Leadership is not accepting the status quo, and sometimes taking some heat for that. Sometimes, standing up for what is right entails taking risks. (cc licensed photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/markwoodland/4524170205/)

Leadership is not about telling others what to do. It’s  about asking questions, listening, and empowering those around you to take the lead. Great leaders help others move forward. (cc licensed photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/133146861/)

How have you grown? How have you helped others to grow?

When was the last time you “rocked the boat?”

How are you helping others to take those steps forward?

A year ago last January, I wrote a post on “Balanced Connections.” At the time, there were a lot of people talking about how our children don’t spend enough time away from the computer or TV or video games. I’m one that definitely agrees kids need to have some offline time.

Balance

More recently, my own family has mentioned to me that maybe I’m online too much. There are times when it’s difficult to put down the Blackberry or step away from my laptop, because there are SO many great ideas flowing with people in my network. At times, it’s difficult for my family to understand that I’m working… not just chatting with my friends. I do agree, however, that guidelines must be in place about when it’s appropriate to bury your face in your Blackberry. Dinner time with the family is definitely not that time.

Today, I read an OpEd article in the NY Times, “Tweet Less, Kiss More.” The opinion is that we need to spend more face-to-face time and not bury ourselves too much into technology. I agree. I definitely take time off the grid, so to speak, to read, spend time with the family, and participate in activities that are no-tech or low-tech.

Friday, I caught an episode of House, M.D. right after eating dinner. I don’t watch too many TV shows regularly, but it was on (and I  love Hugh Laurie) and this episode really grabbed my attention early. The short version of the plot: a woman blogs about everything in her life… contracts some mystery ailment, and House and crew have to solve the puzzle to save her life.  While they are contemplating her symptoms, the doctors are scratching their heads, asking themselves why anyone would be so public with their lives- where’s the privacy? Why would you want to blog literally about every activity in your life? Then Peter Jacobson’s character, Dr. Chris Taub makes a statement that privacy is actually not the norm… it’s a relatively  “new” concept. For centuries, people lived in small villages and everyone always knew each other’s business. Privacy is more of a 19th-20th century invention.

At that point, my brain went, “AHA!” He’s right. One of the biggest complaints I hear from people who do not have an online presence is that sharing information about oneself online is an  invasion of privacy and why would we want to share every facet of our lives with people we don’t really know? In the House episode, the patient/blogger maintains that she DOES know the people she communicates with online. Just because she’s never met them in person doesn’t mean they don’t have meaningful relationships. And… I agree with her, too.

How can I agree with the “Tweet Less, Kiss More” writer AND with the blogger in the House episode at the same time?

It has to be about BALANCE.

When we hear people talking about kids needing balance, they are usually referring to more OFFline time. A lot of educators who don’t spend time online are the biggest proponents for kids needing more offline time.

BUT… how many of our educators really have that balance they want for kids? I’m wondering if enough of them actually spend enough time online?? Is there value in having an online presence? Yes. Can you still have a life outside of Twitter and blogs and wikis and Flickr and…  YES. You have to have those guidelines that I mentioned above, but it’s definitely possible.

Too altruistic? Too sappy? Sorry, but it’s the truth, and it’s been that way since I was in 2nd grade. At the age of 8, I knew I wanted to be a teacher.

(This is another one of those posts I had to start and then put away for a little while. Too much emotion to write rationally. Reader, beware.)

There have been several articles I’ve read recently about education- education reform, how to improve schools, public vs. private vs. charters…. and so many of these articles include a perception of teachers that really scares me. And angers me. And frustrates me.

Perhaps no article I’ve read all year has provoked as many feelings as this one- Saving Oregon Schools: Targeting the wrong areas for budget cuts. Actually, the article on its own was not really the issue- I don’t agree with all the suggestions the author contributes (especially cutting extracurriculars), but the comments attached to that article? Wow. I know that comments sections are not always a true gauge of how people feel. Comments can provide an arena for flame wars to begin– the anonymity allows some people to go a little overboard. Par for the course, right?

Many of the comments to this article attack the Oregon retirement system for educators. There are many who believe teachers should not be allowed to retire with as many benefits as they do. I’m not writing this specific post to argue that point one way or the other. Teaching is a profession, where in most states, you are required to continuous professional development and graduate classes, advanced degrees… essentially life-long learning and full-time service to children throughout your career… but I’m not going to open that topic for this blog post.

Instead, it’s the perception of teachers that pervades many of the comments that has me so upset. If you don’t take the time to read any of them, let me just provide a few excerpts here. I’m not going to list the names of the commenters- feel free to go back here to read them yourself, if you wish.

“If you cannot do, teach! That’s so true. The smartest students in college go for real jobs, and the incapable became teachers. Right now there is an over-supply of new teachers. Why? Because these people were laid off and couldn’t land other jobs! These low-ability people shouldn’t earn this much of my tax money! Cut teachers first before cutting other resources.”

“This has been a problem for far too long and we’ve allowed the tax eaters, that is, teachers unions, to fleece the American public into thinking that more spending, which ultimately ends up in their members’ pockets, somehow equates to better outcomes.”

“I don’t think teachers pay is the issue, it’s the value we receive as a community supporting our public schools. We don’t receive “value” from what we spend our education dollars on. For what we invest in our Public Schools all of our Teachers and Administrators should hold Doctorates, work 20 hour days and graduate 99% of their students, who should easily ace there [sic] SAT Test.”

“I Hate to Say This, But Califonia [sic] found the Answer! The Governor rolled back Salaries to Minimum Wage Levels for all State Employees!!! What a Great Idea!!! In Oregon, that would mean No Lay-Offs and we could fund PERS…. Now That’s a Win, Win, for the State!!! Come on Ted, Let Get With the Program!!!!!!”

I don’t even know how to respond to these comments. I’ve battled the “those who can, do” statement for years, along with people outside of education who think I have my summers “off.” Teaching, apparently, is not a real job.

The teachers I know spend their summers attending more classes, workshops, and conferences to help them grow as teachers and learners- usually all summer. Additionally, they work extra jobs to help pay for tuition, they teach and/or tutor in summer programs, private schools and/or studios. The only time I can remember having a true summer vacation is when I worked in a corporate job and could take two weeks off without any other obligations.

There were several other commenters who railed against teachers’ unions that protect tenure and incompetent teachers. Are the unions really to blame? or is an inadequate evaluation system more the problem? Personally, I know a few teachers who have been dismissed for incompetence. It probably doesn’t happen as often as it should, but it does happen.

I didn’t write this post thinking I would be arguing with these comments. Instead, I had hoped to outline a bigger problem which is the perception of teachers. How do we as educators change the public view of what we do in the classroom?

If we leave it to outsiders, we’re not going to get anywhere. We have to be more proactive. We have to take action ourselves. I’m tired of hearing the negative stories in the media about the bad things happening in school and with kids. I want the media to see me- to see other teachers like me- to learn about all the amazing things happening in our schools!

My action plan is not that complicated:

1. Contact the media more often. Invite them to my classroom (again). Share, through multiple methods, what it is we’re doing.
2. Bring parents into the classroom more. The parents in my school are already welcome in my classroom, although not many of them take our offer to visit. I want them to share their expertise in my classroom more often. Side note- I actually have really great and appreciative parents in my school, and for that, I am extremely grateful.
3. Bring more attention to other teachers and students who are doing great things. Not every teacher has a powerful network where he/she can share successes. I have a great learning network of people who love to share ideas, collaborate, and celebrate with each other.

I am a teacher. By choice. Not because I was incapable of doing anything else, but because I couldn’t imagine doing anything else that would make me as happy as teaching does. I forgot that for a while. I left the classroom for “bigger and better” things. Corporate jobs. Bigger paychecks. More prestige. I was really successful… and really unhappy. Now I’m a teacher again. A really happy teacher who needs to help others see the real reasons why we teach.

What are YOU doing that allows your community to know about great things in your schools?

[Photo credit: Teach & Inspire, taken by Ryan Hyde on April 17, 2010. RLHyde's Photostream.]

In several sessions, both formal and informal, there was discussion about how to participate in discussions at ISTE. Some people felt compelled to join the discussion instantly. Others hung back and listened. While some stated they were too new to the conference to contribute to a discussion, others noted that they learn a lot by simply listening.  I’m not a shy person, and I always have something to say… so I tend to encourage people to speak up, whether they’re newbies or not.

I have to admit though, that there is definite value in lurking and listening… whether it’s a face-to-face discussion group or an online conversation or chat. Isn’t that something I address often in my classroom? We have two ears and one mouth. Shouldn’t we listen twice as much as we talk?

My new friend, Nicholas Provenzano, aka @thenerdyteacher, brought up this point while we were sitting in the Bloggers’ Cafe at ISTE. He said something about how valuable it would be to become a fly on the wall at every part of the conference. That one reference set off a spark in my brain. For a person who has an opinion about everything, I can safely say it’s difficult for me to listen more than I speak. However, I’ve been trying to lurk more lately. It’s nice to try something different, and I’m definitely learning in a different way.

One thing I tried this year at ISTE that was different than past conferences was to participate in the backchannel in two sessions as an informal moderator. In addition to listening to the presenters, it was also an amazing experience to “listen” to the people in the backchannel. I thought I would be more distracted by others, but I found that I was actually more involved in the sessions.

Wow. This listening thing might become a habit for me.

What can we all learn from this experience?

1) While it may be funny at the time, you’ll regret ridiculing the person and the delivery. At first, it was funny… later, I was embarrassed. Embarrassed for him, and embarrassed for us. We’re all better than that. To be completely honest, I don’t feel better about myself for going along with any of it.

2) If you’re presenting, KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. You might have the key to saving the world, but if you fail in the delivery… no one will listen. It’s unfortunate, but it’s the human condition. Your responsibility as a presenter is to ensure appropriate communication of your thoughts. When you don’t effectively communicate and are then taken to task for that error, take your lumps and find a better method to share your message.

Maybe more importantly, do your research ahead of time to know your audience well. If a large percentage of those people blog/Tweet/present about “Death by PowerPoint,” perhaps it would be best to find something other than PowerPoint to aid in sharing your information.

We have all probably made similar mistakes in our own presentations somewhere along the road. Did we judge more harshly tonight because of the magnitude of the event? Because the speaker was paid? Because of who we- the audience- are and what we expect? I’m guessing some combination of all of those.

However, what kind of message did WE send with our behavior? I expect to take some lumps for my “delivery” – in this case, it was behavior. I’m not blaming anyone else for how I behaved – what I said, what I sent out through my network. That’s mine, and I have to own it and deal with any repercussions.

That little voice that’s always in my head reminded me of something– I’ve been talking to a few people the last few days at ISTE about intellectual snobbery and how careful we must be not to look down our noses at our colleagues or students because they don’t have as many letters behind their names or because they are new to what we’ve all been doing for the last 5, 10, 20 (whatever the number) years.  Tonight, I’m thinking I need to practice what I preach.

That obviously didn’t happen. I forgot what it was like to move into a new job– all that time it takes to really get into the swing of a new routine and a different schedule. And honestly, I wasn’t sure what I most wanted to post regarding my job change. 

It came down to the fact that I was unclear what my central purpose would be for blogging once my role changed from a teacher of teachers back to a teacher of children. 

That word- PURPOSE- seems to get lost in a lot of what we do on a daily basis. It’s also something I heard over and over today in the sessions at Edubloggercon. Early today, someone in one of the sessions noted that using technology tools is misdirected without a clearly defined purpose. In another session, we questioned the point of having students writing reports. Students need to learn to write with a purpose, and the end result of a report is NOT really a purpose at all.

In yet another session, we talked about learning networks, what and how they should be named- but I kept thinking about purpose again. If I grow my own personal learning network, I’d better have a purpose in mind. How do the people and resources in my network add value to me? What do I want to gain from that network? What do I want to contribute to that network? In the end, does it matter what we name it? It might. But I think the purpose of why I cultivated a learning network is more important than what I call it. 

Purpose. I’m thinking that I need to consider this word more often. I know when I write my lesson plans, purpose is always a consideration. But do I communicate that effectively to my students? I don’t know. When I blog, I need to be more purposeful in each post. Why am I writing the post? Am I considering my audience? What am I really trying to convey to my readers when I post? Or… am I simply using the blog as a reflection tool to help me better organize and understand my own thoughts? 

These are points I’ll need to ponder over the next few weeks.

Walking to School, Pink Sherbet Photography

Throughout the school year, I was constantly asked if I was still glad about my decision to leave a position in Professional Development to return to the classroom. “Hey, Michelle! Any regrets?” “Don’t you miss working in an office where you get a whole hour for lunch?” “Don’t you miss a more flexible schedule?”

Resoundingly, my answer was absolutely NO REGRETS. Best decision I have made for myself in years!

It was definitely a selfish decision. I missed teaching. I missed working with children. The pay cut was substantial, but my family supported this decision. You know what they say: if mama ain’t happy…

The first two weeks of school were pretty overwhelming. I have a freakishly good memory (you’ll know this if you’ve ever met me), but I had 430 new names to learn. There were skills I had to dig out of somewhere deep inside me that hadn’t been used in almost ten years. I worried whether the kids would like me. I worried whether the staff would like me. I wondered if I was simply philosophy-rich, yet practice-poor.

Maybe the most challenging part of going into this school year– would I be able to walk the talk I’ve been delivering to teachers for the last eight years? Could I encourage and engage and enable my students to think, create, solve problems? Oh, yes… and learn the content of the curriculum?

I hope that I did… no, I know that I did. Sure, I stumbled more than once (okay, a lot), but I can say with confidence that I taught differently this year than I did during my first six years in the classroom. It wasn’t always perfect or pretty, and I still have a long way to go, but I think I did some good things in the classroom this year.

The reasons: I have fabulous kids! I have great colleagues and a supportive administration. I’m in a school district that insists upon excellence from its teachers. I’m lucky to have a Personal Learning Network that is global, accessible, full of resources, and always willing to help!

But for me, it always comes back to the students… they deserve my best everyday. Even when that doesn’t happen (we are all human, right?), those little faces and minds are what bring you back to your classroom with the notion that you’re going to do whatever it takes to help those minds grow! That might sound a little “sunshine-y” to cynics, but those kids are what kept me going every day, week, month.

Most importantly, I remembered how much I love teaching. Not so that I can be the star on the stage, imparting my sacred wisdom to a bunch of children who know nothing… but because I also love learning. What a joy it is to me to watch kids discover the fun in learning! And to be back teaching music again… wow! Is there anything greater than listening to children sing? I’m not sure I’ve found its equal.

Am I glad I returned to teaching? No. I’m ECSTATIC!

I’ll close with this–
Yesterday, our students had a half day of school. One of my 4th graders gave me a gift, and attached was this poem:

It’s the end of the year,
and I thought you should know
part of me cannot wait ’til summer
and a part doesn’t want to go.

It’s not recess or lunchtime
or even time with my friends.
It’s because I will miss you
that I don’t want the year to end.

Thanks for being a great teacher!*

It’s been a great year! Can’t wait for August, so that we can all see each other again and learn some more!

*I don’t know the source… if anyone has it, please share so that I may properly credit/cite. Thanks!

[photo credit]

Image by Pink Sherbet Photography under Creative Commons license: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/234942843/

After today’s #edchat on Twitter, my brain just couldn’t stop rolling. The topic was “What is 21st century learning & how Is it different than 20th learning?” Lots of good discussion!

What I believe about education in the 21st century is that we absolutely must prepare our kids to be independent learners. The greatest gift I can give my students is how to find information on their own and then KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT.

For so many years, school has been “Do as I say. Learn what I tell you to learn.” If it’s not in the curriculum, we’re not supposed to teach it. Worse yet, students aren’t necessarily supposed to learn it, either.

Ask any employer today what their number one issue is with employees, and I’m sure you’ll get a lot of answers about responsibility, ethics, accountability. Those are all very important!  But I know also that many employers would say that they cannot find employees who can think for themselves or complete tasks without being told exactly what to do. Why is that? Think about what we do to kids in school, and there’s your answer.

How many times do you hear a child ask, “Is this going to be on the test?” They have learned to play the game of school. If it’s not on the test, why should they learn about it? That’s the mentality of the 20th century. It can’t be the same now.

Teach your students to discover new ideas on their own. Provide them with guidelines that are developmentally appropriate, but then also give them enough to room to succeed on their own… and fail on their own. Failing at something is extremely important to the learning process. We need to build in risk-free opportunities to fail. Besides, how many times in life is there only one right answer? Rarely. And when there is only one “right answer,” that answer tends to change. (Pluto, anyone?)

Teaching and learning in the 21st century doesn’t have to be scary. It should be fun… an adventure! There are many, many days when my students teach me new things from their own discovery. Those days remind me why I wanted to become a teacher in the first place.

I hope I can walk this talk in my classroom every single day. What about you?

An example from my own classroom:

Currently, my 4th and 5th grade students are setting poems about autumn to music they compose in small groups. We are learning about different types of scales (note patterns) in music and how the words of poems naturally have their own rhythm.

In a typical, non-tech lesson, I would distribute staff paper to my students (assigned to small groups), ask them to record the rhythms they discovered in their poems, and then creatively decide what the melody should sound like. They do have rules- they have to stay within the scales we’re learning about in class, and certain notes are more “important” within the scale than other notes. Other than that, they don’t really have any boundaries. After they finished, we would all sing the poems together, but I would probably have to play them on the piano first.

It’s a good lesson– they learn that there are many options for their melodies, and there isn’t one “right” answer. Additionally, they have problems to solve. Within their scales, the melodies have to flow together, and the end of the song has to sound like it’s “finished.”

To transform this lesson, I ask the small groups to continue this process using Apple’s GarageBand software. Students can input their melodies through multiple modes, and then play them back to listen and revise. There is immediate feedback about their choices for notes. Also through this method, they can choose nearly any instrument they want to hear play their melodies (not just me playing them on the piano). These are more problems to solve- what instrument would be the best to “tell the story” of their poems? After this option is set, they can then go into the instrument bank and add additional instruments to accompany their melodies.

Finally, we can save their final compositions and burn them to CD, send them to iTunes, or use them as background for a podcast. These students have taken a simple paper and pencil exercise that could be played and sung in a classroom setting and transformed it into something they can use again and again.

Do you have to be a music teacher to use a lesson like this? Absolutely not. What if your social studies class wants to record a podcast about this week’s topic of study? Some of your students might be writing the script, some might be the podcast recorders or producers, and some might compose the background music that is appropriate for this podcast.

What I love about teaching and learning with technology is that our lessons can become so much more than they were before, allowing students to make decisions, be creative, and find answers no one else knew existed.

What are you doing today to TRANSFORM your students’ learning?

However, how many of us design lessons that allow students to really be PRODUCERS, and not just CONSUMERS?

What percentage of your lessons asks your students to sit and listen to you for information? What percentage asks them to find the information themselves and then demonstrate their understanding to you?

When I was in school, we were inundated with reports: book reports, science reports, persuasive essays… you name it. While I wholeheartedly believe in the power of writing for kids, I don’t think the standard report is always the way to go.

What if I asked my students to read a book, and then design their own projects to tell me what they learned and understood? If I provided them a set of objectives/parameters, as well as the rubric I would use to grade the projects, would that be engaging? Would they have ownership of their learning?

How about a persuasive essay? Maybe I could ask my students to work in groups and create a PSA (public service announcement) instead. I could require a script, a recorded version on iMovie or MovieMaker, or maybe a live performance, as well as  anything else that would allow the students to make some decisions, solve some problems, and be creative.

What kind of lessons would you design to:

a) engage your students more,
b) incorporate 21st century skills (I follow http://www.21stcenturyskills.org for a definition of those skills),
and
c) move your students from CONSUMERS to PRODUCERS?

Please contribute an idea or two in the comments section… I’ll follow up with another post with some of the highlighted ideas, or even a wiki where we could continue to add lesson ideas.

Thanks in advance!