Imagine being camouflaged into a swirl of colorful energy....like a wallflower with just enough pollen to enrich the foliage that surrounds it.....a wallflower that's hanging high enough to be able to watch the growth all around....the mass creation of flowers and plants and trees that depend on one another and together overpower the weeds. And there you are....the wallflower....just one "something" that hangs from the rafters and watches the garden grow.
That's me. The wallflower. Living the dream. You see, I'm just one member of the team of leaders that I have the privilege of working with every single day at Waukee Middle School. To engage in professional development, PLC conversations, informal learning-focused chats, podcasts, texting, and lunch conversations with this group of amazing teachers, who refuse to accept the status quo as a way of life, is more than I could ever dream of as a principal. Recently, I shared with them, "We are actually doing the things we read about!" How amazing is that?!? We all know that yearning feeling when we can't put down that book or journal article that addresses collaboration, differentiation, distributive leadership, data-driven decisions, grading practices, assessment, and/or PLCs. We play through the "what if" scenarios in our heads as we draft the plan for getting from the "here and now" to the "Eutopia." I celebrate as I reflect on the past two and a half years, cheering in amazement as I think about the selfless learning that the teachers have engaged in around grading practices and assessment. What started out as a building-wide book study on Rick Wormeli's "Fair Isn't Always Equal" because the staff recognized a sense urgency to analyze their grading practices, has led to a transformation of their approach to grading and assessment. Today, we are transitioning to full implementation of standards-based reporting to replace letter grades at the middle school level. Student learning is happening at high levels because teachers are learning at high levels, and I am just one happy wallflower.
How did we get from there to here? This question isn't an easy one. There's not just one text book that gives you a step-by-step approach where you can check them off as you go. It's kind of like having a baby. A baby doesn't come with a text book. As a parent, you know what you believe, you act accordingly, and you do your best. And PRAY. Being a principal is no different. I know what I believe, I act accordingly, and I do my best. And I pray. Yes, I pray. Even as a principal in a public school setting, I pray. Do you honestly believe that God turns off His support like flipping off a light switch from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. every day? Without a doubt, I know with all my heart that God works through me every single day. Being a wallflower is God's work.
For whatever it's worth, here's my "baker's dozen plus five" of what I have learned thus far about charting the course to become a wallflower:
1) Honor and value EVERYONE.
2) Listen. Reflect. Respond. Listen some more. Repeat.
3) Find the good. Always.
4) Professionally confront the challenges. Always.
5) Know what you believe, because you'll get tested every day. Stand strong.
6) Don't get caught up in gossip and drama. Who needs it? It's negative energy.
7) Invite data to be your friend, but keep your eyes wide open. Data needs to be analyzed within context and faced with questions coming from many angles.
8) Don't just sit there. Take action. Break a sweat.
9) Organize your budget in such a way that you give teachers what they need. You can't communicate high expectations if you're not willing to provide them with the resources to make the magic happen.
10) Find the passion in teachers, and feed it. Celebrate with them every step of the way.
11) As excited as teachers get about their own learning and the learning of students, open your heart to take in that excitement just like breathing fresh spring air. Allow yourself to FEEL what they're feeling. (Just the other day, I was telling my husband that I get goose bumps at least once every day from a conversation I'm having with a teacher, and it's not uncommon for me to get teary-eyed as one of them shares a success story with me. Yes, being a wallflower can be quite emotional.)
12) Read. Read. Read.
13) Enthusiastically jump into 21st century learning. If you don't, your teachers will leave you in the dust. Consequently, the words that comes to mind that will describe you are pathetic and clueless.
14) Model leadership. And share it.
15) Embrace the gifts, talents, and emotional intelligence of your team. Together, you are smarter because each person has something amazing to offer.
16) Be a servant. Do God's work by serving your teachers.
17) Know and believe, at the end of each day, that it's not about you.
18) Give thanks.
Today I give thanks for teachers who challenge my thinking, who laugh with me, who learn with me, and who are committed to US. It's not just a job; this is a commitment we have to one another on this journey. I'm not committed to WMS. Rather, I'm committed to the PEOPLE with whom I work.
I give thanks to administrators at the district office who support our work in standards-based reporting, for they are with us every step of the way. I give thanks to the other middle school administrators and some teacher volunteers who, with me, are going to facilitate parent education classes as we transition to a middle school life without letter grades. I give thanks to the experts in the field who are teaching us best practices: Wormeli, O'Connor, Guskey, and DuFours, just to name a few. I give thanks to the other principals in the district who invite me into their buildings once a month to engage in Instructional Rounds where we learn from each other and strengthen the systemic foundation of what we know about instructional leadership. To work along side of them is humbling, to say the least.
Kermit the Frog says, "It ain't easy being green." I say, "It ain't easy being a wallflower. Knowing what I know, though, why would I want to be anything else?"
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Multi-Tasking = Side Bars
What is multi-tasking, anyway? For me, it's when I'm trying to do multiple things at the same time. For example, I'll set the scene as a Saturday afternoon at home: Do some laundry. Take an inventory of the groceries. Do we have enough milk to get us through the weekend? Check my email. Answer the phone. Oh - my BFF just texted, so I better text her back to "one up" her humorous comment. Change the laundry. Go back to my email. Get distracted by getting caught up on Twitter. Door bell rings. Go back to laundry. By this time, the clothes in the dryer are cold and wrinkled, so I need to run it again to get the wrinkles out. Need to get started on writing a teacher's evaluation report...oh, but I see I have 3 unread messages in my inbox, so I better check my email again. Oh, geez, I need to change the sheets on the guest bed because my in-laws are coming later this afternoon. Need to make out my grocery list. Gotta remember to include a gallon of milk on that list. Etc....You've been there. You've done that. We all have! And, notice that I didn't even include the other two main characters in this particular scene, my husband and daughter! They always add some extra excitement to my ability to multi-task! :-)
So....now let's change the scene to a school setting, one where we collectively believe in the PLC philosophy. As we continue to strive to get better at our implementation of this important work, I reflect on the PLC conference with the DuFours. A number of us representing our school district, and specifically the middle school, attended together. Amazing!!! As we "processed" our learning together, we celebrated what we're already doing that makes a difference. We also identified an "opportunity for growth" - the COMMITMENT to guiding norms that we collaboratively developed. The questions that come to my mind here are, "What has worked with our norms? What has NOT worked with our norms? What are our next steps?"
Hmmmm.....I'm chuckling right now as I think of us as adult learners. We can actually apply our 3 guiding questions that guide our PLC work to OUR experience! Question #1: What do we want our students to know? Translate this to, What do we expect from one another as individuals in our PLCs so that we are implementing them with fidelity? Question #2: How do we know they know it? Translate this to, How will we know how we're doing? Question #3: What will we do if they do / do not know it or already know it? Translate to, Now what are we going to do about it? If these questions are important enough for our students, then shouldn't we use them on ourselves?
Multi-tasking in a PLC meeting...can you really do this WELL? I'm thinking of a few times when I've attended some PLC meetings this past year, and some were "multi-tasking" while others were 100% actively engaged in the PLC conversations and tasks at hand. There was definitely a remarkable difference of engagement! If we're truly a PLC, where each and every member is of equal importance, aren't we settling for less than quality work when we allow each other to multi-task? Don't get me wrong; I get the fact that with our fast-paced world in education, coupled with technology allowing efficient communication, this lends us to "need" our computers and/or phones at all times. But what message are we giving to those people right there in front of us? It may not be our intent, but we're giving the message of, "Well, I'm here because I've committed to being here with you, but I really need to check my email, update my professional learning network, text my friend, etc...you fill in the blank.
The more I reflect on the DuFours and other presenters at the PLC conference when they spoke on the topic of guiding norms, the more I'm convinced that "No Multi-Tasking" needs to be one of them. Here's the bottom line: If you are multi-tasking, you are unable to give 100% to one particular task. That's completely okay if you are, at that moment, responsible for a number of tasks where none are more of a priority than the others. Go back to my first scene at home on a Saturday afternoon. Sure, I can multi-task at that time because everything I'm doing is of equal importance at that particular time. Change scenes back to the PLC meeting, and my priority at that moment is to my PLC. I cannot possibly give them 100% if I'm trying to do something else at the same time. I'm not only hurting my PLC members because I am unable to give 100% of myself as a contributor, but I'm also hurting myself because I'm not able to give 100% of myself as a learner. Ohhhhhhh, then, I'm unable to give 100% to my students because I've slacked in my PLC. I haven't risen to my potential as a learner; therefore, my behaviors will impact the learning in my classroom. (Not acceptable!)
As 21st Century Learners, we have embraced the responsibility of using technology as a tool for learning. With that, we also hold one another accountable to not use it just for the sake of using it. For example, if technology is a tool that empowers you to create learning activities for students at higher levels of Blooms, go for it! But if you are just transferring one low-level Blooms activity to another low-level Blooms activity that now includes technology, what is the purpose? How are you moving learning forward?
So that begs the question, how do you use technology as a learning tool in PLC work? If you are projecting your laptop so that all PLC members can view results from your common assessment, woo hoo! If, you're each on your laptop with your email and twitter open, I need help understanding how this is a tool for your learning in your PLC. Frankly, I'm just not seeing it. Unless, of course, there's a purpose that will impact your PLC work. Maybe you're waiting to hear from someone on an idea or an answer to a question posed by your PLC that pertains to your PLC tasks.
Last summer, at our district administration retreat, we developed what we call "Our Commitments," and we have them posted in our meeting area at the district office. One of our commitments that we made to each other speaks to multi-tasking. We call it "side bars." If you're whispering to the person next to you while someone else has the floor, if you're reading your email, if you're taking a phone call, etc., then you are having a side bar. It's pretty amazing when I think about the craziness of our work days and how we all leave our respective buildings to come together at the district office for meetings, and we walk the walk. The only time we pull out our phones or open our computers is during a break. And it works! And wow, are we productive!
I'm hearing DuFours' voices in my head: "Tight and loose. Tight and loose. Tight and loose." It rings in my head like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz clicking her heels and saying, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home." As we kick off our 10-11 school year, I vow to be proactive and facilitate some discussion around guiding norms. In conversations with some teachers at the PLC conference, we agreed that it's a good idea to have some building-wide "tight" norms, and then allow each content-area PLC to add some norms of their own that meet their particular needs, aka the "loose" part. I propose to my staff....no, this will be an expectation....a "tight" expectation.....that we all commit to having no side bars when meeting with our PLC. We owe this to each other as professionals, as teacher leaders, as adult learners, and as servants to student learning.
I challenge you - each of you - to reflect on your own behaviors when meeting with colleagues. Are you distracted? Or, are you 100% engaged? What would your colleagues say about your engagement level?
So....now let's change the scene to a school setting, one where we collectively believe in the PLC philosophy. As we continue to strive to get better at our implementation of this important work, I reflect on the PLC conference with the DuFours. A number of us representing our school district, and specifically the middle school, attended together. Amazing!!! As we "processed" our learning together, we celebrated what we're already doing that makes a difference. We also identified an "opportunity for growth" - the COMMITMENT to guiding norms that we collaboratively developed. The questions that come to my mind here are, "What has worked with our norms? What has NOT worked with our norms? What are our next steps?"
Hmmmm.....I'm chuckling right now as I think of us as adult learners. We can actually apply our 3 guiding questions that guide our PLC work to OUR experience! Question #1: What do we want our students to know? Translate this to, What do we expect from one another as individuals in our PLCs so that we are implementing them with fidelity? Question #2: How do we know they know it? Translate this to, How will we know how we're doing? Question #3: What will we do if they do / do not know it or already know it? Translate to, Now what are we going to do about it? If these questions are important enough for our students, then shouldn't we use them on ourselves?
Multi-tasking in a PLC meeting...can you really do this WELL? I'm thinking of a few times when I've attended some PLC meetings this past year, and some were "multi-tasking" while others were 100% actively engaged in the PLC conversations and tasks at hand. There was definitely a remarkable difference of engagement! If we're truly a PLC, where each and every member is of equal importance, aren't we settling for less than quality work when we allow each other to multi-task? Don't get me wrong; I get the fact that with our fast-paced world in education, coupled with technology allowing efficient communication, this lends us to "need" our computers and/or phones at all times. But what message are we giving to those people right there in front of us? It may not be our intent, but we're giving the message of, "Well, I'm here because I've committed to being here with you, but I really need to check my email, update my professional learning network, text my friend, etc...you fill in the blank.
The more I reflect on the DuFours and other presenters at the PLC conference when they spoke on the topic of guiding norms, the more I'm convinced that "No Multi-Tasking" needs to be one of them. Here's the bottom line: If you are multi-tasking, you are unable to give 100% to one particular task. That's completely okay if you are, at that moment, responsible for a number of tasks where none are more of a priority than the others. Go back to my first scene at home on a Saturday afternoon. Sure, I can multi-task at that time because everything I'm doing is of equal importance at that particular time. Change scenes back to the PLC meeting, and my priority at that moment is to my PLC. I cannot possibly give them 100% if I'm trying to do something else at the same time. I'm not only hurting my PLC members because I am unable to give 100% of myself as a contributor, but I'm also hurting myself because I'm not able to give 100% of myself as a learner. Ohhhhhhh, then, I'm unable to give 100% to my students because I've slacked in my PLC. I haven't risen to my potential as a learner; therefore, my behaviors will impact the learning in my classroom. (Not acceptable!)
As 21st Century Learners, we have embraced the responsibility of using technology as a tool for learning. With that, we also hold one another accountable to not use it just for the sake of using it. For example, if technology is a tool that empowers you to create learning activities for students at higher levels of Blooms, go for it! But if you are just transferring one low-level Blooms activity to another low-level Blooms activity that now includes technology, what is the purpose? How are you moving learning forward?
So that begs the question, how do you use technology as a learning tool in PLC work? If you are projecting your laptop so that all PLC members can view results from your common assessment, woo hoo! If, you're each on your laptop with your email and twitter open, I need help understanding how this is a tool for your learning in your PLC. Frankly, I'm just not seeing it. Unless, of course, there's a purpose that will impact your PLC work. Maybe you're waiting to hear from someone on an idea or an answer to a question posed by your PLC that pertains to your PLC tasks.
Last summer, at our district administration retreat, we developed what we call "Our Commitments," and we have them posted in our meeting area at the district office. One of our commitments that we made to each other speaks to multi-tasking. We call it "side bars." If you're whispering to the person next to you while someone else has the floor, if you're reading your email, if you're taking a phone call, etc., then you are having a side bar. It's pretty amazing when I think about the craziness of our work days and how we all leave our respective buildings to come together at the district office for meetings, and we walk the walk. The only time we pull out our phones or open our computers is during a break. And it works! And wow, are we productive!
I'm hearing DuFours' voices in my head: "Tight and loose. Tight and loose. Tight and loose." It rings in my head like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz clicking her heels and saying, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home." As we kick off our 10-11 school year, I vow to be proactive and facilitate some discussion around guiding norms. In conversations with some teachers at the PLC conference, we agreed that it's a good idea to have some building-wide "tight" norms, and then allow each content-area PLC to add some norms of their own that meet their particular needs, aka the "loose" part. I propose to my staff....no, this will be an expectation....a "tight" expectation.....that we all commit to having no side bars when meeting with our PLC. We owe this to each other as professionals, as teacher leaders, as adult learners, and as servants to student learning.
I challenge you - each of you - to reflect on your own behaviors when meeting with colleagues. Are you distracted? Or, are you 100% engaged? What would your colleagues say about your engagement level?
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Good leadership = Listening = Formative Assessment
So there I was yesterday morning, standing at the kitchen island with my daughter baking Grandma a birthday cake. Background noise was coming from a cartoon on the television. My ears perked up when I heard the word "leader." In the cartoon, a group of friends were working together to reach a common goal, and the leader was forging ahead like a dictator. One of the leader's friends offered some advice and said, "Being a good leader involves listening to other people so you can make things better for everyone."
Wow, isn't that the truth? Being a leader means you've made a commitment to listening. If you're not listening to others and making things better for them as you work toward your common goal, then you're not really a leader. Instead, you're either a dictator and people are doing what you've directed out of fear, or you're a manager just working on the nuts & bolts of the organization and people aren't learning and moving forward. In other words, if you're a leader, people are following. If nobody's following you, well.....you're not leading. You haven't earned the title of LEADER. And yes, it's something you EARN. You earn it by caring for others and working side by side WITH them. You don't see yourself as "above" them in power. Nor do you see yourself as having such little worth that you just play the role of manager. A leader is a LEARNING LEADER. Not only do you learn by staying current in educational research, reading, and engaging in PLC work, but you also learn by LISTENING.
It's all about formative assessment as a leader! For student learning to take place in the classroom, the teacher must formatively assess on an ongoing basis AND respond to the formative data. He uses the formative data to guide instruction. All the while, the he has the end in mind. He knows what the students need to learn....required curriculum, 21st century skills, Positive Behavior Support (responsibility, respect, fairness, trustworthiness, and caring), Iowa Core...
As a leader, I know where we need to go as we move forward. We have our agreed-upon mission and vision. Now, recognizing that our staff is made up of differentiated learners, I must formatively assess by listening. This "listening" involves my ears, my eyes, my head, and my heart. Gosh....I'm just sitting here thinking about how differentiated my approach and relationship is with each teacher with whom I work. And, wow, how I have such respect for each and every one of them! I am committed to honoring where each of them are and yet am equally committed to supporting their growth as individuals. By celebrating their individual strengths, they recognize their worth in contributing to our team, our PLC. I'm wondering how incredibly different our school culture would be if I treated everyone the same....Yes, I have the same expectations for everyone, but I wouldn't be a leader if I didn't honor individuality. Isn't this what we want for our students, too?
So...formative assessment as a leader. If someone asked me, "Jill, what do you enjoy most about being a leader?" I'd have to say, "It's the journey of getting from here to there." That equates to formative assessment. I signed up to be a leader because of the process. Sure, it's invigorating to get to a finish line and to reach a goal. What really pumps my adrenaline, though, is the work we do together to get there. It's listening and celebrating and revising and learning along the way. If someone is considering becoming an administrator, I would say, "If you don't enjoy the sweat and tears and conversations and "massaging" of people along to way to reach a goal, then leadership is not for you."
Are you a leader? Do you listen? Do you formatively assess? Do you allow yourself to recognize that you can't get where you're going without those around you???
Wow, isn't that the truth? Being a leader means you've made a commitment to listening. If you're not listening to others and making things better for them as you work toward your common goal, then you're not really a leader. Instead, you're either a dictator and people are doing what you've directed out of fear, or you're a manager just working on the nuts & bolts of the organization and people aren't learning and moving forward. In other words, if you're a leader, people are following. If nobody's following you, well.....you're not leading. You haven't earned the title of LEADER. And yes, it's something you EARN. You earn it by caring for others and working side by side WITH them. You don't see yourself as "above" them in power. Nor do you see yourself as having such little worth that you just play the role of manager. A leader is a LEARNING LEADER. Not only do you learn by staying current in educational research, reading, and engaging in PLC work, but you also learn by LISTENING.
It's all about formative assessment as a leader! For student learning to take place in the classroom, the teacher must formatively assess on an ongoing basis AND respond to the formative data. He uses the formative data to guide instruction. All the while, the he has the end in mind. He knows what the students need to learn....required curriculum, 21st century skills, Positive Behavior Support (responsibility, respect, fairness, trustworthiness, and caring), Iowa Core...
As a leader, I know where we need to go as we move forward. We have our agreed-upon mission and vision. Now, recognizing that our staff is made up of differentiated learners, I must formatively assess by listening. This "listening" involves my ears, my eyes, my head, and my heart. Gosh....I'm just sitting here thinking about how differentiated my approach and relationship is with each teacher with whom I work. And, wow, how I have such respect for each and every one of them! I am committed to honoring where each of them are and yet am equally committed to supporting their growth as individuals. By celebrating their individual strengths, they recognize their worth in contributing to our team, our PLC. I'm wondering how incredibly different our school culture would be if I treated everyone the same....Yes, I have the same expectations for everyone, but I wouldn't be a leader if I didn't honor individuality. Isn't this what we want for our students, too?
So...formative assessment as a leader. If someone asked me, "Jill, what do you enjoy most about being a leader?" I'd have to say, "It's the journey of getting from here to there." That equates to formative assessment. I signed up to be a leader because of the process. Sure, it's invigorating to get to a finish line and to reach a goal. What really pumps my adrenaline, though, is the work we do together to get there. It's listening and celebrating and revising and learning along the way. If someone is considering becoming an administrator, I would say, "If you don't enjoy the sweat and tears and conversations and "massaging" of people along to way to reach a goal, then leadership is not for you."
Are you a leader? Do you listen? Do you formatively assess? Do you allow yourself to recognize that you can't get where you're going without those around you???
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Do we really want to CLOSE the achievement gap???
My colleagues challenge my thinking everyday....With No Child Left Behind, we're faced with the constant charge to close the achievement gap. During a recent book study discussion (Dufours' Learning by Doing) with the CSIP Leadership Team, one of the teachers posed the question, "If we are truly moving ALL learners forward, then we should never close the gap. If we closed the gap, wouldn't we be holding some learners back while waiting for others to catch up?" Oh boy!! Pregnant pause! Take time to reflect on this one.
If we truly honor differentiation, aren't ALL students learning? I don't think anyone would agree with me that it's okay to tell a student, "I know you already know this, but I want you to do it anyway." Really? Would you want that for your child? I can't say that I'd want it for mine. She deserves better. And so does your child.
Let's not close the gap. Let's take each child from where he/she is and MOVE them. EXTEND them. CHALLENGE them. INSPIRE them. EMPOWER them.
If we truly honor differentiation, aren't ALL students learning? I don't think anyone would agree with me that it's okay to tell a student, "I know you already know this, but I want you to do it anyway." Really? Would you want that for your child? I can't say that I'd want it for mine. She deserves better. And so does your child.
Let's not close the gap. Let's take each child from where he/she is and MOVE them. EXTEND them. CHALLENGE them. INSPIRE them. EMPOWER them.
Learning: It's infectious!
What a day! Today, we wrapped up our project/inquiry-based learning unit with all of the 7th grade students. Entitled, "Outbreak 2010," students spent the past 2 weeks intersecting language arts, math, science, social studies, and 21st century skills with infectious diseases. Embracing the Iowa Core, Waukee Middle School partnered with the U.S. Center for Diplomacy and fostered our students' learning as they expanded their roles as global citizens. Once they chose their topics of interest around infectious diseases, they researched. They collaborated. They created. They inquired. They asked and answered, "What does this topic mean to me?" They asked and answered, "What does this mean for my world?" They asked and answered, "What am I going to do with this information to impact the world?" As I walked around the classrooms to witness students presenting their "representations of learning," goose bumps filled my entire body! No two representations were alike, and the students were so very proud of their work. And the teachers and I were, and are, proud of them. As we adults stepped to the side to guide learning, instead of being center stage with direct teaching in the front of the classroom, students were empowered to tap into their passions as they owned their learning. One student created a rap song and video about Yellow Fever while another student utilized google map to label locations and statistics about various infectious diseases all over the world. Three students worked together to create a video that compared and contrasted Hepatitis A, B, and C. And the list goes on and on.
So, my mind is racing. As I envision the future of our school, I see project-based learning happening more and more. Watching the teachers catch the infectious fever of this approach to learning has been completely invigorating! 6th and 7th grade teachers are already talking and asking, "What's next?" They're ready to keep moving! (Have I mentioned yet in this blog entry how much I love my job and people I work with???)
So what have I discovered the past couple weeks? Diseases are infectious. Learning is infectious. Our students' enthusiasm is infectious! We all remember that famous quote from the movie, Field of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come." If we (notice how I said WE, not YOU, because we are a team), build a learning opportunity that embraces students' interests, personal connections, and passions, they will come! And here's the trick. As we build it, we can't be too obsessive with the details. This can be a challenge for someone who is extremely organized and breathes better when every minute is accounted for over the next 2 weeks. Project-based learning just doesn't happen successfully that way. We have to be willing to be "tight but loose." We're tight on the curriculum standards for the unit, and we're tight that students will represent their learning, and we're tight on guiding norms for research and collaboration. We're loose on how they're going to get from here to there, and we're loose on how they're going to show what they've learned. As we formatively assess from day to day, we figure out the next step. It happens naturally if we allow ourselves to respond to students' needs and wants.
Hmmm...I'm reminded of Dufour's phrase, "tight but loose" as it pertains to PLC work. We're tight on collaboration, we're tight on learning, we're tight on data analysis, we're tight on guiding norms......and we're loose on how we respond to the data since each PLC's instructional response will be different according to their data and analysis of it. So, we adults make up a variety of PLCs within our overall faculty PLC. With project-based learning, I'm reminded that each classroom is a PLC....each small group of students is a PLC.....everyone is tight on learning and loose on representing it. What a powerful way to value our students as individuals!!! And as we think of Maslows Heirarchy of Needs, we know that when an individual feels valued, they reach that state of self-actualization. Isn't that what we want for EVERY student??? EVERY adult? My hope would be that each teacher feels valued so that he/she can "pay it forward." Professional Learning Communities...hmmm...tight on valuing one another. It's infectious. We're paying it forward like an infectious disease, a disease that effects your heart. Beware of the side effects of a PLC infectious disease: Your heart will be fulfilled, and you'll look forward to coming to work everyday to learn and to impact learning of others. You'll develop an addiction to data analysis. You'll discover a deep feeling of intrinsic satisfaction because of your involvement on a team. And, because it's contagious, you do NOT want to segregate yourself! You must be with others!!! Quarantine not allowed!
So, my mind is racing. As I envision the future of our school, I see project-based learning happening more and more. Watching the teachers catch the infectious fever of this approach to learning has been completely invigorating! 6th and 7th grade teachers are already talking and asking, "What's next?" They're ready to keep moving! (Have I mentioned yet in this blog entry how much I love my job and people I work with???)
So what have I discovered the past couple weeks? Diseases are infectious. Learning is infectious. Our students' enthusiasm is infectious! We all remember that famous quote from the movie, Field of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come." If we (notice how I said WE, not YOU, because we are a team), build a learning opportunity that embraces students' interests, personal connections, and passions, they will come! And here's the trick. As we build it, we can't be too obsessive with the details. This can be a challenge for someone who is extremely organized and breathes better when every minute is accounted for over the next 2 weeks. Project-based learning just doesn't happen successfully that way. We have to be willing to be "tight but loose." We're tight on the curriculum standards for the unit, and we're tight that students will represent their learning, and we're tight on guiding norms for research and collaboration. We're loose on how they're going to get from here to there, and we're loose on how they're going to show what they've learned. As we formatively assess from day to day, we figure out the next step. It happens naturally if we allow ourselves to respond to students' needs and wants.
Hmmm...I'm reminded of Dufour's phrase, "tight but loose" as it pertains to PLC work. We're tight on collaboration, we're tight on learning, we're tight on data analysis, we're tight on guiding norms......and we're loose on how we respond to the data since each PLC's instructional response will be different according to their data and analysis of it. So, we adults make up a variety of PLCs within our overall faculty PLC. With project-based learning, I'm reminded that each classroom is a PLC....each small group of students is a PLC.....everyone is tight on learning and loose on representing it. What a powerful way to value our students as individuals!!! And as we think of Maslows Heirarchy of Needs, we know that when an individual feels valued, they reach that state of self-actualization. Isn't that what we want for EVERY student??? EVERY adult? My hope would be that each teacher feels valued so that he/she can "pay it forward." Professional Learning Communities...hmmm...tight on valuing one another. It's infectious. We're paying it forward like an infectious disease, a disease that effects your heart. Beware of the side effects of a PLC infectious disease: Your heart will be fulfilled, and you'll look forward to coming to work everyday to learn and to impact learning of others. You'll develop an addiction to data analysis. You'll discover a deep feeling of intrinsic satisfaction because of your involvement on a team. And, because it's contagious, you do NOT want to segregate yourself! You must be with others!!! Quarantine not allowed!
Friday, April 16, 2010
"And what did YOU learn today?"
One of the rock star teachers with whom I work shared this quote by Thomas Guskey:
"I often suggest to principals that they stand outside of school at the end of the day when students are leaving. As they walk by, that principal ought to stop students randomly and ask, 'Tell me, what did you learn today?' If the student says, 'Nothing,' the principal ought to send them right back into the building. That child just spent 6 hours in a learning environment. Is it too much to expect that each child should have at least one successful learning experience each day?' I don't think so!
I also suggest to principals that they stand at the teachers' parking lot on Friday afternoon. As teachers walk by, the principal ought to stop them randomly and ask, 'What did you learn this week as a teacher?' If the teacher says, 'Nothing,' the principal ought to send that teacher right back into the building, too. That teacher just spent a week in a learning environment as well."
Excuse me while I go look at my calendar to see what I'm doing at 4:00 next Friday afternoon....
"I often suggest to principals that they stand outside of school at the end of the day when students are leaving. As they walk by, that principal ought to stop students randomly and ask, 'Tell me, what did you learn today?' If the student says, 'Nothing,' the principal ought to send them right back into the building. That child just spent 6 hours in a learning environment. Is it too much to expect that each child should have at least one successful learning experience each day?' I don't think so!
I also suggest to principals that they stand at the teachers' parking lot on Friday afternoon. As teachers walk by, the principal ought to stop them randomly and ask, 'What did you learn this week as a teacher?' If the teacher says, 'Nothing,' the principal ought to send that teacher right back into the building, too. That teacher just spent a week in a learning environment as well."
Excuse me while I go look at my calendar to see what I'm doing at 4:00 next Friday afternoon....
Thank you, God.
WOW - I've been riding the learning wave for 2 months without coming ashore to share my thoughts! Today was one of those days when I left the school building on a complete high after a day of powerful conversations with teachers. I began meeting individually with teachers for their required annual ITPDP conferences, and I'm reminded once again that I am surrounded be people who truly care about kids and who, at the core of their being, are inspired to be great teachers. And I am inspired by them. I could sit for hours and "process" with them, digging deep into their soul and listen to their thoughts, beliefs, practices, hopes, dreams, fears, goals, and celebrations as adult learners. One question that I ask is, "When you compare the learning in your classroom a year ago to the learning in your classroom today...and when you compare the learning in your classroom today to your vision of the learning in your classroom a year from now...what is the same, and what is different?" My heart swells with joy as our school's vision is validated and teachers are owning the value of what we are learning as a PLC. In their own words, they share that they are witness to the value of aligning students to "just right" readings, that when they design meaningful differentiated learning activities then behavior challenges disappear, and that the implementation of the workshop model really does work. (And everyone said, "Amen!")
The most solid evidence of our movement forward as a high-functioning PLC is the dependency on data that has emerged over the last couple years. A climate that was once comfortable with crossing our fingers and banking on hope that students would be successful is now a climate hungry for data. We geek data! We geek learning! Yep, we live for assessment FOR learning and assessment OF learning so we can get our hands on more data to guide us in our work. One of my favorite quotes: "In God we trust. All others bring data."
And....funny thought....here I am focusing on the learning of us as adults. We're really here for the kids, though, right? Lucky for them, they get to benefit from our passion for learning. Put simply, when we learn, they learn. When we dry up, the kids dry up...like a dead fish on shore.
Thank you, God, for this job. I feel guilty for calling it a job. Let's try this again: Thank you, God, for choosing me to serve, to learn, to grow, to collaborate, to celebrate, to inquire, to dream, to laugh, to cry, to reflect, to push, to be pushed, to love, to be loved....to make a difference...and to be surrounded by adults who are like me in that they thank you, too.
.
The most solid evidence of our movement forward as a high-functioning PLC is the dependency on data that has emerged over the last couple years. A climate that was once comfortable with crossing our fingers and banking on hope that students would be successful is now a climate hungry for data. We geek data! We geek learning! Yep, we live for assessment FOR learning and assessment OF learning so we can get our hands on more data to guide us in our work. One of my favorite quotes: "In God we trust. All others bring data."
And....funny thought....here I am focusing on the learning of us as adults. We're really here for the kids, though, right? Lucky for them, they get to benefit from our passion for learning. Put simply, when we learn, they learn. When we dry up, the kids dry up...like a dead fish on shore.
Thank you, God, for this job. I feel guilty for calling it a job. Let's try this again: Thank you, God, for choosing me to serve, to learn, to grow, to collaborate, to celebrate, to inquire, to dream, to laugh, to cry, to reflect, to push, to be pushed, to love, to be loved....to make a difference...and to be surrounded by adults who are like me in that they thank you, too.
.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Embrace Technology: Come on, I dare ya!
Here is what we DON'T want to happen at Waukee Middle School:
It's 8:00 a.m. Students are entering the building. As a staff, we smile and say, "Welcome to Waukee Middle School! Although you are being raised with technology fully integrated into your life, we expect you to have a non-technology education and be someone you're NOT from 8:00 to 3:00 every day. Enjoy your 8- hour stay in our sterile, stifling environment."
Would you want this for your child? I'm guessing that's a big, fat NO.
Now, watch this:
http://bit.ly/dDtkyQ
THIS is what we want for our students at Waukee Middle School!
Thankfully, I work with amazing teachers who recognize that we must embrace technology. As we hire teachers newer to the profession, they "get it." Why? Because they are technology natives just like our students. As veteran teachers, we recognize that we have an obligation to embrace technology; our learning curve is just a bit steeper than the younger teachers! I'm grateful to be working with brave people who are willing to take risks and transform the learning environment so that our students can be themselves. If we are preparing our students for the "real world," shouldn't we be trying to replicate it? Their (and our) "real world" demands them (and us) to be global citizens. It's pretty hard to make this happen when we don't allow access to technology! Furthermore, it's a heck of a lot easier, and more meaningful, if we value students' technology skills and allow them to teach us what they know! It's completely okay, and expected, for us to be the "facilitators of learning" instead of the "know-it-all experts." Let's value our kids and the world they're in. We can't afford NOT to.
As for us at WMS, we're getting there. It's taking one step at a time, one day at a time. Our mantra of, "Just try one thing," is paving the way!
It's 8:00 a.m. Students are entering the building. As a staff, we smile and say, "Welcome to Waukee Middle School! Although you are being raised with technology fully integrated into your life, we expect you to have a non-technology education and be someone you're NOT from 8:00 to 3:00 every day. Enjoy your 8- hour stay in our sterile, stifling environment."
Would you want this for your child? I'm guessing that's a big, fat NO.
Now, watch this:
http://bit.ly/dDtkyQ
THIS is what we want for our students at Waukee Middle School!
Thankfully, I work with amazing teachers who recognize that we must embrace technology. As we hire teachers newer to the profession, they "get it." Why? Because they are technology natives just like our students. As veteran teachers, we recognize that we have an obligation to embrace technology; our learning curve is just a bit steeper than the younger teachers! I'm grateful to be working with brave people who are willing to take risks and transform the learning environment so that our students can be themselves. If we are preparing our students for the "real world," shouldn't we be trying to replicate it? Their (and our) "real world" demands them (and us) to be global citizens. It's pretty hard to make this happen when we don't allow access to technology! Furthermore, it's a heck of a lot easier, and more meaningful, if we value students' technology skills and allow them to teach us what they know! It's completely okay, and expected, for us to be the "facilitators of learning" instead of the "know-it-all experts." Let's value our kids and the world they're in. We can't afford NOT to.
As for us at WMS, we're getting there. It's taking one step at a time, one day at a time. Our mantra of, "Just try one thing," is paving the way!
Learning: Who's in charge, anyway?
As I was traveling through Scott McLeod's website today, I saw this quote that screamed Project/Inquiry-Based Learning:
"People are just begging to be told what to do. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I think the biggest one is: 'If you tell me what to do, the responsibility for the outcome is yours, not mine. I'm safe.' - Seth Godin"
Wow! So here's how I see it: As educators, WE are in charge of creating the structure....the curriculum, assessment, and instruction....and the STUDENT is in charge of his/her learning. Well, WE are in charge of making sure the student's in charge. Does that make sense? We can't just sit there and say, "Hey, I provided everything, but he/she just didn't take advantage of the opportunity to learn." What?!? Really?!? If we're really going to own the learning in our classrooms, then learning isn't an option. I would think it would be really hard to go to sleep at night knowing that a student slipped between the cracks and wasn't actively engaged in my class that day. How incredibly sad. That student is counting on ME, and I let him/her down. (This is when my inner voice takes over and asks, "And WHY did you go into education? WHY did you want to be a teacher?")
When you think about it, we all find greater satisfaction when we do something on our own. Now don't get me wrong...I would prefer to pay someone to fix something in our house that needs repaired. My husband, though, would rather engage in the research and fix it himself. I chuckle at the memory of our house in Georgia when he was upstairs fixing the faucet in the bathroom. I suddenly heard a wailing, "Jiiiiiiilllllllllll!" I ran upstairs to find his finger pressed against the faucet, and water was EVERYWHERE! Let me tell you, he will never forget how to fix this problem as long as he lives! I'm reminded here of DuFours' book on Professional Learning Communities entitled, "Learning by Doing." What a simple, yet powerful phrase! We learn by doing! Isn't this what we want for our students?
Project/Inquiry-Based Learning provides the perfect balance of who's in charge. The teacher is the facilitator...the learning guide....and the student is in charge of his own learning (with the teacher in charge of making sure the student's in charge....thus the role of the facilitator). It's time to eliminate the "sit and get" approach to teaching and the rows of desks that go with them. Bring on the collaborative grouping of desks and project-based learning! Our 21st century students are counting on it.
"People are just begging to be told what to do. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I think the biggest one is: 'If you tell me what to do, the responsibility for the outcome is yours, not mine. I'm safe.' - Seth Godin"
Wow! So here's how I see it: As educators, WE are in charge of creating the structure....the curriculum, assessment, and instruction....and the STUDENT is in charge of his/her learning. Well, WE are in charge of making sure the student's in charge. Does that make sense? We can't just sit there and say, "Hey, I provided everything, but he/she just didn't take advantage of the opportunity to learn." What?!? Really?!? If we're really going to own the learning in our classrooms, then learning isn't an option. I would think it would be really hard to go to sleep at night knowing that a student slipped between the cracks and wasn't actively engaged in my class that day. How incredibly sad. That student is counting on ME, and I let him/her down. (This is when my inner voice takes over and asks, "And WHY did you go into education? WHY did you want to be a teacher?")
When you think about it, we all find greater satisfaction when we do something on our own. Now don't get me wrong...I would prefer to pay someone to fix something in our house that needs repaired. My husband, though, would rather engage in the research and fix it himself. I chuckle at the memory of our house in Georgia when he was upstairs fixing the faucet in the bathroom. I suddenly heard a wailing, "Jiiiiiiilllllllllll!" I ran upstairs to find his finger pressed against the faucet, and water was EVERYWHERE! Let me tell you, he will never forget how to fix this problem as long as he lives! I'm reminded here of DuFours' book on Professional Learning Communities entitled, "Learning by Doing." What a simple, yet powerful phrase! We learn by doing! Isn't this what we want for our students?
Project/Inquiry-Based Learning provides the perfect balance of who's in charge. The teacher is the facilitator...the learning guide....and the student is in charge of his own learning (with the teacher in charge of making sure the student's in charge....thus the role of the facilitator). It's time to eliminate the "sit and get" approach to teaching and the rows of desks that go with them. Bring on the collaborative grouping of desks and project-based learning! Our 21st century students are counting on it.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Project-Based Learning: Eat Your Veggies!
Yesterday was an "early dismissal" day in our district. Translation: Professional development time for teachers! Woo! Hoo! If we keep getting better, our students will keep getting better.
A learning focus for us at WMS is Project/Inquiry-Based Learning. Why? Because we know it creates powerful, meaningful learning experiences for our students. Sure, we will eventually be required to deliver instruction via project-based learning because of looming expectations from the state. While other states have a mandated curriculum for all districts in the state to deliver, the state of Iowa has taken it one step further. Not only will our Department of Ed require the "what" of instruction; they will also require the "how." The Iowa Core brings together a curriculum of subjects infused with 21st Century Skills and puts it into action with project-based learning. The go-getters with whom I work didn't want to sit around and wait to be told what to do. In fact, a year ago when a group of teachers came forward and said, "Jill, we need to bring this (PBL) to our school," they had no idea that PBL would eventually be the talk of the Iowa Core. That's right - I just work with really good teachers who don't settle for the status quo!
So here we are...learning together and creating buy-in among our staff on this very important work. Intrinsic motivation lifts the barriers to learning and growing, unlike being made to do something by a force of power. Funny, this brings to mind my daughter who walks into our kitchen and asks, "Mommy, may I please have some spinach?" As I watch her open the refrigerator and help herself to a spinach salad, I'm grateful that she has bought into the idea that dark green veggies are good for her. It sure makes our family time at the dinner table much more enjoyable and much less argumentative!
So there you have it: Project-based learning is the spinach of all learning! Yesterday afternoon, my 7th grade colleagues and I ate spinach. As we have been preparing for a building wide PBL unit for all 7th graders, we spent the afternoon actively engaged in our own project-based learning. In a previous staff development session a couple weeks ago, we began our PBL work on the topic of chocolate, and we started by silently recording and then sharing our personal memories of chocolate. Next, we wrote down everything we knew about chocolate. After "webbing" what we know and categorizing into topics, we developed guiding questions. What more do we want to know about chocolate? The list went on and on!!! (Take note: Any theme or topic will work. We chose chocolate for our first PBL activity because everyone has background knowledge / experiences / memories of chocolate. And let me just say, if you DON'T have memories of chocolate, you have missed out on one of life's greatest gifts!)
Fast forward to yesterday: Our learning facilitators divided us into small groups according to our chocolate interests, and then we honed in on what we wanted to know about our particular topic. The members in my small group and I were intrigued by "marketing." What did we want to know about the marketing of chocolate? The essential questions we developed guided our research. No slackers allowed! In other words, nobody can leave the spinach just sitting on his/her plate! Our learning facilitators did a fabulous job of holding all of us accountable by walking around and asking questions such as, "What is YOUR role?...What are YOU contributing to your group?" When we gathered and analyzed our research, we created "representations of our learning." WOW, was this ever cool!!! Would you believe that of all of our groups, not one of them was a paper/pencil test??? No two "representations of learning" were alike!
While we crammed our chocolate activity into a 4-hour period (something that typically takes 3-4 weeks), it sure helped us to see how everything is connected. We can now visualize PBL from beginning to end because we EXPERIENCED it. We ate our veggies.
If we eat our veggies, we understand the value of them, and we want our loved ones to eat veggies, too...
What happens when we don't eat our veggies? We feel lethargic. Inattentive. Stale. Unmotivated. Tired. Blah. And...someone is using their "power" to direct us to eat our vegetables. It's all about them and THEIR agenda. What happens when we're not experiencing Project/Inquiry-Based Learning? We feel lethargic. Inattentive. Stale. Unmotivated. (Or, at best, extrinsically motivated.) Tired. Blah. And...someone is using their "power" to direct us to learn. It's all about them and their agenda. They're just trying to "cover the curriculum."
What happens when we DO eat our veggies? We are healthy. We feel good. We're engaged in life. We have energy to keep going. What happens when we are experiencing Project/Inquiry-Based Learning? We are healthy. We feel good. We're engaged in life. We have energy to keep going. We want to keep learning. And learning. And learning. The teacher is the guide who is facilitating our discovery as we "UNcover the curriculum."
At WMS, we want our students to eat their veggies.
Veggies are at the core of 21st Century Skills. I'm thinking of the 6 C's as described by Angela Maiers: Content analysis, Collaborate, Create, Communicate, Courage, Contribute. Yes!!!
- Veggies (aka Project/Inquiry-Based Learning) empower students to analyze CONTENT.
- Veggies empower students to COLLABORATE.
- Veggies empower students to CREATE.
- Veggies empower students to COMMUNICATE.
- Veggies empower students to be COURAGEOUS.
- Veggies empower students to CONTRIBUTE.
And just when you thought it couldn't get any better....our 6th grade teachers have raided the refrigerator, and they're eating veggies, too.
A learning focus for us at WMS is Project/Inquiry-Based Learning. Why? Because we know it creates powerful, meaningful learning experiences for our students. Sure, we will eventually be required to deliver instruction via project-based learning because of looming expectations from the state. While other states have a mandated curriculum for all districts in the state to deliver, the state of Iowa has taken it one step further. Not only will our Department of Ed require the "what" of instruction; they will also require the "how." The Iowa Core brings together a curriculum of subjects infused with 21st Century Skills and puts it into action with project-based learning. The go-getters with whom I work didn't want to sit around and wait to be told what to do. In fact, a year ago when a group of teachers came forward and said, "Jill, we need to bring this (PBL) to our school," they had no idea that PBL would eventually be the talk of the Iowa Core. That's right - I just work with really good teachers who don't settle for the status quo!
So here we are...learning together and creating buy-in among our staff on this very important work. Intrinsic motivation lifts the barriers to learning and growing, unlike being made to do something by a force of power. Funny, this brings to mind my daughter who walks into our kitchen and asks, "Mommy, may I please have some spinach?" As I watch her open the refrigerator and help herself to a spinach salad, I'm grateful that she has bought into the idea that dark green veggies are good for her. It sure makes our family time at the dinner table much more enjoyable and much less argumentative!
So there you have it: Project-based learning is the spinach of all learning! Yesterday afternoon, my 7th grade colleagues and I ate spinach. As we have been preparing for a building wide PBL unit for all 7th graders, we spent the afternoon actively engaged in our own project-based learning. In a previous staff development session a couple weeks ago, we began our PBL work on the topic of chocolate, and we started by silently recording and then sharing our personal memories of chocolate. Next, we wrote down everything we knew about chocolate. After "webbing" what we know and categorizing into topics, we developed guiding questions. What more do we want to know about chocolate? The list went on and on!!! (Take note: Any theme or topic will work. We chose chocolate for our first PBL activity because everyone has background knowledge / experiences / memories of chocolate. And let me just say, if you DON'T have memories of chocolate, you have missed out on one of life's greatest gifts!)
Fast forward to yesterday: Our learning facilitators divided us into small groups according to our chocolate interests, and then we honed in on what we wanted to know about our particular topic. The members in my small group and I were intrigued by "marketing." What did we want to know about the marketing of chocolate? The essential questions we developed guided our research. No slackers allowed! In other words, nobody can leave the spinach just sitting on his/her plate! Our learning facilitators did a fabulous job of holding all of us accountable by walking around and asking questions such as, "What is YOUR role?...What are YOU contributing to your group?" When we gathered and analyzed our research, we created "representations of our learning." WOW, was this ever cool!!! Would you believe that of all of our groups, not one of them was a paper/pencil test??? No two "representations of learning" were alike!
While we crammed our chocolate activity into a 4-hour period (something that typically takes 3-4 weeks), it sure helped us to see how everything is connected. We can now visualize PBL from beginning to end because we EXPERIENCED it. We ate our veggies.
If we eat our veggies, we understand the value of them, and we want our loved ones to eat veggies, too...
What happens when we don't eat our veggies? We feel lethargic. Inattentive. Stale. Unmotivated. Tired. Blah. And...someone is using their "power" to direct us to eat our vegetables. It's all about them and THEIR agenda. What happens when we're not experiencing Project/Inquiry-Based Learning? We feel lethargic. Inattentive. Stale. Unmotivated. (Or, at best, extrinsically motivated.) Tired. Blah. And...someone is using their "power" to direct us to learn. It's all about them and their agenda. They're just trying to "cover the curriculum."
What happens when we DO eat our veggies? We are healthy. We feel good. We're engaged in life. We have energy to keep going. What happens when we are experiencing Project/Inquiry-Based Learning? We are healthy. We feel good. We're engaged in life. We have energy to keep going. We want to keep learning. And learning. And learning. The teacher is the guide who is facilitating our discovery as we "UNcover the curriculum."
At WMS, we want our students to eat their veggies.
Veggies are at the core of 21st Century Skills. I'm thinking of the 6 C's as described by Angela Maiers: Content analysis, Collaborate, Create, Communicate, Courage, Contribute. Yes!!!
- Veggies (aka Project/Inquiry-Based Learning) empower students to analyze CONTENT.
- Veggies empower students to COLLABORATE.
- Veggies empower students to CREATE.
- Veggies empower students to COMMUNICATE.
- Veggies empower students to be COURAGEOUS.
- Veggies empower students to CONTRIBUTE.
And just when you thought it couldn't get any better....our 6th grade teachers have raided the refrigerator, and they're eating veggies, too.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Celebrations on the Wave
As I reflect on our journey as 21st Century Learners, here are some of our highlights...you know, the ones that give me goose bumps because I love bragging about my staff!
- Teacher teams created wiki pages so parents and students can easily access important information.
- More and more, teachers are creating classroom blogs and/or other online discussion forums for their students.
- With the help of technology experts on my staff, I created a staff wiki that replaced the hard copy of our staff handbook. The best part is that I can continue updating it with need-to-know information so it's never out of date!
- Our Technology Leadership Team facilitates "Technology Tuesdays" - help sessions to offer differentiated support to teachers on topics such as blogging, wikis, ipods, etc.
- We have a PLC of teachers focusing their learning on technology, primarily Moodle. How cool it's been to see this in the classrooms!
- Our CSIP (Comprehensive School Improvement Plan) Leadership Team is dedicated to providing meaningful, relevant professional development opportunities to our staff. Driven by our district's 3 Guiding Questions (1. What do we want our students to know? 2. How will we know they have learned what we intended for them to learn? 3. What will we do if they did / did not learn it?) and Framework for Meeting the Needs of All Students, we drive much, if not all, of our work through our PLCs. We are busy identifying Essential Learnings (check out chapter 3 of DuFours' Learning by Doing), sharpening our application of KUD (Know-Understand-Do), digging deeper in differentiation, revising our grading practices (with Rick Wormeli's work as our guide), learning about project/inquiry-based learning, supporting our building/district-wide implementation of PBS (Positive Behavior Support), implementing building-wide teaching and learning strategies, and learning how to use technology as a tool in the instructional process.
- Throughout the current 09-10 school year, our faculty members have become "Googledocs groupies."
- We've created a PLC wiki for the staff where PLCs can post and share their work.
- I accompanied a group of teachers to Angela Maiers' conference in June 2009. Our brains haven't stopped since! Our CSIP team continues to work with Angela, and we look forward to her expertise in helping us transform how we deliver instruction.
- Panera chats.....I'll never forget the summer of 2009 at Panera! It started out as a voluntary 21st Century Learning chat on Tuesday mornings, where we discussed articles from ASCD's March 2009 issue of "Ed Leadership." Oh my...it turned in to longer learning opportunities where we were on our computers "playing" with our 21st century skills! I'll never forget the day we actually stayed so long that we ate 2 meals there! Needless to say, I can't wait for Panera, Summer 2010. It just keeps getting better and better!
- A group of teachers stepped up to the plate and wanted to learn more about project/inquiry-based learning. This led to a partnership with the U.S. Center for Diplomacy and Des Moines Business Alliance, and we were able to offer a summer class on PBL through Heartland AEA. We're also fortunate to have our director of professional development in WCSD as an in-house expert on PBL!! The fact that teachers with whom I work initiated our work with PBL and gave up their personal time to take the summer class is evidence of the leadership capacity at WMS! Linda Lambert would be so proud if she came to WMS! Now, we're busy creating a 7th grade PBL unit on infectious diseases. And, hats off to all the teachers in both grades 6 and 7 who have stepped out of their comfort zones and tested the PBL waters. We're catchin' the wave of PBL!
- Our Literacy Leadership Team meets regularly and engages in article reviews centered on 21st Century Literacy. My adrenaline gets pumping every time we meet because this group of amazing teachers, as busy as they are, have committed the time to shut out distractions and spend time learning together in a relaxed setting. There's no agenda when we meet; we just discuss our readings and identify ways to implement our learning in our classrooms.
- Twitter....many of us are learning how to tweet! Last Tuesday brought a pleasant surprise. While we're experiencing the worst winter to my memory, we have missed 5 days of school and have had 2 late starts...so far. I have this feeling it's not over! With all of the phone calls we're making each time we run the staff phone tree, I've realized that it's time to do something different. Since we ARE 21st Century Learners, why not set up Twitter to send the staff a text on their cell phones instead? So, with the help of technology experts on staff, we moved ahead. I announced on the intercom, "If anyone is interested in piloting a way to receive a text instead of using the phone tree, you are invited to the conference room at this time." The conference room FILLED with teachers! Woo! Hoo! While I'm aware that there are other ways to set up a system so that everyone could receive a text, I do believe Twitter was the way to go. Here's why: Some teachers are already using twitter, while some have never used it. As 21st Century Learners, we will all eventually be using it. If a teacher did NOT use twitter but wants to receive a text when school's cancelled, then he/she had to set up a twitter account. Sure, they may not be an active twitter user right now, but as we continue our differentiated path as 21st Century Learners, they will have their accounts ready to go when they are ready to move as a twitter learner. I'm speaking from experience here. A teacher helped me set up my account a couple months ago, and I am just now feeling more "daring" as I tweet!
- The chorus teachers have enhanced the learning in their classroom with the use of i-pods. Very cool!
- The Van Meter School District is doing amazing things with technology! I had the opportunity to visit with other colleagues a couple months ago. My jaw was dragging on the floor the entire time as I was in awe at the work they're doing for kids with their one-on-one laptop initiative and virtual reality room. All I could think of was, "My teachers have to see this!" A couple weeks ago, we had a teacher workday, and I just threw it out there on an email to the staff: "If anyone would be interested in visiting Van Meter on our workday, please let me know." Would you believe that a dozen teachers jumped at the chance to go with me? Here I am again - fascinated by the professionals in my building who gave up their personal work time to learn.
- Imagine 75 hungry football players trying to share 3 large pizzas. That's how it is with our teachers trying to share the mobile computer labs! Well, except they don't tackle each other for the computers.... So, I'm prioritizing our budget to get additional mobile carts over the next few years. My goal over the next couple years is for each team to have their own cart of 30 laptops. Oh yes, and we just ordered a mobile lab of i-pod touches! I can only imagine how excited the students will be to use them!
- We can't forget skyping! A group of intrinsically motivated teachers have recently taken the initiative to learn how to communicate via skype. In fact, the word on the street is that a number of teachers were skyping during our recent snow day. They're like the Energizer Bunny with 21st Century Learning. They just keep going and going and going! A cancelled day of school won't get in their way! The key to take us to the next level here is to use skype as a tool to connect with people OUTSIDE of our building and district, thus making those necessary global connections. Hats off to the teacher who made arrangements to have her students skype with a well-known author in the community!
Our Team of Learners
It all began in July 2008 when I officially began my position as Principal at Waukee Middle School, or as I lovingly refer to, The Promise Land. I found out quickly that being Principal at WMS meant so much more than maintaining the budget, supervising employees, and fulfilling other managerial duties. It's about PASSION....passion for learning and serving...and passion for PEOPLE. I am so blessed everyday to come to work and be surrounded by adult learners who truly care about children and each other. And the best part is that we have fun learning together and working so very hard!! There hasn't been a day since I started that I haven't thanked God for choosing me for this role. One of my mentors always says, "A strong leader surrounds himself with people smarter than him." While I'm certainly not saying I'm a strong leader, I am saying that I am proud to be working with teachers who are tenacious and talented, and everyone has unique strengths to bring to the table. Having committed time to build trust and teamwork has empowered us with leadership capacity, and my hope is that every person feels valued and needed. As one of our literacy leaders, Angela Maiers, says, "We are smarter together!"
So here we are....a ROCK STAR staff intersecting with 21st Century Skills. Last year, we began reading and learning about 21st Century Skills and what a 21st Century Classroom looks like. Simultaneously, the department of ed infused 21st Century Skills in the Iowa Core Curriculum. We quickly recognized the sense of urgency in transforming teaching and learning. We can no longer do what we have always done....or we will get what we've always gotten. Take note: Our children WILL NOT SURVIVE their futures if we do not provide them with 21st century learning opportunities on a REGULAR BASIS. Opportunities to CREATE and EVALUATE and ANALYZE (hmmm...I'm seeing Blooms Taxonomy here...) must drive the typical day-to-day activities instead of being a special culminating project at the end of a unit.
The million dollar question is....how will we make this happen? How will we transform our classrooms? Here's the million dollar answer: WE are 21st Century Learners! If we, as adult learners, embrace 21st Century Learning, then we will create students with skills that will empower them as successful citizens in a global society. On one hand, it sounds so easy, doesn't it? This million dollar answer is just a simple sentence; not a list of a hundred "how to" strategies. If We learn, our students will learn!!! How cool is that?!? On the other hand, though, it can be scary for some because change represents the "unknown." So, we make it happen by taking one step at a time. A phrase you'll hear in our building is, "Just try one thing." For me, that "one thing" has created a disease of, "What can I learn next?" that has spread throughout my veins, and I just can't get enough! I'm seeing this same disease spread throughout the building as teachers are trying new things and sharing with one another.
We have become a Professional Learning Community of 21st Century Learners, and there is no place I'd rather be. Honestly, I've reached the point of no return! I have a responsibility, a hunger, a passion...to serve as the fearless leader of teachers charting our learning course so that we can see our transformed 21st century school come to life! "Together" is a great place to be.
So here we are....a ROCK STAR staff intersecting with 21st Century Skills. Last year, we began reading and learning about 21st Century Skills and what a 21st Century Classroom looks like. Simultaneously, the department of ed infused 21st Century Skills in the Iowa Core Curriculum. We quickly recognized the sense of urgency in transforming teaching and learning. We can no longer do what we have always done....or we will get what we've always gotten. Take note: Our children WILL NOT SURVIVE their futures if we do not provide them with 21st century learning opportunities on a REGULAR BASIS. Opportunities to CREATE and EVALUATE and ANALYZE (hmmm...I'm seeing Blooms Taxonomy here...) must drive the typical day-to-day activities instead of being a special culminating project at the end of a unit.
The million dollar question is....how will we make this happen? How will we transform our classrooms? Here's the million dollar answer: WE are 21st Century Learners! If we, as adult learners, embrace 21st Century Learning, then we will create students with skills that will empower them as successful citizens in a global society. On one hand, it sounds so easy, doesn't it? This million dollar answer is just a simple sentence; not a list of a hundred "how to" strategies. If We learn, our students will learn!!! How cool is that?!? On the other hand, though, it can be scary for some because change represents the "unknown." So, we make it happen by taking one step at a time. A phrase you'll hear in our building is, "Just try one thing." For me, that "one thing" has created a disease of, "What can I learn next?" that has spread throughout my veins, and I just can't get enough! I'm seeing this same disease spread throughout the building as teachers are trying new things and sharing with one another.
We have become a Professional Learning Community of 21st Century Learners, and there is no place I'd rather be. Honestly, I've reached the point of no return! I have a responsibility, a hunger, a passion...to serve as the fearless leader of teachers charting our learning course so that we can see our transformed 21st century school come to life! "Together" is a great place to be.
My Favorite Sites
Here they are! Here are some of my favorite sites that keep me grounded as an instructional leader and 21st century learner:
Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development
National Middle School Association
National Staff Development Council
International Reading Association
School Administrators of Iowa
Angela Maiers' Website
Iowa Core Curriculum
Professional Learning Communities
Scott McLeod's Website
Edutopia
Buck Institute / Project-Based Learning
Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development
National Middle School Association
National Staff Development Council
International Reading Association
School Administrators of Iowa
Angela Maiers' Website
Iowa Core Curriculum
Professional Learning Communities
Scott McLeod's Website
Edutopia
Buck Institute / Project-Based Learning
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