Building Understanding

Woke up this morning, I suddenly realized, we’re all in this together. – Ben Lee

This is a post that has been ruminating in my head for 6 months now.  Wonderful lyrics in a great song and lots of ties into what learning and school culture needs to emulate.  The post is all the more fitting now as I have started the next phase of my career in education – administration.

So at the start of August, it was time for me to introduce myself to staff then later students and parents as the new HS Dean of Students.  What was I going to say?  What am I about?  What will it be like with me in this role?

And this song kept running through my head.

I’m made of atoms.  You’re made of atoms. And we’re all in this together.

What schools need to be is a place where students do more than avoid doing what’s wrong.  Instead they do what’s right.  A school should be a place more than of rules and consequences – it should be a culture of looking out for each other, protecting those being picked on and taking a stance against bullying.

And this doesn’t come from a Vice-Principal or Dean of Students who plays the “bad guy”.  It comes from a community of teachers and adults who understand that setting the boundaries up is EVERYONE’S JOB.  Not noticing or turning a blind eye to infractions, bad language, or inappropriate behavior is equivalent to endorsing it.  I (t)asked our faculty to become part of that school culture.  To help me build it so that students understood that the boundaries are consistent, not haphazard.

And long division just doesn’t matter, cuz we’re all in this together.

But even with that, we are talking about a student culture here as well.  Too often I see school cultures of Us vs Them.  In my introduction to students I reminded them that teachers, counselors, administrators, and students all want the same thing – for the student to have a successful 4 years with us that allows them to be successful beyond those 4 years.  Now right now, maybe our picture of what that success looks like, may be different than the students’ vision.  Even so, they are certainly IN THE SAME DIRECTION.  The boundaries exist to ensure success for all students.  We are all in this together.

Students need to be reminded that we are all working in the same direction, working towards similar in not identical goals.  Adults in the building need to be part of this process and students need to understand that they are.

Every twelve seconds someone remembers that were all in this together.

As I and so many have written in the edu-blogosphere, our students face an unpredictable future.  It’s all changing so fast.  For them.  For us.  Navigating this change and preparing ourselves for that uncertain future is our task.  And “building understanding” requires more than coursework comprehension, more than expertise in communication, collaboration, and creation.  It requires building community.

Building real understanding between people so that we all look out for each other and do what’s right.

The city’s changing, cuz we are changing and we’re all in this together.

This is the role of educators.  It must be the culture of schools.

This is the responsibility of school leaders.

Understanding is strangers and cultures realizing that we are all in this together.  That we need each other to be successful must be the culture of education.

“On the subway, we feel like strangers, but we’re all in this together.”

It is my task to help make this our school culture.  Wish me luck.

Ask a scientist.  It’s quantum physics.  We’re all in this together.

“Mucho Jacks” image by laszlo-photo, used under Creative Commons

Technology can do a lot of things.

Some are faster ways to do tedious things (like repeated calculations, making graphs, or maintainig draft versions of writing).  These are helpful.

Others provide flashy ways to present ideas (like web sites, presentations, and publications).  These can be incredibly powerful.  They can also be painfully mis-used.

But there is a part of technology that we have only begun to tap into that is transformational.  There are things technology can do for us now, that simply were not possible before.

Technology can connect us to anyone.

Watch this.

(you most likely have seen this Connectivism video at either Wes Fryer’s blog or Jenny Luca’s)

Pretty powerful.  And technology allows us to do that now.

I am at the EARCOS Admin Conference in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

I have just come out of the room after presenting the I.T. Curriculum 2.0 presentation that Justin and I developed a year ago and its newest iteration.  Was a great turn out and a wonderful conversation.  People offered terrific insight and questions and it is an awesome reminder how smart the people running schools are.  And it’s an honor to start a conversation with them about rethinking how students learn and what they need to learn.

(Click on the Presentations tab to get to my wiki to see notes and resources from the presentation.)

What’s additionally cooler though, is having a colleague like Jeff who live blogged my whole session to his audience and created a back channel conversation on all of those thoughts.  Thanks Jeff.  Check out the unbelievable conversation that happened online, live as I was presenting.  Talk about shared learning!

Next presentation on Tuesday, 13:45 my time which I believe is GMT +8.  Looking for Learning – How supervsiors can foster best practice technology use.  The more I’ve been talking with administrators, the more I see that this is something a lot of schools want to know more about.  I’m excited.

In returning from the Learning 2.008 Conference, I have had a lot on my mind.  The conference brought together educators new to all of this “shift happens” talk and those that were on board – our “converted” that echo in the blogosphere, sometimes too much.  And the conference continues to succeed in bringing an enthusiasm and energy to those new to these ideas – getting more people “on the bus”.  If that’s happening, then the conference is doing its job.

But I wonder where the rest of us are going.

Sifting through my RSS reader, reading through the blog posts of my Personal Learning Network, commenting and being commented upon, I find myself questionning where we stand.

How much change are we affecting?

How much “shift” is happening in our schools?

In isoloated projects or classrooms, some incredible stuff is happening.  Kids are collaborating.  They’re networked, wired, savvy, and being prepared to succeed.

But in those same schools and throughout education, we still that the majority are not on the bus – they didn’t even know that there was somewhere to go.

What is going to be the tipping point of this shift?

Will schools resist changing and render themselves obsolete? And at what stage does this become unethical to allow?

Real widespread change is going to have to come from administration.

In schools, we find ourselves clinging to proven pedagogy and content curriculum, because they have worked in the past and it’s what we know.

Now however, we also recognize that students need more different learning.  They’ve always needed the skills of communication, collaboration, and meta-cognition.  We’ve always valued Gardner’s disciplined and ethical minds (and other Five Minds).  But the context for which they need these skills and minds has changed, sped up, and arguably gained in importance.  As a result, students need different learning experiences to ensure their participation and success in a rapidly changing world.

So, here I go again, joining the echo chamber, preaching to the converted.  Where am I going with this?

Educators who get this idea, are on one side of a chasm from the rest of education still rooted in old practice (with best intentions).

In trying to lead change, educators are trying to manage this gap between what we’ve done and what we need to do.  It needs to be school administrators who lead this shift, by bridging the gap between the tried-and-true and the bold-and-new.

The edublogosphere made up of consultants and librarians, technology facilitators and teachers are doing their best and making headway, but the fog is still thick and they are navigating through it with a flashlight.

It will take school administrators who see the need for educational change (reform is too intimidating a word) to take isolated innovation and make it practice.

Truly make it the way we do business.

So, get to work on your administrators and get them on board.  Or better yet, become administrators yourselves.

Keep in mind that you lead a staff who are generally good teachers.  They have great intentions.  They care about student learning.  And all the good that they have done and can do is not yet obsolete (no matter how often we tell ourselves it is).

We find ourselves at a pivotal time, I believe, where a new wave of administrators could be coming through, grounded in traditional schooling, but also thriving in a wired world.  Educators who understand both sides of the gap.

It is these administrators who can bridge this gap.

You won’t find these educators satisfied getting on the bus – they’re ready to drive it.

Maybe one of these people is you.

Or me.

Photo by tread
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License

The Learning 2.008 Conference in Shanghai, China is later this week. Continuing ISB’s dedication to always improving learning, we are sending a large group of teachers to the conference.

Awesome.

Keynote and other presenters include (does this look like a who’s who of blogrolls or what?!):

• Brian Crosby
• Clarence Fisher
• David Jakes
• Alan Levine
• Ewan McIntosh
• Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
• David Warlick
• Jeff Utecht
• Kim Cofino
  

Just to name a few.

In addition to thought-provoking sessions, one key element to the event are the “un-conferences” where conversations develop in pre-determined time blocks about anything.  The conference will monitor Twitter tweets to determine what unconference sessions will occur and then people will just “join the conversation”.

This year, I won’t be presenting – which I did do at last year’s Learning 2.0 with colleague Justin – so my focus is really going to be on learning from others.  This conference is always a tough one because there are always 3 or 4 sessions you want to go to in the same time slot!

I have quite a few former colleagues in Shanghai as well, so it’ll be great to catch up with them and to continue the great networking that this conference brings face2face.  Looking forward to meeting Brian Lockwood and Jenny Luca (all the way from NZ) who are a big part of my Personal Learning Network.

See you in China!

(man, this international education gig is good!)

Technorati Tags: learn2cn, learn2008cn

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Okay, so I concede right off the bat that by posting this link, I am cementing my status as a geek.  I guess the good thing is that among this crowd, that ain’t such a bad thing.

From Wired’s GeekDad section, I came across this post citing a University of Wisconsin Milwaukee study write up on PhysOrg.com that links instilling confidence in young girls with success in math and science.  No surprise there, of course, but certainly nice to have the hard data.  The three year study looked at the barriers and supports for girls in learning and pursuing math and science.

While interest is certainly a factor in getting older girls to study and pursue a career in these disciplines, more attention should be given to building confidence in their abilities early in their education, says UWM Distinguished Professor Nadya Fouad. She is one of the authors of a three-year study aimed at identifying supports and barriers that steer girls toward or away from science and math during their education.

“The relationship between confidence and interest is close,” says Fouad. “If they feel they can do it, it feeds their interest.”

Do our teachers and parents get this?

Are they not only providing opportunities for ALL students to learn, but also help them become confident young people?

If kids, as GeekDad’s Vincent Janoski suggests (and most of us believe), that a secure child does better in all things, then how much of what educators do is directed at this part of the child?

If we KNOW this works, why isn’t making kids confident and secure a bigger part of our curriculum and the needs of a 21st Century Learner?

I’ve recently returned to my RSS reader (anyone else incredibly frustrated with Netvibes right now?) and as expected, rememberd why I loved subscribing to all these writers in the first place.

One in particular that I want to get out there quickly since it could be a powerful start to your year, is a video that NCS-Tech shared with the tag line:

Every. Educator. Must. Watch. This. Now.

So I did.

Fifth grader, Dalton Sherman of Dallas, TX delivers the keynote address -  just 2 days ago – to 20,000 educators.  Not to be missed.

A great inspirational speech to start your year.

He’s in fifth grade!

It’s making the rounds now and since it’s so new there isn’t much about this kid out there.  Here’s an article I found.

Also a little shout out to Tracy for reminding me to get back on the blog and start writing again…this hardly counts, but the first step is just getting on.

Com’on sing with me now, “message in a bottle…message in a bottle…”

Justin, Kim and I have been invited to join Dave Carpenter and Jeff Utecht for an S.OS. Podcast. The Shift Our Schools podcasts look specifically at how, why and what schools need to do to answer to the shift that is happening in technology, the world, and hopefully in education.

This particular podcast, we will be focusing on the question, “How Do We Connect Technology and Classroom Instruction Seamlessly?”

We’ve presented at Learning 2.0 in Shanghai and ETC in Kuala Lumpur on our work at ISB on moving towards an embedded curriculum focused less on tech skills and more on the 21st Century skills that you read so much about in the edublogosphere. We wrote about our thinking in our blogs and as guest bloggers on Dangerously Irrelevant. We’ve put up our work to share and collaborate with in wikis, initially in newliteracy and then as an ISB21 team.Now we are excited to take questions, speak to solutions, and tackle issues that relate to implementation on these very Big Ideas.

Hope you can come by and tune in.

From their site:

SOS is a biweekly podcast produced by educators in the Asian region discussing the latest conversations in the educational blogosphere as well as deep thinking about education and the changing nature of learning. Join us on Ustream.tv for the live broadcast. Listeners will have an opportunity to Skype into the conversation “on the fly” as well as listen to an archived version via iTunes.