Expanding Student's Horizons

Recently, I had the distinct pleasure to model the new ISTE Ignite sessions at the kickoff session of the 2012 ISTE conference in San Diego. For those of you that don't know what an Ignite session is, it is a fast paced style of presenting. The speaker is given a set number of slides and a limited time on each slide. The presenter does not have control over the slides as they will change automatically when the time is up. For me, I had 15 slides and each slide was up for 15 seconds. It was a lot of fun and I can see this being a useful model even for students presenting in class.

Enjoy!

Being a 21st Century Teacher

Lots of people are tossing around terms in education and attaching the words “21st Century” to appear cutting edge or on the front end of trending ideas. As a teacher in the 21st century I find it amazing to see some of the things that are so called “21st Century” and yet are no different than 20th or even the 19th century ideas. With that in mind, I have reflected recently on my opinion of what it takes to be a teacher in the 21st Century and what exactly such a teacher would look like.

Obviously, a 21st century teacher should be tall, handsome and have a sweet spot for super heroes. Beyond that, I think there are some key characteristics that good 21st century teachers need.

Be a connected educator - The idea of being a connected educator is not necessarily new but is certainly transforming with the dawn of various technology tools in the area of social media. Teachers now have the ability to connect to other teachers, administrators, parents, students and other education minded people around the world with the click of a button. There are many tools out there that allow teachers to connect. Regardless of what you use, a good 21st century teacher must be connected. There is no right way to do this. For me, I use Twitter and my Blog to connect and learn from and with educators around the globe.

Be a master of technology – Now, I am not saying that a good 21st century teacher needs to have an interactive whiteboard hanging on their wall, tablets in every kid’s hand and mobile devices in every corner of the room. In fact, I think it might be more the opposite or at least a balance. In recent years educators have gone overboard with spending money and pumping technology into every corner of their schools they could possibly afford. The problem is they offered little training and much of it was used as a simple badge of honor to say they had tech in the building. Interactive whiteboards are being used as chalk boards once were, computers are being used to make flashcards and tablets are being used to do word searches. A good 21st century teacher knows the difference between what is shiny and new and what truly has the potential to transform learning for their students. A new hammer is great but a good carpenter doesn’t try to screw in a bolt with one. In the same way, a 21st century teacher knows what tools are needed and when and how to use them.

Be a reflective practitioner – This is probably one of the most important areas as we as a profession in many cases have not changed in 100 years. The tools in our classrooms have changes but the pedagogy and practice has not. A 21st century teacher is able to look at their own practice and adapt and change based on the needs of the learners. Too many teachers are teaching in the year 2012 as they did when they started their careers 10, 20 or even 30 years ago. What we know about student learning and motivation has changed, so too must the art of teaching. Stagnation is the death of any teacher.

Be an advocate – The final thing I feel is important for a good teacher in this century is to be an advocate for themselves as well as the profession. If we as teachers think someone else is going to say nice things about our profession and share positive notes on the 9 o’clock news, we are wrong. As teachers we can sit and complain about it…or we can do something about it and find ways to tell our own stories. It is a critical time in the history of education and how the profession in currently perceived in the public eye. We are under attack in many places and rather than playing the part of a wounded animal, we need to stand up for ourselves and advocate for the great work we do every single day.

None of these ideas are radical or ground breaking by any stretch. Yet, too many teachers are content wrapping up old practice with new gimmicks and wonder why we don’t get any better at what we do. If we want to gain respect as a profession then we must truly embrace a 21st century model of constant growth and improvement. If we don’t get any better we only have ourselves to blame.

Do We Really Need Principals? A Follow Up

A little while back I published a blog post questioning if we need principals in schools. In the days and weeks that followed I received a great deal of feedback on twitter, comments on the post and subsequent follow up blog posts others wrote in response. I have reflected at great length and still stand by my original question with a slight change…Do we need principals/administrators in the way we use them today?

Based on the feedback and my own reflection I do think we still need a leader in a building or at least a network of leaders in various roles. I think it could play out in a few ways but here are some initial thoughts on how we might change the current role of administrator to better suit the needs of schools and students. Yet, all of this is built upon the premise that a principal/administrator needs to be an instructional leader within their building.

·         Get them into a classroom – I am not referring to the fly-by drop in observations or the token waves from the hallway. I am talking about them actually teaching in a classroom…with kids. This could be done in a few different ways depending on level. If they are in a departmentalized environment, they could pick up one class to teach each term. In a primary level they could co-teach or pick up a section of a special. One of the biggest complaints I hear about administrators is their complete lack of connection with the classroom. Some have been out too long or have never really been “in” a classroom because they jumped up the ranks so fast. Teachers grumble at their decisions because they feel like they don’t know what they are talking about.

·         Term limits on administrators – This is a pretty simple concept but ties in nicely with the first point. Yes, there are some administrators that have been in the “front office” for many years and are still connected and in tune with the students and teachers. However, I think it is safe to say that is not the norm. Rather, the longer they are out, the more out of touch and distant they become as a natural consequence. I am not sure what the magic number is, but I would think having a five year limit and then being required to teach for two years before coming back might be a good place to start. Lyn Hilt also outlined a similar concept in a comment she left on a recent post by Jeff Delp.  Personally, I think this would elevate the instructional leadership potential within a building and have dramatic results.

·         Hire a manager – Much of what pulls an administrator away from being a true instructional leader in their building is the managerial items they get bogged down in. Why not hire an administrator who is simply in charge of the management piece? They do all the paperwork, scheduling, meetings, etc. Then dedicate one administrator to being a true instructional leader. As I mentioned in my previous post, I still think these two jobs could be done by a small group of teacher leaders as well. However, if we are going to work within the current system, then let’s shift some responsibilities around to best use our administrators.

It may be way to simplistic but if we want our administrators to be instructional leaders, which I think we do, then they can’t sit idly by in an office. I don’t see any better way of doing this than getting the metaphorical chalk back in hand and doing it in a classroom. As in my initial post, I still am not seeing a compelling argument for a need for administrators in their current roles. Yes, lots of people commented about them being a buffer and an advocate, but is that what we need administrators to be? If that’s the case then let’s call them managers and let the teachers do the instructional leading…

In closing, let’s be clear about one thing, I am not calling out all administrators and saying we need to get rid of them. However, I am calling out the way in which we as school districts use them within our schools. They have the potential to be so much more than paper chasers and disciplinarians. If you look at the great administrators you will rarely find them at a desk when the kids are in the building. Yet, they are burdened all night with paperwork and management items. In addition, if these are the individuals evaluating teacher effectiveness, how do we ensure they know that when they see it? How can we restructure this to allow all administrators that chance of being a true instructional leader?