I was running through my Google Reader this morning when I came across this post from Scott McLeod. Actually, it's more like a question for reflection than a post.

Given the realities of our modern age and the demands of our children's future, is it really okay to allow teachers to choose whether or not they incorporate modern technologies into their instruction?

Of course, there are posts for and against the idea of teachers being required to use the technologies. What I found interesting was that no one answering seemed to have asked the teachers with whom they work what they thought. So, to see what the teachers in my building think, I emailed them the above question and am waiting for a response. I figure that we have come to realise that kids need to have input into education so why not realise that we need to ask teachers also. We may be surprised by the answers we get. We tend to ask this question and want an immediate response from teachers. "What do you need to incorporate more technology into your teaching?" without assuming that, at least for most, they are already using technology in some way. It might not be a computer or SmartBoard but it could be the use of overheads or the use of video. They might have students reading along to a cassette or following a DVD reading of a play. We get so caught up with "the computer" that we forget that technology comes in many forms. Because we don't value the others, teachers get overwhelmed and the resultant answer is "Time". Now, I've argued that time is a crucial factor, probably the largest factor, for teachers not using technology. But what do we do with the time? That is the million dollar question.

This made me wonder what was so hard about asking teachers the above question? Do we not want our schools to be teaching 21st century education and skills? How do we know what we are doing if we don't ask? I've read many a post where there is only one teacher in a school using technology while the rest of the school continues on, oblivious to what is happening in relation to technology. I also see where technology is just another set of tools used to assist students to help them with understanding and creating their responses. Although I think that we need to listen to teachers, we also have an obligation to give the students the best education that is possible. So how do we bridge the gap between want and need?

This comment, left by David Truss, gives a great insight to what where we need to stretch ourselves.

I may be someone you consider “an early adapter” but here is the thing, I am lousy with technology integration! Every attempt I make is met with roadblocks and stupid errors… I feel LD when it comes to technology integration… I use technology despite the strikes against me.
My biggest asset: I am not afraid to fail!
My biggest question: How do you teach that?
Visit my Math class and, despite my efforts, a wrong question is not seen as a learning opportunity but as a failure. Kids understand this when playing video games- so why can’t we get this to transfer to the classroom? (highlight mine)

As an administrator, this is the struggle that I would like all the teachers in my building to go through and I would be willing to become involved. Providing support for this teacher as they search and try, willing to fail in order to find success later. More importantly, Dave has made a connection between the entrenched right/wrong mentality of school and the successful learning for understanding that kids are applying in many other facets of their lives except school. Because schools are a reflections of the society of which they are a part, being right/wrong has become "most important", having finally reached that point in schools. However, while this is taking place in schools, we are seeing more and more the move away from this linear perspective in many sectors outside education. People like Daniel Pink are pointing out that we need to do more than just be best at getting it "right or wrong". We need to better at descerning shades of grey, helping others, giving to others and a host of other things that, until recently, were not overly important as societal issues. They have always been there but not at the magnitude that we are beginning to see now. As we move from this linear societal view, we will need people who can create and understand in ways we are not accustom.

As David points out " I am not afraid to fail!" is not something we can teach. It is something that we must model but this can only be done if we, as teachers, are willing to push ourselves outside the comfortable ruts/graves that we are in at the moment. So, do we need to have teachers integrating technology? My answer is, why not? What is keeping us from having that expectation? Do we take away their freedom of choice? No. They can select the technology they use, how to use it, what they will do and what they will accomplish by using it. Does it have to be big? No but they must use it. It will be our role to provide the necessary supports to help them. For many, it will be the time necessary to cope with the change. In fact, as my grade 9 social class has found, change is not the problem but it is accepting the change that creates the discomfort because it forces society to review their priorities and that is not something done easily.

As I wrap up this post, I wonder why school systems are so resistant to bringing in technology. I wonder why teachers become so bothered by having to learn new ways of doing things if they are, in fact, models of life-long learners. I question why we can't ask teachers, as a collective, to begin using technology. In Canada, we asked them to bring in the metric system and teach it, no questions asked. As a literacy, is not having technological literacy not an important skill for now, never mind the future? As I haul my laptop from class to class, taking notes, recording events, I see this as no different than hauling a notebook to do the same. It is becoming less of a noticeable thing but I still have no other teachers using a laptop on a regular basis. (It is my own laptop, not supplied by the division - I've given that one to my Special Education teacher who, I thought, needed it more than me.)

As David points out " Visit my Math class and, despite my efforts, a wrong question is not seen as a learning opportunity but as a failure. Kids understand this when playing video games- so why can’t we get this to transfer to the classroom?" It is this type of work where we need to bring more teachers into the fray by asking them about the whole right/wrong thing. So, not is it wrong but why? They have the problem solving skills but are just not transfering it. Why? In Education, why are mistakes still seen as failures? How do we change this? There are no easy answers. We are only just beginning to ask the questions. As educators, we are at the center of a debate about education and, like it or not, if we don't begin to adopt technologies and use them, we may end up left completely out by forfeit. For me that would be the greatest failure of all only because we are being asked but aren't sure how to answer. How would you respond to the question? Why?

I'm currently in Dean Shareski's session on RSS. Dean is going to show us how to use RSS in a digital world. Dean and I have been communicating and sharing via blogging and skype since  November. We have discussed the use of the read/write web in creating new opportunities for students and teachers.

Dean began with a video on the Human Network. He explains the beginning of RSS - Real Simple Syndication - and the time when there were many different RSS readers. Dean does a good job of giving a technical description without being overwhelming and explaining how the RSS has improved his professional development. Because RSS allows you to subscribe to the different information sources - you pick what you want to see whether it be news or blogs or magazines and you can tailor development to what you are doing or want to do at that time.

Dean describes about how his RSS feeds are his research sources. He gets his information from the people who post and are on his RSS reader. It helps him to connect to other people. The RSS does not have spam unlike most email clients. In fact, you can narrow it down to a specific section of the information that you want. Blogs and newsites have RSS feeds, the icon is usually found somewhere on the page, that identify the page as one that can be used in a reader. Because of this ability to look for different information and bring it to you, RSS is the next great tool in the spread of information and ultimately freedom: of expression, of communication, of information.

Ways of using RSS - Subscribe to people in your field. Find people who are working in your area and see what is happening and what they are doing. Dean then briefly described using social bookmarking and how it can help. He added some information about Technocrati and how it worked. Dean discussed how RSS can be used for updates flickr accounts, wikis, audio and video. In fact, you can subscribe to just about anything that has a feed. You can also share your finds with other people using the share button. Another thing to do is to create an aggregated forum that collects RSS feeds for a particular topic or site like student blogs.

Dean moved on to describe how to get a RSS account. He highlighted GoogleReader and bloglines and what they do. From there Dean began an example of how to subsribe to a blog using RSS. He looked up an author and then began the process of subsribing to a blog using two different methods. First, using the subscribe to on the webpage. He then used the Subscribe to button on his browser. The group then did a search for the topic "Saskatchewan floods"  and demonstrated how to subscribe n order to get information on the topic. At the end of the presentation, Dean allowed me to give my testimonial about the use of RSS and how it has increased my communication with other administrators around the world and impacted my own teaching considering that I began using these tools in November, 2006. 

Dean did a great job of presenting the use of RSS and I'd like to thank him for allowing me to take part in the presentation. 

I’m at the TLt IT Summit2007 in Saskatoon, SK. Ian Jukes is the opening keynote speaker talking about the need to move education from where it is to where it needs to be. Through the keynote, he constantly refers to the need for educators to acknowledge the world of the kids where it is now. Educators were not trained to teach the way that these students are learning. To engage these students there needs to be a revamping of education and the way that teachers interact with students.

He focuses on change and the change process. Much of what he says is repeating what Will, David and others are saying about the need for change in education. It is important for teachers to begin using the tools that are available and know about blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS and other tools from web2.0. The presentation focuses on the need for education to change from the sit-n-git to using and creating. He used Dale’s cone of learning that focuses on how we retain information.

Now, using the triangle and combining it with the tools and technologies, students are able to retain more than through conventional methods. All-in-all the information is not new to those of us that have been discussing this for awhile but to many of the people here, this is new and, for many, really scary. Having said that, I found that Ian was very emphatic on the need for schools and educators to begin using and adopting the technologies.

I’m now off to a new session on creating a division wide tehcnology plan. I’ll update on this. This afternoon, I’m going to be meeting Dean Shareski and going to work with him on RSS. Should be fun!

I’m in a session with Donna Desroche from North Battleford. She was a library technologist and, just recently became a technology coordinator. She was having a great time doing this presentation!
Institutional Context - Comprehensive Community School that is very diverse with an alternate option and AP courses. The school was using Linux/redhat - made the change in 2000. This created some difficulty for the teachers who were use to other applications and had to switch. However, now that the system is stable, there is incredible access to the internet. The school has one-to-one acces. The students use the computers to: play games, chat, YouTube, MySpace, and other activities in the library - when done their work.
Teachers were uncertain, unsure, unprepared, uncomfortable. They now do attendance and marks online. They are using it for email.  A SELU survey revealed that the things were in place to use technology but the teachers were not ready. Therefore, support for the teachers was needed for technology use. They put in place - Information Literacy Program - for the teachers with  representatives from each department in the school. The committee had to learn some things before they began. They did some group learning and then pulled in some grade 9 teachers as the beginning place for the technology. Using online databases were important and the committee saw that there was a need to learn some different literacies.

From this came the formation of the research question and the proposal for the research  and a grant. The money was used to release time. They then began to establish information literacy benchmarks and create and conduct research about what was happening with students in the school.

To do the research they decided to use an information Problem Solving Model to work through the process. The Model - Prepare, find, use, share, evaluate - allowed them to see where they were at the start and what eventually took place on different levels. The grant required them to demonstrate learning/non-learning and the model helped them to demonstrate their findings.

Pre-Assessment - Based on Benchmarks using questions adapted the TRAILS benchmark questions - using the quiz portion of Moodle.

Moodle - course management system - which allows you to put all the information on the system that you require. Used the information - combined with information from Data-Driven Dialogue - to look at the data from the pre-assessment. There were some interesting things that the teachers found from this and were able to use. They then put the information on a wiki - which also has supports that teachers requested in order to help teachers to incorporate some of the things that were in the benchmarks and assessment. There were many different lesson plans that were created through this process and used with the students.

They then created the Living Sky School Division Information Literacy Portal using Drupal - the walled garden - keeping the tools within the confines of the school. This is not finished but is a work in progress. This will be used by teachers to help them find and use information more readily. The division continues to work on this, exploring ways to develop technology skills in their students.

Donna’s presentation was informative and interesting. There were several handouts with information. For more information, drop by her website at classroomtechtips.wordpress.com . Thanks Donna for an interesting and informative session.

This morning we have the pleasure of listening to Dr. Elizabeth Murphy from Memorial University of Newfoundland where she is an Associate Professor of Education-Technology. Her presentation began with a review of the changes that are taking place in the digital world. The background was a look at “then” and “now”.

She then moved onto discuss her study of e-learning in Newfoundland using activity theory to guide her study. She interviewed 18 teachers who had various experience with e-learning and in teaching. The theory is based on Constructivism

There were 8 themes that came out of the study that she did. The first was the move from a classroom of learner to a community of learners. Building a sense of community with the students that are taking part in the class is different but essential in online learning. There needs to be time to bring the individuals together to share and work. The second is the shift from the teacher is the instructor to teacher is the designer. - Inf2f we learn a variety teaching strategies that we can use at different times and, when we have a particular situation, that is what we do. However, in online environments, the teacher does not have that opportunity - to make sure the student is paying attention so the emphasis shifts to engaging the student.

Next, teacher centered to student centered focus. - Illuminatelive - used to bring student and teacher together is still a very controlling environment - teacher is still in control while the internet provides the student with more options and allows the student to direct the learning while still allowing the teacher to be along as guide. This leads to the next theme which is to move from teacher control to student responsibility. In a f2f class the teacher can see the students - can see them on or off task and can bring them back while in an online environment that is not there so there needs to be a change from teacher directed to student responsibility where the student is responsible for their own learning.
Teacher preferred tools to student preferred tools - this could be a way to get students really involved. Students like IM, allowing them to use the tools from the internet gives them the ability to communicate in a manner in which they are comfortable.

Student learning time - being independent time. This theme is a reflection that what the students are doing is not homework but learning opportunities that go beyond where they are at the moment, asking them to create something from their understanding.

The next theme, one teacher voice to multiple student voices, looks at the f2f of the classroom which is teacher controlled opposed to the online environment where they can IM while instruction is going on. The idea that students can multi-task and still be learning.

The final theme that came out was that of the structured and controlled classroom to democratic learning environments - which allow for learning that would go veyond where they are now through the interaction.

Another YouTube video - Learner-centered e-teaching practices in high school - teaching music over the internet which really showed the use of the internet in teaching. Take a minute to view the video. e-learning video

 

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I think that many of the people at the conference were able to get some good ideas from this presentation. For me, it was a repeat of what I and many others have been discussing for months. The examples were good but it really didn’t answer the question of how to get the transition to go from a drip to at least a steady trickle.

Ever been to a restaurant for a meal and realize that just a bit more salt would really add to the taste of the great meal you ordered. You have the salt passed to you. You take some time to figure out exactly where you will start with the salt and then you begin only to find that some joker has loosened the cap so you end up with the whole shaker on your plate!

How do you feel? What do you do? How do you react?

Well, that is how some of the people who I talked to at the TLt IT Summit07 seemed to be describing themselves. Well, none actually used the above image but it was the image that I came up with from their descriptions. They went in to the conference looking for something that would add to their teaching, making it that much better. However, somewhere during the confernce, the lid to the shaker came off and they were overwhelmed with the amout of seasoning they received during the course of the two days.

Now, this isn't unusual for a conference. At least I don't think it is for most teachers. You end up seeing so many great things that you sometimes don't know where to start. However, in this case, there was some added stress. They weren't sure how what to do with the meal now that it was covered in salt. They were incapable of cooking it themselves. They knew that trying to brush a little off just wouldn't work although there will be some who try to do that and end up with a very bad taste left in their mouths and may never venture back to the restaurant or try that meal again to see how great it really might be. Some seek the assistance of a waiter to help them. However, in doing this, some are rude and impatient and do not fully enjoy the meal they finally get. Those that realize that this sometimes happens are able to relax and wait for the replacement meal to arrive. When it does, they begin to savour it, knowing that it took extra time because someone else had created this problem for them.

A whole group of people are headed back to their schools with that overwhelmed feeling. Some are willing to ask for help and patiently wait until it arrives and then they enjoy the meal, taking time to enjoy each bite as they work throught the whole meal. For those who don't want to take the time to get the help, they end up getting through the ativities but they don't work and the teacher is left with a bad experience.

Now, one thing that really made me sit up and take notice were the two keynote speakers. Both Ian Jukes and Michelle Noname talked about the need for teachers to begin using the technologies, the idea that students in classrooms are not the same as the students that were there even 10 years ago, that things were changing quickly and there was a need to bring our educational instruction into the new millenium. (They didn't say it like that but that was kind of the drift.) Now, as someone who has heard this a few times, I wasn't really too taken aback by what either said and, in discussing this with others, neither were they. However, one of the teachers from the school where I teach was with me and he had too much salt and wasn't sure what to do about it. So, as we drove back to our community, we discussed and debriefed the various things that he had gathered. This was where some really wonderful things began to happen.  

This teacher is a veteran teacher who teaches a whole host of things. As we began our drive from the city limits, coffee in hand, I asked how he liked the conference. His immediate response was 

    "Great. It was a great conference. But too much information for someone like me. My head is spinning. I have so many things that I only partly understand and that last session I didn't understand anything. It was over my head. ..." 

This went on for about 15 minutes as he just talked about all the things that went on. And then it came.

    "You know. When we get back, I'm going to do one thing from this conference and you're going to help me until I get it right. I want to do one thing. There are so many that I can think of but I want one thing ..."

The conversation switched as we discussed a few ideas, well, more than a few but one idea would create another. The goal was to do one thing that would impact his teaching. So, if you were me, what would you have suggested and why? Let me know what you'd do to help this teacher to begin the journey.

We spent the whole ride home - 2 hours - discussing the use of technology to increase students understanding and ability to create responses that demonstrate understanding. This led to a discussion of educational learning philosophy which.... It was a great ride home. 

I spent the rest of the week trying to get caught up on missing two days. I think I should be there by, oh, mid-July:) But, the excitement that I witnessed as I helped this patron determine to send the meal back and savour what he received, not rushing to get it done. There would be time for dessert, after dinner drink and a nightcap later. Right now, enjoying the meal was paramount.

I'll let you know what I told him in a few days.  

Today I had an interesting conversation today about using technology in the classroom and in the school and in the school division. Now, I’m very interested in moving the use of technology along beyond just a minor few looking at some technology use in classrooms. I would like to have it front and center in our division where we are looking at how to build the skills of the teachers and create learning opportunities for teachers and students. Right now, it is no more than a glorified email system. There are some creative and wonderful things happening but they are few and far between. In far too many schools, there is little more being done than keyboarding, fancy powerpoint and the occasional video being made. Most people have not heard of delicious, furl, suprglu or any of the other social software that can be used to manage your life. They don’t have a clue about any of the online software that is now available or what it can do.

So, as we are talking, we are discussing what our system will, in the near future with the proper time, be able to do and I began to realize that we’re reinventing the wheel. The system is looking at creating internal conferencing, internal calendar scheduling, internal wikis, internal blogs, internal ….. You get the picture. I started to explain that we don’t need to wait. We can do that all right now and I started showing the tools that I use and the places I go to use the tools. I began to show him how I’m involved with the Horizon Project and that, with these tools that are Open Source, we can do so many things.

While I’m showing this, a funny thing happened. He seemed to realize that I’m not real excited about the inhouse things but, instead, want to continue with the OS. He wasn’t excited to see that, as a teacher, I’m using all types of tools and technologies. Instead, he continued to explain how we could do all of this within our own system so that, ultimatley, he could tell what was going on with every machine in the division. Ah - there it was - control.

I’m slightly disappointed. I thought that, as a division, we were going to be one of the few that didn’t get caught up in who controls what but instead use the tools to help the students understand and create in new and exciting ways. Instead, as we talked, I realized that what they wanted was a system that systematically monitored what all computers were doing and, when a device that wasn’t from the division was attached, it would be shut down. Thus, the use of my MacBook are numbered which is too bad because I can do so much more with it than any of the laptops that are provided from the division.

Control. Of resources. Of time. Of energy. Of people. Sometimes I find it hard to believe that so many of us are supposedly working towards the goal of doing what is best for children. I don’t know but as I watch what is happening and will be happening with the use of technology in our division, I’m seeing that we will be going backwards not forwards. We won’t be allowing students to make those all important mistakes from which they will learn a great many things. Instead, we’ll keep them walled up inside, hoping the “bloggyman” won’t get them but keeping them from learning a vast number or skills necessary for their success in the 21st century. Maybe that’s why I’m an administrator. To venture into the foray with the knowledge and skills that I have garnered over the past few months as a demonstration that not all is bad, the “bloggyman” is only there if you DON’T let the kids out and interaction with unique and real audiences is so much better than with me since, really, I’m older and, well, not really a great person with which to “dialogue” or chat. (My oldest daughter advised me of this the other day as she blocked me out of her IM. I’m still recovering from it )

Why are we doing this? Why indeed. With all sorts of people working at controlling what happens or what we see or what we hear, I wonder. Nothing more. You were expecting something deep? Really! Friday afternoon? Well, okay, I wonder how we are going to break free from the walls that are being constructed in various school districts and divisions and the IT departments try to “get a handle” on what they have and track what is going on and control who is in the system. I’m surprised that some of these IT departments don’t issue rayban sunglasses upon being hired.

My role? To continue to demonstrate that we can do all of this and more outside the walls with an authentic audience. We can build relationships and develop understandings that go beyond what we have within the garden. The world is a vast place. Shutting it off only delays the inevitable, it doesn’t stop it. So, as an administrator, I’ll continue to advocate for greater transparency in how decisions are made so that people who are making the decisions can be informed about what they are deciding and how it affects the students. Maybe if we let the students decide what they needed access to instead of the IT departments, we’d be farther ahead. After all, it is with them whom we are trying to make connections, not the IT department. They’re there to make it happen. To bad it seems to be backwards right now.

As I was on my way to school this morning, I was admiring all the trees in blossom. I especially like the trees with the bright pink blossoms - I think they’re an apple tree but I’m not really sure. Anyway, I had a team meeting and really should have been hurrying to get there but I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a few moments to slow down and appreciate the beauty of the trees. Now, a few years ago, I wouldn’t have noticed them at all. I’d have been focused on getting to the meeting, hurrying along my way. So what changed? Well, how I look at my role and how I view my job are what has changed. So, instead of focusing on just one aspect of the job, I now try to see things in relation to the whole picture.
Well, first off, when we finally all were at the meeting, I shared my experience of how beautiful the blossoms looked and how I wished that they would be around longer. This led to a conversation about the planting we are doing at the school, what some of the grade 1, 2, & 3 classes are doing and growing and what ideas some of the teachers have for further beautification projects. We also talked about how we might build our own greenhouse and have the students grow things. On this upbeat note, we began our team meeting about students who, for some reason, are not doing well and what we might do to help. We talked about adaptations and what might be the best way to assist each student. It was much easier to be upbeat and positive after having discussed the topic of plants and growing. The teachers were in the frame of mind of growing and bettering things and this carried over to the discussion about students.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve read a post or two about principals’ beginning their first jobs and things to keep in mind. I suppose that, after 5 years as an administrator, I could give a few of my own. However, the rules of the job are pretty laid out in some document somewhere. The greatest thing to remember is that this job is, number one, about people. It’s about those students that come into the building each day and their well being and learning. We need to take care of both or the learning won’t happen.

So, like the blossoms on those trees, these students won’t be with us for very long. We have to enjoy them while they are here, encourage them to grow and blossom so that, after they leave, they can bear fruit. So, I kind of see myself as the head gardener with a great group of specialists working in my garden. Not all of them know everything about gardening but, together, they have the knowledge to help cultivate a great orchard of trees. However, they won’t get to see the fruit of their labour because as soon as the trees get ready to bear fruit, they’ll have another group with which to work.

My advice to all those people starting is to be sure to spend time admiring those blossoms. Take time to enjoy them and watch them for their days are short but without them, no tree bears fruit. And take time to walk around, to see the beauty that surrounds you and use that in your discussion with the staff. Let them know that there is more to you than just being an administrator. You see beauty and life around you and want to bring that into the school.

Just outside my window the birds are singing and there is a soft breeze coming in the window. The sun is shining and it is a beautiful day. Think I’ll go for a stroll to enjoy the day and see how the trees in the orchard are doing today.

I’ve been tagged by Lynn over at Learning. Goals - what do I have? Actually, I had to go Donald Taylor’s blog to see what he did. This led me to Ev Nucci’s blog where I found a series of very well explained goals. For those of you new into blogging, this is how you find new ideas and things to read. See, on Ev’s blog was the blog link to the person who started the meme plus the link to the person who tagged her. So, from this meme, I now have 3 new people to check out and see what they are doing. From them, who knows how many other blogs I’ll come across to which I will subscribe.

So, here is what I found to be the “official” rules for this meme:

I’m calling this one “Gotta’ Get Goals” to stay with our theme, and here are the official rules:

1) In a new blog post, list and write about the top 5 to 10 goals that you gotta’ get so that you can truly say you have achieved your wildest dreams in life. These have to be your best, most exclusive, and over-the-top goals that you can pick off your goals list. (I know I’ve previously said Do Not Share Your Goals, but we’re making an exception!)

2) In the introduction of your post, explain what you’re doing with the Gotta’ Get Goals project and “put a link and/or a trackback to this post”, for the purpose of giving them the full rules and for me to compile the master list of all participants that I’ll link to in a future post.

3) As with Simply Success Secrets, don’t forget to put a link or trackback to the blogger who tagged you for Gotta’ Get Goals in order to let your readers follow the conversation around.

4) Sharing your Gotta’ Get Goals with your own audience, will also share them with the blogger who tagged you and the bloggers you tagged, as well as their whole audience!

5) There is no limit to how many bloggers you are allowed to “tag”, so go crazy. It will help their exposure as well as your own when they tag back to your Gotta Get Goals post. That’s how meme’s work.

6) Sit back and enjoy the show. As Aaron would say, “watch the [gotta get goals] and the crossover audiences start rolling in!

Now, there are 10 goals that are listed plus a bunch of blogs that I will be visiting in the near future. That’s the great thing about memes!

So, my Gotta Get Goals! listed in no particular order.
1. Laugh - at myself, with friends, with my children, with students, with whomever I can. In the work that I do, it is important to have a sense of humour and not to take oneself too seriously. In fact, messing up and then laughing at it can be a great way to demonstrate your humanness.

2. Pray - daily. With my children and on my own. Make this a priority in my life.

3. Fitness - staying “in shape” so that I can participate with my children in all sorts of activities and be able to enjoy an active lifestyle later in life.

4. Continue Learning - each day be open to learning something new. Seek out new ideas and ways of doing things. Be actively involved in my own learning, not waiting passively waiting for someone to “do it to me!”

5. Enjoy each day - take time to look at the apple blossoms. Life speeds by and unless one makes a commitment to appreciating what is around, it is gone all too soon.

6. Spend time with my children - enjoy them, whatever stage of life they are at. Be with them not worrying about something that is grown-up. See the world from their perspective or at least try.

7. Listen - to people. Develop a sensitivity to hear what is not being said as well as what is being said. Hear past the words and practice letting my feelings go so they don’t overwhelm what is being said.

8. Career - Superintendent. This wasn’t one of my goals when I started. I really wasn’t sure what my goals were then. Now, I see that change in some areas needs to be supported from central office positions. The change doesn’t have to be initiated from top down but needs support in these key areas. Nothing against current people in these positions but it is time to look beyond what we are doing.

9.  Travel - learn by doing and seeing. I’ve just begun to travel internationally in the last few years. I spent 19 days in England 3 years ago and it was fabulous especially since I spent it with my wife with no children! I look forward to traveling to different places. I realize that these destinations don’t have to be exotic or far away but can be close to home. The whole idea is to go, see and participate.

10. Eat/drink healthy - what can I say. This is something that just makes like that much better. I don’t want to become a slave to my diet but I do realize that there are things that I need to do to help myself.

There they are in black and white. I have specifically tried to look at things wholistically. We sometimes just focus on goals for work, which are fine but they shouldn’t dominate our lives.

Tagging -   Susan Funk , missprofe, Steven Michaluk, Jeff Boulton, Kimberly Moritz, Carolyn Foote, Claudia Ceraso , Dean Shareski,  and Kimberley

I have been doing quite a lot of reading and commenting over the long weekend. This has given me a chance to read and contemplate what others are saying which is always good. Also, I’ve been thinking about what the new school year will bring. With only 5 weeks left, the new school year is approaching quickly while this school year is racing towards its end.

I came across an interesting piece over at Harold Jarche’s site. What is weighing down learning? looks at some interesting ideas concerning the inertia of our modern educational system. Now, I agree with some of what is being said about the school systems. My comment went something like this:

I would agree with some of the underlying assumptions. However, we are still very much driven with by a society that hasn’t moved out of the industrial mindset. As much as we say that things are flattening and changing, much of what happens in the day-to-day life of many N.A. people is still following the same system as it did years ago. Until society changes its view of what schooling is all about and we can come to grips with a youth population that thinks very differently, the present system will prevail with all its flaws. As I deal with students and parents as an administrator, we are seeing a different type of parent - one that wants to protect their child from all ills and consequences to the point where they will take the blame for what the child does. At present, compulsory education now allows both parents to seek employment without incurring the cost of childcare and, with the advent of school extra-curricular programming, provides parents with after-school care so that there is little out of pocket expense. With the advent of childlabour laws, there is little that children can do but go to school unless one parent stays home which, in our society of excess, isn’t necessarily the norm. Marco Polo asks “Who gets to decide?” Is he implying that children get to decide whether they go to school? As I’ve wondered in other discussions, have we entered an era when adults, wanting to enjoy the wonders that our society is creating, are wanting to divest themselves of the responsibility of raising the youth therefore giving them the choice of what they do with the idea that society, with its market mentality, will provide the appropriate consequences if the decisions are not in line with what society will tolerate based on the ideals that society, with its morales and values, will dictate what is allowable and not allowable. Of course, I could be out to lunch!

Now, I could be out to lunch. However, if I am, I’m hoping that I’m at least able to order a clubhouse on brown. If not, then our discussion needs to focus on how we move a system that is embedded in a societal mindset contrary to what we know our students will need to be successful in the future? We also must take into account that the students within the system no longer see things in the same manner that many of the adults do. As I study more about the youth culture, a recurring theme is “It is ________ because I believe it is” where you can substitute a variety of things including truth, right, wrong, good, bad. This individualistic look at societal issues will definitely influence how our schools and education systems will need to adapt and change. So, like the ant with the rubber tree - we cannot move the system alone. We cannot move the system without bridging the societal divergence that exists between those in the system and those in the society in which the system exists. Many of us see that the system must change but, like that ant, we cannot change the system. We must get help from the rest of the society or that plant will stay put. Changing the system, I think, will only come about when we see a change in the way society views the role of schools. People can say they think schools do many things but until they are able to agree that the current system does not fit those within and that learning is something that extends beyond the walls of any institution, we’ll continue in the current industrial mode. It fits our two income lifestyle which we don’t want to lose as it provides us with the necessary income to have the luxuries that our industries produce. Of course, I could be out to lunch - clubhouse on brown, please with a tall glass of ice-water.

Well, like many teachers and administrators, the end of May and June are times when things get a bit hectic. It seems that each year, no matter how much I plan, I always seem to be crunched for time. So why am I writing this blog if I don’t have much time? Good question.

Since I began on this web2.0 journey in January, I’ve begun to rely on this blog as a place to discuss important ideas, sound off about things that are bugging me and ask for input on ideas that are bumping around inside my head. I sometimes develop an article based on the entry on another blog but most of the time I use this as a place for my own thoughts. And this is why I’m using my valuable time to blog.

As this year comes to a close and I reflect on what has happened over the year in regards to technological advancements, I wonder what and where I should go from here in relation to staff development. I’ve developed a staff wiki that has a calendar where staff are to post events that pertain to the school. At last look, it seems most staff are now using the calendar to post events so that everyone is in the know. We are still working on developing some grade 1/2 podcasts of reading. In fact, we have most of them recorded - it’s getting them posted that is causing me difficulty! We have access to one SMARTBoard but it is in the lab. I’ve requested that it be hooked up and the projector be ceiling mounted to avoid moving and I’ve asked for a second board to be installed in a classroom. We are fully operational when it comes to email and electronic paper transfer for the staff and we have the system ready for student use.

As I plan my opening day with the teachers, I wonder if it is now time to put forward the ideas that we need to begin using the tools that are available and begin planning with them. Do, we as a staff, take the step towards 21st Century teaching? Should we explore different pd opportunities as a staff, developing our understanding of technology and teaching? As leader, I know that we need to build the communal knowledge regarding technology, helping each other to develop strategies for using technology in the classroom. With the upgrade of our computer system and the availability of more computers in classrooms, we will be able to do much more without relying on the computer lab.  So, if you were in my place, where would you start? What would you begin with and where would you go?

There has been a great discussion going on over at Bump on the Log and We Live in Interesting Times about whether we should or should not be preparing our students for the “business world”. Now, in reading through the posts and the comments, I began to wonder what exactly we are preparing them for? I mean, I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone say

Wait until you get into the real world. They won’t put up with that or you won’t get away with that or something to that effect.

I always wondered about that whole line of thinking. Now, if we are preparing them to work in the business world, then what we do in school really should follow, in some way, what is happening in the corporate sector. For me, it’s reading blogs like Changing Way , The Bamboo Project blog and Connecting the Dots. They help me to see what is going on elsewhere. I have also hooked up with some blogs that deal with training like Janet Clarey and Donald Taylor . I am able to see how what they discuss should have overlap in our educational systems. Sometimes it does and, well, sometimes it should.

Now, if we aren’t preparing them for the business world, then we had better be preparing them to be productive citizens in our supercharged, superchanging society. Really, we have no other option, do we? But hold on, if we are doing that, where are all the tools and technology that are changing how society looks at almost everything. From fastfood to virtual worlds, we are experiencing a time when change is the norm. Yet, for all the changes that have been directed at schools, we continually see that, in fact, they haven’t really changed all that much. They are still very similar to what they were in past decades where learning is controlled and dolled out in small measures at appropriate intervals. Where those who excel at taking tests continue to rise to the top and those who don’t fit the system are skimmed away.

So what exactly are we preparing them for? Does the comment about entering the real world hold true? Have we become so removed from what is going on around us that we are now petrified into inaction? Is this why teachers and others refuse to change the present system? Are we afraid to become relevant? Do we fear that in doing so we would be found lacking? Should we not be saying something like “This is a trial run of what life will be like?” “We’re here to help you build your skills for life tomorrow.” Unfortunately, at this point, we don’t seem to be doing that at all. So, although the conversation at Tim and Brian’s is very interesting, it might be more theoretical than real. Unless, of course, our school systems begin to change in dramatic ways. Well, it could happen!