All it takes is a group of dedicated individuals.........

As superintendent of a school looking to make some meaningful change in what and how students learn, I could not be more please with our professional development day yesterday. While many teachers were involved in scoring state assessments, others worked in teams related to our district goals. One in particular set up a rotation for interested teachers to learn about blogs, wikis and pod casting. Not only has the feedback been extremely positive, not one presenter was brought in from out of district. Talented and knowledgeable faculty presented to their peers and that is where the power lies in schools. A lot of time and money is spent looking "outside" for the answers when most of the time, the answers are right under our noses.

If you are interested in reading more about yesterday's experience, go to Pat Aroune's blog below.


http://classroomchange.blogspot.com/

Tough Choices for Tough Times

It's been quite a while since my last post. Life has been busy. I promised that I would summarize The New Commission on the Skills of The American workforce. The summary can be found at http://www.skillscommission.org/index.htm

While the commission has painted a grim picture of how America will be left behind in a global economy if drastic changes aren't made, I'm not convinced that as a country we would let that happen. That being said, there are merits to some of the recommendations.

1. Assume that we will do the job right the first time: This refers to the graduation rates at institutions of higher education. As school leaders, we have always insisted while there should be a minimum level of competence in our students, our country is not "one size fits all" and there is the assumption that every individual must attend college. There are many alternative paths where people can and will be successful. This is not to say that a college education wouldn't help you get further in a global economy but it may be presumptuous to think you will never be successful without a college education.

2. Make much better use and efficiency of resources. I do believe we need to be more efficient in use and availability of resources. Why should 700 school districts all align curriculum to the state standards? Why should 700 schools develop parallel assessments to the state assessment? Why should 700 schools seek best practices in a given curriculum? All this should be provided to schools. It is not necessary for us all to recreate the wheel. At the same time, if someone has found a way to do it better and more efficiently, there should be a vehicle to share that information.

3. Recruit from the top third of the high school graduates going on to college for the next generation of school teachers. I completely agree that we need to do a better job of recruiting potential teachers into the field. As educators, we may very well see future teachers and should encourage those students that teaching is a viable career path. However, I don't believe that their is a shortage of teachers because people don't want to teach anymore. Personally, issues of violence in urban schools, salary and a system continuously under public criticism are facts that contribute to the lack of new teachers coming into the field. Lets face it, money does talk and if one can be an engineer driving the BMW, house in the suburbs, 1.2 children and a dog...........After all, isn't THAT the "American Dream"?

4. Develop standards, assessments, and curriculum that reflect today's needs and tomorrow's requirements. While I believe in the standards movement wholeheartedly, I do have many concerns regarding how and what we assess in state assessments. We are still asking students (for the most part) to produce previously learned facts. Critical skills is one of the most important skills identified by colleges and employers as a skill lacking in high school graduates. We need to teach critical skills analysis and then find a way for students to demonstrate those skills.

5. Create high performance schools and districts everywhere - how the system should be governed, financed, organized, and managed. School boards as we know them would no longer exist. New York State has charter schools "competing" with public schools and communities where resources are generous. We do need to find a way to improve resources in urban schools but it is not a reason to blow up the entire system. The commission also refers to a "board" that would oversee schools. I would be concerned who the makeup of that "board" would consist of.

6. Provide high-quality, universal early childhood education. Few will argue that quality preschool programs would benefit many students. That being said, there are many students that come to school well prepared because of their socio-economic status and experiences. I know many parents of such children would be opposed to mandatory preschool. Parents should be able to provide alternatives to formalized preschool programs.

7. Give strong support to the students who need it most. I do believe that all schools try to provide the best they can for their students with the resources they have. In my opinion, this comes back to equity, best practices and quality teachers.

The points made can be found in the executive summary- I encourage you to read it. While this document is supposed to be so important with a strong imperative, you must purchase the entire report if you want to read it. The report can be purchased through amazon. The commentary in this post are my reactions and opinions. I welcome anyone that would like to engage in such discussion. I do believe there are many things that we can do to improve America's schools. I do not feel that all is lost and that all schools are failing.

Steve Hargadon Shares Interview with Will Richardson

As we continue to discuss the use of Web 2.0/Read/Write Web, there are a few main topics that should be addressed with students that are growing up and will work in a global economy. Students need to be taught at least how to;

~ Access Information

~ Determine Trusted Resources and Internet Sites

~ Collaborate/Network via the net

~ See the limitless value in what can be learned using the Web

Steve Hargadon was interested enough to respond to my last blog where I referenced his interview with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach . He had recently interviewed Will Richardson. Will was the “teacher” at last summer’s “High School’s New Face” that ignited a team here at Iroquois to see the value of blogs, wikis and podcasting as an instructional tool. I thoroughly enjoyed the interview and it has addressed a major question I am confronted with when asked, “So what’s the big deal about blogging and why do it?”

Why Blog with students?

First, blogging gives students a way to publish to a larger audience than the classroom. These opportunities can be a powerful motivator and an effective way for students to learn given the feedback they may get from other readers of their blog.

Second, gives students the opportunity to be a part of a “community” that network with each other discovering new tools and connect to people of similar thoughts and passions. Again, this has the potential to motivate students to be a part of this collaboration, to learn from each other and to “teach others” at times.

Will Richardson was a Journalism major prior to becoming a teacher. He was therefore immediately drawn to the internet for obvious reasons and integrated the use of the internet in his instruction. When he first saw a blog he became a ‘blogger’ and “got hooked”. The key motivation was that he could “publish” immediately have people read his work. He then felt that the potential was limitless for his journalism students. Will was then prompted to find other educators using blogs. At the time there were only 4 or 5 people using blogs actively. The community built itself but in 2003/2004 something began to happen: Will learned he was one of the first teachers using blogging for instruction. As people began to see how blogging impacted the media, the media began to look at what was out there for blogging in education. Will received some immediate publicity and the conversations “exploded”. At that point there were 20 or 30 people he was communicating with and that it was something that was not possible with face to face communication. There was no one in his school using blog. Blogging was then viewed as professional development.

To write a blog and realize that there are people around the world reading your work is “transformational”. People around the world have much to offer each other. Blogging is a way to bring people and ideas together that may never have been brought together.

Blogging is becoming a way for students to develop reading skills, critical thinking and writing in a way to attract, sustain and connect with audiences.

When Will was asked if a teacher is interested in blogging, and where should they start, his response was interesting. You may think he would say, “just start blogging”. His answer was to “just start reading blogs”. Whether it be blogs that address your hobbies such as knitting or photography or academics…….read, comment and observe the interaction.

Will is now advocating that teaching folks RSS (Real Simple Syndication) that enables you to easily keep track of blogs as a first step before actually teaching about Blogs and Wikis. This helps you to read and follow blogs you’re interested in (likened to having an on-line subscription to a blog). The next step is to recognize the "connections" that blogging can provide to students.

There is so much to read now, Steve asked Will about how many blogs he reads/follows now. It can be overwhelming to keep up with the amount of blogs on the web. Will has now filtered down to reading about 20 blogs that he follows to make it meaningful as it relates to education. He now would like to expand the audience outside of education as a means of spreading the word.

Bloglines is one of the biggest RSS feeds used. It does tell Will that somewhere between 5 and 10,000 people read his blog regularly. As one that blogs and has added a Clustrmap to my blog, to see that there are people in China, Japan, Australia, Egypt, England and various other countries not to mention throughout the United States is just amazing to me. To think that people have visited my blog and read it provides an audience that I would never imagine. What attracted them to my blog probably varies: a tag line that interested them, the mention of my blog by another blogger, to use my blog posts as a means of learning about the instructional value of blogging.

Will Richardson cautions that while you should be looking for an audience, of “teachers” or readers, you can’t assume that people will read your blog. However, the 'audience' aspect is important because if our students are “clickable” (found on the Web by the click of a mouse), anyone that responds is a potential “teacher” to our students.

A major question is how do you make sure that students are safe on the internet and are protected from predators? Will responds as I have to parents- our students are already reachable/clickable on the web. It happens through MySpace and other social networks. We need to educate people how to use the social tools safely and appropriately. Blocking their access is not the answer as many districts are doing.

One of the most interesting was a question that Steve posed to Will that I could relate to: What position does the use of this technology from a school leader's perspective in dealing with how to make such substantive changes in how we teach? Will believes that if we don’t change schools and the typical paradigm, students will go elsewhere to learn. Perhaps even homeschooling or on-line schooling.......Students need to learn how to build their own learning communities, students need to learn how to be creative, how to find reliable sources, to be “clickable” to be more responsible for their own learning as just a few changes that need to be made. This will require allowing teachers to be more flexible in how they teach, how they explore professional development opportunities and how they can model for students.

If you are interested in hearing Steve’s interview with Will Richardson, you can find all of Steve Hargadon’s interviews/podcasts at:

http://edtechlive.wikispaces.com/Recordings+List

Happy New Year To All!

Just a quick post to wish you all a happy, healthy 2007. I see 2007 as a year of change for schools and education. Technological advances, The Commission on Education and Economy's Recommendations and New York State's P-16 initiative is sure to change how, if not what we teach our students. We also look ahead to what Karl Fisch's school is planning for "Vision 2020"- the year in which this year's incoming kindergarteners will graduate high school. It is hard to even imagine what schools will look like by then but if what has begun with use of the read/write web is any indication, schools will certainly be much different than what they look like today.

Now that I have added ClustrMaps, it amazes me to actually see the power of the web. To think that there are people in Egypt, London, Australia, China and Japan viewing this blog is something that blows my mind. As Thomas Friedman professes, the world has certainly flattened!

To all those pioneers that have begun the journey, continued success in your persistence!

Steve Hargadon interviews Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach on 21st Century Learning

Steve Hargadon is a leader in the discussion of Web 2.0 Just before Christmas he interviewed Sheryl-Nussbaum-Beach posted to a podcast. Her insights are most useful for those of us interested in moving schools forward with the use of the read/write web as a necessary tool for student learning. You can follow this link to a list of podcasts related to some of the newest technology being used. Click on Sheryl's podcast of Decemeber 21st to hear the interview.

http://edtechlive.wikispaces.com/Recordings+List

Steve Hargadon does a great job of summarizing the key points of their interview:

* Sheryl is a technology and education consultant and adjunct
instructor in the School of Education at The College of William and
Mary.
* Right now, Sheryl believes, we are in a place where computing in
the classroom is really going to take off.
* She feels that it is a moral responsibility of teacher-leaders
in the school to figure out how to access the tools of the web and
help students to learn to use them in a safe environment. (Again, I'm
fascinated with the contrast of Larry Cuban's views here, and also
with the apparent difficulties that grass-roots technology efforts
face in school decision-making.)
* "You can't give away what you don't own." Until school
administrators are experiencing the benefits of the new technologies,
there cannot be more widespread adoption of them. (This touches on the
point above.)
* The students of today don't have a choice as to whether or not
they will master the skills of the read/write web (and being
collaborative and self-driven)--if they don't, they will be left
behind in the work world.
* The magic of Web 2.0 in schools is individual growth toward the
sense of being "self-actualized:" students can be transformed by being
able to write things that others are interested in reading, and by
being able to collaborate with others.
* The "Golden Question" right now is: can tie these new tools to
student achievement? She believes it they can be, but it's very hard
to measure because of all the other variables.
* Sheryl points out the need for balance: when you use any
pervasive educational strategy (not just the new computer
technologies), you need to make sure that there is a marriage between
the passion that is generated with a rigorous education. This should
be a deepening of learning, and be challenging. "Rigor and passion."
* Many students are going to be coming to school already well
versed in the read/write or participatory web. Her experience has been
that they are often motivated learners from these experiences.
* Sheryl talks about moving from the "Information Age" to the "Age
of Conceptualization." I'm not sure I know what the "Age of
Conceptualization" is...
* The most gifted students are good at the way school is played
right now, and they can have the hardest time adjusting to a learning
environment that is cooperative and self-directed. It is the kids who
have struggled previously that really benefit the most by being able
to use these technologies. (This goes along with Sheryl's desire to
bring computing resources to homeless youth, and her belief in how
important this will be for them. See below.)
* She sees more of the writing tools being used in the
classroom--blogs and wikis--but not as much podcasting.
* The real skill needed by teachers and students will be the
ability to be our own "digital age librarian," knowing how to access,
select, and synthesize all of the available information. We need to
tap into the power of "self-directed interest."
* On homeless or transient children: she is a living example of
breaking the cycle of generational poverty. If we don't empower these
children with the same technologies that the affluent child will get
at home, then we are trapping them in their poverty. Homeless children
move around a lot, and often the teachers are unaware of the true
situation at home. After the interview, Sheryl and I talked at length
about creating a program for teacher mentoring to homeless children,
and the providing of computing resources at homeless shelters (see
www.PublicWebStations.com).
* Her blog is 21stcenturylearning.typepad.com.
To join in a discussion of "School 2.0," please visit www.School20.net.

Steve has an excellent blog that can be found at:
Stevehargadon@blogspot.com