Entries Tagged as 'School Life'
Today was another monumental day at school. For the first time, students were brought together to create the policies and consequences which they will follow in the upcoming year in the areas of attendance, lates, cellphone use and leaving school during the day. Areas, which up until now, had been the sole domain of the teachers and, usually, the principal.
When I arrived to take over the principalship almost 4 years ago, attendance was an issue particularly relating to students arriving for school, and class, late. It was particularly bad in grades 11 & 12. Being my first year, I watched and tried to figure out some way that this might be addressed so that the problem might be reduced to occasional occurrences not daily happenings. Over the next three years, I drew up different policies but they just didn’t work as a result of a number of reasons on all sides. This year, instead of coming up with a new policy, I tossed it back to the teachers telling them that they needed to solve how to handle the lates in their classes. That didn’t work. We continue to deal with a number of students who, for no other reason than they can, arrive late for classes in the morning and after lunch and, for some of them, in between.
As an administrator, it was starting to feel like the problem was unsolvable - the will just wasn’t there. Then, through a series of unfortunate events, I was left feeling that, if we weren’t able to deal with these issues, we certainly wouldn’t be able to deal with the bigger issues of drugs, student mental health, bullying and all those others that land in our hallways. So, I took a leap of faith and went to the people with whom these policies needed to work - the students.
Today, after lunch, I had the students in grades 9, 10, & 11 assemble in the library. I then explained my plan. They were going to set the boundaries for the following areas: students being late, students skipping classes, students leaving campus without signing out and cellphone usage. I explained that for three years these problems had continued without there being any real improvement. We’d tried a number of things and none of them worked. I needed them to identify what was acceptable in these areas, give boundaries for students and suggest consequences that students would have if they didn’t comply. I explained that these things we were talking about were mostly part of the Education Act, except for the cellphone use. These were areas that were part of the law and needed to be addressed. As with cellphones, we needed to come up with something that worked for them and for teachers. I spoke about how this was something that few students in schools get an opportunity to do and, depending on how things worked out, could be the start to many different issues that were part of how the school functioned. I trusted them, I explained, and was willing to give them the chance to demonstrate that they could do great things, “they could fly”. I then turned them loose with chartpaper and markers. 65 minutes later the last group handed in their ideas.
I’ve only had a few moments to go through their ideas but I can tell you that they took this very seriously and, without an exception, have come up with some great ideas for each area. Combining the ideas of the groups will result in something that is very clear to the students and very powerful. The one area that really struck me was the use of cellphones. Without an exception, each group agreed that they wanted to be able to use their phones during breaks but, once in class, they were to stay away unless called upon (calculator or agenda) and no texting was to take place. They gave consequences that were straightforward and reasonable, for the most part.
This type of thing happened for the other areas although there were some that were a bit “too strict” and some a bit “too wide-open”. However, it was clear that the students were wanting to be part of creating a solution. After this was done, I didn’t have time to talk with staff and won’t tomorrow because I’m at an all-day meeting. However, I’ve had some conversations with students and all of them have stated that the only way that this will work is if EVERY teacher follows through and doesn’t allow exceptions for particular students. This was mentioned for each of the grades that were represented. They wanted what they did to have meaning but know that all teachers must be using the guidelines. They expressed frustration with what they saw as double standards and were using this opportunity to voice their frustrations. They don’t want me to be the only one who goes about trying to implement their ideas.
They’re right. All teachers must be willing to embrace the chance these students have taken. I thought I was the only one taking a chance but, really, they were also taking a chance - a very big chance. They were willing to seriously consider what might be done about these things and they want those people who have the authority to follow through to do just that - to honour the work that they have done.
As a parent, I am always so proud when I see my children do something that I know has caused them some great inner struggle. Well, today I was very proud of these youth. They demonstrated that, given the opportunity and guidance, they can discuss, debate and deliver on a task that, up until now, has been difficult for staff to agree upon and follow through.
It’s been that kind of year
This year our school has taken the first steps toward having students being functioning members of the learning community and not just the beings that show up after we, the adults, have decided what should happen. They have had equal input into our school Code of Conduct, they have representatives that sit on our School Community Council who give us advice on particular ideas and they have now taken the first steps toward creating a true learning community, where all partners are part of the process. The crucial part will be getting teachers to work alongside the students - being there to help and guide them, assist and question them and, if need be, provide the discipline that is needed to help them. We’re a long way away from some of those schools that make headlines and are model schools and only time will tell if we can take what we did today and improve upon it. But, I am encourage and excited about the possibilities, seeing such things as our School Representative Council becoming more than a body that plans pep rallies and spirit days but instead being a place where such things as class trips are discussed and planned, electives for senior classes are explored and major decisions about how students act and interact are drafted.
We’re not done!
To add to this, on Thursday evening there is a meeting scheduled for staff, parents and students to discuss what types of electives they would like to see offered for our seniors. For the first time, instead of deciding what we will offer, we are going to have parents and students give us their ideas about what they would like to see happening at the school. Another huge step toward bringing all members of our learning community into the learning process. We’ll see how that turns out!
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Tags: Leaderhip · Learning Thoughts · School Life
I’ve decided to come back to edublogs and post here. I seem to be getting a number of people visiting and thought it wouldn’t be so bad to have two blogs. So, here’ my latest post.
I’ve been working on trying to figure out what I might want to talk about to administrators during my 45 minutes presentation at the Tlt conference that is coming up in two weeks. My intro to the presentation was using technology to help manage your school. I began writing about that and, low and behold, I found that it was nearly as boring as watching primer dry. What was I thinking?
To top if off, I’ve started down a road at school that is so uncharted I feel like the early explorers. You see, I’m about to bring all my grade 9, 10 & 11’s together to discuss what we want the school to be like and how we, together, are going to work at creating this vision of school. Our first meeting will be to address some of the simple rules that have been a thorn in everyone’s side since I arrived: students arriving late to class, students skipping class, students wandering from class and the whole cell phone thing.
As an administrator, I’m just about fed up with trying to create an attendance policy because it doesn’t get followed by the teachers. I’ve tried to get teachers to be responsible for students showing up late for their class but that hasn’t happened. They all want to have the same policy so that no one looks “bad” but they don’t mind if I’m the one who has to deal with the problems. So, in a fit of delirium, I’ve decided to go straight to the students to work out how we will deal with these problems. I have no clue how this is going to turn out but I’m pretty much tired of the whole mess. Time to come up with a solution that will work.
This brings me back to my presentation. I want to impress upon administrators that they have to actually get into the fray and begin learning about the technologies that are all around them. They have to be the educational leaders and be learning about what is going on and how these tools are being used. As administrators, they have to see that the students walking through the doors are not the same as they were because the world we are living in is not the same. That to deal with issues and problems in the same manner we have been doing does not deal with the problems, it just sweeps them out of sight.
I really want to tell them that to let IT departments dictate the filtering and software use is contrary to what learning is all about. That teachers need to be addressing the issues of inappropriate information in all that they are teaching so that students can begin to sift through the ever growing mountain of information that bombards them.
I want to tell them that parents need to be brought into the discussions about acceptable use of information and technology. That they need to be aware of the statistics about youth and the “evil” internet. I want to tell them that schools are the one place where topics like improper social network usage, giving out too much information and other such things can be discussed without the fear factor that other media is giving the internet. I want to impress upon them that the cellphone that our students are carrying is a powerful learning tool that can surf the web, record events and information and transfer their ideas and creations. I want to tell them to get over their prejudices about the various technologies and to think of them as learning tools instead of problems that need to be controlled.
I want to show them the power that every person on their staff has to develop a learning network that is tailored to their interests. Explain that, through the use of some very simple tools, they can introduce their teachers to others who will move their thinking and learning in ways they didn’t think possible.
When I began to work on this presentation in earnest, last night, I realized that I my presentation is really a reflection of the frustrations that I have been having trying to deal with some of the issues at school. I’ve been banging my head trying to figure out how to have teachers buy into something that, really, I need students to buy into and understand. Instead of creating reactionary consequences to what is happening, I want to bring students into the solution so they make it their problem not ours. I want to join in a conversation with them to find out where they are so that we can come create a solution. Like I said, I’m not sure what will happen tomorrow or how this will all turn out but, as an administrator, there needs to be some solutions found so we can move on to tackle some more serious issues.
Instead of giving the administrators who show up to my session some neat little package that they can go away with, I want to challenge them to look at their schools in a totally different way. I want them to begin to glimpse that the technologies are tools that are available but unless people working in schools begin to see teaching a learning in a new way and view students from a new perspective, it won’t matter what tools we throw into the mix the final results will continue to be the same.
I want these people who attend my session to begin to glimpse that preparing students for life in this ever-changing social climate means that their learning needs to be diverse, multi-faceted and more about learning how to learn than what to learn because the knowledge will continue to change in ways that we cannot predict. Students are much more aware of the hypocritical nature of people and many see teachers who talk about life-long learning but that is where it ends.
Maybe it’s the frustration of the past week or so that has me thinking like this or because I’m just desperate. It could be a little of both. I’m dealing with students who are finding no use in what they are doing and want more and, for the most part, aren’t really happy with the answer “Well, it’s the curriculum.” As I listen to my own daughters and their friends comments about school, I see we’re losing a whole group of students because we are not challenging them - demanding them to demonstrate their knowledge in ways besides writing and tests. I long to hear my older girls come home excited about what they are doing at school instead of the stories I get to hear about some misadventure that has gone on involving their peers. The first happens so rarely while the latter happens much too often. I want to tell the administrators that these types of comments have been ignored for too long - myself guilty as charged. To bring about the change, we need to be the educational leaders that promote and lobby for change to meet the needs of the students in our buildings. Granted, there are many more needs that we need to address, but learning is the fundamental reason for our existence and it’s time to reshape what that looks like.
Most likely, I’ll show them a nice powerpoint and a screencast about using some social tools. I mean, I only have 45 minutes.
Tags: Leaderhip · Learning Thoughts · School Life
February 5th, 2008 · 5 Comments
I’ve been really busy of late with all the things that go on in the life of a parent, principal, coach and community member. My senior boys basketball team is showing signs of becoming a real contender - which means that we have to play more - with more nights away. I’ve also been working very hard on getting some of the policies for our school ready - reworking areas that just don’t seem to fit. I’ve been expanding my use of various web2.0 tools including such things as Jing, VoiceThread, Animoto and other tools. Now this is because I’m hoping to do a session at the upcoming Tlt Conference in Saskatoon in May. I am focusing on tools that can help administrators to become more familiar with what is available and begin to use the tools in their own lives. I’m hoping to use Jing to create a Jingcast of some of the tools I hope to use plus add to my admin wiki some of the things that I am learning and working on during this time.
Tonight, after reffing and coaching a bball game, I was able to sit in on Alec Couros university class using Ustream. During this time, one of the participants, nnoakes, asked a really good question about the whole networking idea. George Siemens, who was guest presenting on Connectivism, had just mentioned some of the major educational bloggers in his presentation. The question posed was something like:
How does the network open up for new people as most of the people mentioned refer to one another in their writing and their own network includes one another.
I also wonder this. I recall a commment that once directed me to some advice on becoming more widely read. It included commenting on other bogs, writing regularly, keeping the topics current, referring to what you’ve read and so on. Well, I must say that it’s a lie, as far as I’m concerned. Many of the big names were there at the start and continue to grow their readerships because they were there at the start - and rightly so. Some have done some great work with connecting classrooms and including technology in their teaching and this has grown their readership. Some have interesting comments and make controversial comments which brings them readership. The rest, well, we write on, sometimes having a good post that draws attention from readers or we manage to be noticed by a blogger with a large reader list which brings in readers.
As the number of teachers who enter different networks grows, it will be interesting to see how things pan out. I know that I’ve seen the frustration in a number of bloggers who find it very disappointing that it is so hard to get comments or interaction. Having commented on a number of blogs, I know that it takes a great deal of time to do this. Some say it pays off in attracting readers. I’m not convinced. I’m not convinced that, like all other areas of our society, there won’t be just a few major players whose writing is followed by many while many of rest will continue with a very small readership, occasionally attracting readers because of this or that.
My reasons vary but mostly come down to this: most of the big name bloggers are not full-time teachers or school building administrators and are outside looking in. There, I said it. There is only so much time in a day, there is only so much time to do reading and commenting and many are finding that to be committed to a network requires time that many teachers do not have. So, if you are a well known figure, you can pop in and out of twitter and leave a few posts and then not appear for a day or two and people will respond to you. The rest need to build and nuture our networks - commenting and building, building and discussing, discussing and sharing. Any time away and our network moves on - not really leaving us but not allowing us to just drop in.
Now, we do make some personal connections, especially if we can meet f2f with people from our network. This really adds to the relationships, strengthening the bonds but, like most teachers, the chance of attending a major national conference and meeting these people is, well, not that likely. Those who do get this chance, appear to build and strengthen their network in ways that are different than others. With many of well known names, they meet one another at these conferences to get reaquainted and reconnected. Their conversations have references and such that those not attending cannot share. It may not create an exclusive network but it does affect those who are involved. So for others trying to get involved, it becomes even more difficult as they try to make sense of it all.
Maybe we need to really go out of our way to help those just joining the community and network. Mentor them and introduce them to different educators. Really share ourselves with them instead of allowing them to find their own way. The idea similar to what happens with new teachers. Those who have mentors tend to develop in a much different way than those who learn by trial-by-fire. Education, unfortunately, is know for the latter and not the former. For so long, we have not opened the doors to new people but instead allowed them to make it on their own. Maybe, as we explore these new venues and tools, we need to toss open the doors and do more than just invite them in. We need to meet them at the door and help them find their way. We need to check in on them and see how they are doing and share cool ideas or tools with them. Those of us who have some experience, need to share that with others and maybe go beyond just our blog sharing. Maybe we need to meet them at the door, welcome them and help them with what they are doing. It’s one thing that does work in school.
Tags: Leaderhip · School Life · Web2.0 · networks
January 23rd, 2008 · 1 Comment
This evening I was spending time do other things besides being online - parent things like going to hockey practice, reading stories, playing mini-sticks and yucking it up with my teenage daughters. It was one of those evenings of which I’ve spent plenty just being “home”. I didn’t have to rush off to a meeting or feel the need to check in with the online world.
Later on, once children were in bed and studying, I sat down to check in and see what was happening. Now dropping in on Twitter can be a bit of a shock as you may have to search to see what the conversations are all about. Because there are so many different things happening on mine, it sometimes takes me a little bit to familiarize myself with what is happening. As I was looking at the conversations, this one from jepcke jumped out at me:
How do you balance an insanely busy day/week & keeping up with Twitter?
I’m not sure. I know that there is part of me that wants to stay “up-to-date” with what is happening in the Twitterverse. Just like when I first began with my RSS reader. I was reading and reading, trying to stay caught up with all the things that were going on, trying to write on my blog and trying to do all the other things. I finally realized that keeping caught up wasn’t going to happen, not for a person like myself with children, community commitments, coaching commitments plus all the things that are related to be an administrator at a school.
The same thing started to happen with Twitter. I wanted to keep caught up with all that was happening, all the new ideas and tools that people were using and the things that were going on. It was the whole RSS reader thing over again. Fortunately, it has taken me much less time this go around to realize that I’m can’t be one of those people who seems to be on twitter and the internet all the time. In fact, I’m not sure that is the kind of impression that I want to give. As kolson29 twitted:
have to come to terms with my addiction to online world vs not wanting my kids there.
This isn’t the first time I’ve run across this. Seems it happens to many of us who are trying to find a balance between online and inlife. This can be very difficult for many of us. As we build our networks and PLN’s, we are seeing how important such things are for us and our growth. We are dedicated to what the net and the networks have to offer and are seeking out new experiences and new ideas. (Sounds like StarTrek should be playing in the background!)
There comes a time, however, that we run into the problem of balance. Late nights tweeting with cross-continent colleagues, early mornings trying to get things together for a podcast, a quick check-in on twitter to see who’s on and what’s happening. Evenings are full of all kinds of happenings with some new tool being shared, tried and discussed. All this time eventually affects other parts of our lives. Well, it did my life. Like many new things, I became distracted with the one while not paying attention to the many.
For the first time in weeks, I went for a run today during my son’s hockey practice. It felt great. Sure, I listened to a podcast but I was just listening to it, allowing the information to be part of my run (treadmill of course! It’s like -38C with a wind here!) Like I mentioned earlier, I spent time doing different things with my children. When I’m done this, I’ll be doing a bit of reading and then off to an early bed - a habit that I would really like to continue! I find that it is good to have regular sleep.
For so many of us, the work we do each day is not just a job; it’s a passion. We believe what we do is important and we are dedicated professionals. That’s why so many of us eat lunch while catching up on email or twits, spend a great amount of time online and search within our network for ways to improve what is we are doing. Because things are changing at a break-neck speed, many are working at a break-neck speed. But is this good for us? Is this a good example? If we were mentoring someone, would this be good mentorship? I’m not sure. I do know that I’ve noticed that my children need to given an example regarding appropriate use of many things and I’m not sure that, in my overzealous pursuit of “keeping up” I haven’t really applied the “walk the walk”. Yes my online PLN is important and I really do enjoy the discussions with other educators. However, it needs to be in balance with the other areas of life. If it begins taking time that should be used to keep that balance, then it’s time to take stock, reflect and shift accordingly.
And maybe, by doing this, I can be better at discussing various tools with my colleagues. Because I know the time it takes to find and learn and incorporate, I can provide an example of balance for them. Now, I know that many people comment that we need to “work with the willing.” Well, I don’t always get the willing with which to work. In fact, as a middle years teacher, most of my students fell in the “un” category. I didn’t give up on them - couldn’t. As a teacher leader - administrator - my role is work with all. So, somehow, someway I need to find ways to draw all people in. The willing are always so nice with which to work - I liked them as a teacher too! It was the students with whom I spend recesses and after school that, eventually, I really got to know and whom developed in ways beyond what we were studying.
As I search for that balance, I realize that I am a mentor - to my children, my colleagues and the other administrators with whom I work - as well as the people in my PLN. I’d like to spend more time online but my RSS experience has taught me that it will come with a cost in many parts of my life. My wife may not need a WOW widow t-shirt but she was thinking of getting a RSS widow badge and I don’t want her to go looking for a Twitter widow hat.
These are times of enormous and rapid change for educators and students. As a teacher, I still don’t want to give up on the ones who aren’t easy. While being an administrator in a Catholic school, one of the teachers I worked with commented about the number of students we were receiving that needed extra help and adaptations. The teacher, jokingly, wanted to know if I had put an add in the paper asking for all students with problems to apply. If so, could I stop running the ad. I laughed. Then, somewhat seriously I said “The ad we have is the cross on our front entrance - it symbolizes what we stand for and who we are. So, no, I’m not going to take down the ad. And it should remind us of what we are called to do.” I often reflect on that conversation when I meet up with a difficult student or family or … If I had wanted to work with only the willing, I guess I wouldn’t have decided to become a teacher and, if I had wanted to work with only the willing staff, I definitely wouldn’t have become a principal. But they all deserve my best - which means that having balance and being a mentor is very important - especially during times of change.
Time for something else.
Tags: Leaderhip · School Life · Web2.0 · What to do? · networks
January 20th, 2008 · 2 Comments
There’s a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon that has Calvin hammering nails into the coffee table. His mom comes in and freaks, saying “What are you doing?” Their is a pause and then Calving replies “Isn’t it obvious!”
Sometimes, this is how I feel when I’m working with the various tools that I use each day at school. I think it’s obvious what I’m doing, kind of like hammering nails into a coffee table. And it may be obvious to others who are using similar tools and doing similar work. However, I think that many teachers react like Calvin’s mom - in some type of disbelief and shock. It looks like we’re hammering nails into their coffee table.
So, I wondering, in the same vein of my previous posts, what 5 tools do you think would be the best to use with teachers so that they don’t think we’re hammering nails into that coffee table.
My list looks like this:
1. pbwiki - staff wiki of information and events with calendar of school-wide activities.
2. eye-jot - introduced to me by Alec Courosa - just something fun that teachers can do. It is amazing how you can get teachers using things just for fun.
3. Audacity - recording using the computer lab instead of tape-recorder. Students like wearing headphones and having a microphone!
4. Zoho business - introduction to online desktop. Slowly beginning to look at using online document sharing.
5. Google Earth - there’s just so much to do with this program.
Okay, I now pass this on to the following three: Julie Lindsay, Mrs.Durff, David Truss
They can choose to participate or this will die a quick and sudden death.
Tags: Leaderhip · Learning Thoughts · School Life · Web2.0 · What to do?
