What Will Your Amazing Be?

I just read a great post from Cool Cat Teacher Blog titled From Amazing to Normal: Taking the Journey while Encouraging Others.

The post highlighted a quote from Chris Betcher's Blog - "It’s time to stop being so “amazed” at things that are just part of the technological and cultural landscape of life in the 21st century. "

In regards to changes that we are making in our school and system my Superintendent often says - "It's just the train leaving on time." This is not meant as a knock on anyone who is making changes that others may have made long ago. This is simply a statement of fact.

As do most of us trying to become more competent using the vast array of web 2.0 resources, I am just trying to chase the exhaust fumes of the leaders in this movement. I do not want to be obsolete as a school leader, but more importantly I do not want my children and the students at my school to have an obsolete educational experience. I want them to be ahead of the curve.

I would be embarrassed for a student to get to the next step in their education and be amazed at something that should have been commonplace to them. I read, I tweet, and I blog because I enjoy it and I learn more in an hour than I have at any Principals' Conference that I have ever attended.

But I also do this out of fear! I don't want my children or the students I am fortunate to work with to have an education that is out-of-date. The need to change our schools has never been greater, but many of us still live in insulated environments where we are satisfied comparing our practice to what we did just a day, a week, or a year earlier. In some cases where we are more fortunate, we have colleagues in our buildings who we can learn from and improve, but even that is not enough.

We have missed the train if we have not started our integration of technological tools into our school and started our collaboration with teachers and students from other schools, states, and countries. While you might be amazed at what you see, I hope you will be more amazed by the fact that you took so long to get on board.

This is not another fad in education. The amazing changes today will be commonplace tomorrow and there will be a new amazing. Which amazing will you be amazed by? More importantly, what will amaze your students?

Happy Tweetsgiving! - Sorry I Can't Stay Under 140 On This

Tweetsgiving is a new term for me, but I certainly like the definition: TweetsGiving is a global celebration that aims to change the world through the power of gratitude.

Any statement of gratitude for me would start with my three great kids and include the rest of my family, my friends, and the passionate educators I work with at Burlington High School.

However in the spirit of the tweet, I am thankful for the amazing educators in my PLN, a group that I did not even know existed last Thanksgiving. These folks help me each day with their wealth of knowledge, insight, passion, and humor. My PLN has raised my sense of optimism for real and lasting change in education!

Failure Can Lead To...

As a parent, I have to admit that I do not enjoy seeing my kids fail. But the video above from Learning in Maine ends with the quote - "If you've never failed, you've never lived." It was a good reminder for me not to o

I always like the analogy of the butterfly which builds its strength to fly by struggling its way out of the cocoon. We need to let our children struggle their way out or through some things as well.

It breeds resilience, something that should be at the top of our wish list for our kids.

It's That Time of Year (for me) - We (I) Need To Reinvigorate and Refocus

Every now and then, we all need to be reminded what our priorities are in education. We spend way too much time arguing about things that are not in the best interest of our students and too often they have nothing to do with teaching and learning. These discussions can be depressing and they can take momentum from many of the positive strides that are being made.

Add to this that certain times of year tend to be ripe for anxiety and dysfunction. In fact we are entering one right now as we (in our part of the world, Burlington, MA) head towards our annual Thanksgiving break with our Holiday season not far behind.

One of the songs we often hear has the words - "It's the most wonderful time of the year." However in our schools where people come from so many different individual sets of circumstances it is often times one of the most difficult times of the year. Having said this I feel fortunate to have a wonderful Personal Learning Network on Twitter where I can find words of wisdom that "put the wind back in my sails.We all need to have places like a PLN where we can turn for a boost of positive energy.

All of these quotes from some of the people I follow on Twitter have come through in the last two days and they have been a great motivating factor for me as I continue on the never-ending path to professional and school improvement. They help remind me of the moral imperative that educators must take stock of daily.

• I learned a long time ago that it isn't time, it's priority. If it's a high priority you will find the time. Shelly Terrell, Teacher Reboot Camp

• Today, it is not important to measure what our children can be taught. In stead, we should figure out how to measure what they can gain through their growing skills of learning, curiosity, resourcefulness, and caring — and what they can do with what they’ve learned.The world has become more cooperative, not competitive. The world has become a lot more interesting…"David Warlick, 2Cents Worth.

• Effective high school redesign is not about the amount of time spent in school but rather how students are learning before, during, and after school. Linda Mariotti, ASCD

• So how do you motivate the unmotivatible? You can't and you don't. Those that are never going to integrate can't be changed. Efforts need to spent with those that are willing and want to learn and are eager to try. Then you might start to change minds. Steven Anderson, Web2.0 Classroom.

Social Media - Watch Your (Digital) Step!

I found this interesting video on the Educator's PLN. The video revolves around how employers are utilizing social media to assist in the screening of candidates for positions. By the way, college admissions officers are doing the same thing! The message for students is this - Watch where you leave your digital footprint! A poor choice on-line could limit your choices for college, for employment, for...

Find more videos like this on The Educator's PLN

We Need Great Schools In Order For Our Kids To Find Success

I agree wholeheartedly with the following quote by Jim Collins in his best-selling book Good to Great - "We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools."

How do we change this? It is quite clear that NCLB will not change this. In addition the world outside of schools continues to change at a head-spinning pace while the world inside schools looks quite familiar whether you are a member of the Class of 2009 or the Class of 1949. The teacher-centered classroom is still the norm with student sitting in rows listening to the "sage on the stage."

I ran across an interesting article where a guest speaker named David Wiley told a group of professsors that college would be irrelevant by 2020. Wiley should know, he is a Professor of Instructional Psychology and Technology at Brigham Young University. I can't help wondering how many high schools will also be irrelevant by that point.

Worrying About The Education Of My (Our) Children - Re-Posted From July

I need to extend a personal thank you to Will Richardson for giving me the figurative slap across the face that I needed to get this off my chest. I had the good fortune of hearing him speak and show a group of educators one resource after another that would allow us to better engage students.

Richardson is the author of Blog, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. I highly recommend you visit his blog and/or wiki.

My two passions are my chidren/family and public education. My biggest concern at the moment in each of these areas is actually the same and the concern revolves around the following question:Are my children getting the education they need to be successful in our rapidly changing world?Of course the question is also relevant for any parent. The worst part for me is that I know the answer is no and I feel that I have taken a much too passive role in working to address this concern. I guess I have been a typical parent (no offense intended to other typical parents) with my willingness to accept that the same schooling that I received would be good enough for my kids.The fact of the matter is that my children are being prepared for a world that no longer exists. My kids attend a nice elementary school where the principal greets each child by name outside the school each morning (rain or shine). The kids are happy going to school each day and they have hardworking teachers who care about them. So what's my problem?

I guess it is probably the sands of the hour glass that are flowing faster each day. My oldest Tim just turned 11 and is headed off to middle school next year. Bryn (8) is not too far behind as she heads towards the completion of grade 3. Then there is Mary Clare (3) who will begin in the same elementary school next year in the pre-school program.There are really two big problem areas for me. First, I have never had one teacher talk about either child's growth as a writer by showing me writing from the beginning of the year and then writing from later on in the year where focused instruction has helped them to improve. I have not seen one exemplar or heard about the focal areas of the writing instruction at any grade level. Maybe I am not asking the right questions?


My second problem is the limited use of technology at the school. We are in an age where technological change is happening overnight and we are not utilizing these resources to help our children learn. In fact in most cases, schools are denying the existence of these new potential learning tools and punishing those who would be foolish enough to utilize one during school hours.
I feel like we are educating our kids in a manner that resembles an episode of the Flintstones when in reality our world looks more like an episode of the Jetsons.Did anyone else go to Disney World back in the late 70's when they had this people mover at the end of the Space Mountain Ride that showed all of these amazing technological innovations that would be coming in the future? Space Mountain is still there, but the glimpse into the future is gone (or should I say is here). Some schools (not many yet) are embracing this fact and allowing these new technological tools to enhance the education of students. That is the
type of education I want for my kids!

Mary Passage Middle School in Virginia is one school taking advantage of new technologies. Stay tuned for more examples of these innovations. It is the most exciting time in history to be involved in education thanks to the tidal wave of technology in which our world is engulfed. As the adults in schools, we need to start modeling the appropriate use of these technologies as we have done with other past innovations. Until we take on this monumental challenge, we will be selling ourselves (and more importantly our children) short.