Learning to lead

Today I get to watch my daughter play hockey. She’s a goalie. Anyone who hasn’t played that position doesn’t really understand the position. It’s lonely at times, with a great deal of pressure. As I watched her today, it’s amazing how much she has improved from the beginning of the season. Heck, how much she learned from last weekend when she had 28 goals scored on her in 3 games. Not many kids would volunteer to suit up after that. In fact, she is even missing a family wedding so she can play this weekend.
As an educator, I’m always so impressed with children when they don’t allow a bad game or 3 affect them. As my daughter was getting ready today, all she was focused on was improving – not letting the other team score on a wrap-around. Not give up the long goal – get her body in front of that puck. It wasn’t about the bad games or the mistakes but about learning from them and getting better.

Somehow, as educators, heck as adults, we must adopt this same attitude. People like Angela Maiers, Lisa Dabbs, Tristan Bishop, Vicki Davis and others continue to bring this message but it needs to become something our children hear each day, especially in our schools.

As a K-12 principal, I often feel like a goalie (which I have been)! Too often I don’t just shake off that last goal and I waste too much time on what I could have done to make that save instead of looking around me to see how hard my team is working, thanking them for all their hard work, patting them on the back and getting ready to play again. That’s what I saw my kid do over and over last weekend – 28 times. She’s taught me a few things – last weekend it was about being a real leader.

Thanks Sarah.

 

From Tech Talk to Transformation

Yesterday, as I scanned through my twitter feed, I came across this post by Lisa Noble - @nobleknits2 – about her experience with social networks and her own personal experience. It is a great example of how social media can have a powerful influence on lives. However, Lisa’s final few paragraphs at the end had me pondering.

This experience was a “game-changer” for me, at least in part because I watched my own kids become completely engaged in this process and take on some of the ownership of the experience. I realized how involved they are with my PLN, because I share things I’m learning with them. None of us have ever met Kim, but we’ve gotten to know her, and know we can ask her questions and call on her knowledge if we need it. That’s what I want to share with my students.

How do we take very personal experiences and relationships and bring that into a school setting? Can we create the same type of experience that Lisa and her children had, because of the nature of the situation, in classrooms? Do we need to? Do we have to recreate all life experiences in the classroom? What responsibility do we, as educators, have to provide students with this type of experience? Is it the relationships that we need to help our students see?

First, this is beyond what almost all people discuss when they talk about technology integration in the classroom. One of the key components of this is the personal relationships that have developed over time. Although the technology provided the means, it was the relationships that provided the foundation for what took place. For me, this is a story about relationships and life in which technology is part of the family’s life. If it hadn’t been, this story might not have taken place or maybe it would have taken place only locally. Some of our students have this degree of integration, some don’t. As Lisa points out,

 How do I help students realize that while the Internet can be a scary place, it can also be a place of healing? How do I teach them to be open to this kind of experience, while still being aware of how to be safe?

 

Ah, questions with which all parents struggle, not only concerned with technology but so many other aspects of life – friends, sports, alcohol, relationships, sex,… And isn’t that what many of us, as educators, are trying to do – help our students with tough questions? Our subjects and curricula are conduits that provide us with the opportunity to connect and help our students with so many of life’s questions.

As a family, what took place was such a personal experience, one that involved so much more than just learning, a social network and some yarn – it involved the heart, memories over time, struggles of life and death and so much more. Finding one’s passion is a journey and, sorry to say, might not be realized while in school. We can help our students and introduce them to the tools, provide them examples and give them opportunity but, just like you can’t make a 2 year old eat green beans, you can’t make someone find their passion. We need to give our students permission to find their passions – and the permission to search well beyond school. Not all students come from a situation where they can take advantage, nor have the opportunity, to follow their passion right away. But, by providing them the tools and opportunity, we give them the freedom to choose – the ability to continue on their time not our and the encouragement to keep seeking. Not everyone has found their yet!

 

Following the conversation

Today, I was involved in a chat on Twitter. It’s nothing new, I join them all the time but it became clear to me that not everyone who follows you or is on twitter understands the breadth and depth of conversations that take place since not everyone is at the same stage in its use or in following chats, the experience differs.

During the #edchat this morning,  I was responding to a comment that went something like “In my experience, there have been more average or poor admins than great ones” – my paraphrase. My response to this was “that’s too bad. Being in Ed for 20, I’ve exp more consultants who think they know about teaching but haven’t a true understanding” My point was that making generalizations about different partners in education doesn’t add to the discussion – in fact it adds to separation and fracturing that is already taking place. Now, my experience isn’t universal but I have worked in 9 schools with hundreds of teachers and a great deal of consultants. It’s a generalization based on my PD experiences where consultants are brought in and, the term has morphed over time and now includes many who work with teachers within school divisions/districts.

A response I received read “oh so harsh ” Well, it wasn’t meant to be harsh just as I don’t believe that the first comment was meant to be harsh. Both, I believe, are reflections of experiences.

As an administrator who has been working to develop and grow for my whole time in education, well maybe except for the first 4 or 5 years when I was just trying to survive, I find it quite difficult to continually hear from people about the bad/poor/mediocre administrators that seem to abound everywhere, except those who are on SM sites. Are there poor administrators? Yes. But, as I continually try to point out to people, telling them they suck doesn’t make them want to listen. To drop in on conversation after conversation after chat after chat and continually hear about the sordid state of administration in schools doesn’t make me think people who might be “lurking” want to look at taking on the challenge. Just as there are many teachers who need to improve, there are many administrators who need to improve and there are many consultants who need to improve. Each is part of a team and being good at one does not mean that a person will be good at another. Not all great players make great coaches. There are different skills that are required. Because I both teach and am an administrator, I’m reminded of this. Having authority won’t help you if you aren’t engaging students – just as having technology won’t. Good teaching needs to come first!

Back to the Comment!

The comment I received makes me wonder if the person took a look at the hashtag to see the conversation or, did they just take my comment without the context? Like listening in at the water cooler but not hearing the full conversation then taking that snippet as the whole conversation.

So, in response to this, I offered this follow up “look at the #edchat conversation from this morning. Not ALL consultants just like not ALL administrators or ALL teachers.”
“yes I would imagine that generalizations are troublesome.”
“absolutely – we are moving away from doing such things to students – its just not fair to anyone.”

The best leaders, teachers or otherwise, I have met or read about or listened to have been those who are sincerely humble. They understand the influence they have and realize that what they say will be taken to heart by many who listen. They have a vision that influences others so they want to work with them. They realize they do not possess all the knowledge or tools or skills and seek out others who do. They listen but, when necessary, are willing to make difficult decisions. People often confuse popularity or power or money or the person who continually makes the most noise and moves their agenda along with someone who is a good leader. They might be but it’s good leaders can be found without these. As a young administrator, I use to think I had the answers to change things – only to realize that pure energy and shear will isn’t enough and, without being able to humbly accept that I am only as good of a leader as I am able to follow, I won’t be able to make much lasting positive impact. So, in trying to prove a point with my original comment, I may have inadvertently created a bigger issue since the first conversation was really outside my circle of influence while the second was inside that circle and anyone who might be a consultant but who wasn’t/didn’t follow the whole conversation will most likely be offended. That’s why I really struggle with the negativity that flows out towards particular “tribes” within education – some whom are using SM and the “others” and the comments from those of “influence”. I’m not sure that if I wasn’t on the administration side of the desk I’d want to venture there now – the criticism just wouldn’t seem worth it. Being there, I know that, just like every profession where there are those who struggle, there are administrators who might not have the skills or the experience or the training or who might not be cut out to be an administrator. To continue to point and flog isn’t helping – we should know that from our work with students, especially when we continue to hear such things from people of influence. Pointing and flogging hasn’t brought about significant changes, why would we think it would now? Because we have a new social media avenue to flog and point?

There’s a Program for That

I coach senior girls basketball. There are many things that, as a coach, you can develop and work on with your players. You can’t coach height. It’s impossible. You have it, you are tall or you aren’t. Being tall doesn’t mean you’ll be good at basket ball but, if you have skills and you are blessed with height, well – you can’t coach height.

You can’t program experience. There is no way to develop experience but over time. Without that experience, you can have a great many other aspects of leadership. Experience cannot be taught or gained from a program and you won’t find it on a top 10 list or through a chat because it is gained through day-to-day interactions. If you’re an administrator, these interactions will be with the students, parents, teachers, custodians, support staff, bus drivers and community members with whom you interact. Being aware of things you pick up through your learning  will help you but you can’t artificially create experience just like you can’t coach height.

Today, I was reminded of this. A simple comment – which might have a great impact. Another day of learning.

 

It’s about the season – not the game

This weekend the Sr. Girls basketball team played in another tournament final. We didn’t win. Now, many people who watched made comments like “Well, you had the chances, the ball just didn’t drop” or “You just couldn’t find your groove” or similar things. These statements are true – on the surface. However, as the coach/leader, I’ve learned to evaluate not just the team performance but mine as well. On reflection, this loss was more about me, as a coach, not making good decisions as it was about the team not shooting well.

As a coach, I’ve never had to cut a player because I’ve never been in a position to have that many players! Each player on our team plays. They have to because we don’t have a long bench. In fact, with everyone there, we have 9 girls. They each have strengths and weaknesses and we work at improving both throughout the season. Our team needs all the players to play – we need everyone to go out and give it their all. It’s just our reality. We don’t have a bunch of height this year but we have other strengths. Last night I didn’t coach to those strengths. I had a game plan and we stuck to it – too long – too late I realized it wasn’t going to work. By then the girls were frustrated, tired and somewhat disheartened. We regrouped at half but it was too late. Next practice, I’ll let the team know that the loss was probably due more to my decisions than their playing. It was a coaching error not a playing error.

Was the loss a failure? Absolutely not! It’s only our 2nd all year and it provided us with some more incentive to work hard at practice, focus on the drills and put in the time. Although it was a disappointment it was by no means a failure. It was LEARNING! We all learned – the team and I – we learned. It was important learning – critical to our future success.

Behind the Bench

This is my 17th year as a basketball coach. In fact, I’ve coached most sports over my teaching career. I’ve had the honour of coaching a team all the way to provincials and a few to Regional Playoffs. Basketball has been the sport I have coached the longest and the one I knew the least about when I started. In fact, when I first started, I didn’t really consider basketball a sport. Growing up on Canadian prairies, I did what so many other youth do, I curled. And played hockey and volleyball and badminton and did track but there was no basketball. None.

17 years later, I’ve learned quite a bit about the sport but I still know very little. That is why I watch video on YouTube, subscribe to newsletters, check regularly a few key websites and, whenever possible, watch what other teams are doing. I have to be willing to learn and adjust what I do as a coach so that the each member of the team can continue to get better. Having coached primarily teenage girls, I’ve also developed a sense of what works with motivating them, what helps to keep them focused, when to push and when to lay off. Today we didn’t have our usual practice because the team needed time off. They needed to rest. Some of the seniors will be going over the game throughout the day and will come to our next practice determined to improve. The juniors will follow them.

Being a Leader

What I’ve described above is somewhat of a mirror reflection of my journey as a teacher/administrator. I started teaching not really knowing what it was about. The first few “seasons” were losing seasons. None were winless but some were pretty darn close. I became determined to improve since I couldn’t cut any players, I needed to figure out how to help each of them. I eventually figured out that if I stuck to “my game plan” and didn’t pay attention to what was happening with the team – we’d lose. ALL of us would lose.

Now as an administrator, it’s the same thing. By no means do I know it all as a school administrator but I have become better at leading because I’ve become better at using all the talent in the room. I can’t cut anyone! Instead, my role is to seek out those strengths and talents, encourage and grow them while at the same time working on the weaknesses. For teachers, each day is game day – 5 days a week. But it’s about the season – we want to have a winning season with students. However, will there will be days when it just doesn’t flow and it won’t be a “winning game” or you’ll have a bad “quarter” and that is when, as an educational leader, I ask teachers to reflect and critically evaluate what they did, the decisions they made and the “plays” they called. Sometimes it’s a student having an off day. But sometimes, it has nothing to do with the students – it’s our actions/reactions/game plan that needs to be adjusted.

To Err Is Human – To Forgive Divine

We will make mistakes. It will happen. In fact, if it doesn’t, I’m thinking that you have a talented group that isn’t being challenged. It’s like being a 4A team playing in a 1A league – you’ll be a winner but what will the players learn? No challenge – little growth – little development – limited progress. If you challenge them, there will be mistakes and unsuccessful attempts  but it will be how you react that will be critical in development. Are you willing to self-evaluate critically? Will you admit it was partly your error? Will you point out how you made the error and discuss it? Will you change that loss into growth and improvement? Will you be willing to forgive – them and yourself? It is a critical step – letting go and moving on – not dwelling on the mistake but focusing on looking for improvement – in yourself and your “team”.

As a coach, I serve my team. That is my role. Yes, I push them at practice, find the drills and make game decisions but I serve the team – building individual talent to make us a better team. As a school administrator, I have a similar role. In both cases, I cannot play the game/teach for the others. I have to relinquish control of the play  - I am there to serve. So, when I err, I must be willing to accept it but then, demonstrate that it is a learning experience – model life-long learning – seek out solutions and then begin the task of working with the team, learning from what has happened. As a coach I server – I lead – as an educational administrator it’s the same thing.

 

 

You Can’t Stop the Rain

Singing their Song

So often when we talk about schools, students, parents and teachers, we discuss things in arm-lengths type of way. We discuss how they need to have richer and more meaningful learning experiences, how we need to provide them with the opportunities to use the technological tools in authentic learning experiences. What we don’t discuss is how schools need to be places of living not just of learning. They need to be places of community where children can experience life-lessons not just academic lessons. The story that follows is about one such event that took place at our school this past year.

The Idea

Tyler came to see me after basketball practice. I coach girls basketball so he had to wait until after I was done to see me. This isn’t necessarily unusual as I often have students come to see me after school, some because they want to work, some need help and some just want to be able to stay at the school for awhile longer. On this occasion, Tyler wanted to talk. He had this idea that he wanted to put on a Coffee House to raise money for Cancer. As he explained to me, he just really felt he needed to do this. His grandfather had passed away earlier in the year from cancer and he wanted to do something. He had been involved in other Coffee Houses, he played the guitar and thought it would be a great idea. We discussed times and dates. Another teacher who happens to play in a band was willing to help Tyler with setting up. A date and time was picked and the school was booked. Tyler was excited about the event which showed in his eagerness to get started on preparing. On December 8th, our school hosted the Coffee House where over $1300.00 was raised for Cancer Research.

The Rest of the Story

The story is a bit more than just the Coffee House. It’s a story about life. Tyler spent the next few weeks after our initial meeting working on the event. He put up posters around the school. He put out jars to collect money and advertise at various businesses around the town. He put up a sign-up sheet at school and began to spread the news that this was taking place. He spent a few days after school practicing, as did a number of the other students who were going to be taking part in the event. He promoted and had his friends promote. He arranged for a local band to take part.

The evening of the event, there were about 80 people in the school foyer ready to watch the different performers. In attendance was Tyler’s family, including his grandmother. This is where the real story starts. As Tyler got up and welcomed everyone, he explained that his reason for doing this was because he really needed to help others. He described how much it hurt when his grandfather had passed away, how the pain had been so great and he had hurt so much and he wanted to help others because it hurt so much. He explained that his grandparents would have been married 50 years this summer and his first song was dedicated to them as he had been practicing to play it at their anniversary. Beautiful. Powerful. Here was an 18 year old young man doing what many other adults could never do, would never do.  Then, with each performer that took the stage, there was a story. One had lost a sibling, another had lost a parent and a third had recently lost a sibling. They sang and danced in remembrance. The band,  which one of the staff plays in, took the stage.  One of the members had recently lost their spouse. It was an incredible evening. It all happened because one young man wanted to give – give to others because of the hurt he felt. Throughout the evening, people laughed and people cried. They applauded the efforts of the performers, enjoyed coffee and dainties and shared in conversation. All because one young man wanted to give.

Schools Are Real Life

Too often I hear the phrase “Well, when they leave school and experience real life…..” In fact, school is real life. To try to explain that to anyone who isn’t in a school is difficult. Schools reflect, to some degree, the society of which they are a part. Some of the resistance to change is, in fact, a resistance of society to the changes taking place. Schools are more than just places of learning, they are places of living which are changing and evolving. For so long schools have tried to keep the changes taking place in the society  from disturbing what was going on within their walls. This is no longer acceptable – our schools need to be living and growing, adapting and changing. But it’s more than just technology – it’s about all aspects of life. Too often when people discuss school reform, they focus on technology and learning but it’s so much more – it’s about life long learning. You can’t stop the rain from falling but you can use it to power your ideas and grow your dreams if you quit complaining about it falling

Tyler ended  the open mic portion of the Coffee House with a classic Tom Petty song – Free Falling.

Free Falling

Schools are real life – real life for our children. Things may not be where we expect them to be but then again, when does life ever go according to someone’s schedule or plan. Let’s not diminish what does take place through focusing on one narrow aspect like technology. Life is so much bigger.

 

Do we need to rethink conventions?

I’ve been following the discussion about EdCamps over the past few months – even thinking about organizing one in our area/province. The one thing I continue to be impressed with is that the people who attend make comments like

I recently went to the EdCampYEG with two fellow staff members. Well worth the 2 hr. trip. PD should always be like that – open, relevant and engaging…oh, and most enjoyable! Stephen Banks – Ed Administrators2.0

This is just one of the many comments that I’ve heard that are like this. In my discussion with others on this topic, it would seem that a great many found these events to be very useful, informative, fun and great learning experiences. In a recent twitter conversation, it was suggested that the “unconference” was really where things were at. I received the invitation for ISTE Unplugged, which use to be EdubloggerCon, which stated

each year hundreds of educators interested in social media. technology, and teaching and learning build and participate in “unplugged”-style activities as a part of their ISTE experience. All of these events are free, so come join us.

This takes place during the annual ISTE conference. Now, the conference takes place in San Diego this year and has the following topics

You’ll experience more than:

• 300 model lessons, BYOD (bring your own device) sessions, lectures, and panels
• 135 hands-on and seminar-demo workshops (additional fee)
• 500 exhibiting companies, agencies, and organizations
• 400 informal and interactive learning activities

Who wouldn’t want to go? But is this practical for a majority of teachers? And is this PD, which follows a traditional format giving the results that teachers need? Has the time come to reform our PD events in the way we are searching to reform what is happening in education? Do we need big conferences where many who are attending already are moving forward? Or is it time to change how we think about teachers’ learning – to find the local experts and develop the teachers at the local level in a less informal more highly engaged manner.

Of course, there wouldn’t be the places for the advertisers and vendors at these types of gatherings and there might not be the need to larger corporate style speakers. Instead, it would be teachers working and supporting teachers – administrators working with other administrators and teachers to develop and support one another and teachers. It would be focused on the needs of the people attending and evolve from their specific needs.

As someone who has presented to staff and at local conventions, I know that it is very powerful to work with a group of teachers to help them learn and grow. Instead of pressing my version of what education and learning should be, to work with teachers to help them build their own way. It’s no longer good enough to continue on the path we have been on. It’s time to step away from the well trodden path. There are many examples of great opportunities taking place for teachers at the local levels and we need to focus on these to a greater extent than we are at this time. Although the big conferences draw the vendors and the $, maybe, like so many other things from our past, we need to look to our experts within our own schools and trust them to help us develop the programs and schools that will reflect a 21st Century learning.

 

A New Year – Kinda Part 2 – Technology

2011 – 2012 – Mid-Year Round Up

In my last post, I discussed the whole New Year thing and then began a reflection of where we are as a school.  This is a mid-year round up of life thus far at PPCS a brand new K – 12 school in rural Saskatchewan. The school is a combination of two schools – a K – 6 Elementary School and a 7 – 12 High School which came together on May 1st 2011.  This year is our first as a K – 12 school. In this post, I’ll discuss where we are and where we are going technology wise.

Tech for all – all for Tech

We live in a world in which technology surrounds and permeates almost every aspect of our lives. We see it everywhere, from our cars to the dining room table to, well, everywhere. And it’s not just kids that are using technology. Smartphones are being used by all ages. This Nielsen chart is one of many that you will find that shows the use of smartphone across age groups.

source:  http://socialtimes.com/nielsens-smartphone-usage-by-age-groups-study-intriguing-age-group-differences-for-blackberry-and-windows-phone_b83254

What you’ll notice is the increase in all age groups. This means that a great many people have a computing device to access all the time. If they have a data plan, they won’t have to worry about whether there is wifi or not and, if they have the ability to share their wifi, then others can access the internet without needing a local wifi system.

With this in mind, we decided at PPCS to scrap our policy for smartphones and other BYO devices and, instead, began to look at how we could harness the use of these in the classroom. Our division AUP focuses on the proper use of these devices within the school – puts the emphasis on students using these devices in the context of learning. Our policy basically states that the devices can be used during the school day for learning purposes but the use of these devices for such things as bullying, access unacceptable material at school and activities that distract from the learning environment will require the student to put away the device and may result in their putting it in their locker and have restricted use during class time. So far, we have had a total of 3 students sent to the office for excessive use that is not classroom related – texting and gaming.

Computers – being a new school we were provided with a new computer lab with 27 desktops, a teacher desktop with various software and a connection to projector. All our classrooms have ceiling mounted projectors that connect the teacher desktop, or any other computer, to the projector and Soundfield surround sound system that allow teachers to use a portable mic or connect the system to the computer. Each classroom has 2 laptops in the room. We have a portable cart of 22 and another mini-cart of 9 netbooks which can be used by the cart or individually – students sign them out at the library. We have wifi throughout the school which allows our students to go anywhere in the school to work – even the bathroom!  Just before Christmas we purchased 10 iPad 2′s and 10 iPod Touches. We will be deploying the iPads in the K – 3 rooms and the iPod Touches are for use by teachers for recording – video, pictures, audio or individual work. We also have 3 projectors that students/teachers can use throughout the school for small group work and presentations outside of the classrooms.

Technology Vision

Our vision was to get the technology into the hands of the teachers and the students so they could use it. Period. We would then support the use through tutorials and one-on-one sessions with lead-teachers supporting other teachers. To make this happen, our admin team would cover for one of the teachers during a prep period so the two could work together. We have also tried to manage the upkeep through a system where teachers ensure they let the admin team know of any problems with technology so we can then determine the appropriate action(s). The school does not have anyone who has release time for technology issues so it has become part of our admin team responsibilities so that we do not end up with a teacher being disturbed while they are teaching. This has also meant that some issues take a little longer to resolve so we encourage teachers to always have an option B when it comes to working with technology!

Before we did any purchasing, we discussed what we wanted to see our students doing with technology. We had a number of teachers who are familiar with using technology – 2 of our staff teach online classes – but we also have a number of teachers who have little technology experience. Our year began with all teachers indicating that they were interested in increasing their use of technology. As I indicated in my last post, we use technology for communication on a regular basis at the school – we support the staff to access the information and use technology but we also expect that they will use the technology to make themselves aware of what is going on, what they are required to do and what they can expect to have happening at the school. (We are still working out the kinks of some of these processes but remember we are 5 months old so we sometimes fall as we are learning to walk!)

 We had to do a number of brainstorming sessions on how we access computers when we have a few classes that are booked into the computer lab all the time – this limits who can access the lab because in our old schools – we had access to three labs and 2 mini-labs for the same number of students. It has meant that people are needing to adjust to this new reality. We haven’t been able to add as many portable devices as quickly as we wanted which, again, has meant some adjustments. What we have seen is teachers sharing the lab which has led to team teaching as the two teachers share their resources and talents.

Our division IT department has worked with us as we work through some of these things and has been willing to examine ways to make some of these things – like teachers taking the netbooks out of the building on evenings and weekends to use – so that teachers can have access all the time. This has also meant that we have had to introduce online services like Diigo and Dropbox so teachers can save their information to a web-based service so they can access it from any device they are using. More supporting and learning. With the recent addition of Evernote and OneNote as documentation tools, we are again having to support teachers as they work through learning to use these tools.

The one area in which we will be focusing in the remainder of the year is supports for students with learning needs. We have identified a number of students and a number of technology aides to assist them. We now need to make the two come together! Since this requires additional resources, it is taking us a bit longer to develop this part of our technology plan. However, with a renewed focus on this in the upcoming months, we hope to have these assistive technologies in place shortly after we return to school.

There is No Silver Bullet

Anyone looking for quick answers or shortcuts will be disappointed, I think. We have made great strides as a school in recognizing that our students and teachers need to have access to technology, to use it as they would use it outside the school and to be provided the necessary supports to be able to successfully make that transition from outside to inside the building. The factors critical in successfully using technology within the school, I believe, are:

• A focus on learning and growing by everyone in the building
• A realization that support for everyone is critical to success
• A plan for using technology within the classroom – meeting outcomes and student growth
• A willingness to learn and learn and learn – change is the new constant
• A shared leadership where people with strengths share with others and are given time within the day to do this. It’s not an add-on.

As the educational leader within the building, I realize that my willingness, or lack there of, to look at different solutions, to listen to what teachers are saying and then examine and re-examine our practices is crucial to our success as a school. Supporting the teachers so that we can do what is best for students is the foundation upon which we focus. It doesn’t mean we don’t make mistakes but we are willing to own up to them, admit it was a mistake and then look for a solution. At PPCS, everyone is a learner, seeking to improve each day.

Next topic: RtI and DI in the K – 12 school

 

Do it! Really, it’s that simple.

Sharing your PLN with Others -

explaining Twitter and other social media

Eventually

One of the things that use to keep me from doing things was the fear that I’d make an idiot of myself when I failed. Then I became a father – 8 times. I’m now cured of that since I’ve made an idiot of myself so many times it’s of no great concern. And it’s freeing.

You see, I use to want to make sure that I had things planned out and had covered as many of the “what if’s” as I could. I’d worry about what might happen, what if it didn’t work, what others would say, what others might think,….. I’d worry myself into not doing something.

Then I became a father. First of 4 girls. Then of 4 boys. The oldest is 19, the youngest is 2. The 4 girls did not prepare us at all to be parents of boys. In fact, I sometimes joke that if we had had the boys first, we’d have only 4 children. Sometimes I’m joking! I’ve made so many mistakes that I’m surprised that my children haven’t been taken by the authorities. But somehow they’ve survived – and stayed – and keep coming back!

As any parent, I always want to improve so that I can help my children and, partially, so they won’t blame me for their problems and end up in therapy like so many people. But with each session my wife and I went to or each book I read, I would come away with this horrible sickening feeling of failure. I wasn’t doing enough, I did too much, I wasn’t listening enough, I listened too much, I was too strict, not strict enough. And then the boys arrived and I’m being paid back for all those things I did as a kid X4!

Now you have to put this in perspective – I have 2 Bachelor degrees and an MEd, I’ve been in the teaching profession for 20 years, an administrator for 10 and always taught and there are days when I have no clue what I’m doing. Really, I don’t. I do know, however, that if I worry myself into doing nothing, things will turn out even worse. So, when I come across something that is new – and that happens on a regular basis in our house – I do a mental field trip, recall the land mines I’ve discovered and want to avoid, and go onward. Sometimes, like the other day when I made a mistake and ended up in an argument with one of my older daughters, I end up needing to reevaluate my own actions. Old habits die hard and, if you don’t recognize the symptoms and stop things, you end up repeating them. However, the one thing that I’ve learned from making an idiot of myself is to admit it, go seek reconciliation, look to create a win/win and then move on. Being perfect all the time is an illusion I’m rather skeptical of and often question those who “blow their own horn.”

So the other night, while dropping by one of the social media watering holes, I had a conversation with Mr. Dooley about talking about PLN and social media. It was a short conversation in which he made this request

I said I had a few and I’d put something together. Now, I’ve done a few presentation on using social media and such but then I got to thinking “It’s really not about the resources.” It’s about the experiences you have and the ability to share those experiences. So, instead of trying to put together something that probably won’t really be what is needed, I’m going to reach out to the 13 odd people who read this blog and ask them to share their experiences, tools and ideas so that this can be passed on. I’m going to do this in three ways – first through the comments on the blog, second through a discussion forum on the Ed Administrators2.0 website and third through a google form that I will share.

Advice – a few thoughts.

I often have people ask me about raising kids, since I have sooo many I must know a few things. I do know a few things but they are not tried and true and I’m not an expert. If I was, I wouldn’t need to take my cellphone to the bathroom just in case I have to text my wife to bring more toilet paper. I’d have a book and my own standup gig. I could try but eventually everyone would find out about the texting for the toilet paper and it’d be all over. So, instead, I’ll share a few things I know have worked for me and then, with any luck, a few other people will share their experiences. Eventually, with a little gentle persuasion, some pestering of people on twitter and some generosity from my PLN, we’ll end up with something that will help those looking for assistance.

Resources Ideas: My 4 cents

1. Evernote – show people this tool for sharing ideas and information, capturing things from the web and linking them to what they are doing. It is the one tool I use with my staff to share all sorts of information and, as we get better at using it, our communication improves as a whole. We’ve decided to have a premium account.

2. Twitter – it’s a great tool for finding information. I don’t ever begin to sell it as a tool for connecting. People have to learn that on their own. But I do show people how to find resources through the use of hashtags and searches. You can’t demonstrate the power of the conversations in one session – it has to develop over time. But you can show them such things as the hashtags and the various education chats that take place and when they take place.

3. Wikis – a wiki is a great way to organize things and share with others. Our staff uses pbworks as a launching point for a school calendar and other items that help us to keep organized.

We organize our gym and extra-curricular, foyer, intramurals and other school usage on this calendar that all the staff can access. It has taken some time to get everyone to use this method of tracking but, once we were able to show how it integrated into our calendar, it allowed all of us to know what was going on at the school and since we have a number of division consultants who visit, we all know when they will be at the school. We’re still working on improvements.

4. Skype – we use this to send quick message to one another during the day because it is installed on all teacher desktops and opens on login. We don’t have to call down or go over the intercom to contact a teacher. Instead, we just send them a chat message. We also have teachers who use this to connect with other classes to share.

It’s Not Rocket Science

These are the ones that I have used with 4 different staffs with varying success. I know that there are many more that people use but the key is the experiences that go with the use. At the end of the day, you just need to do it. You can’t expect to know it all nor will you be able to give people all the answers they are looking for but, if you can access some of these ideas, leverage some time with a few key people, things will grow. Our school use of Evernote and Pbworks is something that I brought in. I’ve used these tools to help teachers gather data about their classrooms, find resources and collaborate/share. The rest I try to get people to see the worth through their own growth and the whole mind shift that a PLN is one of the keys to be relevant and uptodate as an educator.

I don’t tell people it’s critical that they use these tools to be a good teacher nor do I think that without these tools you can’t be a good teacher. I may be in the minority but I also don’t rely on telling people these things to collect my pay cheque or to promote my interests or company or anything else. I believe that you can be a good teacher without using twitter or Evernote or, or, or….. because I believe learning is so much more than what takes place in a classroom/school with whatever tool – pencil, crayon, brush, camera, computer, smartphone, chisel, hammer, chainsaw, basketball, football, discuss, clarinet, trumpet, …. and people tend to get caught up in these arguments because they have another purpose/motive. (Yeah, that’s a bit of the soapbox but, hey, everyone else does it!)

So, now the form. Hopefully this will work and we’ll all be able to pool our ideas. Add to the forum on the Ed Administrator2.0 site, add a comment or visit the google form to fill it in and I’ll share the results. Eventually I’ll put this together here to share.

Thanks for reading!

 

If it doesn’t work, change it!

It’s time to change something!

Changing in mid-stride

This past few weeks, I’ve been dealing with a few students in the MY and HS who have hit the mid-year wall. They’ve fallen behind in assignments, aren’t really interested in redoing anything and just have a “mad” on. One of them ended up in my office today. It was another case of trying to get into a confrontation. At our school, we are working to not confront students but invite them to join, request them to stop, ask them to participate and generally not in any way create a lose/lose situation. Now, I need to clarify that this is a HUGE transformation from just one year ago when we were suspending, on average 3 students a week for behaviour related issues and had a noon-hour detention that was FULL with students not completing work and not doing what was asked. There were several times at the beginning of the yar that I witnessed teachers yelling at students and all out shouting by students and teachers. Thus far, we have suspended 3 students for behaviour related issues and our referrals to the office have been reduced by approximately 80%.(I don’t have any hard facts or numbers on hand but it wouldn’t take me long to find out for those who wonder about this.)

This transformation is  related to our vision of “Doing what is best for students.” This is how we begin each meeting and each discussion about/with students. We have made it clear that it is not acceptable to belittle students or to engage in an argument with them, that they cannot be “written off” or amortized over time; ignored or avoided because they cause us to feel discomfort, we will contact parents, talk to them about our concerns and, when they “turn it around” tell them of the successes. We’ve told our public and our parents that we will “Do what is best for students.” so that they will hold us accountable – which can be very difficult especially in certain situations. We are learning and growing and our next step is to have students, parents and staff work together to create a Code of Conduct that will guide the actions of all people who enter.

One Small Step

So today, instead of beginning with the “incident”, I began by asking what this young man wanted to do when he was done school. Simple question. Then I waited. Asked more questions, listened and we began to discuss things other than “the incident”. This led to some discussion about his actions over the past little while and his responsibility in the actions. We examined the things that he found frustrating and I explained, best I could, some of the frustrations we were experiencing. It was a 45 minute discussion. At the end, all I did was ask him to give himself a chance to be successful but to “not kick the dog because he was mad”. He laughed, told me he got it. He left and went to class. From all reports, it was a good afternoon.

What are your experiences and successes when it comes to changing attitudes and culture? What insights or stories can you share?

 

Student Led Conferences – new look on good practice

Student Led Conferences

Student Led Conferences (SLC’s) might seem to be new but they’ve been around for awhile, at least 18 years – that’s when I first encountered them as a newbie teacher. Since that beginning, I’ve had the professional pleasure of working with a number of school staffs and communities in adopting and growing SLC’s. In my current position, this was our 3rd year with SLC’s. Our school, a newly amalgamated K – 12 facility in a rural community, has an evening conference time and a morning conference when parents and their children can come to the school for the SLC. In my opinion, the best way to facilitate the SLC is to have them in the evenings/after school when both parents will be able to attend – as many families have both parents working.

Contrary to what many people seem to believe, SLC’s are much more time intensive and require a great deal of preparation on the part of the student and the teacher. Especially in a high school setting where a student will have more than one teacher, there is a greater need to communicate the purpose of the SLC.

So what is the purpose?

For me, as a teacher, it began with a portfolio of student work, some I selected and some the student selected. We’d sit down with the parents and “discuss” the work. At the time, there were so few schools doing this type of work that our staff was working to develop these pretty much on our own. What emerged over time, was a realization that we needed to redefine the whole SLC from an event that took place at a particular time and date to a process in which we engaged students and parents and the date and time was just a formal meeting to discuss the process. Whoa- talk about a mindshift! Much as we talk about such things as Differentiated Instruction being a process and not something we do or RtI being a process, so are SLC’s. They are a process that involves parents, students and teachers in the learning process and are valuable learning experiences in and of themselves.

The Process

SLC’s need to be discussed beginning in September. The process of developing a relationship with parents about student learning should begin when the school year begins and the SLC will be a point in time to review, with the student leading, what has occurred. It also needs to be clear that regular communication with the home is essential. Parents need not wait for that conference to discuss concerns.

Spreading the Message

A good way to begin the discussion is inviting parents to an Open House and discussing the report cards, SLC process and other learning initiatives. Notice that I said discuss. Don’t just tell parents what you will do but come up with ways to involve them in the discussion – topic tables, parking-lot discussions (a type of way to elicit questions) and teacher-led focus areas are some ways to involve parents. The first few times you have these Open Houses you may have a poor turnout but if you are truly open to what is being said, listening and then responding, your attendance will improve. People want to know you are listening.

Social media provides another avenue for you to elicit feedback from the community. Whether It’s a school web page, a blog, a wiki, FaceBook, twitter, a Ning, Google+ or some other service, you can provide parents with an opportunity to be informed about what is happening and a way to provide you with feedback. A blog post, wiki page, Google+ entry, Ning page would be just some of the ways to provide information and elicit some feedback. A third way, which might not work in some places, is a simple mailout. Now, before you skip over this and dismiss it, my experience, being in a small community for a number of years is that this is by far our best option for communicating to the community. In fact, since we began mailing out our newsletters to the general community, everyone who lives in the towns our students come from, we’ve had more feedback and comments from ALL sectors of population. The community wants to know what is happening at the school and a large percentage do not use social media – yet. We’ve had more businesses talk to us about supporting our student-led initiatives than before and more of our seniors contact the school about events.

This helps set the stage for the SLC’s. I would encourage staff to continue with the contact with parents either through small information inserts in the school newsletter, updates on the school webpage or FB or whatever is being used. These reinforce the message that learning is continuous and helps parents be aware of what is happening in the classroom.

The SLC “Event”

The actual conference can take a variety of formats and this depends on the age of the students and their familiarity with the process. As I mentioned, we are in our third year with SLC’s. This year the K and 1 teacher have been recording their students’ growth and progress using a blog. During the SLC, students were able to show and discuss their goals and what they had done through the digital images and recordings. They also had learning stations set up in the room where parents and students were able to explore the learning that students had been doing in the class. Feedback was extremely positive. Our other classes use a portfolio to highlight their learning goals and some use learning stations. In the elementary grades, feedback is positive.

It’s in the middle years and high school that the SLC’s aren’t always as successful at the start. As a school, we need to better prepare all parties. Again, this comes with time and experience. As students become more familiar with the process, parents are more open and teachers become less apprehensive. People begin to discuss more openly earlier in the year and, eventually the lingering effects of the traditional Parent/Teacher interview fade away. Some parents, especially with students in the senior grades don’t ever embrace the format and that is okay. We continue to provide them with more information through the many ways we communicate than they previously had and we are always open to parents coming in to talk about their child’s learning.

In the MY and HS, we have adopted a scripted format to begin the discussion process. This helps to set the stage. Because we want the discussions to be led by the students and them to focus on their goals, providing them with a starting point relieves some of the pressure they feel. Some of these students still are not very comfortable with discussing their learning. We began this year with asking teachers to have their students set learning goals in each of their classes and then, periodically, reflect on those goals. This was the basis for the discussions at SLC’s. We still have work to do to help everyone to see that this is a part of learning and being able to present one’s work, thoughts and ideas are essential skills.

In my experience as a classroom teacher, it was during our fourth year that we really noticed a change in the way parents and students interacted during the SLC’s and just a general change in the whole home-school communication when it came to student learning. The 7th year, my last at the school, was very different in so many ways. However, one of the keys was, up until then, a small turn-over in staff. We had worked in PLC’s to improve our SLC’s and this continuity was important in growing this process.

SLC’s are not new. We have new means to communicate with parents and students have some different mediums in which they can discuss their learning but the interpersonal skills that are needed and so key haven’t changed and the need for teachers and parents to invest in this process is still vitally important. Most of all, it takes time for all parties to work through the process.