Sharing Our Learning

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I have been off and on writing this “weekly” post but I think that it is important to recognize some of the great content that I am reading out there that may have been missed in tweets and I like trying to culminate some of my favourite content for others to share in one space.  Here are a few things that I thought were great to share:

1.  Teachers Should Change How They Teach Students Today – There constantly seems to be a back-and-forth about changing teaching practices vs. teaching the way that worked for us as students.  In this great article that was a response to a New York Times piece and then offers a comparison to another article discussing students in an Ethiopian village and how they had learned to hack into a device and do some pretty amazing things:

Kids without schooling, without literacy, HACKED the Androids to turn the camera back on . . . without instruction.  That is a breathtaking example of how learning can happen with new technology if we are open to new ways of peer, community-based, shared learning…What the teachers in the NY Times piece need to take from this Ethiopian experiment–what all of us as educators on every level have to take from this experiment–is that, if we do not think learning is something so dreadfully dull that it has to be regulated, assessed, made compulsory, rule bound, divided into disciplines, and in all other ways “measured out in coffee spoons” (as T. S. Eliot would say), then the potential of kids and all of us to learn is enormous.  I have had to unlearn a lot of my own didactic forms of teaching over the years and have had to learn how to practice what I call “structuring possibilities for openness.”   It means biting my tongue, not solving the problem or coming up with the answers, but providing the opportunities in which students can help one another to learn and having faith that, if I stay back, they will in fact learn because, as humans, learning is what we do, it’s how we thrive.

Has learning changed or the opportunities that make it more conducive and engaging?  Just a question I thought of when reading this article.

2.  The Daily Routines of Famous Writers – I just love some of the quotes and thoughts from this article as that many people are exploring blogs and how we can have students engaged in their own writing.  What I get from the article is that there is not “one-size-fits-all” approach to this but we just have to just start:

“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.”

But if we are blogging do students have to write?  Darren Kuropatwa offers a different perspective on what the blogging medium provides and how text is not the only option.  What are some tips that you have to get students and/or teachers to write?

3.  Freedom < —  A Vehicle For Leadership – Kristen Swanson refers to a recent Leadership 2.0 session offered by Chris Wejr and shares thoughts on the differences between “Freedom From” and “Freedom To”:

Chris caught my attention by talking about freedom. While everyone wants freedom, some people want “freedom from” and others want “freedom to.”

In unhealthy, fear-based organizations, people want FREEDOM FROM the rules that exist arbitrarily. They want to escape the entire situation. They seek points, credit, dollars, or some other external reward. A leader in this type of organization must constantly monitor the team’s compliance.

In vibrant, collaborative organizations, people want FREEDOM TO innovate, create new structures, and solve problems. A leader in this type of environment simply needs to nurture the ambitions of the team.

So here is my question on this…can a healthy organization have elements of both?  For example, if a leader provides “freedom from” boring staff meetings so that teachers have the “freedom to” spend more time focused on professional learning, is that not what we want?  Kristen discusses this in her own post but what are your thoughts? Is one more important or is there a correlation?

So Star Wars and Disney have created a partnership and I love this “Disney Song” that was created from the movie.

Enjoy!

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by gcouros

I have been on the road a considerable amount in the last month so I have decided to blog on stuff that has inspired me and write in a spontaneous manner so the “you should read…” post that I have tried to write on a weekly basis has been something that I have skipped in the last couple of weeks.  I still think that it is important to share what I have been catching on Twitter and learning from others.

1.  7 Kinds of Thinking Keeping Your School or District from Transformation -This article by John Robinson was fascinating and he is ideas shared are fantastic, but what I like most about this post was that he actually offered “antidotes” on how to cure each ailment:

“We’ve always done it this way thinking.” In public education, I have found this kind of thinking the most common. You can easily run up against this thinking by simply questioning a policy or procedure, or by suggesting a new way of doing something….The best antidote for this kind of thinking? Asking the simple “Why” question. If the answer is, “Because we’ve always done it this way,” then the underlying rationale might be suspect..

Many people will read this and think of someone they should send it to.  Administrators may blame teachers, teachers blame administrators, schools blame government, etc., and so on and so forth.  I truly believe that we should look at ourselves first, especially in this context and ask what are embodying to others and giving “solutions” as John offers, as opposed to simply discuss problems.

I tweeted the below in a discussion and I believe it is essential to school transformation:

@ebertsr I think if you really want to make change, it is not top down or bottom up.It is all hands on deck. #whatisbestforkids

— George Couros (@gcouros) November 4, 2012

The more I connect with educators, the more I am loving that they are seeing that they are part of the solution.

2.  Why Kids Need School to Change – A fantastic article discussing the importance of what we do in our schools and the need to change in our current environment.

The current structure of the school day is obsolete, most would agree. Created during the Industrial Age, the assembly line system we have in place now has little relevance to what we know kids actually need to thrive.

Most of us know this, and yet making room for the huge shift in the system that’s necessary has been difficult, if not impossible because of fear of the unknown, says educator Madeline Levine, author of Teach Your Children Well.

“People don’t like change, especially in times of great uncertainty,” she said. “People naturally go conservative and buckle down and don’t want to try something new. There are schools that are trying to do things differently, and although on the one hand they’re heralded as having terrific vision, they’re still seen as experimental.”

The author offers the idea of “project based learning, alternative assessment, scheduling, climate of care, and parent education” as ways to improving school.  What would you suggest regarding these ideas? What would you add or change?

3.  7 Basic Types of Stories – I am fascinated about the role of stories in the current context of schools and I love watching what organizations outside of education do to leverage this.  You can easily take an hour to go through this post, but I think that there are some pretty engaging ideas.  Does the following quote apply to schools?

“Brands are stories,” he said. “They want to embody a story. When we start working with a client, we don’t want to take a brief. We don’t want to just say, ‘What’s your problem?’ We want to go right back to, ‘Why was your company started? What’s your mission?’ We talk about mission all the time, and it’s just another way of saying, ‘What kind of story are you on? What kind of story do you want to tell?’ … Part of our job as an agency is to reignite that and really figure out what that story is.”

I would love your thoughts so I can further my own learning in this area.

BONUS –> Just as something that I would like to share as one of those videos that makes me smile every single time I see it, I thought that I would share this video from “The Flight of the Conchords” which is guaranteed to make you smile (I will buy you ice cream if it doesn’t).  You can also get the karaoke version of the song if you want to sing it with your kids

Have a great week!

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by gcouros

I missed sharing this post last week as I decided to take a Sunday off from everything and just watch some football There is a ton of great stuff and the article this week really pushed my own thinking about what can be happening in schools right now to push what we do in schools.

1.  What it might be – As our own school division embarks on the second year of digital portfolio implementation, I really enjoyed this post by my friend Jabiz Raisdana who shares not only some thoughts about student blogging, but shares his own experience with blogging as well.  I really believe that if we are to be effective with kids in teaching this skill, we must not have knowledge, but also some experience with it as well.  Whether that is in a personal blog or a classroom blog, seeing both the benefits and negatives is powerful.

I think back to my own experience blogging and how I started off with the idea of “blog as a portfolio” but really started to fall in love with the writing process.  My style has developed over time and now I find that blogging is crucial to my own learning, both personally and professionally.

Jabiz ends the post with some great advice for students to get into the flow of blogging:

If you want your students to blog effectively, give them the freedom to experiment and write about what interests them. Stay away from portfolios and forced reflections on their learning, at least until they get the hang of it. Wait until they find a voice, find an audience, and become involved in the conversations around ideas, before you push your agenda of meta-cognition and reflective learning. 

Seriously, read the entire post.

2.  5 Critical Mistakes Schools Make with iPads – Too many times, I watch schools/organizations focus on the tool as opposed to the learning. That has led several schools to buy mass amounts of hardware (including iPads) and have many teachers not understand what their purpose is or see it as an add-on.  Many school leaders may not think that, but if you talk to their teachers, they may have a different point of view.  That is I have found this Edudemic article such a great guide to start for implementation of iPads (or any technology) in a school.  The last point in the article is the most important in my opinion:

5) Failure to communicate a compelling answer to “Why iPads?”
Many school administrators simply fail to communicate to their constituents why they’ve purchased iPads. As a result, many initiatives face resistance from teachers, parents — and even students – who don’t understand why these devices are being introduced into their classrooms. Letting the purchase speak for itself isn’t enough – districts need to explain why they’ve invested in these devices.

I encourage you to read this before you implement anything in your school.  If you have already done so, still read it and ask yourself, “what have we missed?”

3.  Learning Today Looks Nothing Like in the Past – Karen Lirenman, a grade one teacher in Surrey, BC, shared some of the things that she is doing in her classroom and when I read her post, my jaw literally dropped.  It is amazing what a grade one classroom can look like now but is this the norm?  Is it even something that many are aspiring towards?

Some of the things that Karen listed in her post that she does…Quad blogging, Skyping, blog for classroom collaboration, high school/elementary school collaboration, global read aloud, and much more.  This is in a grade one classroom!

So a couple of things popped in my head while reading this.

a.  When I hear teachers in elementary classrooms say that kids are too young for technology, I can easily send them to this post (and I probably will).

b. Many may take Karen’s post as that she is not doing some of the traditional “literacies” in her classroom and think it is technology focused. I saw Yong Zhao this past summer and he said something that stuck out to me.

“Reading and writing should be the floor, not the ceiling.”

Karen is shooting for a much higher ceiling then she probably has before, probably because of all of her own learning that she has done.  A master teacher always grows and Karen is exemplifying that in her work.

c.  What happens to these students after Karen’s class? What is her admin team doing to ensure that these types of activities are continued after next year with this group of students?  What is Karen doing with the teacher’s of the next grade?  It has to be a team effort in a school where we must all push each other’s learning to do what is best for kids, not just the sole responsibility of the “admin team”.  This is where we go beyond “classroom teacher” to the notion of “school teacher”.  Leadership can come from many different avenues in a school.

Hopefully you have some food for thought this week from these posts.  I know that definitely with these three articles alone, my thinking has been stretched significantly so I hope they have given you some food for thought as well.

Just as an “extra” share, I wanted to share this awesome song by The Avett Brothers.  I love their music and just started listening to their new album (is that what you call it nowadays?).  Below is my favourite song from it.

Have a great week!

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by dkuropatwa

Every now and then, I like to go back through my old Diigo bookmarks and look at articles that I have shared in the past in the “You Should Read” category as I know many readers will have missed these at the time when they are posted.  It is truly hard to become a “classic” on the Internet with the number of articles coming your way, but I think through the use of social bookmarking sites such as Diigo (which is how I have always used to compile these lists), we can easily come back and revisit these posts.

With that being said, here are some articles that I have shared previously that I think are worthy of revisiting.

1.  The Creativity Crisis –  I loved this article and often come back to it in the work that I am doing.  The term “creativity” is something that is being used by schools and many organizations, and seen as an essential skill.

The potential consequences are sweeping. The necessity of human ingenuity is undisputed. A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future. Yet it’s not just about sustaining our nation’s economic growth. All around us are matters of national and international importance that are crying out for creative solutions, from saving the Gulf of Mexico to bringing peace to Afghanistan to delivering health care. Such solutions emerge from a healthy marketplace of ideas, sustained by a populace constantly contributing original ideas and receptive to the ideas of others.

Yet many say that with the structure of schools, creativity is something that we struggle with, yet the author offers a different perspective:

Researchers say creativity should be taken out of the art room and put into homeroom. The argument that we can’t teach creativity because kids already have too much to learn is a false trade-off. Creativity isn’t about freedom from concrete facts. Rather, fact-finding and deep research are vital stages in the creative process. Scholars argue that current curriculum standards can still be met, if taught in a different way.

This is a great article to discuss at a staff meeting.  Ask the question, “how do you promote creativity in your classroom?”, and then have them make that thinking visible.  It is imperative that we share these practices.  (As an addition to this, watch this video on the importance of giving time when wanting our students to be creative.)

2.  The Top 10 Ways to Improve Student Achievement and Create Learners – One of the key words that I have seen overtake conversations has been the word “learning”, which is something that we should focus on in schools.  Although that should be the focus, regurgitation of facts is still the norm with many.

One of the major negatives is that change is rarely welcome. People tend to like the status quo and do not want the apple cart overturned. Our first year was fraught with change; change in vision, strategies, instructional methods and materials. Through it all, our staff preserved as we worked on our improvement.

Here are a couple of the interesting ways that were shared in the article:

8. Teach Students How to Learn – Students are taught what to learn. In order for them to be successful as learners, they also have to discover how to learn and to develop an appetite for learning. I’m convinced that one of the reasons some students do not succeed in college is that they sail through high school learning the prescribed curriculum, but never learn how to learn.

9. Teachers as Learners Environment – Teachers are all about instructing their students. Teachers should also invest in themselves. I’m referring to teachers actively pursuing knowledge because they want to know more. The best teachers continue to grow and don’t rely solely on school designated professional development hours as their outlet to learn new concepts and ideas about education. This could include reading professional development books, blogs, or articles online. One powerful way to continue to grow as an educator is to join an online personal learning network and/or develop one on Twitter.

How do you focus on creating a “learning environment” in your school?

3.  Pupils do get better at school if teachers are not fixated on test results – Just coming back from the US where, unfortunately, the talk often turns to the “Common Core” and standardized testing, I still think this is a valid argument on how you can focus on other things as opposed to tests and still have students do relatively well.  If students become “learners”, can they still not do well in exams?

“Nowhere is this more apparent than in science learning where relentless preparation for tests and exams drives out the important and engaging aspects, especially the practical work,” he said. “All the evidence suggests that ‘teaching to the test’ results in superficial learning and a level of boredom that can turn pupils away from science.

As a final video, I wanted to share this Arnold Schwarzenegger video below.  The words are powerful yet his character (rightfully so) is often questioned.  His words are inspirational, but because of his past, would you share this video with students?  I would love your thoughts.

Have a great week!

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by ianguest

This was our first week back to school in Parkland School Division and teachers are eager this year to try new things.  I think the tone was set from our opening day when there was both the “pressure” and “support” that came from our organization.  We are looking at focusing on making learning visible, from not just educators, but more importantly, our students.  We are looking forward to a great year!

Here are some great things that were shared with me through social networks this week:

1.  The question should be –> Why are you not blogging? –  Alan Levine, who has been doing some amazing stuff long before I was connecting on social media, writes a fascinating blog that has a great variance of content.  He has some great lesson ideas, funny personal anecdotes, and thoughts that will push educators forward.  I love the mix.

In his post on blogging, Alan discusses how we need to view blogging in a different way than what we would think of traditional writing exercises (for another great read on this, check out Shelley Wright’s post on blogging as the “new persuasive essay”).  Alan shares how the process of blogging should not be as tough as we make it:

But you will say, “It takes me hours to write a blog, I do several drafts, let it sit, comeback days later….”

That is not blogging. That is composing a paper. That is thinking about a blog as a highly published final piece of literature.

Fooey.

Blogging should be conversational. It should be half baked. Or less. It should (in my case) contain typos –because it is not meant to be (IMHO) a published journal article- it is your own personal thinking, shared out loud.

If you are spending that long writing a blog post, then you are wasting time. And you are blogging wrongly.

This may help change the mindset of many who always looking to write the “perfect” piece; it doesn’t exist.  Are we okay with out students writing quickly and putting those thoughts down for others to see?  I think we should be.

2.  Four Lessons from the Best Bosses I Have Ever Had – Leadership is so important to what happens in schools and I recently heard someone reference Todd Whitaker with the quote, “When the principal sneezes, the whole school gets a cold.” So can we learn from the bad bosses?  Absolutely.  But it is when we are connected to those amazing leaders, they will inspire us to inspire others, not simply say, “that is something I would never do!”  Here are a couple of lessons shared from this post:

Lesson: Let Your People Go. When you find great talent, do what you need to in order to encourage and support them. Treat them justly and do what’s right for them and the organization over what’s right for you personally. Give them opportunities to excel and succeed and air cover if they fail. Be willing to take “personal” risks for the right employee.

Lesson: Light the Fire and Clear the Path. Guide your people’s passion and get out of the way: the autonomy and freedom I was given to create and do my job exponentially increased my passion, excitement and success. My manager-mentors made sure my passions aligned with organizational direction, gave me some high-level boundaries, resources, and introductions to make it happen. They removed obstacles, showed me how to handle challenges, provided opportunities, and took the blame while giving me the credit.

What have some of your best bosses done?

3.  10 Words to Live By – Marc and Angel Hack Life is one of my favourite non-educational blogs as it provides simple ways to make your life better.  Although it can be a little “cheesy”, it is something worth discussing with kids as learning is very tough when we don’t have mental well-being.  Here is a sample of some of the writing from the latest post:

1. Positivity – The things you think about, focus on, and surround yourself with ultimately shape who you become.  Choose to live with gratitude for the love that fills your heart, the peace that rests deep within your spirit, and the voice of hope that whispers, “All things are possible.”  Right now, pause for a moment and repeat after me: “What I think about and thank about, I will bring about in my life.”  Read The How of Happiness.
2. Patience – Using time, pressure and patience, the universe gradually changes caterpillars into butterflies, sand into pearls, and coal into diamonds.  You’re being worked on too, so hang in there.  Just because something isn’t happening for you right now, doesn’t mean it will never happen.

Do you think our kids can learn from this type of blog? I sure do.

I hope you have a great week!  Definitely take the time to watch the video below that discusses the “deficit vs. strengths model” that we need to focus on in all levels of school.  Have a great week!

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by gcouros

We had a fantastic week in Parkland School Division with the launch of a new mission and vision that truly tries to capture not only the work that we want to do in the future, but a lot of the work that we are doing in the future with our kids.  I love how it focuses on the idea of “learners” as opposed to simply students.  We always focus on doing what is best for kids, but if that is to truly happen, we all need to have the growth mindset and continue to grow.  Here is the Vision and Mission of our school division:

Our Vision

Parkland School Division is a place where exploration, creativity, and imagination make learning exciting and where all learners aspire to reach their dreams.

Our Mission

Our purpose is to prepare, engage and inspire our students to be their best in a quickly changing global community.

Right now, these are just words, but our focus on the division is to put words into action and make some incredible things happen.  We will also continue to focus on being an open and transparent learning organization so that others can grow along with us.  Really exciting times in our school division.

Here are some links that I have read that may be of value to you and your school.

1.  What is education for? – Interestingly enough, this is an article that is 20 years old yet I was led to it on Facebook through a mistaken attribution to a quote.  It is a must read for educators as it is focused on where education should be heading and the importance of caring for others and our world.  Here is a powerful quote from the article:

A second principle comes from the Greek concept of paideia. The goal of education is not mastery of subject matter, but of one’s person.  Subject matter is simply the tool. Much as one would use a hammer and chisel to carve a block of marble, one uses ideas and knowledge to forge one’s own personhood. For the most part we labor under a confusion of ends and means, thinking that the goal of education is to stuff all kinds of facts, techniques, methods, and information into the student’s mind, regardless of how and with what effect it will be used. The Greeks knew better.

There are a lot of powerful messages here regarding education and I really believe it is a must read for those who care about our schools and the direction they are going.

2.  How can I sell my skills beyond a boring resume? –  We have been working on digital portfolios within Parkland School Division for the past year, and continue on this road this year (and years into the future).  Your digital footprint is extremely important and many potential employers (including myself) use Google as a way of learning more about potential candidates. Our focus within the school division is that we need to go from the point where you digital footprint could lose a job to a place where what you do online can actually create opportunities.  About.me is a great place for many educators to start to develop that online persona that they can share the places they are on the Internet as well as start taking control of their digital identity:

If you have a web presence you want to show off at all, About.Me is a good option. The service is free, looks great, and links users directly to your other social profiles or web sites where they can learn more about you. About.me pages take moments to set up, and when you’re finished you get a short custom URL you can give out or put on a business card. You can even sign up for an about.me email address for those contacts to use when they want to reach you.

Definitely take the time to Google yourself (very helpful link) and see what is out there about you.  Would you hire you?

3.  50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom – We have many educators within Parkland School Division excited about the opportunity of using Twitter for professional development but many use it as a hybrid to not only learn openly, but also connect their classroom to the world.  There are some great ideas on this post and below are a few:

7. Connect with the community.

Partner up with local government or charitable organizations and use Twitter to reach a broad audience discussing the latest cultural or educational events in the area and encourage others in the community to attend.

8. Follow the issues.

Bring a little technology into debates by asking the class which issues they would like to follow. Subscribe to relevant hash tags and accounts from all perspectives and compile an updated resource cobbling together as much research as possible.

9. Write a story or poem.

Many writers and poets have experimented with Twitter’s 140-character format to bring new, serialized works in small chunks to attention-divided audiences. Some educators may like the idea of asking their students to apply their creative writing skills to a restrictive social media outlet.

I hope you have a great week! I am extremely excited about our school year and the work that we are trying to achieve in our division. Share, share, share!

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Scott McLeod

It is fantastic to be back in Canada and I am looking forward to a great year at PSD70. It is amazing how excited many people are to get back to school as there is a world of possibilities of what can happen. Starting the second year of my position, I am hoping to really push the envelope in what we are doing with teaching and learning this year and try to bring our school communities together with each other, as well as the world. The main idea is to inspire our kids to inspire the world. This should be a great year!

Here are some great reads for the week!

1.  The 18 Year Old Who Skipped College – Many people in education that are advocates of social media I have seen openly struggle about the idea of going back to university to pursue a graduate degree due to all of the amazing learning that is happening on their own time, while universities are slow to adopt growth.  This article, referencing a Washington Post article, highlights some of the options that are available now to students that are coming out of high school and how college might not be the best option:

Is college worth it? Students like Noor Siddiqui choose an option like the Thiel Fellowship because:

• It challenges them to actually do something that matters.
• It summons their problem solving skills in a real-world issue.
• It forces them to budget money and manage people on the job.
• It prepares them for a real career…by paying them to do a project.

College, on the other hand, costs money, consumes a student’s time with papers and hypothetical projects, and produces an average debt afterward of $20,000 (that’s the average graduate’s debt load). That’s not the life most grads want.

I guess my own thoughts for this are how do we make school (K-12) really focus on doing that great work that the author lists, and then, how do we work with universities so that students see them as more relevant and not a future burden on their lives due to debt?  This is a great discussion piece for every school and university.

2.  Are you sure you’re not a bad boss? – Another great article from the Harvard Business Review that is relevant to not only school administrators, but all educators.  The article looks at what the research says about bad bosses, and some of the common characteristics.  Here are the first three:

1. Failure to inspire, owing to a lack of energy and enthusiasm. Again and again failed leaders were described by their colleagues as unenthusiastic and passive. This was in fact the most noticeable of all their failings.
2. Acceptance of mediocre performance in place of excellent results. The poorest leaders did not set stretch goals, inadvertently encouraging mediocre performance by letting people coast along doing less work, less well than their counterparts working for better managers.
3. A lack of clear vision and direction. Poor leaders have a murky view of the future, don’t know precisely what direction to take, and are (not surprisingly) unwilling to communicate about the future, leaving their subordinates with no clear path forward.

Make sure you read the whole article and perhaps look at your own teaching/leadership style.  What areas can you work on?  I know there is a few that I really have to continue to develop.

3.  Saving Lives vs. Changing Lives – Chris Lehmann, a friend and inspirational leader,  discuss the role of schools in the lives of students.  Chris totally understands and discusses how teachers are not the only influence in the lives of our students, yet they still can play a powerful role:

I do believe we are engaged in the work of changing lives. I believe in the transformative school. I believe that a school that engages in deep learning within ethic of care can have a positive and profound impact on the lives of all of those who live in it. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the students and teachers and parents of SLA forever changed my life for the better, and I hope their interactions with me have changed theirs for the better as well. Enough of them have told me so, that I have faith it is true.

What I love about this post is Chris openly expressing that it is not only the educators that change the lives of kids, but, if you are open to it, the students can do the same thing for the educators as well.  It is the best profession

I hope that you have a great week!  If anyone tells you that a kid can’t do something, I challenge you to show them the video below.  It is a great reminder of how amazing kids can be!

Currently I am attending the #ISTE12 conference in San Diego, CA, and I would have to admit that this is probably one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen.  Well, at least the parts I have seen so far

Connecting and sharing with so many here, I continuously hear the theme of how our schools need to change, etc.  I always go back to the Will Richardson post “No Quick Fix”, where he states the following:

Meaningful change ain’t gonna happen for our kids if we’re not willing to invest in it for ourselves first. At the heart, it’s not about schools…it’s about us.

If the change is going to happen that we are wanting in our schools, we have to “know the way, go the way, show the way.” I know that I am extremely skeptical of any companies trying to sell the next “big thing” in education when I know we already have amazing people in schools that have access to the biggest library of resources and people in the world.  Teachers need to be learners first and any “program” that I can open and pull out of box is not going to help our kids long term.  We need to listen, talk, and care about all of those in our schools and that program is totally free.

And with that little rant, I want to share some articles that read this last week which I thought were great reads.

1.  The 7 Pillars of Connecting with Absolutely Anyone – Although this article is not written from the viewpoint of an educator, education is ALL ABOUT connection.  Now although this is written from a business standpoint, I do believe there is some great points that educators should think about:

1. Be genuine. The only connections that work will be the ones that you truly care about; the world will see through anything short of that. If you don’t have a genuine interest in the person with whom you’re trying to connect, then stop trying.
2. Provide massive help. Even the biggest and most powerful people in the world have something they’d like help with. Too many people never reach out to those above them due to the fear that they wouldn’t be able to offer anything in return. But you have more to offer than you realize: write an article or blog post about them, share their project with your community, offer to spread their message through a video interview with them. Give real thought to who you could connect them with to benefit their goals. If it turns out you can’t be thathelpful, the gesture alone will stand out.

2.  Blogging is the New Persuasive Essay – I have said this before, but Shelley Wright is my favourite blogger.  The entire blog post is great, but this quote really got me thinking:

The truth is lately I’ve come to question the point of much of this. Does the average person, once they leave school, spend a lot of time composing academic essays? Is this the best way for our students to show their learning?  In some places, the academic 5 paragraph essay is hailed as the Holy Grail of non-fiction writing achievement. Yet even if a student can become a great persuasive essay writer, they’re still only semi-literate, at least according to the definition of 21st Century Literacies.

As an educator, when is the last time you have written an essay?  Our kids are more likely to write a blog after they leave school then an essay.  Seriously, read the whole article.

3.  Students can change the world when we get out of the way – This great blog post talks to something that I knew, but I heard reiterated in a conversation yesterday.  We are at a point in history where everyone can have a voice or audience.  This might not be considered a good thing by some, but it should be considered a reality by all.  As one student started writing about the food in her cafeteria, it is amazing the shock waves that it sent all over, and the attention that she received.  This is not just about publicity though but about making a change as Ewan McIntosh shares:

Martha shows every facet of great learning: real world change, making the environment around her better, sharing her thinking with the world, having a conscious for the world beyond her immediate horizons, and robustness in the face of incredible media and social media pressure. She is another ‘Caine‘, with a supportive parent and facilitating adults around her. She’ll go far.

A great story that shows how kids can really change our world now, not just the future.

BONUS*

This video of Carly Rae Jepsen, Jimmy Fallon, and the Roots doing “Call Me Maybe” using instruments from an elementary music classroom just makes me happy:

Have a great week!

cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by shareski

Only a few more weeks until school is over for many in Canada but the learning will continue throughout the summer, anytime we are open to it.  Here are some links that I found interesting this week:

1.  Amplify the Positive Outliers – Seth Godin, one of the most popular bloggers on the Internet, talks about the importance of building culture by highlighting the work of those that are making a change:

“The tribe is hyper-aware of what’s being celebrated, and when you celebrate those that are moving in the right direction, you create a powerful push in that direction. It’s tempting to spend your time extinguishing bad behaviors, but in fact, spreading the word about the superstars is far more likely to change the culture of your market.”

Cultures are so important in the work that we do at schools, so this leads nicely into the next post.

2.  Starting the Conversation on Rethinking Awards Ceremonies – Chris Wejr, a good friend and principal, often talks about how awards impact our students, and provides this post to help schools start the conversation.  He asks some great questions:

• Does your year-end awards ceremonies and/or student of the month program align with your school vision, plan and/or goals?
• What does research say about the use of awards/prizes to motivate (or demotivate) learning?
• At which age do awards become necessary – 5? 10? 15?  Why?
• How much of the award is based on culture, language, parents (particularly cultural capital and income) and teachers that the winner has/had and how much is based on the person’s work ethic?

So where is the balance between highlighting the great work that is being done by our outliers, but also building a culture of collaboration?  These two pieces will provide a good starting point for that conversation.

3. The Best Twitter Hashtags for Teachers – Just a simple article to help teachers start using Twitter to do their own learning.  This offers some great connections to Twitter hashtags in the classrooms, but it leaves out two that I follow exclusively which are #ConnectedCA and #CPChat.  Which ones do you follow for your learning?

4.  I love this picture from 22 Words about cheating:

We have to look at what “cheating” means in our schools today.  If collaboration is a skill we are promoting in skills and organizations are begging their employees have, does cheating in our schools today look the same?  Something that I have said to many groups when I have been asked about the concern of using Google to cheat on a test is that if you can look up the answer to test on Google, is the question very good?

Maybe this picture can start some conversations on the topic of cheating and collaboration.

Hope you have a great week!

As many of us go into summer vacation, we have big plans about what we are going to do going into summer, and how we are going to come back better as educators in the fall.  I wanted to share a few of my favourite stories/videos, that give me that little extra push to get out of bed in the morning and get better.  I hope you enjoy them.

1.  World’s Strongest Dad –  I first heard about this story when I read Rick Reilly’s article in Sports Illustrated, and I was blown away when I saw the video.  An amazing story of the bond between father and son.

2. The Derek Redmond Story – This is easily one of the most emotional stories that I have ever seen from the Olympics. Again, it involves a father and son, but more importantly, it is about never giving up.

3. Are you going to finish strong? – When we often complain about what we are missing in our lives, we often forget about what we have. This short speech made by this amazing man to a group of students talks about how we need to continuously get back up. Watching the kids hug the speaker at the end is as emotional as his speech.

4. How bad do you want it? (Part 2) – This video is not only for those who enjoy an active lifestyle, but it talks about the dedication it takes to be successful. I loved the first video in this series, but this one talks about the dedication it takes to be successful. I listen to the words in this video when I work out, over and over again, and it really pushes me. Hopefully you find some use of it the message.

5. Will Smith on Success – I was blown away by the words of wisdom and dedication to excellence that I saw from Will Smith. With lots of great little quotes and thoughts, this is a great video for discussion in the classroom. It is definitely worth watching.

Hopefully one of these videos have inspired you! Have a great week!