Packing For Prague

After a two hour panic during which I couldn't locate my Green Card, I find myself at 11p.m. still packing to leave for Prague tomorrow, to attend the Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum. I don’t mind. I don’t think I will sleep anyway because I so am excited. Excited to be back in Europe, my home continent, for the first time in four years, but mostly excited to be attending the best professional development event of the year!

I am in the enviable position of finding myself attending for the second year in a row, this year in a double capacity. I am representing TeamU.S having achieved first place in the Extended Learning Beyond the Classroom category for a project I conducted with my teaching partner, Rick Joseph. Doing Business in Birmingham evolved as a result of student interest in sustainability in business and has been a wonderful experience. After learning about sustainable practices our students took to the streets of Downtown Birmingham armed with flyers and brochures they had created to educate local small business owners about sustainability. They created an Honor Roll to celebrate businesses that were already sustainable and to encourage those that weren't to adopt some simple steps to set them on the path towards sustainability. Competition from the U.S. team is fierce and I have already learned so much from my team mates so I look forward to seeing and learning about the projects that will presented from all around the globe.

I am also attending to represent my school, Birmingham Covington School, which achieved Pathfinder status this year. Microsoft Innovative Pathfinder Schools are identified as schools that help to transform education in a scalable, replicable way by influencing other schools within their own community, country, and around the world. By becoming a Pathfinder school, we hope to benefit from deeper engagement with similar schools, gain more in-depth access to global experts, and experience mentoring opportunities from education experts. It’s incredibly exciting to be invited to join a community of school leaders from around the world who work closely together to develop a culture of innovation.

I am sad to be leaving my students behind but I know that I will learn so much and form relationships with amazing educational experts who will help me on my journey as an innovator educator and ultimately have a positive and lasting impact on my students as a result. Talking of my students, I must finish packing so I can be at my best for them tomorrow before heading off to the airport after school!

Picking a New Principal

I love being in my classroom, it’s one of my favorite places to be. When I’m asked to be out of my classroom it has to be for a really good reason and last week I was invited to take part in an interview panel for candidates applying to be the new principal of my school. I consider this an honor so I accepted and explained to my students where I was going and why I felt it was important for me to go. I had no idea that I would learn so much about myself, my school and my community!

This was my first time in this country being involved in an interview where I wasn't the one in the hot seat, so I was very curious about the procedure. The first thing that struck me on arrival was how the entire community was represented on the panel. There were teachers, parents, a student, other principals from the district and representatives from central administration. The first hour together was spent reviewing the process and the norms and I felt totally confident about my roles and responsibilities when the first candidate arrived. After the fifth candidate left my head was buzzing, trying to make sense of all the wonderful responses and I couldn't imagine how we could move forward. I was amazed at the process that followed.

Everybody had an opportunity to share and discuss their observations and this was translated into data, which I didn't think possible. Having data to look at, instead of just personal opinions, patterns became immediately apparent. These patterns were discussed and it was a really smooth and reliable way to identify two candidates to move forward. Last night the two candidates visited with staff, parents and administrators to answer their questions and move one step closer towards the goal of being principal of BCS.

The most amazing part of the process for me was being able to hear all of the different stakeholders in our community speak about the key competencies they are looking for in a new principal and how different they all are. I am so grateful that I work in a district that invites this kind of community input into making such an important decision and that value and balances the many different perspectives. It was a fabulous process to be involved in and I have a much greater appreciation for the fact that we all have different needs and valid opinions. I realize that I am also fortunate to work in a community that is passionate about education and with and for people who care so much about our kids and our school. BCS is a great place to be!

I asked my students to tell me what they would look for in a new principal and this is what they came up with:

Honest, trusting, good communicator, not too strict, patient, sense of humor, caring smart, problem solver, serious, someone who makes student safety a priority, physically fit, entertaining, fun.

Because of the great process that was used to determine their new principal, I am sure that they will not be disappointed!

Political Literacy

I am currently in Washington presenting and learning at the 2012National Forum on Character Education. I’ve attended wonderful breakout sessions, heard amazing keynote speakers, met passionate and committed educators from all over the world and recurring themes seem to be honesty, integrity, and service. With the Capitol building in sight and presidential campaigns reaching their peak, it is refreshing to be reminded of these notions.

As an aspiring citizen I am not yet able to vote, but I have been trying to follow along and learn about the process in the hope that one day I can also participate in the electoral process. After being bombarded for weeks with contradictory T.V advertisements, literature, phone calls and newspaper articles I am beginning to understand what a huge responsibility it truly is. Before casting a vote one must put forth great effort trying to uncover the truth about candidates, proposals, platforms, and policies. I’ve realized that if I want to become a responsible voting citizen, I need to develop a whole new set of skills. I need to take a class on political literacy. It makes me consider the role educators have to play in creating a politically literate society.

My 5^th and 6^th Grade L.A and Social Studies colleagues at BCS do a phenomenal job of helping students prepare for their civic responsibilities, spending weeks hosting an election simulation. Students are invited to apply for various roles that make up a campaign committee: candidate, campaign manager, publicity manager and speech writer. They are designated a political party which they diligently research, learning about the history of the party, political philosophy and where the party stands on key issues before they launch a full blown campaign.

The student candidate studies and adopts realistic qualities and attributes of the party candidate. The speech writers research major issues, write speeches, and assist on writing media presentations. Publicity managers oversee the development of media presentations such as websites, flyers and posters. The campaign managers organize the schedules, set daily agendas, oversee completion of tasks, and assist in developing all campaign materials. There has been a definite shift in the atmosphere in school in the last few weeks as students have been becoming more involved in the election process. It’s been fun to overhear their conversations in the hallways about the various candidates and their positions. Locker bays have become debating stations and the bathrooms places to lobby. I can only imagine the dinner table conversations that have may have taken place in homes where students were designated to a political party that their parents may not support!

On Election Day students show up in suits and formal wear and it is wonderful to see how seriously they approach the big day. The speeches I have heard student candidates make in the last few days have made more sense to me than any other political ponderings I have been subjected to. Credit must be given to the whole campaign committee and in turn, their teachers for helping these students do something that I have found impossible to do: they have managed to get beyond the massaged facts, the inflated figures, the unsubstantiated contradictory claims and made some sense of a confusing political landscape. I wonder how many adult voters will be able to do the same next Tuesday.

Standing at my hotel window,Washington, D.C.  lies ahead of me and the CEP Conference behind me. I can only hope that what lies ahead shares a similar mission to what lies behind: providing the vision, leadership and resources for schools, families and communities to develop ethical citizens committed to building a just and caring world. I am off to enjoy my last few sessions at the Conference which is appropriately titled, Developing Leaders of Integrity.

 

I Like Teachers That Love to Learn

I have to thank Mr. James Cowper from Ontario Canada for the inspiration for this blog post, which seems strange as I’ve never met him. It was this tweet from him that inspired me:

I’ve been struggling this year with the amount of time that I am scheduled to be out of the classroom for professional development. Being in the classroom with my students is my passion and my joy and I honestly do have a hard time leaving them behind. The reasons for this are partly egotistical: I like to believe that nobody can teach my lessons the way I would . A greater part is frustration: sometimes the mandated sessions that I am required to attend are not relevant or challenging and sometimes, since the guest teacher system was privatized, I have to leave my wonderful students in the hands of a random guest teacher who I have never met. Recently, I had to radically alter my prepared lesson plans at the last minute when a delightful little elderly lady showed up and told me she couldn’t even read my lesson plans as the font was so small. Technology integration was obviously going to be a stretch!

But professional development is a necessary part of my job. Part of the safety demonstration on a plane states that if you are travelling with children you must put on your own oxygen mask first in order to help the children. The same principal applies in the classroom-in order to educate our students we must first educate ourselves. Teachers often arrive in their classrooms to find that new technology has been delivered overnight: interactive whiteboards, iPads, clicker response systems to name a few. We also have a huge shift in curriculum delivery to contend with following the adoption of the Common Core Standards. It sometimes feels like waking up to find a Boeing 747 parked on the driveway with a note saying figure out how to fly this, you’ll be transporting 300 hundred passengers tomorrow!

So I accept that I have to attend professional development and I embrace the fact that I need to learn and grow as a teacher in order to do the best job that I can for my students, they deserve nothing less. I attend district meetings to make connections with other teachers who I can share and learn with, keep up with district developments and represent my school’s unique perspective. I attend conferences to become inspired by the experiences of other teachers and bring back to my students innovative and engaging ways to learn. I attend classes to maintain my professional certification and stay in touch with current pedagogy and best practice.

So how do I minimize the impact my absence has on my students? I try to ensure that I secure the services of a competent and reliable guest teacher in my absence, one who has an established relationship with both me and my students. I leave detailed lesson plans and work hard to institute routines that encourage my students to be independent thinkers and learners. In the event of problems I make myself available to my guest teacher, parents and students via email and Skype. I take advantage of the expertise of my colleagues and try to incorporate team teaching activities at best and offer them up as support at least.

What can I do better? I think I need to communicate more to my parents and students about where I am going and how attending professional development sessions have a direct and positive impact on my classroom. I need to work on finding balance, and enlist the help of my administrators in determining what is necessary, preferred and superfluous. I also need to breathe and realize that I can’t learn and implement everything immediately, despite the fact I want to because I want to be the best teacher that I can be.

This also applies to my role as a mom. On Saturday morning I was watching a presentation live from Edscape 2012, and my son told me that for Christmas he just wants me to not logon on to my computer for a whole day. I am a teacher that loves to learn and I hope that my occasional absence  from both my classroom and from my family inspires  my students and my own children to mirror my love of learning, and embark  on their own unique lifelong learning journeys.

 

The Purpose of Education

I asked a friend of mine who lives in Canada how his six year old daughter Brooke was settling in to the new school year. She is a delightful little pixie of a child who finds joy in everything so I was shocked when he told me she is utterly miserable. She comes home crying every night, she is having trouble sleeping and eating and getting her to school every day has become a trauma for all involved. Apparently she is part of an experiment that the Principal is conducting. He has taken four students from each of his two Kindergarten classes, two boys and two girls, and placed them in the other class for first grade. All four of the kids are struggling because they don’t know the other kids in the class and are not being accepted and included by their peers. When dad went to explain this to the principal and ask for her to be placed back in her old class he was given short shrift, told nothing would change and given no rationale for the decision to boot!

The sad part about this is that it is such a recurring theme in education. New initiatives are often dreamt up and put into place by district administration, by principals, by teachers and all, I’m sure, with great intent. The tricky part however seems being able to figure out when an idea isn’t working. More often than not the success of a new educational initiative is measured numerically through assessment data. Brooke will be tested in the next few weeks in her Canadian classroom and I’m sure the data will show that she is not progressing, not learning and it’s not difficult to figure out why-she isn’t happy!  Children can only be open to learning when they feel safe and secure and happy in the learning environment. Do we need data to figure that out or to determine next steps, or could the issue be resolved through open and honest dialogue between the student, parent, teacher and principal?

Teaching Engage, a class specifically designed to help kids acquire key 21^st century skills, I constantly see students struggling with listening and flexibility. Being able to listen attentively to others ideas, ask questions, offer ideas, and encourage others input, then carefully and respectfully consider all ideas, seek to synthesize, and compromise are apparently skills that many adults have problems with too. New initiatives are a necessary part of education as we constantly hone and improve the service we provide but all stakeholders need to start actively listening to each other and remembering the true purpose of education.

I was recently asked what the purpose of education is and I had a surprisingly hard time formulating a response. I eventually came up with this:

The purpose of education is to light a fire in students, to help them develop a love of learning and learn strategies to become lifelong learners. Education should serve to open students’ eyes to the world around them. They should learn to not merely observe, but to think about what they see and wonder about how they can make a positive impact. They should leave the education system with a clear sense of their own significance, their own potential to make a positive contribution as global citizens and a thorough knowledge and understanding of the tools that will enable them to successfully make that contribution: creative thinking, productivity, digital literacy, communication skills, integrity, responsibility, reliability, and accountability.

But I’m beginning to think it really is much simpler than that. The purpose of education is to help and children learn and grow and this isn’t going to happen if a child is unhappy, teachers can’t create safe and happy classrooms if they don’t feel heard and respected, principals can’t create innovative environments if they are not encouraged to take risks and school districts will not be able to attain the assessment success they seek unless administration carefully and respectfully consider all ideas, or seek to synthesize and compromise when needed.

Maybe we should look to successful corporate models for inspiration. Check out this Blog post by Richard Branson, founder of Virgin, a dynamic and thriving group of diverse companies: Have fun, do good, success will come. Aside from the title, which I think would be a wonderful mantra for the world of education to adopt, the most striking thing about this post for me is how Branson is actively engaged in listening. His success speaks for itself and I’m sure it is in no small part because of his ability to listen, his ability to recognize failure and his ability to adapt and move forward. Maybe I’ll send Branson’s Blog post to Brooke’s principal in Canada. 

Six Word Saturday

My six year old joined Cub Scouts on Wednesday and we have spent today preparing for his first camp next weekend. It took some time hunting out tents and stuff as we turned to the dark side of camping several years ago when we bought a trailer! We’ve had so much fun pitching tents, reminiscing about past adventures and watching Jack’s excitement build.

 

 It occurred to me that so much of a child’s education takes place beyond the classroom thanks to the dedication, commitment and talent of many wonderful individuals who strive to make a positive difference in the lives of children. My first ever attempt at six word Saturday is for them. For the all the Boy and Girl Scout leaders, for the karate trainers, sports coaches, music tutors, chess club wizards, library volunteers, Science Olympians, dance and drama instructors and many more, here are my six words:

Thanks for enriching my childrens' lives.

 

The First Two Weeks of School

The first two weeks of school are so important. During this time students have to learn about their new classmates, new teachers, new routines and expectations. Teachers have to learn about their new students, new parents, new colleagues, new technologies and new curriculum initiatives. A new community has to be built, team spirit established and a sense of excitement and anticipation for the year of learning ahead. If not carefully managed and orchestrated it can be a stressful and overwhelming time for all involved. I find myself today, at the end of my first two weeks of school, happy, hoarse, exhausted and enthused about the year ahead.

My teaching partner, Rick Joseph, and I share 54 kids and together we make the “Joberts56”. Having both 5^th and 6^th graders, each year we lose half of our class as they move up a grade and gain 27 new students. A priority for us at the start of each year is to help the class bond and form their own unique identity. We launched this process by showing the students Blindsight. This is a documentary detailing the journey of six blind Tibetan students as they climb a mountain in the shadow of Everest. We encouraged the kids to write down their thoughts as they watched the movie and during a follow up debrief the Joberts56 of 2012-2013 was born! Our students were able to clearly articulate what was important to them as a group and the mindset that will guide them throughout the year. It didn’t take them long to graphically represent those notions and by day 2 we had a class T-shirt design.

 

The big eye on the front of the shirt signifies my students’ determination to not just be observers in life but to really see the world around them, think about what it means and wonder how they can make a positive and significant impact on it. The logo “Climb Your Own Everest” on the back reminds them that they need to take risks, overcome their fears and face challenges head on in order to achieve their true potential. Pretty cool, huh?

On day 3 Rick and I shared our progress with parents during Welcome Back Night and attempted to express our individual philosophies and aspirations for the year. It was an opportunity for parents to put names to faces and be assured that we will love and nurture their children as well as guide them academically. A parent volunteered to get the class T-shirt organized and printed and by some wonderful miracle she had all 56 shirts ready for our three day camp during week 2 of school. Getting 216 students, sixty some volunteers and eight teachers to camp on the seventh day of school has been a labor of love for several months. Nancy B, school secretary, and Cindy B, Community Service Officer, did a tremendous job of preparing this trip, getting all the necessary transportation, medication and documentation together. They organized parent volunteers, accommodation, travel groups and without their dedication it simply could not have happened.

So on the seventh day of school I found myself 125 miles away from home at Camp Michindoh, watching a group of my students try their hands at archery. I wasn’t participating because I’d never done it before and didn’t want to look incompetent in front of both new parents and students. One of my sixth graders invited me to join in and when I declined she said, “We are the Joberts56 Mrs R, we don’t just observe, we go beyond our comfort zone and get involved. Climb your own Everest.” Astounded and inspired how could I not get my Catniss on and step up? The next few days were spent canoeing, building shelters, making fires, climbing rock walls and handling a variety of snakes, frogs , spiders and cockroaches. The mantra “Climb Your Own Everest” was used repeatedly to encourage and challenge all of us, students and teachers  alike to achieve what we never thought possible. It even began to impact our fabulous parent volunteers as they too stretched themselves and found themselves beyond their comfort zones during their three day marathon event as chaperones. Their commitment, leaving behind work and families, was another major factor in making camp happen. It also provided us with the opportunity to begin to get to know each other and form relationships that will be crucial to the success of this school year.  By day 10 of school, the Joberts56 community was born!

Did the first two weeks go off without a hitch? No. The schedule changed after distribution of over two hundred paper copies, our T-shirts were not  quite what we originally designed and a student spent three days at camp with only the clothes he was standing up in because his bag was left on the bus. Instead of whining and complaining everybody demonstrated solidarity, flexibility and understanding which enabled us to sail over these small bumps in the road. I’m secure in the knowledge that we will overcome future obstacles on our journey together because of the people I travel with: amazing students, supportive parents, dedicated office staff and passionate educators.

During the next two weeks of school my students will face a battery of district mandated assessments. I know these will provide me with a snapshot of their academic abilities but the knowledge gleaned from these tests cannot possibly compare to what we have learned about ourselves and each other during the first two weeks of school.