Finally somebody has written down what I have been thinking all along.

You see, I have been doing too much budget work lately. If you make budgets for schools, you know what I mean.  This activity has only one result for a school administrator’s mental health, and it ain’t sanity!

When I first started to teach in Oregon there was an appliance and furniture store owned by a guy named Tom Peterson. He and his wife Gloria’s sales pitch was always “WAKE UP! WAKE UP! Free is a VERRRYYY good price!”, and then he would go on to tell you about how you could get all kinds of free stuff if you spent thousands of dollars at his store.  It should be noted that Tom went bankrupt probably due to all those big box stores that rolled into town shortly thereafter, but he did have his moments of fame including a few cameos in a 5 films including Mr. Holland’s Opus, My Own Private Idaho and Drugstore Cowboy.

The ConverStations blog author Mike Sansone writes that there are 4 key things to consider when considering educational technology-

Here’s our checklist. Ideally, we try score on all four points but if one is missing, it’s not a real deal-breaker.

• Free
• Saves Time
• Increase & Improves the Learning
• Enhances & Improves Student Engagement

The order of importance should actually be reversed. We should always put learners and learning first, but ‘Free’ and ‘Saves Time’ helps teachers embrace new things quicker than their opposites.

Notice “Free” is number one.  I am sure you are like me.  We know nothing is really free, but is sure is fun to think about it as we build budgets.  The other three…. they have some real validity if you ask me!

Photo from: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fzehnkatzen.blogspot.com%2F2005%2F12%2Flogodesign-pdxhistory-now-thats-tom.html&ei=-ZYvSY3kG9LEkAX81OiDCw&usg=AFQjCNGUT4WXTEXMQtEB0EfoVonQUXbXZA&sig2=7HPWwcoeYIJy8sEPNqEZUg

“Randy”- left an anonymous comment to “First Posting… Recruiting on the Road”:

Why so much emphasis on technology? Focus on teachers who remember how to function without the latest gadgets, especially when the power goes off. I’m personally saddened when I see kids unable to walk without a wire in their ear or with “text-messaging” addictions. Maybe the focus on technology is one of the reasons education is failing. I was shocked one year when my university added remedial courses in order to bring the high school students up to par.

I don’t want a kid who has the latest gadgets. I want one who can figure out that half of eight is “0″ or “3″ or “6″ or “2.” Or if I ask a group of kids how many bricks it takes to finish a job, hopefully some will know the answer is “one” and not run off to actually count the bricks.

And I would hope your reply to me is not “well, that’s the way the world is.”

My response:

Randy, you missed the point.  The point of the questions is to focus on whether this person is a risk-taker and learner.  These 5 questions are not about yes or no. They are about conversation, collaboration, risk-taking, learning.  A favorite gadget could be a paint brush or a personal organization tool.  We need flexible, adaptable, creative and open-minded teachers.

What is the way of the world, Randy, is that we as schools have high expectations from our clients (parents and students) to provide quality content embedded in useful, widely applicable skills (including the use of modern technology) which will be used in higher education and the workplace.To ignore these tools (which sadly many do) could be considered educational malpractice.  I am not of a mind-set that people either DO use technology tools or DON’T use technology tools, but…. I have plenty of evidence building that is beginning to turn my opinion.  As you are probably aware, an interview is an opportunity for the employer to set the stage for expectations. In our school, the use of appropriate, powerful, technology tools is an expectation, and is often one that is ignored in the interview setting.

I could respond to your comment about your university having to “bring the high school students up to par.” I won’t here, but I suspect there may be about 500 educational bloggers out there who would love to have a shot at that remark.

Randy, I don’t know who you are as you did not leave a last name or a web-address, but I suspect you found the posting from a website that discusses international schools (I have been getting a lot of links from that site lately).  I generally would not approve anonymous comments, but I thought this comment was worth further response.  I would encourage you to come out from under the shade and participate openly in the conversations on the web. It will bring you great connections and build your personal professional learning network. Think about it.  You might also want to connect to David Warlick’s blog post on How to Hire Tech Savvy Teachers.

If you are looking for a job I wish you good luck.  It is this sort of passion and common sense you have tried to address in your comment that good schools are looking for out there, as long as it is approached with professionalism and an open-mind.

Photo courtesy of CC http://www.flickr.com/photos/8168864@N06/499525700

Technorati Tags: recruiting, interview questions, comments

Technology Tools in Classrooms: Computers and the Internet
Computing in the classroom setting has been around for approximately 30 years. In those thirty years we have seen a variety of computing companies come and go (remember Radio Shack computers?). We have see a variety of resources be developed.

It is our hope that as our students visit the back corners of their memories of their school experience, they can tell the story of school that took bold steps to give them the tools to learn, collaborate and share both locally and globally.

“When I visit the back corners of my life again after so long a time, littlest of things jump out first”.

The line strikes me now much as it did when I first picked up the book about a year ago. It makes me realize that the little things we do for our students in our classrooms are really what is going to matter most in the their lives, years from now. I think back to my 4th grade classroom, which in retrospect was my best year in elementary school.

That year was a tough one for me both educationally and health-wise. It about this time of year in 1974, I ended up requiring surgery, which I am sure scared, my poor mother to death. I ended up in a hospital bed in the shadow of my elementary school for what seemed like eternity. During that time period my teacher visited me a couple times, dropping off schoolwork and a copy of Black Beauty, the book she was reading aloud to us at the time. After Black Beauty was Old Yeller, and we even got to watch the Disney version of the film after we finished the book. Besides the books and the visits, I remember distinctly watching MASH with my father in the hospital room and trying not to laugh as it hurt the stitches on my abdomen. Hawkeye Pierce was even funny to a 9 year old.

The school probably had one film projector, and I am sure that my teacher had to fight to reserve it for the 3 or 4 days it took to complete the 4 reels of  the film. Even back then, teachers struggled with access to technology tools, but that did not stop my teacher from using the tools as often as she could and focusing on creating a  strong classroom community. In fact she used the tools to reinforce the idea of community, while using the tool broaden our horizons and show us there was a bigger world that what was the small  attendance area  we called home. Much like today as our teachers at SAS fully exploit the tools that they share through the school; technology tools that make a difference to each and every student in our school.

Technorati Tags: Black Beauty, Old Yeller, Classroom Community

I’ve heard it three times in the last week.

“I have to teach the content.”

Is it just me, or is this the same as saying “I’m just doing my job”?

Do we work in a factory?  Do we have widgets to produce or are we building learners here?

Seth Godin wrote a bit of a rant last week in his post “Just doing my Job“.   I want to print it off and share it with a few people. Seth states….

If you take a job, you’ve bought into what the company does. You’re responsible.

If you work for a company headed off a cliff, hey, you’re going too. The fact that you’re just doing your job doesn’t make unemployment any better. And if the company is hurting people or the world you operate in, it doesn’t matter who told you to do it, you still did it.

I suppose that this road runs both ways though…. if you take a job you’ve bought into what the company does, BUT common sense would also say that a company that puts up with a member of the organization that is doing something that is counterproductive to the mission and vision of the organization then does it not send the message that it is really not committed either? Are the supervisors and evaluators just as responsible for the mediocrity?

Food for thought.

Technorati Tags: Seth Godin, “Just Doing my Job”, Factory Mentality, Content

Photo CC- http://static.flickr.com/42/107810103_f9f12699d6.jpg

It is a rainy, chilly dark day here in Shanghai.  My family is snuggled in to a quiet routine of artwork (my 5 year old), wikispace creation(my wife), toy chewing (dog) and napping (1 year old).  I just finished my lunch of left over pizza and left over indian food and am now contemplating the week ahead of me and the indigestion that will certainly kick in on me in just a few minutes (smile). 

Christopher Harris, author of the Informancy blog was recently sent a note from CBS news pointing a story they did titled “Web Tests Kids’ Desire to Cheat”.    The note to Mr. Harris from a CBS news employee stated,

A story aired this week that I think your blog readers might be
interested in. Our science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg
examined videos made by kids, for kids, teaching each other just what
teacher’s don’t want them to learn: how to cheat.

I did a quick search on YouTube and found this particular search term set comes up with some pretty staggering results 

I am about to begin a process in my school where we examine at a profound and deep level our assessment practices in our classrooms. One of the concerns that each and every school has is the ability to accurate measure a students understanding of the skills and concepts that we have decided to measure in our classrooms.  In an attempt to state the obvious and to stick to some common sense here I would like to clearly state that if there is a test being given, there is most likely a human being trying cheat the test.  Even the simple peek over the neighbors shoulder will slant the results of an assessment and thus provide the instructor with inaccurate assessment data.  Cheating ultimately cannot be combatted by security, it must be combatted by demanding that our schools use authentic assessment methods.

Mr. Harris poses these questions:

• Why are teachers using assessments on which students can cheat? Just
  like with The plagiarism on research papers, the problem is most often
  not in the copying, but in the failure of the initial assignment to
  present a rigorous and authentic assessment situation.
• When is CBS going to take a stand and look at the need for rigorous,
  authentic work in our classrooms?
• When is CBS going to stop focusing on
  cheating students and focus on cheating test companies and corrupt
  governmental departments that brought about the total failure of
  Reading First?
• When is CBS going to stop focusing on fear-mongering and
  instead join in the effort to bring about real change in the
  educational system?

Let’s apply some common sense here. Teachers and administrators need to face facts that to prying public eyes, a “test” has some value in that it is a known quantity.  We have all taken tests and we know how they are measured.  Since we have all taken tests, we also know that people cheat on tests.  I believe most people are lying when they say they’ve never cheated on a test.  To err is human, and temptation is always there.  I will connect the dots here for you.  To an outsider, a test is a necessary evil, and since people cheat we should police tests to prevent “most” cheating (see YouTube if you need help here!).

As one commenter noted:

Doing well in school is mostly about gaming the system and not about learning or intelligence.  (Posted by sharkzone1 at 02:36 PM : Nov 21, 2008)

OR…..

As Mr. Harris and Mr(Ms?) Sharkzone1 aludes to in their response to CBS news, we could reconstruct and reorganize our assessment methods so the learner cannot “game” the system. 

The failure in tests are that they are not accurate measures of student learning.  Most tests, even the best ones, don’t require the learner to demonstrate, process, evaluate, integrate and extend learned concepts. The problem here is that we will be stepping into a space that most community members (and school employees) have not stepped into before.  Uncharted territory is both scary and contentious.  The good news is that we have mountains of quality educational research on our side and we have the opportunity to make substantial progress toward a more productive educational environment for our students.

I’m committed to this idea and I am excited about the work I am about to begin with my colleagues.  It is going to be rough going, but I know we will be successful if we address the needs of the students. 

Thoughts?

Image CC http://static.flickr.com/218/471335001_05c88b0155.jpg

Technorati Tags: Assessment, cheating, YouTube, “How to cheat on a test”

I have in past years written posts to my blog about recruiting teachers to international schools.  I have even made a point of posting some of my interview questions to see 1) if potential candidates are reading up on our school and 2) to get the conversation started in a short period of time focusing on the use of the web in teaching and learning.  I have to report here that there has been significant success on both fronts and the teachers who check my blog out do seem to have some tech skills to bring to the classroom setting.  Hint: If you are looking for a job at my school, you might want to do your homework!

One of my colleagues wrote to me yesterday pointing out a post by Seth Godin which outlines the 90/10 rule of marketing.

Seth states:

Most hiring managers don’t understand organizations that go to
extraordinary lengths to find and retain amazing people. And from their
point of view, they’re completely correct. Pay market wage, run a
classified, process the resumes. Done.

It only takes 10% as much effort to hire someone in the bottom 90% of the class.

And it takes the other 90% to find and cajole and retain the top 10%.

This year, it is not hiring that is on our minds in the international setting, it is in retaining these talented people we have had to fight tooth and nail to hire in past years.  The cycle often is that after about four years in an international school, the teacher or administrator starts to get antsy and has their eye on the next horizon.  Not because they are unhappy, but because they are part of the international school culture adventure, exploration and in search of personal expansion and improvement.

Our deeper dilemma is that our school community demands the very best, the most experienced, top level educators.  If you get hired at our school, we expect you to deliver a high quality product (instructional program).

Again, Seth Godin:

If your organization can thrive with ordinary folks, then the
marketing you’re doing right now to fill the ranks might even be
overkill. You’ve got plenty of resumes. No need to pretend you’re doing
anything much more than bottom fishing, though. That plaque for
employee of the month? You can sell it on eBay.

On the other hand, organizations that work best with extraordinary
talent are almost certainly not investing enough in finding and
developing it. If marketing works so well that you spend a fortune on
it, why aren’t you marketing your jobs? If talent is so important that
you are betting the company on it, why aren’t you actually investing in
finding and retaining that talent?

As school leaders, we should note this “rule” as we continue our search for new teachers, but we should also market our school to our current employees as well.

Ask ourselves… Do they feel valued? Can they see progress toward the vision of the organization? Do they know what the role is in the wider scope of the school?  Do they feel empowered or simply a pawn in the organization?

How is your school using their resources to hire and RETAIN the best teachers in a competitive market place?

This entry has been cross posted to the www.leadertalk.org blog

Image from Creative Commons http://static.flickr.com/13/19731692_2460d6fda1.jpg

Technorati Tags: 90/10 Marketing Rule, Internation School Recruiting, Andrew Torris

This just in! I think this video is worth sharing.  I think there is a clear message here about the methodology of education this generation needs to be successful. How can we help them shape the future?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vknHKTy1MLY

Thank you Doug Johnson for passing it along!

It has been a long week.  Lots of action at work and now my wife and I are just enjoying a quiet day at home with the kids, the cat and the dog. My future career goals are on my mind….

This whole microblogging thing is so new.  Whew! I am getting confused and my PLN filter is getting clogged!

I went through my Twitter follower list and unfollowed a few people out there who I was not feeling particularly connected to recently.  No offense. I still have your blogs in my aggregator, but I don’t want to get involved on a personal level with your life.

You see, my reason for using twitter is to enhance my professional AND personal learning network. Hey Jeff Utecht... Hey David Warlick…..don’t you think we should call it our PPLN?? Our PPLN must have balance.

This morning I read a post by Jonathan Chambers that states….

One of the problems with the modern ability to publish is that if you’re going to choose to publish a poetic journey through your each and every thought, then you may want to look at which channel/forum/genre you choose to do this with. I’d like to introduce a new word into the discussion of microblogging: “microbugging” – a proclivity to share every thought with one’s social network, as opposed to actively editing one’s thoughts in order to relay and collect useful communication.

Hmmm… interesting!  “microbugging”!  May I suggest some PPLN Twitter guidelines? (Jonathan goes on further at this post too!)

1.  If you can’t say it in 140 characters and have a need to send multiple tweets then use your regular blog (macro-blog).  Even if you have just a “few” tweets… consider my 10-20-30 rule!  Shorter is probably better.  Really short… USE Twitter!

2.  Don’t use Twitter to send PUBLIC personal messages.  Use a “D” message– direct message, NOT an “@” message.  Frankly, a misplaced message in the public forum is poor form and potentially embarrassing.  I have seen messages about job apps, arguements and “personal” information shared in @ messages. Sheesh folk!  We can all see these messages. TMI!!!

3.  Embrace the technology but don’t over apply its use.  For a while my family was using twitter for everything but…. in the end we learned a well written email or skype message works so much better.

For those of you out there who are not going to follow these suggestions, well… I suspect you will end up in the filter.  Sorry. No offense.  I am with my colleague Jonathan.  I won’t be a victim of filter failure!

Photo from cc http://www.flickr.com/photos/73514861@N00/1471007491

Technorati Tags: microblogging, macroblogging, twitter

“Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.” – George Bernard Shaw

I am thinking that being unreasonable is certainly my path of life for the next few weeks. Budget is upon us, planning is behind us.  The single thing standing in the way of progress is the budget and “reasonable” people. My colleague pushed on me yesterday afternoon the book “The Power of Unreasonable People”, by John Elkington, Pamela Hartigan and Klaus Schwab. I told my Superintendent today that in order for us to keep our school moving forward after several years of hard fought progress, is to be a bit unreasonable.  In other words, we MUST insist on moving forward toward our vision for our school.

Am I being unreasonable?  If you agree, I say thank you!

Technorati Tags: Unreasonable People, Vision Focused