Process Re-Design, Part II

Among the other things that my Uncle Bill and I talked about was the need for everyone involved in changing processes within their organization to have a "territory," or in our case, some idea that you own that is yours undeniably. He spoke about looking at a situation from a process redesign perspective and saying: this is mine, and you may not enter it unless it is on my terms. Sounded intimidating as I listened, but I let it marinate for a few days.

Education, unlike the corporate world, has no financial interest in changing or upgrading, but rather our interest comes from that age-old desire to give our students the best opportunity to learn. It is the job of the corporate change agent to see the change, initiate it, and weed out the barriers to it, whether they be people or logistical, or both. Cold.

I've spent the better part of the last few days thinking about the translation to education. Can you take that approach? I think it has to be modified to reflect that belief that change has no extrinsic reward. The change agent in education will spend as much time building community as he or she will introducing ideas. Education exists as both an art and a science, something we all learned in our induction programs, I am sure. Being so dichotomous, both aspects must be represented in your plan for change. So you can have your ideas, but those entrenched in the positions who will practice what you prescribe, teachers, must be able to identify with what you are attempting to change and contribute to it. Warmer?

This has my attention. Bring your ideas to the table, own them and flesh them out, but be aware of how they are interpreted; don't let them be modified in practice to the point that they are unrecognizable.
Reading over the last few days, I came across Bob Sprankle's post at TechLearning in which he spoke about NetDay Survey's that he conducted in his district, which were aimed at assessing student attitudes about technology and learning. Towards the end of his post, he wrote the following:

At the Christa McAuliffe Conference, Dr. Tim Tyson talked about the idea of "childhood" being a relatively new concept; that children used to have very little time for "play" due to demands of helping the family survive. In the past, children were first and foremost expected to make a contribution and Tyson wonders if some of the problems that ail our children these days are due to the absence of attending to this contribution need. He asks the question: how old does someone need to be before they can make a contribution? Tyson calls for allowing students to make significant contributions now rather than later in life.

He goes on later to make it more formulaic

Safety + Inclusion + Meaningful Contribution + Play = Success for Our Students.

This is a plan for change, I thought immediately. This simple formula could be integrated into any curriculum or classroom implementation plan. This is the beginning of my "territory."

Barry Bachenheimer, whose name is appearing more and more in the edublog world, also said something that has triggered thought in this direction:

I can think of a few teachers (Maybe 4 out of the 30 or so that I had) who inspired me, made me think, and instilled a love of what they loved. It had nothing to do with technology, but their passion for what they taught, authentic learning, and most importantly, pushing me to do something that I wouldn;t necessarily done on my own at that age.

I see that as one of the purposes of school that can;t be accomplished online or by yourself: doing things that at age 15 that I would never do on my own, but had some benefit as an adult. Examples: reading Chaucer, learning about mitochondria, perfecting a golf swing, working with special needs kids, studying Melville, or analyzing art.

Pulling this all together, here's the next shift I'd like to see in my practice: design curriculum that pushes students to solve actual problems through creation and play and offer meaningful results for their efforts. The idea that we ask students to do things they normally wouldn't do is not new, as Barry shows through his comment, so I would like to try to design a curriculum or tweak an existing one to reflect all requisite standards, but also enable teachers and students to design meaningful solutions to problems, or create useful and necessary materials. Do you use anticipatory sets? Why not assign students to create them in advance? Do you create study guides for big exams? Let the students create their own on a wiki that you can co-edit. In addition to reading Chaucer and studying mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell, by the way), we could have them produce content, either digitally or traditionally, that demonstrates to a larger audience that they have understood the concepts involved, and that they have transferred that learning to a medium that all can interpret and enjoy. Give them, as Sprankle said via Tim Tyson's meaning, a responsibility that is tangible.

It's going to be a great year....

Image Credit: "Flickr Rainbow" on Just_Tom's photostream



Technorati Tags: processredesign, change, education, curriculum

Process Re-Design, Part I

I had a great Christmas. I realized a few things, saw my son explode with joy over the least likely gift, spent some quiet time with my wife, and had one of the most meaningful and perfectly timed conversations with my uncle.

Everyone should have an Uncle Bill like mine. He was an executive for various corporations for over 30 years, specializing in systems, which, during his time, meant that he was in charge of initiating change in process design for production and data analysis. He was the guy who brought computers to your parent's or grandparent's office and redesigned their jobs.

On Christmas day, after everyone had left the house, we sat down while my daughter snored on my chest, and we talked about change, and why it doesn't make great bedfellows with workplace harmony. Just some light holiday banter, right?

That conversation, coupled with what I've been reading lately have pointed me towards some new ideas, ideas that I am going to use the next few days of quiet time to figure out.

Last week, Barry Bachenheimer, a fellow New Jerseyan, came to some realizations after thinking about professional development in his district. His aptly titled post, "Everything You Know is Wrong," expressed a desire that we are going about helping our students and teachers in the wrong way if we offer them traditional methods to learn and grow. If you have given a workshop lately, what was expected of you by your audience? What did you deliver? For me, I have tried to move away from "sit and get," and more towards "here is what you can do, here is the way to get started." Lowered attendance and more requests for "specific activities we can take with us" have given me pause about the state of where we are professionally.

Barry advocates an idea, and I will gladly catch that grenade and chuck it farther:

For many teachers who are late adapters of technology and whom it is a struggle to get them to use digital tools to foster these ideas, we shouldn't bother. I would argue it might be more important for them to effectively develop critical thinking, cooperative learning, and analysis skills for their students with paper and chalk rather than do it marginally with a SMART Board and a laptop.

Uncle Bill and I spoke about where your change comes from, who you target and who you tacitly neglect in the interest of the greater good. In an era where we are so focused on time, do we have it to spend on those that are not willing to accept change? I am more inclined to agree with Clay Burell, in his comment on Barry's post:

When I look back, I don't see much to be proud of in education over the last decades. But maybe that's just my own student experience speaking.

My problem is, I don't see change happening quickly either. I don't like the view behind or ahead.

Where was the engagement in my education? Identifying with Clay's student experience, the engagement came when I was with a teacher who cared about their craft to push boundaries and ask me to think originally, as scary as that was at the time. Do educators who don't push themselves to grow professionally, at least a little, have that ability to reach students?

While we sat and talked about resistance to change and how my role will be defined, Uncle Bill gave me this advice: "Your job is to make it better for those who are yet to be in your charge, not to make it acceptable for those currently in your charge."

As believers in educational change, who are we working for? The students and teachers of today, or the students and teachers of tomorrow?


Image credit: "[re]design," from Kate_A's photostream

Technorati Tags: bach, clayburell, processredesign, change, education

How to Present

If you have the time over the break, check out Scott Elias' slidecast below. This should be a prerequisite to every preservice teacher before they take their first job so they don't do as I did and repeat the presentation mistakes of the teachers I had.

SlideShare"> | View | Upload your own

Technorati Tags: scottelias, presentation, design, education

What to do once you are there.

Friday, at the very end of the day, I had the opportunity to work with a teacher, Carole Sobiechowski to help her set up her class blog for her Civics class. It was an appointment that was a long time coming, as both of us had rescheduled it several times.

As most of us are, I am a big advocate of blogging, especially in classes designed like this one, where the curriculum is something the students have not been exposed to previously. Our Civics curriculum is brand new as its own entity; it had previously been embedded into our Grade 8 History classes. For various reasons, including alignment to state content standards, we removed it from the 8th grade and designed an entire curriculum around civics and citizenship. It's an exciting class, but the students need to be able to digest it and internalize it in order for it to truly have an impact on future learning and application. One of our other civics classes is blogging already, with some great results.

In working on Friday to get her set up, I began by showing her what the other Civics class blog looked like, including the types of assignments and assessments the class was using, and the general pattern we followed to allow the students to transition into writing on blogs. A couple things stood out to me as I was describing the process to Carole on Friday:

• allowing students time to get used to the space is essential
• rigor is also necessary; time given to assimilate onto the blog should be limited and have a definitive end time where the students know that they can still play, but they are being held accountable for their content.

After we had set her up to play with the blog and finalize her vision for where she wanted to go with it, which she will have time to do over the holiday break, I headed home, still thinking about how I described the process to her.

My wife and I went shopping on the way home from work, which, if you are like me, means a lot of sitting in stores watching the baby while she and the toddler run around finding things to buy. This is great reading time, the iPhone and Google Reader have truly transformed these moments for me. When reading this passage from Kim Cofino, something new was apparent to me about the blog spiel that I deliver to teachers:

All too often, teachers set up an online space for their students and then just “let them have a go” - basically leaving the students on their own in this new environment (sometimes because the teacher is not sure where to start). Not only does this provide fertile breeding ground for misbehavior, but it is definitely not something teachers would do in the physical world, so there’s really no rationale for letting them go in a virtual environment. Teachers must be the model for appropriate behavior online, just like they are in the physical classroom.

It makes perfect sense: teachers rarely give students directions so vague and expect anything of quality to return. As Kim states, it's a breeding ground for trouble to begin. We ask our teachers to be present online, as it insures that they are an integral part of the process the students undergo online; our most successful teachers with students online are our most frequent commenters. Why not start that process earlier, right from the moment our students sign in for the first time? Instead of "hey, let them play for a couple of days," I think I will advocate having the teachers model how to customize their page and require that they "assign" a few of the layout changes to the students by a specified date.

One of the things I love about education and teaching is the myriad ways there are to do it. Yes, there are acceptable norms and practices, but, especially now, they are constantly under revision. School 2.0, always in beta.

Flickr image credit: "2007 Honda Civic Coupe" by Lazy_Lightning's photostream

Technorati Tags: civics, blogging, sparta, pedagogy, chalkdust, kimcofino, alwayslearning

Fun with Time-Lapse Photography

Fun with Gawker and Time Lapse Photography from Patrick on Vimeo.

We had our new teacher meeting for the month of December, which we spent podcasting about a lesson that they created over the last month.

I see big possibilities with this, not just for fun things like this, but also as a special effect in movies, or as documentation in science for experiments that take a while to react or show physical results.

Technorati Tags: timelapse, gawker, education, video, experiment

Hard to Imagine, this Cyberbullying Stuff.

We have been engaging in online collaborative work now in our district using Web 2.0 tools for over a year now, and the number of students and teachers blogging, using wikis, or creating screencast tutorials with their students keeps growing daily.

When I meet with a class at the behest of the teacher to introduce them to using the blog or wiki, I go over the contract that they are signing or have already signed which clearly states the behaviors we condone, and those that we do not. All in all, we have had over 1000 students at one point or another online and creating with one another, commenting, linking, critiquing and collaborating.

The odds that some of them are engaging in behaviors that we don't condone are pretty good, but until this past week, we have never had a problem with any type of cyberbullying or internet safety issues.

A few students, using wikispaces, created a "Gossip Page" about all of the people in their grade level. When I first got the email from the classroom teacher who found out from her students, I immediately thought the worst: that children were using these technologies for the worst purposes. My heart almost stopped. We had all worked so hard to get to the point where we are right now, and we had really done a great job of providing the students with the right balance of academic rigor and academic play in a collaborative space. All of what we worked towards, I felt, was about to be crushed in a swarm of negative publicity.

When I finally got to the site, which was harmless, save for the "hookups and breakups" section, I breathed a little easier and began to process what we could do with this situation to turn it around. Here were some options that floated in from the twitterverse:

• have the students create a wiki, much the same way they already did, but about the dangers of cyberbullying and about how to "be" online. Provide them with the building blocks of resources, and guide them on their way towards teaching other students about the dangers of using the internet as a platform for slander.
• invite all stakeholders to a presentation where we laid out exactly the tools we are using, plan to use, and see as the most important for stakeholders to understand. From this meeting, we could then branch out into parent and community workshops designed at guiding them through the nuances of digital citizenship. Our students could be leaders in this as well.

As an administrator, but not tied to a building, I really have no jurisdiction over the disciplinary side of things; all I can do is make suggestions and give feedback if asked. But I really wanted to help with this one, and I probably should have made that more known.

There are a few things I think we lose sight of sometimes as teachers who are on the leading edge of these new pedagogies. First, we have to realize that our students excel at entertaining themselves online, but rarely possess the ability to apply advanced "online" thinking to their research or organization. Yes, there are some wonderful examples around the world of teachers and students disproving what I just stated (like Clarence and Barbara, Vicki, George, and Clay), but in my classroom experience, the connection between academics and technology with our students is lacking. That has to change. Second, when we educate our students on how to do link the two together successfully, we most likely will be educating the parents of our students in this as well. What Kim did this summer, and Jeff recently are ideal situations that every district should provide for the parents of their students. "What are our children doing?" "How can I be involved?" "To what extent should I be involved?" "Are our students good kids?" "Is Dateline: To Catch a Predator the exception or the rule?"

In the end, it comes down to an adage that one of my graduate school professors told us as we were learning the ins and outs of classroom management (and by the way, one of the few valuable things I garnered from my time there): "you either pay now, or pay later."

Be proactive, rather than reactive.

Technorati Tags: cyberbullying, internetsafety, wikispaces, ethics, digitalcitizenship, dateline, jeffutecht, kimcofino

Image Credit: "Shimmering Madness" from sbluerock's photostream

Data Immersion

What do the numbers mean, man?

In several different conversations lately, I have begun speaking by simply stating that I am not a numbers guy. They never meant much to me. That's not an indictment of myself by any means, but by this point in my life, I understand my limitations and do my best to push past them. Sometimes, however, I find that the pictures the numbers create are fascinating.

This post, as some of you might think, stems from the data analysis we have been doing with our staff of first marking period grade distributions, and it does; you can't spend as much time as I have looking at this data without wondering about it. However, watching Ron Eglash connect fractal geometry and indigenous populations worldwide also made me realize the important of visualizing numbers and data.

What we've been looking at is not who did what, but rather what the distributions tell us as we move forward. This is such a small sample, one marking period, to make any informed decisions about what the numbers mean in terms of instruction or assessment. However, with several marking periods of data, we will be able to really begin to answer these type questions:

• Are the distributions what you thought they would be?
• What does the whole grade average tell you about the grade distribution?
• How might grade distribution inform you regarding strategies used for future instruction?
• Identify similarities and differences. What are some reasons why there are similarities? Differences?
• If two classes are significantly different, why is that?
• If two teachers teach the same units, what accounts for the differences in grade distribution?

What are we really after?

The end result? We are aiming for reflection. We want teachers to be able to look at this empirical data and couple it with the anecdotal data they collect through interaction with students and content and be able to really flesh out what caused success or failure. Once they are doing this, how empowered they become!

Taking this from my perspective, it wasn't until I really began taking a look at the numbers of who was attending my workshops last year (70% from the middle school, only 30% from the high school) that I realized where my focus had to shift. The numbers helped me see the direction I needed to go in, rather than staying where I was comfortable and successful.

So now I play with numbers too, and it might not hurt as much as I thought.


Technorati Tags: data, visualization, education, patrickhiggins

Beat Them, Join Them..Which is it?

Pete Reilly posted today about something that several of my colleagues have reacted to while watching "Did You Know." He asks why we are accepting these numbers as they are:

“Today’s 21 year olds have watched 20,000 hours of TV.”

“Today’s 21 year olds have played 10,000 hours of video games.”

“Today’s 21 year olds have talked 10,000 hours on the phone.”

“They’ve sent/received 250,000 instant messages and e-mails.”

“70 percent of 4 year olds have used a computer.”

Source: Did You Know 2.0

He asks why we accept

spending nearly 7 years of eight hour days watching TV? and nearly 3 years of eight hour days playing video games, and an equal number of years of eight hour days talking on the telephone…13 years of eight hour days spent watching, gaming, and talking on the phone.

rather than taking it to task. I will admit to have been skewed in the other direction for some time; by that I mean that when my colleagues brought that point up as appalling, I would smooth over it by saying that we are faced with it so we may as well just go along with it.

Reilly ends his article with a glimmer, and it's a point that I truly respect:

We can make the case for technology in our classrooms without resorting to “we can’t beat ‘em so why not join ‘em” arguments. We don’t have to accept the inevitability of 20,000 hours of TV watching, or global climate change, or poverty. No one is better positioned than educators to vet technology use so that it reflects the best aspects of our culture, not just the most popular.

This is the tools v. teaching argument in different form. One of the most common arguments for focused professional development of educators is this: throwing technology at teachers without changing pedagogy will lead to very expensive paperweights and disillusioned students. The reality, in my experience, is that students need to be schooled in how to be academic while online. They are skilled at entertaining themselves, as the statistics bear out, but they will have to do much more than that, and we should want them to produce richer, more meaningful content than that which just entertains. Unfortunately, the teaching profession seems to be losing ground here. This has to change.

We want them to enlighten. We want them to innovate.


From Barry Vercoe via Cindy Barnsley's most recent post:

The future is not to predict but to design… Innovation comes from:

• a clash of cultures
• clash of disciplines
• clash of ways of doing things
• high tolerance of failure

These are challenging skills to bring to students. These are challenging skills to bring to ourselves.

For some hope, check out Darren Draper's latest post about the successes of a veteran teacher. It is actually the post that started this line of thinking for me. I know this will be a common story over the next few years.


Technorati Tags: cindybarnsley, petereilly, darrendraper, thinking2.0, education, innovation

How to take care of your readers, via Doug Johnson

I read with great interest Doug Johnson's post about the new $399 ASUS laptop that runs Linux. It might be the solution we are looking for not just with a 1:1 program, but also a desktop situation that is in need of addressing.

Doug's blog is well-known; he is, what many consider, to be a leader in the field of educational technology and library science. Here is the comment I left on his post:

Doug,

Perfect little machine for a staff holiday gift guide. I am interested to see how schools, especially mine, would adapt to using a Linux-based OS, especially when they ask the question: "How do open my PowerPoints?"

Interested to see your comparison between the two when the XO arrives.

This is how Doug responded:

Hi Patrick,

Right now kids who have the latest version of PPT for the PC are having a tough time opening any Office documents on our Macs with the current version of Mac Office. No one seems able to remember to save to the older version. I've had more problems with PPT on this Eee than anything else. The fact my PPTs run 80mg and include movies, animation etc., may be part of the problem. Smaller PPTs work fine but I have to adjust font sizes.

I seriously debate whether to buy the newer version of Office for the Mac. I am really liking the Open Office software that comes with the Eee. Seems less feature glut. Kids could have copies on home computeres - Open Offfice or Neo Office. Maybe it i a good time to make the switch?

Thanks for your comments,

Doug

If ever you wondered what people mean by taking care of your readers, this is it. His response not only addressed my questions, but also directed me toward new thinking. It was lengthy, well-thought out, and was much more than I expected from someone as noteworthy as Doug. Cheers to you Doug, for leading by example.


Technorati Tags: dougjohson, blueskunk, leadership, education, blogggin

The Timing, You Know?

Just as I am entering full-on anxiety mode, along comes Tracy Weeks's post at LeaderTalk. Tomorrow is my official start date as Director of Curriculum for Humanities. Notice I capitalized that. I don't think I've ever had a job title that needed to be capitalized before.

I've been thinking about what to expect as I make this transition, and I will admit, there is a lot of apprehension in changing roles; I've never known a job that was as diverse and challenging as the one I am leaving. What this next one holds, I don't fully know, but the glimpses I have seen in the last few days show me that the stakes are higher, the responsibilities greater, and challenges more complex than any I have ever known. I've never been one to shy away from things that are difficult, and I have to say I am excited for the challenge.

Things do worry me, though. For example, the idea of change has been on that I've bandied about on this blog for a while now. How do you effectively institute it without alienating those that fear it most? And several of us have spoken in the past that people in the field of education have an odd relationship with change. For the most part, we see it as arbitrary, and often hitched to political agenda.

What I learned so well from being immersed in, for lack of a better term, "all things 2.0" over the last year and a half, is that this change we immersed in did not come as a mandate from some overarching political edict. Rather, just the opposite. It has come from the needs of our students, and the desires of some extremely talented teachers who want to reach them with undeniably meaningful and timely lessons using sound pedagogy combined with new tools.

So I look at tomorrow morning with apprehension, but also renewed excitement, as I will take with me the skill set that I have honed up until this point in my career. Tracy spoke of a few things that I really liked, and plan to carry over in some way to my new role:

Being the Change
Tracy talks about using tools with people rather than just showing or telling about the tools. This idea is one I plan to implement as I will be involved in so many projects and groups and committees that keeping track of them will be daunting. Putting my theory into practice by using a wiki for organization, or really trying Google Groups to keep members up to speed will show how willing I am to push the "change" agenda forward, and do so with results in my own practice.

Leading and Learning by Example
One of the greatest by-products of my time as technology coordinator was how closely I was able to examine my own learning. The outcome of that introspection has helped me see the kinds of things that Will Richardson has been talking about for quite a while: teachers and administrators need to look at how they learn, just as they need to look at how their students learn. Getting teachers and administrators to come together to discuss how professional development is changing is a goal of mine, one that I have begun on our district blog, Tech Dossier, but would like to see spill over into what Tracy calls "Lunch n' Learns." When you get administrators and the teachers that work with them to the same table to discuss how things are changing, or the ideas that they have for working with students, or how to expand the walls of the classroom (or better, knock them down completely), you get honest change, and you get hope.

We'll see how this goes. I know this is going to be transformative, and that my life will change dramatically as of tomorrow morning, but this is the right move. This is the direction my head has been going for a while anyway. Wish me luck.

Photo Credit: "Sidewalk Philosophy," from babasteve's photostream

Technorati Tags: curriculum, sparta, change, willrichardson, tracyweeks, edublogosphere

Some Holiday Fun

I really wanted to show my wife the global nature of Ustream, so I thought what better way than to share out tree opening. A very early Happy Holiday to all!

Test from Flock

Just testing the blog functionality in Flock.

Blogged with Flock

Aswirl

Influencing this post:
Karl Fisch's Thought for the Day 11-25-07
Jeff Utecht's Where's the R&D in Education?

Karl Fisch excerpted this quote from Shelly Lazarus, CEO of Ogilvy & Mather:

We’re living in a world now where consumers are bombarded with thousands of commercial messages – they’re everywhere you look. Unless you cut through that and engage someone, I think you are lost. Consumers are now clearly in control. They control what they hear and see, when, and where. You have to find new ways to allow them to actively engage with you, or the money you spend is wasted.

and I immediately thought back to watching Seth Godin's TED Talk in which he spoke about the noise created by advertising. Lazarus is on to something here, as is Karl with his appeal to the educational community. What's the parallel?

Lazarus's quote echoes what has been said many times over: engage them don't enrage them because they have heard it all before. When Godin spoke, the most striking thing, and being an Apple geek I understand this all too well, was that he spoke about how the center of the populace doesn't hold it for advertisers any longer; if you are going after the biggest demographic, you are going to lose and and lose bad. The niche market, the long tail, the early adopter is who you need in order to tip the scales in your product's or idea's favor. There's the link--the early adopter, or as we like to call them here, the blue-bird.

Bear with me.

Jeff posted today about who is doing the R&D in education. He argues that it is us, the educational technologists, who are doing the majority of the testing and playing with new ideas. Taking Seth's and Shelly's ideas into consideration, we are the early adopters. It's what we are paid to do, and, in my experience, what we are passionate about. However, is that where we should be heading? I've got this idea stuck in my head that the best way to transfer the R & D is not through my work, but the work of the early adopter, the blue-bird.

Have you ever seen teachers learn from one another? It's magical, and quick! There is no wasted time, just "do this, do that, this works well, this doesn't, let me know how you do." While it is our responsibility to encourage and guide the early adopter, I am so amazed at how well teachers relate to one another when it comes to tackling new concepts, or as Jeff put it, R & D.

Here's my plan: I want to begin shifting the professional development onto the blue-birds. They use these tools practically. They use them daily and see them for what they truly are. Couldn't they offer classes in what they do? This is not a shirking of responsibilities by any means, but rather a hard look at effective transfer. Teachers learn well from teachers. In bouncing this idea around with a few colleagues, another great idea came out: why not co-teach the classes or at least Skype in one teacher they know during the workshop?

My role is to find the next thing, understand its pedagogical uses, and bring it to the faculty. The same ratios will apply in that you will get early adopters to whatever you are selling. But you will need them. They are your niche market, your standard bearers.



Technorati Tags: nichemarket, sethgodin, shellylazarus, karlfisch, jeffutecht, professionaldevelopment, education,

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On a quiet day here in Sparta, when everyone is geared up for the long weekend full of Thanksgiving meals and shopping, Ryan Lollgen and Steve Schels had something else in mind for their United States History Classes.

Ryan had made contact with Dr. Pauline Maier, the Dr. William R. Kenan Professor of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, after having read some of her work. A simple email and phone call to the contact information she supplied landed Ryan and Steve, and more importantly, their students, access to one of America's preeminent historians.

On Wednesday morning at 10am, we used Skype to phone Dr. Maier at her office and conducted an hour-long interview with her with questions generated by the students. The podcast of the event is available for your listening above, and while not the cleanest audio in the world, it is well worth a listen by anyone interested in a unique conversation about the American Revolution.

Maier was featured prominently in PBS's documentary Liberty a few years back, the ebullient style with which she exhibited in the documentary really came through in the phone interview. Her enthusiasm for the topics the students brought up was refreshing for us to hear, and her perspectives were poignant and insightful.

Perhaps the greatest part of the process was that she was genuinely interested in not only the topics, but why the students wanted to know these things. Her answers to the questions the students asked were above and beyond what we all expected, and reflected her desire to help the students view history as a dynamic and changing process. Here is a quote from an follow-up email she sent to Ryan:

Ryan,
Congratulations again on getting your students so involved in American
history. There's nothing like encouraging them to ask questions to avoid
the sense that history is a boring collection of dead facts arranged
chronologically rather than an exciting inquiry into human experience. My
hat is really off to you and the other teachers I have known who, like you,
are doing good work preparing students to think and, not incidentally, be
informed citizens of the American Republic. What was the line attributed
to Franklin (perhaps mythically)? I think as he left the convention,
someone asked him what kind of government the Americans would have, and he
supposedly said "a republic, if you can keep it." We need to know what a
republic is and what it demands of its people if we want to keep it.

This was a unique event for us to participate in, one that showed how we can easily bring experts into our classrooms just by reaching out to them and extending the invitation. Much like Dee Peselli did with Kyle MacDonald a few months back, all it takes is a teacher who wants to provide a memorable experience for his or her students.

Cross-posted at Tech Dossier.

Technorati Tags: sparta, skype, MIT, expertvoices

Strike the Match

Last year, I workshopped until I was blue in the face, talking about RSS and social bookmarking and whatever else I could to help teacher efficiency while researching and planning. This year I backed off and let things go in their own direction (slightly).

This post just appeared today on Tech Dossier, our district technology blog, from Angela Deluccia-Davis, and it really made me smile. Now, truth be told, Angela is an early adopter, and one of our biggest technological evangelists, but she is also a realist, and an AP teacher. Her margin for error with experimentation is very low. Her post details briefly the introduction of Google Reader into the AP position paper that she does every year.

One thing I love about how she introduced it is that she clearly states that not all of the students are using it---it's a tool. Some will use the tool, others will not. No grades will suffer if you choose not to use it. I would like to see where this goes.

Flickr image credit: "Aha," by Jason Pinker

Technorati Tags: google, sparta, techdossier, rss, education

The Best Idea, in picture form

Scott McLeod had this on his site a while back (and he got it from indexed), and in cleaning out my starred items on my Google Reader, something worse than the mess that was the regular list of unread items in my reader, I found it again and it made more sense than when I starred it.

To me, this speaks to the way in which learning is heading. I can't say that this model fits everyone, but the more I engage in conversation with people, regardless of their viewpoint, the better I emerge because of it.

I Did It!

I successfully made it through all the outstanding reading in my reader. Then I trimmed my feed list by 50%. Organization and efficiency will occur.

What Marvin Gaye Would Ask Me...

I feel like a deadbeat dad almost--like I have neglected my responsibilities to reflect. I haven't posted in nearly two weeks. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Why not? Several extremely lame reasons offer themselves up: no time, too much transition to the new gig, kids not sleeping, teachers needing assistance, database updating. All of them trumping each other for the lamest excuse for not writing. What it boils down to is the fact that I haven't been making the time to reflect, and this strikes me as odd in this crucial time in my career as I make a big change.

There are so many things were mentioning in this post, and in other posts that I have thought about writing, but the most pressing is that I am no longer going to be the Tech Coordinator for my district, but rather I have accepted a position as Director of Curriculum for Humanities. My role has drastically changed, and my time "in the saddle" will as well.

However, I was talking to a group of teachers today in a workshop about how blogging offers the unique ability for you to see how you have grown as a professional, as a writer, and as a thinker, and something occurred to me: this blog has pushed me to this point, more so than any other facet of my learning network. Here's why:

• when I look back at my posts throughout the last year, the focus has shifted from solely technological issues to those of pedagogical and curricular issues. Instead of asking "what is the coolest tool?" I began to ask "how can this tool help a student take their learning to a new level?"
• more and more, as I moved through this year, I focused on elements of change in a school environment.
• as my network grew throughout the year, so did the effort level on my posts; not to say that I did not strive to write well, but it goes to common sense that if your audience grows, so then does the pressure to write well and provide reason for people to want to read you.

So now I am moving in a direction that I like to say I didn't foresee, but after some analysis and reflection, I should have seen coming. I wanted to thank all of the people who stop by here, all two of you (and one is my mother), and I hope you continue to challenge me and push my thinking to places and levels that I could not get to on my own.

Image Credit: 'Transitions transition" on candyls' photostream

Technorati Tags: change, transition, technology, curriculum

Period 3-4 Ustream.

Here is the Ustream chat for one of the Just One Less conferences we held two weeks ago here in Sparta. The dialogue for this one included people from around the globe.

[09:52:35] : going live in a few minutes.
[09:53:44] : that's why i am here
[09:53:53] : great to see you mrsdurff
[09:53:57] : er sort of.
[09:54:02] : working and listening
[09:54:11] : hi pj
[09:54:15] : Welcome to all parents and guests.
[09:55:41] : Please remember to ask your questions of me and I will pass it along to the students.
[09:56:04] : Hi per 3 civics , Mrs S will try and catch some of your broadcast
[09:56:14] : Here we go. Please give feedback as to quality, especially audio.
[09:56:32] : hello Mrs. Sobie.
[09:56:43] : Soon as your on we will let you know
[09:56:54] : Hello Mrs. Sobie
[09:57:18] : Hi Mr Walsh
[09:58:31] : You're going to enjoy this, the Per 1 gang was great!
[09:58:38] : hi
[09:59:10] : Volume is better
[09:59:51] : great audio!
[10:00:03] : excellent
[10:00:27] : Students are well prepared, but nervous.
[10:00:31] : Volume is going in and out for us in Rm 261
[10:01:24] : If everyone could state their location for us, we would really appreciate it.
[10:02:27] : mrsdurff in hagerstown, maryland
[10:02:38] : Jeff Lebow - Bow, NH
[10:03:28] : so mechanics - did you get video release forms?
[10:04:25] : We used their publicity consent forms. Those that did not agree will not appear on camera.
[10:04:36] : SMS Sparta NJ Rm 261
[10:04:37] : ah!
[10:05:01] : questions?
[10:05:02] : i'm trying to organise 8th grade for this
[10:05:05] : for students?
[10:05:14] : @mrsdurff: great.
[10:05:22] : are they frightened?
[10:05:34] : about the prognosis?
[10:05:45] : How do they feel about having their presentations streamed globally?
[10:05:49] : Questions: Where did they do their research? What resources did they use?
[10:06:44] : Great!!!
[10:06:47] : Did they validate their research by looking at three or four different sources of info?
[10:06:57] : do they find the deep web better than surface web for researching?
[10:07:09] : What changes have the students made in their own lives about global warming?
[10:07:42] : @55345: will save that one(validate) for end. Please remind me.
[10:08:08] : great!
[10:08:36] : most is transportation
[10:08:49] : and most kids want a car
[10:09:13] : do they?
[10:09:13] : Great job Laura and Pat for our kids!
[10:09:24] : we can hear perfectly now
[10:10:17] : personal responsibility?
[10:10:34] : @mrsdurff: here is your transportation issue
[10:11:02] : do they think this is someone else's problem or their problem?\
[10:11:15] : ah!
[10:11:41] : but are they personally gonna do these things?
[10:11:49] : student in my class would like to know the sources of their research
[10:12:48] : What changes have you made in your own lives to make things better?
[10:12:56] : Students in Per3 want to know what organizations are working to solve the problem?
[10:13:26] : how has global warming affected the Artic glaciers?
[10:13:29] : great questions.
[10:13:41] : good answer!
[10:13:44] : students asking now.
[10:14:29] : Who are the people in your lives that now serve as role models to help get this movement started? Are they both adults and peers?
[10:14:41] : good question!
[10:14:50] : i agree
[10:14:51] : Per 3 How does hairspray affect the air?
[10:15:50] : fluorocarbons
[10:15:57] : Yes!
[10:16:04] : shh!
[10:17:07] : He is having fun up there.
[10:17:32] : Audio check.
[10:17:41] : sounds good
[10:18:42] : Remember to sign into Ustream so we can see your name in the chat.
[10:19:01] : Local issues.
[10:19:45] : Questions?
[10:19:55] : some may not have accounts
[10:20:05] : true
[10:20:12] : Has there been any recent legislation introduced to help the situation here in NJ?
[10:20:23] : what are the alternatives?
[10:20:26] : that can also type '/nick theirname' to change their ID
[10:22:00] : how does pollution in Antartica affect you?
[10:22:36] : @mrsdurff: I like that question a lot. I will try to get it in here.
[10:22:46] : so everyone is in a watershed affecting some water ecosystem
[10:22:57] : this is everyone's problem
[10:23:26] : Smithsonanian had a great article on glaciers
[10:23:44] : the waiting room in a doc's office is good for sth
[10:24:13] : the water cycle
[10:24:27] : therefore it is our problem
[10:24:35] : true.
[10:25:45] : nyc sends how many lbs of trash out to sea on barges per year?
[10:26:11] : what else could nyc do with the trash?
[10:27:11] : does being a endangered species do anything?
[10:27:23] : how do we know?
[10:28:08] : action steps! wonderful!!
[10:28:19] : Mr. Chodkiewicz's Class would like to know what we can do locally to help endangered species
[10:30:03] : What endangered species' do we have in and around Sparta and what has put them in danger?
[10:31:09] : the giggles.
[10:31:20] : they are boys
[10:31:27] : give 'em a break
[10:32:37] : Nice Job!
[10:34:04] : makes me hungry
[10:34:14] : @17763: I agree.
[10:34:22] : vegan lasagne on the plate today
[10:34:37] : annamarie77
[10:35:05] : action steps!
[10:35:30] : Do you currently have a recycling program in place at your school? If not, do you plan to start one?
[10:35:56] : @mrsdurff: do you want me to ask them for a plan?
[10:36:22] : no - they told me
[10:36:30] : i was praising
[10:36:36] : You are good.
[10:36:54] : educators think alike
[10:37:56] : After the students finish, we will stick around for some closing statements.
[10:38:02] : they could start a grassroots reccyling program
[10:38:13] : Agreed.
[10:38:33] : i challenge them all
[10:38:40] : Our VP is sitting next to me; he says that we do have one. Maybe we need to publicize it.
[10:38:50] : Excellent!
[10:39:53] : this is great!
[10:40:22] : clapping.
[10:40:30] : Great Job per 3!!!
[10:40:48] : Mr. C's Class is clapping too!
[10:41:01] : this was worth my morning!!
[10:41:06] : Great job, guys! Your hard work is evident.
[10:41:09] : thank you!!
[10:41:41] : nice job!
[10:41:43] : thank you all for coming and helping us out. One more this afternoon at 1:45.
[10:42:27] : tweet it then - may be if we still have internet
[10:43:20] : Thanks again.

Just One Less...

Tomorrow marks a big day for us in terms of our movement towards a more transparent school community: we are broadcasting a student-led conference on the environment live via Ustream and inviting you, your students, and your colleagues to watch us and interact with us through the chat.

Laura Sofen, a 7th grade Language Arts teacher and I sat down about a month ago and worked through our ideas and made this happen for our students. As Laura said, they had worked so hard, inquired so much and grown through this research process, that allowing them this outlet to show the understanding they have gained was a fitting reward.

Our goal tomorrow is to engage in dialogue, to pull you (and your students) in from wherever you are. We want our students to see "Global Warming" as truly "global," and not just something they are reading about because we are in an election cycle here in the states.

The times are 9:30am, 11:00am, and 1:30pm EST in the US (GMT-5). Please take the time to drop in and bring your students if you can. The students are in 7th Grade, so they are not quite high school age, but in listening to them practice today, they have done their homework and are ready for a global audience.

Here is the address for my Ustream channel where will be live from. Hope to see you there.

Flickr image credit: "What Global Warming?" from maistora's photostream

Technorati Tags: environment, globalwarming, conference, sparta, education, technology, edtech

Expect the Unexpected

Maybe I am naive, but this comment on a recent student survey I conducted about using wikis in their AP class took me by surprise, especially based on most of the things we assume about this generation of students:

not make it so that you have to go on every night to check what is happening. It is turning into something like facebook or myspace just with history. i dont know about everyone but some people dont have time to check the internet everynight sometimes more than once.

Are our students as "connected" as we assume? This quote, while isolated, makes me wonder about the way this assignment is structured, and the way this student is relating to the assignment. Plus, are we taking for granted the fact that using something like a wiki is not a panacea.

Just another example of why it is NEVER about the technology, but ALWAYS about the teaching.



Flickr image credit: "Wiki Wiki Teriyaki," from Parvati's photostream

Technorati Tags: wiki, surveys, sparta, technology, pedagogy, education

Why didn't I think of this sooner?

In preparation for my new position as Director of Curriculum for Humanities in my district, I realized that keeping the district technology blog going was something that might be difficult given the amount of time I spent on it and the new constraints of the position. Also, I thought about a few other things that were bothering me regarding the blog:

• there was not much conversation going on with it; the staff would read it, but no one was commenting.
• my posts there were very similar in nature; often I would talk about tools and cool applications of tools in the classroom, and highlight staff accomplishments.
• getting people to the site rested squarely on my shoulders.

Thus, my conclusion was that I needed new voices. So I asked a few of my colleagues to pitch in as co-authors, taking a cue from LeaderTalk. So as of last Monday, Angela Dellucia-Davis, Cathy Wille, Erica Hartman, Michael Gregory, and Brad Davis all became co-authors of The Tech Dossier. What came from this in terms of participation and readership was nothing short of amazing:

Saturday was the last day that I posted solo, and Monday began the contributions of the others. Word of mouth and a few emails to the staff were all we did to publicize the change and as you can see from the graph above, we reached highs in page loads and first time visitors almost daily. This is what I always wanted. Comments, at least three on every post, with a high of 7 on one post.

The mix of administrators and teachers blogging together is an interesting one, one that I will watch intently, but it seems to be working after one week. If you have a moment, please check out the writing going on there this week. It is a grand experiment, and I certainly should have done this sooner.


Technorati Tags: sparta, edtech, education, newjersey, blogging

Indications That You Are Moving in the Right Direction

This from teacher I worked with a few weeks ago on establishing a wiki for her AP US History Class:

did you see the first completed review page on my wiki--pretty awesome. some of the links are careless and even useless, but I've noticed so far with the new page that they're linking in more useful resources. i am very pleased with the content and organization. thanks!

And then this from her students:

it makes it easier to communicate with ALL of your classmates, not just the ones you normally talk to outside of school.. also, its awesome because its a group project that everyone can collaborate on but we don't all have to be together to work on it

But also the project has opened up valid discussion about the merits of using such technology in schools:

I hate the AP review project. It is a superfluous use of technology that only leads to frustration. More time is spent organizing the page and competing with overachievers for things to do then actually learning anything about history. Scrap it please before it evolves into a worse monster that no one can manage.

On Thursday and Friday of this week, I worked with two groups of teachers on the merits of feedback as a means of self-assessment for teachers. While the workshop wasn't packed to the gills, the teachers I worked with began to see why I survey them every time they leave my classes.

As people in the art and science of education, we have to be able to get constructive feedback from our stakeholders in addition to the few observations that are done by our administration. Two or three snapshots are not enough to transform our teaching in a meaningful way. Our most important stakeholders, our students, need to be voiced in the process of their own education. Imagine using the survey results as a basis for class discussion where the points made by the students are validated and discussed, or using the results as a basis for planning a new lesson and informing the students that this lesson was driven by their comments on the last unit, or last lesson.

Ownership

Since hearing Alan November speak, I am intrigued by the idea of ownership of learning and the roles of teachers and students in a classroom. I have spent the last year talking about authentic learning, tools, technology, and pedagogy in the 21st Century and how different it should be, but what does that look like? My wife asked me a question last night: how do I engage my 4th graders in their own learning? I had no direct answer. It took a few minutes of really thinking and brainstorming to find out where she needed to go (I also asked the Twitter network) I realized that it takes a lot more than just knowing that there needs to be a change, and that there will be a change in our classrooms, than actually affecting that change.

Surveying the students and finding out what works for them in your lessons and units begins to take them towards ownership of the learning because they begin to see their role in their own learning. "Hey, I can drive this process!" It takes a teacher willing to listen and act on those suggestions heard.


Technorati Tags: alannovember, wikis, survey, pedagogy, twitter, classrooms, 21stcentury

My Thoughts on Mr. November, Part II

"Schools remain cut off from the rest of the world despite web 2.0 technologies. We need to connect them and publicize those connections."

Alan spoke about the need for us to connect our students to the world at large, about the changing global economy and workforce and the radical shifts that are happening in economies worldwide. Like all else I do, I needed to filter that statement a little before letting it run loose in my own world.

I had an interesting conversation today with a good friend of mine regarding what it's like being out of the classroom and what we notice now that we are "on the other side" at least for part of the time. My friend said that, being in the classroom for a while, you often feel like you have exhausted every possible angle on a certain unit, a particular lesson, or maybe even a particular grade level. Leaving the classroom for a while and having the opportunity and the time to devote to finding new angles, new strategies, and new learning adventures gives you fresh perspective, and you find yourself trying hard to get back into the classroom to try what you have found. Why is that so often the case? Is it that we have our system structured so that it's focused less on the quality of instruction and more on the quantity of instruction you can deliver in a set time.

In looking at Alan's quote from above, and in thinking about this situation of perspective and time, they both are matched perfectly. If we have networked teachers, communities of practice either locally or virtually, sharing knowledge, strategy, and especially their students work, we have solved the problem of time and the problem of stagnation. Change the model of how teachers are developed once they are hired to one where they are networked with others of like and unlike mind. Connecting the students, then follows soon after, as the teachers can begin to see the possibilities and benefits of connected learning. I know there is more to this than this brief post, but I truly think that the key to future professional development has to start with networking teachers. For a more thorough look at what this can be, be sure to check out Sheryl Nussbaum-Beech's latest post at TechLearning.

A lot of technology, a lack of vision.

What am I doing to help provide the teachers I work with the ability and desire to have vision? Alan's statement echoes what's been said by so many lately: we have great tools, but what can we build with them? I looked hard at the courses I have offered over the past year to my staff, and I looked hard at the model I offered them in. Had I not accepted this new position (still holding out on that post), I would have restructured the entire way I offer PD. I don't think this 2-hour, sit-and-get is the best way to facilitate change, promote innovation, and instill my staff with the confidence they need to start having real vision when it comes to how they can now teach. And who knows, with your help, this slate of classes in November might be the beginning of that shift for my district.

What is my vision for the classrooms I work in? That's not an easy one, but it's one that we should get a handle on soon. If you asked me now, I'd go with this:

We are the change that we want to see; it starts with us and how we enable that change in others around us. We want globally connected learners because we may not be all that our learners need us to be. Our classrooms should produce students whose sense of community is not constrained by their geographic location because they never learned that way; the world was always their classroom. Our teachers and students should know audience to be much more than just teacher, or class, or school, but nation, and world beyond that. And our methods will be the subject of debate and critique among our peers.

Flickr Image Credits:
"Be the Change," from dmal's photostream
"Do you Believe in Change?" carf's photostream

Technorati Tags: blc08, alannovember, education, philosopy, professionaldevelopment

My Thoughts on Mr. November

Friday, at TechForum New York, the keynote speaker was Alan November, of November Learning. Alan is someone whom I have read much about via other's experiences in meeting him, attending BLC, or hearing him recently in Shanghai, but never really did any focused research on myself. Who was this guy, and why did he always leave behind a wake?

His bio in the conference program started off with a great piece of information: his first professional gig was that of an oceanography teacher at an alternative high school in Boston Harbor. Where can't you go after that?

Needless to say, I was impressed, and tried to take notes on his presentation, but when your network shows up, it is difficult to stay focused on much other than your twitterstream. Also, however, I find it hard to take notes any more unless the speaker is talking about something other than tools. Thankfully, Alan seemed to care less about the tools, even at one point, throwing a jab to the aggressive vendor crowd assembled.

What he did give me was this:

Turn your fears into goals.

That sounds simple enough, but let's put it into practice for a minute. Here are a list of fears/obstacles that I often hear when working with staff:

• I am not technologically savvy.
• There is no time to implement this into my curriculum. I am held to state standards on tests like Regents/GEPA/HSPA; I need to focus on that.
• The students will not take this seriously.
• They (the students) just copy and paste everything anyway.
• I can't add one more thing to my list of responsibilities.

And as Alan was speaking, he impressed me less with his rehearsed ideas, but more with his spontaneous addressing of crowd concerns, taking direct questions from several people who iterated some of the same fears/obstacles above. Looking at that list, I can do that. Here is my revised version:

• I will become comfortable teaching in a manner that appeals to the learning needs of my students.
  
• I will use resources contributed by teachers who are using technology to help students reach state standards on tests.
• I will create lessons that matter to my students, ones in which they will work on without realizing it as work.
• My assessments and assignments will be authentic, so that students cannot merely take the work of others and pass it off as their own.
• I will focus on adding one new method to my teaching repertoire this year.

As I ready myself for a switch in job titles (more on that as the time nears), these type of semantic shifts are things I want to embrace. I have long thought that leadership determines institutional attitude more than any other component. My experience in the schools I have worked in bears this belief out. If I am to be someone who expects change, pushes innovative measures through, and enlists the creative forces of my staff, then I have to able to transform negativity into a goal-setting mentality like Alan prescribed.

This is the first in a series of posts I am generating from his session, and from the subsequent round tables and discussions from Friday.


Technorati Tags: blc08, alannovember, philosophy, education, change