Here is your link to the virtual Roundtable, TONIGHT, hosted by Teachers’ Letters to Obama (TLO). We are looking forward to a great dialogue and hearing from some wonderful teacher guests, discussing their experiences with public schools that work with our poorest children: Chuck Olynyk (whose school in Los Angeles was reconstituted); a group of teachers from Detroit Public Schools who were “invited” to start a teacher-led school as a transformation model; Nikki Barnes, a National Board Certified Teacher whose career has led her from a policy job at the NEA to teaching in a KIPP charter school; and Sabrina Stevens Shupe, author of Failing Schools blog, and the kind of teacher that the US Department of Education says that we need most right now.

The meeting is TONIGHT, Tuesday, August 31 at 8:30 p.m. EDT (7:30 CDT/6:30 MDT/5:30 PDT). Please log in to the meeting room between 8:15 and 8:30 EDT–no more than 15 minutes prior to the start of the meeting. The Roundtable will last about 90 minutes. We are limited to 100 seats for the meeting, but we still have a few seats available, so feel free to urge interested friends, policymakers or parents to register @http://www.surveymonkey.com/Home_Landing.aspx?sm=DZ%2fB7zbmph4IXOF9yY70KFU8ou%2bfi%2bCRWmeHcIbTNx0%3d

Our thanks to Powerful Learning Practice for letting us use their Elluminate virtual meeting system. You will not be using the phone tonight. Once you click on the link below, you will be taken through a series of screens. If asked to download a bit of Java script to give you access to the platform, click “OK” or “run.” Please log in using your first and last name. Once you have reached the Elluminate platform, other TLO members will greet you and give you further guidance in using the platform tools.

Before you log in, make sure your speakers are turned on. If you wish to speak, you’ll also need a microphone (either an external mic or the one built in to your laptop). You can still see and hear everything without a microphone, and participate by typing into the chat box.

Thanks for being part of this exciting, grass-roots effort to elevate the voices of teachers!

The link to Tuesday’s meeting:

https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2007122&password=M.E4B4FFD6A069F92A216829E414AAE0

**You may need to copy and paste the link into your browser.**

Don’t forget to check the TLO Facebook page regularly for updates and resources!

PLP Boot Camp will be traveling this fall—all the way to Norway.

Ann Michaelsen, a teacher who has been providing new opportunities to learn for her own teachers, has now also arranged the November 17 Boot Camp for administrators in Norway and Sweden.

“We’ve all been using technology for a long time,” she said. “But we hope this Boot Camp will give people a reason to think about what they are doing and why.”

Teachers in Norway are conservative in teaching and learning, she said. However, the curriculum is not set, and teachers are “at liberty to choose more than teachers in the US.”

Yet, even with that freedom, she said, “Students are basically using computers to take notes.” She hopes this conference will help people see the possibilities for more collaborative, online work. She wants the pedagogy to match the instruction; having administrators all work together for three days on this will help that focus.

Ann looks forward to seeing her colleagues embrace some of ideas she’s been sharing. She is a teacher at heart, saying planning lessons is her favorite part of teaching. And, as classes are taught for a full day once a week rather than hourly each day, teachers have many opportunities to use projects, online collaborations, and time for reflection.

“Teaching has gone from the closed system to sharing work on the net and getting responses from other teachers,” she said. Recently students worked on Facebook, sharing a post-it notes project on various topics. And her recent blog post indicates she is looking for some global collaboration!

“I want the principals to be aware of all the possibilities and to be able to support the teachers,” Ann said. “And I want for the teachers to see all the possibilities and not be afraid. It’s too easy to do the same old things. They need to think beyond that.”

Fellow, Ontario Cohort 2009

One of the true benefits of a job in education is that you get a chance to reinvent yourself every school year.  There are a lot of careers that you might have chosen otherwise that just don’t give you that luxury.  Things may change in terms of products that you build, tools that you use, projects that you’re involved with, etc., but it’s only in education that you get a fresh batch of faces and an opportunity for a total refresh every year.

It’s not just K-12, higher education gets that opportunity as well.  A brand new set of faces; perhaps new curriculum; a new chance to establish learning routines; an opportunity to try out new tools.  These are the parameters that make teaching the profession that it is.

You’ve got the curriculum that needs to be addressed but typically, you’re asked to rely on your professional discretion as to how it will happen in your classroom.  While there is the lore of people who have taught a course so often that they have lesson plans laminated and dated, that has to be the stuff that needs to be taken with some scepticism.

It can be difficult to bring in massive change in the middle of a school year, but starting on Day 1, new routines and approaches can be implemented to motivate both teacher and student.  Judicious use also can deliver on the promise of engagement and differentiation.

Think of the possibilities.

Textbooks – Do you really need to dig out and assign those moldy old static content deliverers?  Does your science textbook still have Pluto listed as a planet?  Learning and research is more robust and transparent on the web.

Software – The bane of teachers and IT Departments is ensuring that all of the applications that are installed on classroom computers is done properly and working as it should.  Even when they are, they’re only available at school.  Ironically, computer use and javelins may be the only things that can’t be sent home as homework.  (OK, just kidding about the javelins)  Student workspaces are configured and permissions properly assigned.  A slip and it leads to frustrations.  Change your thoughts from applications needing to be installed to applications web-based that just work.  It opens up a whole new world.  There are even classroom management environments if you’re in search of one.  Flexibility is also required for times of slow connections or maintenance but that’s the world that we live in.

Blogging – There are so many Rs that effective blogging can address.  Reading, writing, reflecting, responding.  The only challenge will be making the decision about whether it’s a classroom blog or whether each student has her own.  Or both?  It’s not just a language tool.  Think of it as an introspection opportunity in all subject areas where students can dig just a little deeper and comment on the thinking of their peers.

Connecting – Can you remember when an expert might be a short term event with a guest appearing in the classroom?  It might happen once a year if the students are lucky.  With the proper connections, everyone has the potential to be an expert.  Instead of collecting monies to hire an expert for a day, make the connection with another class doing the same thing where they are the experts.  Sessions can be as long as they need to be rather than a timetabling nightmare.

Storytelling – There are awesome tools available that allow for remixing, reshaping, and constructing the new story.  The tools can also be used in very trivial ways.  When I talk, I warn against the “low hanging fruit”.  Used properly though, these tools can go far beyond Friday afternoon activities to being a crucial tool for engaging stories to support curriculum.  Look for innovative ways of using tools like Google’s StreetView, for example.

Home and School Connection – The use of online tools open the home/school connection in ways never before possible.  Rather than a paper newsletter that goes home monthly/weekly, web communication can become a true communication enabler.  Find out early if anyone is going to be disadvantaged.  You may be surprised at the various ways that parents and students are connected outside the school.  Consider this a message to go and make all of the online learning transparent to everyone.

Connections – The personal iPod or cell phone can be the elephant in the room.  It’s going to be a fight that you’ll lose so embrace it.  These are really powerful devices and banning them leads to under desk one hand texting.  Have them out and on the desktop for all to see and establish a protocol for their use.  There are times when they are clearly inappropriate but also there are times for learning and active use and discovery.  Use them to expand the connectivity in your classroom.

Amalgamating Content – It’s also important that access to all of these resources is easily available to all involved whether it be students, parents, other classes in your school, collaborating classes world-wide, and principals.  Make it easy on yourself by looking at a class wiki that’s easily updated without extra tools, FTP, etc.  Remember that the wiki isn’t just about you.  The more collaborators, the richer the content.

Movies – There was a time when making movies in the classroom involved high-end equipment and specialized lighting, sounds, etc.  There still is room for that as a discipline but the world has moved on.  Online movie sharing has made this media available to everyone.  Cell phones and mini-cameras bring movie making to the masses.  Everyone has a story to tell.  Even if you aren’t ready to move in that direction, your students are!  Don’t forget that screencasting can be equally as compelling.  The cool educational thing – making a movie requires a lot of thought and research!

The News – There was a time when current events was an important component of every day but that has faded in some quarters.  The connected classroom can bring that back with a vengeance.  Subscribe to news feeds or content and you’ll be amazed at what’s available daily.  Imagine a click and you’re watching a movie about something relevant to today’s lesson.  Or, use any of the earth viewing tools to zoom in on locations and put studies in context.  You don’t necessarily have to do the work for yourself.  Follow some great blogs or online bookmarking feeds.  There are lots of people documenting the best of the best.  Why start from scratch?

Do Some Good – As the world becomes smaller when connected, so does awareness of global and local issues.  Good global citizens are aware of these issues and can direct their fundraising or benevolence efforts toward them.  Once students are aware of the need, it may be difficult deciding where to direct their energies.

Make Something – The availability of all of the reading can lull you and students into being passive consumers of it.  You’ll never read it all anyway so don’t try.  Read enough and then get moving.  Write a program; solve a problem; develop web content; solve a puzzle; take and analyze some measurements; build a birdhouse…

Professional Growth – Before this turns into a book, take time to do something for yourself.  You can’t beat going to a conference or other Professional Development event but I would urge you to think of them differently.  Instead of a place to go to learn something new, think of them as a place to make connections and consolidate your thoughts.  Instead, get yourself a Twitter account and follow some great educators and others, read some blogs, grab some RSS feeds and do the reading and thinking daily.  Don’t just subscribe to people that you can easily agree with.  If you consider yourself a liberal in thinking, latch on to one or two conservative voices.  They’ll make your blood boil but open up windows to new sides of the discussion.

Yes, it’s September and classrooms and lecture halls can be exactly what you want them to be.  The first lessons establish the norms and expectations for the new year.  It’s a chance to be exactly what you want to be.  So, what do you want to be as you get a fresh start?

cross-posted

I ran across this TED video recently on Richard St. John’s view of success. It’s short and to the point.

What else would you add?

Dean Shareski is a community leader with PLP. He asks some interesting questions in his building of community within our cohorts. He does the same on his own blog. Today he asked:

In the effort to be fiscally responsible and focus our attention on what truly matters, we hear this question asked almost everyday as we make choices on how to support our school division: “Will it improve student learning?” That’s a simple and yet very complicated question. It’s pretty easy to suggest that almost anything you do will improve student learning  but not everything will translate into the classroom and impact student learning immediately or directly.

Here’s what I want to know:

1. How do you measure the effectiveness of professional learning?

2. Is there a time frame in which the professional learning translates into student learning?

I’m not sure I’m articulating myself particularly well here but am searching for some ideas that will help me solidify my own beliefs. I’m really curious to hear your thoughts on this one. Thanks in advance.

I responded and since I have to wait for him to approve my comment I decided to share my thoughts here. (I am not very patient–working on it).

My response to Dean’s questions …..

The obvious answer is the effectiveness has to be measured first on how well the PD met the objectives it set out to accomplish. Having clear cut objectives – intentional direction – is a hallmark of PD that results in prof. learning. If the goal of the PD is to teach teachers how to be more effective math teachers, what are the specific objectives that will help them become more effective? It can’t be all theoretical, compelling case for improving hype. There needs to be specifics in terms of measurable change.

First you set the goal. Then you set the specific measurable objectives. Then you actually follow-up in ways that are not just self reported data (maybe classroom observation, focus group with students, looking at student work, etc.) For example, if an objective was: all learners, as a result of the PD, will be able to teach specific tested concepts maybe… quadratic equations by using a 21st Century strategy –let’s say the TPACK method.

Click pic for larger image

Then there needs to be both formative and summative evaluation for the learners (teachers) who participated in the PD. So the first thing you do is embed lots of process pieces that result in created artifacts that show whether teachers mastered the concepts being presented. Mastery needs to take place at all levels of Bloom,s or some other cognitive measure. Are there examples of mastery through knowledge, comprehension, synthesis or analysis? Can they evaluate their own product in terms of the objective-how about others work? You provide places for them to metacognate about what they are learning and to hear each other explain what the learning means. Collaboratively you look at examples of best practice and then they create something that will show they mastered the concept. You ask lots of questions, have your learners do most of the talking, and generalize to authentic examples.

Here is where you measure for student learning and it occurs immediately–3 months–6 months– 1 year out. After the PD is over you visit classrooms to see how the new professional learning is going. You use observation check lists that look for specific use in relations to your intended objectives. You look for scale- how are the concepts being used in generative ways you hadn’t considered

in your PD. You talk to kids and ask, “What are you doing? What are you suppose to be learning? Explain to me how to work that equation. What is TPACK?” “What can you do differently now that you couldn’t do before in terms of your own personal learning and understanding of this concept?” You record the answers so you can share with others in the school and in the blogosphere. You talk to the teacher and ask them to share what’s working from the PD, what’s not, lessons learned. You ask them, “What could I have done differently in my PD offering to have helped you grasp this concept better?” “What did I do that really worked?” “What do you need from me now?” “What professional learning goal can I help you achieve- one you are interested in achieving, not one I mandate, that is related to this concept?”

The effectiveness of PD, the kind that results in professional learning- is dependent on more than the teacher getting it when you are presenting the content. It starts with the PD provider’s planning and ends with follow-through in the classroom. Ongoing authentic assessment of how well the PD was delivered and then follow through to help the individual teacher with what they need to be successful or even what they are passionate about learning as an extension of the PD is what makes PD effective.

The less obvious is that the effectiveness of professional learning is not always measurable. Value add is a tough thing to measure empirically. For example, I was told a story yesterday by a teacher who said that for years she had been trying to get her principal and teachers to buy into the reasons and ways to bring about 21st Century reform and transformation in to her school. She felt she was banging her head against the wall. She said after her principal had heard me speak about learning communities as a PD means- something clicked. She finally got it and has been implementing sound 21st Century change since.

The point I am trying to make isn’t oh look I am great. Rather, that keynote was delivered over a year ago and I left having no idea of how effective I really was. I mean I had my objectives for the audience. I knew what I wanted to convey and what I wanted them to walk away with and how I was going to embed process into my keynote to make that happen, but I never knew the value add I had given that principal. It wasn’t measurable then. Make sense?

One of the reasons I love what we do together in PLP is that we are developing PD in an ongoing, job embedded capacity. Remember, it isn’t just about the learners– it is about you as a learner. And not everything that is of value can be measured.

Hope this helps. I am very interested in what others have to say.

Photo credit: http://jperk30.edublogs.org/

Clarity often comes in moments when a word, an insight, or a thought connects with another and moves us to a new place. Things have been a little muddy for me lately. But conversations I had over the last two days with Sheryl and Amber, our new marketing guru, made me pause, tilt my head, and say, “Yes, that’s it.”

I’ve been struggling in my role as “social media strategist” for PLP. Some days I didn’t even know what that meant. Was I a community builder on Facebook? Was Twitter where I should spend all my time? And that newsletter….not happy with that.

So for two days, we talked, kicked ideas around, and pondered–mostly about what matters to us, to the company, and what, we hope, to you. I’m excited. One, Amber’s going to offer us lots of creative support. She’s got a great eye for design, and she knows her marketing stuff. Two, we now have a plan. Plans are good.

What you’ll see here soon– is more. Our blog will be the repository of all our solid PLP work–stories about PLPeeps, announcements about the company, and just cool ideas we’re thinking about. The newsletter will change, too. But more on that later.

For now, know that we are going to continue talking and learning with you. This work enriches us, makes us better teacher leaders, and gives us all opportunities to grow and change.

For me, it doesn’t get much better than this.

flickr image: By antonychammond

Punctuated Equilibrium
In 1972, paleontologists Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge developed the theory ofpunctuated equilibrium, which provided an alternative view of evolution.  Unlike Darwin’s theory of evolution, which requires millions of years of constant, gradual change to create a new species, their theory postulated that species actually change very little over millions of years and evolution occurs in rapid, relatively rare events that result in two distinct species.  Both theories result in divergent species, but the processes needed to result in those species are different.

The Aha! Moment
Last week I had the pleasure of meeting with Perrin Chick.  Perrin is the Education Director at the Seacoast Science Center.  Located on New Hampshire’s coast in the town of Rye, the Seacoast Science Center’s mission statement proclaims that the Center, “provides exceptional learning experiences in the natural sciences through dynamic and innovative programs and exhibits”.  In my new role at the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (VLACS), I have been meeting with Perrin for about a month trying to iron out the details of providing an experiential learning opportunity for New Hampshire high school students.  Through our new partnership with the Seacoast Science Center, VLACS students will be able to earn a high school credit in Marine Science through a blend of experiences gained through volunteering at the Seacoast Science Center and online coursework through VLACS.

We were in the Center’s incredible distance learning facility, (the Gregg Interactive Learning Studio) and thinking back to our last meeting when Perrin expressed some concern over the commitment the Center would have to make to VLACS when she said, “We already have 50 student volunteers here at the Center,  I’m not sure we can commit to having more kids here.”  The words weren’t out of her mouth when we both realized that we had the chance to make an impact on those 50 kids.  That instead of creating a new program, we could provide more value to an existing one.

As we laughed about that earlier concerns and our simultaneous enlightenment, our excitement over not only what this program could mean for students already volunteering at the Center, but also for the possibilities it may open up for other students involved in similar programs grew.  Perrin then turned to me and said, “We are changing education one aha! moment at a time.”

Punctuated Professional Development
I complain about the pace of change in education all the time.  I’ve been known to refer to it as “glacial”.   But, what if education only changes (transforms?) in rapid, but rare “aha!” moments similar to the one that Perrin and I had?  Perhaps instead of looking for schools to change, we should be looking for new “species” of schools to evolve.  Is Christensen’s and Horn’s notion of disruptive innovation really the educational equivalent topunctuated equilibrium?

If it is indeed the case that change in education is rare, rapid and dramatic, are we not doing professional development wrong?  Instead of creating PD that allows for comfortable, gradual (glacial?) change, should we look to develop PD that demands rapid change knowing not all will transform, but those that do will create new species of schooling more evolved than the species we currently have?  Change is hard and traditionally it requires time to grieve.  But if real, transformative change does occur rapidly, how do educational leaders encourage other educators to embrace those “aha!” moments?

Cross-posted to TransLeadership

I once told Sheryl Nussbaum Beach I didn’t feel moved to change the world.

We were chatting about all things education–and how some folks are comfortable presenting to large crowds (I’m not), and some feel compelled to change the world of schooling (I wasn’t).

At the time, I felt that my personal line in the sand, which I drew in the sandbox of a classroom, was enough. I could individualize instruction, buy netbooks for my kids, create an inviting atmosphere, offer a variety of ways to assess children, and focus on what worked.

I became comfortable in my own small, corner of the world.

And then last spring, I found myself taking over conversations in department meetings, dinner parties, and family gatherings. Whenever the chats turned to school (and specifically social media), I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. My frustration with how we “do” schools bubbled over. During our last week of vacation, my uncle turned to me mid-rant and said, “Ok then, how do we fix it? How do we make schools better?”

I didn’t have all the answers, but I found myself listing everything that matters to me: giving students voice; empowering teachers to work together and reflect upon their practice; offering choice in curriculum and ways to learn; allowing charter schools (with proper direction and guidance) to flourish; changing the way we sort and rank students.

Ok, so I care. Changing the system seems overwhelming at times, but it’s worth it. Our kids deserve more from us.

These are the folks I’m following these days, watching and learning from them:

Coalition of Essential Schools

Big Picture Schools

Ideal Schools

IDEA

Not perfect, perhaps. But at least they are doing the work and not just talking about it. Who else should be highlighted?

cross-posted to scmorgan

image: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

We’ve written about this team before. And now  THE Journal has, too!

PLPeep Cary Harrod, Instructional Technology specialist for the Forest Hills District in Cincinnati, was featured in a recent article in the magazine. Their BYOL (Bring Your Own Laptop program is an outgrowth of her team’s work in the Ohio Consortium last year.

The district had been struggling to fund a 1:1 laptop initiative for a number of years. Finally, after their work with PLP, Cary’s team developed a plan, which THE Journal describes here:

Known as the Partnership for Powerful Learning, that “angle” is now coming to fruition, and will soon find the majority of Forest Hills’ seventh grade students toting their own laptops to and from school every day. Harrod said her team settled on the BYOL idea after researching similar programs–”what few that there are out there,” she said–at other schools.

The team’s project video made the rounds earlier this year, and one good thing leads to another.  Her work then got the attention of David Truss from Vancouver, and soon a new online group was formed to expand the network of folks interested in this 1:1 program. Plus this wiki is another great gathering place.

Cary points to PLP as a turning point for getting this project off the ground.

“Quite frankly, we couldn’t have proceeded with this project without having had many of our staff involved with PLP.  While we have understood for quite some time that putting technology into the hands of students was important and vital, PLP helped deepen our knowledge of what it means to be a learner and how these tools can be used to support and enhance our learning,” she said.

Four people played a leading role in this: Cary, who was in her third year of PLP; Natasha Adams, a middle school principal, who was a year one participant; Ellie Preston, a middle school curriculum coordinator and year one participant; and Trisha Underwood, a middle school Instructional Technology Coach, year one participant,  and fellow for two teams for the 2010-2011 school year.

Furthermore, 10 of the teachers involved with the project will participate in PLP during the 2010-2011 school year.

And check this out–Natasha Adams, Principal of Nagel Middle School, has planned for the entire year of professional development to be focused on what was learned in PLP: Building personal learning networks, understanding the differences between today and yesterday, and using web 2.0 tools to deepen the learning opportunities for our students.

“We want to lift the barriers to creativity and help create a more personalized learning experience.  There is no doubt in my mind that this project has the potential to completely change the way in which students learn,” said Cary.