Educational Discourse

Things have not been going quite as I had planned. In fact, if I were to plan how they could go awry Monday , today would have been pretty much bang on. Okay. I arrived at school at my usual time, went to grab a coffee but it wasn’t ready yet so I go down to my office and began my morning looking at paperwork that I had ignored yesterday. (that was my first mistake, looking at paperwork so early) I proceeded to go talk with some of the teachers, stopped in the hall to talk to a few students and then back to my office to look at email. My normal Tuesday morning ended. What do I find but a reply to my email about a meeting today that I figured was in the afternoon. Nope – 9:30. Location – an hour away. Time now – 8:35. I didn’t panic but I also didn’t get my cup of coffee.

For the  next 20 minutes, I’m dashing around trying to get someone to cover my supervision, cover my class, be acting-principal (never have figured that one out. How come someone else who takes my place is acting? What does that mean when I’m there?) Then there is the phone call home to make arrangements for hockey practice and a few other after school activities. By the time I leave town it’s now 9:10 and I’m driving in fog so thick you can cut with a knife.

Why am I doing this? Oh, yeah, it’s for the kids and I love my job and I have payments.

The meeting was ….. – it was about technology use in the division. The coffee, when I finally got there, was pretty good and lunch was great – lasagna. I figured that things were turning out not to bad and I was going to get home in time for hockey pick-up. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I made a fatal error at that moment. Something that usually only rookie principals make. Something that I should have remembered. It’s Tuesday. Go home. Nope, not me. Not today.

I went back to the school. For some reason I do this when I’ve been at a meeting out of town. Even though I kept telling myself to just go home and go in early tomorrow.

We had 7 new students register in school. One who will need a full-time aide and others with some learning difficulties. Teachers are going on breaks already and the substitutes aren’t really ready to come in yet. I have a request for semester 2 timetable for a distance ed class and, well, I’m not even close to being done. And to make things really interesting, my office is now the football equipment room and old computer dumping ground for the moment. It’s only Tuesday!!!

See, if I’d gone home, I wouldn’t have known any of this until Wednesday and you kind of expect this kind of stuff on a Wednesday. I mean, it’s the day when many things take place because everyone is finally fully awake and recovered from the weekend. People are finally realizing that the paperwork isn’t in or they’re missing a form. Parents feel that all kids need to be back at school because, well, it’s Wednesday and they were feeling okay this morning. (especially after they threw up. Really. They did.) Teachers are realizing you had said you’d do something and are reminding you that you said you’d do something. (Thank goodness that by Thursday afternoon they forget because neither of you can remember what it is you said you were going to do.) Kids have been aggravating one another for two days and someone is going to get it and you might have to figure out who got what and who was really aggravating whom (even though this has been going on for longer than they have been in school and will only end with, well, probably old age and death) but you still have to work through things to make sure that everyone knows that you actually did something this week.

But oh no. I figured I’d just drop by and see what went on during the day. Thus I began my Wednesday work today and I’m not really ready for it. My body and mind are still in Tuesday and what I’m needing to do is really in need of Wednesday thinking. But I’m here so I’d better do something besides write this post. Post writing doesn’t really have a day. You can write on any day it’s just the content will be different depending on the day. Like if this had been tomorrow, I would have written about it being a typical Wednesday with all that was going on and what had happened.

All this has really messed me up but, as I work through this, I realize that if I’m already doing Wednesday work that means that Friday can be partly Saturday so I can leave early and begin my weekend Friday at noon. Hey, that’s sounding not bad. Wait, I have to go to a basketball tournament with my boys team which will not only make it impossible to leave early Friday but I have to spend Saturday with students so it really won’t feel like a Saturday.  Now I’m really down. I don’t think even an Aero bar is going to get me over this. What was I thinking when I booked that? It was probably in early November when all those stupid tournament requests come out and you figure “Hey, that’s sounds good. What’s the worst that can happen? What, will Tuesday really become Wednesday?” and you laugh it off. Every year the same thing happens and yet I don’t remember. I think that when they took out my heart and my sense of humour (you have to have those removed to be an administrator. True story. Mine are in a jar on my desk so I can show the kids when they come in.) they also removed also done a bit of a nip and tuck on my longterm memory so that I only recall things after I’ve committed to them. (Probably why I sit on so many committees.)

I was blocking it out and not thinking about it but now I end up thinking about it all because my Tuesday ended up being a Wednesday.

Better get at planning semester 2 and figuring out where I’m going to put all this stuff stacked in my office. And to think, I’m the guy supposedly in charge around here. Can you imagine what Thursday must be like;)

Tomorrow morning life will once again begin that familiar cadence as school begins for 2008. We’re almost half-way through the year but 2008 is just beginning and with it all the expectations of a new year. It seems kind of funny to be starting a new year in the middle of a school year. I mean, all the rest of the world works on the calendar year, beginning in January and ending in December, kinda. Why is education so different? Why do we begin our year in August/September and end it in June? Why couldn’t we transform our school year to begin in January and end in December? Would it be impossible? What is keeping education from doing this?

The new year will start whether we are ready for it or not. Instead of waiting until June to finish our schooling, why can’t we finish it in December – have exams and begin our new year in January? What is keeping education from joining the rest of the world and following a yearly schedule that is more closely aligned to the calendar. We’d get rid of all the problems with birthdays – born in X year, you begin school instead of having a cutoff of, like, September for students.

I’ve thought about this for quite awhile, ever since I began having to deal with budgets that would begin in August and end in June but really didn’t happen that way since they ended with the Dec cycle. So, as I prepare to go back to school, knowing that I have about 3 weeks to finish my course and then exams begin, I really wonder if this is the best for students. Why can’t  we finish everything up, write exams and be done with the year like everyone else? January would see us beginning another year, students would be moving on to a new grade in time with a new year. We might even be able to do some moving of holiday time so that there is a bit more time off now or at other times of the year instead of the huge break in July and August when students lose so much. We are no longer an agrarian society yet our school system is still being run like we were.

Would changing the way our system was organized allow us to break the mold in other areas? Would we be able to redesign how things work and take into consideration what works best in each area? I mean, what works well in cities might not work as well in the rural areas. Do we all have to be cookie-cutter replicas? Education the world over looks very similar, from what I’ve seen. Why is that? Why is it we seem to have only one formula for schooling?

Tomorrow, ready or not, school will begin for many educators and students. Life will once again fall into a familiar pattern as education moves forward to the end of yet another year – in June. Maybe we need to disrupt that pattern. I mean, for the first time in history, there will be more people living in urban areas than in rural which could give way to a whole group of new developments and changes. Could 2008 be the year of the great educational reform?

My resolutions for this year are pretty straightforward because I’ve decided that I need to focus on a few things and do them well instead of the usual list of 10 that I don’t really do at all. My #1 resolution is to take care of my health. I’m reading RealAge by Michael F. Roizen and looking at how my “habits” are affecting my body and my life. I not promoting this. Instead, it is a read that is giving my ideas about my health and the choices I make. #2 resolution is to blog/write frequently even if it is a short post. Sometimes I have so many ideas I want to discuss that I am not sure which to follow and end up doing none. Since joining Passionate Teachers and Fireside Conversations – both educator Ning sites, I have decided to dedicate a portion of my morning to writing/commenting. #3 is spending more time with my family. To do this, I will have to prioritize what I am doing and learn to really stick to my schedule. #4 – the last one – quit talking about web2.0 and starting implementing it with my staff, students and other administrators. First step, setting up sessions with teachers to explore. Second, putting teachers in contact with other teachers. Finally, begin doing presentations to others about the everyday uses of the technologies.

That’s it. 4. Each one requires that I pay attention to details – something that isn’t a strong trait for me but will be essential if the use of technology is to become a norm for our students. It will require teachers overcoming their fears about technology and doing things a bit differently but, unless these steps are taken, things will continue at the glacial pace they are moving. I want my daughters to be exposed and use the skills they have developed outside of school in their daily school lives.

People often have goals/resolutions but they don’t take the time to get to the specifics which undermines their goals. So, for me, each of the goals above will be fleshed out and be broken down into smaller, achievable goals. As my friends, I hope that some of you will call me on these goals and help me to keep them. I’ll share my specific goals using google docs if that helps.

2008 is indeed my year!

It’s my birthday today, November 13th. No. I wasn’t born on a Friday either.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I do residential and commercial painting, during my many leisurely hours. Monday, which was an off day for us, was spent putting in a few hours painting some new Ready to Move homes that are being built in town. This new business venture has been a boom for our small community but, like in many areas, trades people have been hard to find so I’ve been enlisted to do help.

When I’m painting, I have quite a few hours to think about things of all sorts. It’s during this time that I contemplate how our School Improvement might look over the next few years or how our Code of Conduct will develop. I think about how we might engage a few of our students that are not interested or what we, as a community, can do for our youth. Today, during one of my less than deep moments, I thought about how the average person uses the browser and, on average, how many tabs they have open at any one time. (Hey, it was a long day;)

Now, I’ve found that I usually have about 10 tabs going at the same time as I keep tabs (ha ha ha) on various things. I have ClaimID, Pageflakes, iGoogle, school inbox, twitter, staff wiki, blog, admin wiki, planning wiki, class wiki and usually a news site open. Now, if someone has a twitter about a particular URL, I might check it out so the tabs could pile up. I do use delicious but I’m not very good at looking there. I’ve begun to reduce the number of tabs I keep open since it sometimes makes the browser become unresponsive when I awaken the laptop.

I also find that with my use of more online apps like Google docs, calendar and such, I have more tabs open as I add things to various places.

What’s your tab count? Do you find yourself with multiple tabs open at the same time? How do you track your tab use? Has it grown with the more online apps that you use?

 Edublog Award time is upon the edublogosphere and, given some of the already interesting discussions that I’ve seen about them, I’m going to voice my own opinion – not as any kind of moral conscience but just as my own opinion.

I’ve written about the edublogosphere and how, in a nutshell, it’s a case of some bloggers who have high profiles voicing ideas and thoughts and others following. For myself, it’s a case that there are blogs that I read regularly, blogs I find via other blogs and blogs I find doing searches just to see if someone new is around. I have also found a number of people who do most of their discussing in social networks which eliminates them despite their good ideas.

Why do we need these?

I get that we want to honour those who are doing exceptional work. We want to encourage people to use these tools, contribute to the blogosphere and a host of other things. I just don’t understand the why. With the Twitter becoming a tool I’m using as much as my blog, I’m wondering if we’re at a different point now. As teachers integrate tools and use them seamlessly with their teaching, there are new examples of Flat projects and people assisting others with these. The projects are becoming much more collaborative in nature with all kinds of people contributing to the overall success of the project.

Individual teachers might be using blogs but they might also see podcasting or use of ustream and video as being a better use of their time never making it to the point of posting because, face it, it does take time and dedication. As I talk about in my last post, some people are just very busy and being part of the edublogosphere isn’t one thing they do.

Doug Belshaw has been taking it on the chin for a few things lately. (Must of been his week!) If you go over to his post regarding his thoughts about the awards, you’ll see all kinds of comments from those who have very good points about why the awards are important to, well, the other stuff which has nothing to do with the awards. The main point, however, is pointed out by Karyn Romeis’ 

I don’t have a problem with the notion of the awards, I think it raises the profile of blogging per se and it always brings a few previously overlooked gems to my attention. That said, if Doug doesn’t like the idea, I think he should be allowed the space to say so and to give his reasons for saying so.

You can disagree with his reasons and give your own reasons. It’s unfortunate that the rest of the stuff comes up. Having said that, I’m not sure that I like what happens when people are campaigning to get their blogs nominated for various awards. I don’t believe that was the intention of the whole thing but I could be wrong. (Read through Josie’s comment on Doug’s blog. I don’t think it suggests that openly campaigning is what this is all about.

I really could care less. In reality, I’ve enough going on in my life as a father, community member and  principal without this. Right now we have an election going on in our province and I’m much more interested in that and how it could affect various parts of my life. I can see how this is important for some people and they see it as recognition for all the work they have done. Others see it as another “thing” to collect and put on the shelf – something to prove.

Sorry to all those out there, but I vote in elections. As for the awards, there are so many great blogs and writers that reducing it to a few just doesn’t do justice to the others. And if some of what is going on in the comments like found on Doug’s blog is what we get from having the awards, then I definitely don’t want any part of them. Doug shouldn’t have to put up with that just because of his opinion.