Educational Discourse

I’ve been in a discussion over at Infinite Thinking Machine with various people including Arthus who is “… a 14-year-old student in Vermont who has recently become actively involved in the online dialog about educational technology.”

Part of the discussion I’ve been having with Arthus and Steve Hargadon, of Ning Classroom2.0 fame, revolves around the need for schools to change. You can catch up on that conversation here. Part of the discussion has centered around the need for schools to change and for teachers to use more technology. Now, as many of you know, I agree on both accounts. One suggestion is that we need to increase the number and type of people involved in the discussion about schools and have more people who use and understand technology in decision-making positions. This is a good idea but I do not believe that, by having technologically savvy people in higher decision-making positions, it will somehow increase changes in schools regarding technology access, use or integration.

Societal Barriers

As much as many of us discuss within the small technological circle the need for schools to reform and the need for change, the reality is that the circle is small. Adding voices from someone like Arthus is a great thing to do. As I pointed out in the comments

we can have input from whomever we want but ultimately someone has to be responsible.Unless people fully understand this and are willing to give input realizing that their input is just that and may not be used, then we run the risk of people expecting things to happen when, in reality, they cannot….. Talk all you want, discuss all you want but until it’s your butt on the firing line about the decision that was made, don’t insinuate that those making decisions don’t know about technology or technology use.

I am someone who is in a position to make some decisions about what happens in schools. As much as I might like to see things change, there are other pressures that are also pushing and pulling for time and, depending on which one the media grabs or which one becomes a focus for the community, that is where many of the resources go. Is this always good? No. Is this what I want? Not always but it is the reality of what happens. You cannot point to any one level of decision-makers as most of them are reacting to societal forces that are pushing at them.

For changes, significant changes to take place in schools, society has to rethink the idea of school. Instead of people seeing students who are listening to ipods, texting and using laptops as youth playing with expensive toys, they need to realize that these tools could be powerful learning tools.For those students using the tools, they are but somehow we’ve made the internet something that has as many, if not more, evils than it has virtues. Media continues to portray and report the nasty and bad, which society is demanding they do, instead of the good. Now, those of us who see the potential of the tools and many of the students know this isn’t the case but for many parents this isn’t so. It is something new, different and, ultimately, something scary. For the adults, who can protect themselves, the internet is a wide-open playground yet with the youth this changes and becomes something else.

As Steve points out

I think part of the difficulty here is that the rise of the read-write web is probably going to have comparable historical and cultural significance to the advent of the printing press. I believe we are going to see some dramatic changes in many of our existing institutions.

Change is never easy and, I agree with Steve here, the changes are going to be widespread and far reaching. As adults, our natural reaction when we see something that we really don’t understand is to try to protect the youth. Is it any wonder that changes in schools are slow? This is a place where many of the adults can still walk into and recognize and, for the most part, feel safe. Despite all that is going on in the world around, schools and what takes place within them are still safe and recognizable.

Bring on the Change

For Arthus, and many other youth, they don’t see schools the same way. Their world has been dominated with change and with a global view of events and actions. Communication and socializing are all part of learning and understanding. Active integration of the tools is common. Using tools to create their own interpretation is not unique. Sharing with one another over vast distances is not a scary thing, it’s what they do. Instead of fearing the changes going on around them, they accept them as part of their way of life. Again, Steve comments

It may be that if traditional schools have difficulty responding to this massive change because of how they are currently structured–as you have pointed out well–we may find that some parents and students look for alternatives.

And indeed some parents and youth will make that move. However, as I point out,

“Society is basically happy with how schools run – they don’t want something radically different – “Hey, if it worked for me…” when, in fact, we do need something radically different. Something that would allow learners to access information, discuss topics – sometimes across boarders and oceans – create their own reactions that were “graded” differently than we do now. This would require that universities move away from how they accept students and, really, completely turn over the entire idea of education from top to bottom.

Such a monumental change requires more than just technology savvy people in decision-making positions. It requires a societal shift in the idea of what “educated” means. For that to happen, people have to become uncomfortable with the way things are being done and that will take time no matter who is making the decisions.

Lifelong learner. That’s what I like to think of myself as now. I mean, I’ve been more and more involved in the web2.0 activities and doing various things with the new technologies ever since my introduction to blogging a 9 or so months ago. I’ve developed and engaged some of the greatest educators around the globe, converse with them regularly via twitter and watch as their presentations at different events like the K12 online conference.

Yet, despite all this, there is still part of me that refuses to learn and accept that I have a role within the educational world both in my own division and in the larger global community. As an administrator, I am an educational leader for my staff. I have partly fulfilled this role as I navigate leading when needed and finding those around me who have skills that will allow them to lead while I provide the support they need. In this regard, I have become much better as an administrator.

Another part of me has had trouble navigating the line between full time teacher and principal. I’ve learned that there is a big difference between these two positions and will forever separate the two. As I watch the K12 online presentations, I have been thinking only of these tools from the view of a teacher. I have been trying to use them in my own class, searching for ways that they mashup with the currlculum to provide students with greater learning opportunities. This isn’t a bad thing but it is only a part of what I am.

Administration 

As I watched Dean Shareski’s presentation on Design Matters and listened to other presentations from the conference, part of me was saying “Hey, I could do that!” Dean does a fantastic job of explaining the role that design plays in creation. Now, he’s a Digital Learning Consultant and this is his area of focus. So while I was thinking “I could do that”, part of me was saying “Like when?” It isn’t really part of your job. This is not what you do – you are a principal. Bing! the light went on.

You see, being an administrator means that I’m not a full-time teacher nor an IT coordinator. Yes, part of my job is to show teachers different methods of teaching and helping them to expand themselves and learn. But it isn’t necessarily a main portion of what I am asked to do. My main role, however mundane it may sound, is the overall operation of the school. From dealing with students and parents to supervising teachers and, yes, trying to catch the peeing bandit plus ordering and making sure maintenance is done to …….. As much as I sometimes wish I could do more with advancing technology, I realize that isn’t my main role.

So Now What? 

As with all “ah ha!” moments, there is the time afterwards where the “So now what?” question looms. What it has meant for me is that I no longer feel guilty because I’m not doing what so many of my global colleagues are doing. In fact, it has refocused me and made me realize that I need to put my energies into using the technologies to help me administer and THEN share those experiences with the rest of the administrating world. My first project will be a time management presentation – because my TO DO list seems to increase exponentially through the day and I leave work with more to do than when I arrived. Maybe not – way boring!

I do think I will be focusing on how the tools of today can help administrators in keeping in touch with parents, students and community to build a better school community. Or maybe how to get administrators to collaborate over distances using the new technologies. Or maybe helping teachers differentiate their planning ….. whatever the choice, my role is as an administrator and that will frame what I do.

I’ve been using the Downey Walk-Through method of supervision more regularly since school began last year and with some work with my superintendent, have refined some of the things that are going on. Last year when I was doing them, I found it very clumsy to have an index card to write on. It wasn’t very easy to get the information that I wanted onto the card, I often forgot what each step entailed and didn’t do a great job making sure the objective was aligned with the curriculum for the subject/grade. This year, I decided to create a document for my PDA that I could use as a template and just fill in information.  This worked somewhat better and I liked having the date and time automatically saved to the document. One drawback was making sure that, when I returned to my office, I downloaded them and added in any information that was needed.

A week ago my superintendent and I did a walk-through with 13 of 15 teachers. We would both enter the room, do a visual, record information and then exit. We would do 3 or 4 and then have a debriefing about what we noticed. We stuck to just what we observed with no additional information. We continued, trying to visit all the teachers but not quite reaching our goal. About half-way through, I asked to use the template she had created and found it to be very user friendly and exact. Now there are things I will change for my own use but it uses a more checklist approach with room for other observations. We were able to compare exact information after this which was very helpful for both of us.

The walk-through method of observation has allowed me to see the teachers in their classrooms more often, be visible to the students, got me out from behind the desk and allowed me time to do some serious reflecting and thinking about my own professional approach to helping other teachers. I know that in a few more visits I will be able to offer the teachers an observation, comment or question for them to ponder.

This has also allowed me to prepare better for the formal supervisions that I will be doing later. I know that, by seeing all the teachers and getting a better picture of what is going on in each room, my perception of any particular teacher is not in isolation. I will be better able to maybe offer up some ideas and suggestions having seen more teachers teaching. I’m thinking I’d like to use the walk-through but instead have a longer pause to see get more of a feel for what is happening with the class, watch student interactions and basically be better acquainted with the different curricula and methods of teaching. This way I might be able to offer some suggestions from my technology strength which would provide a greater opportunity for growth for both the teacher and the student.

I’ve been working on creating a wiki to gather information about supervision – both formal and informal. I am always looking for templates and different techniques and tools that people use when doing supervision. I know that many districts and divisions have their own policies and tools that they use and expect their administrators to use. I think that information about different ways of doing supervision – moving toward growth and helping the teachers to develop their skills, is one of the vital professional roles that administrators have within the school.  We, as leaders, need to be setting an example for the teachers in being open to suggestions and looking for ways that we might improve what we are doing. Thus, the wiki. If you have any comments or ideas, please leave a comment here or on the wiki.

Perspective affects everything that we do. It affects how we view a situation, how we react, our decisions and a myriad of other things. Now, I have the perspective of someone who is an administrator, thinks technology in schools is important, believes schools need to alter and change to assist students to become thinkers and creators not watchers and consumers. However, I’m beginning to think that we may have reached a point where the change being brought on by technology may be creating a gap that, without some pretty significant changes, the ability of any school or regular classroom teacher to keep up may have passed the reality point.

This was first brought to my attention by Stephanie Sander’s post over at Change Agency where she discusses the need for many of the leading technology people to step back and reflect on where things are going. I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I beginning to wonder if we aren’t reaching a point where the constant change that could be introduced with new innovations is paralyzing people from trying anything.

9 months ago I began blogging. When I began, there were some very prolific and high-profile people discussing the power of blogging and the impact it could have on education and educators. In that 9 months it has gone from blogging to Skype chat, to Facebook, twitter, SL, plus a whole host of other things that I use for my teaching that are not part of my social networking. I now belong to 11 Ning groups, including having my own that I hope will eventually become a place for administrators in my own area to discuss and develop social networks of their own. Wikis have become my tool of choice for homework collection and dispersal, discussions and other class and school needs. I teach students how to create and post both podcasts and videos, something I’d probably not do if it weren’t for my teaching.

The latest thing to hit the floor is streaming tv that allows you to broadcast via the net. Now, I’m not up on this for a variety of reasons although I can see it having implications in my class, school and school division. The one thing that I’m really beginning to wonder is how in the world are we going to get teachers to begin to look at any of these if they are changing as fast as my 2 year old needs his diaper changed! Really. Last week, or was it the week before, I was looking forward to the K12 online conference, school was beginning well and I was into a routine for myself. Bam! Wham!

I seem to have been able to catch my breath today online to find that I’ve missed the first week of the conference, I’m way behind on both reading and posting and something called Ustream has taken the edusphere nation by storm. I did make it over to one of the sites to take a look but no one was on the air. I’ve been trying to get a grasp of what this does all week. Today, as I was outside working on some minor fixes before winter, I was wondering how anyone could ever keep up with all these changes if they were actually working in a classroom plus doing the many other things that teachers do. Is there any chance? Where is our best leverage going to be in schools?

Stephanie’s post really hit something today. Right now, we are having trouble figuring out how and what we might need to do to change curricula to be better suited for students today while at the same time providing parents and society with some type of system that will demonstrate that students are indeed learning and building their knowledge. We struggle within buildings and on campuses with a host of extreme social problems, like campus shootings, like we’ve never seen before and yet we know that we have one of the smartest generation of students ever to grace our classrooms. We are debating the need for safety with the need to teach the students how to keep them safe and trying to convince IT departments that maybe they need to change their roles within the educational framework or things will get some ugly some fast. I could go on but we aren’t even able to be sure students will be able to access an off site email account on the one hand and looking at yet another tool that seems to offer the ability to change some aspects of education. At this pace, teachers won’t have to bother with any technology because there will only be a handful of people who know about the technology and they aren’t everyday classroom teachers.

To seriously look at any type of change, continuing to find new tools to use isn’t going to remove the moss from the stone. We have some incredible things going on in some places with some classrooms but they are the exceptions. Primarily, little has changed with education despite all the tools. I firmly believe that until we examine the curricula, change some of those objectives and rework others, making it relevant to the students, no amount of cool tool is going to create change. Really, 9 months ago, blogging was the way to go while today it seems almost blah. My technorati rating keeps dropping as fewer and fewer new people are reading and referring to what I write. (Maybe I need to explore this more.) Blogs are just one of the many places where we can discuss things and not as vital to interaction as they were when they were the primary way to get to know people. Now, I watch as many of the people I follow on Twitter present at conferences or attend conferences that, really, I have no hope of ever getting to attend without paying for them personally, which could happen (with a small lottery win.)

Will we ever, really, see a change in education? I beginning to believe that it won’t come from those at the head of the technology discovery. It may be possible that many following them will have enough influence to create some change. With the rate of change, I even wonder if they will have an impact.

photo http://www.vanguardcollege.com/swd/images/Perspectives%20logo.jpg

Chris Lehmann has asked that those of us on Twitter post about the upcoming Educon 2.0 conference.

For complete information see the Educon 2.o wiki. Cliotech also has a very thorough blog post on the conference.

Here is the vital information:

Educon 2.0 — January 25-27, 2008

Science Leadership Academy

Philadelphia, PA

EduCon 2.0 is both a conversation and a conference.

And it is not a technology conference. It is an education conference. It is a School 2.0 conference. It is, hopefully, an innovation conference where we want to come together, both in person and virtually, to discuss the future of schools. We are looking for people to present ideas, facilitate conversations, and share best practice.

The Axioms / Guiding Principles of EduCon 2.0:

1) Our schools must be inquiry-driven, thoughtful and empowering for all members.
2) Our schools must be about co-creating — together with our students — the 21st Century Citizen
3) Technology must serve pedagogy, not the other way around.
4) Technology must enable students to research, create, communicate and collaborate
5) Learning can — and must — be networked.

Cost: $50 ($80 after January 16th) — Payable to the Science Leadership Academy

Register TODAY At http://educon20.eventbrite.com

Now, I’d be willing to say that this will be a top notch conference. Chris is one of the great web2.0 voices and is very informed about the importance of sound teaching surrounding the use of any tools.