Education Vision Leadership

“Who owns the learning?” is a quote by Alan November.  This simple phrase was so powerful that I posted it in my classroom right next to my teaching and learning manifesto and learning principles.  It’s in a prominent place in my classroom and I am committed to reading and reflecting on it frequently. 

Every day I push myself to structure the environment, lessons, activities, decisions, units of study etc. toward more student ownership, thinking, and learning.  What I have found is that my students (who happen to be 6-7 year old first graders) are highly capable, very excited and engaged when given the opportunity, and able to handle tasks at a much higher level than often assumed.  Below is an outline of a lesson on Martin Luther King Jr. ,done with first graders, and a short audio clip of their responses:

The lesson purpose was to increase an awareness and understanding of Martin Luther King’s contributions and importance to our country.  I could have designed the typical teacher structured lesson in which I read 2-3 books about MLK, create a timeline of events, shared why he is important and had the students generate a statement of their dream for our country that would be hung outside of our classroom.  Sound familiar???  But as I reflected on the “Who Owns the Learning” statement, my drive to increase the levels of thinking and make thinking visible, and create a student centric classroom, I pushed myself to structure the lesson differently.  Here is what I did:  Prior to the lesson, I had a short mini-lesson on the difference between a word, phrase, and sentence.  This was done to support a thinking protocol that many of us have done in workshops of conferences (as adults) in which we try to capture the essence or important ideas of an article or topic.  When done, each student created a t-chart (which they are very familiar with and use independently) with the columns titled with “word” and “phrase”.  I then explained the thinking routine and shared the task:  “I will be reading the book Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King” two times.  The first time you listen to the story, write down words that are important to understanding the story or MLK.   The second time you listen, write down phrases.”    The students were engaged and recording ideas throughout the reading, even the second time through, and all students no matter what academic level were able to record ideas.  Of course, there was some variation in the amount written but not in the depth of thinking.  When we were done with each part, the students were able to share a word or a phrase and describe their thinking for choosing it as important and what it means to our understanding of MLK and his impact.  By the way, this is a group of 25 first graders with reading/writing/listening/speaking levels that range from the beginning of first grade up to 3rd grade.

Wow!  I was amazed at the level of interest and engagement and more importantly… the thinking.  I definitely did not believe that all student would be able to handle it nor would choose words that were truly important.  As a matter of fact, I was prepared for some student to write high-frequency words or words that were irrelevant.  I’m happy to share that this did not occur with ANY of the students.  The lions share of the thinking and learning was definitely on the students.  As a matter of fact, I really just functioned as the facilitator and gave them the structure and support needed to accomplish the task.  When I reflect on this lesson, I can confidently answer the question “Who onwed the learning?” with THE STUDENTS and they were the ones doing the most thinking.  What an exciting moment and learning opportunity for me to improve my instructional skills and most importantly, the learning and student engagement in my classroom.  My mission to create this type of learning environment is coming to fruition and I can’t wait to continue to push the thinking of my students and myself.  This is why I know I have the greates job in the world!   I encourage you to listen to the audio (these are only 1 min. clips because I don’t have an upgraded converter service – only the lite verions.  The original clips are both 10 minutes in length) of the students thinking.  Part two will be to do some carousel brainstorming and gallery walks of all thinking, create a wordle, and blog about this on Twiducate as homework.

Words and Student Reflection

Phrases and Student Reflections

Feel free to leave your feedback and comments.  I’d love to hear how the students in your classroom “own their learning” and do the most thinking!

During the past 1 1/2 weeks I’ve had the time to blog and tweet more often – another great part of the winter break.  Each day I became more inspired, energized, and filled with ideas, goals and actions that I plan to  implement when I return back to school in January.  At the same time, I’ve been reading the book The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Classroom Research Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn Through Practioner Inquiry (Dana and Yendol, 2009).   It’s an excellent book on action research or teacher inquiry that not only explains in detail how to implement effective action research but also discusses the whys and benefits.  This quote really struck me (and is an idea I had just tweeted/blogged about recently), 

Teachers’ voice have typically been absent from larger discussion about educatinal change and reform.  Historically teachers have not had acess to the tools that could have brought their knowledge to the table and raised their voices to a high-enough level to be heard in the larger conversations.  Teacher inquiry is a vehicle that can be used by teachers to untangle some of the complexities that occur in the profession, raise teachers’ voices in educational reform, and ultimately transform assumptions about the teaching profession itself.  Transforming the profession is really the capstone of  the teacher inquiry experience. (Dana and Yodel, 2009,p.1-2)

Then four tweets came across Tweetdeck:

 Dr. Jeff Goldstein’s tweet led to an amazing article in the Huffington Post on the power of Twitter  

 These three events were the impetus for this idea of global or national action research or teacher inquiry in which we engage in research on particular research questions with our colleagues around the world and beyond our classroom walls.  What an awesome opportunity to “pool” our collective knowledge, truly elevate teacher voice, impact worldwide educational reform and take action.  The collective wisdom that shines through every time I engage in chats or browse through my tweetdeck,blogs, RSS streams etc. is amazing.

Vision ( it’s in the rough draft stage because I’d like some feedback before moving forward):

• Data base of teachers would be created that are willing to particpate or have a teacher inquiry area already they would like to study
• Data would include name, blog, twitter ID, area of focus for teacher inquiry, question/statement to study, location, student ages etc.
• Teachers could then find a group and create a global or national teacher inquiry study.
• Dialogue and discussion could occur in Google+ circles or platforms such as Adobe Connect (it would be important to see who you are connecting with for this type of research.
• Common tools or documents could be create in Evernote or Google.
• Conclusions and/or results could then be reported out in a collective blog.

Crazy idea or not? What are your thoughts?  How can this be improved?  Are you willing?  I will be creating a google form and repost when it’s completed.

We have the power with our collective wisdom to take action and be change agents for our children and the teaching profession.  Are you on board??? PLEASE FILL OUT THE FORM BELOW IF INTERESTED

Key to educational reform -be a proactive voice not one that complains, focuses on the negative, finger-points & continually blames others.

Key to educational reform-don’t continue to be part of the problem; be part of the solution.

Key to educational reform- embrace and take an active role in defining new teacher evaluations that focus on growth, reflection, ownership. OWN THE PROFESSION!

Key to educational reform – speak up when a colleague is not doing what’s best for students – or worse.

Key to educational reform – take an active role in your professional development at universities so you can impact and have a voice in teacher preparation.

Key to educational reform – ALWAYS be a professional and a proactive, reflective learner.

Key to educational reform – adopt a growth mind-set, be innovative & open, encourage generative thinking, and gain respect for the profession by your actions.

Key to educational reform – create classroom environments that are flexible for students, encourage & open up global awareness and thinking, and engage students in their own learning.

Key to educational reform – create a virtual PLN, network and become part of the collective voice in education.

Key to educational reform – think outside of the box, routinely engage in action research and document/publicize the results.

Key to educational reform – take action, be a change agent, and lead.

Add you thoughts to the Google spreadsheet. I will update the post daily with these thoughts and ideas.

It’s interesting to read about Finland’s educational system.  Clearly, they’ve created a highly effective system that’s making a difference for children, teachers, and the country.  We’re all feverishly reading articles and blog posts on Finland hoping to gain some insight that we can used to reform the educational system in the US.  The article I most recently read, indicated that teacher pay is not much different than what we make in the US. So…what’s the difference?  The two quotes below sum it up quite well:

“In Finland, they do attract the very best and brightest into the profession, and it has nothing to do with money. It has everything to do with the respect that is given to the profession,” Paine said.

One young Finnish teacher, asked why he went into the profession, told Paine: “Because it is the most honorable of all professions. It is a patriotic, national calling to be a teacher.”

Honor and respect for the teaching profession is one of the main themes of Finland’s education system.   Of course, there are many reasons that this can be attributed to – the countries belief in teachers and the education system, respect of teachers knowledge, skills, and ideas, strong teacher preparation and PD support, and no standardized testing etc.  But a major piece of this puzzle must be the teachers.  Respect and honor must be earned – isn’t that what we tell our children.  All of the elements of Finland’s education system could be in place in the US but if we, as a teaching profession, do not act accordingly, in our actions and depth of conviction to the teaching profession will not be highly regarded and respected.

We often speak about how our students need to “own” their learning, be accountable, reflective, and stop blaming other for their problems.  Are we “owning” our profession?   Are you taking an active role in changing the opinion of education and teachers or do you continue to blame, finger-point, act negatively, act unprofessionaly, ignore what ineffective colleagues  are doing with students, give up, follow the masses instead of doing what’s right at times, blame the parents and administrators for all of the problems. 

We can change the view of educators!  Be a professional at all times.  I consistently hear statements about how parents (administrators, board of ed.) don’t respect teachers.  You have the power to change that.  Trust me – parents will start fighting for teachers and the educational system if that’s what they see on a daily basis for their children.  We need to make this change from the ground up and we can! Reflect on your role in the system and what you can do to impact change – don’t continue to be part of the problem; be a part of the solution.

Of course, there are many changes that need to be made to the educational system in the US which we, as a profession, need to continue to work toward.  But we must first be regarded as respected, knowledgeable professionals and that’s something we have the power to change!

“Both managers and leaders require high levels of personal artistry if they are to respond to today’s challenges, ambiguities, and paradoxes.  They need to find a sense of choice and personal freedom to find new patterns and possibilities in everyday life at work.  They need versatility in thinking that fosters flexibility in action.  They need capacity to act inconsistently when uniformity fails, diplomatically when emotions are raw, non-rationally when reason flags, politically in the face of vocal parochial self-interests, and playfully when fixating on task and purpose backfires” (Bolman and Deal, 2010, p.435)

This quote, from Reframing Organizations Artistry, Choice, and Leadership, really resonated with me when reflecting on the leadership model of reframing.  Leadership is not a lock-step, one-size fits all endeavor in which an individual or individuals can make decisions in isolation, in an inflexible or one-sided manner.  The metaphor of a symphony and conductor comes to mind when I think of effective leadership.  The leader or conductor has to skillfully balance all of the parts (people, the mechanics, ever-changing variables, needs, personalities, systems), communicate a vision, and create a culture of collaboration toward an outcome or the “big picture” where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  At the same time they must ensure that individuals feel valued, that their efforts are making a contribution and they believe they have a responsibility to excel in their “performance” and a commitment to the greater good.

Reframing Organizations Artistry, Choice, and Leadership is a powerful, systems-thinking approach to leadership.  Educators and educational leaders need to adopt this model of thinking for any meaningful, second-order reform to occur – and the change needs to start with administrators and teacher leaders at all levels. Multi-frame thinking is a clear, systematic way of approaching and understanding change, the complexity of organizational life, and problems.   Just by reading and reflecting on Reframing Organizations, I feel I’m better equipped to pursue and handle a more formal leadership role.  My knowledge of the “big picture” has already grown and I’ve been given a powerful “tool” for my tool kit as I enter leadership positions.  Reflection on the theory of reframing has also led me to the understanding that effective leadership is not happenstance or just because an individual is charismatic and engaging.  Of course, an engaging, passionate individual is necessary in leadership but being purposeful, intentional, and systematic about your approach to vision, change, growth, people, and distribution of power is of equal value in the endeavor toward effective leadership. 

The reframing model has also reminded that when in a leadership role, it’s crucial to reflect and be very cognizant of your “frames” orientation or strengths and weaknesses.  Personally, I most often operate from the structural frame with political and symbolic frames as secondary strengths.  Upon reflecting, the human resource frame is one that I need to make a more concerted effort to really consider as I plan and reflect on situations, events, and systems.

Another positive outcome of reading this book, is that I’ve had the opportunity to dialogue and share the model of frames thinking and reframing with my administrator, who by the way, does a pretty good job of frames thinking already.  She was very engaged, interested, and also started viewing her daily interactions, roles and responsibilities, and situations through the frames.  It has impacted her thought process so much so that we now have conversations about the frames as we dialogue about the events and situations in our school and district.  My administrator was at training this past week on a model of when to employ specific leadership styles or approaches to different staff learning styles.  Her reflection was that it was interesting but the frames thinking model was more meaningful and really gave her a better way of viewing her interactions with individuals, systems, and events.

I look forward to implementing multi-frame thinking, embracing the “art of possibility” – dreaming what could happen and my role in helping others see the dream and then have them join along the journey (Zander, 2000), and am inspired and strengthened by the knowledge that when positive, forward movement is not occurring, stepping back, and reviewing and reflecting on the frames, will lead to specific actions and a sense of inspiration rather than defeat.

Reference List

Bolman, L.G. & Deal, T.E (2010) Reframing Organizations Artistry, Choice, and Leadership. San Franciso, CA.  Jossey-Bass 

Zander, R.S. & Zander, B. (2000) The Art of Possibility Transforming Professional and Personal Life. Boston, MA. Harvard Business

        School Press

Teaching 2030=educational reform=the future of education. 

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a day long session with Dr. Barnett Berry, founder and president of the Center for Teaching Quality (a nonprofit that seeks to dramatically improve student achievement nationwide by conducting timely research, crafting smart policy, and cultivating teacher leadership).   Dr. Berry and the Teacher Solutions 2030 Team authored Teaching 2030 What We Must do for Our Students and Our Public Schools …Now and in the Future, a ground breaking, thought-provoking book that captures the spirit of innovative, outside-of-the box thinking about the future of education.  It’s evident that Dr. Berry and his team applied systems thinking as they crafted this blue-print for creating an effective, high-performing educational system.  Most importantly, the book gets at the heart of the issues in education and call for deep, systemic change.   The following is a summary from the Center for Teaching Quality website:

In the raging controversy over how to fix the nation’s underperforming schools, the voices of America’s best teachers are seldom heard. Now, in a provocative book about the future of teaching and learning, 12 of America’s most accomplished classroom educators join a leading advocate for a 21st-century teaching profession to bring expert classroom know-how and fresh policy ideas to the school reform debate.

Together they identify trends that will shape the learning experience of the next iGeneration and propose actions to guarantee that every student will have excellent teachers. Policymakers and the public, they say, must work with teachers to:

• Create a richer learning experience for students and teachers, and better ways to measure school success;

• Accelerate digital learning while reinventing brick and mortar schools as 24/7 support hubs for students and families;

• Reimagine teaching as a well-paid career with many pathways, where teaching expertise is constantly spread;

• Establish a leadership force of 600,000 “teacherpreneurs” — classroom experts who teach students regularly while also serving as teacher educators, researchers, community organizers, and trustees of their profession.

The book addresses the “hopeful “vision for our schools and teachers of 2030, a brief history of teaching in America, emergent realities that must be present in our educational system, and levers of change.  The following emergent realities are examined in great detail and should be at the core of educational reform: a transformed learning ecology for students and teachers, seamless connections in and out of cyberspace, differentiated pathways and careers for a 21st century profession, and teacherpreneurism and a future of innovation, and levers of change to accelerate and transform teaching.  At first glance, many of us may “believe” we or our schools have already mastered some of this but you need to stop that line of thinking and really read and reflect on the defining points of each reality – then start to think of systemic, second-order change that can put your teaching, school, and district on the path toward “a fully realized results-oriented profession committed to every child’s success” Dr. Barnett Berry

As I reflected on my day exploring the Teaching 2030 vision, some major themes emerged: school needs to be the hub of connections, networks, and partnerships that coordinate, facilitate, and supports learning for all stakeholders; school needs to strike a unique balance between becoming globally connected and becoming “community-centered”; teachers need to understand how to leverage the power of technology to create personal, user-generated learning environments where students can follow their passions and ignite their  love of learning; teachers need to take back their profession and be the driving force behind accountability, creation of teacher’s guilds, and their own learning; and finally we must commit – commit to making changes to the system, not the individual parts, commit to letting go of our mental models of teaching and learning, commit to crossing over into the unknown, commit to truly doing things differently; and commit to the educational system and our role in making or breaking it.

My next steps are to read Teaching 2030 and share the vision.  I hope you take action and  jump on this important, vehicle of change.  Teaching 2030 is the must-read book this year.  Order it today!

When I reflect on the RSCON3 experience a numbers of terms come to mind:

How often does an educator, or anyone for that matter, ever walk away from a conference or training with take-aways such as this.  Not often!  To be honest, I struggled for a while with what I would write about RSCON3.  I thought about a post on all of the knowledge I gained, technology tools I learned how to use, or the connections I made but none of those really captured what I was feeling.  What occured during those 3 days and for countless hours and months leading up to the conference is so much more than that – it was definitely one of the those times when the saying “more than the sum of it’s parts” really fits. 

RSCON3 is not simply a three day global education conference – it’s a movement!  Yes – it’s excellent PD and my knowledge and understandings grew significantly.  But what was most meaningful was the overtone in every presentation of commitment, passion, and motivation to impact student and teacher learning.  I was inspired, challenged, and engaged by every presenter to use this knowledge as more than an end in itself.  This conference – or movement- has created a culture of learning, fostered the spirit of change, and developed a  cadre of  leaders that will have a lasting impact on education.  As I stated in an earlier blog post this is what educational reform should look like.  A conference like this really represents a growth mind-set. 

As is clear by all of the blog posts, tweets, and reflections we were all fully engaged, even to the point where we felt a little neglectful - or maybe a lot -of our families and other responsibilities.  Despite this, we were compelled to keep logging in to session after session.  That’s because we were engaged in meaningful, collaborative learning.  We were interested and knew that this experience would allow us to make a contribution to our students, ourselves, our schools, and our districts.  Isn’t this what learning or “school” should be.  RSCON3 was a learning environment or experience that we need to emulate for our students!  Now I’m not necessarily just referring to the fact that it was a virtual experience.  I’m referring to what we all know learning is about and is so clearly summed up by Alan November: 

• Learning is about making a contribution.

• Learning occurs when the learner is “truly” engaged.

• Learning occurs in an environment built on strong relationships.

• Learning should be about innovation, generation of ideas, creation.

• Learning is not simply about the transfer of knowledge from one individual to another  and control.

• Learning requires time to reflect,process, and question to understanding 

So right now, in addition to figuring out how to integrate all of the tools, projects, and systems I learned about, my main goal is to create a learning environment that gives my students the same thrilling, empowering experience I had this weekend.  How will you do this?  What will you do to create a true student-centric, user generated learning environment in your classroom?  Will this be challenging – yes?  But aren’t our children and the future of our society worth it?  Be a leader, be a change agent, make a diffference!

In my opinion, RSCON 3 is blossoming into a movement that is the tipping point in our reform efforts.  Thank you again to all of the presenters, organizers, and participants for giving me this opportunity.

Below are links to three How-to screencasts to support my#rscon3 session on Creating a Twitter PLN.  Please use these to review or as support when you share this with your colleagues, schools, and districts.

Posting Comments and Replying on Twitter

Using Tweetdeck

How to Log Into and Add a Column in Tweetdeck

Creating a Twitter PLN 7-31-11RSCON3

The Reform Symposium, a global, online conference of educators teaching educators, begins today, July 29, and runs through Sunday July 31.  It is expected to touch 8,000 educators world-wide, has 12 keynotes, 75 presentations, 3 panel discussions and a technology smackdown and – it’s all FREE.  The organizers – Shelly Terrell, Clive Sir, Kelly Tenkely, Chris Rogers, Lisa Dabbs, Melissa Tran, Cecilia Lemos, Mark Barnes, Ian Chia, Jerry Blumengarten and Elluminate experts, Jo Hart and Phil Hart- are 12 very passionate, dedicated educators that have given countless hours and support to this effort and all of the presenters.   These educators should be recognized for their commitment but more importantly for their role in starting a movement, being change agents, inspiring others to learn, think, and grow and to be in the forefront of true educational reform.

In my opinion, this is what educational reform should look like: a group of educators focusing on and demonstrating the professionalism in our practice and supporting personal and professional growth in one another all for the ultimate goal of improving the educational experience for our students.  Educational reform efforts do not have to be negative and should not be about one side pitted against the other side.  It’s really only about one thing – doing what’s right for our students or as DuFour states – what ever it takes.  If we want to be viewed as professionals and improve the support we receive for schools and education, more of these types of movements need to occur and be publicized.

I am very proud to be a part of the Reform Symposium – a true reflection of the spirit of education – growth and learning.  I’m also very excited to be a presenter but more importantly to learn, collaborate, and connect with educators world-wide. 

So here is a grand shout-out to the Reform Symposiums organizers.  As Derek Severs would say, “Thank you for being the lone nut and for nurturing your followers!!!

Don’t forget to attend the Reform Symposium!

My Session is on July 31, 11:00 EST : A Powerful Learning Tool – Creating a Twitter PLN (personal learning network)

MulitMi is desktop aggregation tool that can integrate multiple platforms.  I love this statement on the home page – “It’s super shiny, fast, and FREE!”  See below for the description from the MultiMi.com website.  

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, Picasa, YouTube, email, chat, calendars, contacts, and browsers.  MultiMi collects all your accounts and networks so you can connect with friends and family, surf the web, and share pics, vids and files simply by dragging and dropping.  MultiMi also features AVG LinkScanner, which automatically checks links exchanged through social media in real time.  Just install MultiMi for free, connect to your accounts and networks, and you’re good to go. Leave multiple logins and switching between browser tabs behind. With MultiMi, you can manage your online life seamlessly.  MultiMi.com

I was easily able to add Twitter and Google to MultiMi and it instantly linked my photos, documents, and frequent contacts.  What I really like about it so far is that if your on the home page various tabs – photos, Twitter, mail, etc. are displayed in different pods allowing you to see and access all of them quickly.  You can sync with various calendars, customize and organize MultiMi, and access chats via Facebook or Google chat. 

That’s just a brief overview and it’s still in Beta but I defnitely like what I see so far.  This tool has helped me to reach one of my summer goal: organizing and streamline my PLN.  This is a must to check out.  I think it’s very promising -and yes, I can access Google+ from the MultiMi home page.

Must check this out at http://www.multimi.com/  Let me know what you think!