Administrators!! Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Every year, the Principal’s Office participates in a 360 evaluation process.  An online performance survey is sent to the faculty and staff on a random administrator for feedback.  The survey is anonymous and asks various questions about our communication, leadership, and ethical character.  Last year, someone wrote on mine:

“Jen might benefit from teaching a class at Brebeuf, as her more regular encounters with students in the classroom could give her a whole new appreciation of the teachers she evaluates, as well as these teachers’ unique challenges in the classroom”

This statement really stuck with me.  This is a very fair suggestion but I didn’t know how on earth to make it happen.  And then we had no teacher for our Newspaper Publications course.  Okay anonymous commenter – challenge accepted!

**side note – I have never taught Newspaper Production in my life.

Tweet by @jdferries

Going back into the classroom, albeit for one class, was the best decision I’ve made since leaving the classroom 10 years ago.  I work with bright, talented, witty students in a hard-core project-based learning environment.  We use industry standard software (InDesign), write in various formats (news, op ed, sports, reviews), podcast, engage in social media, and all the great ed tech, student-centered buzzwords I’ve been writing on evaluations to others for years.  The class is led by student editors who do the heavy lifting of daily routines.  We have a large, open classroom functioning much more like an old-fashioned news room.  

And some days … it kicks my middle-aged butt.

Eight weeks in to the school year I’ve learned:

Living in a bell schedule again is hard

Every administrator I know accepts being late to meetings just happens.  Guess what?  You can’t be late for class!  Those teenagers will call you out faster than your own mother!  Your school have a tight tardy policy?  Just try and write up a 15-year-old for being late to class the day after you yourself was late…. Not cool.

Changes in the schedule really do mess things up

As administrators, all kinds of great ideas walk into the office that will disrupt the school day.  I fall under the “Let’s do it! What a cool experience that will be!” bandwagon.  And maybe it is worth it – but I have learned the hard way that too many altered schedules (and last minute changes) really is frustrating for classroom teachers and students.  We need to do better at discerning our somewhat whimsical time shifts.

Online grading is time consuming

I now know the joy of watching the spinning wheel of death while the online grade book tries to load.  It’s real.  It’s frustrating.  Teachers have a right to complain.

Designing meaningful lessons enhanced with technology is hard too

I teach a tech heavy course with a seriously concrete product at the end… and I have trouble sometimes integrating technology in meaningful ways.  If your school is like mine and incorporates a lot of walkthroughs – seeing deep integration is not going to happen every moment of every day.  Deal with it.

Kids surf the web every chance they get

Just like adults do in staff meetings J If your school’s evaluation has any check box about 100% of students being on task with their technology – delete that now!  I actually am fine with a little surfing – it’s natural and gives everyone a little break to reset.  I do step in when it’s causing a ruckus (four 15-year-old boys huddled at a desk snickering draws my attention every single time).  Otherwise I let them decide how to best use the allotted independent work time.  Can’t wait until my office mates come through for my walkthrough!

  

In short – like online trolling – it is so easy to be critical behind the safe walls of an evaluation form.  But the classroom is a real, living, messy place.  I challenge more admins to get back in the classroom, see what it is really like day-to-day and then reflect on evaluation documents and processes.  You will get serious street-cred from your faculty, hone your own skills, meet some really cool young people, and learn a lot about what teaching is actually like now-a-days.  It’s different from the last time you were here – trust me!

And I'm not just talking K-12 here... even higher education is testing these waters!

So You've Gone 1:1... What's Next?

I remember when my husband and I brought home our first child.   We had prepared for months… reading books, building furniture, attending child birth classes, buying accessories, talking to friends… our entire lives were dedicated to the arrival of this child (and my husband’s PhD coursework so I guess we weren’t totally myopic).  The day came when she entered the world and we were sent home by the hospital staff to begin our lives as a family.  We came home, my husband put the baby (in her car carrier) on the coffee table… and we stared at her…. and we stared at each other… we stared at the cat… and suddenly all the prep was over and we asked “So.Now.What.Do.We.Do?”

Brett Clark wrote a fantastic post about prepping a 1:1 program being like prepping for the arrival of a child.  And he’s total right.  So now that you’ve gone 1:1… what do you do?

• Hint: If you happen to be in Indianapolis at ICE13 on Friday, October 11^th this is our presentation.  Join us!

Taking a page from the research of Elizabeth Heitsch and Robert Holley and their work on the Learning Commons model of library design, there are three main areas to consider in your "What's Next" reflections:  the Physical; the Virtual; and the Cultural.  Let’s try a series of reflections based on your learning environment … what it is like now and how the environment changes through the lens of 1:1.

The Physical:

1:1 will dramatically change how you see and use space in your learning environment.  There is new hardware all over the place needing be connect to a wireless network, print and create.  Also how your learners use the chairs, desks and floor changes dramatically.  We have learned that the 50’s model of desks in rows doesn’t work so well in 1:1.  Students and teachers need flexible spaces to fully engage the capacity of collaboration and access these devices create.  And speaking of creating, students will need creation spaces outside the classroom to continue their experiences. 

Reflect a moment:  Picture your classroom.  See each student with access to a personal device for learning.  What works in the space?  What doesn’t? What would help?

The Virtual:

Every time I think this is the obvious consideration BEFORE going 1:1, I read a post on the State of Indiana Learning Connections that asks for input in digital curriculum/resources AFTER a school district has gone 1:1.  The virtual considerations are more than just digital textbooks… it’s your school web presence, it’s a learning management system or content distribution platform.  It’s creation tools like Google Apps for Education or Microsoft SkyDrive.  It’s social media use like Edmodo, My Big Campus or Twitter.  It’s apps designed to drive the school calendar of events and feedback from families.  As the students of LA schools showed us, students know the power of the device … and they want to harness that power (legitimately or otherwise because they are very, very smart).  These resources will change (improve) every few months. Be prepared to be flexible with upgrades and expect change.

Reflect a moment: What virtual resources do you use now in your classroom?  How does 24/7 access change that use?  What new doors may open?  What challenges may arise within the classroom, the school building, the larger community?

The Cultural:

The most nebulous, but most important of all three, are the cultural considerations and growth possible in 1:1.   Your 1:1 program will facilitate growth in the mission and identity of your school.  That mission statement the committee wrote?  Use it!  These devices are amazing at connecting global learners, creating active citizens, developing critical thinking … all those lofty ideals posted on the letterhead.  You’ll find more opportunities for professional development in asynchronous instruction, webinars, streamed conferences and social media PLNS.  Identify the values of the community and shift those values through the access 1:1 offers.

Reflect a moment: What are the key values of your community?  What are the key values articulated in your mission statement?  How might these be developed in 1:1?

1:1 initiatives do not stop when the devices roll out!  They do not stop with the last formal training.  Arguably, the real work begins after delivery… when the rubber meets the road… when it’s not new any more.  And boy, can it be amazing! 

Click Here For Presentation Slides

Categories influenced by:

Heitsch, Elizabeth K. and Robert P. Holley. “The Information and Learning Commons: Some Reflections.” New Review of Academic Librarianship, 17:64-77, 2011

OMG! Classroom Management in a 1:1 Learning Environment

We are gearing up for the first day of classes at Brebeuf Jesuit.  When the bell rings at 8:15 on Tuesday morning, students and faculty will find themselves in Year 2 of our 1:1 BYOT program.

We learned a lot in Year 1... JD writes over at Confessions of a Jesuit School CIO and I reflect here on things such as:

• Taking time to discern how any technology initiative fits into the mission and values of the school community is key.  We took 3 years from idea to pilot to full implementation.
• Having a learning objective to frame academic activity and technology initiatives is a good thing.  We used a classic backwards design process.
• Professional Development can no longer revolve around teachers watching as a trainer performs "follow the bouncing mouse" large group instruction.
• Classroom design is important.
• Students will struggle at taking control of their learning.  Teachers will struggle with letting go of control.  Struggle is not a bad word...

Those of you of the Jesuit persuasion and lovely followers of this blog are familiar with the Context-Experience-Reflection-Use- Evaluation model (Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm for any new readers).  We are in a year of Use.  After lots of experience and reflection moments, we are living the reality of BYOT.  But as much as we talk about "Verbs not Nouns", empowering students, moving away from teacher-centric teaching, new furniture and classroom layouts... mostly what people want to talk about this August is distracted behaviors.  All that ed tech theory is all well and good until a 15 year old plays Temple Run in the back of the room - distracting herself, her neighbors and eventually the teacher. 

Discussing distractions in the learning environment is a good thing... but let's not kid ourselves... it's not new.  Puttering around on Google Scholar this weekend, I found articles (all behind paywalls...but that's another post) on students daydreaming; the evils of Tom Swift and other adventure series; the ball point pen; radio; comic books; television; video arcades; the BetaMax/VCR/DVD... and the cellphone/tablet/Internet.  Pretty sure you could plot the course of human history by looking at what distracts us from the reality in front of us. 

 

Little Interlude:

One of my favorite lines from the abstract of "Why Do Children Watch Television" by Eleanor E. Maccoby (1954), "The study reported here was an attempt to discover whether highly frustrated children seek active fantasy lives by spending more time watching television."

Answer: Yes 

So just as we teach students how to tie their shoes, wear their bike helmets, use "words not fists"... it's time to intentionally teach strategies for dealing with electronic distractions... 'Cause they aren't going away and marketing campaigns are intentionally focused on making sure we stay distracted (and don't get me started on social bots in todays NYTimes! Wow!).

So here it is... my personal Top 7 things we should be intentionally doing in our classrooms:

1.   Have Clear Expectations 

• Turning in electronic assignments?  Where?  
• Accessing electronic textbooks?  Where and how and for how long?  
• Communicating between classmates?  Which platform?  Guidelines for engagement?

All these questions and more need to be asked, answered and written out in the course expectations document.  This is old school communication of expectations folks and it is as important today as 50 years ago.

2. Be Consistent with Policy and Enforcement

Even CNN Living has been covering the empty threat concept lately.  One thing kids are really good at figuring out is which teacher is consistent with cause-effect situations and which teacher yells and does nothing.  If the ramifications for turning in an assignment to the wrong dropbox is posted "lost points for late work" then make sure every student, every time.

3. Guided-Practice for Success 

Students (especially those new to the learning environment) will succeed if given practice with expectations.  Take handing in homework electronically.... practice the first week (in class) using the dropbox.  Maybe week two is "give some room for error" week.  The week 3 the policy of lost points for late work arrives.  Students, just like adults, need time to practice new habits to ensure success.

4. Organizational Skills

Speaking of new habits, organizational skills are learned.  Guide, practice, mentor, model.  

5. Communicate with Parents

Parents are your best ally.  Remember though, most of them (myself included) went to school in the days of the 3-ringed binder.  Parents want to support their student... but if they don't understand the expectations and process the entire support network falls apart.  

6. Remember Why the Device is in the Classroom

Use the device as a reward toy and that's all it will be.  I cringe at stories of elementary students allowed to use their classroom devices only when "their schoolwork" is done.  This type of tech as prize reinforces tech as toy thinking.  Day 1 that device is for the work of learning.  Model with your own technology use that this tool can open the world (parents this goes for you too)... and occasionally reach the high score in Bejeweled.    

7. Get Your Move On

I argue the days of desks in neat rows with a teacher at the front are over.  Move the furniture to encourage collaboration.  Put yourself in the middle of the excitement and move around!  It's another classic but proximity still encourages attention and focus.  

If you are interested in reading more ideas... here is a list of articles I shared with Brebeuf faculty last week.  Round table discussions will begin on the 20th to share ideas, practices and reflections.  I'll be sure to share what we talk about!

From Toy to Tool: How to Develop Smart Tablet Habits in Class by Matt Levinson 

Managing Technology Use in Your Classroom by Karen Hume

Tech Management Tips (Forestville Schools) 

The Best 1:1 Device is a Good Teacher by Andrew Marcinek 

You’re Distracted? This Professor Can Help by Marc Perry 

The Value of Shared Experiences

As I tried to write this post originally, I was interrupted by an 8 year old screaming “There’s a RAT in the bean bag!”  Apparently our cat had killed a mouse and hid his trophy in the kid’s bean bag…an offering of affection as it were.  End writing process and begin mom process of community dialogue on a shared experience... 

• What is the difference between a mouse and a rat? 
• Why would the cat put a dead mouse in the bean bag? 
• Why can't we touch dead animals?
• What are you going to do with the body?

Humans do not live in a community of one.  We live in relationship with others: our families, our friends, our co-workers, and strangers on the street.   We create discourse communities based on shared experiences – like dead rodents in bean bags.  This dialogue helps all of us reflect on the experience, taking new knowledge forward into our lives.  Knowledge accessed via a void, with no dialogue or reflection, at best lives in short term memory, leaving us at a loss when faced with the need to access that knowledge later in life.

I have recently read about The School of One and the concept of personalized learning.  My concern with the focus on personalize learning to the extreme is the loss of dialogue in shared experiences.  Creating a discourse community is still relevant in education today.  Learners in a void do not have the opportunity to engage others in shared discourse.  This hinders the reflective elements of learning, which encourage new or innovative articulations of thought.   I would argue without this opportunity for reflection, for the creation of a discourse community, we are hobbling our students. 

In her book, “Reality is Broken”, author Jane McGonigal writes of the importance of social connection as element of satisfaction and experience of success.  We as humans build “intrinsic rewards, positive emotions, personal strengths by social connections that we build by engaging intensely with the world around us.” (45) Personalized learning privileges the one over the many.  While in some cases this may be temporarily successful, the danger of isolation is very real… holding the learner from others with whom valuable reflection and collaboration could enrich the learning experience.

Practically applied, this means creating opportunities in our classrooms for learning as community.  As educators we can encourage dialogue based on the shared experience of new content (Mitosis to Shakespeare), events (Prom is on the horizon) or skills (Ultimate Frisbee anyone?).  Offering our students time to engage each other, working through experiences together, creating communities of discourse is what we do as professional educators.  

Because that cat is only a year old... and there will be more mice in house thanks to our large wooded lot... retaining this new knowledge is going to be critical.

Toast the Rodent Hunter

The Administrative View: Teacher Evaluations

As much as I pretend to be all ed tech ... my day job actually falls in the Principal's Office.  Under my list of Faculty Development duties lies the bullet point heading of....

(insert ominous, creepy musical underscore)

Googling "evaluating teachers" got me 51,400,000 results from such sides as the difficulty and complexity of teacher evaluation, the benefits and challenges of "value-added" logarithms and even who should be doing the evaluating.  Like it or not, evaluating is challenging.  

So how do we go about the process here at Brebeuf Jesuit?  We work through a blended approach of formal, one hour, planned observations; one-on-one planning and goal setting meetings; informal walk-throughs; collected materials such as lesson plans, rubrics, sample assessments... and yes, we may even look at the occasional common assessment data.  

The (Learning) Objective 
I usually start my conversations with faculty discussing the objective of the process.  My objective is not punishment.  My objective is not rooting out the weak to bring fire and termination.

My objective is professional growth and development.  As our mission statement reads, "Students at Brebeuf Jesuit are called to discover and cultivate the fullness of their God-given talents as a responsibility and as an act of workshop."  Well guess what?  My job as an evaluating administrator is to help teachers of Brebeuf Jesuit to discover and cultivate their God-given talents.  I do consider this an act of worship.

Framed in the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm, our evaluation program (called the Magis Program for Professional Growth) looks like this:

The Details

Definition of "Members of the Principal's Office": Principal, Assistant Principal, Director of Faculty Development.

For faculty in their first three years at Brebeuf, the goal-setting and follow-up will occur with the Principal’s Office (and in collaboration with the Department Chair) each year along with the annual evaluation.

Faculty beyond three years of experience at Brebeuf will be on a three-year cycle with the evaluation process, so goals would be discussed with the Principal’s Office only every three years. 

Informal walk-through observations occur for all faculty by members of the Principal’s Office (and in collaborations with the Department Chair) each year.  These informal walk-throughs are most unannounced (though can be planned ahead) and are 5-10 minutes based on the Carolyn Downey model.  Frequency of walk-throughs is generally:

• 1Year 1-2 Faculty – 6 visits per semester
• Year 3 Faculty and Faculty in Cycle – 3 visits per semester
• Faculty off-cycle – 1 visit per semester

Materials submitted as part of the reflection element are examples of lesson planning (daily lesson and unit plan), sample assessments, samples of student work and a self reflection writing.

The Difference

Most of this is not going to look too radical to most readers.  It's a lot of Downey, Marzano, Danielson and a little McTiegh... plus a whole lot of St. Ignatius.  What might be different to some is the emphasis on the relationship created.

The first step in relationship building is trust.  How do I build trust?  I'd say it's through listening (really listening), taking time to turn off the phone ringer/minimize computer screen, drop whatever I am doing to focus on the individual.  I strive to build conversational around teacher identified areas of growth and strengths.  The commitment to not tie monetary compensation to evaluation also builds trust ... as there is nothing like a heavy power imbalance (holding your family's financial success or failure in my subjective little hands) to at seriously hamper a trusting relationship.

The next step is. as the Prayer for Generosity reads, to be willing to give and not to count the costs.  This type of evaluation system takes time, energy and resources.  With walk-throughs, meetings, observations, writing reflections... a minimum 10 hours per teacher (times 16 for me this year that's 160 hours plus off cycle hours adding about 20 more).  It may mean hours of Googling teaching methods, resources and best practices for field's outside my comfort zone (I work with two fabulous Physics teachers this year... having never taken Physics this is a stretch year for me).  It means knowing all faculty well enough to pair up veteran teachers with newer teachers as mentors and role models.  It means occasionally getting up and modeling an activity or strategy myself.  It means being the bad guy sometimes - or brave enough to face uncomfortable conversations.  I

Finally, relationship requires mutual respect.  I work with amazing people.  There talents and dedication astound me.  I respect them as professional educators and individuals on a journey of growth.  I have no idea why they hang with me... but I am thankful they do.

If you are interested in learning more about our evaluation system or seeing some of our materials - send an email or note in the comments below.  As with our Ed Tech stuff, we share.  Be warned - there is no iPad app or automated spreadsheet for this type of work.  Only yourself and the desire to cultivate the fullness of individual talents.