ALLIES

During a recent graduate class discussion of how to improve training, equipment and tech support for teachers to use with their students, the participants were planning ways to make their needs known. They discussed who they should bring their case to. One participant then stated “Admin, superintendent, not a teacher - it’s all the same to me!!”

I responded “I would suggest that one knows one's allies. [One of the district-level administrators discussed] is one of the people who decide what kinds of things will be taught in these [graduate] classes. She, along with [another administrator] are allies to those who want more professional development offered in what you all have been asking for. I know that they agree with the vast majority of things teachers taking this course have been saying. They also are doing as much as possible in letting others know your desires and needs. I had invited [these administrators] to monitor these discussions. As I previously have told all of you, I recommend one know one's allies.”

Mark Wagner in his workshop "Learning to Network & Networking to Learn: Beyond The Tools..." located at http://networktolearn.wikispaces.com/tenaya states that one way to cultivate change is to develop a network of educational leaders who are willing to
· Make connections with each other and make attempts to find others who would be willing to join them in dialogue. These connections also can become your personal learning network (PLN)
· Make conversation with and contributions to others in your PLN.
· Make plans with those in your PLN to help you all achieve your goals to improve learning opportunities for your students. Find the best-practice research and the examples needed.
· Make requests to the powers-that-be. This is where you need your allies in your PLN. There is strength in numbers, in persistence and in a great vision.


I’ll leave you with two questions:

1) Who is part of your PLN?
2) (The question Mark asked his workshop participants) How has your personal learning network impacted you, your work, or your students?

PROFILES AND ASSESSMENTS

Intriguing!

A Superintendent of a local school district was quoted in the newspaper stating "As a district and as a community, we must begin to define what we believe a successful school and a successful graduate looks like. We must look for measures beyond state test scores to show that we are moving in the right direction."

I wondered if he was thinking along the lines of those in Nebraska http://www.elladvocates.org/media/NCLB/Time30may07.html or North Carolina http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/graduationproject/ who determined what the profile of 21st century citizen should be and then devised processes to educate and assess students as the attain those skills. (For an excellent description of what North Carolina is doing, peruse the Watauga High School site http://www.watauga.k12.nc.us/graduation_project/index.html .)

What he meant instead was to use available data, such as the number of students taking AP classes, numbers in the gifted program, etc. in order to flesh out a more complete profile of what students in the district are like.

Oh well.

Finances or Vision?

In the graduate class I am now teaching, a discussion among the participants (all educators) ensued about the reasons why they don't have adequate amounts of technology. Most think that the financial issue is the main hindrance to supplying teachers and students the technology they need.

Chris Lehman, Principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA (discussed the difficulty most schools have in using technology the way it should be.

Chris said "And the problem is that our entire structure has to change to make it easier. You can't teach 150 kids a day this way [using the traditional factory model of education]... you have to find new ways to look at your classroom. Everything from school design to …... to class size and teacher load to curriculum and assessment -- everything we do in schools -- has to be on the table for change if we are to achieve the kind of schools that video is speaking about." http://practicaltheory.org/serendipity/index.php?/archives/963-Pearson-Presents-Learning-to-Change.html

One of my students in the graduate class reflected this when she said: "I'm beginning to feel that the only initiative they [the school district powers-that-be] are interested in is to raise test scores."

In my opinion, even if all students met the standards on the tests they would still be woefully short of what real learning is all about, the kinds of things mentioned in the 21st Century Skills report.
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/documents/FINAL_REPORT_PDF09-29-06.pdf ( Note the executive Summary on page 9)

If the vision of how our kids should be taught would really be bought into by the powers-that-be, don't you think that the finances would be found to help reach that vision?

Maybe the problem therefore is the vision of how we expect our students to learn.

The District in which the educators work has new Superintendent. He made a comment on the district web page that is extremely intriguing: ""As a District and as a community, we must begin to define what we believe a successful school and a successful graduate looks like. We must look for measures beyond state test scores to show that we are moving in the right direction." http://www.u-46.org/npps/story.cfm?nppage=669

Could the Superintendent possibly be thinking along Chris Lehman's lines?

Any comments?