Opportunity to Teach, Opportunity to Learn

What would you say if you had the attention of administrators and innovators for 4 minutes?

I would teach! I would take this opportunity to teach others and myself.
Watch this video called Opportunity by Synergy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDcT0zYLP6A

http://www.teachertube.com/members/viewVideo.php?video_id=190531&title=Opportunity_by_Synergy

I would learn! Especially from their interpretations.

I learned that there are a lot of people "paying attention" and doing something about it!

What would you say if you had the attention of administrators and innovators for 4 minutes?

So many times throughout history

I spent a few days in Denver, CO with my daughter and parents and I don't know why I am surprised to find examples of learning on vacation!

We took a drive through the Rocky Mountain National State Park which is absolutely beautiful! On the way, we met some very nice volunteers who gave us a tour of the Holzwarth Family home in the mountains. While their family story was interesting, it was what the guide said at the end that caught my attention. He said the part about the story that he'd like us to leave with was that the Holzarth family made it work, no matter what came at them. They were resilient and resourceful.

That reminded me of education and what we encounter every day - no matter what comes at us, we can get through this by being resourceful and resilient.

Do we just stop and look at obstacles or do we keep moving forward by figuring out ways through, around, over, under and move past them?

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?

Remember the Madeline Hunter method?

Something suddenly occurred to me the other day while collaborating with my teammates.

One of us is terrific at using a whiteboard so much so that we use it as a verb - let's go whiteboard!

While we were using the whiteboard it occurred to me that this could have the potential to change the way teachers collaborate and write lesson plans.

Over the past year, our team has come to respect and build upon each other's strengths. Synergy. Our outcome is better than if each of us tried to accomplish the task alone. It's like we are a band. Each part creates a really great song that leaves a lasting impression.

This is evident on our whiteboards and our process. We have a vision; we plan strategically and then we implement and reflect.

Couldn't teachers do the same process with each other? I mean - what if each team whether by grade level or content level, got to know each other's strengths and then tapped into those strengths, map it out on the whiteboard with learning targets in mind, but strategically plan how they want their students to discover them, implement and then reflect. It's not like each teacher would have to implement the same way, but that they contribution to the whiteboard conversation is valuable bringing the entire group and ultimately, process, to a higher ground for student learning.

I wonder...

1 + 1 = 2

Is it really that simple?

This week, I met with a math team and we brainstormed what we do in math. Here's what we came up with - now the question is - What math equation can you make from this?

Student + textbook = mastery of learning targets (1 + 1 = 2)

Well what if the student struggles?

-1 + 1 does not equal 2

What if the textbook is not enough?

1 + -1 does not equal 2

Or can it be explained with a graph or geometry or another math theory?

New ways of thinking about staff development

Although nature commences with reason and ends in experience it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to commence with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason.

Leonardo da Vinci

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.

The Mall

We did it! Our first real "experience-based" staff development and Whoa! I love working in education!
We called a meeting in a traditional work space - great school learning space - but it was at work. Have you ever noticed that when you attend a meeting at work, it's sometimes hard to pay attention or stay awake? Right! That's what we thought, too. We wanted to create an experience that to begin to think differently about education, we might need to conduct staff development differently in a different space.

So picture this, 15 educators sitting at tables in a library. Mission Impossible blares out of the computer.

"OK Everyone, we are going to the mall. You can go with us, someone else or in your own car. We'll see you at the Food Court."

The impact was immediate! Smiles, confusion, energy! Yes - that's what we were hoping for.

Secondly, no one said why - or at least out loud ; ) and they packed up their bags and followed! Yes! Risk-takers! I found it absolutely amazing that one teacher who had just been to the doctor's for a shot in her leg was late - she was at the mall and had gone back. We didn't tell them where we were going b/c that would have changed the experience. But she was not going to miss this - that is impressive! What commitment!

We get to the mall and passed out "the next mission" which is the picture of the dog in shades and says "Find a place you can facilitate learning." And told them we cannot answer anymore questions although some tried : ) Can we...? Is it ok to...? We just smiled and shrugged our shoulders.

Photo courtesy of MatHampson

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mathampson/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

And they were off for 35 minutes. And they all came back!

We reconvened at the coffee shop which I'm not so sure the public is ready for us - to use public places to learn b/c they asked us what we were doing there and how long we would be - to which we told them and kept to our word of 20 minutes. I can understand though so no worries - we would have found another place.

Since we didn't have a whole lot of time left, we used etherpad.com to capture our thoughts which we will post soon for reflection.

We talked for just a few minutes afterward and a few people made the comment "We wanted to ask you what you expected of us - but we knew you wouldn't give us an answer." Yep. That's right! I firmly view teachers as professionals with brains - and given the opportunity, they are fully capable of leading. By keeping it open-ended like that w/o expectations allowed for everyone to entertain their own ideas and construct.

We left with one a final note. Think differently.

Inspiration versus Incentive

I've been thinking a lot about these 2 things. Basically, the burning question I have is which one produces the better product.
I suppose better is the operative word.

I think I am finally understanding the meaning of Infusion and I think personal value plays a significant piece to this. When I think of fusing, I think of becoming connecting to the point that 2 separate pieces become one, cannot be broken and become something different.

I also think that inspiration is the key to bringing that value, not "doing project-based learning" or the likes although these hold great instructional value to the process. I have found that incentives, while nice, do not lead to infusion or higher. But again, incentive is sometimes the motivation needed to kick-start the process - and as a fellow colleague of mine once said, it takes strategic conniving (but conniving in a constructive, nurturing way) in the part of staff development facilitator to bring out this creative thinking.

It's the point of no return. It's the point where the teacher could never go back. It's the point where s/he has contributed to the learning in such a way that makes them personally involved, or infused.

What if we tapped into what inspires each teacher and find a way to bring that value into the classroom or to students?