Category Archives: Change

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These Guys Get It!

Will Richardson posted today about his experience at SLA this week – it ties in with David Warlick’s post from yesterday about what he heard about teachers in China teaching less and planning more. From Will’s blog:

It was the last day of an 8-day intensive planning session, and they were probably more tuned into the “closing ceremonies” to be held at a neighborhood restaurant in the afternoon than on listening to me, but I was extremely impressed by their attention, their questions and their thinking. And their thinking was all over the place…on a Moodle site where they have been capturing all of their work, on newsprint post-its all over the walls of the planning room, in their conversation. I sat there just envious as all get out that Chris had this opportunity to really build “School 2.0,” and I said as much to all of them.

Did you catch that? An 8 day planning session!? Were the teachers paid for their time? What a concept!  And they still have six weeks before school starts to digest the conversation and continue to plan. Doesn’t that cost more money? We can’t be spending more on education, we already get more than we need – we just need to spend it more wisely – less administration and cheaper toilet paper and paper towels (please note this is sarcasm on my part in case you missed it).

Is Chris Lehmann planning to provide planning days during the school year too? That would almost make me consider teaching secondary school and moving to Philadelphia! I can’t wait to see what Dave finds out about the planning time in China! These guys are doing it right. I’ve been asking where the great examples of whole schools doing project/problem-based learning supported by tech integration are … it sounds like this is really one to watch … but no pressure Chris!   ; )

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Find Your Niche, App, Tool, Whatever. Make It Work Transformatively, Effectively and Safely …. Then Let’s Market It, and How To Use It To Everyone.

Many of the conversations lately have been a bit downtrodden. Brett’s Skypecast last night, Will Richardson’s recent “deflating” experience, Jeff Utecht’s NECC experience, Miguel Guhlin’s recent post and others.

We’ve been bemoaning that the access to web 2.0 apps is not going well. Some districts block just about everything, teachers aren’t embracing them quickly enough and the list goes on. But maybe there is still plenty to use and the “marketplace” will take care of the rest over time in that either users will find safe “workarounds” as they use MySpace, ODEO, FLICKR, etc. (not everybody is blocked you know) and if these work and there is a demand and it seems safe things might open up. I’m definitely not saying give up or don’t think about or try to use these apps – just that things might not be as bleak as they seem. Would it be great if you could just jump right in and use many of these tools – yes – but many have issues of safety no matter how frustrating that is. Will Richardson (and others – including me) have spoken about how kids are exposed to worse images and ideas at the local convenience store and in some cases street corner. But you’re just not going to get past peoples’ fear and loathing of their kids being exposed, even by accident, AT SCHOOL – At least not now. I’m not satisfied with that but …

The good news is that there is so much that can be done that is safe and valuable for anyone to use – the web, digital photography, web pages, email, blogging (monitoring comments) and much more – and those of us that have unfettered access will have to use these new tools in ways that make others see past their fear and want to embrace them. We can even teach the ethical use of social applications so that students that use them outside school learn about ethics from someone.

There are so many applications available now, how could anyone use them all? Yes, we need to get going – I believe that strongly – but who can keep up? There seems to be at least one new app every day – yes we need access, and the ability to innovate – and what is more exciting than seeing something you’ve never seen before and immediately getting an idea on how it fits what you are or want to be doing with students and you want to do it NOW. Some of us will be able to do that, be the trailblazers, and some will have to wait (but fighting and scratching the whole time) until these new tools and methods are acceptable.

Beyond that, I would be thrilled if we could just get educators to embrace and utilize tech as a tool AT ALL! I’ll probably get attacked by some of you for saying this, but more than 80% of educators I know can’t cut and paste, or send an email with an attachment, or know you can have more than one window opened at a time or more than one application at a time, or what a browser is (or that Internet Explorer isn’t the only browser), or how to attach a printer or camera or use them, or any peripheral, or what USB or Firewire are and the list goes on. And we want them to be blogging AND Flickring, AND Skypeing, AND digital video, AND podcasting, AND making web pages and more? I have experiences with teachers showing them cut and paste that I should video some time. They get so excited – some do it over and over with big smiles on their faces – I’ve just made their day (but I was really showing them FLICKR and how to use an image in student writing).

Yes we need to keep the training and education and innovation on web 2.0 going, but let’s not forget than most haven’t embraced web 1.0 yet. We need to get many more trained and comfortable with tech in general and the new teaching that goes with it AS we continue to use and innovate with the new tools. If we build it they will come?

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How To Spread The Word? – Use The Media, Doesn’t Everybody Else?

Us edtech / project-based, folk have lamented for a long time how slow others have been to adopt the new tools and methods of the 21st century (although many of these methods are not new at all). We have talked about creating a buzz, an excitement about these methods that will overcome the reluctance of so many to engage.

One way to accomplish this is to use the media. Certainly using the media to help promote education and children is more righteous than pushing a product or a politician. And I’ve found most media are more than willing to cover positive education stories – especially new ideas or projects. So the next time your class (or someone else you know) completes a project or is involved in an activity –  (or even if they just started) contact the local media. And now it’s easy to do. Send an email – how hard is that? What’s the worst that can happen? They don’t get back to you – you lost 5 minutes writing an email. But what if they do come? – A great experience for your students. They get to see how the media works, some get interviewed, they’re excited – do you think you might get them to write about the experience? I’ve even had reporters and camera operators allow kids to turn the tables and interview them about what they do and why they decided to cover this story.

Students can take photos and video of the goings on – and there is another possible writing project (blog, story, letter home, etc.) And the next thing you know you’ve created a buzz about using tech and project-based learning. A buzz with your students, their families, your teachers, others’ students, the community – just what we’re trying to do – and its free!

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Why Go To NECC When You Can Just Skype It!?

OK so nothing is like really being there … but this was pretty good. Wes Fryer set up an international Skypecast to share what was learned at NECC 2006 – thanks for laying the groundwork Wes!

Here’s a link to his podcast of our Skypecast.


So what is a Skypecast? A free (as the old saying goes, “Free is a good price!”) conference call basically … only better. When I saw Wes’s request for participants I went to Skype’s web site and downloaded the free software … which was a breeze by the way, then answered a few questions like login name and password and maybe 1 or 2 others – 5 minutes tops and probably less than that. Wes had a link on his blog to the exact Skypecast, when you get there it tells you the name of the Skypecast and what time it is scheduled for. At the correct time I opened Skype, went to Wes’s Skype page, clicked on the link that said something like “Join This Skypecast” and I could hear voices. A window opens that shows the screen names of everyone attending and that was that.

We had a great conversation that lasted for over 2 hours. And get this … not one of us had attended NECC 2006 – but we had all participated virtually through all the various blog entries, podcasts, vidcasts, and so on offered by the convention and individuals. So we disussed an event none of us physically attended but still participated in at a certain level and shared our thinking about it. One of the coolest things was that several people joined in the Skypecast that were not teachers or edtech people and they added seamlessly to the conversation and had great insights because they weren’t educators or edtech people. Some of us stayed until the end and others came and went. A few popped up and listened in, decided this was not for them and went away. Imagine using this to connect teachers, students, experts …. you get the picture.

One way this is different than a phone call is that because you are already using your computer to make the connection, your computer is right there to make notes on, look up web pages that others are discussing, Wes even downloaded software to record the conversation during the Skypecast, left for about 2 minutes to install it, came back on and recorded the rest for his podcast – but I should not steal Wes’s thunder – you can hear it all for yourself, Wes has notes and links for you, but most important I encourage you to join in on future Skypecasts and keep the conversation going!

Learning is messy!

Update: David Warlick just posted about reveling in the conversations at NECC 2006, but also lamenting those that he missed. Dave this post is about a way to help keep those conversations going and maybe even having those that you missed!

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Let’s Make A Push At Change … but … Who Has The Time???

The newest teachers coming out of college that show up teaching in my school district are exposed to little tech as a tool, are required to use very little tech in their own studies – and in their methods classes the NCLB-data-driven-programs-of-the-year are what is promoted pretty much to the exclusion of anything else. And I can tell you sitting on my share of interview teams for new teachers – the pre-determined questions are all about which Reading and Math programs you’re trained in (or have even heard of), your experience with them, how willing are you to get more training and have a mentor to help you be your best at doing those programs? Why would anyone get the idea that technology or project-based, problem-based teaching and learning are something to embrace?

So how do we make the change happen more quickly? Make it ring with teachers, business, general public? Has this subject ever been blogged about before? : ]

We have to tell and show and prove that using the tools of technology to do project-based, problem-based learning IS the way to go. I’ve said before that there is a crack that we can enter through to get our message out there. The crack is the disconnect I catch business people and parents in fairly regularly. I’ve sat in meetings where people moan about the static state of education and then when ideas start to flow about changing things they quickly retreat to the status quo of what they did in school … just more accountability. When you point that out to them they usually become very pensive and you can drive home your point about things needing to change – but it will take more than that one time and it will also take proven results. Telling people you think this is the way to go is one thing – being able to point to numerous, ongoing examples that truly are getting results – reproducible results – is what is going to get people off the dime.

We have to take this to business. Teachers seem to have very little say in HOW things are done (have you noticed?) – so while getting teachers onboard is crucial, we go nowhere without the support of the general public, and winning over business just might accomplish both. I’ve commented on several business peoples’ blogs – however I’m not sure how large a readership they had and I’ve never generated any response from them – so one tactic is to start seeking out more blogs to comment on and spread the message and have some conversation that way.

It would be great to attend some conventions/conferences and present to business people on their own territory – but also rather pricey and time consuming and just a bit intimidating – and I don’t know about you, but I don’t get much info on upcoming business conferences (at least not like I do education conferences) and I’m not sure how receptive they would be to a session or keynote on education reform during their conference on “Widget” production or marketing or whatever … is there any tie-in here between education and business? HMMM … maybe they would be receptive? Maybe now is the time.

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What Would You Say To Margaret Spellings?

In the July/August edition of Edutopia’s “Sage Advice” section they ask the question: You’re sitting next to U.S. education secretary Margaret Spellings at a dinner party. What do you say to her?

My response – Ms. Spellings in a speech to over 300 educators you said: “We must treat our teachers like the professionals they are.” 

With that in mind:

Really provide us all the tools we need. Really provide us the infrastructure we need. Really provide us the training we need. Really provide us the time we need for planning and assessment. Really provide us the support services and personnel we need. Then get out of our way.

Any other ideas?

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Have Too Many Lost The Passion?

in this day of testing, programmed/scripted teaching what we are missing is the passion. How do you consistently get students revved-up if you are not excited about what you are teaching? When you think back at your own school experience and recall your favorite teachers, do you think about the ones that used the scripted, or practically scripted, math and reading programs especially well? Or do you recall teachers that were passionate about teaching and learning and did their best to make you passionate about it too?

I miss more and more going into teachers classrooms and sharing about what we were doing in our classes and leaving with new ideas to try and tweak and mull over – it fed my fervor both in what I heard that teacher share and in their excitement in what I was doing. When everyone is “doing” the math program that you must teach in-order and not skip any lessons because you’ll break the spiraling aspect – which is the programs strength – there’s not a lot to get passionate about. Not like when you are sharing students struggle with finding all the consecutive sums up to 25 and then noting the patterns that appear.

In my school district we now have a math program and a reading program that basically follow this scenario and they take-up the bulk of the day. I go into classrooms and teachers are prepping the lessons for the next day that aren’t their lessons, they are the programs lessons. It is very difficult to incorporate technology, projects/problems into a school day that is taken up by so much pre-planned time.

Mark Ahlness ranted awhile back about edbloggers that aren’t teachers and how frustrated he was with trying to get to all the newest apps and tools they were promoting in their blogs and presentations. I think (and Mark feel free to correct me on this) that his real frustration was with the fact that just getting his students to blog consistently – just that – was frustratingly difficult under the constraints of time a classroom teacher is subjected to. Then it is easy (although no one really says this) to imply that I’m supposed to be Skypeing, Flickring, podcasting, and whatever great new free app some blogger just found that you just have to use with your students and by the way see you at the _________ convention next week!

This lack of passion means teachers are having fewer discussions about teaching and learning – and the programs so many of us have to follow leave zero time and resources to promote the kind of teaching we would like to be doing so sharing the new teaching tools becomes irrelevant to all but the few.

Let’s hope this programmed teaching begins to wane (I see some cracks – do you?) so that the passion can return and that might lead to an embracing of 21st century tools and a renewed dialog about what teaching is and could be.

Learning is messy!

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One of the Best Investments We Could Make!

One of the biggest mistakes we made in this country was when we cut school sports programs – especially elementary school sports programs. When I was in elementary school, starting in fourth grade, we had after-school team sports – baseball, basketball, volleyball, soccer. Now-a-days kids don’t know how to play games – and I don’t mean just the rules – I mean they don’t know how to win, lose, pick teams, use game strategies – nothing. Try to get a game of kickball going at the last 3 schools where I’ve taught with sixth graders? Forget it. Maybe 5 kids know basically how to play out of 30.

I read a book about the greatest pitchers in baseball with a reading group last year. Not one of the 8 students in the group had heard of even one of the pitchers – Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, – that was bad enough (but certainly not the end of the world), but the students could not relate AT ALL to the stories because they didn’t have any idea how hard it is to strike out 10 or 15 batters in a game – or pitch a game where no-one gets a hit – or a perfect game or even how to play baseball. So the stories were drudgery for them to read – totally boring. Now certainly you can get through life successfully without knowing how to play baseball or know its history (I guess) – but how much harder is it to get excited about reading if you have no sports experience of any kind?

If all you ever played was volleyball – you still get a sense of winning or losing a close game – or just the fun of playing, getting sweaty and tired – so tired you can hardly stand-up but you keep going. You have a feel for what a good play looks like and feels like – so you have a tendency to recognize them in other sports.

When I played sports in elementary school it worked something like this. After school I didn’t rush home so I could speed through my homework, toss down dinner, have a parent drive me across town to practice – then come back and get me later – putting more cars on the road, pollution in the air, more chances of being in an accident. Instead I … stayed after school. The coach (usually a teacher getting paid a small stipend) met us and ran practice until 4:30 or so. Those that didn’t have their homework done that day in class – stayed in class and got it done before they could practice – and if it happened twice they couldn’t play in the game that week – still had to practice though. Kids that had a hard time getting homework done … suddenly didn’t. We have a soccer program for a few kids at my school – and almost every kid that is on the team does better in school during the season.

Elementary schools tend to be located in the neighborhood – most kids can walk home after practice, or it’s a quick ride home later in the day when parents are more likely to be home from work. You get home before 5:00 – in time for dinner, homework, and family time. No rushing around. We use facilities that are already there but aren’t being used after school. Kids have something in common with other kids in their neighborhood. Of course kids don’t need the exercise … they’re already in great shape … right?

All that and research shows that students that are involved in sports or other extra-curricular programs (art, dancing, scouting, music, etc.) do better in school – Is that something we should promote? The best investment this country could make would be to provide extra-curricular activities for ALL elementary school children – and get more use out of facilities that are already there and waiting.

Playing and doing are messy learning!

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Change – Start a Ripple

Miguel Guhlin in his post Pearls On A String, approaches the issue of initiating education reform by advocating for change in each one of us as opposed to trying to – “effect change across complex organizations.” I agree. At this point I’d be thrilled to help elicit change in even a few teachers.

This really is how change gets started. The “ripple effect.” Try something you are passionate about. If it works, and works consistently others will be drawn to your work.

For new ideas to really be valuable they need to have some level of transference. Can others be successful using your technique (even if they have to tweak it to match their style)? If it works for you – truly works for you but others can’t reproduce your result, that doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable – it’s just not going to work for others or lead to change in others. But if it does work for others and they start doing it and are successful, you’ve made a difference for that group. If the group is successful then there’s the possibility that others will be drawn in and maybe, just maybe it will grow from there.

It seems that in today’s education climate you tend to have those that “follow-the-program” either because they embrace it or because they can cruise that way or are just too tired of bucking the system. So if you can make headway in a new way you’ll get some of those to come along. At least in my little corner of NCLB-land I’m seeing a little light that just might allow me to again try some things instead of having to completely stifle them not just because I’d “get in trouble” but the onus has been that your principal and school and other teachers could all get caught up negatively in your experiment.

So I’m with Miguel. I’ll do what I can to change things and see what kind of ripple I can get started.

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Your Child’s Dream Best School Day – What Does It Look Like? What Should It Be?

There is much rumination in the edblogosphere about what education and schools should look like in this way or that. Kids should be blogging, using web 2.0 applications (Wikis, podcasts, Flickr, the flavor-of-the-week app), in conjuction with project-based, problem-based learning. The reality in the elementary classroom however is not a blank slate that you can manipulate any way you want.

But let’s say it was a blank slate – and not only is it a blank slate, but YOUR child is in this class. What would you want your child to be doing in this classroom? They can’t just sit and blog all day. This is an elementary school classroom – what things would you want to hear your child saying they were doing in that classroom? Remember, there are usually mandatory minutes that must be spent on reading, language and math (and yes the other subjects too, but take my word, somehow the minutes of science, social studies, art, PE, etc. are not watched over in quite the same way).

So, what’s your child’s (or grandcild’s) ultimate learning day look like? I’d love to hear your ideas. If you are reading this you probably have some opinions, probably strong opinions about this, but have you ever thought about or planned a whole “typical” day? Here’s your challenge. Take your thoughts and biases and ideas and opinions and learning and experience and conversations and put them all together. Make it a comment here, or make it a post on your blog.

Don’t make this a minute by minute, long, drawn out thing (unless you want to), just a rough outline of what a great learning day would include.

I think this would help many people get a handle on what is being advocated on ed blogs, and give us all a chance to put our plan where our advocacy is. Any takers?
Learning is messy!