Educational Discourse

Well, I’ve run across posting problems again. I don’t know what to do. Please check out the post here for all the links that I included. I will update here later.

Today was our admin meeting day. On this day, I travel about an hour to meet with the rest of the administrators in our school division. At this time we are focusing on PLC’s, SMART goals and, finally, a bit of technology. Another key component is our grade-alike groups in which we discuss different issues that are affecting our schools and brainstorm ideas that might assist us in finding solutions to these issues.

Now, I’m in a particularly unique situation as a school administrator. In the present school division, I am the largest K – 12 school by approximately 70 students. This means that I have more staff and more admin time than other schools. I also do not have the problems of offering senior options and finding ways to combine classes like my counterparts. Interestingly, I am one of the few k – 12 schools that does not have a vice-principal, meaning that schools with much smaller populations than ours have an adminstration team that works together within the building. I may have more administration time but I spend that time alone. This is the result of the almalgamation of six school divisions and the legacy division I was in did not have vice-principals. All this puts me in a very unique situation in that I have to use a variety of different leadership skills in order to be an effective leader. However, today I made, or realized, an amazing thing.

Remember this, it will come back into play later.

Yesterday, our school hosted a GAL day (Get A Life) for our grade 11 and 12’s. The day was organized around ideas and themes that students gave to us. We dealth with self concept, relationships, stress, living on your own safety tips, responsibilities of being on your own, resumes, interviews and optional educational opportunities for students. The day was successful. We had good participation and we have learned much that we will apply to our organization for next year. My role was as host, organizer and presenter. Oh, and tear-down manager.

My first presentation was called – Flat is Where It’s At. I took information from the book The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman and mixed it with information from the book A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. I then used the TED presentation by Jeff Hann and the movie mix of Did You Know? by Scott McLeod which is a remix of Karl Fisch’s original. This is the first time I have done anything like this. Now, the first presentation of this to the students went okay. They were interested by the facts from Did You Know? and we were able to dialogue about some of the implications for them as people in Canada. After seeing the Jeff Hann presentation, we then discussed how something like this might impact them in their future careers. What was great was after seeing the presentation, they began to see how that type of technology could impact everything from engineers to dress designers to medicine to video game makers. The more they talked, the more they were willing to explore the possibilities. Some of them asked for the TED url, which I gave them, so they could see other things that were going on there. With this in mind, they moved off to other presentations.

Later in the day, I did a presentation of alternative educational opportunities. Part of the presentation dealt with apprenticeship opportunities and careers in these areas. The students, referring to what we saw earlier in the day, began to ask about the viability of such careers. We then had a good discussion on their need to continue learning after highschool and they came to the conclusion that, for them, learning was going to be a continuous thing that would be part of their entire life. What a lightbulb moment that was!! I then added some information on Second Life and distance education, giving them some idea of what some universities and tech-schools are doing with on-line learning. This really sparked the conversation, which is what I wanted it to do. They began to wonder about the viability of studying in various universities all from one location by being able to tap into the opportunities offered in a place like Second Life and how this might impact their ability to determine which was a better method and, wait, how they would know if the person who was instructing was in fact a certified professor or credible in that particular area. Unfortunately, our time was over and the students had to disperse.

My day was not over. At 7:00 pm the people who presented during the day offered a parent evening and gave an overview of what they had done during the day. My presentation was very similar to the morning although I did add some other information from Daniel Pink’s book that I thought they might find interesting. What caught me off guard was their reaction to the two movies. Instead of being scared and concerned by the numbers and information presented, they were intrigued. They did admit to being overwhelmed by some of it but they had many more questions than the students. In fact, I had a number of requests for copies of both so that they could share the information with some other people. These parents were very interested in SL. In fact, the reaction was so positive because the group was able to discuss the information and take some time to put into context what was given to them. One of the presenters wants my blog url for him and his wife, who’s a school administrator, as he felt it would be good to see how this works.

Today, when we came to technology, I was still kind of “high” from my experience the previous evening. Well, imagine the crash that happened when it became apparent that many of this group were not really interested in any of the new information I was wanting to share from what had taken place but, as one person stated “Technology really uses alot of time. Why do we spend so much time on it” HUH??? As I began to explain the implications of what was happening with the technological innovations and how we are just a bit behind, I was reminded that this was off topic and we had better get back to discussing the task at hand, what were the plus and minuses of the software we currently had. Smack! The crash.

Tonight, as a sort of therapy, I’ve spent the last bit just reading about what is going on in other schools. Now, not all the posts are about technology. In fact, most of them aren’t. But, what I realized tonight was that I just don’t have one vice-principal to share with and discuss things with, I have a whole RSS feeder full of people who share common interests, have a common passion and will be there to tell me that I’ll be okay. I’m not limited to those I can see f2f. I have a support network that is, really, unlimited. Now, in reality, I’m not that popular and I can only read so many posts. But, new people are always leaving comments and I’m always reading new blogs.

I have also realized that my staff is much farther ahead than most of the other staffs. I usually find that I am frustrated by the slowness at which we are moving but, today, I realized that my staff is very much moving ahead and willing to try new things. Hey, we have a staff pbwiki calendar that almost all the staff is now visiting and adding events. We are using email regularly. We are trying different things with the technology. We are starting to have conversations about literacy outside of text and wondering about how students will develop digital literacies.

Today, driving home, I felt very much distant from the other administrators. I don’t worry about cellphones or ipods or coffee cups in the hall. I encourage students to use alternate methods of presentation in my classes, although my CPT class is a whole other story, er, post!

Then, I realized that I’m not doing this job for other administrators, I’m doing it for the students that were in the school yesterday and my immediate focus needs to be on the school in which I work and the teachers and students whom I serve with your help. Yes. You are the administrators and leaders whom I look to for inspiration and support. You are the administrators and leaders that provide me with the insights and ideas that I then take and use with the staff and students in our school.

Last night, one of the presenters asked me why I blog. I explained that it is because of the knowledge that I gain from the vast wealth that is available to me. I realize, however, that it’s more than that. I blog because I want to share with those with whom I have connected. I blog because I realize that the synergy created within the blogosphere is so tremendous that it has the ability to transform education. Maybe only one teacher and school at a time. It is changing education. Differentiated leadership – matching the leadership to what is needed by the people/person. For me, it is happening because I have the opportunity to be connected to a larger group of people who are leaders.

Today was a very good day.

I’ve been strugglin’ through the bloggin’ blues!

My reader’s overloaded, I just don’t know where to start.

Explode stats are sinking, goin’ through the floor.
My Technorati’s baslined, my clustrmap gone flat
Oh, I don’t know what to do ’cause
I’ve been strugglin’ through the bloggin’ blues.
Miguel’s at four a day, Stephen at 6 or more.
Scott’s new blog’s a hit and Kimberly is shinning bright.
Jan’s a selected principal and Darren’s hit the news.
But me, no where, not close, ’cause
I’ve been strugglin’ through the bloggin’ blues.
I’ve eight blogs in limbo, can’t find the words that fit

I’ve got a hollow in my stomach like a huge, dark pit.

My Super’s doin’ surveys, oh I don’t want to know.
Some days this seems so senseless ’cause

I’ve been strugglin’ through the bloggin’ blues.
Report cards are comin’,

can almost see their whites!

I know I’ll spend this week

with mostly sleepless nights.

Meetings, presentations; all this week do fall,

Sure don’t want to hit another wall ’cause
I’ve been strugglin’ through the bloggin’ blues.
My nano’s runnin’ low,

Friedmann’s lookin’ flat,

Pink’s New Mind is started,

But I’ve double read the intro!

Nothin’s goin’ right, all seems to be in knots ’cause
I’ve been strugglin’ through the bloggin’ blues.
Saw the green-eyed monster

rear it’s ugly head

as I watched each new blog

knowing that they will be read
but mine just won’t appear ’cause
I’ve been strugglin’ through the bloggin’ blues.

As a writer, I’ve usually been able to work through those times when things weren’t flowing. However, this past week, I’ve hit a new wall and I didn’t know what to do. For those of you who’ve been reading, you’ll have noticed that my blog production has dropped to almost non-existent and my topics seem to be all over the place. Well, they are because I’m going through a mid-principal crisis and I haven’t been able to put my thoughts in order. My “want to do” is really interfering with my “have to do” making it very difficult to get anything done. As a closet poet who should probably stay in the closet, I find that many times when I have an overload of things that are on my mind, I need to make my list, which you read above. Now, I’m also trying the “To Do” list thing but I still haven’t mastered it so I’m putting to paper what I’ve been wrestling with over the past two weeks or so.

Thinking about being a Principal?

What follows are some things that I’ve come to realize are what’s causing me so much angst. I start off with the “You too can work on this committee” problem and then provide a few advice points. Nothing magic – more a reflection for me.
For those who are just looking at moving into a principal position or who are just starting, a word of advice. Watch what you saddle yourself with because what might appear to be a simple committee may turn into something with a life of its own that uses your energy as its source of existence. You can identify such things by:

No apparent idea of the length that it will last.

No concrete mandate or guidelines.

It is the passion of someone else.
There are no specific outcomes identified at the outset.

For me, I decided that this was the year I take on two such projects. So, as this week begins, I see myself completely overwhelmed by what I need to do and perpare for the next four days. I have three presentations that are all bouncing around inside my head but have yet to see the dawn of the digital-day. I’m working on becoming a professional meeting person this week. I think this is my practicuum week! And… to add just a little more excitement, I’ve a parent who has begun to make me their pet improvement project. If only I could change a few of the ways I do things would be okay. Right now I have personal issues?!
Second point of advice. Be sure you select carefully those hills you will fight and die on. Not all of the things that come your way are worth the war. It took me a while to figure this one out. But after a while I began to see that if I fought for everything I thought was right, I wouldn’t have the energy or the suppport to do those things that were “essential” for students. Now, I’m much more selective. However, that doesn’t mean that I always choose correctly. In this case, I chose wrong and stood when I probably should have gone immediately into negotiations for an agreement that would have satisfied both parties. Now, the war has started. The parent, for all you who are new to this, will, and can, use any means necessary to obtain their goal. You, as administrator, will need to dig deep into your personal integrity bag to withstand the desire to also do whatever you feel is necessary. This is not about you winning anymore. You will need to decide what is best for the school and the students. My experience is that you need to demonstrate that whatever anyone says, you are a person who “walks the talk” and who has in mind the best interests of all students. Refuse to discuss the subject with anyone, except those in higher positions. Take care in what youd do and, after your initial reaction, which you alone will know, turn to getting on with the business of school. I’ve learned that to dwell on the negative really eats up so much energy that could be used for other things.
Third point of advice. Seek out the wisdom of others. Talk to other administrators or people that you trust. Much of what we do is personal relations. For me, that has not always been easy. I have a rare disease that sometimes inflicts me at the most inopportune moments. This disease, called FEETINMOUTH dementia is caused when I stick both my feet in my mouth and then, with not a leg to stand on, fall on my head causing the dementia which makes me keep opening my mouth and shoving more of my feet in. As time has passed, I’ve learned to stop before being struck with a bout of the disease which usually leads to months of rehab. Instead, I listen, nod and ask a question or two. I then explain that before I answer or say too much I’d like time to do some thinking. This allows me to seek the wisdom of others, work through things and formulate a response that will still have me standing at the end.
The last point. Learn to leave the work at work. I don’t know how many email stories I’ve read about this type of thing but it is an absolute requirement. To be your best, you cannot be obsessed. Things are important and sometimes you will need to work late nights and long hours. But not all the time and when you leave, let the problems remain in the halls. They will be there when you return. Again, it has taken me some time to do this, medication and therapy have helped too! It is something that I’ve worked on being a somewhat obsessive person. I’ve discovered that by leaving things at work, I can return to them with a fresh perspective and, most times, see a way to bring about the beginnings of a solution. With this is the understood idea that you can’t own all the problems of the school nor can you fix all them. You must work on what you can, influence what you can and point out what you can. However, there are things that were there before you began. In order for these to be corrected, the person involved needs to see there is a problem. That is part of what you do, helping others see where they can improve and providing the resources for them to do that. But, you cannot make them, just as I cannot get my son to eat green peas without threats of some sort. I’ll leave this one because dealing with a teacher who doesn’t want to change has caused many a tree to die and this post wasn’t to be this long anyway.
I am beginning my week with the realization that I have two very important meetings in two places at the same time. Why do I do this to myself??!! Like I said at the start – a mid-principal crisis!