Thoughts about change...

The following is a reply to an email sent via the CFF list-serve.  It was written by Ralph Maltese, a former CFF coach, in response to a request for professional perspective as related to an all too common situation.

I'm not sure knowing the particulars of the original post are necessary for us to understand.

What struck me is that, often we face the same questions in our practice, whether we instruct students or other teachers.  Ralph was able to encapsulate the reality for most of us with clarity and precision.

Printed with permission...
Totally understand your frustration……been there, hated that. 
Let’s start with an irrefutable fact----I am old. The good thing about being old is that I have more questions (which are interesting), than answers (which are boring---the question “What would have happened if Lincoln had lived is far more interesting than the answer John Wilkes Booth shot him---all lessons should be problem/question based). 

 But what I do know are two fundamental facts of the universe.
1) Everything changes----the seasons come and go, people come and go, and our solar system is not in the same spot it was one second ago.
2) Most people hate change.

I hope some of what follows is useful to you. Then, again, as I said, I am old.

There is always little picture and big picture. My experience is that most humans rarely consider the big picture, but the big picture is extremely important.

In your scenario, the little picture has its challenges for me because I do not know the structure of your online classes. Are they problem based, project based learning, etc.? Blended? If they are information laden, as I suspect they are, then the online classes will not work. Alert: that style does not work in the conventional classroom either.

What I would do would be to give a sample demonstration of what does work and showcase it at a meeting. Either construct the learning unit yourself or, better yet, find a teacher who is engaging students online and use that as an example. Sometimes, people just do not know. When the Soviet Union broke up, the mayor of a small town complained to American economic advisers that “Ivan keeps raising his prices on the shoes so much we can’t afford them.” The advisers suggested that someone in town open up another shoe store as competition for Ivan. The mayor slapped his forehead, “We never would have thought of that.” People tend to teach the way they were taught, which would be fine if the world had not changed (see fundamental fact #1 above.)

I was a big confronter in the classroom. I figured that was my job. I woke students who tried to sleep in my class even though I knew he would give me a raft of you-know-what. But working with teachers is different. More finesse and sensitivity, which is where the big picture comes in.

Now the big picture which is much harder. My experience tells me that people only change out of self-interest. Here is where leadership comes in.

Those who know me know that I love and respect teachers. That is NOT a throwaway statement. As much as I honor the profession, I would not pay, as a taxpayer, a teacher who merely dispenses information, no more than I would buy a set of encyclopedias from a door-to-door salesman when I can access that same information quicker and more up to date than in print.

IT IS IN THE TEACHER’S SELF INTEREST TO CHANGE. If teachers were envisioned as creators (people pay for creation) of engaging lessons that help students develop high level thinking skills, then the whole dynamic would change. Consider other professions: a lawyer has his intern look up information, and a doctor does not keep all that information in her brain. But both the lawyer and the doctor know how to access that info and APPLY it so they can solve a problem. If you can get teachers to consider teaching in this context, it changes the focus of the classroom/school.

Working with teachers, especially those recalcitrant ones, I worked hard to find what was behind the fear/anger of change. Teachers get bashed a great deal. Sometimes they are just tired of being told what to do because what they are doing is wrong. (See my signature at the end of this email). Others, quite honestly, are lazy. The latter are your administrator’s problem, not yours. Most of them have to have their egos bolstered. As one Chinese emperor stated it, “the trick behind leadership is to get them to believe that it is their idea.”

Being a creator is far more exciting for me than an information dispenser. And looking at the classroom as an engaging problem (how does one engage 30 students from diverse backgrounds in high level thinking in a four sided cinder-block pale green painted room is a challenge) is far more interesting for the creator than “Today I have to get out the shovel and start piling it on again.” I respected myself more as a creator than as an assembly line worker.

Another fundamental fact that I still believe in my senility is that “you can only build on strengths; it is difficult to build on weaknesses.” (this is sad, because most of our educational system is predicated on remediation---just to satisfy those damn standardized test scores.) Discover what your best teachers are good at, and build on that. I had teachers that were good organizers, and I tried to lead them from there into the creative field. I took the more creative teachers and tried to show them the organizational advantages of computer systems.  You don’t ask a four hundred pound .350 home run hitter to bunt with the bases loaded. 

Lastly, and if you read this far you have been patient with me, and I appreciate that, you are not alone. Many of us faced and are facing the same challenges. You have a voice here and kindred spirits. Use this listserv. Take care, and I hope this helps somewhat. Ralph

Ralph welcomes you to visit his website - and use what you find of benefit.  His writings and projects can be found at http://ralphmaltese.com/   

Thanks Ralph.

Symbaloo for 4/21/14

Sites and Apps...

Fail with a Smile by iPads4School

Hi all,
Just wanted to share a post with you...
A good deal more conversation lately around the "do not fail" culture that seems prevalent in our school systems, although this perception reaches well beyond education.

What I particularly like about this article is that it frames how this topic affects both students AND teachers.

The article offers sage advice to get us moving (IMHO) in the right direction.

http://ipad4schools.org/2014/04/07/fail-with-a-smile/

WELL WORTH the time to read the post and listen to the video clip of Alexis Ohanian (Reddit) linked off the iPad 4 Schools blog.

Exceptional. Good advice for teachers and students alike...

Reminds me of something I heard a few weeks back at the Wilson High School Google Leadership Summit - "We don't expect perfection; we expect growth"...

Principals Know: School Librarians are the Heart of the School Video

Looking for a renewed perspective...

INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARDS – IDEAS TO KEEP IT SIMPLE

by Danny Nicholson

Mar 2014 UKED Magazine

http://issuu.com/ukedchat/docs/uked_magazine_mar_2014/5?e=9046876/7094774

Love this idea!

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/interactive-rubrics-assessment-for-learning-michelle-lampinen

Came across this in my travels...WHAT A GREAT IDEA...

This Language Arts teacher shared a link to an online video that provided instruction and an example of the expectation (Quotation Integration). 

Students could refer back to the clip by following the QR code as they were developing their own work.

  

A great way to bridge "point of need" application with relevant instruction.

Academic Tech Integration...

Recently, I had the opportunity to present to a group of elementary teachers. We started out with a question.

WHEN DESIGNING LEARNING EXPERIENCES FOR YOUR STUDENTS, WHAT SEQUENCE DO YOU TYPICALLY FOLLOW?

The polled response was 16/18 (or 89%) selected:
1. Curriculum, 2. Strategy, 3. Tool
1/18 selected: 1. Strategy 2. Curriculum 3. Tool
and 1/18 started with the tool.

While the size of the polled audience was relatively small...the results do prove to be similar regardless of what grade level teachers I am working with.

For the most part, it's safe to say, we all agree that technology integration takes direction from curricular and/or strategic leads.

Next, for as much as theory can be a thorn in our sides, theory provides a framework from which to build. So, we took a look at the SAMR model.

The SAMR model can be attributed to Dr. Ruben Puentedura.

SAMR is an acronym for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition.

Kathy Schrock created a visual image that aligns SAMR with Blooms. This visual provides a familiar frame of reference and helps to define the model.

The plan was for teachers to take some time and consider ways they presently integrate technology within their instruction for two reasons. First, to consider what is already happening and also to open dialog around ways to continue to grow.

In addition, just as lower Bloom activities can, at times, get "a bad rap", it needs to be said that it is entirely possible to select a particular tech application for use as a means of substitution or augmentation...and that's OK.

What's more important is NOT to remain at entry level learning or integration activities, but to strategically craft for the foundation to be in place in order to build upward over time.

What was discovered through this activity, is as with designing any continuum of learning experiences, the variables and intricacies require careful consideration.

While we can make assumptions about what will work based on age, purpose, etc...there is no substitution for actual, practical experience.

So as we continue on our Learning Design and Academic Tech Integration journey, it helps to add some substance to the theory and include an example of SAMR that follows one tool through the progression.

I'm thinking we may need to work through some of our own progressions too...

Thanks to the powers of YouTube and Candace M for the following...

SAMR in 120 Seconds