Teachology Director

The Power of Mirrors

2012-02-12T16:37:00.000-08:00

In 2003, I was teaching a visual arts summer enrichment course for students from 5th to 8th grade. Students could spend all day in the art studio, and were there for up to three weeks to only a few days.

I didn’t think the structure of the class was going well at all, and I decided to change my approach. I wanted this time to be more student centric. It was the summer after all and I felt there should be a different degree of ownership to what they were doing. I decided to let the students choose any project they wanted, they just had to make a list of their goals to be posted on the wall in the art room. I showed them examples from a huge variety of materials, and even added a few alternative choices to the mix like juggling - which I have often taught to children in after school programs. When they felt like they were stuck in attaining a certain goal, they could move to another and come back later with a fresh set of eyes. Their list on the wall would act as their guide. My hopes were to build their creative momentum and keep it moving in a self directed way. This experiment ended up teaching me more about emergent curriculum and constructivist learning theory than any textbook could. Both in the moment and in retrospect, I felt the change was very successful in helping to create motivated and self directed artists.

The head of the summer enrichment program at the time challenged me to video tape myself introducing this new approach, executing it, then reflecting and discussing it with him afterwards. He had just returned from a sabbatical at Teachers College, and was excited to discuss and document new approaches.

To say I was reluctant is an understatement. I didn’t want to have a video camera on me or even near me. I felt embarrassed. I was a young, inexperienced teacher and was self conscious about being judged inadequate. Somehow, he convinced me.

From the video I saw how I interacted with my students; how I come across to them; what I actually heard said directly to me and what I didn’t; the order of the dialogue; my pacing and body language; dress and intonation. All the parts I didn’t see as a participant were right there, clear as day, for me to witness. I often hear from others how easy it is to critique someone else. Yet, its nearly impossible to see how others see you. Video offers this opportunity.

This first video of me as a teacher, almost 9 years ago, taught me all that in an instant. I still have it today. (And thank you, Chris, for challenging me to do it).

As a formal evaluator and administrator, I still carry with me the lessons I learned from that experience (as both an educator and someone being observed). #1: I want the questions and focus of an observation to be rooted in the questions and focus of those being evaluated. #2: I want to hold a mirror for reflection with my observations, to help a teacher see what they might not see otherwise. Both as a teacher all those years ago, and now as an administrator, I realizing the same thing: Intrinsic motivation holds the key for sustainable growth. #3: I want to help create a community of practitioners who aren’t afraid to ask hard questions together, to push their thinking and their practice to improve. Even if it means being embarrassed a bit to do so.

I’ve come to realize that the mark of a great educator isn’t perfection. No one knows all the answers, or is perfect in every way on any given day. We’re all human. But a great educator (or any role for that matter) isn’t afraid of recognizing their weaknesses and continually strives to improve. The effort of trying to become more than who we are: that’s the mark of greatness.

Counting On My Fingers (Reflection On My Math Learning)

2012-01-31T07:56:00.001-08:00

It was an early weekend morning in 2005. I sat down and took out my sharp, number two pencils. I was there to take the math portion of the Praxis exams (tests to become a certified teacher). I realized I had left my calculator in my car, which I could see out the window of the testing room. I remember vividly staring for a moment. I felt helpless. If I were to leave the room for any reason, even before they handed out the test, my marks would be forfeit.

“I’m not a math guy”, I repeatedly told myself and anyone who would listen, but I wasn’t about to waste my time and the money I had paid to take the test. I also don’t give up easily. I hardly knew my multiplication tables, so I would just have to work out everything by counting on my fingers and scribbling on the scrap paper they provided.

I thought that these tests were the most important tests of my life, so the pressure was high. For weeks, I had been studying specifically for the math section. (I refused to study for months as all the Praxis study books suggested. For more on my beliefs on the ridiculous emphasis put on singular tests, see other post on taking the GREs). I hadn’t really studied for the reading and writing portions. I enjoyed writing, especially in verse. Teachers told me that I was a good writer, but not so good with math. Though I knew I was a slow reader, I rationalized that my comprehension was high.

A couple weeks later, I got back my results. I had scored the lowest on writing and the highest on math. These must not be my grades! ... but they were. It seemed like it wasn’t me at all. That was the beginning of questioning the labels my teachers had always put upon me. Maybe I was a math guy after all, even if I never thought of myself that way. It’s a part of my brain I tried not to use. I told people I turned the math side of my brain off, and let my wife figure out the tips we gave in restaurants. I realized then that labels restrict us from being whomever we want to be, both the labels others put on us, and the labels we put on ourselves.

As a visual learner who tended to believe what adults told me, I now know they were wrong. I love the beauty in math; the clarity and precision. I love the reasoning, and logic. My lack of success in mathematics came from my self perception, and the deficient practices of how I was taught. I never remember a teacher taking the time to explain the concepts (the why) behind the problems. I only remember being told to memorize the formula (the how) to get to the answer (the what). I don’t remember ever using a manipulative, or seeing anything visual for that matter. It was rote memorization and execution. It bored the hell out of me.

As a progressive educator, I often think that the theories in progressive education would have served me well. (#1) Emphasis on learning by doing (hands-on projects): Having to build something (anything!) using math; math for a reason, which would have only been further supported by (#2) Integrated curriculum focused on thematic units and a (#3) Strong emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking. Not just math problems in a verbal form. Those seemed simply hidden ways to test if I’d memorized the formulas. I wanted real problems to be solved. I never remember (#4) Group work and the development of social skills. Our desks were in rows and we hid our answers from each other instead of engaging together to find the answers. We learn best socially, and this was unfortunately never utilized in my educational experience. (#5) Understanding and action as the goals of learning as opposed to rote knowledge. As I mentioned before, this was not math to me. I never saw a reason to use it beyond what I calculator could do. I never was taught to simply enjoy the process, or appreciate the outcomes of effort. Math was about being right or wrong, and I was often told I was wrong. Which gets to my last point about progressive education, an (#6) Emphasis on life-long learning. The teachers who taught me that I wasn’t a math person failed me as teachers. It took one test on an weekend morning when I was 32 to teach me I could be anything I wanted to be, as long I tried my best, didn’t listen to the naysayers, and decided for myself who I wanted to be.

She Holds My Hand (Reflection on My Literacy Learning)

2012-01-21T14:10:00.000-08:00

My wife fondly remembers reading nightly with her mother, building a common bond through literature.

That was not my experience.
I don’t remember being read to either in or outside of school. As a single mother of four, my mother was too busy dealing with everything that life threw at her.

My wife sometimes reminisces about her grade school librarian. She took the time and got to know my wife’s interests then guided her to check out books that she would love.

That was not my experience.
The Dewey Decimal System and the antiseptic nature of libraries kept me from ever wanting to stay in a library longer than I was forced to by school regulations.

My wife dreamily recalls spending countless hours in high school reading classic literature (some were school assigned, most were not). She had moments when authors through out the ages spoke directly to her.

That was not my experience.
I was too confounded by Shakespeare and his friends to continue beyond any high school assignment. When forced to read, I pulled the bandage off as quickly as possible by reading only from Cliff’s Notes.

My experience with writing was only slightly different. Sometime in elementary school, I was assigned a creative writing notebook. I don’t remember the teacher and I don’t remember the grade. I do remember that this book provided a haven of experimentation for me. I was free from the literary confines that bound me to what was possible. I first wrote of love, life, brotherhood, and growing up all within that blue speckled book. In high school, I took up writing in it once more. Poetry became an outlet for me during times that I needed the dependable solace. I experimented with any structure I could think of, releasing all my teen angst in ways that felt both creative and productive. As an artist, creating and consuming art always spoke to me in ways that words did not. Yet, in that notebook, I felt free to draw with words.

When my wife became pregnant, I began reading to her belly. After my daughter was born, I read every single night to her. As she grew, so too did our journey together with books. I’ve explored reading aloud in ways that only the rapt and non-judgmental eyes of a child could encourage. I’ve read more since she was born that I have in my entire life. I’ve played with voices, done dramatic interpretations, explored the local library and generally learned to love literature. I have only her to thank. Nine years later, though we still read together, I sometimes find my daughter has stayed up late reading. Hiding under the covers in her room with a flash light and trying to read just a little more from her book. My journey with reading may have taken a little longer than most, but I feel lucky to have my daughter both sharing in and holding my hand through it.

Can a new, distributed leader come with a plan?

2012-01-18T16:11:00.000-08:00

At grad school last weekend, graduates of the program came back to put the current students through a fake job interview for a Head of School position. Since I’ve been sick, I had been debating whether to sleep or even go to school. I hadn’t been out of bed almost the entire previous week, so I wasn’t looking forward to being interviewed. I figured it would be extremely difficult for me to even talk (I had a bad cough), much less converse coherently. On top of feeling sick, how could these interviewers know anything about me? They hadn’t seen my resume and didn’t know my career goals (right now, I don’t want to be a Head of School).

There were only two of us being interviewed by two previous graduates, and they divided the time. I had a chance to listen to their questions for the other student before they asked me a series of typical Head of School questions. It wasn’t easy. They asked very specific things and I found several very difficult to answer succinctly and cogently. But that was the point. It pushed my thinking, and made me see things in a slightly different way. I felt especially clear when I had a chance to tell a story, or talk about how their question related to my own professional experience. The process taught me tons, and I was so glad I pulled myself out of bed for it.

Both interviewers were from Charter schools. Having worked with one independent school for my entire career, charter schools fascinate me. It seems they are trying to combine the best of public (a standard, free education for all) and independent school (autonomy and freedom from standardization). The one graduate told me that when they were hiring for a principal at his school, one candidate showed up with a 100 day
plan if they were to become Principal. The board was blown away, and that candidate was ultimately hired. As someone who believes in the power of relationships, and would consider himself an advocate of distributed leadership, this struck me as strange. How could this candidate know enough about the school to offer a plan? Isn’t that like showing up to the doctor and him/her handing you a prescription before you even got a chance to them what was wrong? Is that even assuming that something is wrong with the school in the first place. I can’t imagine the board being impressed with the candidate’s plan if it was simply “more of the same”. I find myself thinking: could a 100 day plan for a new head (or assistant head) be created with a distributed leadership model?

Maybe it would look something like this: 1. Talk to everyone. Get to know the people there. No one will take advise from a complete stranger, unless they have some psychic ability that I don’t have (and even that has to be proven). School leaders can learn just as much from their teachers as the teachers can from school leaders. Build a rapport. 2. Collect the data (both qualitative and quantitative). Hearing what’s going well and what isn’t from those that have lived and experienced the school long before you. This seems logical, but can be off putting to those that are new to a community. Like a musician, I want you to listen to what I can play before you offer me new songs. I ultimately want to create music together, but that takes times. So I guess that’s the next one... 3. Take time. No one can make anything substantively better in a day, or 100 days for that matter. Quality takes time. In a fast food world, people often forget that. 4. Clarify what shouldn’t change. There is no better way to scare people more than to start taking about what they need to change; so start with what shouldn’t.

I think these things help to build bridges of understanding and change the leadership model from a top down to a collaborative one. These are just off the top of my head. I’ll continue to think of things, especially as I grow as a school leader. What do you think a school leader should do in a school (especially but not exclusively in their first 100 days)?

Time to Share

2012-01-14T12:47:00.000-08:00

I've been working on my master's in school leadership since August. In a one year program, the amount of work to accomplish has been no small task. Clearly, it has directly led me away from my blog. Interestingly enough, I have to keep a weekly journal about my learning that is shared with my offsite mentor (the program requires an offsite and onsite mentor for each student).

Recently, we've been discussing organizational leadership, and how individual professional development and learning needs to be shared in order to make it productive for an entire learning community. As a constructivist educator, I believe that learning is social. I want to share my learning any way that I can, and believe the engagement with others can help improve my learning. As the first semester is coming to a close, I will begin posting my weekly journals on my blog for the next semester.

Unschooling

2011-05-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who home schools their children. We have debated the opportunity cost of that choice, and my choice not to. It is a particularly interesting subject for one who’s passion is learning, but who’s profession is education. What are the positives and negatives of not having a “formal” education? We’ve discussed and continue to do so, but I was struck when I learned of a You Tube video about unschooling. This is a branch of learning I knew nothing about.

We as a community value and trust in a student’s passion. We want to be receptive and innovative, allowing curriculum to change according to the needs and wants of a particular group or student. (That being said, I believe we’ve only just scratched the surface when it comes to true emergent curriculum.) I have been fascinated by transdisiplinary curriculum... when all unique, individual disciplines blend together to the point of dissolving. Unschooling seems very inline with my thinking, but takes a level of commitment and trust that I don’t have.

How much do we really trust a child’s curiosity? In elementary school, we assign subjects that we think will be important for the students to learn in order to ultimately prepare them for their future. If a young Michelangelo only wanted to sculpt in school, would we trust in that singular vision? What really interests me in the incredible faith that the parents have in the journey of discovery: that the child will learn all that they need to learn from simply following their passions. It’s an incredible act of ... faith (I hate to use the word faith too many times here, but of note, when I looked up a synonym for faith I found ‘teaching”).

It’s interesting that technology facilitates this process by leveling educational opportunities and allowing people of all ages, from anywhere in the world (with a computer and an Internet connection) to create and collaborate in ways unheard of when I was a child. Another reason I hate when some people talk about technology as simply a “tool”. Go try connecting globally with a hammer. It’s not going to work, certainly, but a tool that can do that is a game changer, not just a tool.

Is it possible to create a school of unschoolers? Certain schools of thought have tried, but some people see them as too self absorbed. Maybe, or maybe education could use a bit less of the one size fits all method.
Such an interesting watch if you have the time.

PS. Funny enough, I just read today about “UnCollege”: a social movement supporting self-directed higher education. UnCollege is founded on three principles: 1. Introspection is essential (Knowing yourself is necessary before pursuing higher education). 2. Passionate action outweighs school (Real-world success proves more than homework) and 3. Self-motivation is requisite for success (Taking initiative is more valuable than completing assignments). It slightly changes the debate, when discussing unschooling for younger versus older students, but it still gets at the heart of what education is and should be about.

Unlearning Fears

2011-02-09T17:23:00.000-08:00

When I was a child, I delivered papers after school for extra money. Every second house seemed to have a ferocious dog just waiting for me to pass by. Whether it was running from the house after dropping the paper, or having to knock at the door to collect payment, I was always dodging opportunities for being torn apart. I learned to be afraid of dogs.

In my childhood home, we never had pets. My mother always said we didn’t have money to feed another mouth, but now it’s clear that she wasn’t/isn’t comfortable around animals (mostly dogs). Growing up, my wife always had a pet of some sort (usually dogs), and still connects well with animals of all kinds. So when we started having kids, she convinced me that it would be beneficial for our children to have a pet (most likely a dog). We wanted them to have positive experiences with a pet and to learn to care another living thing.

A couple weeks ago, we were shopping online for a birthday present for my daughter. She’s turning 9 and we still didn’t have a pet. In looking to buy her plants, I made a comment to my wife that we should finally buy her a pet.... maybe a fish or something. My daughter has been pleading for a pet for years. The next day, my wife brought home our new, 2 year old dog: Keyoshi.

Though small, he’s really six pounds of fluff and fury. When I dreamed of having a dog someday, I didn’t realize the lasting impression that my childhood experiences would leave on me. I was especially aware when I came home for the first time and our new dog tried to attack me. I was scared, and knowing very little about dogs, I didn’t know what to do.

See, though we did save Keyoshi from a shelter, I’m learning that saving a dog physically starts by taking them home. But saving a dog psychologically takes lots of time. Needless to say, he has lots of trust and abandonment issues. Though my wife always had a dog, she never had a dog like this. She usually had them from the time they were puppies. We’re now learning as much as we can about how to help him and us. Now I have to unlearn being fearful. So does he.

I’m reading “Be the Pack Leader” by Cesar Milan (if you never watched his show, you should - this man is unbelievable). The three greatest needs for dogs are exercise, discipline and affection (and in that order). Dogs sense energy, and embodying a calm/assertive energy can greatly effect how a dog relates to a person. I’m learning to be the pack leader he needs by creating rules, boundaries and limitations. It’s a challenging and rewarding ride so far, and it’s implications for teaching and school leadership are incredible. I’ve also just finished reading “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell, and there are common themes: What are we saying without saying a word (to our students/to each other)? The kind of energy we use to approach a challenge, a person, a pet tends to be the energy we get back. Do we all realize the power we have in our own lives to shape everything around us by simply learning to control how we feel? It’s not so easy, though. I am really afraid of dogs, and it reminds me of how some people are really afraid of technology. It certainly helps that my dog is small. Maybe the scale of the challenge is an important factor too: begin by taking small steps. I don’t think I could handle the challenge if the dog were bigger than I.

I’ve been so used to being afraid of dogs that I no longer thought about it. But I’m learning that getting rid of even one fear can change your entire outlook. And as I’m slowly whittling away my fear of dogs, I’m realizing how grateful I am to have Keyoshi in my life to challenge me to unlearn and learn things I never even considered addressing.

The Explosive Child

2011-01-12T03:37:00.000-08:00

One of the books I'm currently reading is The Explosive Child. I ran across this little video from the author and it pushed my thinking. When changing one word in "Kids do well if they wanna", an entire shift occurs. What's our job as educators when helping a struggling child? As a parent, I've realized that it's how I think of and approach my kids that frames the story.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T17:32:00.001-08:00

To the beautiful little things you find on the Internet....

Why Technology Matters

2010-12-05T17:13:00.000-08:00

*cross posted @ Tpschool.org

I’m an artist. I’m a learner. That’s what I’ve been as long as I can remember. It’s a part of my nature. Because I wanted to continue to learn and to share what I’ve learned, I became an educator. One thing I never wanted to be and still do not consider myself to be is a “techie.”

I, like most of us, have witnessed the digital revolution first hand. When I first took graphic design as a fresh

man in college, the design studios were filled with drafting tables and T-squares. When I graduated, the rooms were filled with computers. It scared me. The only course I ever dropped in college was a digital image course; I dropped out because the course syllabus did not include instructions on how to use the computer, and I didn’t know how.

I began to use a computer at The Philadelphia School some 12 years ago, a few years after joining the faculty as an art teacher; I often remind my peers that I never touched a computer before coming here. One of my colleagues in the art department was a ceramic artist; the other an illustrator and watercolorist. Both were also comfortable in my own medium, print making. Looking for my own niche, I began to dabble with computers, viewing them mainly as unexplored and unmapped tools waiting for educators to determine their value.

As much as I changed during this process, digital technology transformed even more rapidly.

And it wasn’t just that there were new gadgets, new programs. Technology was not just a tool. It was a completely new paradigm: connectivity, innovation, communication, consumption, creation. Entire industries and professions had to reinvent themselves in this new world of ubiquitous connectivity. What did this mean for our students? For education as a whole?

For several years after I became Director of Technology, I kept one foot in the art room and the other in the server room. Over time, I realized that I had become a technology mediator of sorts, someone with a pedagogical background, who helped guide faculty and students as they faced decisions regarding technology use in the classroom. Last year I left the art classroom, devoting myself to helping other teachers and students mindfully navigate the use of digital technology in classrooms throughout the school. I remain less a techie than an educator who keeps the students – not the technology – at the center of all we do at The Philadelphia School.

A parent recently asked me, “What does the technological paradigm shift mean at a progressive school?” At TPS we often subject technology to our core values “test.”

Technology should be relational. At TPS, we use it to enhance collaborative work and to make connections to people and resources that would otherwise be impossible. Technology does not replace important face-to-face discussions or presentations.

Our approach to technology is developmental. We pursue age-appropriate projects and experiences that scaffold a student’s learning journey, a journey during which technology is one of several avenues of exploration that help develop versatile, dynamic learners ready to adapt to a digital world we cannot yet even imagine.

A classroom divorced from the technological world around it is unauthentic. Digital technology must be part of the learning landscape in a constructivist classroom, where children are encouraged to explore and assess what they know, and to reflect on how new learning connects to their own lives – lives touched every day by the latest technology.

Classroom technology needs to add value to the experience of learning. It offers innovative ways of seeing, of problem solving, of creating, of accessing information. Educational technology is not change for change’s sake, nor is it using a computer where it would be more effective using pencil and paper.

Within the context of our school’s core values, we are carefully charting our course in the midst of a digital revolution whose end may never be in sight. And, reinforced by our City Country Classroom program, we encourage unplugging – spending significant time away from the classroom exploring the natural world and our city. Technology matters – and at TPS we as a community are making sure that its use reflects our best values and our best selves.

What's in a name?

2010-10-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

I've never particularly liked the name Jeff, but many people have called me that since coming to TPS. I now prefer Jeffrey and many are asking “Why did it change?” Many names have changed over the years at TPS and maybe more should.

My name tag in preschool and grade school both had Jeffrey on them. I don’t remember many people calling me that (except my mother when I was in trouble). In high school, there was no question: I was Jeff. Jeffrey didn’t sound manly enough in an all boys Catholic high school. I probably would have gotten beat up if I went by Jeffrey, but I honestly didn’t think much about it. I just knew I didn’t like my name. I tried for other nicknames, but they never lasted.

Over a year ago, I watched a movie where one of the character’s name was "Jeffrey". It sounded more regal and ground up then Jeff. It was like hearing it for the first time, and it sounded good to me. At the time, I was also altering career trajectories from a teacher to an administrator, and it seemed to reflect that change in me. Being known as Jeffrey was like going back to the basics. As I was no longer painting with kids everyday, I also started dressing in a tie and dress pants again... just as I had for 12 years of elementary and high school.

Now, it’s not even a question: I easily prefer Jeffrey to Jeff, the later reminding me more of a sleepy Wiggle than anything. Almost every time someone calls me Jeff now, I feel like they are talking about someone else. But why is it important? To some of my colleagues, I've been Jeff to them for years and there is no going back. It's difficult to unlearn what you've learned; to change what you are used to. But isn’t that the point? In a school based on growth and learning of youth, why can’t the adults do the same?

Change is inevitable; sometimes good, even freeing. Looking at myself in a different way has been challenging but also rewarding.

When I first came to TPS in 1996, I was lost in trying to figure out all the names of the units: JUB, PU3, JUA, PUA, MS. Why was JUB younger JUA? Why was PU3 younger than PUA? It became this puzzle one had figure out in order to be a part of the community. A few years later, PU3 became PU1, and then finally just Kindergarten. MS broke off into MSB (6th grade) and MSA (7th and 8th), then 7th and 8th broke apart into MSA7 and MSA8. This year, PU added another section, but then dropped the U so now it’s Primary A through Primary D (or PrA, etc). After all these years, I can't help but wonder whether we should just start using grade names. Can you change the name of something without changing the thing itself?

Yes, and no. Yes, I do believe that changing the name changes how it is perceived, but doesn’t change the thing itself. In my case, I felt that people did start looking at me differently when I was called Jeff and splattered with paint then when I was called Jeffrey in a tie. Why? Why do I think of myself differently now? I’m not sure, but I know I like who I am now, just as I liked who I was then. As long as that makes sense, I’ll keep what I have. As soon as it doesn’t, I’ll change. Being able to make that leap, to say out loud that I want to be Jeffrey might seem crazy to some and ridiculous to others, but why shouldn’t a person be able to change, grow, and maybe even switch back?

Would TPS still be the same quirky TPS I learned about 15 years ago when I first visited if the units were called grades? I think so. Would we lose something critically “TPS”? I do think you’d loose something historical but not critical. I think both people and institutions can’t stop changing and shouldn’t. TPS encouraged me and supported me; allowing me to grow, to learn, and to be more than I thought I could be. Hopefully, it does that for it’s students as well as teachers. In that way, we all need to fight to make sure TPS never changes. Everything else is a scared cow we shouldn’t fear to rename (but maybe we should keep the name of “The Philadelphia School” for consistency’s sake).

2 Kinds of Vacations

2010-09-03T17:17:00.000-07:00

Last summer, I tried an experiment. I set up two different kinds of vacations, each for a week during the summer. I decided to stay digitally connected during one week’s vacation in order to stay on top of work problems. During the other, I would go completely unplugged. I learned tons from both weeks, and in many ways, I’m still trying to remind myself of those lessons.

Background: The challenge
As the Director of Technology, I am always on call. I get tech help requests in a multitude of ways (texts, e-mails, phone calls, Google forms) at any time, day or night. I try to be as quick in my response as I can be while still having a life outside of work. I love it when people are amazed at how quickly I’ve fixed something for them. It becomes a virtual and sometimes fun game of whack-a-mole. But how do I take the day off when someone from my work is always somewhere in need of help? Nothing is perfect, and hardware/software is no exception. There’s a technology problem sooner or later (with sooner being constant and later never arriving). At my school, it’s all up to me to fix it. I don’t mind that. Being on call is a part of my job. I like feeling needed and helpful. But when it’s time to relax, being so easily accessible is a bit challenging (to say the least).

Week 1: Staying on top of things
I stayed in touch. I answered e-mails from the beach. I called people back (to the delight of those in need, and the annoyance of those vacating with me). I responded to e-mails. A little at a time, here and there, for the entire week. I thought “Wouldn’t it be ultimately more relaxing (both during the vacation and when I got back) to know that when I returned to work that there wouldn’t be a gigantic mountain of crap to deal with?” Aren’t small problems spread out over time better than a giant heap of them at once?” I thought that this was true, but I promised myself (and my wife) to give the unplugged holiday a try.

Week 2: Unplugged

I set up an automatic e-mail response letting people know I was literally “unplugged”. I left my computer at home. I turned my phone off; to only be available for emergencies. At first it was difficult to stop blogging and tweeting in my head about being unplugged. Eventually (and it almost took the entire week), my brain stopped. I relaxed. I had peace.

I haven’t gone back to that level of technical connectedness ever since.

My main concern over letting work problems build up while I was away was being overwhelmed when I got back. It turned out, I stopped worrying. I let it go. That ability to let something just be, is crucial in life and when dealing with all sorts of challenges.

“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” Ovid

I found out that I wasn’t truly relaxing by constantly being “on call”. Sure the issues built up, but I was a stronger, more relaxed human upon my return and it didn’t matter much that there was a lot to do. There’s always a lot to do at my work. My insightful wife once told me “There will always be more to do. It’s a job. If there wasn’t any more to do, then you wouldn’t have a job, would you?”

The conclusion: Turn it off sometimes
From then on I’ve been trying to step away a bit more. It’s especially challenging since my personality is such that I don’t want to disappoint anyone. But sometimes the best thing I can do in order to take care of other people is to take care of myself first. And I realized that we all need time away... from problems, work, and the 21st Century digital lifestyle.

Lessons from the GRE, Part 2

2010-04-19T04:53:00.001-07:00

A lot of people are asking me how the GREs went. My official response is that I’d rather have my appendix removed without anesthetic than to take it again. Educationally it's embodies everything I appose. It’s like a bunch of academic sadists got together in a room and set out to create the most dehumanizing gauge of a person’s “knowledge”. It’s bunk and I can’t believe it’s still used in educational systems today. It’s the equivalent of blood letting in a modern hospital.

First, they increased the stress level of the test takers by making some part of their future dependent on the grade. Then they added these ingredients:
- a small, colorless, cubicle.
- a slightly chilly room.
- a lack of natural light and fresh air.
- a big, overly bright screen with a font that’s difficult to read.
- a constant, loud clicking noise from dozens of other old keyboards.
- a clock ticking away in the corner of your monitor.
- the inability to return to any question, or skip ahead in any way.
Keep this up for 4 hours and you got the makings of a system gone wrong.

The parts of the test are made up of “quantitative thinking” (which is really just advanced math), “verbal” (which is really just quick reading and random/ pompous vocabulary words) and “analytical writing”. The math is the kind that few people I know actually do in their daily life, and the verbal is filled vocabulary that actually works against being a successful communicator since few people would be able to understand you. The analytical writing section was my favorite part, but it takes more time then what they give you. If anyone thinks they can see all facets of a subject deeply and write about it in the given time is wrong. When thinking about who would be most successful on these tests, all I can think about is a computer; a robot. Is that the kind of students we are looking for?

It also leaves me wondering why out of the myriad of things that make up the world as we know and value it, do institutions only value such specific subjects regurgitated back in such specific ways? Why not ask someone to draw a realistic self-portrait in 30 minutes? That can determine how well someone really knows a subject (in this case, themselves). It would gauge their fine motor skills, how they interpret and organize space, how they communicate emotion, and translate 3 dimensions to 2? As an artist, there is a certain knowledge of a subject that you only get when you draw that thing. Shouldn’t this awareness be worth something?

So many things contribute to what makes someone “smart”. I spend my childhood thinking I was stupid because I couldn’t excel at the kind of tests given in the GRE. How many other children think the same thing erroneously? I shutter at the implications for the range of smart people (children and adults alike) who would not succeed in this test.

In a not so far off dimension, I can imagine a world where other things are revered. Here’s a quick list of things I hold in high esteem:
- having good manners
- being a dynamic public speaker that engages listeners
- choosing the best food for you to eat in a grocery store
- cooking something that is both tasty and healthy
- having the ability to taste the ingredients in any concoction
- having good eye to hand coordination
- having the determination and commitment to exercise regularly
- being able to really listen to someone without forgetting your own thoughts on the subject or cutting them off
- being liked by children
- using resources thoughtfully; minimizing impact on the environment
- being able to stay calm in a stressful situation (especially when someone is yelling at you)
- being able to break a system down into it’s parts so one can alter each piece and ultimately fix the whole
- being able to gauge someone’s emotions and react appropriately
- knowing oneself
- being honest in a thoughtful, considerate way
- being able to love others deeply
- living a life that truly reflects what you know

I can imagine a more human world where a test giver would sit down with the test taker and see how they approach a problem, not just how they answer it. That in itself doesn’t seem too difficult. Just because the other things are hard to quantify, does that mean we shouldn’t consider them?

Though I hated the test, I really did enjoy reviewing/studying for it. I really do love learning. I just felt the structure and narrow focus of the test needs to be improved. I want to help develop a school that’s more worried about creating thoughtful people than building quick mathematical robots with large vocabularies. It’s ironic that this test might keep me from getting into a school who’s degree could help me change such things.

Lessons from the GRE, Part 1

2010-04-15T02:30:00.000-07:00

I’ve been putting together my application to Penn’s leadership program for several months. The last thing on my list of requirements is to take the GRE. I got a book from the library, downloaded some iPhone apps, and have been studying for several weeks. It’s been quite some time since I’ve used my ‘math brain’, so all through our spring break, I studied. Not the most fun way of spending a vacation, but I learned a lot about myself as a learner. More than the new vocabulary, test tricks, and math, isn’t that one of the most important things to learn?

Though it’s been 5 years since I was a student in graduate school, it’s been a long time since I’ve pushed myself to learn this amount of new material every day. Now I can vividly remember what it’s like to be a student, forced to learn things day after day I’m not interested in or passion about. It has given me a new lens to look at optimal learning structures (schedules and environments). What is best for ourselves and our students as learners (both developmentally and individually)?

First, I tried to study as long and as often as I could at different times of the day. I realized that for me, the beginning of the day was the easiest to concentrate on new material and the afternoon was easiest to review. When bombarding my brain with completely new content, I couldn’t last for more than 20 minutes. After that I was fried. My brain funnel was full and everything else pretty much poured right out as soon as I read it. I had to let the content settle.

My time was often interrupted by my son asking me if I was “finished studying yet”. Those sweet and understandable interruptions would make it harder for me to retain what I was just reading, so I’d have to review. I realized that my mixing up the time (math then play with my son, language then household chores, study skills then break), it was easier to study for longer periods.

I realized that changing scenery and getting comfortable also made it easier for me. I studied in different rooms, in different chairs, outside and inside; looking to find the best one for me at the time. And when it was meal time, forget about studying afterward. Maybe it shows my age, but I just wanted to nap (though it’s not something I can do with a small child at home).

Time of day was important. Location and comfort were important. But also the duration. Even in 20 minute sets with breaks in between, there was only so long I could go without loosing the first thing I learned. Repetition was needed (though unfortunately it was something I couldn’t allow myself much of in such a time crunch).

Tomorrow, I take the test. Though I can’t take it under the trees and sun in 20 minute chunks, I was able to choose one thing. My original testing time was right after lunch. I rescheduled so that this time I can take the GRE in the morning. Now at least I know I’ll stay awake for the test.

The Net

2010-01-28T17:08:00.000-08:00

When I taught in the art department, we used to create a spreadsheet for our department outlining what we would teach to each unit through out a given school year. At the end of each year and before we did our planning, we would try to meet with every grade to hear what they were planning in hopes that we could connect our disciplines thematically. It was difficult to find time to meet while all the other end of the year meetings were happening. Often units would work on a two or three year theme rotation, so we assumed we knew what was going to be taught next anyway. Meeting often got canceled so that we could clean our rooms, begin our ordering, finish our reports. Then the Middle School changed their rotation. We didn’t find out until half way through a Renaissance project that they weren’t even learning about in their other classrooms.

Over a year ago, a 4th/5th Grade teacher asked me to help her with a lesson she was teaching. The focus was media literacy. I said “Sure, let’s find a time to meet!”. She said “But I don’t have time to meet.” That pushed my thinking. How do you plan if you can’t meet face to face? So I created a “brainstorming" wiki and dumped everything I knew about teaching media literacy into it. Then I asked a 6th grade teacher with media literacy experience to become a member and add some more resources. She was happy to help. We created a great little resource site without ever meeting. The teacher then read through what we had posted, took was interested her, and taught her lesson. All without extra meetings.

At the end of last year, we found that it was time for the curriculum summaries to be turned in. Usually twice a year, we would each write a summary of what we taught and hand it in to the Associate Head of School. Often these were just copied and pasted from other years, then printed and stored in a binder that hardly anyone would look at. It was an important thing to rely upon during our accreditation procedure, but they were always thinking backwards not planning forwards (summative not formative). Some had more meat to them, like the resources used for a certain project, but none had additions like what went well and what didn’t, or what they would do differently next time.

What if there was a way to see everyone’s planning, so that if face to face meetings weren't possible, we could still know what the other teachers were doing? What is this allowed for a variety of resources so that teachers outside our unit/department could help us and possibly share their expertise as well? What if this was in one central location accessible from anywhere in the world, so data could be connected like a web and we wouldn’t have to worry about accessing the school server or having the right permission to the right folder? What if it was simple to use and made it to be a new teachers and figure out what was expected of you to teach? And what if all the planning we already do went there (formative and summative) so that when it came time for our school accreditation, all we had to do was give that team the key?

Would you use it?

Well, that’s the curriculum netting wiki. It’s a place to put all our planning, to ‘net’ the entire process of being a teacher and creating a great curriculum. If one of the goals of the school is to become a more connected, collaborative whole, my only other question is why aren’t you using it yet?

Why do you want to meet with us?

2009-10-28T05:12:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was able to meet with a department for the first time this year. The first question one of the teachers asked me was “Why do you want to meet with us?”

I’ve found that stressing different words in this question slightly changes the question itself. By stressing ‘us’, I might infer surprise; a “what do we have to offer you?” kind of question. By stressing ‘you’, I might infer “what do you have to offer us?”. I could go on, but if I remember correctly, the stress was on the ‘do’. There is confusion about what I’m trying to accomplish in the first place.

Over and over, I find that I am trying to explain what my job is to students, parents, faculty & staff. I think that’s understandable for a number of reasons: because my job has many facets (educational, infrastructural), because I’ve changed my focus over the years, and since this is technically my first full-time year as Director of Technology. “You’re the A/V guy, right?”, a parent once asked me. Actually, I do a bit more.

I’ve been director for many years, but only this year am I trying to meet with all constituencies. Why does the A/V guy need to meet with us? Don’t we all have better things to do with our time than to add another meeting to the mix? Well, there are several reasons I want to meet with everyone.

My top focus is the professional development of teachers and staff. Every employee has a computer and must use it to some degree for a number of purposes, like it or not. How efficient they are in terms of it’s use has a direct barring on whether this tool is a time saver or an onus. It’s up to me to help make sure that technology is used in the most efficient way possible while at the same time keeping pace with it’s constant evolution.

Tech tools fail. It’s not a matter of ‘if’, it’s just a matter of ‘when’. Instead of being reactive to those emergency failure situations, I’d rather take proactive trouble shooting steps to minimize their potential in the first place. Though this takes more time in the beginning, it often saves time in the long run. Also, faculty & staff don’t bring small troubles to me, even if these small issues can lead to bigger ones. Feeling comfortable enough to bring up the issues in a meeting can end up saving everyone time as well. Tech users sometimes don’t even know that what they’ve been seeing is a problem until someone else brings it up.

When teachers feel supported in their technology use, and when they feel excited about a new tool or digital innovation, usually they can’t help but share that knowledge with their students. It’s up to the Technology Department to give the classroom support to make sure any technological lesson runs smoothly. Whether installing the right programs, setting up the computers, or leading a tech class, we can support both the teachers and the students each step of the way.

As different grades and various specialists are teaching with technology differently, it’s up to the tech department to make sure their is curricular clarity and consistency across the entire school.

Reflection about what went well and what needs to be improved for the next lesson can’t happen in a vacuum. Discussion of curricular changes needs to have teacher understanding and support otherwise new initiatives won’t be sustainable.

Technology (hardware, system, software) is always advancing. Discussion of infrastructural changes needs to be constant as well so that these changes aren’t a surprise and don’t feel overwhelming.

I recently read a quote about change that said “Most people must engage in a behavior before they accept that it is beneficial; then they see the results, and then they believe that it is the right thing to do” (Reeves, 2009) I know that effective, professional collaboration around technology will take time and practice. I know that not everyone can see how, from the beginning, tech meetings are really meant to help them, their students, and the school. I know that in the daily trenches of education, it’s nearly impossible to find the time to work with others outside your unit or department. But I also know that in a professional community, when various people come together with a variety of passions and skills, amazing things happen.

Lowering Expectations

2009-09-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

(When I Googled "Lowering Expectations", images came up from Despair.com. Their images always make me laugh. Here is one of the titled "Tradition").

The other day, a faculty and staff member called me on the phone for a tech emergency. I was in the middle of a meeting, so I couldn’t run over to fix it like I usually do. When the meeting was finished, I went straight to the person who called for help. The person had already solved the problem themselves by doing something fairly simple: moving their computer.

It struck me that I created this system. Faculty and staff more often don’t tell me about problems and they continue unfixed until their frustration escalates. Some still don’t want to ‘bother’ me. I’ve fought against that. I’ve encouraged them to use mail or my phone to contact me anytime, day or night. I want everyone to feel comfortable asking for help and to know their problem will be solved.

As a support personnel, I pride myself on response time. Several people have noticed me running down the stairs or the hall, trying to fix the next problem quickly. I want the TPS faculty & staff to be able to rely on someone who can help them quickly. Everyone needs someone they can depend on when things aren’t working. It’s freeing to be in that kind of community. It frees someone up to focus on their job, not what might or can go wrong all time. It saves everyone time (and thus money) if I were to fix something in a minute when that same thing might take them hours.

Yet, I have begun to notice the other side of this coin. Some faculty and staff consider basic things as emergencies. To counter act this, I began to focus more on tech professional development. In an effort to be proactive, I try to meet with departments weekly. I offer summer and monthly workshops of all kinds, and created a website with step by step tutorials and movies about how to do almost anything technological. We’re offering a wide range of training for a wide range of learning styles.

But I was surprised to find few people show up for the workshops; few people look at the tutorials; few people ‘have the time’ for the meetings. In life, everyone seems to have tons to do and very little time to do it. But in terms of basic tech proficiency, I believe everyone should at least have a similar starting position. So we began a mandatory, introductory workshop for all new faculty and staff. That’s great for the new people, but how do we reach those who aren’t new, and why should they have to learn at all?

With the ever increasing size of our infrastructure, it’s becoming more and more difficult for just me to maintain both the large and small problems. Right now, we can’t afford to just hire more people to fix more things.

I’d like to look at the ISTE NETS for faculty and administration and find a way of evaluating both groups in their use. I’d like to begin a refresher course that’s mandatory for all faculty & staff when receiving a new computer once every three years. I also need to lower the expectations. I can’t demand perfection from myself every time. Sometimes just finding a quick solution is better that making it work perfectly.

I’d like to show people how I brainstorm solutions. Though this takes time, they can learn to approach technology fearlessly. It’s often not as complicated as people make it out to be.

Most importantly, I don’t want to work in a place where people don’t have to think; they just ask someone else to do it for them. Where is the collective responsibility to try? Maybe there should be a 10 minute self-help time that comes before anyone contacts another for help.

By trying themselves, the faculty and staff are learning. By taking the time to learn, we are nurturing a great learning environment for everyone. When the faculty learn something, that can’t help to reflect back what they’ve learned to their students. When staff learn, it helps them to ask better questions and thus get better at their job. Even if they aren’t fixing a problem right away, I believe the ability to not be overwhelmed by it and to try to help find solutions ultimately creates a better school.

On Vacation

2009-07-21T18:20:00.001-07:00

The Philadelphia School's faculty is currently on vacation... and so is my blog.

The Vegetarian’s Stake

2009-05-09T03:59:00.000-07:00

I often find myself in pseudo-debates about the use of technology in the classroom. These debates often seem to be filled with passionate pleas for or against our use of computers as a tool in our school. Since the tool is constantly changing and will continue to change, recently I have began to focus more of my attention on helping teachers learn and teach the digital mindsets.

The International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) has created a National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for students & teachers (they even have a draft for administrators). The first version for students was created in 1998 with a heavy focus on the tool. In 2007, an updated version was created with it’s focus shifting towards what I describe as the mindsets necessarily for living in an informational society. They are:

Creativity and Innovation
Communication and Collaboration
Research and Informational Fluency
Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
Digital Citizenship
Technology Operation and Concepts

I expected that many of these would make perfect sense for my teachers, since many are already teaching these skills within their various disciplines. I thought focusing on the mindsets rather than the tools would help me contextualize what I’m really trying to foster in our children through the use of technology. But what I didn’t expect was the argument to change direction toward “Well, if we already teach these things, why bother using technology at all”. I believe that these are unique literacy's when viewed through the lens of technology; while items 3, 5 and 6 specifically focus on technology specifically. Thinking of technology as both a tool and a mindset has helped me to better formulate which aspects of these two characteristics are most important to teach, but it seems to have complicated my argument for more thoughtful integration of technology in the curriculum.

But there is one more complicating factor to the argument: the by-polar nature of the argument itself. When focusing on whether or not to use technology in the classroom, debates seem to waver from one extreme or the other. It seems each side hears that we’ll either move to a school with preschoolers who don’t look at each other because their using laptops all day, or a school without technology at all. With these extreme visions, I think we miss the essential point: to what degree should we use technology in the classroom at various grade levels in developmentally appropriate ways? Everything we do must find a balance between our core values of being relational, innovative, constructivist, and developmental. Why can’t we find a balance as it relates to technology? What should it look like?

In the Winter 2009 issue of Independent School, Lowell Monke wrote an article called “Compensating for Computers” in which he discusses the essential conditions for structuring a healthy learning environment for young children as outlined by The Alliance for Childhood. These are:

Close, loving relationships with responsible adults.
Outdoor activity, nature exploration, gardening, and other direct encounters with nature.
Time for unstructured play, as part of the core curriculum for young children.
Music, drama, puppetry, dance, painting, and the other arts, offered both as separate classes and as a kind of yeast to bring the full range of other academic subjects to life.
Hands-on lessons, handcrafts, and other physically engaging activities, which literally embody the most effective first lessons for young children in the sciences, mathematics, and technology.
Conversation, poetry, storytelling, and books read aloud with beloved adults.

I see these as non-negotiable. Does my community agree? Is there anything else missing? We as a community must put the proverbial stake in the ground to clarify exactly where we fit on the continuum between each of the two extreme arguments: to use, to teach and to learn about technology or not. I believe that we need more discussion in order to figure out exactly where each stake should be placed within various grade levels throughout the school. These decisions also can’t be made in isolation, but with understanding of their place within the entire scope and sequence of a child’s entire educational experience and with the input of all the stake holders in our children’s future. Only then will the argument finally begin to abate.

Stop Being So Full of Yourself (Why Blog)

2009-04-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, a teacher and an administrator came to me with the idea of creating a blog to discuss diversity and equity issues. They came back from a conference and were inspired by what others there were discussing online.

I didn't really know anything about blogging, so I jumped in and started my own blog in order to help them with theirs. I found out a couple things along the way which caused me to continue in the process of reading as well as writing online. I did have some preconceived notions I had to address first (about blogging specifically, and transparent on-line learning generally). Here is a list of my top 5 of what I learned through blogging so far.

5. Blogs aren’t simply the self-absorbed ramblings of techies who have nothing better to do with their time.
A blog could be used for multiple reasons in a variety of ways. Many of the ideas I’ve read about in the educational blog world about have helped me connect with other people from all over, especially when I respond and become part of the conversation. I have been provoked to reflection upon big ideas and inspired by other’s courage, innovations and determination to help our students. Through reading what other teachers/administrators are doing in their neck of the woods, I have learned more about myself and my passions in the educational world.

4. Blogs don’t have to take us away from the face-to-face interactions.
It may seem like a contradiction in terms: an Internet diary; but it doesn’t have to be an endless daily record of minutia. It can be a way to start a conversation that will continue face to face, or continue a conversation virtually that couldn't continue face to face. To me, it’s really about learning. Certainly, anything to an extreme can be unhealthy (if all I did was read and write blogs). I can say that about food, but I still have to eat, so I try to eat well.

3. Writing for the world is unique.
I don't think many people would argue that importance of writing. But why should we also teach writing on-line? Let me give an example. At TPS, we value public speaking. Each graduating student makes a speech during their graduation ceremony, and it’s seen as an important right of passage (not to mention the plenty of other assignments/opportunities in their TPS journey for speaking/performing in front of a crowd). Though each has similarities, there is something uniquely different about the writing a student does for a speech compared to writing not meant to be spoken aloud. The same is true for writing on-line. When there is a possibility that ANYONE in the world could read what was written, it’s a game changing literacy/understanding/possibility. And how can I help teach that which I haven’t done myself? I can certainly figure it out as I go, but in the end I have to try it.

2. Blogs can be for everyone.
Learning happens in a variety of ways. Maybe the set up of a blog is not as engaging to a certain kind of learner than another kind of reading is. That would certainly be fair. But I believe reading about an idea (whether it’s in a blog or not) gives the idea added power. The reader is hopefully open and will have time to think about the idea (if they don’t jump to writing back right away). Using a wide variety of tools to help learning (both for the writer and the reader) is uniquely transformative and an important part of the approach of differentiated learning.

1. Just because people may misunderstand what I write, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t bother writing at all.
Certainly, we all have preconceived notions. Whether it’s about the subject, or the author, or even the means an idea is being communicated (Facebook, anyone?), it’s often difficult (if not impossible) to separate ourselves from the equation. Like e-mail, when communicating via text we have to be especially thoughtful about how our writing will be received. We can’t see someone’s face to determine how they are receiving the message, so we can’t alter the approach immediately if things go off track in order to receive a more desired response. But even at the end of the day, even if we think we said everything perfectly, poetically, succinctly, ethically and humorously, someone can still misunderstand. That’s true for writing or speaking, but people don’t decide to stop talking out of the fear of being possibly misunderstood. I believe it’s through the process of communicating, over and over again, when one A: gets better at communicating and B: comes to better understand one’s own and another person’s point of view. We might not agree, but hopefully we will gain something from the process.

There are also ethical rules of engagement with any tool, and digital communication should be held to the same high expectations as any other polite way of conversing. It’s tricky when having layered, complicated conversations, but I prefer to act from a place of trust and respect, and I am inspired when I see others online acting from that same place. I think the world could use a bit more of that.

Teacher Autonomy versus Institutional Clarity

2009-03-13T04:48:00.000-07:00

I often talk about the sliding scale, as I can see it, between two often opposing paradigms. On one side is teacher autonomy; on the other, institutional clarity.

As a new art teacher at TPS many years ago, I was struck by the freedom I possessed in my own classroom. Along with the other teachers in the art department, we were able to teach projects and topics that we felt truly passionate about. I didn't have to get approval from the principal, or tie all my lessons to state standards. I didn't even have to write up a lesson. I had freedom of budget ("buy what you need") and time ("take as much time as you want"). I never wanted to have anyone tell me what I had to teach. I loved the freedom. I relished my classroom. It was mine.

I see teacher autonomy as giving the teacher opportunities to follow their (& that groups of students') passions, interests and inclinations. I had that as a new teacher, and it helped me to grow, gain confidence and learn by doing.

Preparing for our 10 year PAIS accreditation a few years back, I began to see the downside of absolute teacher freedom. When on a school-wide scale, individual teachers all following their own muse can be very confusing for the students and parents to understand. Cohesion breaks down. The orchestrated chorus of the school becomes a screaming litany of teachers all singing their own song simultaneously. Being able to create a unified scope and sequence through out becomes impossible. So I set out to help my department create a clear and concise thread that would run through all the grades we taught.

Now as an administrator, I still see the clear need for more clarity, not just from within a department but throughout the school. I thirst for accountability with the ubiquitous department of technology. Here was a subject without a face, without a teacher Everyone has an opinion of what is should look like at TPS and has a choice of whether they want to teach it or not. With help, I've tried on several occasions to create benchmarks and standards for teachers and students alike, but more often we focused on the 'who' (teachers and students) and the 'what' (tools) instead of the 'why' (big topics) and the 'how' (differentiated instruction). I'm still concerned that too many mandates from outside the classroom could stifle the passion from within. Having a daughter in a public school, I believe that often these state run institutions would be better off with more teacher autonomy. Am I helping to create a more institutionalized learning environment in this incredible independent school I love?

I'm at a turning point once more; a place I seem to find myself often when trying to navigate the mapless territory of technology. What do the students need to be successful? What do the teachers need? The administration? The parents? The entire community? The concentric circles grow and ripple outward as any change is made. There are no easy answers, and it changes slightly according to the teacher, the class, the department. I realize we need both the freedom to allow for teachers to follow their passions/interests/inclinations, as long as those fall within the spectrum of what the institution deems as aligned with their core values, and we a need definitive framework to know where that spectrum lies.

But I continue to worry. This is a problem we all face at TPS. But we can't just simply bring attention a problem. That's called complaining. We all need to continually try and bring innovative solutions to a problem. That's called leadership.

Cool Tools: Common Craft/Wikis

2009-03-06T06:54:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite and most used sites to learn about Web 2.0 tools is Common Craft. I think the low-tech way of explaining hi-tech tools is simply genius. Check it out for a variety of things.

One of my favorite videos on Common Craft explains what a wiki is. More than anything this year, wikis have changed the way I teach. It's an incredible tool with tons of benefits and applications. If you haven't already seen this, you need to.

Filtering Lazy?

2009-02-19T15:23:00.000-08:00

Recently, we’ve been talking about the culture of TPS and how our culture relates (or doesn’t) to our core values (Constructivist, Relational, Innovative, Developmental). One school cultural idea on my mind lately is Internet filtering. We as a school do not filter the Internet.

From time to time, I still wonder whether that is a good choice. Are we setting our students up for failure? Do we need to change that commitment? What is best for the students? Then I came across this quote in The Human Network: What happens after we’re all connected by Mark Pesce.

“Net filtering throws the baby out with the bathwater. Services like Twitter get filtered out because they could potentially be disruptive, cutting students off from the amazing learning potential of social messaging. Facebook and MySpace are seen as time-wasters, rather than tools for organizing busy schedules. The list goes on: media sites are blocked because the schools don’t have enough bandwidth to support them; Wikipedia is blocked because teachers don’t want students cheating."

"All of this has got to stop. The classroom does not exist in isolation, nor can it continue to exist in opposition to the Internet. Filtering, while providing a stopgap, only leaves students painfully aware of how disconnected the classroom is from the real world. Filtering makes the classroom less flexible and less responsive. Filtering is lazy.”

I thought that was pretty powerful.

Initially, I was against the idea of not filtering. But after much debate through a long list of the pros and cons, we chose not to be the kind of school that locks down out of fear, but keep things open out of trust. We decided to scaffold the teaching of appropriate use in developmentally appropriate ways throughout the school. We chose to support the students in their learning, digital or otherwise. We committed to taking on student mistakes as learning opportunities whenever they present themselves. And we agreed that a student would only use a computer with permission from and supervision of a teacher.
In essence, we chose to teach.

Does the current culture of TPS reflect this commitment? Are we taking proper advantage of those learning moments, or are we being lazy? Are we each taking part in the collective responsibility of making these ideas a reality?

The End of Alone

2009-02-09T17:03:00.001-08:00

I found an interesting article by Neil Swidey wrestling with something I've been giving a lot of thought to recently: are we loosing some part of ourselves by being always plugged in?
Our school is committed to both city and country curricula. Each of our units, during the fall and spring, go out to a nature center once every week. Though this connection to the country is as old as our school, it is something I believe is even more important these days with forests shrinking and on-line time growing. Don't we all need time to unplug? Are our students truly unplugged if they bring mobile phones out to the woods? Will there be a price for never unplugging (to our students, to our world)? What will it be?

The article is pretty long, but here's a supporting video.

I find myself thinking about what Alec Couros says in response to this article: "Currently I’m leading a group of students toward greater connectivity and networked interactions. I strongly believe that connections and the supporting network are important for educators to experience, and can be potential transformative for teaching and learning. For most of these individuals, the concepts and practices are quite new, and critical resistance is anticipated and supported. As educators, we should wonder if we will find ourselves 10 years from now teaching courses on how to disconnect from the masses, and reconnect to one’s self, and to our local communities. Let’s try to avoid this future. Teach critically, adopt cautiously, and reflect constantly."

Up Until Now: Web 2.0

2009-02-01T05:21:00.000-08:00

In many ways, I feel this year is my first year as the Technology Director. Though I took care of the systems/network and tech support in years past, I was also still teaching a pretty packed schedule. Like many teachers turned administrators before me, I felt I could make a bigger difference in the school culture by teaching students less and teaching teachers more. It was a difficult decision to stop teaching as much (though I still kept one art class), but it has been incredibly rewarding.

The confluence of new technologies and the 21st century has make working in my field an exciting one. From Facebook to Wikispaces, Blogger to Twitter, del.icio.us to Google Reader, I have done my best to better understand the playing field of the Read/Write web. But as I've learned about all these things this just year, I often feel I am trying to eat an entire pizza in less than a minute, or at least playing Wack-a-Mole. As soon as I think I have a handle on one technology, another pops up. As soon as I take time to digest (am I mixing metaphors?), another pizza awaits.

As I'm trying to meet with more and more units to help plan curriculum, I need to know the tools available to make any-time collaboration a reality. I have a good amount of time to read everyday on the train to school, and I try to use it. But which are the tools I need to know most in order to be most successful in my job as innovational leader?

Recently, our school articulated it's core values: Relational, Innovative, Developmental, Constructivist. I am constantly trying to consider a balance of these values in each technology I research. I believe, in the end, if the technology doesn't have that balance, than that it's just a fancy tool surrounded by smoke and mirrors.

EduCon 2.1 Sessions

2009-01-25T04:09:00.000-08:00

Here is a list of what I attended at SLA. Each title is linked to the session's wiki. Tons of great resources here.

1. Leadership 2.0: Transforming Schooling in and for the 21st Century
Facilitator: Jonathan Becker, J.D., Ph.D.
Affiliation: Virginia Commonwealth University

What knowledge, skills, and dispositions that leaders must have? Should leadership be distributed? What are the worst consequences of your best idea? How hard can you work? How big can you dream? We all must have comfort with conflict, to make sure the loudest voice doesn’t shut new ideas down.

2. The On Button: Instant and Always-On Collaboration
Facilitator: Ben Wilkoff
Affiliation: Douglas County School District

This was the most techy of my sessions. People were sending questions via Twitter that was projected on the front board. One of the most interesting ideas that stuck with me was about time management for professional development; measuring the time it will take to learn the new tool versus the time it will ultimately save you once you are comfortable using that tool.

3. What Will Classroom Learning Look Like?
Facilitator: Will Richardson
Affiliation: Connected Learning

I wish we would have more of a chance to hear Will speak, since he's a tech/ed hero of mine, but the small group conversations were great. The guiding questions: What needs to stay? What needs to go? What will replace it? How do we plan for that change? How do we ensure rigor? What must be in place for learning to happen?

4. Equity Issues in the Edublogosphere
Facilitators: Lisa Thumann / Liz Davis
Affiliation: CMSCE, Rutgers University, NJ / Belmont Hill School in Belmont, MA

This session started by having everyone get up and dance. Uncomfortable? Just a bit, but the conversations that happened in small groups were really helpful. There is an entire virtual community on Twitter that so many at EduCon are a part of already.
Bridging moments happen on Twitter/edublogosphere, and bonding moments happen at conferences like EduCon.

5. Reflections on Personal Paths of Change
Facilitator: Linda V. Nitsche
Affiliation: Owen J. Roberts School District

It was nice to have a moment to stop and look back, instead of just being bombarded by new technologies. I made two great mind-maps: 1 of the main roles I’ve played in life with the people that greatly affected those journeys and one showing the factors that affect my learning. Will post those soon.

6. Tech In 20: Technology Professional Development in 20 Minutes
Facilitator: David Bill
Affiliation: Worcester Academy

The website he created for professional development is just what I'm looking to do. It was remarkable. Video tutorials and resources for Blogs, Camera & Video, Google Apps, iMovie, iPhoto, Presentation 2.0, Skype, SMART Board, Research, You Tube,and Social Media. Incredible layout.

EduCon 2.1, Day 1

2009-01-24T10:46:00.000-08:00

After my first day at EduCon 2.1, I am surprised by many things.
Sure, there were 1,000s of great questions being asked. But too many strong personalities in the various sessions are taking the discussion away from the given topics. With so many presenters going to so many other presenters presentations, it becomes a mish-mash of voices.
I'm quietly learning what I can. It's a web 2.0 skill: try to block out all the static; the unrelated conversations.

I'm also surprised at how techy the sessions have been getting. I'm fairly techy in the world of teachers, but not really that techy in the technology world. I'm worried about the other teachers that came with me to SLA are being lost in a maze of jargon, because I certainly felt that way many times.

Visit to The School at Columbia

2009-01-13T16:42:00.000-08:00

Today, Emily and I went to visit The School at Columbia. By the end of our visit, my brain was so full that I had a headache.

I became interested in their school after reading their very impressive technology curriculum on-line. They are a Mac school, like us; they teach Robolab, like us, and their tech curriculum is integrated into the classroom... like us. But unlike us that have a one-to-one student to computer ratio from 2nd grade up and even start teaching robotics in 2nd grade (we teach it in 5th grade). They have a tech team of 8: a director, 3 tech specialists focusing on integration at each main unit (lower, intermediate, and middle school), 3 systems/backbone people (one for server level support, one for database stuff, one for general support), and I have no idea who the last person is. Maybe I miscounted.

What I was most blown away by their website for faculty & students. I pride myself on the clearly of our file server's structure. They have a similar structure, but it's all web-based. It has parts of it that act like Flicker (image collecting), Wikipedia (data collecting), and Facebook (social network creating). They recently began posting all their committee notes (having multiple people simultaneously type them up) using Google docs. That was what their director swore me to look further into: Google's apps.

I couldn't help dreaming. What would it look like it we could post all our curriculum summaries using google docs, giving faculty and staff simultaneous editing access? Could we truly take advantage of what the web offers (hyper links, global access, a web-like structure) instead of nesting individual documents in folders? I think it would be easier to navigate, easier to edit, and would help to create a more living curriculum map from the ground up. I'm excited to start experimenting with Google sites.

Interesting Article: World Without Walls

2009-01-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

If you haven't read it, Will Richardson's article for Edutopia called "World Without Walls: Learning Well with Others" is something that blew me away.

I'm a fan of Will's work. I first heard him speak over a year ago at a PAISBOA conference on the Read/Write Web and I've been following his blog ever since.

Wordle

2009-01-01T09:06:00.000-08:00

I love visual poetry. It helps me to read (thus think) differently and I believe helps to communicate the feeling within a poem (or any work of words) more than simple typing.

I still remember the first time another student showed me how to type words onto a computer in college. You could instantly change fonts, the text size, even color! I was SO excited that they thought I was either being disingenuous or that I was just totally sheltered. I had spend years writing papers on my old typewriter, rewinding the ink/tape every so often so my text wouldn't get too light that it couldn't be read.

I found this cool website today called Wordle while reading about EduCon 2.1 on a blog. I've been playing with visualizing terms from my school, as well as our philosophy of technology use. I loved looking at what other people came up with as well, and found it fitting how many people through out the world were using this tool to visualize their New Year's resolutions. To communicate more effectively in innovative ways... I can't think of a better intention for my new year.

EduCon 2.1

2008-12-30T17:17:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to read up on the various sessions being held at EduCon 2.1 this year. I'm not sure how to make sure I will get the most out of this experience. When I have so much to learn, I feel you could drop me in the middle of nearly anything and I'll find a way of connecting it to my job and learning something valuable.

It seems as though the sessions will be streamed on-line, but are they recorded in another way? Wouldn't it be great if they were there in the future (I'd love to see last year's discussions) much like Ted talks?

SMART remote

2008-12-23T08:10:00.000-08:00

I heard of Senteo interactive response systems through a Tweet (sounds so techy). We have many SMART Boards in my school, but none of these remotes dohickies (sounds so non-techy).

I'm wondering if this is something we could benefit from, or if this is more of the same grading for the sake of grading. I can see the argument that they could help engage the students, but also distract them. And I don't believe constant grading is a good thing. What do you think?

Titles

2008-12-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

My official title has always made me a bit uncomfortable. The Director of Technology. I don't think it's right for me. I like Artist/Teacher, because I am both an artist and a teacher, and because I teach artists. Technology and Visual Arts are not very different. Creative problem solving, being able to brainstorm. (If only my name was Brian, I would call this blog "Brianstorming").

The Director of Teaching is not my job. That's the various Heads of School's job (wow, the consecutive plurals on that is confusing). How about the Director of Innovation? Or the Director of Teachology?