A few weeks ago, we held a technology conference for teachers and administrators within Thames Valley. For the first time in the conference’s history, we decided to dedicate an entire morning to providing administrators with workshops on a variety of technologies from which they could choose. We offered sessions on Twitter, Facebook, School Websites, Video-Streaming and Notebook Software to name just a few. It was so encouraging to see such a number of principals and vice-principals spend a Saturday morning networking and learning together. The dialogue was rich, the laughs were many and the learning curve for many of us was an entertaining journey. I walked away from those sessions determined that we need more of them. As with any group of learners, time to spend with a new technology, tool, resource is important but just as important is the opportunity to dialogue with others about what we were learning; to share our commonalities and to learn from others about different applications of technologies.

Shouldn’t we be providing our students with the same opportunity? Do we truly value student voice and conversations in our learning environments? Gone are the days when classrooms should be silent with students, independently completing worksheet after worksheet to demonstrate their learning. If we want our students to be engaged in what they are learning, they need to be able to talk about it, demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways and have choice in their activities. One of the things that I do as I visit classrooms is that I take notice of who is doing the talking. Yes, there are still times for direct instruction by the teacher, but the teacher’s voice should not dominate the majority of the airtime. Have our students been taught how to challenge each other’s thinking? Try and prove a point to a friend; nothing shows your strong understanding of a topic or an opinion, than having to defend it to someone else.

Have our students been provided with opportunities to choose activities which they are curious about learning? Choice doesn’t mean answering every other question. Choice means allowing students to dig deeper into topics that are of an interest to them, reading material that interest them.
Providing choice and creating the conditions for conversation are challenging. But, our students deserve educators who embrace those challenges!
How do you provide choice for the learners in your classroom?

Come write with me…….

My final and most profound workshop during my time at ECOO12 was a presentation from Rob Policicchio and John Maschak.Thank goodness for the link to their information, as my fingers couldn’t keep up with all of resources that they were sharing and the context in which they were examining the role of technology in today’s educational settings. The most memorable phrase was, ” The role of the educator is to create conditions for invention rather than provide ready-made knowledge”. We all know that our youngest students are now arriving at our school’s front doors with the basics of how to use technology. Have you watched a two year old with an iPhone lately?

 They know instinctively how to pinch, touch and swipe, just as my own children, 15 years ago walked into their JKSK classroom knowing how to turn on a computer, load their favourite disc and play “Reader Rabbit”. So, we don’t have to waste precious time teaching them skills that will be extinct within a number of years. Have you ever asked a hockey-loving student, the stats of his favourite team? He instinctively knows how to use a variety of technologies ( iPhone, Blackberry, iPad, computer, laptop, netbook etc) to search for that answer. So, we don’t need to spend precious time teaching facts that students already know how to access and we don’t need to feel that we have all of the answers.

If we go back to the original statement and focus on our role as the “creator” of invention conditions, what does that look like? What do we currently have to let go of in order for our classrooms to be places where students are producing things verses being taught? And from the perspective of an administrator, how do I support my staff in creating those conditions? What learning tools need to be in all classrooms? How do we assess “inventions”? What feedback do we provide our students, if we want them to improve?”

Within their presentation, they referenced the work of Dr. Bill Rankin, wherein he shared the results of one of his studies where students’ brain waves were actually flat-lining, thus resembling their brain waves while sleeping, while they were in class. Now there is some disturbing news!

So, as educators, if we want to avoid “sleep brain waves”, what are we going to do?

The challenge after attending a two day conference is deciding which of the amazing, wonderful, innovative ideas that you are actually going to implement when you return to the reality of your life at school. Last week I had the opportunity to attend and to present at ECOO12, a provincial technology conference. I spent the first hour trying to get my head around the fact that I was surrounded by 700 participants who not only share my passion for technology but whom, for the most part, are far more adept at using new technologies than I am. I was proud of the fact that I was simultaneously using my Evernote app on my iPad to capture the nuggets that the presenters were sharing and using my iPhone to text message colleagues and maintain some connection with what was happening at school.

The keynote on the first day was John Seely Brown, the co-author of “A New Culture of Learning”. I found myself enthralled with his presentation, as he was sharing in a cohesive manner what I’ve started to understand as we, as a school staff, delve deeper into our use and understanding of how to incorporate technology into our teaching. For most of my administrative career, I’ve believed strongly that students need access to technology and that with access to technology students will improve. But how do I turn my belief into tangible results.

Brown effectively used his knowledge about emerging technologies and wove that into a discussion about how we need to allow our students to “tinker”, to build a sense of the world through play and that learning occurs through conversation. What resonated with me was more about how technologies can assist students in making learning a constant adventure, how technologies can play a major role in which social networking becomes the trajectory for making connections and how we need to appreciate that students need an equal dose of academics, peer relations and interests.

The implications of Brown’s keynote address and the components of his book are shaping how I think about what should be happening in classrooms. If learning NEEDS to be social, what should I hear as I go from classroom to classroom? If “tinkering” is acceptable, what should I see as I go from classroom to classroom? And if I believe those components to be important, how do I model that when working with a staff of educators?

Targets which measure improvement in education are ENDLESS. We can choose to set targets for improvement in specific curriculum areas (reading, writing, mathematics) in school culture (# of suspensions, attendance), in specific populations within our schools (gender, ethnic diversity, grade level) and the list goes on and on.

The sources of data for measuring improvement, which we have at our fingertips, are ENDLESS. We can use standardized tests (EQAO, OLSAT, Phonological Awareness, DRA), teacher generated assessments, report cards, parent/community surveys, Trillium reports and the list goes on and on.

The opinions of the stakeholders in our school community are ENDLESS. Teachers are passionate about measuring specific initiatives, parents want to see improvement in specific areas, students are proud of their accomplishments in so much of what they do, we have expectations from our board to choose and report on specific targets and the list goes on and on.

But what isn’t ENDLESS is our resources (human and otherwise) and to that end, school improvement goal setting is an art, as much as it is a science. A school needs to purposefully choose a target that will meet it’s need at this time. What to measure, which tool to use, how will we know if we are successful, and how will we share our results are all questions which need to be intertwined in choosing the right goal.

As a teacher, what goals do you set for your students on a daily basis, a weekly basis, per term, on an annual basis ? How are you going to know that you and your students were successful in meeting those goals? How do you celebrate when you meet those goals and what do you do when you don’t meet your goals?

 Ah….. It is 8:30 p.m. and I’m finally sitting down for the first time today. I’m wrapped in a blanket, with a cup of lemon tea at my side, as I sit on the dock and watch the sun begin to set behind a beautiful mass of purple-grey clouds.  The waves are lazily lapping against the dock and along the shoreline and an occasional boat slows down as it enters the marina for the night. The boys have kayaked into the marina for their nightly garbage disposal, so I’m alone to enjoy this moment.

As I reflect on the day, I’m pleased with the number of activities that we were able to take part in. Even though the day started with a downpour, I was still able to make the long trek to the marina and back, picking up some dew worms.  Upon my return, my son and I decided to try our luck at fishing off the dock.

As the day went on, the skies cleared up and the lake became picture perfect for wakeboarding and tubing. What a thrill!  I had forgotten how much I enjoy that sport.

Then back to the camp for the evening meal preparation and clean-up.

Now, as I sit on the dock, I hear a loon in the distance and a reply from its mate. The skies are turning a deeper purple and I think we’re in for another downpour.  How thankful I am for the afternoon sunshine!

The call of the loon reminds me of the movie, “On Golden Pond”.  Katharine Hepburn is my all time favourite actress. I love her combination of strength and femininity all in one. I can recall sitting in the theatre in 1981 and laughing and crying throughout the movie.

It’s interesting how sounds can trigger memories of all sorts.

What are the sounds that will trigger positive memories for your students this year?

I recall fondly looking forward to Saturday morning when I would make my way to the kitchen, make a cup of tea, scramble some eggs and begin to pour my way through the Saturday newspaper, soaking in all forms of information from travel destinations to the latest world events to the crossword puzzle. Through the week, I rarely made the time to read anything more than the entertainment section, so Saturday was a treat which quenched my thirst for knowledge.

These days, Saturday mornings look a little different. We have cancelled our subscription to the local newspaper as it has become thinner and thinner each month, and an electronic copy arrives in my inbox. All members of our family search for their specific information needs online. I still make that cup of tea, but not before I turn on my iPad and begin my morning reception of information. My first tap on the pad goes to my “inbox” and my gmail account, answering any emails that may have arrived over night. Then I quickly check out Facebook and catch up on what my friends are planning for the weekend, enjoy great photos and a variety of thought-provoking quotes. My final and most fruitful tap lands on Twitter. It is here that I am bombarded by information from some of the most fascinating education gurus, breaking news and links to blogs, pictures, links etc. I scroll through lists of Tweets, book-marking those that I want to re-visit, searching for others to “follow” and watching my own list of “followers” increase.

Never before have we had so much information at our finger tips. Gone are the days of having to methodically search for information, it now comes to us at a remarkable pace. Our job is to figure out what to digest and what to “pass on” and how to teach that skill to today’s students. Just being able to search for information is no longer good enough ~ We need to be able to do something remarkable with that information.

What skills do our students need to critically analyse all of the information that they have coming to them? What types of tasks/assignments do we need to develop and challenge our students to complete, with all of the information at their fingertips? What about, “Saturdays of Days Gone By”?

In our ever changing, ever increasingly fast paced world, forms of communication continue to morph with each new form of technology. Gone are the days of waiting to use the phone because of party lines and waiting days for a mailed letter to arrive at it’s destination. Even fax machines seem slower than scanning a document and instantly emailing it. When we want to show our appreciation we send off a quick text message or an email. Don’t get me wrong, a sincere “G’Morning” text message can instantly put a smile on my face. I love opening my inbox and finding pleasantries from friends and colleagues. But the other day, I received a handwritten letter of “Thanks and appreciation” from a colleague. I was so thrilled. It is rare to receive anything other than bills or advertisements in the mail these days. The fact that he took the time to not only write the letter, but to mail it was all a part of the pleasure of receiving it.

My question is…..

Have we become so focussed on getting our message to the intended party in a timely manner, that we’ve forgotten that “how” we send the message can say just as much as the message itself?

 Each summer I select a few “professional books” to tackle, some old ones that I haven’t cracked the covers on yet and some new ones that have graced my desk throughout the year. As this summer begins, I find myself revisiting an old one on “Energizing Staff Meetings” and a new one by John Hattie, “Visible Learning for Teachers”. I had the pleasure of seeing John speak earlier this year, in Toronto, after I had read his first book, “Visible Learning” Within the preface of his latest book, Hattie coins the phrase, “Know thy Impact” and then he goes on to refer back to the phrase throughout the book.

I’m reminded of a time when I was a student in grade 6. Our teacher was visibly upset with our class as we would come up to his desk one at a time and have him check our world maps only to find that many of us were not copying the names of the countries properly from the Altas (I could do a whole other blog on such a antiquated lesson, but I’ll leave that for another day).

I can recall feeling confident that I had checked and double checked the spelling of each of the countries and then venturing up to stand in line with my peers. As I proudly submitted my neatly coloured world map for inspection and approval, I was anxiously awaiting the obligatory, “Well done, Susan!”, instead I was horrified as he stood up from his desk, marched over to the board and bellowed, “How do we spell, Australia?” I had added an extra “I” before the “l” thinking that the word “trail” was somehow found within the name of the country ~ as that is how it sounds to me. I sheepishly apologized for my mistake, corrected it and resubmitted the assignment.

To this day, I stop and second guess myself, each time I have to spell Australia.

Our grade 6 teacher was not a tyrant or a terrible person. Actually, we stayed in touch through the years. I volunteered in his class as I went through university and teacher’s college. I even chaperoned a couple of his grade 8 year end trips. I recall as I was promoted to principal, he surprised me with a visit and I was so touched.

My point is that as teachers, we probably have no idea of the impact that we have on our students every day. Our students are always watching us, listening to us and learning from us. There is a great responsibility in that and we need to appreciate and embrace it. We need to “know our impact”.

Did I happen to mention that John Hattie is from AUSTRALIA?

“It takes courage not 2 punish & it takes real effort 2 see misbehavior as an opportunity 4 the teacher to teach & the student to learn”

Awhile ago, I book marked this tweet about student behaviour knowing that I wanted to revisit it once the dust of the last few weeks of the school year settled. Watching a mother trying to redirect her son, who was definitely not leaving the store without a chocolate bar in his possession, prompted me to get my thoughts down in a post today.

What causes students to misbehave in class and what do we do when that happens? There are a variety of reasons why students misbehave in class which range from factors beyond our control (home life, peer relationships etc.) to factors that we do control (programming, providing challenging learning tasks, student-teacher relationships).

Great teachers know that punishing a student will not change misbehaviour. Sending the student to the office will not change misbehaviour. Suspension will not change misbehaviour. The student needs to know that we care enough to dig deep and discover the root of the misbehaviour. Only then can we begin to replace the misbehaviour with behaviours that will allow the student to be available for learning.

But the question in this post is, how do we use a student’s misbehaviour as a learning opportunity? What are some of the strategies that you use to demonstrate that you care enough to help the student learn what is appropriate and what is acceptable? How do you successfully replace misbehaviour with behaviours and attitudes that will allow the student to be a welcomed learner in their classroom?

Come write with me….

Sue

The other day, I was sitting the front foyer with a staff member as we were trying to calm a student who was in great distress. I’m not sure that my presence was necessary, but I wanted the staff member to know that she had some support, as the child’s distress was significant at times. I also wanted the student to know that there are many adults in the school community who support her. In the midst of this session, our secretary came out to the foyer, to remind me that we had a number of volunteers in the library for our Appreciation Tea and they were waiting for me to give the welcome and to assist with the presentation of the award. I smoothed the wrinkles out of my skirt, adjusted my glasses on the top of head and secretly hoped that I didn’t have anything caught in my teeth, as a quick trip to the washroom was now out of the question. As I made my way towards the library doors, I stopped to remind a senior female student about the dress code and encouraged her to cover her shoulders. Two steps later and I was greeted by a student who needed to “check -in” with me, as he does every day. I entered the library and could see the relief on our secretary’s face, only to be greeted by a primary student who wanted to come into my office at recess and use one of the laptops. A quick “O.K, just make sure it’s an appropriate site” was the answer that he wanted and then I was home-free. I took pleasure in thanking the group of volunteers who make a tremendous difference in our school and then turned it over to another staff member who did a wonderful job of acknowledging our award winning volunteer. I quickly made the rounds, enjoyed a sliver of cake and made my way back to the office to see if indeed “an appropriate site” had been chosen ~ It had!

At the end of the day, I was meeting with the staff member whom I had joined in the front foyer earlier that day and she commented on the “glimpse” into my world that she had been a part of.

It’s days like those that I love the most.