Outside the Education Bubble

It’s the middle of July and this will be my first post for the summer, if I have time to actually finish it. It’s not that I haven’t started a number of posts but none have reached the publish stage. The reason I’ve not finished these is that life outside of the educational world has been very busy. In fact, I’ve spent very little time, except for dropping into Plurk each day, worrying about or working at or discussing what’s going on within the educational bubble. 

It is a bubble

Over the past two years, I’ve spent my summers working construction. In my past life, before education, I was a painter and I now use those skills during the summer as I work for a local builder painting new houses. This means that I spend my time with various trades people through the summer which is a HUGE change from the world of education. I also meet and talk with many of the people in the community during coffee breaks, talking about farming, building and various other important topics of the day. If there’s a storm go through, the implications of hail and too much rain are the topics of discussion. No talk of education pops up – unless the school is broken into. That did happen this week but people were more concerned about who might do such a thing and not about even what happened! 

This is much different from the discussions that are taking place in the educational world. When I drop in to Plurk and see what’s going on, most of the discussions are focused on this presentation being streamed or this new website or that new wiki or tool. There’s discussions about this conference or that conference and all the great discussions that are coming from these. Now, there are the discussions about children and holidays that take place which are not education focused but are the kind of discussions that build relationships which are essential to the growth of any human network.  That’s not what this post is about.

The people outside of education are discussing the price of oil, the impact of the price on their work, how they will be able to maintain what they have with the  price of production and the rise of prices on all goods plus the impact of various decisions on the environment. They wonder how the weather will affect their future ability to sustain their livelihood. They want to know why it takes so long to get things delivered from the city and why I get so much paint on myself! In my two years of working outside of education, I have yet to have any type of sustained discussion about technology. First, because people accept that technological progress is happening and there are those they need to use. Secondly, it’s not a big deal. Things progress, you adapt and life and work go on. 

In educational circles these past two years, all that has been discussed, demonstrated and examined is technology and its implications. We debate whether schools should have open access to the web, whether students should be allowed open access or work behind walled zones. We discuss how teachers should be looking at technology and how to get PD. The discussions continue on and there is no end in sight while, as I sit down with coffee, I listen to a farmer well into his 80’s describe the new seeder that he has just bought and the technology that it has and what it will mean to his production. He went to a day long session to learn about the equipment and then a rep came out to assist him with getting started. Now, he’s good to go, as he said. 

Educators Talk/ Others Do

Technology and change are now a part of the social fabric of our society. To ignore this or to somehow say it isn’t happening and affecting how people interact and live is a crucial mistake. People may want/wish that  things weren’t progressing but, for the most part, they are accepting and adopting those things that believe will make their lives easier/better. As I watch houses being built, the use of technology is everywhere, from the computer generated floor plans and 3D graphics to the colour generation technology that is used to select colours. Granted, some of the technology has nothing to do with computers. The stilts I use to paint high areas are not computerized but they are indeed technological improvements over the ones I used years ago. The sprayer I use is a fraction of the size and weight of what I began using and the technology in the paint has made it possible to do things I couldn’t do a few years ago. This is true across the many trades that I encounter during my summer work. From the battery operated nailers to the digital tape measures, technology is being used. People accept that things progress and there needs to be changes in order to keep up. Fact. They do.

In education, the talk is still happening. Whether we should do this or that or adopt this tool or that tool or…… what I’ve learned from working over the summers is to quit talking and just do. You see, there will always be talk, just as someone will buy this farming technology and someone will choose to pass but buy another. This discussion about the use of technology in education has gone on far too long. 

Do or do not. There is no try.
Yoda, Star Wars

These words, which I heard many years ago, have become words that I live by and which, I believe, have helped me as an educators, to make decisions that were essential to improving myself. For me, they are words that guide me as an administrator as I work with students, parents or staff. I either decide to do things or not do them. With each decision, I then must be willing to make the necessary adjustments so I can accomplish it or I don’t do it. It may sound kind of black and white to some “Well, why not just try it to see if you …” often is thrown my way. Do you know how many things there are to try? Can you seriously expect educators to try all the things out there? We’ve been doing that for quite awhile and look where we are right now – still talking. 

Time to Do or Do Not

During the first few weeks of summer, I dropped into a few streamed sessions from NECC and BLC08 to give a listen and chat a bit. Same stuff. Maybe a few different presentations but mainly it was the Edu-conference-presenter-group who were the keynotes. I wonder “Where’s the beef?” I know what’s being said because it’s been said again and again and again….. in different ways, with a slightly different twists but “We need to change how we do school” & “We need to get teachers using new technology” & “We need to move away from the testing culture” is still being delivered. And yes, there are shining examples of this being done – SLA in Philly being an example – but it’s not the norm in so many different ways. 

Do or Do Not

The way this will change isn’t by having more teachers trying the technologies. It isn’t by gathering the choir together to talk about it. It isn’t about getting a few more people to look at social networks or listening to people keynote about what needs to happen. It’s by identifying those people who can make things happen and doing – sometimes despite what others say. It’s by creating requirements for professionals which make it a part of being a professional to adopt change and adjust the teaching strategies to accommodate for the changes. Change is happening at an increased rate and to continue to allow people to not adopt that change and not use the new technologies is no longer acceptable.

Where to Start?

Those at the top, administrators et al., need to become responsive to changes in new ways. Instead of constantly trying to maintain the status quo so to remain popular or move up or whatever they are doing, they MUST be the initiators and see how these new technologies fit into the “We have to have our students do better” mantra. It doesn’t mean they know all there is about all the new technologies, but they learn go develop a Personal Learning Network that will help them. They seek out information and quit hiding behind “Will it help test scores?”. Of course it will, eventually. But today or next week – no guarantees. In the future, you bet. 

Teachers have to be held accountable for how they teach, the tools they use and the way they deliver their course material. It doesn’t matter if you are up on brain research or not, if you’ve ever watched a small child figure something out or learn something, they don’t do it by sitting passively and listening ALL THE TIME! They may have to once in a while, as a parent explains something, but usually it is by doing, trying, seeking, adjusting what they know with what they are learning. And forget about saying teachers cannot do it. I’ve learned to make all sorts of Transformers transform WITHOUT any manual or lecture because my children want them to be something else and don’t have the patience to wait for the lecture. Necessity requires us to learn to use new technologies and my role of a parent of small boys has required me to be able to learn this new technology and NOW! 

As for the others who are involved in educational decision making, there needs to be a change in how the whole process works. It can be done! It takes will but it occur. Being part of a school division that is still going through the pangs of force amalgamation, I know it isn’t easy but it can be done. My hope is that as things continue to grow and change, people who are working in these positions will continue to foster growth and not settle into a plateau stage. It’s not the growth and change that is the problem, it’s believing we have achieved a level to stop that is. 

Life Long Learning

This phrase is so hollow for so many in education. They say they want students to become life long learners but they have no idea what exactly that is because they quit doing it themselves so long ago they forget how hard learning is and what it takes to be a learner. Oh, they think they are learning when they adopt a new reading series or math series or some new center but it’s not. They continue to do the same old with a new piece. It’s like using your computer on highspeed to just answer emails. If that’s all you do, stick with dial-up! I mean, one doesn’t paint their entire house with a brush anymore. Why, because someone invented a roller or sprayer. One don’t use lead-based paints anymore because someone has figured out it really messes you up and someone invented incredibly good acrylic paints. I could go on and on about this because in education this type of “learning” happens all the time and we accept it as actual learning. Instead, all educators must be required to show and demonstrate their learning is actual learning – adding something new to their knowledge base. For crying out loud, that’s what we expect from students! 

Get out of the Bubble

One of the reasons I continue to paint and do these other things is that it gets me out of my education bubble. I am in situations where I do or I do not. Besides, I like the fact that at no time will anyone be able to use the “I can make it so you don’t work again!” against me. Always learning means there are so many opportunities out there for me and my family and, with staying involved outside education, I know that there are opportunities to be had if I were to make that decision. 

My suggestion for all educators – get out of the bubble. Instead of going to a conference on more education – learn a trade or how to do something that is outside the bubble. It’s amazing what people who aren’t in education talk about. It’s these insights that get me out of my narrow “educational” view and looking at things differently. It’s probably why I think educators need to “Do or do not”. Change is happening and it’s time to quit talking to the choir. They already agree and sing the same tune. 

Whether you agree or disagree, take a stand. Like John Mellencamp says” you either stand for something or you fall for anything!” Time to stand up!

Wrestling the invisible

I took some time to do some reading last week during our February break. There were many great posts and ideas that are circulating via my RSS Reader but three posts really caught my attention. The first was Linda’s post about the difference she sees between “front line teachers” and those who are contributing to the edublogosphere discussions. The second is a set of posts by Nancy McKeand and a take on an artcile about teaching. The third is a post by Dave Sherman which looks at good teaching.

Each of these, in their own way, reflects on how technology and new tools impact what makes a good teacher. Linda’s view is very personal, something that I really appreciate. It gives me something to reflect upon as someone who is working toward building the skills of the teachers with whom I work. I like her comment that

My day has enough ‘must know, must do, must respond, must quantify’ in it that I look at my PLN to create humor in some difficult, stressful situations.

Her post is honest and forward which I appreciate. She expresses her thoughts about the use of technology from the perspective of a full-time teacher who is working at capacity. She is much like many of the teachers that I know and with whom I associate. The comments on the post reflect more of the same. It is vital that people outside the daily teaching arena listen closely to these voices. My friend Susan has expressed some similar thoughts after returning to the classroom this year. Her post looks at how she is trying to bring different aspects together and how difficult it is to do now that she is in the classroom full-time.

For now, my classroom is completely wireless, yes, no wires at all. Unplugged. Oh, I have the one computer in the corner. I try to keep up the school website and my class site but it is not what I was dreaming of last year. I’m not sure how to do it. The lab is in a state of disrepair and the six computers in the library might make stations possible but they are down the hall and around the bend so it’s a struggle to get all of us there and purposeful at the same time. I need… I need time to think it out, plan for it, find a small chunk that I think might work.

I continue to read what Susan has to say because she is someone who I know has the desire and knowledge to merge web2.0 tools and the classroom. Her posts, not all are this subject, allow me to better appreciate someone who, although not in my building, is close to home and has similar demands as do the teachers in my school. With Linda, they really highlight what many teachers are feeling. As someone who is looking to be a champion of Web2.0 tools, it is this type of insight that gives me food for thought.

Nancy’s posts are great for the original discussion on What makes a good teacher?, the comments and then the following post that stretches this a bit further. In this day and age of fast and furious change, we really need to watch what we expect of teachers and how we begin to evaluate what they do. The two big questions at the end:

  The big question now is whether – after 20 years of being told exactly what and how to teach – there are enough teachers ready to be “creatively subversive”?

Also, after years of being told in precise detail how to teach, will teachers feel ready both to devise their own way of teaching and engaging students and also constantly to evaluate and adapt their own teaching methods.

These two questions are really at the heart of what we are asking teachers to do no matter what it is we are asking them to do and without the proper amount of time for teachers to reflect – in the bathroom between classes is not adequate time by the way – the outcomes will not match what we know is possible. Now, there are some teachers that are doing great things and are great examples of what can be achieved but, unless we listen to the teachers like Linda and Susan, we will be doomed to follow the path of previous school change ideas.

Finally, Dave Sherman’s post. Dave’s post really focuses on what is paramount in good teaching.

 Good teaching in the 21st century is not about technology. High quality teaching is not just about blogging, creating wikis, or podcasting. Yes, those are a few of the tools or options available to teachers, but there are so many more. Real teaching is about creating opportunities for students to become involved in critical thinking, questioning, problem solving, inquiring, researching, and authentic learning.

I couldn’t of said it any better. Thanks Dave! In a time of constant change and increasing responsiblilities on teachers, how do we expect them to bring about changes through refelction if we don’t somehow give them the time? To be a teacher during this time is to step forward and take the whole of the social fabric of society on your back. The public expectation of teachers has grown while the amount of time for reflection and professional growth has not. We have students with a myraid of challenges in the classroom, expect teachers to differentiate for students and now begin to use a host of new tools without giving them more time to do so.

Yes, I know that using the tools will help with time and it’s use within schools and the classroom. But time has become this invisible combatant against whom the various levels of education are all trying to battle but from different sides with no one really making any progress. Because no can agree howor what  this time opponent looks like, we end up in a match against each other without gaining any ground. What is the old adage “To go fast, first you have to go slow.” Yes there are many educators adopting the tools but there are many good teachers who are able to reach their students through other means. If one of the greatests tools for helping teachers improve their teaching is self-relflection, are we giving them the necessary tools to do this?

Finding a balance – mentoring an online life?

This evening I was spending time do other things besides being online – parent things like going to hockey practice, reading stories, playing mini-sticks and yucking it up with my teenage daughters. It was one of those evenings of which I’ve spent plenty just being “home”. I didn’t have to rush off to a meeting or feel the need to check in with the online world.

Later on, once children were in bed and studying, I sat down to check in and see what was happening. Now dropping in on Twitter can be a bit of a shock as you may have to search to see what the conversations are all about. Because there are so many different things happening on mine, it sometimes takes me a little bit to familiarize myself with what is happening. As I was looking at the conversations, this one from jepcke jumped out at me:

How do you balance an insanely busy day/week & keeping up with Twitter?

I’m not sure. I know that there is part of me that wants to stay “up-to-date” with what is happening in the Twitterverse. Just like when I first began with my RSS reader. I was reading and reading, trying to stay caught up with all the things that were going on, trying to write on my blog and trying to do all the other things. I finally realized that keeping caught up wasn’t going to happen, not for a person like myself with children, community commitments, coaching commitments plus all the things that are related to be an administrator at a school.

The same thing started to happen with Twitter. I wanted to keep caught up with all that was happening, all the new ideas and tools that people were using and the things that were going on. It was the whole RSS reader thing over again. Fortunately, it has taken me much less time this go around to realize that I’m can’t be one of those people who seems to be on twitter and the internet all the time. In fact, I’m not sure that is the kind of impression that I want to give. As kolson29 twitted:

have to come to terms with my addiction to online world vs not wanting my kids there.

This isn’t the first time I’ve run across this. Seems it happens to many of us who are trying to find a balance between online and inlife. This can be very difficult for many of us. As we build our networks and PLN’s, we are seeing how important such things are for us and our growth. We are dedicated to what the net and the networks have to offer and are seeking out new experiences and new ideas. (Sounds like StarTrek should be playing in the background!)

There comes a time, however, that we run into the problem of balance. Late nights tweeting with cross-continent colleagues, early mornings trying to get things together for a podcast, a quick check-in on twitter to see who’s on and what’s happening. Evenings are full of all kinds of happenings with some new tool being shared, tried and discussed. All this time eventually affects other parts of our lives. Well, it did my life. Like many new things, I became distracted with the one while not paying attention to the many.

For the first time in weeks, I went for a run today during my son’s hockey practice. It felt great. Sure, I listened to a podcast but I was just listening to it, allowing the information to be part of my run (treadmill of course! It’s like -38C with a wind here!) Like I mentioned earlier, I spent time doing different things with my children. When I’m done this, I’ll be doing a bit of reading and then off to an early bed – a habit that I would really like to continue! I find that it is good to have regular sleep.

For so many of us, the work we do each day is not just a job; it’s a passion. We believe what we do is important and we are dedicated professionals. That’s why so many of us eat lunch while catching up on email or twits, spend a great amount of time online and search within our network for ways to improve what is we are doing. Because things are changing at a break-neck speed, many are working at a break-neck speed. But is this good for us? Is this a good example? If we were mentoring someone, would this be good mentorship? I’m not sure. I do know that I’ve noticed that my children need to given an example regarding appropriate use of many things and I’m not sure that, in my overzealous pursuit of “keeping up” I haven’t really applied the “walk the walk”. Yes my online PLN is important and I really do enjoy the discussions with other educators. However, it needs to be in balance with the other areas of life. If it begins taking time that should be used to keep that balance, then it’s time to take stock, reflect and shift accordingly.

And maybe, by doing this, I can be better at discussing various tools with my colleagues. Because I know the time it takes to find and learn and incorporate, I can provide an example of balance for them. Now, I know that many people comment that we need to “work with the willing.” Well, I don’t always get the willing with which to work. In fact, as a middle years teacher, most of my students fell in the “un” category. I didn’t give up on them – couldn’t. As a teacher leader – administrator – my role is work with all. So, somehow, someway I need to find ways to draw all people in. The willing are always so nice with which to work – I liked them as a teacher too! It was the students with whom I spend recesses and after school that, eventually, I really got to know and whom developed in ways beyond what we were studying.

As I search for that balance, I realize that I am a mentor – to my children, my colleagues and the other administrators with whom I work – as well as the people in my PLN. I’d like to spend more time online but my RSS experience has taught me that it will come with a cost in many parts of my life. My wife may not need a WOW widow t-shirt but she was thinking of getting a RSS widow badge and I don’t want her to go looking for a Twitter widow hat.

These are times of enormous and rapid change for educators and students.  As a teacher, I still don’t want to give up on the ones who aren’t easy. While being an administrator in a Catholic school, one of the teachers I worked with commented about the number of students  we were receiving that needed extra help and adaptations. The teacher, jokingly, wanted to know if I had put an add in the paper asking for all students with problems to apply. If so, could I stop running the ad. I laughed. Then, somewhat seriously I said “The ad we have is the cross on our front entrance – it symbolizes what we stand for and who we are. So, no, I’m not going to take down the ad. And it should remind us of what we are called to do.” I often reflect on that conversation when I meet up with a difficult student or family or … If I had wanted to work with only the willing, I guess I wouldn’t have decided to become a teacher and, if I had wanted to work with only the willing staff, I definitely wouldn’t have become a principal. But they all deserve my best – which means that having balance and being a mentor is very important – especially during times of change.

Time for something else.

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.

Who you gonna call?

The other night I was working on converting a video from flv to mov format but couldn’t remember the online site that did that. I went to the twitter page and asked if anyone knew of the name of the site. In less than 5 minutes I had 3 responses of sites I could use. Now I was trying to remember zamzar, which is a name one should not forget, but it took no time for someone to help me.

In educational technology circles, we’ve been discussing and talking about using new tools and leveraging these new tools for the benefit of students learning. At various times it has been lamented that teachers are basically unwilling to change how they do things despite the availability of different tools that might enhance the learning opportunities for their students.

Just recently, there has been a growing discussion about how important networks are becoming for individuals as they experience the power of being able to connect and share with other professionals. Educators are beginning to build a variety of networks, discussing the ways that these types of things might be used in education. One such discussion is actually an online debate, Oxford style, between Ewan McIntosh and Michael Bugeja. This is Ewan’s promo:

This week you can take part in the Economist.com debate I will start today with Michael Bugeja, Director of Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University. We’re arguing our corners in an Oxford-style online debate, he against the motion that social networking will have a positive impact on education, and I’m arguing for the motion.

Now Ewan used the power of his network to put together his opening statement.

Incidentally, my first 1000 words were effectively co-written in a 25 minute Twitter conversation across the web and mobile phones. My thanks to Lucy, John, Nick, Lisa, Adam, Judy, Sue, David… and many more who jumped onto Twitter. Who can say social networking is not having a postive impact on the way teachers, at least, are learning?

This is a great demonstration of how a network can help individuals in their own learning and in problem solving.

Over at Change Agency, guest blogger Nick Pernisco is discussing this same theme in the context of news and keeping informed.

I have to relinquish some of my own thinking to a trusted third party… I simply can’t keep up myself, so someone else needs to. Instead of checking 100 sources of information per day, I’ll only check 10 that will hopefully contain the best of the 100 sources. That means I can shift my brain from seeking out 100 sources to critically analyzing the compiled information from the 10 sources. We do this everyday when we watch a newscast instead of going to each place there is news happening, or read a newspaper instead of calling local and national governments ourselves for the scoop.

His final thought, though, gets at the real core of the matter when dealing with education and teachers.

This is why media literacy is more important than ever in today’s information glut world.

Media literacy, and for teachers, technology literacy, is so important. People in education must be able to discern what will serve them the best in a given situation. This is where the discussion about technology becomes a bit difficult. Advocates of technology use in schools see the use of technology by teachers as a natural progression of teaching as the teachers learn new things and use them to help build student’s learning. However, we do have a bit of a problem. How do we get a bulk of the educators to begin using and adopting?

Pete Reilly at Ed Tech Journeys continues the discussion that started at Scott Macleod’s Dangerously Irrelevant about mandating teachers. His thoughts are, as usual, insightful and make one question the actual validity of something like that.

It’s a great question and it provoked some good discussion; however is mandating technology use enough? Will it create the pedagogical changes we want, if put in the hands of educators whose personalities are not conducive to the classroom transformation we’d like to see?

Read Pete’s post. It really does highlight the problem that mandating has in education. We can control the program or tool but not the people or how they will use the them. We’ve seen that in so many different programs that have come and gone through the schools. What compounds this problem is the fact that there are so many different tools that one can choose to use and there is no real agreement on what are basic tools that teachers should begin using. People like Vicki Davis and Jane Hart do a great job of giving their suggestions, as do others. The point here is that there are so many tools that are out there and it is hard to know where to start. And this could be the problem, with so much happening so quickly, there seems to be something new and improved coming out every week. It is a bit overwhelming at first look.

Perhaps the teachers who are not jumping on-board are not aware is available to them? I think the biggest problem is that perhaps there are too many possibilities for “jumping in”. This actually makes it scarier then it really is. Paul Williams

This is where many of us who are already working with many of these tools have an edge that other educator do not. Our networks. We have been working through problems, trying out software and sharing ideas as quickly as something comes out. How? Well someone on the network seems to have or use whatever comes out and shares it with the rest. These early adopters (where do they get the $ ) help to bring the rest along. But where does one start? There are literally hundreds of networks that educators can join.

I agree with the social networking comments. Two people on twitter took time and great care to introduce me to some twitter friends whom I could follow and whom they knew would follow me and allow valuable interaction. Otherwise I was following some, unable to interact, unable to learn much and about to nearly give up. murcha

For those who are trying to get going, it can be a very daunting thing. That’s when, sifting through my RSS feeds in Google Reader, I came across an post by mscofino in which she states:

I know it’s frustrating to see something so close yet so far, and I know it seems like if we could just get the technology authentically embedded (and we don’t need the teachers on board for that, do we?) into the curriculum in one fell swoop, we’d be done before we started. But teachers are special folk. If they don’t want to change, they won’t. We have to show them, we have to prove why they should. And there’s no better way to do that than with other classroom teachers sharing their success. And those successes aren’t going to happen with a technology facilitator forcing a teacher to change (as if they could, given that they’re never going to be a supervisor to other teachers). It’s going to happen when a teacher wants to change and asks for help.

It would be easier if we could just mandate things but that isn’t going to work. We now that social networks, whether technological or f2f, are very powerful and impact all of us. These networks, for the most part, have not been well used in education. Teachers, usually in isolation, have worked away at subject or grade levels, implementing curriculum with a PD day here and there. Every now and then, something new comes along, usually with a new administrator at some level, but it passes. Not this time. Technology isn’t just a fad that will pass with the next hiring. Why? Because it is becoming part of the culture.

I like the idea of “Change One Thing”, and relate it to technology. Make one technological change, whether its a Google Reader account or a Wiki, the important thing is to change something. Paul Williams

This is where, I believe, we need to begin. We need to work with teachers and use one tool. Show them how to use it and manage it while at the same time introducing them to a network where they can lurk for awhile, seeing what others are doing and understanding that frustration and problems are part of the whole learning equation. In fact, today I made my first inroad with one of my other administrators who is taking an online class. She has asked me to help her with setting up some things and working with some of the tools. She wanted to know if I had the time? Of course I do. I know that if I can get her started and then encourage her, she will grow and some of these tools will be adopted. As she told me “I know I have to do this but I just haven’t had the right push to do them. Well, now I do.” She’s worried she’ll do something wrong or things will be too complicated. For those of us using the tools we need to let other teachers know that no one has all the answers and we’re all on a learning continuum. It’s the sharing that helps us grow in ways we never could have dreamed of.

To my network out there, thanks for your input!

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;)

Greatest Change Impact

I’ve been thinking about where a person can have the greatest impact on educational change. I know as a teacher that, with the right administrator and connections with other educators, you can create change within the classroom and, if you are a lead teacher or given the encouragement, you can influence and impact other teachers. I don’t doubt that what each teacher does has an incredible impact on the students they see but as for impacting actual change in education, the influence seems to be slight in most cases.

As an administrator, I know that I have impact on change with the staff. It is part of my role as educational leader to be evaluating what we are doing and then examining what we might do differently to increase the effects on the students in the school. I know that initiatives from central office need to have my support and my backing in order for them to be successful. This means that I am always looking at how I might help teachers as they seek to improve what they are doing. At the division level, I know that being part of various initiatives allows for input at the ground level and can have an influence on the way that the division moves in relation to particular initiatives.

At the superintendent and director level, I’m still not sure about although I see that it is at this level that initiatives begin and movement takes place. It is at this level that the plans can impact many areas and have an influence on various system changes.

I guess each one has its unique ability to influence what is happening in the classroom and how the students are affected. The farther away from the classroom, the less direct the impact. However, for any major shift to take place, must it not have a catalyst at the senior administration level?

My reason for this is that I was so looking forward to working with teachers in using various technologies in enhancing some of the intiatives that were taking place in the school. Most of them begin at the division level but it was my hope that we would be able to infuse what we were doing with tools that would assist students in learning and creating. Thus far, I haven’t been able to do this because of the number of things that are going on and the time they are taking from my administrative time some of which I had planned to use for assisting teachers. As for the classroom level, there have been a number of teachers who have expressed interest but their time is being used working through the initiatives that have come to us.

As I watch and take part in the various conversations via twitter and other networks, I see that there are many teachers who are impacting their students’ learning. However, would there be a greater impact if, at the central office level, there were initiatives that gave supported this type of teaching across a greater number? I really want to create the conditions for teachers to explore new strategies and use some of these new tools but it seems, with all that we are doing, there is little left for such endeavours to take place, even for motivated teachers. Maybe it’s just a phase we are needing to adjust to and once these initiatives become part of the fabric of the school, we can explore different strategies. I just wonder if we’ll ever really have that oppotrunity or if I need to reexamine what we are doing and find the time regardless of what is happening. Any ideas?