Sentiments On Common Sense

The post title is a famous line from Arthur Miller‘s death of a salesman.

While the play is a dark and brooding, it is also classic as it shows the hard work and struggle the salesmen in our world face day in and day out.  Ben Stein (author, lawyer, actor and economist) writes about the sales professionals role in our world and that we should pay attention to their services.

Check out the NY Times article here. In it he writes:

Those who are in sales are always aware that the next sale is behind the next door, and they are always great companions. They are where the rubber of production meets the road of consumption, whether in a showroom or a studio or on the phone or calling you at home. When the recovery starts, they will be the ones making purchases happen.

I agree with him and in a time of needed innovation and ideas, this is the time to sell and sell hard the ideas of learning, leadership and collaboration!

We all, in some way, are salesmen in our work.

Some of us are selling ideas.

Some of us are selling concepts.

Some of us are selling dreams.

The best of us do it with grace, style and panache.

I do know that we all can learn from each other, no matter what we are selling.

Ben Stein, Sales, Educational Leadership

In my recent post, I spoke about the implementation of an innovative statewide technology resource teacher program in Virginia.  Paul McMahon then wrote me, thanking me for the blog post but stating that he’d “not seen a single blog post that would indicated systemic change in any school present from Hong Kong. (#hksummit)

Hmmm… Paul.  I don’t know if I have it in me tonight to write fully to the point you have, but I would come to a bit of defense for the very, very few administrators who attended the summit a week ago.  Let’s examine our reality.

1.  I am not sure you have noticed, but the world is in a bit of downturn and we are facing some tremendous pressure to keep our costs to a minimum.  The mere idea of “innovating” is difficult to sell to our increasing conservative clients.

2.  Most, if not all of the admin attending the summit work in schools already moving down the path of innovation and sustainable implementation. Can they explain in depth what they are doing? Probably not, and thus my last blog post.

3.  Let’s not forget that a blog post is a rare way for administrators to communicate today.  I am a rare bird (in more ways than one) and most of my colleagues don’t sit on the couch on a Sunday evening and rap out a blog post for their own reflection.  Many administrators show thought leadership in many other ways including the weekly memos that STILL end up in the teacher’s mailboxes on Monday AM.

I still feel that in order to make educational change, all members of the school community need to be supported through the process. This includes administrators.  I can guarantee you that the good admin out there appreciate the support and I can also guarantee you that the admin that attended the HKsummit left empowered and filled with ideas.  Change takes time. Change takes bravery.  Change takes guts.  Change takes focus.  How much of each of these things depends on the time and place.

My colleagues… continue to look for support and Paul… keep urging us all on.

Image courtesy of http://static.flickr.com/56/118110233_05d3ea53dd.jpg

Apple Leadership Summit-Hong Kong, Digital Leadership

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I have written before about my belief that staff development needs to be addressed as a long term effort, and not something that can be taken on as a short term effort to solve a particular problem.

Let’s face facts!  Common Sense tells us that to really learn to do something well, guided practice with a trained expert will result in success far more times than a single “sit and get” lecture of a visit to our local or regional conference. It is how our BRAINS work!

Sure, there are exceptions out there, but teachers who do apply knowledge garnered at a single sit down session are either 1) unusual, 2) probably educational risk takers or 3) a little bit nuts.  Perhaps some of us are a combo of the three, but I won’t write about that today!

Today when I opened my email, I found the digital version of ISTE’s Learning and Leading magazine. In it is an article called “Getting to the Heart of Technology Integration and focuses on the Instructional Technology Resource Teacher Program in the State of Virginia. The article is written by Teresa Coffman, associate professor at the University of Mary Washington.  From what I read of Professor Coffman’s writings, these folks are close to getting it right.  The State Department of Education in Virginia mandates that the 134 school districts in the state employ tech teams built around two key positions.

Those positions are:

1. An ITRT, who is responsible for training teachers to use technoloyg and software effectively, as well as helping teachers integrate that technology into their curricula.
2. A technology support staff persons who is responsible for managing the school’s information network.

From what I read, in the Virginia model the program relies on the collaboration of the classroom teacher and the ITRT.  Wow! The state is mandating that the ITRT and the classroom teachers communicate and strategize the implementation of the technology tools and provide direct support in the classroom environment.

The ITRT staffer has a wide vareity of responsibilities, but some include:

• Modeling instructional strategies for teachers
• Providing direct training and professional development
• Researching technology-based instructional strategies
• Evaluating software and hardware
• Meeting with administrators and content supervisors at the school or district level to coordinate services
• Serve on building and district leadership teams
• Creating and implementing a plan for communication on progress and activities to school faculty and admininstration.
• Maintaining records where and when appropriate to document progress

So… What’s Missing?
Where is the administrator support?  Why is it that the administrators are left off the list? Why does the state not recognize the importance of administrative leadership in the implementation of technology. Nothing will do more to raise the bar at a school level than to hold the administrators responsible for (at the minimum) the NETS-A.  To be fair accountability applied to any member of our learning communities without support of those members, is like taxation without representation.

Let’s just simply add one bullet point:

• Provide direct training, support and professional development to building and district level administration on the building of their digital leadership skills which focuses on the use of technology tools for administrative work and on the evaluation of the use of technology in the classroom programs.

I think that without that step, the $500 million dollars dedicated to this effort will fall well short of the effectiveness that the designers have hoped for in the long term.  The implementation of this program is merely focused on and dependent upon the ITRT position.  The good news here is that Virginia has at least recognized this as a key component.

The article states that:

Of the recommendations that researchers made for the ITRT program’s continued success, perhaps the most compelling was the idea that administrators should become more involved in the program so that they can recognize effective technology use and support their teachers’ integration efforts.

The author goes on to state that:

A Technology Resource Teacher Coaching Academy…. echoed this sentiment. It found variable levels of administrative involvement in the county. Some ITRTs indicated that their administrators provide ample support adn encouragement, and this was both necessary and beneficial.

Necessary and beneficial- yes, I could not agree more. It is in many ways like the air we breath.  It is not only necessary but also beneficial.  Without administrative support, technology integration efforts, no matter how well financed and resourced will struggle and suffer.

An analysis of the program (written in 2007) can be found at this link: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/OET/info_brief_itrt.pdf

Leading and Learning, ISTE, ITRT, Technology Integration Specialists, Administration, Digital Leadership

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