Digital Leadership Book Study - Ch. 1 & 2 Reflections

In January 2014, I attended a session by Eric Sheninger at the Florida Educational Technology Conference.  Eric had many thoughtful points regarding digital leadership, so I was eager to order and read a copy of his book Digital Leadership.  As I was reading Digital Leadership, I was so inspired by the message and the content, I thought, how could I best share and discuss all the book had to offer with the principals and directors in my district?  So, I met with our assistant superintendent to discuss a plan for a book study.  The books were ordered in the spring and distributed before summer for principals and director to read and/or get started during the “less” busy time.

I am a firm believer that we, as administrators, must model professional learning how we want our teachers to work with the students in their classrooms.  After the books were distributed, I asked each to complete a quick pre-reading assessment (Know and Want to Know) using the following questions:

1. What do I know about Digital Leadership?
2. What do I want to know about Digital Leadership? (What I Learned will be saved for after the book study.)
3. What other related discussions do you hope we have pertaining to technology, 21st century learning with technology, etc.?

Additionally, the following video was shared to provide a 16 minute overview of Digital Leadership by the author Eric Sheninger.  I thought most would find it helpful to gain some insight into the context of the book from the author.

Book Study - Day 1 - Tuesday, October 7th

After much preparation, is was time to finally get started with the book study.  I hoped everyone else was as excited as I was for our book study. Here are a few strategies I used to facilitate the discussion:

1. We used TodaysMeet as a way for each principal and director to provide input into the discussion and allowed an opportunity to pose questions. For example:

Question #1: As school leaders, how do you ensure that all of your students have opportunities to achieve their dreams? Here are a few responses:

“Provide an environment that allows for free thoughts and creative thinking.”

“Work towards a safe learning environment ‑ safe to take risks so they can dream!”

“Give them an opportunity to explore and try new things.”

“I think by getting to know students and their abilities and desires, you work to find opportunities

that will prepare them to reach dreams.”

“Find engaging activities that push and challenge their creativity.”

Question #2: Based on the following quote from Eric Sheninger:

“It is time to transform schools into vibrant learning communities that are connected and allow access to numerous social media tools that can unleash the creativity of our learners.  This will increase engagement and, ultimately achievement.” (Sheninger, p. 5)

So often, when considering new ideas outside of our comfort zone, ideas quickly die when responses start with “No, because…” and “Yes, but…”  I asked the leaders to respond to the quote with “Yes, and…” as a way to to think in terms of agreeing with the quote as their starting point. Here are a few responses:

• “Yes, and let's get going!”
• “Yes, and....we needed to do it yesterday!”
• “Yes, and this change is long over due!”
• “Yes, and then we teach students how social media can be productive and engaging rather than gossip and negative.”
• “Yes, and if the learning activity is constructed well, it will become a relevant learning opportunity for the students.”
• “Yes, and it can create a dynamic real world learning environment for our students.

After we discussed for a bit, I did allow for some “Yah, buts.” There were not nearly as many as I anticipated.

2. I used Kahoot as a survey tool to allow for each administrator's input while gaining some insight into overall perceptions.

First, we reflected on 5 of the characteristics of learners today (Ian Jukes, Ted McCain, and Lee Crockett, 2010, p. 15) and asked for an "agree or disagree" response for each question.

Q1: Digital learners prefer to access information quickly from multiple-media sources, but many educators prefer slow and controlled release of information from limited sources.

Q2: Digital learners prefer parallel processing and multi-tasking, but many educators prefer linear processing and single tasks or limited multi-tasking.

Q3: Digital learners prefer to network simultaneously with others, but many educators prefer students to work independently before they network and interact.

Q4: Digital learners prefer processing pictures, sounds, color and video before text, but many educators prefer to provide text before picture, sound, and video.

Q5: Digital leaders prefer learning that is relevant, active, instantly useful and fun, but many educators feel compelled to teach memorization of the content in the curriculum guide.

Some found this tough as they may have agreed or disagreed with part, but were forced to select agree or disagree.  Discussion followed after the results for each question were shown.

Second, I pulled 5 questions from the NASSP Guidelines to assist school leaders in integrating technology in their schools (p. 42 and 43) and asked the administrators to self-assess using a modified “Marzano” rating scale:

4 - Innovating

3 - Applying

2 - Developing

1 - Beginning or Not Using

Q6: The principal effectively and consistently models the use of the same technology tools they expect teachers to use in their classrooms with the students.

Q7: The principal is consistent in their decisions and expectations about integrating learning technology in the school.

Q8: The principal provides appropriate professional development time and resources to support effective classroom implementation of technology.

Q9: The principal supports early adopters and risk takers.

Q10: The principal sets and supports the expectation that student work will be done and stored using technology.

3. As s follow-up, I sent a link to a Google form for each person to provide a brief reflection and feedback.  Here is one of the questions and some of the responses:

Please list something new you learned or an "ah ha" moment from our book study.

• “I need to take a more active role in the seamless integration and technology into all classrooms.”
• “Many leaders in our group are ready to move forward to "change paradigms for changing times"
• “It is time to begin to consider allowing all students in K-12 to have a cell phone with them during the day to use as a learning tool.”
• “Moving forward with technology integration to enhance learning is a must.”
• “I do not believe this book is about being digital, I believe it is completely about leadership.”

I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations we had on chapters 1 and 2 and look forward to future conversations in the coming months.  As we continually strive for better, I sincerely believe the content in Digital Leadership will provide us with ideas to challenge our thinking and guide our conversations.  Watch for more post-book study blog post reflections.

Appreciating and Working with Awesome People

Early in August, I had the opportunity to hear Angela Maiers speak at the 1:1 Symposium at Leyden High School in Chicago.  I appreciated her message of sincerely appreciating those around us.  On Friday, August 29th, after weeks of hard work preparing for the start of the school year, I typed up the following email to thank the technology staff for a job well done:

Technology Department Staff,

It's been a long summer of hard work preparing for the school year and has been extra challenging over the past few weeks.  The teacher MacBook Pro exchange project looms for a few more weeks, but I want to thank you for the work each one of you have done in preparation for our students to start classes next week.  The extra hours and "can do" attitude to complete projects and requests have been noticed and appreciated.  I am fortunate to work with such caring and dedicated colleagues with a positive attitude.  You are all geniuses!  The students, staff, and administration of Grand Forks Public Schools needs and appreciates your contribution because your impact on teaching and learning on a daily basis TRULY MATTERS!

Have a great "long" weekend!

Joel

(I also added “The YOU MATTER Manifesto” image by Angela Maiers to the email.)

As I was preparing to hit send, I received the following text from Angela Maiers (via @RemindHQ):

It was one of those moments that you just can’t make up.  Overall, I think I do a fairly good job of appreciating and thanking those around me, but the message and coincidence was a great reminder for me to do it even more often.  So, what are you doing to appreciate the students and staff in your school and district?  I am extremely fortunate to work with awesome people!

     

If you want to sign-up for the #YouMatter Class by Angela Maiers on Remind, here is the website:

http://www.angelamaiers.com/2014/08/sign-up-for-my-youmatter-class-on-remind.html

Teaching History through Different Perspectives and Lenses

I recently read a blog post by Chris Lehmann titled “American History — American Story” (http://practicaltheory.org/blog/2014/08/24/american-history-american-story/).  I appreciated Chris’s reflection on his conversation with Matt Baird, Science Leadership Academy 11th grade American history teacher, about making history more than just “dusty dates of history, but about their lives – our lives – our country today.”  The idea is extremely powerful and worth pursuing, but I really focused in on one line in the blog:

“What if we asked students to examine present day society through several intersecting lenses such as the political lens, the demographic lens, the economic lens and the geo-political lens.”

As a former social studies teacher, this is an area that I am extremely passionate about.  In order to make history an engaging experience for our students, there has to be a connection to their lives.  So, the question becomes, how can we make history relevant and meaningful to our students?  Being that the Science Leadership Academy’s 11th grade American history course consists of the 1900s-present, starting with a current look at the U.S. and World today would provide a reference point throughout the school year with an underlying theme of; "how did we get here?"  What a great way to start the school year.

I love the idea of studying history through lenses.  I taught 8th grade U.S. history (First Inhabitants (i.e. Native Americans) through the Civil War).  I started the school year with a definition and discussion of Eurocentrism and ethnocentrism and how history (i.e. textbooks) was/is often written from the white European point of view.  I challenged the students to find examples in their text books, which we found numerous.  I would then teach portions of some events from a different lens and perspective.  For example, I taught the Christopher Columbus story from the Native American perspective.  The students were shocked at this perspective, because for so many years, elementary school teachers taught the "Columbus is a hero and discovered America" version of history.  It certainly provided an opportunity for all students to think critically about history and what they read.  We looked at the Constitutional Convention from non white male European perspectives such as women (Abigail Adams "remember the ladies") and slaves (3/5's compromise).  By the time we reached the end of the school year, students were well-versed in critically thinking about history and understanding the story through multiple perspectives.  A good starting point for history teachers to question history textbooks and consider history through various lenses and perspectives is the book Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen.  The book certainly make one pause and question the way history is taught and has been taught for so many years.

I think it is our role, as history teachers, to allow students to learn the multiple perspectives of history and not just take the written word in a textbook as the only factual perspective of an event.  We must allow our students to challenge what is written and discover multiple ways of understanding historical events in history.  History teachers should be creating “hands-on” experiences and inquiry/problem/project-based learning opportunities for our students.  Less time needs to be spent on covering names, dates, events, and places that can be “googled,” and more time on in-depth critical thinking and analysis.  It’s time to shake the stereotype of history being boring, to one which students make meaningful connections to the past in order to embrace and be prepared for THEIR future.

Dear Tyler (advice to my nephew, a first year teacher)

(This blog post is a letter to my nephew Tyler who will be starting his career as an elementary school educator this month.  It is somewhat based on my letter to him when he graduated from college in May that included some advice from my perspective and experience.)

Dear Tyler,

Congratulations!  The long journey and hard work to get to graduation is done.  But, now the MOST IMPORTANT WORK lies in front of you.  The position of an educator is far from just a job; it’s a calling.  What you do each day can make a huge, life impacting change on a student’s life and future.  I am proud that you chose a career in education and proud of YOU.  Here a just a few thoughts as you assume your first teaching position:

RELATIONSHIPS

Here is where it all begins for successful teachers.  I firmly believe that students don’t always care how much you know until they know how much you care.  When I was a student teacher, my cooperating teacher probably gave me the best advice; “make positive connections with your students by learning something unique about each one and talk to them about their interests."  Know your students.  Treat all students as if they were your own kids.  You might be the only one in a student’s life that cares about them.  If you’ve established good relationships with your students, the need to discipline will be minimal. But, if you do need to discipline a student, be sure to use your caring-concern-disappointed voice and not a voice and demeanor of anger.

ENGAGEMENT
An engaged student is rarely a discipline problem (Dave Burgess), so the best classroom management strategy is an engaging curriculum or lesson.  This takes some work because not all lessons are going to be perfect the first time.  But, you can control your enthusiasm, passion, interest, and willingness to learn along with your students.   Be sure your learning environment allows students to experience joy and a sense of awe (Dean Shareski).  Always strive for Better.  Be open to learning how your students learn best.  Just ask the students.  The input that I solicited from my students in my early years of teaching did more for my quest for “better” than any principal evaluation and Master’s level coursework.

PASSION

When you have the passion and mindset to be the best you can be, your effort will naturally be at the appropriate level. Keep in mind, “Provide an uncommon experience for your students and they will reward you with an uncommon effort and attitude” (Dave Burgess).  Have high expectations for yourself and for all of your students.  Believe in them.  Tell your students often; “You are a genius and the world needs your contribution” (Angela Maiers).  In everything you do, “give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you” (Anonymous).

Photo credit Angela Maiers 2011, http://choose2matter.org/manifesto/

DON’T FORGET ABOUT YOURSELF

Taking care of your physical and mental health are extremely important to being on top of your “teaching” game.  Sound mind, sound body (Asics).  You are going to make mistakes, learn from them and move on.  Have a few “rocks” in your life who you can share your frustrations with and boost you up when times are tough.  The sun will rise the next morning and your students will need you.  No matter what, there is always better.  Never stop learning.  Read, take a class, and learn from others.  Twitter has connected me with some amazing educators across the world.  My Personal Learning Network has probably done more for my professional learning than many of my college courses.  Finally, laugh often, have some fun, and enjoy the ride.  

Best wishes on a successful start to what will be an amazing teaching career for you.  If there is ever anything I can do to help, please let me know.

Uncle Joel

Focusing on the right ONE in 1:1; the STUDENT!

Last week, I had an amazing 3 days of learning at the 1:1 Summer Symposium.  Leyden High School is doing some wonderful things with teaching and learning in a 1:1 Chromebook environment.  I appreciate their willingness to share what they have learned, both successes and challenges, and desire to continually improve.  Whenever I attend a conference, I compare what others are doing to what we are doing in Grand Forks Public Schools.  After attending the conference, I can say we are doing some good things as student learn with technology in a blended environment, but acknowledge we are still “work in progress” and have much to learn and improve upon. There were several quotes and themes that resonated with me which led to my takeaways, reminders, and questions to consider based on the following 3 themes.

LEADERSHIP

The key component in creating an innovative and engaging learning environment is leadership with leaders needing to be “all in.”  The conference opened with an overview of Leyden’s 1:1 journey.  I recall Bryan Weinert’s recap of the board president’s thoughts on 1:1 after visiting Mooresville, NC: "How can we afford NOT to go 1:1.”  It was obvious that the administrative team is on the same page.  Additional leadership perspectives were provided by Jimmy Casas who asked the question; “What are you doing right now in your building to disrupt your routine?”  Some additional insights from Jimmy were to surround yourself with excellent people who inspire you in order to achieve excellence and don’t make decisions based on the small percentage of “what ifs.”  The theme of better also resonated with me.  Jimmy stated; leaders must continue to challenge the status quo and never use the word CAN’T.  Always believe that our school/district is the best of the best while always striving for better.  Jason Markey reinforced the never-ending quest for better with the reminder that “we are still in beta, we haven’t got there yet, which gives us permission to struggle.”  Jason focuses on the teacher and student experience while using Simon Sinek’s “Golden Circle” What-How-Why model.  Mikkel Storaasli’s session highlighted the importance of keeping the mission and vision at the forefront of all decisions, including 1:1.  He also noted the important role principals play in the success of going 1:1.  Finally, Jason Markey asked the question; “Who is telling your story?” and the importance of using social media to allow our community to know the positive things happening in our school/districts.  As leaders, do we have a laser-like focus on our mission and vision in all the decisions we make, including 1:1?  Are we telling our story and highlighting the positive things happening in our district or are we allowing the media to do so?

TEACHERS

The classroom teacher plays such an important role in creating engaging learning opportunities in a 1:1 environment.  Dean Shareski opened the conference with the question; Are our schools places of joy?  “Schools need to be places of wonder. Teachers have a responsibility to awe and ensure an interesting learning experience.”  "What if each day your students left school with a great question?”  Excellent thoughts and more importantly, a call to action.  As teachers learn more about the nuances of a 1:1 environment, Jennie Magiera reminded us that “compliance does not equal engagement.”  Jennie also stressed that “creation apps are better than content apps” and the importance of trying new things.  After all, “we all fail, but what do we do after we fail?”  Ideally, we all learn and get better.  Finally, with or without technology, the classroom teacher (i.e. pedagogy) is instrumental in student learning.  Bryan Weinert provided a hint; “...those teachers that say 1:1 is a distraction, consider their lesson plans” (i.e. are students engaged?).  How do we ensure all teachers continue to strive for a more student-centered and engaging learning environment?  We can all get better and our students deserve it.

STUDENTS

The importance of a student centered culture was certainly a theme of the conference or as Jason Markey put it; be sure to focus on the right ONE in 1:1; the STUDENT!  I admire the way Jason (et al.) has established a "student first" culture at Leyden (i.e. Student Agency) in a connected and innovative environment.  When students have a voice, they become part of Innovation. Jason reminded everyone, “...it’s not about 1:1 devices, it is more about empowering students and teachers.”   Jennie Magiera agrees; “We don't ask our students enough how they learn and for their opinion.  We need to allow students to have an authentic audience and a powerful voice."  Finally, the “student first” theme was further enhanced through Angela Maiers’s keynote.  Do we provide reasons for our students, teachers, and staff to RUN to school everyday?  Our students and staff are geniuses and the world needs their contribution.  Listening to the student panel at the end of the conference provided affirmation for me that 1:1 learning with Chromebooks, in concert with a student-centered culture, has been implemented extremely well at Leyden.  One student reminded teachers to “...take risks and be open minded.”  What a great message.  All educators need to continually ask; Do we honestly make all decisions based on our most important clients, our students?  Do we take the time to listen and engage our students with important decisions?

My takeaways and questions will be embedded in my goals and in my work as the district technology director throughout this school year and beyond.  I am sincerely grateful for all the work Leyden dedicates to make the 1:1 Summer Symposium a success and I certainly left with some #leydenpride.

Reflections on "Teach Like a Pirate"

Reading Dave Burgess's book Teach Like a Pirate allowed me to reflect back to my days as an 8th grade U.S. history teacher and how I would have compared to the high standards and ideas outlined in the book.  It made me realize I was just starting to get good at my craft of "teaching" and the art of engaging students, before moving into an administrative position.  My 10th year in the classroom certainly was much better compared to my 1st year through my tireless quest to make learning U.S. history a “hands-on” experience.  I made improvements through hard work, trying new things, being open to change, and soliciting student input.   I like Dave’s Quote: “I’ve worked my butt off to build a class that is outrageously engaging, fun, educationally sound, and dearly loved by students.”  But, it takes time.

After reading through Dave's HOOKS, I realized that I had many excellent moments sprinkled in my teaching.  But, my favorite lesson, the one that approached many of the high expectations of “Teaching Like a Pirate,” was the Constitutional Convention simulation.

Each student was assigned to be "delegate" to the convention and completed some background information to their views, values, quotes, and voting record at the convention.  I did many things to set the tone for the next three days.  I called students by their delegate’s name (i.e. Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Morris) for the next 3 days, even outside of the classroom while students referred to me as Mr. Washington.  The heat was turned up in the room as we were meeting in July.  The windows were covered so others would not be able to "peek in" to know what we were discussing.  A candle was lit for light, as there were not fluorescent lights at the state house.  I played Washington and was able to ask specific (and differentiated) questions of each student which allowed all to appropriately contribute to the discussion.  As Washington, I also asked some "devil’s advocate" type questions to get the students to think critically and truly experience the monumental task of how the delegates may have felt.  For example, every time I did this simulation, the southern delegates would have to advocate for slavery and how to count slaves (i.e. 3/5's compromise).  We always had some interesting discussion on this topic.  I remember one student said, "I don't want to be a southern delegate anymore" after trying to advocate for slavery.  The students were highly engaged for three days of discussing and “writing” the constitution.  When students from classes later in the day came to class, they were excited to participate based on what students in earlier classes told them (even after I told them not to tell anyone about our discussion because of the secrecy of the proceedings).  I knew the students were hooked because they were talking about U.S. history outside of the classroom.  Some students even provided feedback on the simulation on the year end survey:

Just thinking about that lesson and many of the other engaging lessons stirs up that wonderful feeling of being a teacher in an engaging learning environment.  After moving from the classroom to administrative positions, I've noticed that student disengagement is relatively easy to find, especially at the high school level.  I believe all high school teachers should read “Teach Like a Pirate.”  At the very least, school administrators should use the book as a resource to raise the expectations for an improved and engaging learning environment for all students.  The discussion could start with the question, “Would you want to be a student in your own classroom?”  But, Dave raises the bar by asking the following question that I can only wonder how many would respond:

• “If your students didn’t have to be there, would you be teaching to an empty room?” (p. 58)

How many teachers would be teaching to an empty room?  Student engagement has been a goal for many districts, schools and teachers, but yet so many students continue to go through the motions of "playing school" because some teachers fall short in providing an engaging learning experience for their students.  Why do we allow that to happen?  I believe that if students are engaged in their learning, discipline issues go down, academic achievement goes up, and the overall climate of the school environment also goes up.  The bottom line is that if you:

• “Provide an uncommon experience for your students and they will reward you with an uncommon effort and attitude” (Dave Burgess, p. 55).

Just Ask the Students

In a previous blog post on being better (The Quest for BETTER), I made reference to having students complete a survey at the end of each school year and making changes based on their input.  This simple annual activity did more for my professional growth as a teacher than any of my master’s level courses in curriculum and instruction.  So, how do we get better as educators?  Quite simply, just ask the students.  But how many teachers are open to student feedback?

In the book, The Ten-Minute Inservice, Todd Whitaker and Annette Breaux dedicate 2 of their 40 training sessions on Teacher Report Cards (surveys).  After all, “...who better to tell teachers about how well (or not so well) they are doing on a daily basis than the teachers’ own clients? If you really want to know how a teacher is doing, ask the students.” (p. 121-129).

My last year teaching 8th grade U.S. history was in 2002-2003 which looked much different compared to my first year of teaching in 1993.  My ongoing goal was to increase the number of ways to allow students to learn history through a “hands on” approach.  At the end of every school year, I asked the students for their honest opinions about their learning experience in my class.  The 2 questions that received the most attention from me were:

1. What did you like LEAST about this class?  Be specific.
2. What did you like BEST about this class?  Be specific.

As a classroom teacher, I read through the surveys a few times and captured the general themes of BEST and LEAST in a qualitative way.  I recently came across the surveys from my last year of teaching and was interested in a more quantitative analysis.  I tallied up the responses and here are some of the top results of each category, in order, starting with the highest number of responses at the top.

What students liked the LEAST

1. Tests
2. Notes
3. Reading out of textbook
4. Quizzes
5. Worksheets

Any surprises from the LEAST list?  Why would I/teachers continue to do things students like least regarding their learning experience?  There continues to be way too much sit and get, teacher-centered, and passive learning in our schools.  There is a time and place for everything on the LEAST list, but teachers need to think of “outside the box” ways in which students can demonstrate their knowledge other than those listed above.

What students liked the BEST (General)

1. Projects
2. Cooperative Learning
3. Activities

What students liked the BEST (Specific Lesson Cited)

1. Native American dwelling project
2. American Revolution (room size) timeline
3. Constitutional Convention (simulation)
4. Underground Railroad activity/simulation at University Park
5. iMovie Amendments project
6. Tom Snyder “City of Gold” Explorer group simulation (computer)

Any surprises from the BEST lists?  What do all include? All incorporate movement, cooperative learning, student-centered, some choice, critical thinking, engagement, etc.

Through the evaluations, my focus was to do less of the items in the “least” category and find replacement activities and projects that would be more engaging and meaningful to students.  In other words, I learned a variety of different ways to grade and assess students learning.  I then noticed, through survey results in subsequent years, the replacement activities and projects often made it onto the “best” list.  That’s what getting better is all about.

Why do teachers continue to make students learn in ways that are not engaging and meaningful?  I would encourage all teachers to ask your students for their honest opinions of your class (i.e. THEIR LEARNING EXPERIENCES), take their input seriously, and make adjustments accordingly.  We owe it to our students to always strive for better and make all of their learning experiences engaging and meaningful.

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Final Note: Through my quest to solicit honest and critical student feedback, I received many positive comments.  These comments are reminders that what we do in our classrooms really does matter and provides motivation to always strive to be better. Here are just a few: