Becoming Our Own Experts

With all of the talk of late re: the role of data in education, and the importance placed on system-level or larger-scale standardized tests, talk tends to lead to trying to identify the real measures of success in schools.

Requests to standardize educational practices then, based on these results, are commonly raised by some external educational stakeholders, and are commonly argued against by internal stakeholders. Similar discussions tend to occur re: the role of data and research.

I love watching these discussions unfold in person, online via blog comments, or on twitter.

As I try to detach from the emotional beliefs I hold given I am deeply embedded in the educational system, and observe these conversations/arguments from the sideline, I am often reminded of one of my 'self-sayings'. The little voice on my shoulder often advises me: "Approach with caution those who are too certain," because I think being open to new ideas is a VERY important trait in this era of RAPID change!

For those who claim data and research should drive the educational bus, I try to understand why they hold that belief. For those who claim we need to be open to constructing our own learning and not basing our decisions on the research of others, I try to understand the foundation of their beliefs.

Ultimately, I find trying to look beneath the arguments on both sides helps me to arrive at my own conclusions more quickly. Tonight I happened across a 16 minute TED talk on the topic of experts and I thought it was extremely appropriate to education. In this talk, economist Noreena Hertz talks about why we should be cautious when it comes to taking the advice of experts. Give it a watch, and after you are done I'll reveal my position on the role of research, data, etc, in education.

Interesting, isn't it?

I think she makes a great point. We truly need to become our own experts in education, because each school and each community TRULY DOES have unique circumstances. To do that though, I think we need to provide a framework for building a base level of knowledge. We need to bridge the ideal of completely constructivist learning with the need to be accountable to a set of curricular standards expected by society. I think we need to bridge theory and practicality to attain a level of consistency for all students.

In our district, our administrators have worked for the past 3 or 4 years to identify expected instructional practices that should be evident in every classroom. Our superintendent sent a letter to every teacher reinforcing these expected practices. Providing a balanced approach to teaching literacy, and focusing on reading comprehension in every subject area, are examples of our expected practices. We also talk a lot about the most effective instructional practices identified through comprehensive meta-analysis on student achievement by Marzano and Hattie, and some are also evident in our expected practices.

I think our expected instructional practices, as well as identifying some of the core interventions we are expected to provide all students, create a platform by which we can support the growth of the experts in our classrooms and offices. Expected practices are not maximums...they are the minimums, from which continued teacher growth will occur. Looking back, I would have given up a prep block in my first few years if I had been told to focus on these specific instructional practices. It would have improved my teaching in a faster and more focused way than I experienced.

As continuous improvement happens, our experts will be more and more successful, and our ability to address unique needs at each school will continue to improve. Consequently, I hope, our reliance on external experts should increase as well. And so on. Wouldn't that be a desirable circle of improvement to set in motion?

What do you think the role of experts is in education? I'd love to know your thoughts....add a comment perhaps?

Cheers

Frequently Asked Questions at GPPSD Tech Mentorship Session

On Tuesday February 21, 2012, it was again my pleasure to spend some time with our first and second year teachers and their mentors as they attended one of their four district mentorship sessions. We spent an excellent morning talking about ways that technology can (a) support their professional practice by helping with organization, etc., and (b) support student learning in their classrooms through integration into their instruction.

After discussing how tools like Evernote, Diigo, DropBox, and Outlook can help with organization, note taking, research, etc., we moved into discussion of practical ways to integrate technology into our daily instruction. We very briefly looked at the TPACK framework, where technological knowledge must overlap with pedagogical knowledge as well as content knowledge.

We also reinforced that technology is a tool, appropriate in some places and not the best tool in others. Providing students with choice, multiple means of engagement, and multiple means of representation is an important practice in our district, and technology has a role to play in helping prepare and engage students.

The bulk of our time together was spent looking at the essential 9 instructional practices identified by researcher Richard Marzano as having the most significant impact on student achievement. For those who might not be familiar with Marzano's research, and excellent summary of the tools is available HERE.

Teachers worked in small groups to identify different strategies that could be used for three of the strategies identified by Marzano as having a significant influence on student learning. The strategies we looked at today included Identifying Similarities and Differences, Note Taking and Summarizing, and Non-Linguistic Representation. The different strategies shared by teachers were OUTSTANDING! It was very affirming to see the creativity, passion, and engagement of our teachers today! A summary of the primary tools/strategies identified during the session, with links to videos or text-based introductions for each, is available on my slideshare account HERE. It is also uploaded to our district mentorship portal site HERE (note: accessible only to GPPSD staff).

At the end of the session today, protégées and mentors completed an exit slip. The FAQ (frequently asked questions) arising from those exit slips are addressed below. I hope they help. If you have additional questions, please email me!

You mentioned our GPPSD WIKI on Digital Citizenship and Internet Safety. Where can I find that again? Check it out HERE. Excellent resources and lesson plans for you to use in your class next week....for all levels! Use it. Add to it.

Where do I find the time to learn all this stuff? The best advice I can give is to approach learning about what is out there, and how to bring it in, the same way you eat an elephant. One small bite at a time. Check http://www.nrlc.net/ for local PD sessions, attend tech learning link sessions, hit up the sessions at convention, and most importantly, talk with others and learn from your colleagues! It is important, as we talked about today, so try give it some small amounts of your attention on a regular basis.

Wow. The pace of change re: Tech is something else. How on earth can we stay current? Unless you are prepared to make some big sacrifices in your personal time, this is a challenge. I highly recommend EMAIL. Subscribe to receive email updates from the following sites, and you will get the best of the best shared with you on a regular basis. If you have time to read the email, great. If not, delete it without guilt and try again when you receive the next one. They will come to you automatically.

• FreeTech4Teachers - This is an EXCELLENT blog with many practical strategies shared on a regular basis. I recommend this site above all others to those wanting to learn more about a wide range of tools. Sign up for email updates HERE.

• Vantage - An excellent resource sent out monthly by the 2Learn Education societ, it is focused on levels, on themes, and it always includes French resources as well. Sign up for it HERE. Sit back, and revel in the quality resources that will be sent to you forever, with nothing required on your part. :)

• Ask a Tech Teacher - I don't receive the updates from this site, but I've heard people like it, and when I looked at it tonight I saw some decent-looking tips. Scroll down the left hand side of THIS PAGE to receive email updates.

And remember....if you don't like what you receive....unsubscribe! These three should be a good starting point though! For the more advanced among you, you might also want to look into RSS feeds and Google Reader to stay current. Google it. You know you want to....

What do we do if we don't have access to computers, labs, etc.? This is our reality. As good as we have it with respect to technology, we don't have enough. I'm not sure there is enough, until every student has a device with them all day. Focus on small and simple tools (digital cameras, a school netbook, the SMART Boards most of our rooms have) and use them as much as possible. When good enough is not possible, go for the best you can do. We will continue to advocate for increased technology spending and/or flexibility through the district budgeting process!

We did not talk about SMART Board Resources. Where can I find more of those? Google SMART resources and you will find a lot of sharing sites. One of the best I find for beginners is the SMART Exchange on the SMART Technologies website, HERE. You can search by level, by grade, etc. You might also check out my diigo links on interactive white boards (IWB) HERE, as I've saved many resources over the years.

Hey! You mentioned a cheap, effective USB document camera for under $100. Where did you find that? I ordered the Ipevo Point 2 View document camera online from Merconnet.com. I've not used it myself, as I shipped it off to a school for testing as soon as it came in, but I hear it is simple and reliable. Which in the world of tech = good news! KISS, right? Keep it simple s-----.

You talked about simple ways to create animations. What was the extra-something? I was referring to xtranormal. Here is an example, it is my introduction to our digital citizenship and internet safety wiki.

Digital Citizenship Wiki Introduction

There are other great sites for helping kids create animations as well. Learn more about those sites, including Xtranormal, HERE.

We did not talk about web pages, but the topic came up. What is an easy way for kids to build pages? This is actually pretty easy for most students, and I think they will take to this quite easily. My son in grade 8 recently built a web page for an inquiry project instead of writing a paper. He built a Weebly site, and you can check it out HERE. For a description of some of the more common tools available, I'm going to give the last word to Richard Byrne, from FreeTech4Teachers HERE.

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If you're still reading. Thanks. If you were at the session today, thanks. If you have any questions, drop me a line. If you have anything you'd like to add (note: I haven't even mentioned Edmodo yet) please consider leaving a comment in the comments box below!

Talk to you later.

Cheers

Preparing Our Students For Their (uncertain) Future

As responsible 21st Century educators, and lifelong learners committed to staying current with educational theory, I do not believe I've met anyone who does not take our responsibility to prepare our students for the their adult life seriously.

In speaking with parents and community members over the years, I do not believe I've met anyone who does not recognize that the world has changed from when most of us were young adults and that we need to build a solid foundation of basic skills in our students as well as preparing them for the collaborative and fluid future they will face.

But, when all the rhetoric is said and done, what does all that mean?  What does it mean to say the world is different?  The Shift Happens video series started by Scott McLeod and Karl Fisch do a great job of quantifying how our society has changed over time.  If you've not seen those videos, I think you should take 15 minutes and watch them.  You're likely to be amazed by some of the statistics.

Drilling down even deeper however, and thinking about our current environment, I read an interesting statistic this morning that I believe does a great job of driving this point home as well.  According to an article in Business Week by David. J. Lynch, the United States currently manufactures 25% more goods than just 12 years ago, yet (and here is the important point), the number of workers used to create those goods remains the exact same.

As production increases, and labor rates stay the same, it is not a result of workers increasing output or hours by 25%.  Rather, automation and an increase in the use of machines and technology is the culprit.

Increased manufacturing, if this statistic is true, is not likely enough then to break an economy free from a recession, depression, or even just a major slowdown.  I expect automation is only likely to increase in the future, not decrease, bringing even fewer jobs to the market.

Instead, as author Daniel Pink suggests in his book A Whole New Mind, we need to increase the number of knowledge jobs, and prepare our students to assume those positions.  To prepare students to create and apply new knowledge, on a broad scale, will require some changes to how the education system and schools work.

To help parents and the community understand the reasoning behind these changes, it HAS TO BE our job to help sell the change.  We have to help create the vision by engaging in the conversations about education reform in our communities!  We need to create a shift in understanding so that parents value these skills and recognize the need for educational change and then we need to accept that we ourselves have to change first before we get our students to change.

That is going to be hard, I think.

As education reform progresses, I see the comments by parents in the newspaper reflecting their belief in traditional system.  It is our responsibility to engage our communities in the discussions that will help them build the understanding of what the future holds, and what being prepared for the future represents.

Project-based learning is in our future.  Problem solving, both individually and as a member of a team, at all levels must be a core skill.  Creativity is something to be valued, and therefore we must foster it in our schools.  Our future depends on it.

As the Cheshire Cat said to Alice, "If you don't know where you are going, then any road will take you there."  We need to know where we are going so we can help everyone in our communities get on the right road.

I believe in where I see us/our system heading.  Do youagree that we are on the right road??

Cheers

What is Our Role? What is Your Role?

As part of the design process for a new high school (opening September 2014) our district has recently been seeking input from students, staff, parents, and community members. I've enjoyed hearing what different people want to see in a modern high school, and also hearing from our architect and representatives from Alberta Infrastructure and Alberta Education re: the design and function of other new schools.

At this stage in the process, the focus of the design efforts has been to ensure we have a facility that will meet our needs in September of 2014, as well as many years from now. Flexible is among the most common words I’ve heard used to describe the facility design. Beyond facility design though, I'm looking forward to when the new principal and staff will begin to focus on programming and instruction!

As we begin discuss our vision of what the high school experience for students will look like in 2014, it is evident lots of changes are on the horizon.

Historically, teacher preparation programs describe the system of public schooling originating for the purpose of helping students acquire the knowledge and skills required to be productive members of society upon their maturation into adulthood.

It is common today for educational reformers and educational critics to claim that our current model of schooling is outdated. Our system is no longer current, some reformers claim, because public education was originally created to produce graduates able to focus on tasks, perform in structured environments, and meet time-constraints that exist as students graduate to work in a factory environment. Those critics feel today's society, however, needs students to graduate with different knowledge and skills than in the past.

Historically then, our public education system has deep connections with our communities. Schools exist because of communities and I believe communities thrive because of schools. In Grande Prairie, our district celebrated our 100th anniversary in 2011, which means the school district began before the city did, as GP was incorporated as a village in 1914. After all this time, I think we need to dig deep and look to see if our current relationship with our community is still meeting those needs.

If school exists to meet certain needs of society, it is a certainty then that parents of our students and their peers within our society have a role to fill in education. Who better to provide us feedback on our roles than those who expect us to fulfill a role? Just as students, teachers, administrators, district-level staff, and School Board members have a role in our system, so must our communities.

We’ve opened a door with our recent consultations on high school design. I hope we keep that door open and look for more opportunities to engage in these discussions with ALL OF our stakeholders. There is a lot to be learned, and gained, from conversations such as these.

Hi. Remember me?

WOW.

With October beginning, the busiest period of my professional life, that I can remember, concludes. Busiest. Ever.  This year I had no summer holidays to speak of, and I have spent the last 8 weeks wondering a fair bit if I may have may bitten off more than I could chew.  Glad it all turned out OK. SO, with the experience of:  helping to convert our district to a new Student Information System, plus continuing with coursework for my doctorate, while also trying to focus on my dissertation, at the same time as ensuring quality family time (whoops - should have put them first here), all under my belt, I think it is time to start talking about education, education reform, instructional leadership, and technology integration again.

Soon.

Before that, I thought I'd share a little bit about me for anyone new who stumbles upon this blog and is wondering what my context is:

I am the Director of Educational Technology in the Grande Prairie Public School District, and I like to think out loud. I've been blogging for a few years now, and I originally started blogging when I was principal of Derek Taylor Public School as a way to share items of interest I'd found with my coworkers.  I wanted to avoid overwhelming everyone's inboxes with all the interesting content I find.  Since that time, however, over the last four years or so, this spot on the web has morphed into a significant source of my professional learning.  I still share what I find interesting and relevant, but I also use this space to reflect on ways to improve education to benefit our students.  It is sort of like thinking out loud, and I enjoy the conversations that leads to, so feel free to subscribe and to share your thoughts by commenting on anything you find interesting.

It's a pretty fun learning journey.....I'm pretty lucky to be doing it here! Alberta, Canada is the land of opportunity in Education right now and we are on the verge of some exciting changes.  The Action agendas promoted by our provincial ministry (Action on Curriculum, on Inclusion, etc.) are very exciting.  The changes that are coming are good for kids, and I'm glad to be part of them...

Let's have a conversation, shall we?

Cheers

Educational Innovation

Not that I'm ever really uninspired or not optimistic, but I've been working quite a bit at work and also quite a bit on my coursework, and as such the working on different kinds of work has worn me down a bit.

Until now, however.

Tonight a young teacher in one of our schools shared a recent product of his and he totally inspired my thinking.  His message is spot on, and 100% appropriate as we end one year and focus on our planning for next year.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Innovation in Education:



Cool huh?

Are you inspired? What are you going to do to contribute to the change we know needs to take place re: how students engage in their own learning? Summer is a time for reflection. If you come back in the fall with a plan, please let me know how I can help you make that plan a reality!

Cheers

December Babies Never Really Catch Up: Study

There is an interesting concept shared in a recent article from the Montreal Gazette, and it serves as a great reminder to me re: why (and how) we need to question our existing educational practices.

December babies never really catch up: study

In talking to kindergarten teachers over the years, concerns over the progress of early entrance students (in our district, you need to be 5 by December 31st) has been a common theme. The research in question identified the difference in graduation rates if December students achieved at the same rate as January students, claiming an additional 1700 BC students would graduate each year.

That is significant, as is the amount of money potentially saved if more students were to graduate on time. I wonder how many other practices common to our systems might be seen in a different light if we simply asked the question "What is the ultimate impact on graduation rates?".

Practicing critical inquiry is not just for teaching social studies, :), it has to be an essential leadership practice as well.

It is obvious we need to ensure we are making the most efficient and effective use of our limited resources. As I've shared earlier, Hattie's book Visible Learning is an excellent resource in this area, providing an easy to understand summary of research into student achievement. If we don't ask the critical questions about our practice, how can we intentionally make the changes that will allow us to maximize the use of our resources on impacting student learning?

My takeaway from reading this article in the Gazette: I am going to try reflect more on the assumptions I (and others) hold about our existing practice. I need to ask more questions, and find ways to spur others to reflect on a systemic scale as well. I think my copy of Hattie's meta-analysis might be in for some sticky notes....

Cheers

What Does Society Expect From Schools?

Accountability is a funny word.

It seems like a simple concept, to be answerable for something, but in a complex open system (like education) it is not such a black and white issue.

It is reasonable to expect people working for you to be accountable for their results.  The practice of paying employees, or of hiring contractors, is that you pay them to do a specific job for you.  If they don't do the work, the accountability process kicks in and there are consequences.  Makes sense to me.  In fact, in education we are not opposed to the idea.  Accountability, in one form or another, is a discussion between teachers and students in most classrooms at some point in the average school year.

In the context of complex open systems however, accountability is not that easy of a concept to understand.  Who is accountable, to whom, and for what?  Dictionary.com actually has the following as the secondary definition of the word:

Education . a policy of holding schools and teachers accountable for students' academic progress by linking such progress with funding for salaries, maintenance, etc.

See?  Education and accountability are perceived to fit together. As a taxpayer myself I’m concerned about how effectively our system is making progress.  But what is progress?  If we use student achievement, what is achievement, and what scale do we use?  Absolute achievement?  Relative achievement? I think in general it is assumed to be, and is generally measured as, results on system-wide participation in standardized testing, but does that tell us what we really want to know?  What do we really care about in terms of results?

On the surface, it makes sense to measure accountability by using student achievement results, but the many internal and external variables involved in student performance on single-sitting standardized assessments raises lots of questions re: the validity of that measure of accountability.  Consequently, some proponents of educational reform make a very compelling case for not using standardized assessments as a major indicator of progress.  But as we argue back and forth about standardized tests, are we really arguing about what is truly important?

Instead of arguing about current measures of accountability, I wonder if our time might be better spent on discussing what society really wants for students as a result of their participation in school?  With all of the talk about 21st Century Skills, as seen in Tony Wagner's book The Global Achievement Gap, in blogs such as Seth Godin's (below), and in provincial educational circles (i.e. initiatives in BC, AB, NS, ON, etc.) I think there may be value in engaging society in conversations about what they really want for students upon graduation.

What is truly important?  Have we specifically asked that question of parents?  Of the rest of society?

Might student marks on PATs and DIPLOMAs be the most important results society wants?  Or might the development of competencies, graduation rates, emotional intelligence, and the ability to think critically in any setting be more important?  I wonder.  

When we opened a new school a few years back, I asked parents what they wanted for their children.  The result of that process was their sharing they wanted their kids to be safe, to graduate as good citizens, and to be academically ready for any challenge and prepared for success as adults.  My hypothesis is that most parents, and most members of society, would provide similar answers if asked.

Not once did anyone say they wanted to see our students at the top of the Fraser report.  

As a result of that work we did with teachers, students, and parents, to define what was important, our school set about identifying ways to report student progress in other areas (besides marks) to parents.  We focused on developing good character and emotional intelligence in our students, and we focused on REPORTING on that to our parents.  Funny thing is, after 3 years of work, their academic results are pretty good too.  (note:  might be that I’m not there anymore too.  There.  I said it.  No need to leave that comment now!  J)

I think there is more and more opportunity for parents and the community to provide input into educational planning.  When do they get asked that question?  What would happen if school boards (or individual schools?) held a series of town-hall meetings or used social media or other electronic means, to ask the community what they really want to see as an output of our system? If we had the answer to the question of "What Does Society Deem Important?", I bet it might give us some focus.  I know enough to not ask the question if I’m not prepared for the answer.  In this case, I think we need to ask explicit questions like that in our local communities.  Different communities have different values.  How do we capture those in our provincial system with standardized measures of accountability?

Just some thoughts.  Work in progress.  Love to hear what you think about the role of community standards in accountability.

Cheers

Possessions of GREAT Value and Our Guiding Principles

In my last year of university, I lived with a friend who was working full time already.  One afternoon I was studying intently on the sofa in our living room, and he came home and woke me up to tell me had a new car.

A Porsche 911.

The context here is that a Porsche 911 has been my dream car for some reason since I was a little gaffer.  Thinking he was pulling my leg, I replied with a laugh "Sure you did.  Let me take it for a drive then, I've always wanted to drive one."

When I grabbed the keys that were flipped to me, I saw the Porsche key ring.  The Porsche key.  And when I went to our parking spot, I saw a red 911 Targa.  Before he changed his mind, I hopped in and took it for a drive.

After getting over my initial surprise that I fit in it, as legroom is often an issue, the drive was everything I thought it would be, and then some.  I brought it home, gave him his keys back, and vowed to myself I'd never drive one again until I owned my own.  As I came home from work today, 20 years later, driving my mini van and not having driven a Porsche since, I was reminded of that story by a new 911 passing me.  And I thought of how that story applies to my current context in education...

Someone I can't remember once made a comment about the chances of people asking strangers to hold items of great value.  I wish I could remember who raised that point, I'd love to give them credit, as I think it is brilliant.  I  really don't think I know any strangers who would walk up to me and ask me to take care of their $100 000 car for the day.  Or to hold their 5 carat diamond ring while they go to work.  Yet that is exactly what countless people do on the first day of school every year.  They drop their most valuable possessions, their children, off with mostly complete strangers, the staff at the school.

Why?  It speaks to trust, doesn't it?  Thinking of that trust they have in us, it makes one think next of responsibility, doesn't it?  We have a responsibility to ensure we live up to our responsibilities!  I was doing some writing tonight about ethical decision making, and thought of the 5 Universal Guiding Principles we have adopted in our school district.  When we are making decisions, we need to consider our Guiding Principles, which are:

• Is it good for students?
• Will it help build trust and good relationships?
• Will it help us improve?
• Is it the responsible thing to do?
• Is it open, honest, and ethical?

As I reflect tonight on our guiding principles, I've reaffirmed my belief in their value.  Those are the kinds of principles that support people entrusting their children to our care.  Reflecting on our Guiding Principles consistently, regardless of where the decision is being made, and building practices that will support their use is evidence of our commitment to the responsibility we owe our parents.

There is a lot involved in answering these questions.  We need to use good research to identify what practices are goo for students, for example.  We also need to balance costs and benefits to determine if an improvement is worth it.  Etc.  These are not easy questions to answer.  But that does not mean they are not worth the effort.  Haven't you ever noticed the most satisfying things in life are usually those you have to work the hardest to attain? 

That is likely why I still drive a mini van.  But one day.  And in the meantime, I have the honor of working to support our staff, students, and parents.  More valuable than a Porsche, for sure, but not quite as filled with the same potential!

Cheers

An Evening With Sir Ken Robinson and a Message of Hope

I had the great pleasure of taking a bus with 35 district teachers and administrators from Grande Prairie to Dawson Creek last night to attend a talk given by Sir Ken Robinson on personalized learning, creativity, innovation, passion, and the need for education reform.  Thanks to Lance and the senior leadership in our district for sponsoring the lot of us to attend!

Look how happy everyone is in the picture, as we stand beside what is apparently the second largest semi-aquatic rodent in the world.  Next time we stop at the BMI!

If you've not seen Sir Ken speak in one of his talks on TED, or read any of his books, you really should.  He's funny, engaging, has an inspiring message, and I think you'll like what he has to say.  You might also take the hint: @jenclevette gave me and listen to his latest book The Element in audiobook format.  SKR reads it himself and is equally engaging on iTunes as he is in person.

Sir Ken didn't say anything especially new or unique yesterday.  He didn't rock us back on our heels with challenging or controversial claims.  He simply shared what I consider a message of hope for the future of our education system!

At the 40,000 foot level, you can't argue with anyone who says kids need the opportunity to explore their passions.  Who says kids need caring people in an education system to personalize their learning.  Who says kids need to develop the skills that will prepare them for a future that we are not entirely sure what it will look like.  Sir Ken's message was quite clear at the 40,000 foot level.

But we live at ground level.  And things are not that clear close to the ground.  The talk today was about what we do with his message. Logical sequential people may have felt a gap today, while random abstract people will likely last a few more days basking in the message before moving on to something else.  Regardless of one's position, I think the next step, however, is not evident.

I'm optimistic that enough people heard, and value, the message though and that it will gain traction over time.  The same message is coming from Alberta Education as the Action on Curriculum builds momentum.  It is inherent in the new Education Act.  It is a common message from a number of different directions.  It is also a common perspective in all of these messages that I think the specifics of changing our practice have to be left up to us.  As a district, we need to construct our own meaning of what this message of hope means for us.

Who will lead our transformation?  How will our Board engage our community on a deep and meangingful level to get involved so that we can help all our students embrace their passions?  How will our Ministry give us the authority to truly personalize individual curricula?  How will our district and our administrators create the conditions for teachers to succeed and then get out of the way to let them do what they need to do?  And, finally, how will our students handle the responsibility we need to give them?

Of all the questions in the preceding paragraph, the one I'm most sure of is that our students will amaze us.  They always do.  And I can't wait to see that.  Sir Ken's message of hope resonates with me today.  Let's get to work.  Together.  We need to work on those first few questions from the paragraph above...

Cheers

A Simple Question. A Complex Set of Answers.

I came across what I consider to be an excellent question on the topic of teaching today.  I think there likely to be as many answers suggested as there would be people who might answer it.  I'd love to give the question (see below) out at the start of a staff meeting and spend a good hour discussing the qualities of effective teachers.

Lack of consensus on an answer would be a problem for instructional leaders however.  Our goal as instructional leaders has to be always to increase the effectiveness of the instruction in our schools.  It is clear (and is backed up by substantial research) that classroom instruction is the single most important school factor that influences student achievement, which leads me to the question I came across today:

What are the most common differences between good teachers and expert teachers?

If we want to increase the skill level of our teachers, where should we focus the majority of our resources?  What will give us the biggest bang for our buck, so to speak?  What should our instructional priority be?

• The ability to differentiate?
• The ability to develop effective and caring relationships with students?
• Skill with small group instruction?
• Effective planning?
• Effective technology integration?
• Skill with classroom management?
• The ability to provide descriptive feedback to students?
• Something else?
  

WWMS? (What would Marzano say?)
WWHS?  (What would Hattie say?)
WWLS? (What would Leithwood say?)

What if they all said the same thing?  Would that be enough evidence to demonstrate an urgent need for specific action?

I'd love to have this discussion with a room full of teachers or administrators....I think it would be fascinating and passionate!  And if we could turn that into action, wouldn't we have a clearly established vision of what instructional leadership is all about and a common understanding of where we need to go?

Cheers

After School Sports or After School Learning? Is Anything Non-Negotiable?

Further to my last post, re: Hattie's book Visible Learning, I've been trying to reflect on the value of different aspects of our educational system on student learning and assess whether or not we are maximizing the value of our investments.

There are lots of places in our system where emotions can come into play and a decision focused solely on the impact on achievement should be weighed against the impact on some of the other goals of the system.  Extra-curricular athletics is an example of a part of our system that I think might generate some interesting conversations if a change to those programs was suggested.  Thinking about the idea of radical changes to our system makes me wonder about what might be considered a non-negotiable part of our current system.

Reflecting on the impact on achievement is tough one considering the resources we put into extracurricular athletics, for example.  School sports are the one place where some students experience success, and can be of considerable worth in regards to school culture, relationships, etc.  The problem is though, Hattie says that extra-curriculars, and in particular sports, do not have much impact on student achievement:

Outdoor education programs however, do have a significant positive impact on student learning:

In my community we have EXCELLENT minor athletic programs including hockey, baseball, volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, soccer, swimming, dance, tae kwon do, and skiing, among many others.  We also offer many of those opportunities in our schools, with volleyball, basketball, soccer, etc. offered throughout the school year.  What is the impact of that duplication on our access to resources?  Are we missing other opportunities by sticking with our standard school sports? 

I've been thinking about this idea in general terms for the past several days, since I first saw the images above in Visible Learning, and we had a discussion at work about how we might use the book.  What if we left the sport development and instruction to the communities, and instead focused our extra curricular efforts on providing our students with outdoor adventure programs?   If we changed how sports were accessed and delivered in our communities, what would the impact be on our schools if we then changed how they are delivered in our schools?

Community groups could take over all sports, and schools could focus their resources on other learning opportunities.  Instead of running after-school athletics, perhaps we could provide students with other outdoor education opportunities?  We could combine Science, Social Studies, and Outdoor Education into practical and relevant community projects and provide our students with additional sporting opportunities in the community outside of school hours.

Considering one of the reasons behind my decision to enter education many years ago was related to a desire to coach, this thought does cause me some not unsubstantial internal conflict.  :)  Participation in organized sports is something I consider essential for kids, but perhaps a change in focus in how that opportunity is provided could be a way for our schools to meaningfully involve our communities?  We might also avoid duplication of efforts, provide kids with outdoor learning opportunities so many of them do not get AND positively influence student learning as well!

I don't believe I'm advocating this....I'm just thinking out loud....and maybe this will generate some conversation about what constitutes reform....penny for your thoughts?

Making Data Easy To Understand With Visible Learning

It is hard to argue with the role that data can play in informing educational decision making.  That we need to make decisions to increase student learning is a given.  In an era of increased competition for educational funding it is important we maximize the value of our choices.

The challenge for educators is to know how to find and use data when making decisions in schools and districts.  There is no shortage of data in educational systems, when you consider financial reports, student achievement data, community data, etc.  Factoring in the data we collect locally with that generated by the significant world of educational research can be overwhelming.  There is so much data available, it can lead to paralysis before it leads to analysis.

Recently while attending a session on systemic improvement presented by Kenneth Leithwood I was introduced to a resource focused on educational research that I believe is quite valuable in this regard.

John Hattie is an educational researcher and professor of education at the University of Melbourne.  His book, Visible Learning, is an easy to read synthesis of other meta-analyses of educational research and presentation of the impact of different strategies on student achievement.  Hattie's summary and the effect of different factors on student learning has the potential to be very useful when trying to decide how we might make the best use of our available funds.  If we start by asking the right questions about our existing practice, Hattie's book can provide valuable data for making our decisions.

One of the unique features of Visible Learning is the way Hattie presents the summary of the research.  The visual gauge Hattie uses, below, is an excellent visual representation of the summary.  The use of formative feedback is something we often talk about as a necessary part of effective instruction.  As Hattie shows below, it is a very powerful factor influencing student achievement.  If you want to take a look at it the book before purchasing, you can check it out here on Google Books.  Much of the book is available for preview online.  If you are wondering if class size or teacher training will have a more powerful impact on student learning in your district, for example, search in the book and see what discussion ensues...

The Potential of Online Mentoring

I have been reflecting quite a bit recently on the potential for change in Alberta's education system.  With a move from a very prescriptive system to a more collaborative system with more local input/control a possibility, I see even more need for focusing on the relationships we create personally and professionally.  

In terms of building the capacity of district and provincial teachers and administrators, I see a place for an increased focus on formal and informal mentorship as a way to facilitate those relationships.  More than a simple focus on team building, mentoring is truly a powerful way of supporting personal and professional growth through tapping into the potential of relationship building.  The impact on the culture of the organization is potentially quite powerful as well!  I wanted to share two examples that I believe illustrate the power of virtual mentorships on individuals and the organization.

I was talking with one of my sources of inspiration a while ago who is doing some work with the Apollo Group as they refine their practices in the Canadian higher education market.  He mentioned that the Apollo Group has an employee mentoring program, and shared the example of a very high-ranking Apollo executive (I believe the CEO) mentoring or coaching one of the young IT employees in Nova Scotia, Canada.  They email, talk on the phone, and occasionally meet when the executive's schedule takes him to Canada.

This commitment to individual employee growth, at the highest level of the organization, is an example of the potential of mentoring programs at the organizational level.  What does it say about the value of people in that organization, that the CEO works to mentor someone in the IT department?  Does that kind of relationship across departments build trust and organizational loyalty?  I think a little bit, don't you?

At the school level, in the past I have encouraged young female students from our remote northern location participate in the Cyber (SCIber Mentor) program offered by the three universities in Alberta (http://www.cybermentor.ca/Home.aspx).  This program puts talented and interested female science and math students in mentoring relationships with females in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professions.  It is simply an amazing program.  It has been in place for many years, and I think/hope it will continue to grow in popularity!

Of course, with children and mentoring programs, the safety issue is something that is of extreme importance.  I have trust in the SCIber Mentor program, but I believe extreme caution is warranted if directing a student to join a mentoring program offered by an outside organization, such as icouldbe.org, as opposed to an institution I am familiar with.

As we plan opportunities for ourselves and others, we need to remember that structure is an important part of a successful program. Online mentorship programs, as with face to face programs, will benefit from a core structure, whether curricular or attending to other needs, that shapes the interactions between the mentor and the protegee.  Additionally, providing a framework to guide interactions and offer direction for the future can help begin a relationship and guide participants until they are comfortable with each other. Until safe and trusting relationships are formed, having a structure in place can help guide the interactions between mentorship participants.  

For individuals and organizations in small geographic areas, I think the potential of building an online pool of mentors is something to consider!  As individuals are more and more connected outside of traditional work hours, there is benefit to this sort of relationship as well.  

I think it is something worth considering!  Our people are the most important resource we have in a school district, and more than any supplies we could possibly buy, they are essential to the achievement of our students!  If differentiating the support our adults get helps the students, it makes sense, doesn't it?

Cheers