In our meeting today my Administrators are experiencing what learning should look like in a 21st Century classroom using technology in an inquiry based model. Administrators are sitting in Family of Schools groupings and they have come up with an inquiry question that they would like to jointly investigate. They are huddled around a computer and they are sharing ideas and challenging each other.
The group leading the session have set-up flip cameras around the room and we are filming the work. When we are done, we are going to show the Administrators the film so that they can see themselves, first hand, demonstrating a cooperative, collaborative, inquiry based lesson using technology. Groups have also been challenged to create a presentation to share their inquiry question with the group.
As a group of instructional leaders, we keep coming back to our motto; If We Are Going To Lead It, We Need To Do It, and today is a prime example. I wish you could hear the excitement, the focussed talk and the laughter. It is a big accomplishment for a group, many of whom had very little experience with technology 5 months ago, to be beginning to set a vision for how we want to move forward.
Each group is now presenting their inquiry questions and it is amazing what they have done in 30 minutes. The presentations are diverse and extremely creative.
The group that is on right now did all of their work on a brand new iPad that they just took out of the box this morning. The group is demonstrating what our kids could/would do if we only gave them the opportunity. The room is alive with "aha" moments. It is just so incredible.
Superintendent meetings can be immersed in administrivia but we need to trust the professionalism of our administrators. I will email them the things I need them to know. I trust that they will read the information and forward any questions they may have to me. Instead of putting my administrators to sleep by inundating them with knowledge, my administrators have been immersed in learning and discovering what they want the classrooms in their schools to look like. Talk about a Wow!!
Today is part one and we will be continuing the journey at out next meeting. We will also be working our way through Prensky's book and building our knowledge and understanding of where we want our schools to go and how we can help them get there. Talk about an amazing morning!!
Tuesday 29 November 2011
Our Plan to move forward
The work that we have been doing in my superintendency has been very positive but to create real change we realized we needed to connect with a larger group. It is important for me as a Superintendent to think beyond my own collection of schools and to maintain a System view. To that end I have now created a technology committee that has broad base representation and when we meet the next time, the committe will expand to have members from every superintendency in the Board.
Currently the original committee is out in West Vancouver as guests of Chris Kennedy and his administrators. West Vancouver is doing some very innovative things in the areas of instructional technology, programs of choice and assessment. The Peel group is out there to listen, learn, ask questions and bring back ideas and suggestions to help us move forward.
It is important to continually remind people of what this journey is really about. This isn't about technology for technology sake, this is about looking for ways to use technology to help us improve our practice to meet the needs of 12st Century Learners. In his book, Teaching Digital Natives; Partnering for Real Learning, Marc Prensky talks about the huge changes that have taken place in education, but he also laments the fact that the change is happening everywhere but in the classroom. We still assume that children are arriving in our schools as empty vessels and it is our job to fill them up. The reality though, as Prensky points out, is that children are on the internet, watching television, movies, playing games, and are inundated with knowledge and information from a variety of sources. Then they walk in a class room where the sad reality is class rooms look the same as they have for the last 100 years. What is even sadder is what is going on in many of those class rooms hasn't changed much either.
To continue to move our students forward schools need to be meeting the needs of our clientele. The fact that Pensky would identify schools as the least innovative places that kids spend their valuable time is very sad and certainly speaks to the engagement issues that we are having with our children, particularly our boys. When our kids are living in a world where the computer can immediately respond to their passions and interests, it hardly surprising that they fail to find a socratic class room engaging. Among the children that Prensky interviewed for his study, they commented on the fact that they feel teachers do not respect what they bring to the class room. 21st century class rooms need to reflect a partnership between the students and the teacher. The role of the teacher changes from the giver of information to the coach that helps students become critical consumers of information. The children in our class rooms who are the adults of the future will need very sophisticated tools to allow them to navigate and challenge the techno-information age that they will be living in.
Currently the original committee is out in West Vancouver as guests of Chris Kennedy and his administrators. West Vancouver is doing some very innovative things in the areas of instructional technology, programs of choice and assessment. The Peel group is out there to listen, learn, ask questions and bring back ideas and suggestions to help us move forward.
It is important to continually remind people of what this journey is really about. This isn't about technology for technology sake, this is about looking for ways to use technology to help us improve our practice to meet the needs of 12st Century Learners. In his book, Teaching Digital Natives; Partnering for Real Learning, Marc Prensky talks about the huge changes that have taken place in education, but he also laments the fact that the change is happening everywhere but in the classroom. We still assume that children are arriving in our schools as empty vessels and it is our job to fill them up. The reality though, as Prensky points out, is that children are on the internet, watching television, movies, playing games, and are inundated with knowledge and information from a variety of sources. Then they walk in a class room where the sad reality is class rooms look the same as they have for the last 100 years. What is even sadder is what is going on in many of those class rooms hasn't changed much either.
To continue to move our students forward schools need to be meeting the needs of our clientele. The fact that Pensky would identify schools as the least innovative places that kids spend their valuable time is very sad and certainly speaks to the engagement issues that we are having with our children, particularly our boys. When our kids are living in a world where the computer can immediately respond to their passions and interests, it hardly surprising that they fail to find a socratic class room engaging. Among the children that Prensky interviewed for his study, they commented on the fact that they feel teachers do not respect what they bring to the class room. 21st century class rooms need to reflect a partnership between the students and the teacher. The role of the teacher changes from the giver of information to the coach that helps students become critical consumers of information. The children in our class rooms who are the adults of the future will need very sophisticated tools to allow them to navigate and challenge the techno-information age that they will be living in.
Wednesday 24 August 2011
Tech training for my administrators
Tomorrow is the next step in the move towards helping my Administrators to become tech leaders in their school. Many of my administrators are not overly comfortable with technology so they are living the angst that some of their teachers are going to experience as we insist on moving them to create 21st century classrooms. The literature is very clear, if you are going to be a tech leader in your school then you have to be able to model the use of technology for your teachers.
I have created a tech committee within the instructional leaders in my superintendency. Some are administrators and some are resource staff who are excited about integrating technology as an instructional tool. Once we are ready to move into the schools and into our classrooms, our resource instructional leaders will assist the school administrators in supporting reluctant staff to make the leap. The tech committee brings together instructional leaders at all levels to create a collaborative team with a common vision and a common purpose.
Tomorrow they will ensure that all members of our superintendency are on twitter, they will show them the power of google docs and they will brainstorm the positives of including technology in the classroom and in a school.
Last week I was at the ICP conference. 2,200 educators, all administrators and system leaders, from 40 different countries. Over and over again the power of technology as an instructional tool and as a way to assist us in communicating with each other and making our world smaller was discussed. One Ontario Principal has set-up a partnership with a Principal in Uganda and they are exploring ways of connecting their students through the internet and the use of Face to Face. By connecting with each other students can learn from one another, get a better understanding of the issues facing our world and work together to create solutions. Talk about real life experiences that students can hang their learning onto.
What became clear in all of the sessions that I attended is that the Principal is key to the successful implementation of technology as a forceful tool in their school. Principals are key to successful implementations and they need to balance pressure and support when moving their school in a new direction. The creation of a digital school is no different than any other implementation. There are staff who will embrace the change and assist the Principal in moving forward. There will also be other reluctant staff who will need support but all of the schools presenting made one thing very clear; getting there is not an option.
One of the key pieces of data that has been missing when discussing the use of technology in schools is definitive proof that it makes a difference in student achievement. There is lots of data to demonstrate an increase in student engagement but no clear proof of improved student achievement. Australia however, is tracking student achievement as part of their digital project in New South Wales. They claim to have data which demonstrates a significant improvement in student achievement. I say "claims" only because I have not seen the data myself and it was not presented as part of the workshop.
I have no doubt that the use of technology will eventually significantly improve student achievement. To create an ideal environment for learning, students need to be engaged and excited about what is going on in their classroom. If the use of technology is capturing the attention of students and making them more excited about learning, then it is our job as teachers to capitalize on that engagement and translate it into results. For that reason, if for no other, we need to become proficient in the use of technology and masters at yielding its power. We need to grapple with the new role of the teacher in a 21st century classroom and begin to reinvent ourselves. It is an exciting journey with incredible possibilities and tomorrow is the next step in the journey for my administrators.
In October I am sending 3 of my administrators to West Vancouver to see what digital education looks like in their schools and to learn from their journey. Through the use of technology we can make the world smaller for our students but through the use of technology we can make the world smaller for ourselves too. We can teach each other so much, the question is whether or not we are ready to try. Collaboration country wide, continent wide, world wide. An amazing concept.
I have created a tech committee within the instructional leaders in my superintendency. Some are administrators and some are resource staff who are excited about integrating technology as an instructional tool. Once we are ready to move into the schools and into our classrooms, our resource instructional leaders will assist the school administrators in supporting reluctant staff to make the leap. The tech committee brings together instructional leaders at all levels to create a collaborative team with a common vision and a common purpose.
Tomorrow they will ensure that all members of our superintendency are on twitter, they will show them the power of google docs and they will brainstorm the positives of including technology in the classroom and in a school.
Last week I was at the ICP conference. 2,200 educators, all administrators and system leaders, from 40 different countries. Over and over again the power of technology as an instructional tool and as a way to assist us in communicating with each other and making our world smaller was discussed. One Ontario Principal has set-up a partnership with a Principal in Uganda and they are exploring ways of connecting their students through the internet and the use of Face to Face. By connecting with each other students can learn from one another, get a better understanding of the issues facing our world and work together to create solutions. Talk about real life experiences that students can hang their learning onto.
What became clear in all of the sessions that I attended is that the Principal is key to the successful implementation of technology as a forceful tool in their school. Principals are key to successful implementations and they need to balance pressure and support when moving their school in a new direction. The creation of a digital school is no different than any other implementation. There are staff who will embrace the change and assist the Principal in moving forward. There will also be other reluctant staff who will need support but all of the schools presenting made one thing very clear; getting there is not an option.
One of the key pieces of data that has been missing when discussing the use of technology in schools is definitive proof that it makes a difference in student achievement. There is lots of data to demonstrate an increase in student engagement but no clear proof of improved student achievement. Australia however, is tracking student achievement as part of their digital project in New South Wales. They claim to have data which demonstrates a significant improvement in student achievement. I say "claims" only because I have not seen the data myself and it was not presented as part of the workshop.
I have no doubt that the use of technology will eventually significantly improve student achievement. To create an ideal environment for learning, students need to be engaged and excited about what is going on in their classroom. If the use of technology is capturing the attention of students and making them more excited about learning, then it is our job as teachers to capitalize on that engagement and translate it into results. For that reason, if for no other, we need to become proficient in the use of technology and masters at yielding its power. We need to grapple with the new role of the teacher in a 21st century classroom and begin to reinvent ourselves. It is an exciting journey with incredible possibilities and tomorrow is the next step in the journey for my administrators.
In October I am sending 3 of my administrators to West Vancouver to see what digital education looks like in their schools and to learn from their journey. Through the use of technology we can make the world smaller for our students but through the use of technology we can make the world smaller for ourselves too. We can teach each other so much, the question is whether or not we are ready to try. Collaboration country wide, continent wide, world wide. An amazing concept.
Tuesday 2 August 2011
Summer as a Superintendent
This has been my first summer as a Superintendent and I can honestly say it has been different. Summer is usually the time that I put my life back in order, take some time to hang out with my family and basically just decompress. When you are a Superintendent though I can honestly say that your work life just doesn't stop. I am in the middle of what was to be a four week holiday and I am investigating a major staff issue, I have been to several meetings and I have some paperwork that I am trying to catch up on.
On my four week break though I have been spending some time with my oldest daughter and her new son. He is going to be 7 months on August 10th and it is just so fun to watch him grow and change. He makes me even more aware of the need to look at our educational practices and think about how we are best meeting the needs of our students, particularly the young men sitting in our classrooms, because the data would say that we are not meeting their needs well.
I have been interested to read the messages from our American colleagues as they try to make their views on standardized testing heard. They are challenging what the real goals of education are and they are challenging the fact that to be poor and from a minority group pretty well ensures that you will not be successful in school. It is a fact that just makes me crazy because there is no way that we don't have the knowledge and ability to change that statistic so why aren't we?
I came into education because I wanted to make a difference and now in the last years of my career I continue to be as much of a "Polly Anna" as ever. Educators have incredible power and we have the ability to change so much but we seem to chose to change so little.
So, for my little guy, for your little guy, for all of the little guys in the world, for all of those children coming from poverty, for those who have the double challenge of poverty and race I commit to you that I will continue to work to make education the great equalizer and opportunity maker that it should be. I commit to pushing our schools to become the innovative and inspirational places that they can be and I commit to making 21st century classrooms a reality during my watch.
It is funny how one little child can inspire you to work even harder than you already have been but baby Max has done that for me. I care about my legacy and I hope that every educator who reads this cares about their legacy too.
Summer as a Superintendent has been different but one thing has remained the same as every other summer I have spent as an educator; it has given me time to reflect, renew, re-energize and recommit to doing the best job I can for the children that I serve.
On my four week break though I have been spending some time with my oldest daughter and her new son. He is going to be 7 months on August 10th and it is just so fun to watch him grow and change. He makes me even more aware of the need to look at our educational practices and think about how we are best meeting the needs of our students, particularly the young men sitting in our classrooms, because the data would say that we are not meeting their needs well.
I have been interested to read the messages from our American colleagues as they try to make their views on standardized testing heard. They are challenging what the real goals of education are and they are challenging the fact that to be poor and from a minority group pretty well ensures that you will not be successful in school. It is a fact that just makes me crazy because there is no way that we don't have the knowledge and ability to change that statistic so why aren't we?
I came into education because I wanted to make a difference and now in the last years of my career I continue to be as much of a "Polly Anna" as ever. Educators have incredible power and we have the ability to change so much but we seem to chose to change so little.
So, for my little guy, for your little guy, for all of the little guys in the world, for all of those children coming from poverty, for those who have the double challenge of poverty and race I commit to you that I will continue to work to make education the great equalizer and opportunity maker that it should be. I commit to pushing our schools to become the innovative and inspirational places that they can be and I commit to making 21st century classrooms a reality during my watch.
It is funny how one little child can inspire you to work even harder than you already have been but baby Max has done that for me. I care about my legacy and I hope that every educator who reads this cares about their legacy too.
Summer as a Superintendent has been different but one thing has remained the same as every other summer I have spent as an educator; it has given me time to reflect, renew, re-energize and recommit to doing the best job I can for the children that I serve.
Monday 11 July 2011
Why I am so excited about technology
As I mentioned in my first blog, my intention is to chronicle the tech journey of my group of educational leaders and myself. Part of my motivation is to satisfy the requirements for a course but the other part of my motivation is so we have a record of our journey. Because the record of our journey is for a course there will have to be some sequence to the postings and some definite ties to research but tonight's blog is just for me.
I don't think that I have been as excited or as energized about an educational possibility as I am about the potential power of technology to redefine our work. The interesting thing about technology is that it doesn't just present potentials for the classroom and learning but it also has the power to change our definition of collaboration to a world-wide meeting of minds with the express goal of improving what we do for kids in every corner of the world. If we believe the world is getting smaller and that we are truly moving to a global way of doing and thinking then we need to expand our goals beyond our classroom, beyond our school, beyond our school district to goals that effect how we practice education period.
I am not a tech expert, I am a tech newbie. Sure I do email, documents and power points but until very recently I hadn't branched out and really examined how technology could change what I do, what my schools do and how it could exponentially impact the students who we are responsible for educating. Notice I said educate, not teach, because I think the more we embrace technology the definition of what we do in the classroom will begin to change.
I want to give a call out to three individuals who have really made me change direction over the past three months and begin to challenge myself and the instructional leaders in my Unit. The three gentlemen responsible for throwing down the gauntlet are Will Richardson, Chris Kennedy and Justin Tarte. In this blog I would like to focus on Justin.
Justin is about to start his first Vice Principalship or as they say in the States, his first Assistant Principalship. Through Twitter I, along with others, have watched him prepare for his new assignment and think about what his entry plan should look like. Justin uses Twitter as a way to challenge himself, to learn, to question, to inquire and to float ideas for feedback. Tonight I watched the video that he has prepared for the first day of school to inspire and energize his teachers. Justin and others have shown me that by being on Twitter I can be inspired, I can learn and I can engage in educational debate all from the comfort of my home office. Incredible.
When I talk to other educators they ask me where I get the time to play with all of this stuff. Well, where do we get the time to read? Where do we get the time to take courses? Where do we get the time to go to conferences? If it is important then you make the time to do it and to quote Will Richardson, "Learning is life-long and life-wide."
My journey is just beginning but I believe that it is a journey that is going to make a fundamental difference in teaching and learning in the schools that I serve. That is worth whatever time it takes.
I don't think that I have been as excited or as energized about an educational possibility as I am about the potential power of technology to redefine our work. The interesting thing about technology is that it doesn't just present potentials for the classroom and learning but it also has the power to change our definition of collaboration to a world-wide meeting of minds with the express goal of improving what we do for kids in every corner of the world. If we believe the world is getting smaller and that we are truly moving to a global way of doing and thinking then we need to expand our goals beyond our classroom, beyond our school, beyond our school district to goals that effect how we practice education period.
I am not a tech expert, I am a tech newbie. Sure I do email, documents and power points but until very recently I hadn't branched out and really examined how technology could change what I do, what my schools do and how it could exponentially impact the students who we are responsible for educating. Notice I said educate, not teach, because I think the more we embrace technology the definition of what we do in the classroom will begin to change.
I want to give a call out to three individuals who have really made me change direction over the past three months and begin to challenge myself and the instructional leaders in my Unit. The three gentlemen responsible for throwing down the gauntlet are Will Richardson, Chris Kennedy and Justin Tarte. In this blog I would like to focus on Justin.
Justin is about to start his first Vice Principalship or as they say in the States, his first Assistant Principalship. Through Twitter I, along with others, have watched him prepare for his new assignment and think about what his entry plan should look like. Justin uses Twitter as a way to challenge himself, to learn, to question, to inquire and to float ideas for feedback. Tonight I watched the video that he has prepared for the first day of school to inspire and energize his teachers. Justin and others have shown me that by being on Twitter I can be inspired, I can learn and I can engage in educational debate all from the comfort of my home office. Incredible.
When I talk to other educators they ask me where I get the time to play with all of this stuff. Well, where do we get the time to read? Where do we get the time to take courses? Where do we get the time to go to conferences? If it is important then you make the time to do it and to quote Will Richardson, "Learning is life-long and life-wide."
My journey is just beginning but I believe that it is a journey that is going to make a fundamental difference in teaching and learning in the schools that I serve. That is worth whatever time it takes.
Saturday 2 July 2011
My first blog entry
I am taking the next step in my technology journey by creating my own blog. I have just completed my first year as Superintendent of Education with the Peel District School Board and I have decided to use this blog to chronicle the journey of my Principals, Vice Principals, Resource staff and myself to fully integrating technology into what we do.
As a group we decided to start with our own journey first because we felt we couldn't ask teachers to radically change their practice unless we had changed ours too. As of now at all of our meetings pens and paper are not allowed. All members of our team must bring an electronic devise to meetings and all agendas, documents and presentations will be provided via technology. There will be no hard copies. Each member of our team is allowed to pick the technology device that best fits their learning style, again modeling how we will move forward into the classrooms. We have laptops, net books, I-pads, I-phones and blackberries. Whatever device fits the need that is okay.
I suppose it is important to talk about what got us to this focus. In Ontario we are a regular testing program to check on the progress of our student success plan as a Province. The testing is called EQAO and it is applied at grade 3, 6, 9, and there is a literacy test given in grade 10 that must be passed before students can be awarded their High School Diploma. The tests are based on the curriculum so provide one indication to us as educators of how well we are teaching and how well our students are learning.
A piece of data that is Province wide but particularly evident in my Superintendency is the gap in success between boys and girls. In some cases there is as much as a 40% spread. Another piece of data that also got the attention of my group is the fact that Ontario is in the top 5 for student achievement according to International tests but in the bottom 5 for engagement. How does that tie into the poor results we are seeing with our boys?
As we begun our investigation of student engagement, particularly the engagement of boys, technology continued to be raised as an instructional strategy that needed to be considered and better applied in classrooms. From there we began to look at research on the 21st century classroom and the same issue kept coming up.
I then attended the Ontario Provincial Supervisory Officer's Association conference and listened to presentations by Will Richardson and Chris Kennedy and I decided that technology had to become part of what we embraced as administrators to move our classrooms to the next level, to truly begin to prepare our students for the 21st century and to better engage our boys in the educational process.
From that moment the journey began!
As a group we decided to start with our own journey first because we felt we couldn't ask teachers to radically change their practice unless we had changed ours too. As of now at all of our meetings pens and paper are not allowed. All members of our team must bring an electronic devise to meetings and all agendas, documents and presentations will be provided via technology. There will be no hard copies. Each member of our team is allowed to pick the technology device that best fits their learning style, again modeling how we will move forward into the classrooms. We have laptops, net books, I-pads, I-phones and blackberries. Whatever device fits the need that is okay.
I suppose it is important to talk about what got us to this focus. In Ontario we are a regular testing program to check on the progress of our student success plan as a Province. The testing is called EQAO and it is applied at grade 3, 6, 9, and there is a literacy test given in grade 10 that must be passed before students can be awarded their High School Diploma. The tests are based on the curriculum so provide one indication to us as educators of how well we are teaching and how well our students are learning.
A piece of data that is Province wide but particularly evident in my Superintendency is the gap in success between boys and girls. In some cases there is as much as a 40% spread. Another piece of data that also got the attention of my group is the fact that Ontario is in the top 5 for student achievement according to International tests but in the bottom 5 for engagement. How does that tie into the poor results we are seeing with our boys?
As we begun our investigation of student engagement, particularly the engagement of boys, technology continued to be raised as an instructional strategy that needed to be considered and better applied in classrooms. From there we began to look at research on the 21st century classroom and the same issue kept coming up.
I then attended the Ontario Provincial Supervisory Officer's Association conference and listened to presentations by Will Richardson and Chris Kennedy and I decided that technology had to become part of what we embraced as administrators to move our classrooms to the next level, to truly begin to prepare our students for the 21st century and to better engage our boys in the educational process.
From that moment the journey began!
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