The Tempered Radical

Being Positive Isn’t Easy for this Teacher

Blogger’s Note:  I’m bringing the pessimism (unfortunate truth?) to the party here, y’all.  If you want warm fuzzies about the joys of teaching, navigate away immediately. 

And if you work beyond the classroom and get your feelings hurt easily, you might not want to read this, either.

#forewarned

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I had an interesting exchange in Twitter today with Todd Whitaker, author and professor of educational leadership at Indiana State University. 

It all started when I stumbled across this tweet in Whitaker’s stream:

Thanks to my tweet buddies I wrote piece comparing a group of negative teachers to Hotel California!

As a guy who is often labeled “negative” by educational leaders, Whitaker’s message caught my attention. 

I’m probably extra-touchy, too, because it’s become all-too-common for eduthinkers to feed into the belief that “negative” teachers (read: anyone who pushes back or questions the choices made by those with power) are to blame for education’s woes. 

One expert even goes as far as to label resistant teachers “fundamentalists.” How’s that for a loaded word?

So I chirped back at Whitaker, writing:

"Negative teachers" can often be a symptom of poor leadership. Demonizing them is easy, but often irresponsible.

The conversation went on for a while, with Whitaker arguing that good teachers know what negativity looks like and that poor leadership cannot be an excuse for bringing negativity into a classroom. 

He wrote:

Ironically negative people hope it is something besides them that is cause - poor leadership, problem parents, political leaders.

Whitaker’s comments left me wondering whether it’s just plain easier to be optimistic about the life of a classroom teacher when you’re working beyond the classroom.

Rethinking Teacher Professional Development

(This bit is cross posted over at Simple K12)

If you were to ask any of the thousands of teachers who attended one of the 26 edcamps that have been held in the past two years to describe the most important characteristics of effective professional development for educators, you might be surprised by one of their first answers:

A blank bulletin board and a bunch of empty classrooms.

You see, edcamps—free learning conferences organized by educators and for educators—all begin with participants joining together in a central meeting place deciding on topics worth studying and creating an ad hoc schedule of sessions for the day.

Anyone can volunteer to lead a conversation on a topic that they are interested in at an edcamp.  Passionate about the role that social media can play in teaching and learning?

Add it to an open slot on the scheduling board.

Motivated to learn more about teaching science to middle grades students?

Add it to an open slot on the scheduling board.

Deeply interested in finding ways to integrate arts into classrooms across the curricula?

Add it to an open slot on the scheduling board.

“It surprises me every time,” says Dan Callahan—one of the founders of the edcamp movement and a digital friend of mine. “You walk in and that schedule board is empty and by the end of an hour it is full of more stuff than you can get to.”

From there, participants design their own learning plan for the day. 

The Truth About Teacher Salaries

I want to prepare you for an unfortunate inevitability:  One of these days you're going to read the last Radical post. 

It's not that I don't want to keep writing.  I love the intellectual community that we've gotten started here.  And it SURE isn't because I've run out of things to say. 

#notpossible

It's simply because one afternoon as I drive home listening to the local right-wing radio hack spouting the party line about "the exorbitant salaries" that teachers are paid, my head is going to explode. 

#notpretty

What makes me so frustrated is that 98% of the facts that he spews just aren't true.  He talks about the fully paid state pensions that we receive without ever mentioning that teachers contribute nearly half of the funds in our own retirement accounts.

He claims that teachers in North Carolina are treated better than other workers without ever mentioning the fact that we rank somewhere near 45th in teacher pay nationally. 

He argues that teachers need to "feel the pain that people in the private sector" are feeling without ever mentioning that we haven't seen an increase in our salaries in three years.

#nottruthful

Now don't get me wrong:  I'm remarkably thankful just to have a job in such a difficult economy.  As I watch friends and family members struggle to just hold on to their positions in a sluggish corporate workplace, I realize that the stability that comes along with a career in the classroom is pretty darn rewarding.

#notunemployed

And I get it.  The way that we pay teachers has got to change. 

Still MORE on Clear Vision Statements

If you've spent any time poking around the Radical recently, you know that I've been hammering on the idea that schools need to create sets of clear, concise, actionable vision statements in order to be truly successful. 

In an instance of kharmic synergy, I found out this week that David Allen---one of the world's leading experts on personal and organizational productivity and the author of Getting Things Done (2002)---believes in the importance of vision statements, too!

For Allen, vision statements matter the most in knowledge-driven workplaces. 

New Slide: Skills Matter More Than Tools

A few weeks ago, I wrote a bit that captured a good bit of attention titled Making Good Technology Choices.  In it, I argued that teachers need to check to see if the skills that they are spending time on in their classrooms pass the endurance-leverage-readiness test.

That's a theme echoed throughout my technology book, Teaching the iGeneration---which was spotlighted on the Education Week website today. 

Considering all of the positive mojo around the idea that skills are far more important than tools, I figured I'd whip up a slide that y'all could use in the work you're doing to convince teachers to place their attention on good teaching instead of good technology. 

Here it is.  Hope you can use it:

(click to enlarge)

Download Slide_EssentialOutcomes

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Original Image Credit: Day 8 by mollyollyoxenfree

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollydon/5344823829/sizes/l/

Licensed Creative Commons Attribution on April 11, 2011

Watch This: There's Nothing Magical About Tools (Video)

This is a pretty hilarous reminder to anyone working to integrate technology into their lives that there's nothing magical about tools:

 

The Teacher Professional Development Fail

(Note: This entry is cross-posted over at Simple K12.)

One of the most bizarre moments of my professional career happened one year when I realized at the last minute that I didn’t have enough technology professional development credits—a required strand here in North Carolina—to renew my teaching license. 

Ironic, huh?  After all, I’ve been a leader in technology integration for the better part of a decade. 

Anyone looking through my Digitally Speaking PD wiki or my technology book could quickly see that understanding the role that digital tools can play in teaching and learning is a professional strength of mine.

Wanting to keep my job, though, I started scouring the technology courses being offered by both my county and the state.  The only courses being offered before my certification expired were:

Getting to Know Your Computer: A Beginner’s Guide to Understanding Your New Machine.

Getting to Know the Internet:  A Beginner’s Guide to Understanding the Power of the World Wide Web.

Both courses were 8 hours long, both were being offered by a local computer store on two consecutive Saturdays, and both were WAY below my level of ability.

So I called the licensure representatives at the county office, figuring that they’d help me to find a professional development opportunity that was more appropriate for my abilities. 

The conversation went something like this:

Me:  So I need a few technology professional development credits, but there aren’t any courses that will help me to grow as a learner.

PD Lady: I see two courses, Mr. Ferriter.  One titled Getting to Know Your Computer.  The other titled Getting to Know the Internet.

Me: Right.  But those courses are for beginners.  I’m not a beginner. Could I maybe do an independent study on integrating video into classroom instruction?

PD Lady:  No Mr. Ferriter.  You have to take an approved course.

Me: Even if I don’t learn anything?

PD Lady:  Yes, Mr. Ferriter.

There are a TON of lessons to be learned about professional development in that one short exchange.

We’ve made the process for helping teachers learn more important than the people doing the learning.

As crazy as it sounds, learning isn’t the priority for most teacher professional development programs.  Instead, meeting the requirements for certification spelled out in policy is the priority. 

That rigid commitment to requirements meant that I learned nothing in the courses that I was forced to take and was certified anyway. 

Stew in that for a minute, would ya? 

If you care about seeing students succeed, think about the implication of a nation of educators who are taking courses to meet requirements INSTEAD of taking courses to improve what they know and can do. 

And if you care about saving cash—an important consideration in today’s tight budget times—think about the the implications of investing in teacher professional development programs that have little real impact on teaching and learning in our classrooms. 

#wastingtime

#wastingmoney

We’re also sending horrible messages to teachers about the importance of differentiating learning for individuals. 

If our school systems are going to successfully close achievement gaps and increase levels of performance for every child, we simply must begin to customize individualized learning experiences at the student level.   

What’s cool is that momentum really is building behind the idea that differentiation matters. 

Teachers are being encouraged to use data to make instructional choices.  Remediation and enrichment are common expectations in every school.  Digital options for independent exploration are being pursued at all grade levels and in all subject areas.

Yet the vast majority of our teachers continue to sit in one-size-fits-all sessions delivered to entire faculties on isolated work days a few times each year.

Do you see the disconnect? 

Can we really expect teachers who have never experienced differentiation as learners to turn around and embrace differentiation as teachers?

#notlikely

What’s so darn frustrating is that the characteristics of effective professional development aren’t a mystery. 

Paterson (2002) details how successful professional development programs consist of structural elements---a connection to curricula, linkages to state initiatives and certification, integration of information technologies, use of a variety of instructional strategies---and a strong connection to a school’s mission.

Quality professionally development also promotes reflective practices, fosters collaboration (Browne-Ferrigno & Muth, 2004), focuses on an educator’s needs (Marshall, Pritchard, & Gunderson, 2001), is based upon improving student achievement (Haar 2002), and has become embedded and job supported (Lairon & Vidales, 2003).

The only mystery is why so many systems fail to create meaningful learning environments for their teachers. 

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Works Cited:

Browne-Ferrigno, T., and Muth, R. (2004). Leadership mentoring in clinical practice: Role socialization, professional development, and capacity building. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40(4), 468-494.

Jean M Haar, "A multiple case study: Principals' involvement in professional development" (January 1, 2002). ETD collection for University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Paper AAI3041356. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI3041356

Lairon, Mary and Bernie Vidales. Leaders Learning in Context. Leadership, v. 32, no.5, p. 16-18, 36, May/June 2003.Newcomers. School Administrator, v. 61, no. 6, p.18-21, June 2004.

Marshall, J.C., Pritchard, R.J., & Gunderson, B. (2001, February). Professional development: What works and what doesn’t. Principal Leadership, 1(6), 64-68.

Paterson, Kent, "The Professional Development of Principals: Innovations and Opportunities. Educational Administration Quarterly. April 2002. Volume 38. No. 2 (213-232).

Efficient Learners are Networked Learners

(click slide to enlarge)

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Original Image: A Day of Muni According to NextBus by Eric Fischer

http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/4521616274/sizes/l/

Licensed Creative Commons Attribution on April 11, 2011



Are YOU Leading by Cliche?

Sunday was a good day for me.  I had a chance to get together with one of my favorite principals of all time—a talented guy that I really believe in.

We spent about 2 hours having one of those make-you-think kind of conversations that bright minds really enjoy. 

He ruined everything, though, by claiming that vision statements in schools--something I'm pretty darn passionate about---were completely meaningless. 

“Teachers don’t care about vision statements,” he said.  “They’re a waste of time that no one pays any attention to.”

Download Slide_Cheerleading

(Original Image: Cheerleaders by Ralph Hockens, licensed CC Attribution)

 

“You mean you don’t have a clear vision describing what your building’s future will look like?” I pushed.

“Sure we do,” he said.  “We’re going to never give up, work together and get better every day.  Those are my non-negotiables.  We tie everything back to those three statements.  They are our vision and everyone knows what they mean.”

Now don’t get me wrong:  I love this guy.  He’s one of the shining stars in school leadership and I respect ALMOST everything that he says.  I'd work for him in a minute and he knows that. 

And because he's so talented, I'll bet he really does use his three non-negotiables differently than most slogan-loving principals.  For him, "never give up, work together and get better every day" are a tangible and easily approachable message that everyone can understand. 

As he wrote in a separate email, "My statement of non-negotiables is not a cliche:  It is shorthand for talking about my leadership style, and it underscores all of the decisions that I make."

The problem, however, is that for many principals, catchy slogans like “Never Give Up, Work Together and Get Better Every Day” ARE cliches. 

New Slide: Can the Quirky Kid Thrive?

I've been thinking a lot about the quirky kids in my classroom lately:

 (click picture to enlarge)

Download Slide_SchoolsValuingQuirky

 

I'm not sure that I like my own answer to this question----but shouldn't it be a question that we think about a little more carefully as we sprint towards a common core?

#justsayin

 

 

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Original Image Credit: Confused, Alone and Scared Today by Nina Mathews Photography

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21560098@N06/3621797460/

Licensed Creative Commons Attribution on April 10, 2011