Educational Discourse

I’ve been able to catch up on some of my reading this past week although I still am looking forward to Christmas and the time to do some more with reflection along the way. One post that drew my attention was over at Jennifer Dorman’s cliotech. Her post Re-Learning Curve discusses an article by Mark Pesce discussing the whole idea of giving all secondary students a laptop.

Pesce has some interesting thoughts about what change this will bring -

curriculum designers have to accept the computer as a powerful, flexible, ubiquitous tool that can be integrated into the curriculum’s DNA.

The curriculum must be redrawn, so that computers are integrated into it, becoming a potent tool alongside the textbook and the chalkboard

Most teachers are digital immigrants, struggling to croak out a few words, while their students are fluent natives, rabbiting on in a language most teachers only haltingly understand. Dropping computers into that mix precariously flips the balance of power from teachers to students, unless educators are given the resources and the opportunity to re-educate themselves.

Other than the abuse of the immigrant/native metaphor, which really needs to  be buried or something so we can move forward but I digress, Presce has really identified the key problems with what is taking place in education:  curricula and its designers are still using the “knowledge presenting” model of design instead of the “knowledge understanding” model. In the first, teachers are to present knowledge to the students and then students are to present back to teachers what they remember.

EARLIER this year, a secondary school teacher from Adelaide told me about his physics class. “I was lecturing about current topics in physics,” he said, “when one of my students corrected me.” One of the theories he quoted had been recently disproved by an experiment, the results of which were reported in Wikipedia. The student, with one ear to the lecture and one eye on the universal web encyclopedia, helpfully provided the update. “How can I stay ahead of the kids?” he wondered.

In the presentation model, there is no hope. There is no way one teacher or even a few are going to be able to stay ahead of the knowledge curve that is going on. Heck, even my own system of gathering knowledge is changing as I move from doing a particular search using google to asking a question within the networks to which I belong and then using the responses to drive my future searching and learning.  With students and their ability to use networks, knowledge gathering and the sharing of information becomes much easier.  (*Note -  we do have to work with students to help them identify information that is reliable and help them develop literacy skills beyond reading and writing.) Students can find the information and report it back to us with ever increasing ease. The shelf life of knowledge teaching is almost up.

Instead, curriculum designers need to identify the knowledge to which students need to be exposed and then go further to identifying something they need to understand from having this knowledge. How they demonstrate that understanding can be determined in a number of ways and may actually require something besides a test. And, giving teachers some credit, I think they know this very fact. Teachers no longer believe they hold the keys to knowledge. In fact, I don’t think they ever really thought that but, instead, have been confined by a system that was designed to bring knowledge to the masses. Unfortunately, we accomplished that goal a hundred or more years ago and have been trying to figure out what to do since then with very little change because no one has been able to agree on what to do. Now, for the first time, we are not being confined by the knowledge anchor. Instead, we are free to explore knowledge and create – and it scares the goosebumps off of people in charge. Really, it does. It replaces the holy grail of power, the test score, with something less definitive but much more useful, understanding.

And this is where I disagree with Pesce. I don’t think it is the students who will be driving the revolution. In fact, the revolution has already started and continues to grow in strength. In more and more classrooms around the world, teachers are communicating, sharing, talking and collaborating using technologies. Yes it seems slow to those who have been pushing from the beginning but, as more and more teachers come to realize that the knowledge is there for the taking, they are seeking ways to develop understanding and, eventually, turn to some type of technology in order to facilitate that process.

The revolution has begun. It is taking place in classrooms around the world and being discussed in blogs and other social networking systems to which teachers are being drawn. Teachers won’t need to stay ahead as they create networks of professionals who will help one another learn and share the new knowledge and begin to develop ways to help students develop understanding.

I believe what is holding the whole revolution from taking off is the lack of teachers who have access to quality hardware, open access to information and, most crucial, the freedom to teach for understanding. With this, the revolution would be over before wikipedia knew about it and no teacher would have to worry about trying to do the impossible – know it all!

The past few weeks have been terrible blah. I’ve been keeping up with various readings and twitters but things seem to have ground to a period halt. It’s kind of like the circling stage before landing when nothing seems to be happening and you’re waiting for the landing to get done so you can get on with things.

Our school has gone through some extensive changes and we are still waiting for some of the final work to be done. One of the major items that has taken place is that our computers in our rooms are no longer linked to our network which means teachers aren’t really using them which is too bad because they could be continuing with their growth but, it seems, without the network they just aren’t really interested. Our lab has been going through some changes as we try to get all the different components working together and our entire system is still feeling the affects of a massive change-over from the summer. All told, many of the teachers are frustrated and really not wanting to get into any new things.

On the bright side, the staff wiki is being used regularly by different people and some are finally beginning to add information. This is a huge jump for us and one that I hope to build upon in the upcoming months as some of the other little glitches are ironed out.

As a technology leader, I’m finding that much of what is happening with technology is so beyond what we can do as a school. Many of the sites seem to be blocked, thus I use Pageflakes to twitter. As I try to remain focused on helping teachers us technology, many of the other division and school focuses are pushing it into the background. Not that this is necessarily bad since we are doing some great work in reading and assessment. It just seems that, since the technology isn’t really up to par, there is little drive to move to the next step. People are extremely busy and the time just isn’t there.

I’ve also been very involved in developing my Walk-Through schedule and technique plus helping with the development of the School Code of Conduct and other school policies. I often read, with a tint of jealously, what others are doing and the progress they are making for themselves and with other teachers. Sigh It’s like being in the middle of the ocean on a sailboat and not a breath of air to move one along. And with the Christmas season upon us, I’m thinking that there won’t be a whole lot of time left over for technology.

I once read that the only difference between a rut and a grave was the depth of the rut. I’m sure looking forward to getting out of this one because it seems to be getting fairly deep right now! Who know, maybe this post will be the beginning of something!

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?

It’s mindboggling the number of things that a person can suddenly find themselves involved with all of a sudden. Over the past few weeks I’ve been looking at the “art” of supervision and how to help the teachers in our school become better. This is not an easy task because each person has a unique personality that has to be taken into account during the process. In order to best help the teachers, I’ve been reading about different supervision ideas, like the 3-Minute Walk-Through, with the hope that I can better assist people in growing and changing. This can be a somewhat stressful thing, especially when there are changes that need to take place. In my role of administrator, I know that part of what I need to do is lessen this “stress” for the others in the school.

As the educational leader in the school, I also realize that part of my job is to set an example. However, when life gets busy, I’ve noticed that some of the things that I thought were a habit suddenly become foreign and I find myself wondering/wandering around trying to pull it together. The following is a list of things that I’ve noticed have “popped” up that just add to the “stress” of “administrating.”

1. My top goes missing. Jumpdrive top that is. This past week I cannot count the number of times that I’ve lost this pesky little thing. Now, I usually have a spot where I put it. This week I’ve found it in the following unlikely places: bathroom counter, shirt pocket, library desk and secretary’s desk. Each time I’ve wandered around trying to find the darn thing losing all kinds of precious moments. My first thought was “What was I doing in the bathroom with it?”

2. Papers get misplaced. This week I’ve had trouble keeping papers with which I’m working. I don’t know why but I’ve left them: in the staffroom on the lunch table, on my secretary’s desk, in a classroom and, yes, in the bathroom. I take them with me to go see someone and, oops, can’t find them. Again, the bathroom? (They’re not casual reading material!)

3. Misplace my laptop. Yes. It happened. I was going to do some observations and was interrupted on route by my janitor. We went to look at some things and when I finally was ready to go back to my observations, no laptop. Thank goodness, it wasn’t in the bathroom but I did find it in one of the storage rooms. I had to retrace my whole adventure with the janitor.

4. My clothes. Yes, you are  reading this right. On Wednesday, we had our Halloween costume parade. Of course I had to dress up – a chicken including orange tights! Thanks goodness, no pictures of that! When I returned to the bathroom to get dressed, my clothes were gone. Now, I could have sworn I got dressed there. Where did I find them? In the office. Seems I must have forgotten that I got dressed there. I thought the secretary was snickering a bit too much that afternoon. (I spent most of the afternoon walking the halls and teaching dressed as a chicken.)

5. My class. Friday I had a double period of my CPT20 class. Lost them. I went to the lab and not one was there. Where did I leave them? They were there before lunch. Seems they had a rather long math test and the teacher had taken them from my class to write the test. He did tell me but, when I showed up after lunch and there were no students I immediately went to check my schedule. I’m sure I had a class. I actually spent about 30 seconds wondering what was going on. Then I remembered where they were. Phew. That would have been a hard one to explain.

6. My mind. This has been the hardest thing to find lately. I seem to be going in one too many directions and then, poof, I’ve lost my mind. Friday I asked my secretary if she had seen it because I’d misplaced it. I thought maybe it would be like my clothes. No luck. I’m actually still looking for it.

I don’t know if anyone else has such things happen but during time of excess business, things I thought were habit, like putting my jumpdrive lid in my desk drawer, I find aren’t actually habits. Please excuse me as I have to go look for my mind. Maybe I’ll check the bathroom!

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.