Staff Development on TV

I have spent the last 2 nights fascinated with watching the finales of reality shows - The Biggest Loser, Celebrity Apprentice (Yah! Bret), Dancing with the Stars, American Idol.

And there's such a strong common theme in all of these - transformation. We use this word in education all the time. "We need to transform this and transform that, transform our instruction, transform the classroom, transform learning."

What does it mean to transform? How do we know we are transforming?

So one of the pieces is change. Change implies a significant difference between before and after, right?

Does it mean that the after is better? That's still to be seen, but based on what I've seen so far, there is evidence that it might.

So what? There's a big difference between something that LOOKS different and something that IS different. What is that???

I think it's deeply personal, emotional and it only happens as a result of challenging oneself and going through, yes, through the struggle. It's not easy to get to a different place, but if we go there together, we can. And that's the second ingredient - having a someone to push you there. I'm not sure if push is the right word, but it's what Jillian does in The Biggest Loser. I can relate to her b/c there are teachers who are afraid they will fail at using technology - they compare themselves to a younger generation, even their students who are more adept at using technology, but what I see when a teacher goes through the struggle of taking that risk - to learn and grow, is amazing. They just need someone to tell them they can do it, hold up the expectation, and hold out a hand if they stumble or fall to help them back up.

Well, if education really does need to transform, then why aren't we looking to what's happening out there? It's right in front of us - we don't need a book, or a manual or a step-by-step guide to tell us how to transform! Sylvia Martinez stated at ISTE last year that the past 30 years of technology staff development has not worked. I think we can look to other sources in our world to receive and provide staff development. Why are we limiting ourselves to only educators when we have Stacy and Clinton and Jillian and Bob and so many others teaching others how to transform? If they can do it, so can we!

Who inspires you?

Staff Development at...a restaurant

Have you ever compared eating out a restaurant to teaching?

Let's think about this. You walk in a restaurant and a host or hostess seats your party. The menus come along and what's the first thing you think? What do I want to eat?

Five of us went out at a local restaurant for technology training.

And sure enough, we were seated and immediately engaged in conversation - how was your day? what are you going to get to eat? The conversation was interesting b/c it depended on comfort level how much was said or not said.

Let's get back to the question at hand - what do I want to eat? One teacher said - I know exactly what I want - veggie enchilada with cactus on the side. I know what I like and I how I like it. Another person was looking to try something new, another was getting over a cold and now had an appetite and I'm not sure about the others, but it was probably something close to what they had a taste for that day.

The goal is to eat, right? Why would you go into a restaurant and pay for food you don't like? And if it goes to plan, you end up full and satisfied.

So let's think about just this part a little bit further - how is this like teaching? How do we "serve" our students? How do we prepare their "meal"?

Now how would your whole dining experience change if one person had told you what to eat and ordered it for you? We talked about this and concluded that one thing it had to do with was relationships. One of the teacher's responded that she'd probably say something to me, but that she'd want to follow the direction - and then her colleague spoke up and said he would have said something for her - to look out for her needs b/c she's vegetarian.

We continued to learn in town that day by visiting a few more places to look at relationships and space and then headed back to review these concepts from Cheryl Lemke - The Ripple Effect, 21st Century Learning Environments White Paper, The Speak Up 2008 Visionary Administrator and Sylvia Martinez's 30 Years Later: The Best Technology Professional Development

The point? Each person experiences differently and part of that experience is determined by relationships and part by interest and motivation. And so many other factors... So why is it expected that each child react to learning the same way?

How is this related to technology? The impact of technology on learning is determined by how it's used, not by simply having it.