I had a wonderful dinner with the first few principals involved in this conversation and two of our assistant superintendents as well as Ruth Sutton. The dinner time conversation? Moving away from letter grades. Everything we have read, seen, experienced and heard tells us this is the right path to follow. Ruth had spent the day with around 100 elementary and middle school teachers talking about assessment and was generous enough to spend time with us afterwards giving us her experience, thoughts and ideas as to the steps needed to make this work.
One thing she said that really stood out is that we need to get the kids to focus on personal bests and not on their rankings. The image that she painted was one of running a marathon and focussing on our time. Every time we run we want to get better. If we always finish first, second or third but our times are getting worse we are not improving we are regressing, but rankings would not show that. I loved that analogy, encouraging the students to focus on their progress and not on their rankings. She said that research shows that to keep students engaged that up until grade 12 they should not be ranked and sorted. The longer we have them focus on improving, the more successful the students will be. She also suggested that we bring in people from universities and big companies to talk to parents and students about what they want to see in their respective recruits.
The universities need to talk about the skills that the students need to STAY in university and not just to get in. Many of us can think of students that we went to in university that bombed out of 1st year university because they did not know how to self-assess, critically examine their work, peer edit and so on. It is almost a wasted group. What skills were they lacking that allowed for them to flunk out of university? What is it that most employers are looking for? Self-motivated, eager to learn, adaptable and goal setting individuals.
Every time we talked about what we needed to do, it came down to the assessment practices. If we are telling parents that this is good for the kids then the proof has to be in the pudding. The parents need to see the rich information that comes from formative assessment and standards-based assessment. It will not work if we take away what they know, tell them this is good and then not have the assessment practices to back it up.
Lastly we talked a little about reporting, what should the new report card look like and what should it contain. One of the ideas that I really liked was changing comment boxes to "Succeses and Next Steps". This would have what the child is able to do and what the child needs to focus on next. This speaks to planning, it speaks to record keeping, it speaks to solid assessment practices. The other part that I really liked was including the child's own writing of his or her report card. Have the student write "What I am good at?" , "what do I know?" and "what do I need to get better at?" as well as maybe "What are my next steps as a learner?" and have them present their own evidence to back it up. If this is done properly the child's own self-evaluation should pretty much be bang-on.
After EdCampVancouver and this dinner, I am very excited about where education is headed.
Showing posts with label Leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leadership. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Ed Camp Vancouver
Today was a most interesting day of most amazing professional development. The day was presented as an unconference, no key note speaker, nothing lavish, just a bunch of dedicated people who are passionate about education. It was representative of most stakeholders: parents, teachers, principals and some students. It is hard to describe the day in a way which accurately would reflect the conversations that were held today.
The beauty of the day was the respect for the knowledge of the group that was there, the fact that everyone had something to offer, something to share, something to reflect on, a question to pose and a desire to learn. These were not sessions that were being offered by someone looking to pad a resume, someone who had not been in a school in years and was preaching nor was it someone who had already done the same presentation 25 times in the year and did not adapt it to the group present. These sessions were lead by questions from people within the room. I was looking at the board of potential topics with people putting sticky notes on them to show which ones were of interest.
As we were looking at the board of topics there were other conversations that started and new topics were posted. As new topics were posted some stickies migrated, others added their stickies to the new topics and 16 topics were chosen for the day. 4 sessions per time slot, 4 different time slots. There were conversations around assessment for learning, bringing English LA into the 21st century, Social Media 101, moving away from letter grades, engaging all partner groups, moving away from awards ceremonies, creating online communities as well as many other great subjects. We were there from 9 am to 4 pm, and then some of us went to a pub to continue the conversation afterwards, those who had the long commute home had their continuing conversations in the car, the #edcampvan hashtag continued to be used long after the day was over. It is now 10 pm and that hashtag is still showing up and being used! Talk about powerful pro-d!
I took in 4 amazing sessions, each one passed quickly, with conversations continuing long after the session was over. The discussion were so rich, provocative and reflective. The varying points of view from different districts, levels, stakeholders and experience was so enriching. I honestly feel that I would have happily attended each session for a day instead of just the 45 minutes sessions (which often continued well after the time elapsed unlike other sessions where people were packing up their bags before presentations were over). It just felt as though we were just warming up. To have that many people together is powerful pro-d. There was so much to listen to, so much to share, so much to think about and so much to bring back to schools. As I was driving home I started to wonder how we could make our pro-d days much more like this. Good solid conversations, professional dialogue and getting to the meat and potatoes. Let's get it all out on the table.
I would have loved to have school boards and Ministry of Education representatives there. They need to hear our thoughts without the bureaucratic red tape that can exist when meeting with govenment representatives. Open honest conversations without politics so that they can hear what it is that we are trying to do, hear what our barriers are, understand how it would be better for students and we could hear what their vision is without a podium and a rehearsed speech, what their concerns are, what their barriers are. If we can truly have all stakeholders represented then we can really begin to make magic happen.
There is much to bring home to our schools and a lot to think about how the day was shaped and how we can use this format. Is this the future of pro-d?
The beauty of the day was the respect for the knowledge of the group that was there, the fact that everyone had something to offer, something to share, something to reflect on, a question to pose and a desire to learn. These were not sessions that were being offered by someone looking to pad a resume, someone who had not been in a school in years and was preaching nor was it someone who had already done the same presentation 25 times in the year and did not adapt it to the group present. These sessions were lead by questions from people within the room. I was looking at the board of potential topics with people putting sticky notes on them to show which ones were of interest.
As we were looking at the board of topics there were other conversations that started and new topics were posted. As new topics were posted some stickies migrated, others added their stickies to the new topics and 16 topics were chosen for the day. 4 sessions per time slot, 4 different time slots. There were conversations around assessment for learning, bringing English LA into the 21st century, Social Media 101, moving away from letter grades, engaging all partner groups, moving away from awards ceremonies, creating online communities as well as many other great subjects. We were there from 9 am to 4 pm, and then some of us went to a pub to continue the conversation afterwards, those who had the long commute home had their continuing conversations in the car, the #edcampvan hashtag continued to be used long after the day was over. It is now 10 pm and that hashtag is still showing up and being used! Talk about powerful pro-d!
I took in 4 amazing sessions, each one passed quickly, with conversations continuing long after the session was over. The discussion were so rich, provocative and reflective. The varying points of view from different districts, levels, stakeholders and experience was so enriching. I honestly feel that I would have happily attended each session for a day instead of just the 45 minutes sessions (which often continued well after the time elapsed unlike other sessions where people were packing up their bags before presentations were over). It just felt as though we were just warming up. To have that many people together is powerful pro-d. There was so much to listen to, so much to share, so much to think about and so much to bring back to schools. As I was driving home I started to wonder how we could make our pro-d days much more like this. Good solid conversations, professional dialogue and getting to the meat and potatoes. Let's get it all out on the table.
I would have loved to have school boards and Ministry of Education representatives there. They need to hear our thoughts without the bureaucratic red tape that can exist when meeting with govenment representatives. Open honest conversations without politics so that they can hear what it is that we are trying to do, hear what our barriers are, understand how it would be better for students and we could hear what their vision is without a podium and a rehearsed speech, what their concerns are, what their barriers are. If we can truly have all stakeholders represented then we can really begin to make magic happen.
There is much to bring home to our schools and a lot to think about how the day was shaped and how we can use this format. Is this the future of pro-d?
Saturday, February 12, 2011
My struggles with the FSAs
Earlier this week I was sitting in the computer lab watching the students complete the grade 4 numeracy portion of the FSA (Foundation Skills Assessment - British Columbia's standardized tests for grade 4 and 7). There were many thoughts going through my head during this time. I had looked at the rankings that the Fraser Institute published and saw that my school had jumped significantly in the standings. I knew that we would be moving up from where we were last year, our focus has been on writing for the past few years. We have enjoyed some rich professional development, had great discussions, found different ways to emphasize and promote writing in the school and continued to work with different writing programs. These have all lead to improvements. I do believe that the students have improved in writing because of these changes, but that does not tell the whole story.
Our results are directly impacted by the number of eligible students who write the different tests and the number of students who have been excused from writing it for a variety of reasons including parental request that their child not write the tests. If a number of very strong students are excused from writing the test, our results will drop, conversely if the number of students excused from writing are struggling learners our results will rise. If there is not a flu bug running through the school around that time then the results go up, if there are a few kids who families all go on vacation at that time our results could drop. There are so many external factors that impact the results of the test beyond the teaching that if they fall in your favour as they mostly did last year, the result is a rise in the rankings, if they do not, as was the case two years ago and this year, they will drop.
To give you some insight as to how it works I will include a brief description. We received the package a few weeks earlier and I decided to wait to start. Over the past few years the system has had problems where students will be kicked out of the electronic portion and have to log back in. For some students this would happen 3-4 times over the course of the time they were working on one portion of the test. This caused a lot of stress and caused some to panic and become very anxious, worried that they would have to start again. (I cannot even begin to imagine what would be going through a high school student's mind when writing a provincial test and this happens!). I hoped that by waiting there would be fewer students using it at the same time, thereby reducing the possibilities of crashes.
During the couple of weeks leading up to us starting I had some conversations with other schools, people on my soccer team and elsewhere discussing the FSAs. A couple of friends with students at schools outside of our district were telling me that the kids had been practicing the tests for a couple of weeks and were a bundle of nerves because they were told how important these tests are and that they had to do well to represent the school. One of my colleagues was telling me that she had 3 different parents come to her and ask whether or not their child should be writing the test because they were worried that their kids would not be successful because of their IEPs (individual education plans) and would therefore bring the school results down. She told the parents that it was their choice, but that they should not be excluding their children for that reason. Would all principals have said the same thing? At our school all students write the test unless we are concerned about the impact that this could have on the student, and we do not spend any time practicing.
I had a few parents come to me a little before we were going to start wondering why we had not started our tests when when some of the neighbouring schools had. I explained my rationale and they felt that it made sense. One then asked me if we all received the tests at the same time and I let her know that I believed that to be the case. The next questions caught me off guard as it was not something that had entered my mind. If you held onto the tests for a couple of weeks, is there anything stopping schools from practicing with the actual tests before starting? Could they all do a rough draft and then copy the good draft into the booklet? If they were not all doing the electronic portion at the same time, would it be possible for a class to begin the reading portion and then copy the stories, print them and be able to go over them with the other students to prepare them for the questions? When I answered that hypothetically speaking this was possible she was stunned. How was this standardized? In order for it to be standardized should all the kids in the province be doing the tests at the same time, or at the very least, all of the kids in the same school at the same time?
There are other factors that concern me as to how the data is used. Two years ago our school received additional staffing partly due to the fact that we had a larger number of students with learning challenges than we normally had. That year, when the students were writing the FSAs, the flu went through the school and some got sick, 1 missed a lot of time from school so I decided to not have that student finish the FSA. Result, not meeting expectations in all areas. 2 students went on vacation part way through the test, result, 2 students not meeting expectations. 2 students broke down in tears because they were frustrated so we took the tests away, result, 2 students not meeting expectations. I believe that 4 of those 5 students would have fully met expectations. I had two students who would not be writing the tests for a couple of reasons and I used their identifications to show the students to log on. Result- 2 more students not meeting expectations because I had logged them in and answered 1 question but did not click on submit thinking the results would not show, this was a boneheaded moment which I did not repeat. When you have a cohort group of about 50 kids and 7 are not meeting expectations for reasons other than the results of the test itself is one thing that a school can address and explain to its community, when an outside agency is ignorant of what happens in the schools and publishes results is another.
Four years ago we had the exact same number of identified gifted students as student with learning challenges two years ago. The school went from double digit number of students who were gifted to double digits with learning difficulties. The cohort was completely different and something outside the control of the school. The result was a huge drop in the number of students not meeting expectations. I go over the results with the parents, give them the numbers as well as some background information. I am able to explain why we have gone up or down. Our community is aware of our context, an outside agency examining and working with the data is not. When a school has their test data compromised because their electronic results have gone into an Internet abyss and suddenly 10 students results are automatically not meeting expectations and those results are published, the public perception of the school can be compromised.
From my vantage point, the FSAs can provide useful information for a staff to look at and plan our school goals. We can use it as a measuring stick to chart our progress, knowing our context. This is not shirking responsibility. I still stand in front of our parents and share the data and listen to concerns that they may have. My concern is that when a non-informed group that ignores or does not care about the contextual situations that can arise in schools, and publishes results that are challenged statistically it impacts the perception of the school. Why are schools punished because H1N1 hit their schools hard one year? Why are schools punished for not practicing for the tests for weeks and choosing to focus on the curriculum and using the FSAs as a snapshot as they were intended to? Why are schools punished because the cohorts each year can be significantly different from year to year and give a false increase or decrease in the students' perceived success? The number of students writing is also compromised, based on parent willingness to have their children write the tests. There are some schools where only 30% of the eligible kids are actually writing the test.
If everybody is not writing the test at the same time, in the same way, under the same conditions, with the same number of kids in a room writing it together, with the same preparation, with ALL students writing the test regardless of abilities, with one large group of independent markers marking all of the tests in the same way and removing the possibilities of possible manipulation of the testing situations, intentionally or accidentally, the test is no longer standardized even if all of the questions are the same. There are just too many outside factors possible to make this testing equitable. Let schools use the information for the way that it was intended and not let outside agencies compromise the validity of a non-standardized standardized test.
Our results are directly impacted by the number of eligible students who write the different tests and the number of students who have been excused from writing it for a variety of reasons including parental request that their child not write the tests. If a number of very strong students are excused from writing the test, our results will drop, conversely if the number of students excused from writing are struggling learners our results will rise. If there is not a flu bug running through the school around that time then the results go up, if there are a few kids who families all go on vacation at that time our results could drop. There are so many external factors that impact the results of the test beyond the teaching that if they fall in your favour as they mostly did last year, the result is a rise in the rankings, if they do not, as was the case two years ago and this year, they will drop.
To give you some insight as to how it works I will include a brief description. We received the package a few weeks earlier and I decided to wait to start. Over the past few years the system has had problems where students will be kicked out of the electronic portion and have to log back in. For some students this would happen 3-4 times over the course of the time they were working on one portion of the test. This caused a lot of stress and caused some to panic and become very anxious, worried that they would have to start again. (I cannot even begin to imagine what would be going through a high school student's mind when writing a provincial test and this happens!). I hoped that by waiting there would be fewer students using it at the same time, thereby reducing the possibilities of crashes.
During the couple of weeks leading up to us starting I had some conversations with other schools, people on my soccer team and elsewhere discussing the FSAs. A couple of friends with students at schools outside of our district were telling me that the kids had been practicing the tests for a couple of weeks and were a bundle of nerves because they were told how important these tests are and that they had to do well to represent the school. One of my colleagues was telling me that she had 3 different parents come to her and ask whether or not their child should be writing the test because they were worried that their kids would not be successful because of their IEPs (individual education plans) and would therefore bring the school results down. She told the parents that it was their choice, but that they should not be excluding their children for that reason. Would all principals have said the same thing? At our school all students write the test unless we are concerned about the impact that this could have on the student, and we do not spend any time practicing.
I had a few parents come to me a little before we were going to start wondering why we had not started our tests when when some of the neighbouring schools had. I explained my rationale and they felt that it made sense. One then asked me if we all received the tests at the same time and I let her know that I believed that to be the case. The next questions caught me off guard as it was not something that had entered my mind. If you held onto the tests for a couple of weeks, is there anything stopping schools from practicing with the actual tests before starting? Could they all do a rough draft and then copy the good draft into the booklet? If they were not all doing the electronic portion at the same time, would it be possible for a class to begin the reading portion and then copy the stories, print them and be able to go over them with the other students to prepare them for the questions? When I answered that hypothetically speaking this was possible she was stunned. How was this standardized? In order for it to be standardized should all the kids in the province be doing the tests at the same time, or at the very least, all of the kids in the same school at the same time?
There are other factors that concern me as to how the data is used. Two years ago our school received additional staffing partly due to the fact that we had a larger number of students with learning challenges than we normally had. That year, when the students were writing the FSAs, the flu went through the school and some got sick, 1 missed a lot of time from school so I decided to not have that student finish the FSA. Result, not meeting expectations in all areas. 2 students went on vacation part way through the test, result, 2 students not meeting expectations. 2 students broke down in tears because they were frustrated so we took the tests away, result, 2 students not meeting expectations. I believe that 4 of those 5 students would have fully met expectations. I had two students who would not be writing the tests for a couple of reasons and I used their identifications to show the students to log on. Result- 2 more students not meeting expectations because I had logged them in and answered 1 question but did not click on submit thinking the results would not show, this was a boneheaded moment which I did not repeat. When you have a cohort group of about 50 kids and 7 are not meeting expectations for reasons other than the results of the test itself is one thing that a school can address and explain to its community, when an outside agency is ignorant of what happens in the schools and publishes results is another.
Four years ago we had the exact same number of identified gifted students as student with learning challenges two years ago. The school went from double digit number of students who were gifted to double digits with learning difficulties. The cohort was completely different and something outside the control of the school. The result was a huge drop in the number of students not meeting expectations. I go over the results with the parents, give them the numbers as well as some background information. I am able to explain why we have gone up or down. Our community is aware of our context, an outside agency examining and working with the data is not. When a school has their test data compromised because their electronic results have gone into an Internet abyss and suddenly 10 students results are automatically not meeting expectations and those results are published, the public perception of the school can be compromised.
From my vantage point, the FSAs can provide useful information for a staff to look at and plan our school goals. We can use it as a measuring stick to chart our progress, knowing our context. This is not shirking responsibility. I still stand in front of our parents and share the data and listen to concerns that they may have. My concern is that when a non-informed group that ignores or does not care about the contextual situations that can arise in schools, and publishes results that are challenged statistically it impacts the perception of the school. Why are schools punished because H1N1 hit their schools hard one year? Why are schools punished for not practicing for the tests for weeks and choosing to focus on the curriculum and using the FSAs as a snapshot as they were intended to? Why are schools punished because the cohorts each year can be significantly different from year to year and give a false increase or decrease in the students' perceived success? The number of students writing is also compromised, based on parent willingness to have their children write the tests. There are some schools where only 30% of the eligible kids are actually writing the test.
If everybody is not writing the test at the same time, in the same way, under the same conditions, with the same number of kids in a room writing it together, with the same preparation, with ALL students writing the test regardless of abilities, with one large group of independent markers marking all of the tests in the same way and removing the possibilities of possible manipulation of the testing situations, intentionally or accidentally, the test is no longer standardized even if all of the questions are the same. There are just too many outside factors possible to make this testing equitable. Let schools use the information for the way that it was intended and not let outside agencies compromise the validity of a non-standardized standardized test.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The Twitter Effect and Standards Based Reporting
What has started off as a few innocuous questions is gaining huge momentum. Who knew that responding to a tweet could have a potentially large impact on an entire district? A simple twitter conversation around eliminating letter grades led to me sending an email to an assistant superintendent which then led to a conversation in person between the 3 main participants of that conversation. From there it grew to a potential committee of about 9 schools, which then led to an email to the 70 some odd schools in the district to which about another dozen or so schools have responded that they are interested in taking this on.
I have to admit that I am borderline freaking out right now because I thought this might be a small group. I was wrong. My assistant superintendent is lining up potential facilitators, using connections to bring in some amazing people and looking for a way to get this project subsidized. My superintendent is sending me references for material that I should be looking at. We had our district volleyball tournament and teachers are coming up to me and telling me how excited they are to be a part of this. I am stoked, but also quietly shaking in my boots.
I guess we are going to have to call this the "Twitter Effect" rather than the "Butterfly Effect". If someone tweets in Coquitlam, BC, what can happen? Now I guess I get to the point of my post. Help!!!!! I had the opportunity to virtually take part in the Educon session Standards Based Grading: Is it fair? by Kristen Swanson and Mike Ritzius. I loved the presentation and the conversations that I could overhear, but I really enjoyed the virtual chat that I was able to take part in. Through that chat I was given 4 great resources as a starting point:
I have to admit that I am borderline freaking out right now because I thought this might be a small group. I was wrong. My assistant superintendent is lining up potential facilitators, using connections to bring in some amazing people and looking for a way to get this project subsidized. My superintendent is sending me references for material that I should be looking at. We had our district volleyball tournament and teachers are coming up to me and telling me how excited they are to be a part of this. I am stoked, but also quietly shaking in my boots.
I guess we are going to have to call this the "Twitter Effect" rather than the "Butterfly Effect". If someone tweets in Coquitlam, BC, what can happen? Now I guess I get to the point of my post. Help!!!!! I had the opportunity to virtually take part in the Educon session Standards Based Grading: Is it fair? by Kristen Swanson and Mike Ritzius. I loved the presentation and the conversations that I could overhear, but I really enjoyed the virtual chat that I was able to take part in. Through that chat I was given 4 great resources as a starting point:
I am going to put together a quick google doc to try and collect as much information and resources on standard based grading/assessment. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated! Please find the document here:
Friday, January 7, 2011
If you want to eliminate letter grades, what do you need to do?
We are in the process forming a committee in our district that will be re-examining report cards at the intermediate (grade 4-7) years, with the initial starting point of the conversation being the elimination of letter grades at the elementary level. I do feel that letter grades should be eliminated at the elementary level. I do not feel that you can change assessment practice without changing the reporting practice. But can you have this conversation without discussing assessment? Can this conversation be had without involving parents? What kind of information needs to be presented and how would it need to be presented? How long will it take to change it over? Is it possible to overcome the emotional/cultural/historical values of letter grades and reporting formats? So many questions to ponder when looking a major philosophical shift in reporting practices that have existed for decades.
We had a very good first discussion pondering the first steps that need to be taken. An important part of the discussion was about the fact that there is an emotional attachment to letter grades that needs to be addressed both inside and outside of the school setting. We can all think of letter grades that have impacted us emotionally in a very strong way. I remember when I got a C- first term of grade 11 Chemistry (I learned that I might actually have to study). I was sick to my stomach and preparing myself to go and do my French Military Service in order to avoid a very uncomfortable conversation at home. The C- that I got in 3rd year genetics was the happiest C- in my life as I managed to pass the course on the first attempt, unlike roughly 50% of my classmates. These letter grades mean different things to different people depending on the circumstances. For some they are a driving force, for others they result in crippling anxiety.
Parents are used to letter grades, they understand, or they believe that they understand what the letter grades mean. They usually only remember getting letter grades, and tend to not be able to recall what their earlier report cards would have looked like. They remember the conversation that they would have had at home with their parents, and they remember the incentives and/or the consequences of those letter grades. There is a degree of comfort in the familiarity. Many teachers are used to letter grades as a means of communicating the varying degrees of academic success of the students to their parents. This means that a significant shift in thinking that will be required should we change our reporting practices.
Assessment practices also came up, with a large emphasis on their importance in changing our reporting practices. Is it possible to change the culture around the report cards without changing the culture around assessment practices and communication about the assessment? Can changing the way we report change assessment practices? If we are to come up with a different reporting system, what needs to be considered? Is it possible to retain a previous reporting system that was based on an entirely different methodology of assessing?
Part of the reasoning behind the elimination of letter grades is that assessment practices do not match up with letter grades. Formative assessment is supposed to be a significant piece of the puzzle. How are students progressing? What have they learned from the feedback? Also, in my opinion, the assessments are not meant to be averaged out. If you are a true believer of formative assessment, then the September/October assessments are teaching tools, not measuring tools. A December report card should be reflective of where the student is now and include comments on how they have progressed based on the feedback. The students should be able to self-assess quite accurately because they have been actively involved in their learning. They should be credited for learning from their mistakes, not punished for having made them. The parents should also have an understanding of the assessment strategies, philosophies and purpose so that when assignments come home they know what the feedback means and have an understanding how to support their child's learning.
This means that there is a significant educational/information aspect that needs to be included. Presentations to parents about the language that will be used and what it means are key. If parents understand the rationale and terminology, they are more likely to support it. There will also need to be an important investment into professional development in order to ensure a common understanding of the philosophy behind the new reporting ideology within the school system. Trust is also going to be an issue. Trust with the parents as well as trust with the staff. How is this going to be better for the kids? How is this going to be better for communicating a child's progress to parents? How is this going to be more effective for the teacher?
Will focusing on performance standard language and assessment practices be sufficient to make this change? Any suggestions as to what are the next steps we need to take?
We had a very good first discussion pondering the first steps that need to be taken. An important part of the discussion was about the fact that there is an emotional attachment to letter grades that needs to be addressed both inside and outside of the school setting. We can all think of letter grades that have impacted us emotionally in a very strong way. I remember when I got a C- first term of grade 11 Chemistry (I learned that I might actually have to study). I was sick to my stomach and preparing myself to go and do my French Military Service in order to avoid a very uncomfortable conversation at home. The C- that I got in 3rd year genetics was the happiest C- in my life as I managed to pass the course on the first attempt, unlike roughly 50% of my classmates. These letter grades mean different things to different people depending on the circumstances. For some they are a driving force, for others they result in crippling anxiety.
Parents are used to letter grades, they understand, or they believe that they understand what the letter grades mean. They usually only remember getting letter grades, and tend to not be able to recall what their earlier report cards would have looked like. They remember the conversation that they would have had at home with their parents, and they remember the incentives and/or the consequences of those letter grades. There is a degree of comfort in the familiarity. Many teachers are used to letter grades as a means of communicating the varying degrees of academic success of the students to their parents. This means that a significant shift in thinking that will be required should we change our reporting practices.
Assessment practices also came up, with a large emphasis on their importance in changing our reporting practices. Is it possible to change the culture around the report cards without changing the culture around assessment practices and communication about the assessment? Can changing the way we report change assessment practices? If we are to come up with a different reporting system, what needs to be considered? Is it possible to retain a previous reporting system that was based on an entirely different methodology of assessing?
Part of the reasoning behind the elimination of letter grades is that assessment practices do not match up with letter grades. Formative assessment is supposed to be a significant piece of the puzzle. How are students progressing? What have they learned from the feedback? Also, in my opinion, the assessments are not meant to be averaged out. If you are a true believer of formative assessment, then the September/October assessments are teaching tools, not measuring tools. A December report card should be reflective of where the student is now and include comments on how they have progressed based on the feedback. The students should be able to self-assess quite accurately because they have been actively involved in their learning. They should be credited for learning from their mistakes, not punished for having made them. The parents should also have an understanding of the assessment strategies, philosophies and purpose so that when assignments come home they know what the feedback means and have an understanding how to support their child's learning.
This means that there is a significant educational/information aspect that needs to be included. Presentations to parents about the language that will be used and what it means are key. If parents understand the rationale and terminology, they are more likely to support it. There will also need to be an important investment into professional development in order to ensure a common understanding of the philosophy behind the new reporting ideology within the school system. Trust is also going to be an issue. Trust with the parents as well as trust with the staff. How is this going to be better for the kids? How is this going to be better for communicating a child's progress to parents? How is this going to be more effective for the teacher?
Will focusing on performance standard language and assessment practices be sufficient to make this change? Any suggestions as to what are the next steps we need to take?
Sunday, December 19, 2010
What is the Role of Report Cards?
When report cards are sent home I always wonder what the reactions will be at the different homes. What conversations will they have? How much money will be given based on the grades, or how much will be offered if they improve? How many comparisons to siblings' or friends' report cards will be made? How long the students will be grounded or what will be their consequences for a substandard report card in their parents' eyes? There are so many external pressures on our students that it has made me rethink report cards and what their purpose is and whether or not letter grades serve a purpose at the Elementary level.
In my district we are starting the conversation about the purpose of letter grades, are there better ways to report the information and what changes can be made to report cards to alleviate some of the pressure on our younger students. What essential elements must be maintained in an elementary report card? What information needs to be in there, and how can it best be conveyed?
I feel that grade 4-7 is a transition time between the parent being the one primarily responsible for taking ownership over the student's learning to the student taking full ownership. The students need to develop critical thinking skills in order to be able to take on that responsibility. Parent support is always hugely important, but if the child does not know how/where to make changes in their work, then the capacity for improvement diminishes. Every child has skills that they need to develop further letter grades can distract them and their parents from what needs to be focussed on. I am also not convinced that 9 year olds are necessarily mature enough to understand what these letter grades mean, and if they are to have meaningful dialogue with their parents, they need to understand.
Here are what I believe to be some essential elements that need to be in a report card:
In my district we are starting the conversation about the purpose of letter grades, are there better ways to report the information and what changes can be made to report cards to alleviate some of the pressure on our younger students. What essential elements must be maintained in an elementary report card? What information needs to be in there, and how can it best be conveyed?
I feel that grade 4-7 is a transition time between the parent being the one primarily responsible for taking ownership over the student's learning to the student taking full ownership. The students need to develop critical thinking skills in order to be able to take on that responsibility. Parent support is always hugely important, but if the child does not know how/where to make changes in their work, then the capacity for improvement diminishes. Every child has skills that they need to develop further letter grades can distract them and their parents from what needs to be focussed on. I am also not convinced that 9 year olds are necessarily mature enough to understand what these letter grades mean, and if they are to have meaningful dialogue with their parents, they need to understand.
Here are what I believe to be some essential elements that need to be in a report card:
- What are the student's strengths? Every student has amazing talents and we need to find ways to celebrate them whether they fall in Mathematics, Athletics, Language Arts or Fine Arts. Every student should have experienced some triumph in that reporting period. There needs to be something celebrated for every student.
- What are some learning goals that the students can work on at school and that the parents can support them with at home? Parents want to be involved, but unfortunately there are too many who are unsure of what to work on or how to help. If it appears to be too general then they become overwhelmed and feel helpless. Focussing on a few goals makes it tangible for the students and for the parents to see how they can progress. This is the same for students who are excelling and for those who are struggling.
- Where have they progressed? What are some areas or improvement that need to be celebrated? This should be tied into the learning goals. If there were learning goals that were put into the last report card, has the child met them, are they progressing with them? Is this an area that requires even more attention than originally thought?
- How is the child doing developmentally? Is the student meeting the expected learning outcomes for their age? I believe for the most part the parents want to know that their child is doing OK, not where they might be ranked.
- Conveying to the parents that you know their child. If the parent feels as though the child that is described in the report card is not their's, then the rest of the report card becomes moot. What can you put into the report card that show you know the child, what can you comment on, what personality aspect can you describe? There is always the possibility that the child behaves differently at home, or that you and the parents see things in a different light, but for the most part they should be reading it and thinking "He/She really knows/gets my kid".
Does there need to be any more information than this? The report card becomes more individualized, the learning becomes more focussed and the dialogue between home and school becomes easier. If parents know how and where they can help their children then the dialogue about assignments that come home is richer and more purposeful, the dialogue between the teacher and the parents is richer and more purposeful and the dialogue between the teacher and the student becomes richer and more purposeful. At the end of the day, is that not what a report card should be doing? I am not convinced that our current report cards do that.
Now, what should the report card look like? hmmm
Now, what should the report card look like? hmmm
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Why do I blog?
I have been trying to figure out what made me start blogging and I am not 100% sure. I never particularly enjoyed writing at school, but perhaps that was a result of being limited in what I could write about or just some negative experiences. It was not until I started my Masters that I discovered that I actually enjoyed writing, although the deadlines were a challenge every once in a while. It was the first time that I was given license to write about something that I actually cared about or was interested in. I was reflecting on my practice, with thought and accountability for the first time since I was doing my teaching degree, and as I think of that now, there is something seriously wrong with that.
This is not to say that I was not reflecting on my teaching, but the reflections were more to do with day to day teaching in terms of what worked and what didn't work with individual lessons. I was not thinking pedagogically, I was not pushing myself to improve my practice. Eventually I started to join some learning teams and was fortunate to be a part of the numeracy task design team with some great teachers under the guidance of Peter Liljedahl from SFU, and for the first time I was really thinking about my practice as a whole and I ended up completely rethinking my teaching. The problem here was that I was only sharing my practice with a few people, and only getting feedback from people who all thought the same way, it was like we all had our own mini-cult (who all became administrators). This would have been a great time to begin blogging.
By blogging I open myself up to criticism, helpful suggestions and accountability. I know that if I am going to put ideas out there I had better be ready to back up and be prepared to defend. I have been limiting myself to topics which I am very comfortable with as I begin to wrap my head around this. I am steeling myself to begin being a model of reflective practice for my staff. If I am not willing to put myself out there and expose my practice to criticism, how can I expect those around me to do so as well? I love the ideas put forth in this following blog entry.
For the first time in a long time I am really trying to put together my thoughts coherently for others to be able to reflect on, give suggestions, thoughts and criticisms. But rather than just an instructor, faculty advisor or sponsor teacher, I am opening it up to the world. I am trying to move outside of my comfort zone, my school, my district and my province. I am hopefully going to be a model for the students in my school and my colleagues. I am getting back into the practice of writing about things that I am passionate about and trying to move my practice forward. Let the journey begin.
This is not to say that I was not reflecting on my teaching, but the reflections were more to do with day to day teaching in terms of what worked and what didn't work with individual lessons. I was not thinking pedagogically, I was not pushing myself to improve my practice. Eventually I started to join some learning teams and was fortunate to be a part of the numeracy task design team with some great teachers under the guidance of Peter Liljedahl from SFU, and for the first time I was really thinking about my practice as a whole and I ended up completely rethinking my teaching. The problem here was that I was only sharing my practice with a few people, and only getting feedback from people who all thought the same way, it was like we all had our own mini-cult (who all became administrators). This would have been a great time to begin blogging.
By blogging I open myself up to criticism, helpful suggestions and accountability. I know that if I am going to put ideas out there I had better be ready to back up and be prepared to defend. I have been limiting myself to topics which I am very comfortable with as I begin to wrap my head around this. I am steeling myself to begin being a model of reflective practice for my staff. If I am not willing to put myself out there and expose my practice to criticism, how can I expect those around me to do so as well? I love the ideas put forth in this following blog entry.
For the first time in a long time I am really trying to put together my thoughts coherently for others to be able to reflect on, give suggestions, thoughts and criticisms. But rather than just an instructor, faculty advisor or sponsor teacher, I am opening it up to the world. I am trying to move outside of my comfort zone, my school, my district and my province. I am hopefully going to be a model for the students in my school and my colleagues. I am getting back into the practice of writing about things that I am passionate about and trying to move my practice forward. Let the journey begin.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Global Collaboration
Yesterday I had the opportunity to take part in the British Columbia Principal and Vice-Principal's Association (BCPVPA) Professional Development Representative training. At this meeting were representatives from all around the province, representing 42 different school districts. Towards the end of the meeting one of the members asked how could we share? Well that is a good question.
There are many ways that we could share, including a privately paid, restrictive portal that only members of the BCPVPA can access or do we do something that is wide-open? Is there a place for both? I guess it depends on what is being shared. If we are sharing ideas, collaborating on projects that would benefit many outside of our group, shouldn't we be sharing this more than we are? I understand that there can be documents that need limited disclosure, but professional development, templates and information that is beneficial to other teachers and administrators probably should not be restricted to a private portal.
The more we share, the more that is available out there, the more feedback we get on projects, documents, ideas and conundrums and therefor the more the very group we are targeting, the kids, benefits. Why limit ourselves to a select group in a select area and not open it up to the world. Blogs, Wikis and Googledocs are just a few examples that are out there. We are putting laptops and internet connections in classrooms, supposedly to open up the classroom to world, yet we seem to be restrictive is how these resources are used and how the information is shared. Its almost akin to bringing a kid to Central Park but limiting them to a 10 x 10 foot square.
I feel fortunate to have a superintendent that supports our endeavours and desire to extend beyond the curriculum, and work in a district where there are many amazing teachers on Twitter sharing their thoughts through articles, blogs and quotes. I feel fortunate that there are many great educators around, but I do not feel that we have even begun to tap into the World Wide Wealth of information. Is it a resource challenge or a way of thinking that needs to be altered? I would argue it is the latter. It is time we changed our way of thinking about how we collaborate and set the examples for out students for their benefit and ours. So, what is the next step?
I think this quote from @gcouros (http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/1364) sums it up: If administrators are truly to be leaders, we need to continuously learn and connect with others to shape ideas. We are the role models for our staff, students, and community. You should never ask something of your staff that you are not willing to do yourself.
There are many ways that we could share, including a privately paid, restrictive portal that only members of the BCPVPA can access or do we do something that is wide-open? Is there a place for both? I guess it depends on what is being shared. If we are sharing ideas, collaborating on projects that would benefit many outside of our group, shouldn't we be sharing this more than we are? I understand that there can be documents that need limited disclosure, but professional development, templates and information that is beneficial to other teachers and administrators probably should not be restricted to a private portal.
The more we share, the more that is available out there, the more feedback we get on projects, documents, ideas and conundrums and therefor the more the very group we are targeting, the kids, benefits. Why limit ourselves to a select group in a select area and not open it up to the world. Blogs, Wikis and Googledocs are just a few examples that are out there. We are putting laptops and internet connections in classrooms, supposedly to open up the classroom to world, yet we seem to be restrictive is how these resources are used and how the information is shared. Its almost akin to bringing a kid to Central Park but limiting them to a 10 x 10 foot square.
I feel fortunate to have a superintendent that supports our endeavours and desire to extend beyond the curriculum, and work in a district where there are many amazing teachers on Twitter sharing their thoughts through articles, blogs and quotes. I feel fortunate that there are many great educators around, but I do not feel that we have even begun to tap into the World Wide Wealth of information. Is it a resource challenge or a way of thinking that needs to be altered? I would argue it is the latter. It is time we changed our way of thinking about how we collaborate and set the examples for out students for their benefit and ours. So, what is the next step?
I think this quote from @gcouros (http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/1364) sums it up: If administrators are truly to be leaders, we need to continuously learn and connect with others to shape ideas. We are the role models for our staff, students, and community. You should never ask something of your staff that you are not willing to do yourself.
Monday, October 4, 2010
The Great Homework Debate, does it ever end?
I was reading Brian Kuhn's (@bkuhn) blog post What Homework Should Be and he referenced an article in Education Leadership The 5 Hallmarks of Good Homework and it got me thinking. I then further explored that edition and had a great read going through it. As a teacher, and then later as a principal, I have needed to ask myself what is the reason/purpose for assigning homework? How many conversations, consequences and parent meetings have arisen because of homework? How many times have I sat down with students having conversations about real-world, job-like training foundations as a reason for homework? How many times have I sat down with parents at their wits-end because of the family struggles that resulted from homework? Far too many before I woke up and thought about it.
I can think of 3 moments that gave me pause to consider what I was assigning and why I was assigning it. The first came during a parent meeting because a child was struggling with work completion and I sat across the table from a former Canadian Football League Defensive Lineman (in other words, a man around 6'3" and 300 lbs with a very deep voice) asking me to explain my homework philosophy. I muddled my way through making sure to add "sir" whenever I could. As I was spewing my reasoning, I had difficulty believing it myself.
The second moment came from a conversation with a principal who was commenting on the practice of deducting marks from late assignments. When we are assessing science or language arts assignments, where is the IRP Prescribed Learning Outcome (Integrated Resource Package, the name given to British Columbia's curricular guides) that outlines work completion as a goal of the Science curriculum or Language Arts curriculum? Work habits and quality of the work may be linked, but at the end of the day, the work must be assessed based on its quality and not based on the day that it was handed in. If the student is not handing in the work on time then work habits may be the issue and it is work habits that would reflect the tardiness of the work. In the article Fair and Unbalanced the author examines her own personal struggles with trying to get assignments in and reflects on how her change in philosophy has helped. I liked the quote of "The more teachers know about their students, the better they can tailor instruction and support for students' unique needs, the further they can push them to reach their potential. Paying attention to individual kids is a better strategy than making an inflexible rule. Better, but vastly more difficult". It really summed up the point well.
The third moment came from a conversation about Math homework. As we were in the process of shifting to a more problem-solving based from a more traditional repeated practice method, one of the presenters mentioned that maybe it was time to rethink math homework as well. He basically asked how many times were we going to send a kid home to bash his head against the wall because he felt he was stupid because he could not do the work. The kid would go home, try to do the homework, not get it, mark it in class and realize that he got it all wrong, or even better yet, have a classmate mark his homework and know that he got it all wrong. If this happens a few times in a row, he is not going to bother doing his homework because it just becomes a waste of time. Pedagogically it also reinforces incorrect understanding and the teacher will need to tear down the scaffolding that the child had based his math on and help him rebuild it.
This edition of Education Leadership on meaningful work, including a number on homework really hit home with me. Another article, Homework Done Right, has a simple statement towards the beginning "When teachers carefully and purposefully consider the role of homework in furthering curriculum goals, they can turn a homework task into treasure." Family interviews, observations around the community and searching for particular themes in the media are some of the examples that are given. The article goes on to describe how the assignments can be an extension of the curriculum, and one that involves meaningful dialogue.
A principal at an elementary school in California (Homework Sent Packing) has banned all homework assignments. She states "Research shows there is no correlation between homework and increased student achievement at the elementary level". They have set a school goal of "Kindergarten through third grade students will need to read 30 minutes at least four nights a week. Fourth through sixth-graders will read 45 minutes." They have focused their ideology that the teaching should be happening in the classroom as that is the teacher's responsibility. There was a lot of food for thought in that article.
The last article, and perhaps the most telling, is one that examines the student's perspective. Show Us What Homework's For breaks it down to a few very meaningful headers, and ideas that I believe really need to be considered when assigning anything that goes home. They are:
1) Purpose. Is this going to help them learn? Is this going to help them get better? Why do they have to do it?
2) Follow-Up. There is nothing more frustrating for students when doing homework than knowing that it will be marked in class, if that, and that there is little or no feed-back. Why "waste" hours doing something that the teacher apparently does not really care about see how there is no follow-up. If they know that this will be used to help them then they are more likely to be motivated to do it.
3) No Grading
4) Better Use of Time. Less is sometimes more. Give them the opportunity to deepen their learning and understanding.
5) The 4 Rs (readiness, repetition, review, and revision). Where does the homework assignment that you have just handed out fall?
All of these articles reflect the need to think about what we are giving students. I think it is also an opportunity to reflect upon the role of schools? Is our job to prepare the students for the "Real World" or is it to help them become confident learners, eager to continue furthering their knowledge in areas that they are passionate for? There are basic skills that we do need to students realize in terms of literacy and numeracy. Are we working towards them becoming Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune Champions or passionate learners who are confident that they can change the world?
The next time that you are thinking about a homework assignment, think about whether or not you can convince a 300 lb man whose job it is to chase people down and tackle them. If you are not sure of the validity of your assignments then perhaps it is time to rethink what kids are going home with to work on.
I can think of 3 moments that gave me pause to consider what I was assigning and why I was assigning it. The first came during a parent meeting because a child was struggling with work completion and I sat across the table from a former Canadian Football League Defensive Lineman (in other words, a man around 6'3" and 300 lbs with a very deep voice) asking me to explain my homework philosophy. I muddled my way through making sure to add "sir" whenever I could. As I was spewing my reasoning, I had difficulty believing it myself.
The second moment came from a conversation with a principal who was commenting on the practice of deducting marks from late assignments. When we are assessing science or language arts assignments, where is the IRP Prescribed Learning Outcome (Integrated Resource Package, the name given to British Columbia's curricular guides) that outlines work completion as a goal of the Science curriculum or Language Arts curriculum? Work habits and quality of the work may be linked, but at the end of the day, the work must be assessed based on its quality and not based on the day that it was handed in. If the student is not handing in the work on time then work habits may be the issue and it is work habits that would reflect the tardiness of the work. In the article Fair and Unbalanced the author examines her own personal struggles with trying to get assignments in and reflects on how her change in philosophy has helped. I liked the quote of "The more teachers know about their students, the better they can tailor instruction and support for students' unique needs, the further they can push them to reach their potential. Paying attention to individual kids is a better strategy than making an inflexible rule. Better, but vastly more difficult". It really summed up the point well.
The third moment came from a conversation about Math homework. As we were in the process of shifting to a more problem-solving based from a more traditional repeated practice method, one of the presenters mentioned that maybe it was time to rethink math homework as well. He basically asked how many times were we going to send a kid home to bash his head against the wall because he felt he was stupid because he could not do the work. The kid would go home, try to do the homework, not get it, mark it in class and realize that he got it all wrong, or even better yet, have a classmate mark his homework and know that he got it all wrong. If this happens a few times in a row, he is not going to bother doing his homework because it just becomes a waste of time. Pedagogically it also reinforces incorrect understanding and the teacher will need to tear down the scaffolding that the child had based his math on and help him rebuild it.
This edition of Education Leadership on meaningful work, including a number on homework really hit home with me. Another article, Homework Done Right, has a simple statement towards the beginning "When teachers carefully and purposefully consider the role of homework in furthering curriculum goals, they can turn a homework task into treasure." Family interviews, observations around the community and searching for particular themes in the media are some of the examples that are given. The article goes on to describe how the assignments can be an extension of the curriculum, and one that involves meaningful dialogue.
A principal at an elementary school in California (Homework Sent Packing) has banned all homework assignments. She states "Research shows there is no correlation between homework and increased student achievement at the elementary level". They have set a school goal of "Kindergarten through third grade students will need to read 30 minutes at least four nights a week. Fourth through sixth-graders will read 45 minutes." They have focused their ideology that the teaching should be happening in the classroom as that is the teacher's responsibility. There was a lot of food for thought in that article.
The last article, and perhaps the most telling, is one that examines the student's perspective. Show Us What Homework's For breaks it down to a few very meaningful headers, and ideas that I believe really need to be considered when assigning anything that goes home. They are:
1) Purpose. Is this going to help them learn? Is this going to help them get better? Why do they have to do it?
2) Follow-Up. There is nothing more frustrating for students when doing homework than knowing that it will be marked in class, if that, and that there is little or no feed-back. Why "waste" hours doing something that the teacher apparently does not really care about see how there is no follow-up. If they know that this will be used to help them then they are more likely to be motivated to do it.
3) No Grading
4) Better Use of Time. Less is sometimes more. Give them the opportunity to deepen their learning and understanding.
5) The 4 Rs (readiness, repetition, review, and revision). Where does the homework assignment that you have just handed out fall?
All of these articles reflect the need to think about what we are giving students. I think it is also an opportunity to reflect upon the role of schools? Is our job to prepare the students for the "Real World" or is it to help them become confident learners, eager to continue furthering their knowledge in areas that they are passionate for? There are basic skills that we do need to students realize in terms of literacy and numeracy. Are we working towards them becoming Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune Champions or passionate learners who are confident that they can change the world?
The next time that you are thinking about a homework assignment, think about whether or not you can convince a 300 lb man whose job it is to chase people down and tackle them. If you are not sure of the validity of your assignments then perhaps it is time to rethink what kids are going home with to work on.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Why is change hard?
I had an interesting discussion with a colleague from my district the other night via Twitter (another example of why I have come to really appreciate the professional value of Twitter). She has a tendency to pose some very good and interesting questions which get my neurons firing. Her question was "Can adult learners be more difficult to teach because they don't feel they have to conform?" My first reaction was that adults fear change. I sent her the first message of "Adults fear failure in a way that children do not. Kids don't know what they can't do, adults tend to believe in their limitations." This was followed with "Ask a kid to do something and they will ask how?, ask an adult and they will tell you why the can't." She had other ideas so I sent back one more argument "to change you must be willing to admit that there is a possibility that you did not have the answer."
After having given it more thought I had to reflect on why I am reluctant to change some aspects of my life/personality. Why am I reluctant to conform? For a brief moment I thought I might ask my family, but I was not sure I would be ready to hear their reasons, and my mother very much seems to enjoy sharing stories about us when we were kids and all of the embarrassing things we did. No, this journey is definitely going to be one of self-reflection.
I don't like to be embrassed. I do have great difficulty in putting myself out there. I am mortified to be on stage and have to do anything other than talk into a microphone. Our staff went to a dinner theatre, and because I was the principal, I was chosen to go up on stage in a costume. The routine? No shirt, coconut bra, grass skirt and having to do a striptease. I was so red at first that I probably could have stopped the entire downtown street traffic. I got through, swallowed the little pride that I had at that moment at went on stage and did a weird version of a striptease which one of the staff dutifully recorded for me. So I guess that is lesson one, if you want people to conform to the expectations don't put them in a situation where they are going to be embarrassed. There will be some people who will make it work, but many others may never go back. I fear returning to the dinner theatre because of what I may have to do next time, but I survived and am game.
There have been times where I have come to a cross-roads in my educational belief since the start of my career. There have been a few occasions when I have heard a presentation at a pro-d and thought "This is a load of bs. I would love to see that person in my class trying to do that stuff. Why don't they leave the ivory tower, get their hands dirty and see what teaching is like in the real world." I also know that I was not the first, nor was I the last, to have those types of thoughts in my head. I used to think that was the case with problem solving in math. How can I do this? How much time is this going to take up? There is no way that the parents are going to accept this in Math! Fortunately the prof from SFU, Peter Liljedahl, was very good at convincing. By the time that I was done listening I was converted. It was not a "Thou Shalt" seminar, it was not a "That is old school and wrong the way that you were doing it" type of presentation either. He stood there in the firing line and took the questions, turned them around and convinced a bunch of grade 8 math teachers of the value. End result? I could do it in the class, it was not going to take any more time after I got going then it did in the past and the parents loved it when I took the time to explain it to them. I guess Lesson 2 is, if you want people to change, don't bash them on the head and insinuate that they are teaching in the caveman era, but rather respect what they have done and are doing and show them how this accentuates what they are already doing. It also requires someone to be ready to change.
I guess what is toughest is how to address the question of comfort. What can be done when someone is a comfort zone, has been doing a good job, is well respected by the staff and the teaching community. What right do I have to go into the classroom and tell them to do things differently? I know myself in terms of my habits, they are hard to break. If things have been working well for me then why should I have to change? Do I give time? Do I bring in experts? Do I mandate the pro-d that they must attend? If they do not see the need to change, is forcing going to be effective?
I was reading a great blog entry, 10 things teachers should unlearn, and it made me further reflect on change. If they do not feel the need to change, how to you help them want to unlearn what they have learned? As educational philosophy and theory shifts, there are those who see it as another fad or trend that will shortly go the way of the albatross. In BC the pendulum has shifted in several directions with several examples such as moving from phonics only to whole word approach and settling somewhere in between. I have overheard the conversations along the lines of "Here we go again", "New principal, new agenda", "This is the district's new pet project". Too often a great initiative is started and then because of finances or a change of direction at a school or within the district it loses its momentum and dies. Teachers become frustrated by this and become pessimistic as a result. At times we are our own worst enemy.
How do we facilitate change? By showing how it will be better for the kids and it not an add-on but rather a supplemental strategy. We stand up and answer their questions, respect their knowledge and work with them. We try to make sure that they understand that we are not asking for the whole approach to be change. We provide the time and the collaboration that is needed for them to value the ideas. Sometimes we need to recognize that it is going to take time. Uncomfortable is OK, embarrassment is not.
After having given it more thought I had to reflect on why I am reluctant to change some aspects of my life/personality. Why am I reluctant to conform? For a brief moment I thought I might ask my family, but I was not sure I would be ready to hear their reasons, and my mother very much seems to enjoy sharing stories about us when we were kids and all of the embarrassing things we did. No, this journey is definitely going to be one of self-reflection.
I don't like to be embrassed. I do have great difficulty in putting myself out there. I am mortified to be on stage and have to do anything other than talk into a microphone. Our staff went to a dinner theatre, and because I was the principal, I was chosen to go up on stage in a costume. The routine? No shirt, coconut bra, grass skirt and having to do a striptease. I was so red at first that I probably could have stopped the entire downtown street traffic. I got through, swallowed the little pride that I had at that moment at went on stage and did a weird version of a striptease which one of the staff dutifully recorded for me. So I guess that is lesson one, if you want people to conform to the expectations don't put them in a situation where they are going to be embarrassed. There will be some people who will make it work, but many others may never go back. I fear returning to the dinner theatre because of what I may have to do next time, but I survived and am game.
There have been times where I have come to a cross-roads in my educational belief since the start of my career. There have been a few occasions when I have heard a presentation at a pro-d and thought "This is a load of bs. I would love to see that person in my class trying to do that stuff. Why don't they leave the ivory tower, get their hands dirty and see what teaching is like in the real world." I also know that I was not the first, nor was I the last, to have those types of thoughts in my head. I used to think that was the case with problem solving in math. How can I do this? How much time is this going to take up? There is no way that the parents are going to accept this in Math! Fortunately the prof from SFU, Peter Liljedahl, was very good at convincing. By the time that I was done listening I was converted. It was not a "Thou Shalt" seminar, it was not a "That is old school and wrong the way that you were doing it" type of presentation either. He stood there in the firing line and took the questions, turned them around and convinced a bunch of grade 8 math teachers of the value. End result? I could do it in the class, it was not going to take any more time after I got going then it did in the past and the parents loved it when I took the time to explain it to them. I guess Lesson 2 is, if you want people to change, don't bash them on the head and insinuate that they are teaching in the caveman era, but rather respect what they have done and are doing and show them how this accentuates what they are already doing. It also requires someone to be ready to change.
I guess what is toughest is how to address the question of comfort. What can be done when someone is a comfort zone, has been doing a good job, is well respected by the staff and the teaching community. What right do I have to go into the classroom and tell them to do things differently? I know myself in terms of my habits, they are hard to break. If things have been working well for me then why should I have to change? Do I give time? Do I bring in experts? Do I mandate the pro-d that they must attend? If they do not see the need to change, is forcing going to be effective?
I was reading a great blog entry, 10 things teachers should unlearn, and it made me further reflect on change. If they do not feel the need to change, how to you help them want to unlearn what they have learned? As educational philosophy and theory shifts, there are those who see it as another fad or trend that will shortly go the way of the albatross. In BC the pendulum has shifted in several directions with several examples such as moving from phonics only to whole word approach and settling somewhere in between. I have overheard the conversations along the lines of "Here we go again", "New principal, new agenda", "This is the district's new pet project". Too often a great initiative is started and then because of finances or a change of direction at a school or within the district it loses its momentum and dies. Teachers become frustrated by this and become pessimistic as a result. At times we are our own worst enemy.
How do we facilitate change? By showing how it will be better for the kids and it not an add-on but rather a supplemental strategy. We stand up and answer their questions, respect their knowledge and work with them. We try to make sure that they understand that we are not asking for the whole approach to be change. We provide the time and the collaboration that is needed for them to value the ideas. Sometimes we need to recognize that it is going to take time. Uncomfortable is OK, embarrassment is not.
Monday, September 6, 2010
How Twitter is helping me professionally
I used to wonder what purpose Twitter could serve. I just could not wrap my head around it. I will be honest, I signed for more leisurely reasons. As a proud Canadian hockey fan, I realized that there were a lot of updates coming via twitter. On July 1st every year, the Free Agent season begins and I usually follow that quite closely. Twitter was giving me up to the second updates about the signings and the rumours that were out there. This was my true reason for signing up. As the Free Agent Frenzy started to die down and I was getting a little bored, I started to look up a few colleagues and read some of their postings. This is when I realized the potential.
I did start off as a lurker, looking at blogs and opening up articles that were suggested by colleagues. Reading suggested links and blogs I began to see some of the power. As I lurked further I discovered more people to follow, and I discovered more amazing people from my district. I have always felt that I work for an amazing district, but the opportunity to connect with teachers that I have never met, and might never have known about, is fantastic. Wow were my eyes ever oping up to the education world outside of my building and district.
The other part that I am loving is connecting with teachers and administrators from around Canada, the US and other parts around the world. Every once in a while I get caught up in the microcosm of my school and my district and am unaware of what is happening. The beauty of this is that I now have contacts about libraries, student services, French Immersion, adminstration and so on. There is a good chance that if I need an answer, I will find it faster through Twitter than Google. I have better ways of finding great articles to read and share with my staff. I have been globally connected to an amazing group of people who share my passions, thoughts and struggles. I am learning from others who have a different insight, have different struggles and are just flat out brilliant in their ability to synthesize information.
There are a few great Henry Ford quotes which come to mind
1) Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
2) Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.
3) Failure is simply an opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently
4) If I should really want to answer the foolish question you have just asked, or any of the other questions you have been asking me, let me remind you that I have a row of electric push-buttons on my desk, and by pushing the right button, I can summon to my aid men who can answer any question I desire to ask concerning the business to which I am devoting most of my efforts. Now, will you kindly tell me, why I should clutter up my mind with general knowledge, for the purpose of being able to answer questions, when I have men around me who can supply any knowledge I require?
This is what Twitter represents. The fourth one is a bit harsh, but to me it represents that I do not have to know everything, but I probably know enough people that someone will have the answer. At the push of a button I am able to send out my questions to thousands of educators in a microsecond.
I now follow a great group of parents, teachers, principals from my district, my province, my country, my continent and my world. They all have a vested interest in creating the best learning opportunities for our students. I am more aware of issues that they are facing, that other teachers are facing. Through this process I have greatly increased my professional reading and I feel that I will be a better leader in my school as a result. It is not just reading the initial posting of the blogs but also the discussion, differing view points and insight.
As I get more versed in the Twitterverse I am finding even more fantastic blogs, articles and videos. The discovery of hash tags has greatly expanded my universe. Twitter is helping me grow as a professional. It is also doing a great job of keeping me up to the minute in following the Vancouver Canucks and the NHL.
I did start off as a lurker, looking at blogs and opening up articles that were suggested by colleagues. Reading suggested links and blogs I began to see some of the power. As I lurked further I discovered more people to follow, and I discovered more amazing people from my district. I have always felt that I work for an amazing district, but the opportunity to connect with teachers that I have never met, and might never have known about, is fantastic. Wow were my eyes ever oping up to the education world outside of my building and district.
The other part that I am loving is connecting with teachers and administrators from around Canada, the US and other parts around the world. Every once in a while I get caught up in the microcosm of my school and my district and am unaware of what is happening. The beauty of this is that I now have contacts about libraries, student services, French Immersion, adminstration and so on. There is a good chance that if I need an answer, I will find it faster through Twitter than Google. I have better ways of finding great articles to read and share with my staff. I have been globally connected to an amazing group of people who share my passions, thoughts and struggles. I am learning from others who have a different insight, have different struggles and are just flat out brilliant in their ability to synthesize information.
There are a few great Henry Ford quotes which come to mind
1) Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
2) Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.
3) Failure is simply an opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently
4) If I should really want to answer the foolish question you have just asked, or any of the other questions you have been asking me, let me remind you that I have a row of electric push-buttons on my desk, and by pushing the right button, I can summon to my aid men who can answer any question I desire to ask concerning the business to which I am devoting most of my efforts. Now, will you kindly tell me, why I should clutter up my mind with general knowledge, for the purpose of being able to answer questions, when I have men around me who can supply any knowledge I require?
This is what Twitter represents. The fourth one is a bit harsh, but to me it represents that I do not have to know everything, but I probably know enough people that someone will have the answer. At the push of a button I am able to send out my questions to thousands of educators in a microsecond.
I now follow a great group of parents, teachers, principals from my district, my province, my country, my continent and my world. They all have a vested interest in creating the best learning opportunities for our students. I am more aware of issues that they are facing, that other teachers are facing. Through this process I have greatly increased my professional reading and I feel that I will be a better leader in my school as a result. It is not just reading the initial posting of the blogs but also the discussion, differing view points and insight.
As I get more versed in the Twitterverse I am finding even more fantastic blogs, articles and videos. The discovery of hash tags has greatly expanded my universe. Twitter is helping me grow as a professional. It is also doing a great job of keeping me up to the minute in following the Vancouver Canucks and the NHL.
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