Sentiments On Common Sense

I worked on this post on and off today when things were printing, or I was sitting waiting for the board meeting to start. I need to finish now that the meeting is getting started… the board has been doing some hard work with only 7 of them. They have a tough job I guess.

George Siemens from his “Connectivism Blog” entry “Pedagogy First? Whatever.” notes something that won’t startle most of you folks settling into any kind of curriculum review or technology education planning. He writes:

“In dealing with faculty and instructional designers, a series of almost default phrases are vocalized once technology is mentioned: “We need to start with pedagogy”…”It’s pedagogy first”. Or, whenever I’m in a meeting and someone says “pedagogy first”, the apparently genetic instinct to nod viciously is enacted by everyone around the table. “Yes, that is right. We need to have priorities here. Let’s tame technology and focus instead on what we already know and are comfortable with. Let’s ensure that technology does not get away from the tried and true method of containing innovation and new approaches.”

It would not be a huge surprise to note this is a commonly used phrase and I will admit that I must have that genetic response as well. In many ways it makes sense.. COMMON SENSE. But let’s dig a little deeper.

How much we develop our classrooms really is starting to depend on how far we stretch the pedagogy. Teachers teach. Student learn. Or…. perhaps student create, and build and… teach? “Sound pedagogy” ideals are being stretched and even changed in practice as we push students to create their own learning environments and drafting, editing, developing and publishing their work for review by their peers, by their parents, and ultimately by an educator trained in solid assessments methods. The leap must be from the common practice, or the “sound practice” to a more innovative, thoughtful use of contemporary tools, with contemporary teaching methods– as Seimens says– look at the context. When we turn that idea into “sound pedagogy, we will find our schools moving off the spot.

So…. COMMON SENSE would tell you that we want our students to be motivated and encouraged by the learning we present. In order for us to do this in a more effective way… one that will meet the needs of our changing student population, we must focus on the contextual nature of all of our work of educating teachers.

I’m not able to attend this workshop, but this might be a place where a motivated educator can explore these thoughts more. Check out the conference “Constructing Modern Knowledge 2008″.

Technorati Tags: pegagogy first, educational technology, constructing knowledge

My twitter colleague Brian left me a good question about my last posting!  Thanks for reading my blog Brian, and for keeping me honest.  

His questions are:

“Why is it important for school leaders to blog?”
“What void does blogging fill?”

Great questions Brian!

First my perspective… in a bit of a story format.

Last year, in response to my communities need for more current and up-to-date information from my school I decided that instead of the monthly epistle from the principal, I would start sending weekly emails to my parent community.

The thing you should know is that I was the principal of two full schools of kids, both elementary and middle school. Yes.. it was VERY busy with lots “stuff” coming at me every week, and I spent long hours communicating to my parent community. These emails were effective, but they also were sent to the black hole of information.  No history was being built. No way to archive (easily) and no way to build the communications patterns fully for my community.  

I then ran into Scott McCleod’s 100 Principals, 100 blogs project.  I am not sure where that project went- I think I was number 30-something… but in a few days of emails, I got a nice note from Scott and I was a “blogger”.  Thus began my adventure into school leadership blogging.  I have battled a governmental firewall… that would be from China, and all sorts of weird techno problems, but in the end I survive and am able to freely communicate with the world my thoughts, feelings and to develop myself professionally.  

To answer Brian’s question:

Blogging is important to me (and school leaders) on several levels.  

1. First, in order to be an effective leader in our school communities we must be visible and open for feedback. Blogs allow yet another avenue of expression for us, and we can artfully do so while also building in a level of educational influence not only for our students but for their families.  
2. Modeling effective use of technology for our faculty and showing that “if I can do it, you can too!” means a lot for teachers.  I was the first few members of my school community to be a blogger and now we have almost all of our kids grade 5-12 blogging along with the majority of our teachers.  I can say the same thing about podcasting, but that is another posting!
3. Going back to point #1… It gave me a chance to point my parents to other avenues of education for themselves.  This “parent education” portion allowed me to hammer home some of the educational ideals my organization stood for and also made visiting my school information “fun” and “informative” (not my words… but the words of the parents who spoke to me about my blogs).
4. Through this process I built a community of learners.  Given another year I believe I could have convinced the majority of parents that RSS feeds were the way to go and we could push content, and information so easily I would make our lives as communications creators much easier.  I changed jobs this year (within the same organization) and I am not in a position to continue this effort at the same level.
5. I saved money.  LOTS of MONEY!  No paper.  No printing costs.  No delivery costs. No staff time dedicated to gathering and laying out newsletters.
6. I save time.  My time. Parents time. Organizational time.  

If you are really into this whole connected to the world thing that we are trying to lead out on as school leaders, you must… MUST understand that being connected means dealing with a little give and take. That means… we (school leaders) give and then we take feedback and comments back. We, as school leaders, must open ourselves and our craft up to the masses– or perhaps just our school community– and “listen”.

I really enjoy the writings of Seth Godin, on Seth’s blog. This gentleman has a lot to teach educational leaders, and his post on how to “Write like a Blogger” should not be missed. Seth gives great tips like….

“Use headlines. I use them all the time now. Not just boring ones that announce your purpose (like the one on this post) but interesting or puzzling or engaging headlines. Headlines are perfect for engaging busy readers.”

Tags: Bloggers, Digital Leadership

Guy Kawasaki notes that Flock has gone eco-friendly!  Check it out and save the planet. This is a great browser and as a loyal Mozilla follower I can use with confidence and respect to the open source movement.

Btw.. I love the embedded social networking tools and the blogging tool right inside the browser. I am not using on this post, but most you will notice I do!

Download it here!

Aren’t you all tired of people complaining? How about your kids? Your spouse?

It gets to be this time of year and the end is in sight and it is easy to just focus on the negatives. The whining and complaining and griping and… well you have all the expicatives and descriptors that make it real for you! Come on. Admit it! People complain, gripe, gossip and criticize and guess what that begats?? MORE OF THE SAME and very… very… VERY few solutions.

It does not take to long to find in the blogosphere. There are more that a few million (or so it seems) rant blogs where some person gets on their virtual soapbox and goes on and on and on about this or that with a lot of complaints (or gossip or criticisms) and not much else. Look at American Idol. Who is this Simon guy and why does he get to be the head critic to balance out the positive approaches of the two other judges.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining here! Oh heck.. yes I am and I am about to officially announce my first step to making things right in my mind (and ultimately my life!). I am taking the 21 day complaining challenge.

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Over the past spring vacation while vegging on the couch and enjoying some QT with my family, I spotted a news story on one of the stations on my illegal satellite dish I use here in China. The story highlighted the Pastor Will Bowen is the Lead Minister at Christ Church Unity in Kansas City, MO. The website “A Complaint Free World” states that “In July 2006 he suggested his congregation use purple bracelets to monitor their success at eradicating complaining from their lives. His idea exploded around the world and nearly 5 million purple Complaint Free bracelets have been sent to people in more than 80 countries.”

Frankly speaking I think this guy is on to something here.

His first book, “A Complaint Free World,” published by Doubleday, is already in its seventh printing in the United States. The book also being published in more than a dozen foreign countries and is an audio book, read by Bowen, published by Random House Audio.

How this all works is that in following with the belief that it takes 21 days to form a habit and considering that for most of us complaining is a habit, we must work to break that habit by recognizing it and NOT doing the behavior for 21 days. Pastor Bowen designed a simple purple bracelet that is worn by those participating. His parishioners (at first) took the challenge which be

begins with your committment to wear the bracelet, on either wrist.

• When you catch yourself complaining, gossiping or criticizing (it’s ok, everyone does) move the bracelet to the other arm and begin again.
• If you hear someone else who is wearing a bracelet complain, you may point out their need to switch the bracelet to the other arm; BUT if you’re going to do this, you must move your bracelet first!
• Stay with it. It may take many months but when you reach 21 days you will find that your entire life is happier, more loving and more enjoyable.

If you so inclined you can listen to Pastor Bowen’s sermon introducing the complaint free movement here!

This whole thing has taken off and now over 5 MILLION bracelets have been sold. I guess I really do live on the other side of the planet because I have not heard about this at all! Wow! 5 Million. Only 995 million more to go and it will equal the number of people who live in the country in which I reside.

I realize as I write this that I do work amongst a fair number of cynics who would state (with a edgy amount of sarcasm) that complaints are the way the humans we work with can begin the problem solving process. Let me ask… as I close this post…. could we not just move to the problem solving step without the complaint?

In my mind (using common sense) that is called being “innovative”.

Perhaps we should all try it.

BTW… I will be ordering a few of these wristbands. If nothing else it will be a good conversation piece. (special price for teachers!)

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: Positivework environment, Complainers, gripes, No Complaint World, innovation

On the road this week and I am looking forward to another Gourmet Geeks episode. Mr. U and I are focusing on those poor geeks out there who have been skipping the most important meal of the day– BREAKFAST! No recipes this week… just good old down home cookin’! Check us out at http://www.gourmet-geeks.tv

Check out our new aprons too! Thank goodness Jeff is losing that “artistic” apron!

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One of the challenges that I have been facing in my work lately has to do with the amount of items on my plate and a never-ending stream of people needing more and more things done. Don’t get me wrong. I love my job and I am not afraid of a lot of work. In fact, if I don’t have high levels of work I tend to get bored. To start making work for myself and creating projects to take on for myself and my organization.

This has come to a whole new level now as we head down the home stretch for our school’s self study and I am spending huge amounts of time writing and re-writing all sorts of documents that show the current and future status of our school. This folks, is the dirty work of school improvement, that happens in the back rooms of the school. This work cannot be done via committee work. No “group” of people can do the job. It must be a single human with single purpose of documenting the will of the school. The problem is that my colleague and I are looking at the stack of writing in front of us, and more specifically the editing that needs to be completed and finalized with the focus groups that we have been doing so much work with through the last few months.

“So what?”, you say.
“Isnt’ that your job?”, you ask.
“You have time to blog!”, you state.

All true, but what about the rest of the responsibilitiies? Technology leadership? Student management system implementation planning? The creation of an end of an year report? What about those annual evaluations? What about those pesky and all important curriculum reviews? The multiple meetings that I facilitate on a weekly basis and the human interaction that is not only required but desired in order to be an effective leader. Could this be a sign that we are indeed short on help? Could this be a sign that our organization has grown and is ready for more people to lead beyond the teacher leaders we have empowered? Stress, illness, long work hours may be a sign of this, but to me the real sign is that the work cannot be finished, or perhaps the signs would be that the work being done is not at the high standard we would normally hold ourselves to regularly.

Common sense would tell you it is the quality of the work being done and not the quantity that makes a difference, and it is that quality that must be held as the measure of our need for more help. ONLY TIME WILL TELL! I am confident that we can do it and do it well… ALL of the above. Henry Ford said that “If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right!” I think I can and I will.

I ask that we all consider what we are asking the people we work with as we move forward though. What are we asking them to do and are we providing them the resources (money, time, materials, human support) to do the job at a level that will reflect positively on the organization as a whole. Something to consider!

Tags: Qualitywork, common sense

We took the opportunity this past weekend to jump on a plane here in China and travel to Jindezhen. This “little” town of 1.45 million people is the home and heart of the ceramics industry here in the People’s Republic of China.

The experience of being human in a country of 1 billion people is an interesting one. The whole idea of being special in this mass of humanity is one that would be considered unique and unusual and frankly…. IMPOSSIBLE. What would make me one that would draw crowds. Frankly speaking, my 6 ft tall frame, very pale skin and Oregon State Baseball hat stood out in this place. Above the pots, plates, vases, and sets of porcelain china and the crowds and the masses was me and….

My two blond little girls.  They were celebraties.  Now I understand what a star feels like being photographed CONSTANTLY.  Amelia thought it was great. Maddie spoke Chinese way more than I ever though she would, and we had fun!

Word of advise politicians: If you want to solve the world problems and get concessions on every issue– just bring your children. Universally they are recognized as our future while at the same time an expression of the past. We travel with our kids because we want to give them an education and a feel for the world. What they get is an experience in what it is to be human. What we get is an education in how dear our children are no matter where we come from and what their future holds.

Common sense would tell you that we all need to get our kids out and about. Experience the world and if I could wish anything it would be to show our kids that 1.45 million is really just a small town. Believe me… it really felt that way.

Tags: Jindezhen, world experiences

The old saying about people coming into your life and leaving footprints on your heart really came home to roost in my psyche this week in hearing the sad news of the passing of my friend of 20+ years, Mr. David Gettling. I don’t want this blog post to be a listing of his feats of prowess (he consistently beat me in golf, poker, fantasy baseball) and intellectual strength (I learned a lot from this man!), but more a recap of what a real friend is to all of us and what he does in his life.

Dave and I had drifted apart a bit in the last few years. I went overseas and found a new life working in International Schools. He worked and then retired from schools in Oregon, spending more time with family, his 2nd career (house painter) and working at Lewis and Clark. Dave, as I understand it, was as busy as always, and still remained connected to the education community in the Beaverton, Oregon area. My memories of him have nothing to do with these past few years, but more in the early parts of my career.

Dave was a 6th grade teacher in the school I took my first teaching job. He settled with me quickly that we were going to be good buddies and we played golf, worked on tech projects, learned to build and move ideas forward and most importantly he taught me that a good laugh and a joke go a long way to building a community of learners both in classrooms with kids and with faculties and parent community. He is my model of trustbuilding. He faced adversity and disagreement with grace and the ever-present smile. His laugh could be heard for miles.

The thing I will most miss about Dave was his heartfelt concern for all of his friends. He would, in past years, just drop me a note to check in on me. In a recent email volley we joked about his new, unfinished Facebook page, and when we would play golf again when I got back to Oregon. I am sad to say I didn’t find the time to get those rounds of golf in with my friend. My life and his life was full of other things and alas, our families and our other commitments fill our time. Now he’s gone and I won’t get a chance to say thanks to him for his support and friendship over the 20+ years

Dave… if you can read this from where you are now: Thanks Man! I am going to miss you.