The Silent generation, people born before 1946.
The Baby Boomers, people born between 1946 and 1959.
Generation X, people born between 1960 and 1979.
Generation Y, people born between 1980 and 1995.
Why do we call the last one generation Y? I did not know, but a caricaturist explains it eloquently below...Learned something new!
http://leading-learning.blogspot.com/2008/07/digital-technologyover-promised-and.html A very good post from Bruce Hammonds.
As I have said many times it is about the LEARNING, not the technology.
Poor teaching is still poor teaching, average teaching is average teaching, even with technology.
If technology becomes the focus then other, (more?) critical parts of classroom programmes and learning can be overlooked. I have seen some wonderful movies come out of classes with poor reading and literacy programmes for example! Technology is seductive .... lets not fall for it. It is not an indicator of a quality programe, but it can make good learning and teaching even better.
Clay Burell often has thoughtful (if a little 'stream of consciousness' for me) things to say:
Whether tools are used in classrooms is pretty unimportant, compared to what type of learning is expected in the classroom. Most classroom learning doesn't deserve the budget outlay for increased technology. Extra cash would be better spent on redefining what's worthwhile for the young to learn. I'm a techie too, somewhat, but find educational philosophy far more vital than technology.
Coming back to the quality of teaching rather than the what of teaching.
I am reading Graham Nuthall's book at the moment. It is fascinating and a great, simple but very informative read. I feel privileged to have had him as a lecturer in the late 80's in my time at Canterbury Uni (along with Adrienne Alton-Lee, John Church, and other amazingly astute classroom-based researchers).
Graham makes the point that as we look at classrooms to see what things make a difference to childrens learning we need to understand what ACTUALLY happens in their heads (as opposed to what we assume happens) and what, if anything, teachers can do to make a difference. We need to look at the CHILDREN to define successful learning, not the teacher. Learning is NOT a direct outcome of teacher actions and behaviour, but an outcome of the things that happen in childrens heads as they integrate new stuff with old stuff and make sense of it all.
This book should be compulsory reading for all in education! It is Graemes summary of the key things he had learned in a career as an educational researcher with an international reputation. As he wrote the book he knew he was dieing of cancer and wanted to share his understandings. Indeed the last chapter is written by others as he died before being able to complete it.
I love this this from Will Richardson. He is a blogger of note and authority on Web2.0 ...
Last weekend, they got really bored. After two months of weekend basketball stuff (which we are re-evaluating), Wen and I just wanted a couple of days to veg. The kids couldn't believe it. They kept begging us to do stuff. We kept saying no. Computer? No. TV? No. It went on like that for a good two hours. But finally, it got quiet. We heard them rummaging around in the kitchen and in their rooms, running in and out of the house, and then a measured commotion down by the basketball goal. "I think they're doing suicides," Wendy whispered when she looked out the window.Yes, they were. And not only that, they had devised a daily practice schedule (click on the pic above), which they proceeded to work through for the next two hours, coaching each other, supporting and praising each other, until the very end when Tucker threw the ball at Tess, she hit him in the head with a stick, and they both came stomping up to the house locked in mortal sibling combat. Oy.
Anyway, on par, boredom is good. They're 8 and 10. They'll have plenty of time for the computer...
I am watching the "Child of our times" on TV as I write this and it is interesting to note:
*2/3 of the talk with children is transactional and organisational as parents get children to do what they want.
*most of the children in the programme rarely go more than 100m from their house unaccompanied.
*the paramount place of PLAY for children. Computers and screens are not play! - unless they involve interaction with others in a real sense. Some children in the programme were playing for less than an hour a day ...
*children are MUCH better behaved at school .... ha - don't we know this!
*children need time way from boundaries!
*children have to learn from MISTAKES.
The end of the programme was Great - "we need to stop protecting our children from making mistakes and allow them to be just that .... children!"
AMEN!
check out this post
This is the point of ICT PD really.
The stuff is seductive but reminds me of Trevor Bonds equation:
ICT's + ineffective teaching = expensive ineffecive teaching
Life has been pretty frantic recently but a few wee moments (and things) have stood out:
But still it is the small moments that are the most meaningful. A hug from a loved one, the aha moment in the classroom, making a difference in peoples lives.
It is a privileged profession we are all involved in! Family still matters most! This life is not a dress rehearsal!
if you are interested in technology trends you have to watch this:
I am not sure if this is scary or simply mind blowing!
I was one of the many who took the opportunity to upgrade recently to FF3 for the Mac. Is anyone else finding blog and wiki dashboards are well and truly screwed up, as well as my Bloglines showing no entries at all? But they look ok in Safari ...?
A good one to share with kids about the power of viral advertising and urban myths?
This video:
... is doing the rounds at the moment and at face value is pretty scary. I certainly wouldn't want a device that could do this in my pocket or close to my head.
But ... hold on ... a quick look shows to was produced by these guys who make bluetooth headsets. This blog has heaps of comments that link to the original site too. Good to show the importance of reading just that bit further
YouTube has a variety of vids from people who have actually given it a go too:
I like the comment you here at teh end of this one ...."why would the internet lie?" .... indeed!
as a duck shooter this struck me as funny:
Following the leadership theme ....
The Ministry's vision [of the new Curriculum is] that all students should be, 'creative, energetic and enterprising' and that teachers need to use 'pedagogy that meet all student's needs' are fine words. And, of course the 'key competencies'; now there is a phrase from the industrial age! These competencies have been presented as if the Ministry' had discovered the 'Holy Grail'.I would've loved to have seen a vision where all students are given the opportunity to realize and amplify all their potential talents, gifts and passions. The desire to realize a talent creates the desire to learn (and to develop key competencies) and results in old fashioned stuff called knowledge and understanding. Education ought to about developing passionate learners driven by their innate curiosity - an education ensuring all students retain a joy of learning. One phrase in the 'new' NZ Curriculum, that needs to be highlighted, is that all students should be their own 'seekers, users, and creators' of knowledge. This has aways been the premise of creative educators.
That so many students leave without a positive learning identity is the real problem we have to face up to.
........
He believes that if principals are not able to fulfil their roles as curriculum leaders this is because of all the compliance and curricula accountability that has been imposed on them by the Ministry. If the Ministry spent more time working out how to reduce this compliance load this would free principals to get with being creative leaders, able to focus on teaching and learning.
Tomorrows Schools - or the curriculum that followed, and the 'naming and shaming' of the School Review Office ( even if it now 'assess and assist') has established a 'big brother effect' in our system. Devolving responsibility to schools, while at the same time creating a 'low trust' culture has led, to what one writer calls a a 'corrosion of character' - principals aways trying to double guess what is required of them by others. This leads to a 'anticipatory dread' settling on a school and with the news of an ERO visit an outbreak of folders outlining all the 'evidence based data' around school 'targets'!
It is this bureaucracy that is blocking creative leadership.
Bruce has been providing good critiques of the NZC recently. As I have said before too, not much is new and we have to take control as school leaders adn make sure that anything we change is going to be BETTER and not just DIFFERENT. take the time to read this full entry in full.
I like this from Doug Johnson:
Let's face it - anybody can create a "vision" and cry loudly about all the things that are wrong and paint a utopian view that sounds pretty good (and it seems like almost everyone does). But what is usually lacking is any practical means of moving from Point A to Point B - especially within the parameters of working with real people, real budgets and a real number of hours in a day. I would contend that true genius is in finding ways to make vision reality - working where the rubber hits the road.I've been wondering a good deal about what seems to be a round of recent political, economic and educational disasters - the Iraq War, the handling of Hurricane Katrina, the housing bubble, NCLB - and questioning whether it was a lack of leadership or piss-poor management that created (or exacerbated) the mess. Lets see:
* removing an evil dictator and establishing a democracy in the Middle East - good vision, poor execution
* helping the victims of a natural disaster - good vision, poor execution
* increasing the number of people who own their own homes - good vision, poor execution
* assuring that all children have good reading and math skills - good vision, poor executionWhere did we go wrong? Might it have been putting people who couldn't manage a one-car parade in charge? Leaders, not managers? Hmmmmm.
A really good point he makes....it is not ALL about vision and theory. Real people skills and the ability to manage budgets, people, assets, etc is vital to effective leadership. This is also the stuff we ASSUME people can do and understand when they are in leadership positions.
Many of the leaders who struggle are those who can't manage the 'detail', the things that make it actually happen. A visionary leader without practical skills is a nightmare - we can all think of them and they often have difficulty geting staff. As do those with no/few people skills.
What do we do to ensure that those aspiring leaders as well in leadership now have (or get) these skills?
I have been trying to catch up on the numerous saved entries from Bruce Hammods blog recently. I enjoy Bruce... he has his crap detector turned up high. He also has the luxury of sitting far enough outside "the system" now to be able to critique with impunity. He and Kelvin Smythe have been promoting what we largely see as the New (or so I am told, now to be called REVISED - the wordsmiths are at work) Curriculum for may years.
Nothing much changes really does it. As one of my colleagues here in Dunedin put it the other day "learning styles is just a fancy way of saying a good range of learning activities". May be a bit extreme but there is still some truth to it!
This from Bruce struck a chord:
Who we become is influenced by the talents, gifts and passion we develop that drive us to learn more - the competencies are a means to an end. We are driven by an evolutionary curiosity to make meaning of our experiences. As we explore we focus on the things that really interest us us, and as our interest grows we get better at whatever it is we like doing.
Now we can't expect that all the time and I think we have to realise this. Sometimes what kids need to know or understand is pretty mundane. Some of what they have to do is "just because they do" (and we know better than they do). They will not always pose their own questions or be independent inquirers .... especially the younger ones. We are still teachers much of the time (in terms of actively managing the learning), only sometimes will we be standing back as mentors and guides. We have to make sure that when the genuine guiding and sharing opportunities arise we are poised, skilled and aware enough of them to make them the best they can be.
Now there is a challenge!
Key Competencies then are the vehicle to learning and inquiry; particularly to becoming inquirING. They are not just an end in themselves.
From Bruce Hammonds:
Principals and teachers, as well as students , will need to be seen as active energetic, 'users, seekers and creators ' of their own learning, to slightly adapt a phrase from the New Zealand Curriculum. Leaders create powerful inspirational stories that give others permission, or courage, to act.Key roles of such creative leadership will be;
1 To see leadership as one of providing direction -an enlightened view of the future. Leadership is an issue of purpose not personality.
2 With this in mind, once the direction has been clarified, the three most important requirement of leadership are: communication, communication ,communication.
3 Leaders have to have a recognisable point of view if they are to challenge current expectations.'It is what we know already that often prevents us from learning', Claude Bernard. Leaders never adopt they adapt - everything is judged according to the schools vision, values and shared beliefs. Such leaders know when to say no - they control their change agenda.
4 Leadership is all about purpose. It is purpose that creates consensus, commitment and collegiality.
5 Leaders focus on making explicit to the wider team what is important. To do this they limit and focus innovations valuing clarity and doing fewer things well; quality not quantity. Such clarity reduces overload complexity and provides a sense of security and hope which , in turn, develops empowerment and improving of decision making.
6 Leaders manage the heart; they say thanks to those who have made the effort; they model the way.
7 Leaders always expect the best and expect everyone to continually improve; they do this by clarifying expectation and by building an environment of trust.
8 Leaders treat others with empathy and apply the 'golden rule' in all their interactions. They must be seen as trustworthy and must practice what they preach
9 Leaders ensure all understand what criteria staff members have to live up to and how success is to be judged. See point 2
10 Leaders hold people accountable to agreed commitments even when it would be easier to ignore.Leaders show moral toughness, seeing any conflict as an opportunity to focus on what is important.
11 Leaders give recognition to those who show initiative or appropriate behaviour building on strengths member have by continually providing feedback and encouraging sharing.
12 They support those who need help the most - providing whatever help is required.
14 And they encourage leadership by all to achieve the school's vision.
An interesting list and good to see the intrapersonal and moral emphasised. The team of teachers is important in a schoola and high trust is vital!
From the "told you so" file .... I have it on very good authority that the MoE have indicated they will challenge in court to get access to e-AsTTle data. Particularly with a change in government this is a real concern (or at least I believe should be!) for us all. League tables anyone?
What does this mean for AsTTle though? After such a big investment it is still a bit of a monolith .... time consuming and sometimes difficult to administer. Papaer based. Multi choice ... how useful will it be in the future? Watch this space I suppose ...
Of the teachers who had high college entrance exam scores, almost a fourth of them leave the profession within a decade. In contrast, only about 11% of the individuals with low scores leave the teaching profession within 10 years. Similarly, more than a third of the teachers with low college entrance exam scores are still teaching a decade after they started, while only 15% of the teachers with high scores are still teaching ten years after they began (Anderson & Carroll, 2008; see also Guarino, Santibanez, & Daley (2006), who note similar results for university selectiveness and certification exam scores). In other words, the percentage of teachers with lower academic ability increases in schools over time. The brightest go elsewhere.source:
more challenging ideas ... what do you think?
and this comment was left by an 8th grader on the original on youtube:
I agree, I am an 8th grader in the US and are school really needs to kick up the tech program, all we do with computers is use them for typing reports. I cant even take a tech class, or get into a tech club because there are none available. So thank you for the video and I hope this changes the mindset of some schools.
Do take the time to read the comments at the bottom of this post - just about as interesting!
Last week in his post, Dr. McLeod shared information about less-than-stellar candidates who enter the colleges of education and eventually the ranks of teachers. If Entrance Exams are to be held credible, and if the statistics are to be believed, then we have a situation of weaker candidates entering teacher preparation programs and the most capable teachers leaving the classroom after only a couple of years. These trends will clearly have an impact on student outcomes. If this trend continues, Dr. McLeod poses the question, "Now what?"
I would begin my answer with a rhetorical question: "Who ultimately controls the quality of the teaching that occurs on our campuses each day?"
If you do not agree that it is the Principal, quit reading now.
If the Principal is properly fulfilling their primary responsibilities of supervision and leader of instruction, then anything less than exemplary teaching is their fault. Forget the consultants, the department heads, the personnel office, or even the superintendent. The ONE person who should KNOW what is happening day-in and day-out on the campus is the principal. And if a teacher doesn't know their subject, isn't planning effectively, can't maintain discipline, and doesn't relate to kids...in short, they just cannot teach, the principal should know it and should get rid of that teacher.
Maybe I cannot control many of the factors which cause weaker candidates to apply for entry into college education programs. And maybe I cannot prevent the best from leaving for better pay elsewhere. But I can control the quality of applicant I will interview and the quality of teaching I will allow to remain on my campus.
Without apologies, I will maintain that if a school has less than effective teaching, it has a less than effective principal. And if the less than effective principal is allowed to stay, then the district has a less than effective superintendent. Read the blogs. Read the ASCD publications. Read the literature out there. There is nothing new. We KNOW what we should be doing.
Whether it is firing teachers, assigning them to areas where their strengths can best be applied, hiring alternatively certified staff, or watching the data to insure that each teacher is a value added to the process...The biggest problem we face in education today...the single largest obstacle to improving the quality of teaching is that we have way too many principals who - for whatever reason - are frozen in their tracks.
That's right...I said it...We have way too many principals who talk the talk, can quote the research, can write erudite blogs, but who can't lead a group of teachers in a straight line down a hallway. Maybe I'm just tired and worn a little thin here at the end of the year. But I'm tired of hearing my colleagues gnash their teeth, whine, and complain about issues which are screaming for action - and all of which are under their control.
As a principal, I am the first to admit that maybe the best thing I can do sometimes is to shut up and take action.
Stop making excuses. If you have bad teachers, get rid of them. Quit taking the path of least resistance. Grow some thick skin and a backbone and start documenting your weak staff. Have courageous conversations with you mediocre teachers.
One of the greatest ad slogans of all time truly applies here:
Just Do It!
Quite a challenge here..... this blog is written by school administrators in the 'States. One I will be adding to my Bloglines based on this post!
