s kind of like the circling stage before landing when nothing seems to be happening and you’re waiting for the landing to get done so you can get on with things.

Our school has gone through some extensive changes and we are still waiting for some of the final work to be done. One of the major items that has taken place is that our computers in our rooms are no longer linked to our network which means teachers aren’t really using them which is too bad because they could be continuing with their growth but, it seems, without the network they just aren’t really interested. Our lab has been going through some changes as we try to get all the different components working together and our entire system is still feeling the affects of a massive change-over from the summer. All told, many of the teachers are frustrated and really not wanting to get into any new things.

On the bright side, the staff wiki is being used regularly by different people and some are finally beginning to add information. This is a huge jump for us and one that I hope to build upon in the upcoming months as some of the other little glitches are ironed out.

As a technology leader, I’m finding that much of what is happening with technology is so beyond what we can do as a school. Many of the sites seem to be blocked, thus I use Pageflakes to twitter. As I try to remain focused on helping teachers us technology, many of the other division and school focuses are pushing it into the background. Not that this is necessarily bad since we are doing some great work in reading and assessment. It just seems that, since the technology isn’t really up to par, there is little drive to move to the next step. People are extremely busy and the time just isn’t there.

I’ve also been very involved in developing my Walk-Through schedule and technique plus helping with the development of the School Code of Conduct and other school policies. I often read, with a tint of jealously, what others are doing and the progress they are making for themselves and with other teachers. Sigh It’s like being in the middle of the ocean on a sailboat and not a breath of air to move one along. And with the Christmas season upon us, I’m thinking that there won’t be a whole lot of time left over for technology.

I once read that the only difference between a rut and a grave was the depth of the rut. I’m sure looking forward to getting out of this one because it seems to be getting fairly deep right now! Who know, maybe this post will be the beginning of something!

BLC on Demand - why not school?

The BLC conference in Boston just wrapped up and I’ve been busy catching up on various feeds from my usual reporters such as Dean, Darren, Dave and Will. (DDDW ) I’ve been interested in how they have been able to keep those of us who are not attending informed of what was going on and the connections that they have made. I’ve also been doing a bit of tracking of other bloggers who have been posting. Today, I found Diane at Nexus who is a teacher from Ontario visiting Saskatoon. (Hi Diane!) I’ve also been following some of the discussions via Twitter although I find that I have to spend time going through the back pages as I have been out doing other things and not at my laptop - which is a good thing.

What struck me was the ease at which those of us who are not attending can find information and, with an invite or two, actually join the presentations via Skype. I know that there will be a some podcasts that I’ll have to download and listen to next week while I’m camping. I’m also going to take my laptop just to catch up on the reading I’ve missed so that when I get back from the week away, I’m ONLY a week behind!  I’ll be able to do take time to mull over what was said about the conference and the insights that people have had from their attendance.

It also struck me that, if this is possible, what is keeping us from moving in this direction in schools? I know that change is, indeed, something that takes time but ….. I think of meetings where people drive when the exact same could be done via any number of online conference or meeting software. Would it not be possible for a teacher to attend a conference and, at a specific time, Skype other teachers in the school who could then attend the session with them yet never leave the school. With all that goes on in educators’ lives, would it not make sense to provide them tools that would allow them to use their time in ways other than commuting between meetings? Especially in rural areas, where driving can become a full time job, these tools would reduce the stress and workload of rural teachers and provide them more time to do other things.

This made me wonder about the whole idea of podcasting different classes for students that are unable to attend. I mean, if we can do it for “strangers” who are interested in the same conference surely this could be a viable means to provide students who are away for extended periods of time (like that winter vacation in Mexico) to catchup. It wouldn’t mean that teachers would have to record their classes as they were taught but, instead, provide oral instruction that would supplement the other information that the student would get upon returning. This all could be done while the teacher was at home after having taught the class. I know that I am going to be doing something similar for a class that I am teaching at school but am sending to another student via the net. I will provide information using a podcast format for this particular student. I am also going to set up some sort of system that will allow the student to ask questions using voice instead of type. This way, I’m hoping to make things easier and more accessible for this student. I’ve thought about using video but I look terrible on the screen!

So as I go through the significant number of readings about the conference, I really wonder why these technologies are not being provided to every teacher and, in some form or another, every student. It’s not like the net couldn’t handle the traffic! Besides, it would be better for the environment and give teachers something they cherish - time. I know that I was grateful that I could “attend” BLC without having to leave my home. Not that I wouldn’t want to rub elbows with the likes of Christian, Chris or Will but, at this time, it just wasn’t possible and this is certainly a great option. Wouldn’t it be great if these conferences had a fee to attend virtually for those who couldn’t do the f2f.

I am working on finishing my post on my action plan for the upcoming year but I keep being pulled to see what is going on around the blogosphere and trying to digest the information from the posts regarding  BLC. This week away will give me some time to just focus on reading and putting my thoughts in order amidst some fine fishing, sand play and nightly visits to the ice cream shop! My family and I are looking forward to getting away and we’re hoping the weather cooperates. Who knows, I may even decide to get into the flickr stream like so many others are doing! Just what you want to see, my family on vacation

Blog roll - how do you update?

I’ve been looking at my blogroll and realize that it hasn’t changed since I first began blogging. I have spent time getting things organized on the blog and trying to find a voice for myself. I know that I often scan the blogroll of other bloggers but I just didn’t give much thought to my own. Tonight, I’ve been visiting different blogs and scanning their blogrolls. What impressed me was that on many of the blogs, the contents of the rolls are no longer just educators or those speaking on educational matters but people from all walks of life. This made me wonder if, as educators, we have reached a new step in our “learning”, beginning to expand beyond what we do and looking for people who have the same interests and hobbies or who catch our attention beyond our teaching.

missprofe has a very interesting post on when she begins to get back to the “groove” for school. I know that I posted my thoughts earlier this summer but I’ve found that those thoughts didn’t quite go as planned.

As a school principal, I have come to realize that summer holidays is just a time when students are not present. I’m not doing the paperwork or the other things that are connected with school administration. Instead, I find myself doing things that will allow us to achieve our goals for the upcoming year, planning out our staff pd times dealing with goals and looking at what we might be able to do for those students that are not engaged by school.

As the third week of holidays come to a close, I’ve spent very little time actually at the school, other than to check in to see how the renovations are going and to discuss getting our football field seeded and watered. Otherwise, I’ve been occupied do construction. This doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about school or, when I have the chance, doing some reading. But, it wasn’t how I actually saw my summer going. I was going to take time to do a bit of planning, focus on some key areas and slowly work through them, using the tools I’ve found to assist me in doing this. I was hoping to begin using my flickr much more and begin to build a catelogue of pics to use along the way. It hasn’t happened.

This is like my blogroll. I did plan to add to it and keep it up to date. I thought it would be a great idea to add new blogs and remove those that I don’t really visit anymore. However, like so many well made plans, life seemed to get in the way of such things and, on the importance scale, it soon fell off. Now, it’s not like my planning for next year isn’t important but I realized that there were other things to do this summer and, with all the time I put into various initiatives during the year, I just found that it wasn’t important at the time. As administrators and leaders, it is sometimes difficult to remember that we, too, need time for other things outside of education. That is why I was so impressed with the non-educational blogs that I’ve run across throughout my reading. They were refreshing king of like the people I’ve been working with these past three weeks. They’re non-educators and have reminded me that there is a world outside of education that isn’t necessarily caught up or even interested in school change. They see that things are changing but don’t necessarily see an immediacy to change what is going on in schools. They’ve been teaching me a great deal these past three weeks!

With this, I’ve decided that I should update my blogroll - it won’t be tonight or tomorrow so don’t be looking right now. It will take some time as I decide which blogs are on the “essential” list and which, although good, can be removed or maybe recategorized. Maybe I’ll have to do a bit more “research” to see how others are dealing with this. If you have any ideas or thoughts about the whole blogroll thing, I’d like to hear from you.