Being Present In Order to Know What's Next

Update for Sept 28-Oct 2

My FB feed is very, very full of ppl posting this photo and tsk-tsking the instinct to commemorate life thru photos pic.twitter.com/VCOCuVqUd7

— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) September 27, 2015

I love what this picture captures.  The woman circled in the picture inspires me think about being present more often.  Actually, being more present in the moment has helped me to better understand the change process. 

Change often happens as a response to recognizing when the conditions are right to take the next steps.  The Alton Darby Creek Collaborative project is a reflection of this kind of moment.  We are in the middle of this grand collaboration and we sense the urgency to capture the moment and work hard to re-imagine learning experiences for kids.  During the change process, we need to know when to slow down and when to speed up.

To accomplish this, we need to pause and reflect often.  We need to celebrate what we've accomplished, but we also need to be completely honest with ourselves about how we are making progress.  We need to keep looking for answers.

Sometimes it's through a conversation with a colleague that affirms our thinking.

Or it could be a blog post that pushes you to clearly define the idea you have.

One thing that motivates me to keep looking for answers is my own personal vision for learning that many of you share as well -- Flexible learning driven by student-inquiry, multi-aged groupings, and kids learning through solving real-world problems.  It's what I see in my mind's eye, but I know we still have a ways to go.  

Our project makes me think of running a relay race -- Racing to the next person with the baton in hand, clearly seeing your goal. Pacing yourself so that you can be responsive to the race. 

Our goal is achieving our vision for learning, but I know that if we are too focused on our vision of what we want for learning, it might cloud our present reality and cause missteps. 

A distracted runner drops the baton.  

To get to where we want to go, we have to be in the moment and responsive to the present with a gaze towards to future.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4091/4976497160_026165c6cd_b.jpg -
Labeled for noncommercial reuse.

Keep being observant learners, collaborators and thinkers! Through this we will create new learning experiences for kids!

Have a GREAT week!

-Herb


Articles Pushing My Thinking


Staying the Same is Ultimately Falling Behind http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/11864

We Find What We Look For In Our Students – So What Do We See?  http://chriswejr.com/2015/09/21/we-find-what-we-look-for-in-our-students-so-what-do-we-see/#.VgfkInUkcox.twitter

Change: Choose the crockpot over the microwave... http://www.justintarte.com/2015/09/change-choose-crockpot-over-microwave.html?spref=tw

Digital vs Digitized Learning http://wp.me/p1yBnd-mP



Upcoming Events

Sept 28 -- School Community Meeting -- Community Cardboard Challenge, 10:45

Sept 30 -- Mumkin Pickup 4-7pm

Oct 2 -- BAC meeting, 8:30

Oct 5-9 -- Fall Conference Week, Conference Night is Oct 7.

Oct 5 -- PTO General Meeting, 7pm

Oct 6 -- Building Improvement Team meeting

Oct 9 -- Interims due if no P/T Conference

Oct 10 -- Community Cardboard Challenge, Heritage Middle School, 9-12pm

Oct 14 -- IAT Team meeting, 3:30

Oct 16 -- COI Day, No School for Students

Oct 23 -- Staff Meeting w/ Dr. John

Oct 26 -- Yearbook Cover Contest begins / State of the Schools @ Bradley H.S.

Oct 28 -- IAT Team meeting, 3:30

Let's take a walk.

Update for Apr 20-24

I had a lot of fun during the first “Walk with Mr. H” at recess on Friday.  Who knew walking around our path would be such a big draw with kids?  I tweeted a picture another teacher took of me walking and the response on Twitter was just as favorable as it had been with the kids:

Had fun doing the first "Walk with Mr. H" at recess today! Got in about 2 mi of walking. Looking forward to more! pic.twitter.com/KB7zhm9faL
— Herb Higginbotham (@HHigginbotham) April 17, 2015

I honestly don’t think it was because of me either; it could have been any one of us out there walking and the kids would have had just as much fun.

So what was the big draw?  Ask any kid to walk around a path during their recess and they’ll look at you like you have lobsters crawling out of your ears. But make yourself available to spend time with kids and they’ll be there.

I realized that the kids weren’t drawn to walking the path.  Kids were drawn to walking because it was a time to have a personal connection.

I had a great conversation with a teacher at the end of the week and we started talk about change in education (This is related, I promise...hang in there).  They said something that I completely agree with: Whatever we do for kids that works is really just good teaching.

It’s true: At the end of the day, it’s how we relate and interact with students that will determine the effectiveness of any program or any lesson that we do.  The conversation made me think of the remarks of another one of my favorite educators, Todd Whitaker: “It’s people, not programs, that determine the quality of a school.”

What that means to me is putting all of your stock into building relationships with your students. The “Walk with Mr. H” was successful because this year I’ve tried to make being visible in the building, knowing each student by his or her first name, and talking with them a top priority.  I believe that if I hadn’t spent my time building positive rapport with students, I would have been walking alone.  As George Couros reminds us: “To inspire meaningful change, you must make a connection to the heart before you make a connection to the mind.”

All of this has helped me to understand one key aspect to the work we are doing this year: No matter what we do in the future to re-imagine what the elementary learning experience might look like, effective change will always depend on the positive relationships we build with each other and with our students.

Articles Worth Reading

"A Handful of Tools That Help Students Analyze Their Own Writing via Free Technology for Teachers - ... http://t.co/iWiqwvDOX8"

"Path To Personalization: Better Models & Better Tests http://t.co/GeJrCFE9kU via @Getting_Smart"

"Stump The Teacher: Done With It http://t.co/T02SAaDgEr"

"The Best Ways To Finish The School Year Strong" by @Larryferlazzo http://t.co/iCtnIoflVy" 

"3 Important Shifts in Education" http://t.co/LPt8Z5Iv5n"

"I'm not the kind of person who..." http://t.co/p74yZO0dR5"

Upcoming Dates

Apr 20

4th and 5th Grade ELA EOY State Assessments

Dave & Busters Spirit Night, 5pm-8pm

Apr 21

3rd Grade Spring OAA Reading
Staff Meeting with ADE/DCR staff at 3:45 pm at ADE--Teacher steering committee small group explains the vision/design for next year's extension opportunity to the staff as a whole

Apr 22

3rd, 4th, 5th, Grade Math Unit 1 EOY Assessments

*** Garden Dedication, Celebration *** 2:00ish -- See Becky and/or Meredith for details for how the kids can help this BIG DAY!

Apr 23

3rd, 4th, 5th, Grade Math Unit 2 EOY Assessments

*** ART SHOW *** 6:00-7:30pm

Apr 27

Board of Education Meeting at Alton Darby, 7pm

Apr 28

Tech PD with Kelly Riley, 7:45am

Apr 29

ADE WALKATHON -- During each grade’s Related Arts Time -- AM/PM KG will combine with a grade-level.  Details to come!

Student Housing Committee Meeting (Herb) 4:30

May 1

Team Connection Meeting with Dr. John/Board Member, 8:00am -- Meet and greet, breakfast provided.  Your chance to talk with Dr. John.

Upcoming AD/DC Project Dates

4/21--Staff Meeting with ADE/DCR staff at 3:45 pm at ADE--Teacher steering committee small group explains the vision/design for next year's extension opportunity to the staff as a whole

5/6--OPTIONAL STAFF MEETING--work time to collaborate/meet/plan with the people who are teaming up for the extension/design opportunity next year for students.

5/8--Teacher steering committee site visits and work session...

6 of the committee members from each building (those who didn’t go to Reynoldsburg) will go to Wickliffe with Herb, CT and Jennifer.  This team will see a Town Hall meeting that is completely run by students from 8:30-9:30 and then meet with, talk with, and tour the school with the principal until 11:00/11:30.  We will then meet back at CO at 12:00 with the ENTIRE Teacher Steering committee (the 4 who went to Reynoldsburg will need to put in for a ½ day PD request for the afternoon) to debrief and have lunch (provided and to be ordered through Aramark).  We will engage in conversation with the group regarding how to shift our practice as we continue moving forward with our design next year towards students defining their learning path through the options/opportunities that teachers can create/provide for them as experiences.  Could these/are these options/opportunities connected to the networks? This would support students defining the voice and choice in their learning and becomes the heart of student ownership within the design.

Additionally one GOAL for the day is to NAME IT...not pedagogically...or programatically....but based on our Guiding Principles.  So the IT that is named represents the way we do things grounded in those principles--the mantra of "Who We'd Like to Be".  We will be showing the teacher videos one more time and identifying how these ideas align to the principles established in our Guiding Principles and how these ideas can become opportunities for next year.  

5/13--last teacher steering committee meeting for 2014-15​--The purpose is the thank those who were on this committee and touch base/listen to their perspective of the buildings from which they represent, what they think is necessary for next year to move forward.  We will share with them our "list" of what needs to happen and ask them for their "list" in order to bridge the perspectives to move forward with SOME implementation of SOME ideas for the 2015-16 year.

"To sync or swim?" Thoughts on e-learning...

I wanted to share a response to a learning module I just completed for a course I am taking called "Technology in Administration". This module asked us to think about our experiences of a synchronous e-learning experience (think Skype or Google Hangouts) and asynchronous e-learning experience (think "all online learning"). I am fascinated with this topic because of the potential of online learning spaces and because I believe passionately in the learning experiences that can only be found in a traditional "brick-and-mortar" school. A question I come back to is, "How can we provide both traditional and online learning experiences for students?"

My own synchronous online session experiences have been successful learning experiences for me, overall. There is something to be said about being able to connect with your peers from the comfort of your home. The fact that I can eliminate an hour’s worth of travel from my day is a huge benefit to me and my family. I appreciate that I can get the same out of the content of the course as I could if I were in a classroom. However, the personal connections and social interactions do not seem as real to me as they do when we are able to meet face-to-face.

As I read through the module's materials, one resource in particular jumped out at me. It was the Rubric for Online Instruction from California State University, Chico. Take a look at the “Instructional Design and Delivery” section of the rubric:

What I noticed was that the characteristics of an exemplary online classroom have the same characteristics of an exemplary brick-and-mortar classroom. This was clear to me after reading the Exemplar characteristic for Interaction and Communication: "Course offers ample opportunities for interaction and communication student-to-student, student-to-instructor and student-to-content."

The traditional classroom and the online classroom are striving for the same thing when it comes to interactions. However, if I were to have to choose which of the two formats for learning have the edge in providing connections, I would definitely choose the traditional classroom. While there is convenience that comes with online learning formats, it's hard to replace face-to-face interactions with people in the flesh.

This leads me to believe that e-learning should be an instructional approach - not a way of learning - that is blended with traditional learning experiences. And apparently I am not alone in this belief. Our district recently organized a technology task-force of students, teachers and community members and one of the key findings was that students overwhelmingly said they do not want to sit in front of a screen all day.

We have classrooms in our building as young as 2nd grade utilizing online learning formats. We are using sites such as MobyMax and Khan Academy to supplement instruction (but not supplant it). Teachers have their classroom set up as workshops where students rotate to the online based activity throughout the workshop. I appreciate this approach because it seems like the classroom teachers are seeking out learning experiences for students in a response to student need rather than a top-down directive. It’s an approach that isn't utilizing technology for technology’s sake and is instead keeping the focus on the learner.

School leaders need to keep the learner at the center of any technology conversations. We need to ensure that we are teaching the learner, not the content or the device.

Simple Ideas Can Lead to Big Changes

Photo from http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-09-02/lifestyle/35494321_1_happiness-positive-emotions-signs

Simple ideas can lead to big changes.

I ran across this blog post by Jason Markey that describes how he is developing a vision for his school around the simple idea of being kind to others. Markey says,

"Be Kind, Find Your Passion, and Commit to Excellence. This is my new personal vision for education. This is the sentence that I will share repeatedly with every one of our students and more importantly I will bring these thoughts to every conversation and decision I’m a part of."

I really like this video that Markey included. It features the story of Massoud Adibpour who wanted to make a positive impact. Adibpour got some folks together and put simple messages like "Honk if you love someone" and "Smile" on signs and stood alongside busy Washington, D.C. roads. I love this idea of doing something simple to try and make a big impact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EwYLZmkUxo

There's been lots of research done to see what initiatives can make the biggest difference in schools, but it seems the best approach may look more like the vision of Jason Markey and Massoud Adibpour. Maybe the most influential school change initiative we can undertake is to show kindness every single day. Simple things like saying hello to a student or smiling at them can make the biggest difference.

Seeking Balance by Asking Questions #EDAD688

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="313"] http://hhigginbotham.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/be34a-whysign.jpg[/caption]

Education seems to be changing at warp speed.

And it seems like everything is on the table when it comes to what needs to change in education: schedules, grades, lesson delivery, professional development - We are taking a "leave no stone unturned" approach to changing schools and looking into replacing it with self-paced online learning instead of classroom learning, passion projects instead of performance tasks, and PLNs instead of professional development.

This is a great development for students. I like how Ayna Kamenetz explained the latest trends in education: It’s never been a better time to be a learner.

However, I find myself asking questions about some of these changes.

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  Is a 1:1 program good for all students? Even Kindergartners?

  
  


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  Is “flipped instruction” the right instructional approach for all students?

  
  


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  Should all professional development happen through a PLN?

  
  

As a parent of a Kindergartner and a 3rd grader, I can tell you that I would not feel comfortable if my daughters learned everything through passion projects. They still need so many foundational skills such as reading, writing and math that will help them get to a point where they can explore an interest and do it successfully.

A hot topic in education in my district is passion projects and how we need to give students the freedom to learn more about their passions. Companies like Google and FedEx do that for their employees through “20% time” programs and it is yielding results.

But don't forget, Google calls it 20% time because 80% of the time there is still work to be done.

Kids should explore their interests, but they should also need to learn how to be literate problem-solvers who can navigate and understand content.

And let’s be honest: Passion projects are really an instructional approach. The successful teachers I know are the ones who vary their instructional approaches in response to their students rather than use the same approach for everything.

So for now, I’m going to continue to ask questions about some of the changes being proposed. I’m not ready to throw everything out because we are doing great work with kids even if it’s not “flipped” or passion-based. As we strive for change, I believe we also need to strive for a balanced instructional approach.