Yes Tech!

I spent the afternoon with a great group of folks discussing & planning steps to help administrators be the kinds of leaders required to transform our schools into 22nd century places of learning… meaning we must plan for the future.  I wish I remember who said that at the meeting, but I really like the phrase “22nd century learning” much better than “21st century learning,” a popular phrase that I believe has become overused.  If we are planning for 21st century learning, we’re already too late.

Meetings I attend outside of my school district tend to be with people like me - people who work on instructional uses of technology.  Our ideas and beliefs are shared for the most part.  The meeting today was with a group of administrators (superintendents, principals, curriculum directors, etc) who come from diverse backgrounds .  I enjoyed hearing their perspectives and ideas -  it was fun to discuss educational technology with people who have such different job responsibilities from mine.  The lingo was a bit different from what I am used to, but we all are interested in changing the learning culture of schools and are striving for the same goals.

The discussion was rich as we talked about the “formula” for the development of the kind of administrative leadership that fosters student use of technology as a true learning tool.  What makes some administrators passionate about the topic?  How can students be added to this discussion?  How can we encourage the natural learning that takes place informally in homes to continue at school?   Should teacher evaluation have a technology component?  How can we best share ideas and network with others about this topic?  What are the routines and practices of our best technology-using schools?  Of course, there are many more questions than answers, but I am pleased to be a part of the discussion and planning process.

Also, a phrase I heard for the first time was “generative leadership.”  …I plan to learn more about what that means.

 
The MACUL Conference was held in Grand Rapids, Michigan last week.  The conversations, networking, and social events helped me connect with others, and spending time with others who “get me” for three days was pretty cool.

The pre-conference session with Jason Ohler on digital storytelling was a highlight, for sure.  Jason was masterful at helping everyone see that digital stories have everything to do about the story, and little to do with the technology.  By the end of the day, EVERYONE had written and produced a short digital video using either iMovie or MovieMaker, then we shared our creations with the group.  The stories were fabulous! 

I attended a wide variety of sessions, and picked up at least one thing from each of them.  I was on the MACUL blogging team, so I wrote about many of the sessions on the Conference blog.

So, now it’s time to set goals to figure out new ways of bringing the joy and effectiveness of technology into the arms of the students and teachers in the classrooms.   After much thought, I think that one of the things that needs to be done is to find ways to reach the school principals… the instructional leaders at the building level.    One principal from my district attended this year, and he has already made plans to add on-line collaborative experiences for the students at his school.  What could happen if all the principals were to attend MACUL next year in Detroit? 

So far I haven’t found a way to systemically communicate the need for keeping abreast of newer technologies that were not available even a few years ago to the building principals.  I’ve been asked to train them on using Word, PowerPoint, Excel, email, etc.  I’m  happy to do that, and learning to use these programs help them with their administrative tasks, but somehow there hasn’t been time for more meaningful types of staff development.   When I do have the opportunity to speak with the group, I have a short amount of time in their packed agenda. 

I plan to work closely with the principal who attended MACUL, and I’m banking on him having clout with his peers to ensure that we find time for doing what we need to do to prepare our students for the world they now live in.  We cannot do it without technology.

The Feb 2008 issue of Educational Leadership features an article titled “Cover the Material - Or Teach Students to Think?,” written by Marion Brady.  The author questions the logic of adding “rigor” and high standards to the curriculum at the expense of teaching students to think.  The author believes that old answers rarely fit in eras of rapid social change, and that adaptation to changing realities require higher-order thinking skills.  Textbooks do not help develop higher-order thinking skills, because they represent the final conclusions of other people’s thoughts and processes. 

Traditional instruction is more concerned with the study of opinions about the real world than with the study of the real world itself.  Internalizing others’ views required just one thinking skill–recall.  Trying to make sense of one’s own day-to-day experience requires the use of every known thinking skill.

Education leaders can take a crucial step toward getting students to use higher-order thinking skills by drawing a sharp line between firsthand and secondhand knowledge.  The best way to do this is to focus attention directly on some part of the real world. 

Our students need to have opportunities to make their own inferences,  hypotheses, generalizations, and value judgements.  Gobal collaborative projects such as the Roadkill 2008 Project (sounds gross, but you need to look into it… I heard about it on EdTechTalk this week), projects such as Cheryl Lykowski’s Global Explorers project, and Technospud Projects would fit the bill. 

A few classrooms in Walled Lake are participating in The Oakland Schools Land Use Project, where students come up with a development idea that would improve their community.  They collaborate with local experts who push them to think about concepts such as the impact on the environment and the people, and local zoning ordinances.  The students survey their community to determine the need, calculate costs, and identify benefits and challenges.   They present their idea to the county experts by videoconference.  The project has meaning to the students and they are learning to think!

I agree with the author, who believes that a focus on real-world issues can alter the entire culture of a school or a school system.  It is relevant.  It shows respect for the students.  Tim Tyson, former principal at Mabry Middle School (Georgia) gets it.  His students all participate in a film festival where they create videos based on a current events issue.  Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see some examples.  Principal Tyson delivered the closing keynote address at last year’s NECC Conference; it has been 8 months and it is still fresh in my mind.  He brought students with him who talked about their experiences doing their research, creating their video, and their feelings about making the world a better place.  It was highly motivating to them.  There is no doubt in my mind that the skills developed as a result of that project are the kinds of skills that are needed in today’s working world. 

What can we do (and what needs to be done) to give more emphasis toward teaching students to think in a time when our country is so focused on standards and testing?  I am doing what I can in my school district in Walled Lake, but I know that there is so much more to do.  One of the things I’m excited about is an 8th grade social studies project that I’m developing right now.  It will be one that ALL 8th graders (about 1,200) will complete, and it involves students collaborating to create projects that requires them to think!   They will participate using Moodle, an on-line course management system.  Pulling this off requires lots of time, teacher staff development, tech troubleshooting, and advanced planning.  Hopefully the teachers will soon agree that time spent on a project like this is worth the time away from “covering the material.”  Only time will tell.