Sentiments On Common Sense

Archive for February, 2009

Feb 28 2009

I work with some VERY adept People. They are very normal TOO!

Published by Andrew under assessment,communications,leadership

This just in from my twitter network! Thanks @courosa

Among the Inept, Researchers Discover, Ignorance Is Bliss- From NYTimes.com

There are many incompetent people in the world. Dr. David A. Dunning is haunted by the fear he might be one of them.

Dr. Dunning, a professor of psychology at Cornell, worries about this because, according to his research, most incompetent people do not know that they are incompetent.

On the contrary. People who do things badly, Dr. Dunning has found in studies conducted with a graduate student, Justin Kruger, are usually supremely confident of their abilities — more confident, in fact, than people who do things well.

Note the last paragraph there…. inept people are MORE confident in their ability than competant people! I am sure you know the type. They work hard. They create, learn and amaze all the people around them, and seem to be driven for perfection and high quality work. Then you talk to them. Compliment them and they crumble into little balls of mushy peas! I find it quite annoying that people like this don’t seem to be able to take a compliment. Then Erica Goode of the NYTimes, in writing a summary of this interesting study put it into perspective for me.

Unlike their unskilled counterparts, the most able subjects in the study, Dr. Kruger and Dr. Dunning found, were likely to underestimate their own competence. The researchers attributed this to the fact that, in the absence of information about how others were doing, highly competent subjects assumed that others were performing as well as they were — a phenomenon psychologists term the “false consensus effect.”

When high scoring subjects were asked to “grade” the grammar tests of their peers, however, they quickly revised their evaluations of their own performance. In contrast, the self-assessments of those who scored badly themselves were unaffected by the experience of grading others; some subjects even further inflated their estimates of their own abilities.

The problem I see in my line of work is that the competant, amazing people I work with are unable find the comparisons available to them. In the study, the good Dr. Dunning did note that reality eventually prevails though. He, in fact, hits me right between the eyes with this quote.

In some cases, Dr. Dunning pointed out, an awareness of one’s own inability is inevitable: “In a golf game, when your ball is heading into the woods, you know you’re incompetent,” he said.

Ouch. That one is a little to real for me. (smile)

What it comes down to though is honest feedback. Whether that be from a Titleist or a supervisor. There is no way of getting better unless someone points out where improvement is needed. In my business that needs to be done carefully and with diplomacy and consistency. If a person doesn’t hear it the first time, it is up to me to continue to try and try again.

The kids in the classrooms depend on it.

Mushy Peas photo from Flickrstorm http://www.flickr.com/photos/38263679@N00/766423918

Titleist photo from Flickrstorm http://static.flickr.com/150/363537202_64a18e1ace.jpg

Using Video???

Published by Andrew under Digital Leadership,assessment,communications,recruiting

I just read this on Leadertalk:

Using Flip Camera for Teacher Evaluations

The Flip
camera seems to be just about everywhere these days. The Flip makes it very easy to record and share video with other users, a fact which has not been overlooked by our hardworking teachers in the field. But, I feel that we should not overlook the potential of the flip in helping leaders help make us better teachers. Having conducted many an observation, and having many more conducted upon me, I know how difficult it is to visualize where my teaching could improve. The Fliphas the potential to make to make visualizations unecessary. The video does not lie, and at almost no effort to the administrator or the teacher involved in the process, a lesson could be recorded and jointly reviewed either in person or online. I have been using the Flip for some time to provide videos of my lectures to students who missed one of my college courses when it first occurred to me that the Flip has the potential to revolutionize evaluations and shadowing as we currently do them. Obviously, there has been the technology to do this for some time, but the equipment and methods were often bulky and complex. The Flip makes the process as simple as click, record, upload, and view. I have no doubt that this ability will revolutionize the way we do observations. I also have little doubt that its use will be subject of much ethics debate, however I am hopeful that the little camera that can will help us become better teachers if our leaders will use it properly.

Regards,

Jason Hancock

www.drhancock.net

Hmm…. interesting idea. It connects me with a personal experience…..

When I was teaching, one my supervisors demanded we video tape one lesson, watch it and write a reflection. I don’t remember what the lesson was I taught nor the outcome, but I do remember hearing her cackle with glee in reading my reflection which started out….

“I was struck by what I saw. An extremely handsome teacher who obviously should be walking the catwalks of Paris and New York rather than teaching 4th grade in Beaverton, Oregon.”

I am not sure what she found amusing about that.

Flip camera image via flickrstorm @ http://static.flickr.com/2099/2437471860_8f6cc8e28c.jpg

flip camera, teacher evaluations

2 responses so far

Feb 23 2009

Thorns on Roses or Roses on Thorns

Published by Andrew under Uncategorized

Seth Godin writes in his post “Do you deserve it?” about moving from the idea that we should question whether we “deserve” the luck we have, as he says….

“Deserve” is such a loaded word.

And instead ask….

“what are you going to do with it now that you’ve got it?”

Don’t you think we all should just step back and think about what we have, what we are doing, and what the goal of our aspirations really are day in and day out??

Remember…

You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses. — Ziggy

Another thought about “Thought Leadership”

Published by Andrew under 21st Century Literacy,Digital Leadership,Principal's Blogs,Thought Leadership,recruiting

Title page to Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning...

Image via Wikipedia

I wrote on Friday for Leadertalk and here about my experiences with Thought Leadership and My Personal Professional Development. I have received some great comments, one of which I followed the link to this gentleman’s blog. Don Cowert notes at the top of his blogspot blog that,

I have been in Elementary Education for over ten years. In that time I have been a teacher of many grades and a Principal of Daniel D. Waterman Elementary School and Hope Highlands Elementary in Cranston, Rhode Island. In these 10+ years I have had thousands of conversations with teachers and parents about children and how they learn. I feel like I have helped a lot of people in this short time period. I decided to create this Blog as a forum for these kinds of conversations.

I want to draw your attention to Don’s post on “How We Learn- William Glasser”. His posting about his thoughts and experiences opens the door for some wonderful dialouge on an important educational leadership issue in our schools. His post begins with Glasser’s percentage listing on how we learn-

How We Learn
10% of what we READ
20% of what we HEAR
30% of what we SEE
50% of what we SEE and HEAR
70% of what is DISCUSSED with OTHERS
80% of what is EXPERIENCED PERSONALLY
95% of what we TEACH TO SOMEONE ELSE
~William Glasser – http://principalcowart.blogspot.com

I encourage you to give Don’s blog a read and have it join your list of educational leaders blogs you might be reading.

U.S. Lags Behind with Isolated Teacher Training (smhc-cpre.org)

2 responses so far

Feb 20 2009

My Experiences with “Thought Leadership” and Personal Writing and My Own Professional Development

Published by Andrew under 21st Century Literacy,Digital Leadership,Jeff Utecht,Principal's Blogs,leadership,school communications,twitter

Image via Wikipedia

This entry cross posted to Leadertalk.

I found Scott McCleod’s PDF handout on the 100 Principal Blog project almost 3 years ago when I took the initiative to start my school principal‘s blog. My tech integrator at the time, Jeff Utecht, was so proud. He had been gently encouraging me to think about taking it on as a way to communicate to our school community. One weekend, I sat on the couch, laptop at the ready and leapt into a wordpress blog provided by Scott.

One of the key reasons for principals to blog that Scott mentions in his handout is “Reason 10: Thought leadership”.

A blog can be a great place to put thoughts out there for the community to chew on. Is a school considering a new initiative or an important change? Does the school want feedback on a particular topic or issue? The principal could post some information and questions on the blog and solicit community participation. This is similar to setting up a meeting with an advisory board or interested group of stakeholders, except that the potential reach is much greater since everyone in the school community can see and participate in the conversation, not just the few individuals who might attend a face-to-face meeting.

Hmmm… great I thought. I wrote. I wrote. I wrote some more. Then it happenned! Proof that somebody out there (except the few who actually left a comment) is reading my thoughts and perhaps internalizing some of my message! My personal blog was cited as a source of information in a committee meeting this week at my school. The teachers and administrators noted value in the post “When is it too much? AND When do we say “DO IT or GO!”?, which was posted on my blog and here at leadertalk and the post “I am probably jumping to conclusions here but- Professional Conferences/Seminars Probably DON’T work!”

Most notably, I write in the post about professional conferences about the need for follow through and deeper learning opportunities. I stated:

The key question that comes to my mind though is when will leaders be held responsible for the follow-up for their entire organization and when will we as learning professionals take on the sustained follow-up ourselves. Isn’t that what a PLN created to do for me? Can we not sustain our own learning?

Then I walked into the room yesterday and there on a piece of chart paper under the words “professional development” was “Andy Torris’ blog post”. The first words out of my mouth were, “Just another reason to be careful what you post online!”- which got a pretty good laugh from my colleagues! The follow up conversation was about what I had written- nothing to earth shattering if you ask me- but it did help the discussion as the ideas around the commitment of administrators in our organization have to deep, followed up professional devleopment. More importantly though, are the high quality comments to this post. Jon Nordmeyer, a colleague of mine, left some great links to the a site at Berkley. Another leadertalk contributor, Blair Peterson left a comment pointing to a post by Seth Godin.. And yet another blogging administrator Ed Shepard, who also is one of my twitter friends noted that my post made him realize that:

I am under the firm belief that I can get my staff to change or focus on doing one major thing really, really well during the school year. This could be anything from curriculum to classroom management. Either way it is a broad to specific focus designed to create a common practice and develop a common language within the school community. This focus is kept in the forefront and is ingrained in everything we do the entire school year. It requires a bit of research and development, but insures a long-term and long-lasting effect in the school. After the year ends, we start the whole process again with a new focus.

Well stated Ed! Can’t that same thought hold true for administrators and blogging educators as well. Many, many educational bloggers and web-designers are quickly realizing that over time, your personal professional learning network is enhanced and thus your “Thought Leadership” is sharpened by leveraging the use of the web 2.0 tools available to us on a daily basis. This learning is not work. It is engagement. It is engagement on the deepest level, as it meets the needs of a social learning WITH access to a rich research base AND expert advice!

I can’t close here unless I offer some common sense advice though.

1. Remember: What you write and create is essentially your professional persona that will follow you for years. Use the tool wisely. As I said in my last post on Sentiments on Common Sense, “You really do have to be careful what you write!”

2. BE CLEAR that your blog is YOUR BLOG or the SCHOOL’s Blog. I need to go back to my blog and make sure it is plainly stated. People seem to know who I am. People probably know where I work. I hope they see my writing as professional and also a bit personal. I also hope they see that I am not crazy about the content.

3. Embrace the comments and respond to them. I am more apt to read blogs that I get notes back from authors after I have left a comment. Let the commentators know you have read the note and maybe even responded to their notes. It expands the learning!

In the end, it really is about reflecting, learning and modeling that for our community. Don’t you think?

Blog, commenting, Education, Feedback, Principal, Professional development, Seth Godin, Web 2.0

7 responses so far

Feb 14 2009

Common Sense: This just in… WATCH WHAT YOU WRITE!

Published by Andrew under 21st Century Literacy,Principal's Blogs,Uncategorized,communications,school communications

Let’s apply a little common sense to our blogposts!

: Image via Wikipedia

I am sure I am preaching to the choir but… let me make this clear. You really have to be careful what you write! It can get you in big trouble and could possibly ruin your career. On my recruiting trip I found this article in the February 9 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle with this lead:

(02-08) 17:04 PST –
The Web 2.0 movement, which ushered in an interactive Internet, sought to put power in the hands of the people by tapping the so-called wisdom of the crowds to change the world – and to keep such a digital democracy in check.

This is all pretty heavy handed languague for some common sense if you ask me. Doug Johnson has written about this, I have have even tip-toed down this path as well. The fact is that our professional reputations and now our POCKETBOOKS are on the line when we decide to take on a individual or an organization. Libel, as defined means:

An untruthful statement about a person, published in writing or through broadcast media, that injures the person’s reputation or standing in the community. Because libel is a tort (a civil wrong), the injured person can bring a lawsuit against the person who made the false statement. Libel is a form of defamation , as is slander (an untruthful statement that is spoken, but not published in writing or broadcast through the media). Thank you Nolo.com

The Cronicle article notes:

Just last week, Juicy Campus – a Web site that was banned from some colleges for its postings of vicious anonymous gossip – abruptly shut down, its traffic redirected to a site called College Anonymous Confession Board, whose owner said he hosts “a higher level of discourse.”

One has to wonder what will be the result of these measures on those websites out there who slander international schools. I won’t name any names, but those of us who wander the circuit know what and whom I am speaking about. All these so-called professionals, cloaked behind avatars, and citizen’s band radio-like handles slamming schools, administrators and their colleagues. How long will it be before these websites are taken to court or asked to edit and review the content of their own site which was posted “anonymously”. The definition of “anonymous” in the Web 2.0 world also probably needs to be defined. I am pretty sure just about anybody could be tracked down with the right resources. Kinda makes you think doesn’t it?

The key concept here: Stick to the facts. Just the facts. The words of Jack Webb in Dragnet need to ring in your ears. “Just the facts ma’am. Only the facts”. And then you need to be careful whose facts you are using.

: Image via Wikipedia

Perhaps Thumper‘s words should really stick here…. “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

JuicyCampus Dries Up (techcrunch.com)
Why Wikipedia’s Policy to Blacklist Blogs is Outdated and Wrong (readwriteweb.com)
Does a Negative Online Review Constitute Libel? (inquisitr.com)
The Cloak Of Invisibility (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
How To Use Your Web Influence Wisely (confidentwriting.com)

3 responses so far

Feb 06 2009

I am probably jumping to conclusions here but- Professional Conferences/Seminars Probably DON’T work!

Published by Andrew under Digital Leadership,Reflections,School Resources,Uncategorized,leadership

: Image by Eduardo Amorim via Flickr

This just found in my email box from Education Week:

The time U.S. teachers actually spend in professional training largely
continues to take place in isolation, rather than in school-based
settings that draw on teachers’ collective knowledge and skills, the
report says.

Furthermore, the authors go on to quote Linda Darling-Hammond a Stanford University professor who co-wrote the report Professional Learning in a Learning Profession, with four colleagues at that university’s School Redesign Network saying,

“We still see teachers engage in really short one- and two-day
workshops rather than ongoing, sustained support that we now have
evidence changes practices and increases student achievement.”

So… here is some strong research-based information that tells us that these one-two-three day seminars are not effective UNLESS there is sustained and continous follow up.

The key question that comes to my mind though is when will leaders be held responsible for the follow-up for their entire organization and when will we as learning professionals take on the sustained follow-up ourselves. Isn’t that what a PLN created to do for me? Can we not sustain our own learning?

If not, the answer is clear. No more conferences. They don’t work. Build in staff development in the context of the school setting. Focus all financial and human resources for that purpose. Period.

I guess the choice is ours a Learners in a Learning Community!

Who Should Be the Nation’s Next Education Chief? (usnews.com)
U.S. Lags Behind with Isolated Teacher Training (smhc-cpre.org)
Chicago Schools Chief to Be Education Sec (time.com)
LeaderTalk now on Education Week! (angelamaiers.com)

8 responses so far

Feb 06 2009

I think we need to think ahead- 22nd Century Skills

Published by Andrew under 21st Century Literacy,Digital Leadership,Principal's Blogs,communications,leadership,recruiting,redefining literacy,school communications,tech savvy teachers

I was always told that it was unsafe to be facicious when writing. Many people don’t get the subtly of the written language, and one might be accused of being a bit… well…. rude, or cruel, or STUPID…. or any other of the many derogatory names that are used in blogs today. So, when I started reading the article “When “21st-Century Schooling” Just Isn’t Good Enough: A Modest Proposal” by Alfie Kohn, I had to laugh, giggle and then it made me think. I immediately thought about my colleague and friend Jeff Utecht who states, adamantly, that the 21st Century is 9 years old. When are we going to start teaching the skills necessary be successful in it!

I have always admired Dr. Kohn. He knows his stuff. He communicates in strong, consistent and understandable terms. He has a strong sense of humor, and this article is buried in irony, sarcasm and thought-provoking imagery.

At the end of the article- the last paragraph- which is also published in the February 2009 issue of District Administration he states:

One last point. We will of course continue to talk
earnestly about the need for a curriculum that features “critical thinking” skills
– by which we mean the specific proficiencies acceptable to CEOs. But you
will appreciate the need to delicately discourage real critical
thinking on the part of students, since this might lead them to pose inconvenient
questions about the entire enterprise and the ideology on which it’s based. There’s
certainly no room for that in the global competitive economy of the
future. Or the present.

The question of the day: Does the readers of District Administration have the critical thinking skills to figure out that he’s trying to make a point?

: Image via Wikipedia

Review of Alfie Kohn’s Unconditional Parenting (parentingbooks.suite101.com)
Incentive For Grades – Good or Bad Idea? (incentive-intelligence.typepad.com)
21st Century Skills (downes.ca)
Seven Survival Skills for 21st Century Students (q-ontech.blogspot.com)
QuickEd – The 21st Century Skills Curriculum (laf.ee)

No responses yet

Feb 05 2009

Shanghai…Looking Back before the People’s Revolution

Published by Andrew under Uncategorized

Shanghai from days gone by… 1947. I love to read about history of this amazing city, and this is the first time I have seen this video attached.

I have had some time to surf the net a bit the last few days, and found this on Clarence Fischer’s blog Remote Access. As I looked at this it seemed like some things have changed and some have remained the same. Enjoy!