A Fresh Start
By Doug Peterson
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?
image: By tillweTill WestermayeI Can’t Change the World, But…..
Susan Carter Morgan
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
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
Educator as Change Agent
By: Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach- (repost from the PLP Year 2 Community)
A change agent, or agent of change, is someone who intentionally or indirectly causes or accelerates social, cultural, or behavioral change.
As the time to end another year with PLP comes to a close I hope you are seeing yourself as an agent of change.
Questions for the Change Agent in You
1. Do you see opportunities for positive change that others at your school do not see?
It was French novelist Marcel Proust, who famously said, “The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes.” The most successful change agents don’t do more… they do differently. They redefine the terms of education by embracing one-of-a-kind ideas in a culture of me-too thinking.
2. Do you have new ideas about where to look for new ideas?
One way to look at problems as if you’re seeing them for the first time is to look outside of education for ideas that have been working for a long time. Ideas that are routine in one situation can be revolutionary when they migrate to another, especially when they challenge the prevailing assumptions that have come to define school culture.
3. Are you the most of anything?
You ideas for educational reform can’t be “pretty good” – they need to be “really good”. They need to be the most of something: the most affordable, the most accessible, the most elegant, the most colorful, the most transparent, the most kids– you get the idea.
4. If your idea or mission didn’t come forth, who would miss you and why?
Jim Collins of Good to Great fame talks about this. The question is simple — and worth taking seriously as a guide to what really matters. As a change agent do you add value or just create noise?
5. Have you figured out how your school’s history can help to shape its future? Psychologist Jerome Bruner describes what happens when we use what works to define what is new. The essence of creativity, he argues, is “figuring out how to use what you already know in order to go beyond what you already think.” The most creative leaders don’t disavow the past. They rediscover and reinterpret what’s come before as a way to develop a line of sight into what comes next.
6. Are you getting the best contributions from the most people?
The change is not a game best played by loners. These days, the most powerful contributions come from the most unexpected places — the “hidden genius” inside your PLN, the “collective genius” of other smart people who surround you. The wisdom of the crowd. Do you know how to tap genius? Have you used this year to help build your PLN?
7. Are you consistent in your commitment to change?
Often, in today’s world, schools are accused of not having the guts to change. In fact, the problem with many schools is that all they do is change. They lurch from one unfounded idea to the next, from the most recent instructional fad to the newest technology craze. If, as a change agent, a leader, you want to make deep-seated change, then your priorities and practices have to stay consistent in good times and bad– even when you hit what Michael Fullan describes as the “implementation dip”. Action research can help you target what works and guide you in developing a long term plan toward positive change.
8. Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?
In a world that never stops changing, great leaders can never stop learning. How do you push yourself as an individual to keep growing and evolving so as a result, your school can do the same?
Sure–others will be resistant to change. Newton’s Law of Motion applies to change agents too.
Be that unbalanced force.
Newton’s First Law of Motion: The Law of Inertia.
An object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
And as PLPeeps– know your community and network are here to help.
Make sure you follow http://twitter.com/plpnetwork and join the new Facebook group for PLPeeps (Year 2 and beyond).
Photo Credits: http://fashionablymarketing.me/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/change_agent.jpg
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pics/hostpics/0c0c7b7b-53d6-4a29-a112-83abbb3d86a7btr_logo1.jpg
Post insired and reworked from http://blogs.hbr.org/taylor/2009/06/the_10_questions_every_change.html
What Makes PLP Work
By Dean Shareski
Being part of 3 cohorts and witnessing and hearing the work of 4 others I’m trying to get a feel for these geographically diverse communities.
As someone who is charged with a leadership position in my own district and trying to achieve much of the same kind of work as PLP, it’s a wonderful learning experience for me.
It seems questions like, “How do we systematically move our teachers forward?” “What do we do with resistance teachers?” “How do we sustain momentum?” “How do we get momentum?” and you can add a few more standard questions are ones that leadership deal with all the time.
What’s exciting is the model of online communities that is now gaining validity among these districts. I don’t think all districts are ready to invest in online communities as an integral part of teachers’ professional learning. That’s because most of our leaders have never experience it. Fortunately with at least the leadership in these 7 cohorts somebody gets it.
I’ve been teaching pre-service teachers online for the past few years and while I still long for face to face experiences, it’s what happens online that make face to face experiences rich and meaningful. Teachers and students are busy people. Spending even 3 hours a week in a class usually offers little time to engage with each other. That’s the power of these communities. They provide an opportunity not only to learn beyond face to face experiences, but provide a space for people to get to know one another. I love this quote from one of my students as she reflected on our class experience.
…this is my only university class that I know every student by name, and know at least one important thing about them. This is really weird, because I wouldn’t have been able to do that even in high school.
PLP is based upon building communities and building communities doesn’t happen in the limited times we gather face to face. Inside many of the NING communities, I’ve enjoyed looking at people’s pictures, seeing them challenge one another and asking good questions and even having a little fun. You come and go as you please, you choose topics and conversations that engage you and you decide when you’re ready to jump in. Many of these things are not easily replicated in face to face settings for many reasons. Getting to know people is often overlooked as people jump into an online learning experience. If learning is truly social, then these spaces must allow people to be themselves and be social.
So as I reflect on what’s working here, I know that ultimately sustainability and change only occurs with a culture that values risk taking and innovation combined with strong support. PLP is providing this with the use of expert voices and the constant activity within each group.
One thing I do know. When I have discussions with teachers about change, many understand we should change but complain about the lack of time to do it. Meaningful change will never occur if teachers only want to invest in a few PD experiences throughout the year. Meaningful change does occur when strong communities are developed and that takes time. The online experience of the PLP cohorts is creating this exact environment. I’m just happy to be part of it all.
