Bold Leaps

Being Thankful

Here are some things I heard in a meeting this week- with my responses, some said aloud, others I kept to myself.

"That superintendent told me he does not allow his teachers to blog."   "The district needs to control Internet access."  Why are the teachers treated like children rather than professionals?!  While some districts are afraid teacher bloggers may show their system in a bad light, there is a right way for teachers to blog.  Will Richardson offers some very good advice on how to accomplish that here.   In fact, if I knew who this superintendent was, (the speaker would not give his name.), I would send him this to read about why HE should blog as well.

" The district only allows blogging if it is through Echalk."  This totally defeats one of the main the purposes of blogging for teachers AND students--connecting, collaborating, developing new ways of learning beyond the classroom. For a well articulated rationale about educational blogging, read this post by Anne Davis.

So it was with a great sense of timing that this video appeared on Thanksgiving from the Twitter world.  Indeed, "everything's amazing and nobody's happy".  I am sure it was sent from the universe to remind me to  calm down, be appreciative  how far we have come in this world of technology and be thankful,  and most of all, be patient in  sharing my passion.  And to provide a smile.  Mission accomplished.    

A Picture is Worth...

Many thanks to Scott McLeod for this visual image and to David Warlick for his ability to capture in a few words the reason we need cataclysmic change in how we school our children.

 

More Than A Wake Up Call

Did you know that in 2016, the youngest of the Generation We will reach voting age?  And that--politicians take note--they will be the largest voting bloc in the country?!  Listen to what they have to say.

 

 

There is increasing evidence that the way we school children in this country is becoming more and more irrelevant and we must all stand up and shout no more! Over at Will Richardon's blog--a leading thinker in transforming schooling for digital learners--we are alerted to the just released study from the MacArthur Foundation titled “Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project” (pdf).  According to Richardson, this is the money quote:

"New media allow for a degree of freedom and autonomy for youth that is less apparent in  classroom setting. Youth respect one another’s authority online, and they are often more motivated to learn from peers than from adults. Their efforts are also largely self-directed, and  the outcome emerges through exploration, in contrast to classroom learning that is oriented toward set, predefined goals."

Perhaps we should use these tools to work both ends towards the middle--send a wake up call to the policy makers at the global level and the educators on a school district and school  level that we need to think very differently about how we build schools, how we decide what students should know, how we assess whether they know it or not.  We now have the most technologically advanced administration ever in the White House.  The modeling is happening at the national level.  Hopefully, this will spark deeper conversations about providing Internet access as a utility for anyone, anywhere, building an infrastructure that can support the vision we have for teaching digital learners so we move on into changing how we school this new generation--we need it sooner rather than later.

Finding the Geek and Nerd Within

A colleague recently sent me a video that was amusing at first. It shows an elderly woman dealing with the digital conversion of television signals. 

Kinda cute, huh? However, the more I think about it the more uncomfortable I feel.  Somehow it is ok in our culture to be technically challenged.  I can understand that not everyone knows how everything works under the chassis of the computer, but would we have videos of people struggling to learn how to read?  It reminds me of the huge perception difference in the ability to read and the ability to "do math".  How many parents have brushed off Johnny's poor achievement in math by saying they were not good in math either? Would they say they could not read so openly and unashamedly?  I fear the same is true for digital literacy.  The digital immigrants are using the  same excuses to hide heads in the sand about transforming education to teach digital learners.  We know that "developing critical thinking skills and authentic literacy skills is certainly not a new idea-- educational thinkers like John Dewey and Paulo Freire wrote about these things many years ago and in great depth." (W. Fryer)  But the education landscape has changed dramatically due to technological innovations and we need for this skill development to be within the technological context of the twenty-first century. (David Warlick has practical ideas for teachers on how to make this change happen in the classroom with his book "Redefining Literacy for the 21st Century".)

In the meantime, we need to rethink how we filter our own thoughts and perceptions about those who we think are better at technology than us--the "geeks"-- and those who we think are more interested in technology than us--the "nerds".  We must all become "geeks" and "nerds" with a healthy curiosity and willingness to go where no teacher has gone before--preparing students for THEIR futures, not ours.

Selling Cookies and Schools

I have never considered myself a good salesperson. Selling Girl Scout cookies door-to-door when I was a child was a traumatic experience that has carried over into adulthood. So I went into education--no peddling of goods, no hawking of wares, no schlepping of items to convince folks to purchase. Educators do not need to “push” education—after all, to teach is to touch the future, to mold children’s lives, to impact humanity in positive and infinite ways—who can argue with that? Being a teacher is safe—right? Wrong! Over the past decade I have come to realize through experiences directly related to selling educational resources, that we in the education profession do sell something—ourselves, our ideas, our philosophies—and it gets manifested through the way we teach and learn. Sometimes the need to “sell”  is in the policy arena when public schools are constantly labeled “failing” by the media, by politicians, and others.  We must constantly remind everyone that teaching is based on social research and we are not producing widgets. Each child is unique and teaching effectively encompasses a high degree of skills, talents, knowledge, and heart. Sometimes the need to “sell” is to find adequate funds to innovate. As public dollars become scarcer, educators must turn to more and more fundraising to accomplish their jobs. Unfortunately, grant writing is a way of life for educators. In fact, David Warlick asks “Why has education in America, become institutionalized begging?” Good question for the politicians and law makers to ponder.

So when you are innovating effectively in the classroom with a particular set of beliefs, tools, and personnel that are not in the budget basics and worried that once the money is gone, everyone will move on the “next big thing” that gets funded, how do you “sell” your initiative so that funding continues and others not aware of your initiative understand its value and purpose? Sometimes we must go outside of our profession for possible solutions. One place to start is with Seth Godin. Seth Godin is not an educator but a marketing guru. I started reading his blog several months ago and he always has thoughtful, progressive, insight into the impact of human nature as it applies to the business of buying and selling. A worthy piece of advice is to create a story that resonates.

“Every person in the market has a worldview when it comes to what you're selling. It might be, "I don't care about that," or it might be, "all big companies are evil" or it might be, "I love new stuff." When your story aligns with my worldview, we have something to discuss. When it doesn't, you're likely to be invisible.”

So the tricky part becomes how to align your initiative with the worldview and take on the competitive advantage. What is the truth you believe in? What assumptions do you have? How do you see the world? The really hard part then is to accept that others may not have the same worldview as you—and begin to figure out how to tell your story so that you are visible. Are you doing what people say they care about? Are you connected to the community? Do you have access to hard-to-replicate talent? Do you have hard-earned skills? How will technology enable you and your colleagues to help your story resonate and maintain an advantage?

Technology Integration: How Educators Have Shot Ourselves in the Foot

Tim Holt, over at the blog Intended Consequences, talks about his frustration with the different perceptions of "technology integration" among educators.  In my experience, educators see technology in two dimensions.  In most cases there is a structural, personnel, and philosophical divide between the "hardware" side of educational technology and the "using technology to teach content" side.  Over fifteen years ago, when I was in the curriculum division at the SC Department of Education, the technology division was two floors away.  As much as I tried to convince my other content area colleagues about the importance of using technology, it went right over their heads--literally since the top floor was for all that "fancy" computer equipment. Even today, how many school districts have separated technology from curriculum in practice as well as in their organization charts?  Even progressive districts with instructional technology departments put them under the supervision of the person that is in charge of maintaining the servers--usually someone with no experience in the classroom.  (Too often the root of filtering tensions.)

When computers were first purchased for schools, economics drove how and where they would be placed.  Most schools could only afford a few so they were put into a lab down the hall.  So teachers and students, in their minds, thought of technology as the thing they do once a week, usually as a related art.  What drives the placement of computers today in schools?  Unfortunately, it is still economics rather than a vision for transforming education. Witness how hard it is to implment a 1:1 laptop program in more than one school at a time, or in most cases, in ANY school.

So it is no wonder we are having a hard time trying to reverse the perceptions of teachers, administrators, and the community.  As educators, we know how hard it is to unlearn something once it is ingrained.  So those of us trying to create cognitive shift in how to teach digital learners keep running up against the culture we ourselves created as edcuators.  We are always stuck in the "project mentality" mode of thinking in education--mainly through experience--one-time money comes along to fund a project, we buy stuff, maybe do a few things differently, but the money always runs out before any change can be institutionalized.  Then we move on to the next greatest thing. 

We must break the cycle.  I believe the times are such that we will have no other choice but to break the cycle.  The education world has not kept up in the rapidly changing world and the inertia on our part will be our student's collective tipping point.  The revolution will be borne by the students because education system as we know it is no longer relevant to them.  We are just at the beginning of their protests.  Many have already stopped coming to school as evidenced by graduation statistics, they no longer see education as a viable profession, and they are moving on without our help.  Our leaders must embrace a new, bold vision for transforming education.  We must recreate education to be three dimensional--where school, technology, and learning are all one and the same.

Education and the Economy: Our Best Hope

If this country is to move forward, pull itself out of this economic crisis, we must take an honest look at the education system and what needs to be changed--dramatically--so that the students in our classrooms today can realize their potential and role as digital citizens.  This point is brought home by a report of the US Department of Commerce Industry-Level Effects of Information Technology on Overall Production. This report ranked 55 industry sectors by their level of IT intensity.  Where did "educational services" come out?  Number 55, below all other sectors.  Yet it will be the students in our schools today that will have the burden of reducing the national debt and redefining the American Dream.  How will we begin to change the way we learn?

SchoolTube--A New Media Sharing Website

The National Association of Elementary School Principals has launched SchoolTube, a "safe, friendly environment" for student and teachers to showcase activities and accomplishments. It is a free media sharing website that is offers organizations video services including uploading, storing and managing contests.  It also provides information for educators wanting to use technology in the classroom with tutorials, lesson plans, and advice.

It will be interesting to watch if this site takes off as a reasonable alternative to YouTube, a site that has some materials not suitable for the classroom. The big question mark is whether or not it will make it past the filtering process in school districts.

The Vision for Education--in Five Minutes

Chris Lehmann is the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy. He spoke last week at Ignite Philly, an evening event at which speakers get 5 minutes to talk about 20 slides, which automatically rotate after 15 seconds . According to this BusinessWeek article,

"He speaks fast but makes a lot of sense. Innovation in education needs to be both broadly addressed and carefully focused. Technology in education needs to be a transformative tool, not merely additive."

It made me want to stand up and cheer! Every school board, every policy maker, every parent, every educator needs to demand that our schools be transformed.  If this is the united vision, we can truly make a difference in children's lives.

What's Policy Got To Do With It?

My years in the classroom have shown and brain research has validated that the best learning happens when someone experiences a phenomenon rather than reading about it in a textbook or listening to a lecture--no matter the age of the learner.  If we are serious about transforming schools to teach digital learners, then it follows that teachers must also transform how they communicate and collaborate in order to experience learning in the digital age.  But what about the policy makers, the elected men and women who craft laws that impact how we educate our school children and fund our schools?  How do they experience this phenomenon called digital learning so that they can make good decisions--whether it is building new schools or establishing accountability criteria?

I am happy to say that is happening in our state--in a small but important way.  A couple of weeks ago, I used Hahlo's Near Me feature to check out who in my area uses Twitter--because after all, you are no one if you are not on Twitter.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that my local legislative representative, Nathan Ballentine, is on Twitter! I immediately directed a tweet to him, checked out his blog, and made a comment to this post.   He replied back to me and checked out MY blog.  A connection was made--one that probably would not have happened were it not for the technology.  I appreciate his willingness to learn to use new social networking tools (He also has a Facebook page.) and even better--be excited about it!   As a member on the Education and Public Works Committee of the SC Legislature he can speak to the issue of social networking--its benefits and challenges--from first hand experience and bring reasoned debate to discussions.

Another group of policy makers that also needs to get on board with experiencing new communication and collaboration technologies are school boards.  Scott McLeod's post about a school board in another state being willing to use new technologies to do their work has me wondering about the school boards in SC that use laptops and other paperless environments.  I know of one--Greenville County Schools--the largest in the state.  Are there any others? Is there is a correlation between school boards that are willing to use the technology themselves and their vision of technology use  in the classroom?  How do we begin to bridge the gaps?  What can all us of learn from each other about how we can make revolutionary improvements in education?  What does policy have to do with it?