A Kinder, Slower, More Receptive Approach to the Start of School

A Kinder, Slower, More Receptive Approach to the Start of School

First Day of School: Talking Back to Harry Wong

First Day of School: Talking Back to Harry Wong

Why relationships rather than rules are important.  Moving from "teacher-centered" to "student-centered": A Band Teacher's prospective. 

School Improvement Plans and Covey's 7 Habits

A school improvement plan (SIP) is a four year map of how a school will work to increase its overall performance in specific areas.  Usually these areas are tightly focused around the End of Year testing data associated with math or reading.  Most school improvement plans take the data from the tests and create what seems to be an arbitrary number on how they will increase their composite score over a four year period; thus not be labeled a "priority school" which is simply a fancy term for failing school.

Most SIPs have at least three different goals.  One tied primarily to the tested academic area of the greatest need.  The other tied to the overall composite score for the school, and the final tied to character development.  These goals are supposed to be achieved be creating SMART goals.  Herein lies a question, how is an organization supposed to achieve greatness and overcome the pressures facing them from mandated legislation such as NCLB and the Race to the Top Grant when they must work on three different goals in concert with one another?

The Answer...

IT CAN'T!!  No organization can be effective and put 100% focus on four different goals.  When former Apple CEO Steve Jobs returned and reinvigorated the company he stated that Apple would do one thing, and do that thing very well.  Before Jobs era 2.0, Apple was making printers, computers, software and other peripherals.  The stock had plummeted and what had made Apple "insanely great" to begin with had been lost.  Jobs returned and refocused Apple towards its core.  (Pun intended.)  He challenged the company to "Think Different".  This process was painfully slow, but to this day no one can state that their lives have not been affected by Jobs's resurgence in some way.

As an organization, the school creates the SMART goals, that usually are not measurable and recycled from former plans, and expect scores to increase and the focused academic goal to show improvement.  In some cases, when the faculty truly drills down and does the necessary research and sets up the necessary programs for the particular school in question at least one to two of the goals is marginally achieved.  But, to be "insanely great" as Jobs inspired those at Apple to be and do there was buy-in from his employees at Apple as well as the consumer base.  Who are the consumers at a school?  The students!  The students must buy-in to the SIP and take ownership of the goals set forth; otherwise it stays an ethereal document that is simply dusted off and updated every four years. 

How can the students truly buy-in to the plan?  The students must take responsibility for their learning!  A true Professional Learning Community (PLC) has a mission, vision and main goal it will achieve; often each faculty member has his/her own mission and vision aligned with that of the PLC.  Why not have the students do the same? 

Stephen Covey and Students

Students must learn how to create a mission, vision and plan for themselves.  One school in Wake County works with their students to create an environment where the teachers and students utilize Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to generate student buy-in.  Each day the students create daily goals and propose how they will achieve each goal.  At the end of the day, the student evaluates how he/she did and whether or not his/her goal was achieved.  This creates data points for both the student and the teacher each day.  With this amount of student generated data as well as data generated by formal and summative assessments the faculty can truly drill down on the primary goals in the SIP.  It is as if each day utilizing Covey's outline the students are creating mini-SIPs for themselves.  The students work with a program called The Leader in Me and therefore not only become students as consumers, but collaborators and partners in the SIP process.  It is interesting to note that before this school utilized this program that it was head towards being a "priority school".  

The innovation of this one school can shine a light to others.  There are other programs that emulate The Leader in Me such as The Responsive Classroom, but again the idea is to create students who are not simply dependent on the teacher to facilitate and be the sage of all knowledge.  The goal is to create student collaborators working interdependently on their own goals along with those of the SIP.  Therefore, taking the lead of the transformative school in Wake County, schools should open up their SIP and let students see what is inside of what could become an esoteric document and have them work interdependently and own the goal that they see themselves being able to accomplish.  (Remember, what is the one thing that will make us "insanely great"?)  With all persons engaged, collecting daily data and focused on their one goal the SIP should and will be completely achievable.

Who's in Your PLN?!?

Social media has become quite the norm in everyday life.  How many times a day does a person check his or her Facebook status?  How many times a day do people tweet what is happening or update their Facebook status?  It is likely that most people can pinpoint what their friends are doing, where they are and who they are with by simply opening an app on their mobile devices or checking in on their computers.

Herein lies the question?  Who is in your PLN?  First the acronym, like all other acronyms in educational jargon must be defined.  A PLN is a Professional Learning Network.  The term is a spinoff of the Professional Learning Community (PLC) that has become a mainstay in educational jargon and is based on the research of Dufour, Dufour and Eaker.  But, the PLN broadens the educator's professional horizon beyond the school.  The PLN is a network of educators connected through social media sharing best practices and ideas that have improved student learning.

Currently, the PLN is most utilized on Twitter because Facebook has become more of a real-time photo album or public journal for people to share with longtime friends, family and acquaintances.  Twitter is more impersonal.  On Twitter, one can follow politicians, comedians, celebrities, athletes as well as educators across the globe!  Often times, educators on Twitter have never met in person, but simply link to each other by viewing a hashtag (#) that has been created to categorize the subjects of specific tweets.  After finding the education based hashtag, the educator can choose to follow and friend as many fellow "Tweachers" as possible.  There is no magic number, but a blog by Steven W. Anderson, a technology specialist with the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools, provides an excellent beginners "How To".

As Mr. Anderson states, creating a PLN can be a bit of trial and error.  Twitter is also not the only resource an educator can utilize to create a PLN, but it is a start.  Blogs, similar to this one, can also provide insights on how to best utilize the ever-changing landscape of digital education.  One rule of thumb is to start with a small group of followers that may be focused on your educational interests or subject matter and then expand based on how the conversation progresses.

Follow Me @tricorbin

Social media has changed the way we communicate.  It has changed the way our students learn.  And, it can be a powerful ally for professional development.  So, take the plunge and join your fellow Tweachers and create your own PLN.

Opening a Closed System... Alternatives

As I venture through my graduate work, I am finding many of my past paradigms are being challenged.  One of the most interesting changes in my thoughts have been on how people can enter the teaching profession.  If you had asked me about two years ago, I would have told you that only people go through an accredited four year training program are truly effective educators.  I stood staunchly against lateral entry programs and other alternative programs like Teach for America.  Now, having worked with people who have been certified through alternative tracks and seeing how they are incredibly effective educators, I have had a complete paradigm shift.

Rep. John Faircloth

Back in February, the Guilford County Association of Educators hosted a Legislative Breakfast for state and local politicians.  I spoke at length with Representative Faircloth about teacher certification programs.  He referred to the teacher certification program as a formally closed system.  After he retired from his businesses, he wanted to go into the teaching profession as a Career and Technical educator, but he could not get a position due to the fact he was not certified through a four year institution.  Finally, he was able to acquire a position at UNCG teaching in the Bryan School of Business.  While at Bryan, he worked as an instructor and with students working towards their undergrad and graduate degrees in business.  Rep. Faircloth was a successful businessperson in the private sector and it would have been interesting to see how he would have imparted his experience to students at the high school level.  The only issue was that at the time he wanted to enter K-12 public education, there was not an alternative route.

Enter North Carolina Senate Bill 1115.  This bill required universities, school systems and community colleges to develop alternative licensure programs.  One could deduce that SB 1115 opened. the doors for programs such as Teach for America, an alternative licensure program that was born of the floor of an apartment and has had a positive impact on rural and urban hard to staff schools across America.  After the passage of SB 1115, persons from the private and public sector could enter public education by going through these alternative licensure programs.  Initially resistant, I began to see teachers who possessed untraditional and innovative methods.  They became leaders in the school using their unique experiences to innovate and seek out interesting opportunities for the students and schools.

Therefore, after much internal reflection and public debate at a national level on the floor of the NEA-RA, I have concluded that through support and mentoring lateral entry teachers can and are just, and even more effective, at times than their traditionally certified counterparts.  I am not saying that the traditional process be shoved under the carpet by any means, but I am asking what is the traditional method lacking at present?  Especially with the large focus of education moving towards a STEM model, how does the traditional model best prepare future educators to work in an inquiry-based environment?  I will say that one of the original alternative licensure programs located in Guilford County continues to produce highly effective lateral entry educators, perhaps if traditional institutions would look into the methods employed by GCS-ACT and Teach for America the persons playing the political game with education would consider it to be opening to unending possibilities of change?

Do we still need a Union?

I must first begin stating that in some way shape and form I have been a highly active member of my state and local association.  I currently serve on the Board of Directors at the state level. But, as I have started on my path towards becoming an administrator I have begun to find myself questioning the motives of the union.  There is a constant outcry from the NEA and the state association over the reformers who may be wishing to privatize education, institute vouchers and expand the reach of charter schools.  Another sacred cow that has come under attack in recent years is teacher tenure.

North Carolina is a right to work state and teachers are the only professionals who work a certain number of years and then are deemed untouchable.  This is not entirely true, a teacher who has tenure can be released, but after extensive paperwork and investigation.  Let me be clear, I am not calling for the willy-nilly firing of educators, but I am saying that human resources and administrators should have the ability to release an educator if he/she is not meeting performance expectations without having to cut through massive amounts of red tape.

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel

Back to the point at hand, does the education profession still need a union?  What, honestly is the actual purpose of the union?  According to NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, we are essential towards developing a stronger profession.  Recently, NEA developed a 3-Point plan for positive reform.  This plan is the first actual step that focuses the NEA on enhancing education.  Before this plan, many could attest that the job of the NEA was to only protect its members despite its vision of "Great Public Schools for Every Child".


This is an issue I personally have been struggling with.  On the state level, the association seems to reacting instead of leading.  The General Assembly will write a bill and NCAE with react because it strikes a blow at one of our sacred cows that we have become comfortable having; be it tenure, longevity or advanced degree pay.  I have yet to see NCAE produce any point plan that states how they will enhance education reform in North Carolina.  All too often, it seems like the association is rallying against the General Assembly fighting for educators' jobs and not attempting to define how we will lead education in the 21st Century.  

This leaves me at an empasse.  We have been working towards building schools that work as collective organisms working as Professional Learning Communities (PLC), and yet have standards and assessments that could have been created by persons who know nothing about authentic learning and assessments.  Therefore, it places education in the hotbed of a politically infused system.  


This is why I am left perplexed.  I am working in a school that is attempting to integrate and become a full-fledged PLC and attempting to break the traditionally fragmented and lone ranger vision of the teaching profession.  Yet, the collective voice that I choose to pay dues to seems to be lacking in the vision of how we will lead the profession.  It has provided excellent professional development for developing better teaching practices, but does not have a clear, defined vision of a "Great Public School for Every Child".  


There has been a mass exodus from the union over the past ten years because of various reasons.  This exodus has caused political players to question NEA's relevance in today's political arena. 

Could this be the new NEA?

 I suppose the conclusion I have reached is that educators should work collectively as one voice, but the guise of a "Great Public School for Every Child" should be back up with a true plan.  We should also be willing to reevaluate our once entitled sacred cows if we are to move education forward in the 21st Century.  This may be a complete reframing and restructuring of the association and a hardline look at what we, as an association value, and stick by that instead of saying one thing and really focusing only on the dollars and cents of health care plans and salary.  (This is not to say that there is not a need to completely restore the epic cuts to public education.)  But, if I am to continue willing give my money to my professional organization I want to see an A-B-C plan that completely lays out the Five W's of our educational reform policy instead of simply waving slogans around, reacting to negative policies and lashing out at those who strive to silence us.  In other words, give those people a reason to listen to the association again.  Otherwise, there will be no union or need for a union.  It will continue to be the child placed in the corner of the room due to his inability to work cooperatively with others.


                                           

We're All Wrong and Its OK!

We have all had that one class where we simply cannot figure out the material.  It is as if the professor or teacher is simply speaking another language.  We study as best we can for the test or write what we think to be our most prolific term paper and it comes back looking like this: 

From that moment on we have labeled ourselves as a failure!  Our teachers and classmates begin to view us as the troublemaker or lazy student because for some reason or another we cannot produce passing results.  This paradigm, simply put, is an absolute tragedy!  The system has created a student who now believes that they are a failure and do not understand that it is actually a wonderful opportunity.  Education has also created a system where students care more about the grade and less about the process of learning.  What we have forgotten is that failure is absolutely 100% OK!  In fact, there is a saying among the acting community that states fail and FAIL BIG!

Why is it so important that we must feel as if we are always right?  It seems as if everyone is clamoring with the right idea for how to reform education.  What if the right idea is to create an environment where students can be free to fail without feeling like they are less than?  Wasn't it Thomas Edison who said, "I have not failed. I have just found 1000 ways that won't work."  The irony is that we have created an educational culture that has to be always right!

It is time for educational leaders to look into what students can learn from being wrong.  Real learning happens when we allow students to boldly fail and be OK in the failure.  Once students are comfortable with failure true growth will happen.  What is being wrong?  It is knowing that we live in a world of ever-changing uncertainties and that it is better to know that growth will occur when we allow ourselves and our students to be wrong instead of living in the fear of always having to be right!