Aretha said it best - "R E S P E C T"

Respecting teachers as professionals goes a long way in the journey to transform the classrooms that we are charged to bring into the “21st Century”.

CAM High School in Anita Iowa has the advantage and the disadvantage of being a small school, where $150,000 can outfit the whole building with Macbooks and I easily work with teachers individually.

However, in terms of early adopters in a faculty of 21, we have only a handful to lean on for internal capacity.

After two years with one-to-one computers we’ve seen an increasing energy from staff for the evolving technologies and Web 2.0 applications. What started with the iLife Suite has broadened into many different possibilities.

We all know change is not easy and change does not always come about quickly. What I have found and believe is that mandates, deadlines and requirements placed on teachers can yield results, but also require another round of them once an administrative imposed time frame expires. There are negative feelings and a feeling of top-down pressure that pushes teachers to find the reasons why NOT to change. They don’t own the process, the administration does.

To get teacher buy in they must champion the cause themselves and time must be given to them to collaborate and develop strategies that work for their classrooms. I have rarely been disappointed in the work our teachers do when brought together to share their learning. It immediately sparks conversation and exploration into new areas for each individual teacher.

Our teachers have asked for things, and for opportunities to develop their skills. When we deliver on their wishes you see a step forward in the use and infusion of that strategy or technology into their classrooms. When we don’t, we stagnate or take steps backwards.

Now in year three of our initiative we will give them more opportunities to get together in person AND online. I will show them how to develop a PLN or PLC that may or may not include teachers and staff from within the building.

I predict that this move will motivate teachers as it has motivated my learning by the flood of current, useful and timely materials by them everyday. The respect I get online, in my network is incredible and that same respect will fuel my teachers as it has fueled and inspired my growth.

Will it happen for each teacher and the same time? Absolutely not. So imposing a requirement about how, where and when they should develop their PLN is defeating the purpose of the individual network.

Working WITH them, giving them opportunities to build our internal capacity through external contacts will move small groups at first and identify the few that may be reluctant. Then implementing strategies for those few will not patronize or insult the larger group that have made the change and keep them energized.

Respect your staff as professionals and let the early doubtful comments bounce off. If you keep working with them most will join you in the journey of discovery that happens when diving into a PLN.

That is the support that will assist them the most in moving their classroom into the “21st Century”.

Online learning - Week one in the books

Three teachers of mine and I are participating in OLLIE, a summer online learning opportunity through Heartland AEA 11 - facilitated by Evan Abbey, blogger extraordinaire (and blog baller), instructional technologist and area technology expert. I have just completed the first module and here are my initial reactions.

First off I have taken a couple grad courses online 6-7 years ago and have helped administer our Moodle site at CAM High School. I have experience, but my knowledge has many gaps that need filled.

The Facilitator is Key: Evan has been great getting daily announcements out, being flexible with some initial problems and communicating those as well as providing screencast instruction as needed. Each Evan "buzz" on my blackberry reminds me to touch base with the class at least once a week and has me done with the first week's activities on Thursday.

Don't underestimate the power of the forum Reading other's responses and my own, commenting and browsing has really helped me start constructing a vision of online learning from the fuzzy/cloudy one I had coming into the course. It gives you time to thing and construct your thoughts from information provided and created within the course and in the forum.

Learning takes place when you're ready: I sat down twice to work on OLLIE and just plain had to shut the laptop and do something else. While this morning I got on just to check the news update and ended up finishing the weeks assignments I still had to complete. Also sipping a beverage on your patio and reading an article as the sun sets is pretty cool too.

Personal connections online: Without talking, chatting, messaging or emailing I am feeling a personal connection to members of the group and the facilitator. Just listening to the screencast is amazingly calming and good to see and have available at your disposal. There are two people who follow me and I follow on Twitter taking the course and the connection started there has already started to grow.

Little things matter: Just knowing that the drop downs are for in Moodle and watching on the screencast has elevated my knowledge on "groups" ten-fold. I now have a new perspective on utilizing Moodle and it came from something I felt I didn't need to look at.

Modular learning is better: Being able to see things divided up, knowing that you need to complete a set amount of material to move forward basically is like defining objectives without listing them and droning on about "here are the objectives you need to meet...." It's nice to take a little time to jump around and look, have the organization right in front of you at all times, not just tucked away in a syllabus is huge. I see this as an important step in transforming education at the high school level as you can begin to individualize instruction for students better if the essential skills are taught in ways that are compartmentalized. If one module or skill is deficient, OR already mastered, you can move to another (not necessarily in order). This could be the missing link to breaking down Carnegie Units within the current systems between secondary and post-secondary institutions.

The experience looks to be the one I've been searching for and am excited to start Week two soon....or maybe Monday.

I get to choose.

End of the Year melancholy - Pulling in the laptops and damage

Never mind missing the Seniors or lamenting about where the year went...the hardest emotion for myself and our technology director is taking the computers from the students and lining them up for summer storage.

I say that only kidding somewhat. Truth be told we had an amazingly successful pull in for the computers. We structured it a day before school got out so kids would have time to find "missing" items, we did it between the last two classes so we could get them put away and double checked. The procedure for 2nd year was 10 times more efficient and we didn't have to chase down four or so computers like we did last year.

Statistics for the day - 137 computers accounted for; all cases accounted for; two missing chargers. Zero noted damage. That was it!

Statistics for the year - Four busted screens; eight dead batteries; three failed hard drives. Approximate total for uncovered damage and replacements - $3600. We had double that in year two.

I credit our technology director and our staff for communicating with students constantly about care for the computers. Our "Homeroom" set up allows us quarterly bag and charger checks with rewards for perfect accountability. Constant reminders were broadcast in announcements and classes that if you have something missing you will pay for it, this instead of fee based systems that promote a disposable atmosphere. We had only one case of late in the year swapping (we found several during the year) and the swapper fessed up when confronted and we found his case anyway.

Our staff's conclusion is the students do value the computers and will take care of them as they know they will lose them to the repair room and do not want a loaner.

So we congratulated the students and staff on their efforts, and shut the door on a perfectly accounted for set of Apple Mac Books.

Oh where has the year gone.

Public urgency for change

Education's sphere of protection, it's operating autonomy is eroding fast. The safety and certainty of local control and geographical boundaries are being challenged by the "disruptive technologies" of today. And these challenges are coming sooner than later.

I spent some time with my brother recently and out of no where he asked, "Why can't we just change how we're doing things (in education)?" Sitting with us was his father-in-law who was, and still is, very active in school business back in our hometown of Monticello, Iowa. I was expecting certain affirmation of the way we've done and always done education and a more traditional outlook.

But instead I heard a retired implement dealer, who has sat in on more school board meetings than I have, champion technology. He echoed my brother's frustration and the need for changing the way we educate our students, especially at the high school level. A friend of his had given him a copy of "Disrupting Class" by Clayton Christensen and he was very much behind many of the ideas that the book, one-to-one and online learning advocates have been calling for recently.

Anita has long been a leader in technology use in education. So there can be a "been there-done that" attitude about it's integration in our district and within the walls of our school building. "We've always had technology," has been heard and I can understand the perspective of - "so what's different now?"

Nearly everything is different now. Our students need different skills, they need different learning stimulus, they can get their education anytime, anywhere from a multitude of credible sources. These are some of the realities and the fact two people, from different generations and randomly can see this confirmed my sense of urgency for change in education.

The system had better grow some legs that can move it faster than the snails pace it's moving now. Furthermore, those of us fortunate to have laptops in our kids hands need to pick up the pace as well. A one week seminar in the summer or a few hours before school starts in the fall will not suffice in terms of getting ready to assist students in their navigation their connected world.

The problem with the way we've done PD in the past is at the heart of the change issue. Instead of sitting and getting, teachers, administrators and non-certified staff all need to take control of our learning and get immersed using the very technologies our students need to gain jobs, maintain them and thrive in a new and ever-changing economy.

An economy and world that may not need as many of us, and ultimately demanding we have the very same skills to survive. Might as well learn them now.

Are you getting your ticket for the unfinished plane?

We need a new analogy or medaphor or whatever it is when we say, "We're building the plane as we're flying it."

I'm an old science teacher, so I'm pretty sure it's physically impossible to build a plane and fly it at the same time. If that's the case whatever it is you are associating with this is doomed to crash and burn. I'll gladly sell back my ticket for another trip thank you.

Yesterday in our Principal's Role-Alike at the end of the i11i 2010 conference in Des Moines, IA, that sentence was thrown out as a representation for learning and teaching using one-to-one computers and other disruptive technologies. In the "unconference" room we trashed the same sentence because the Iowa Department of Education was using it to describe the Iowa Core Curriculum during it's trainings this past year.

We do not have the time nor the vision to plan out these two new, and rather ambitious, initiatives (build the plane on the ground). The two will require a lot of risk-taking behaviors and some trial and error. But let's not visualize ourselves 20,000 feet in the air attaching a set of wings. Not even Chesley Sullenberger III can land that plane in the Hudson. How about a more grounded thought like...

"We're setting out on a great expedition into the vast Jungles of Learning..." or something like that.

Like we can over-plan, we can over do. Those of us who are doing one-to-one and other progressive learning with Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 technologies have many of the right ingredients. Let's develop a recipe for learning that everyone can enjoy.

Finally....

Well, January 24th was my last blog post. That's a long time ago in "Blog Years." Enough to become even less relevant than I was before. A blend of writer's block, busyness, but more than those, a lack of clear message.

My last post talked about "getting into the classroom" and how important I felt that was and the forms it takes. I've started and deleted four posts since then because of the twists and turns each experience took my emotions and thoughts. And now, just days away from presenting at Iowa's "1 to 1 Institute" on April 7th, I've found clarity.

A blend of experiences in my school, online, in professional development and in the world in general as brought me to place, has given me a message for this Wednesday.

"If change is going to occur, it is going to have to take place at the Principal/instructionalist-teacher level, one teacher at a time."

This thought came from the "one block at a time" commercial about inner city transformation from that American Express commercial. Basically start with one, make it better and move on. They used a block and changed buildings, we start with a staff member and change philosophies through learning and empowerment.

Once you empower one, you use that teacher to work with others. Or you can work with more than one, but I'm thinking small groups (1-3). There is so much with technology that turns teachers off on the mere mention of things such as Twitter, Diigo, that a few would be the most. My hope is maybe we can get the exponential change needed to keep up with technology and system changes coming in the not-so-distant future. It will be a flat line with little visible change, but if we're all doing it and progressing forward, we'll hit that slope and take off!

We need to combine that with an "ask for forgiveness" attitude when it comes to things like the DE, Chapter 12 and all the regulations we see standing in our way. A little school in East Marshall county did that with virtual reality technology. A high, high official in the Iowa DE gave the principal serious push-back when he called them as he was implementing the initiative. The same official lauded their achievements just a short couple years later in Washington, D.C. introducing him and a student as educational pioneers. If we do great things, there will be a line of people ready to support us, who will not give us the green light - formally anyway.

The Iowa Core Curriculum and it's 21st Century Skills is enough of a green light for me. I can frame many of my ideas under their "modules" and the skills they've defined that our kids need. I can shape and find ways to validate activities requiring "seat time" until we flush that term and move on to something more meaningful and relevant.

Scott McCleod, Director of CASTLE facilitated a mind-bending session, for transitioning high schools for the 21st century. Public education has been viewed as the behemoth system that will not survive the rise of all of these disruptive technologies. Many of the best practice situations right now are from private schools. Scott was pressed by others about why he then spent so much time trying to be a resource for public schools. Looking off into some unknown distance he told us - "...maybe there is a faint, glimmer of hope in small pockets around the country in public education..."

I plan to be one of those glimmers that turns into a light.

I will present my experiences and ideas that shaped this conclusion at my session, and am toying with trying to get it broadcast somehow on the net (or at least video taping and youtubing later). Also at my session we will discussion and hash through some next steps for me and anyone else at different levels of technology infusion. The great thing is most in the audience will be at schools that are one-to-one or going there.

Getting one-to-one is a huge first step, but the bigger one I see is to move a staff forward. As for outsourcing a lot of this to providers from anywhere but the state of Iowa. I have a hard time believing my staff will not step to the plate and those who don't will not survive leaving us with a trainable, eager group of learners who will blend on-site coaching with all forms of online resources. We are currently trying to set up sharing of our Spanish teacher with three other districts.

Phew, finally and a lot to get out. Hopefully I will have more soon and I plan to do nothing else but progress forward with my journey to help shape instruction.

I will be posting resources to follow April 7th, or after, about our 1 to 1 Institute

Get into the classroom

I have a note I hung above my desk in my first year as a principal that reads - "Get into the classroom". I wrote the note while taking administrative classes at Drake University and found it when preparing to move things to CAM High School.

Something so easy to say and think becomes hard when dealing with the management side of a Principal's day. Well intended walk-through schedules get put aside as students need disciplined state reports come due and money issues need discussed.

Then getting into the classroom can take several different forms. There's the formal observations that need to be done periodically; walk through observations that take different forms; and other inventories that need data collection. Now, I'm adding something new to my list - Teaching.

This Tuesday I am going into a Physical Science classroom to deliver a technology ENHANCED lesson that will serve as a different form of review for an upcoming "test". I am still a certified science teacher who taught physical science nine years.

We're also going to contrast my lesson against my classroom teacher's traditional style as he has two sections that day and he will be teaching one, and I the next. We will video both, test both and compare results. We've analyzed the two classrooms and they are comprised of a similar cross-section of students in all areas (ability, SES, SPED, ITED scores). I may even go as far as suggesting I develop an assessment for my class and he his and have them take both.

After the science classroom I am going to look to do similar things in my other core classrooms. It will be more about infusing technology and more of a co-teaching style, but never-the-less I plan to be doing some instruction.

I have even toyed with teaching a section of a class next year so that I have practical experience to share with my staff. I feel this will boost my credibility and give me a place to try somethings I know my staff will not attempt.

Getting into the classroom - an important component of change