Wikis can help you FIP your school

Our school is a member of the OAC (Ohio Appalachian Collaborative). Thanks to Battelle4Kids, our staff has many resources to support our journey of formative instructional practices in the classroom.

    When I became a building principal 8 years ago, one of the first things I did was to launch a building wiki in order to establish a higher level of communication and collaboration. In hindsight, it was ahead of its time because we definitely had growing pains with technology use back then. At that time, staff was still grimacing about having to use a thing called "email."

The original wiki had 2 pages, one for office communication and one for staff communication. Today, we have added pages for  OTES, FIP, ALICE, and Gifted Resources. With the addition of Google Apps for Education, sharing opportunities have made giant leaps. These pages have links and documents for resources as well as a place for ongoing comments. I recommend that building leaders choose a platform that they can be comfortable with and then model what you expect from staff. With all of the new generation tools available, I sometimes feel our wiki is a bit dated, but it still fits the majority of our staff’s comfort level. I have included a couple of screenshots for reference.

"My child's school received a C on their grade card, Fantastic!" said no parent ever.

 The Ohio Department of Education has recently released the newly redesigned report cards for schools. They are using letter grades now instead of the descriptors such as Effective and Excellent. I don't mind the new letter grade system, except for the fact that the new letter grades don't exactly mean what parents, teachers, and students have been used to for all of their lives.
  Previously, if you saw a "C" on a grade card, it probably meant "average", or "room for improvement" or "not bad, but you can do better." Now, if you see a grade of "C" from the ODE on a school report card, you will have to shift what you think you know about what a "C" really means.
Let me explain the changes in a somewhat tongue-in-check example.

Dear Student,
      Today you will be receiving your grade card and we are making some changes that we think you will like. First off, there is no "overall" grade this year so do not confuse the first grade you see on your report card as your overall grade.  We may report an overall grade in 2015.
      The first item you were graded on was how well you mastered all of your learning targets for the quarter. Congratulations! Since you mastered all of your learning targets in the time frame that we expect students to do, you received a "C".  I am sure your parents will be proud of you!  You could have received an "A" or a "B" if only you would have mastered some of the learning targets that we will be covering in the next quarter, or even next year, and shown that you learned more than you were expected to.
      The next item we are grading you on is your work habits. This is not part of your learning grade. Since you turned in every assignment on time and did what was expected, again, you will receive another "C". Congratulations! Your parents will surely be proud of you. I suppose you could have received an "A" or a "B" by turning some of them in early.
     Another item that you received a grade on is for your attendance. Once again, you received a grade of "C". You attended school every day! We are not sure how you could receive an "A" or a "B" yet, except maybe to attend school on some Saturdays. No teachers would be present though to verify that so we would have to take your word that you actually attended. We will let you know on the 2015 report card if we figure that one out.
Keep up the great work!

Your teacher,
Mr. C. ISOK
   

I'm a school nursecustologist

  My kindergarten students don't really know what a school principal actually does at school.

On the first day of school, they saw me mopping the floor of the restroom because the urinal was overflowing and my custodian was outside mowing the yard. "Are you the janitor?"

Next they saw me comforting one of their friends crying and I was applying an ice pack to a big bump on her head. "Are you the nurse?"

And my favorite from the mouth of a five year old: I told her that people come to me and I try to help them solve their problems. "You're a psychologist!"

Take the long way...

        Today was the annual “welcome back to school” meeting for all district staff. For me, about a 30 minute drive from home to the administration campus. My blog followers may recall that I like to ride to and from work without the radio on in order to reflect on my day. I knew I had to introduce new staff and thank people who had been working hard all summer to get the buildings ready, but other than that I really didn’t have anything else planned to say. Short and sweet.

As I pulled into the parking lot filled with cars, my first realization of the year came to mind:

It may be time to update my vehicle. Pretty sure every car there was newer than my 2001 model with manual crank windows and standard shift transmission.

Moments later, as I stood in front of the entire district staff and looked out over all of the familiar faces, realization #2 came to mind:

A lot of my inspiration and motivation for my job comes from them. The people I work with.

When I stay in my office too long, it is easy to forget the real purpose of my job. Then the stress gets to me and it is easy to get frustrated.  To remedy that problem, I step out of my office. It doesn’t matter if I go left, right, down, or up, I know that in just a few short steps, I can watch great teachers light the fires of little minds and watch little children inspire adults.                                                                             Magic.

So I made a recommendation to my staff. To all of the staff. Take the long way back this year, like I will.

If you are a teacher and you drop your students off to the specials teacher, don’t be in a hurry to get back to your classroom. Take the long way back. Briefly step into another grade level classroom and watch the magic happen. Walk out with inspiration and new found purpose.  Find yourself with 30 minutes of planning time? Push yourself away from your desk 5 minutes early. Take a long walk to the other end of the hallway. Step into another classroom and sit down beside a student. Get eye level with them. Ask them what they are learning. Ask them how their day is going.  Breathe in the magic.

Take the long way.

Just Say "No" to Social Networking Sites in Schools

At this point in my life, I don’t have a lot of free time, so for some of my professional learning, I rely on my google communities, Twitter, and Diigo, to keep abreast of everything that is going on in my profession. I like that because I can get my learning at my convenience. I leave Facebook and Pinterest to my wife's care, which she uses to keep family and friends up to date on some of the more ridiculous things that occasionally happen in our personal lives and to find the next best recipe.

Recently, Michael Norkun, an educator in the "Ask a Google Education Guru" google plus community asked for help and posted this in a google form survey:

"I am trying to collect some data regarding social media in schools. Would anyone be willing to complete this short survey?"

It only had two questions. Short and sweet, the perfect survey.

Answer yes or no: Do you think social networking can be integrated into schools to enhance learning opportunities?  (my answer: yes) Which social networking site provides the greatest opportunities with education? (my answer: twitter) Then he asks: Describe the potential benefits of using these tools in school. (my answer: something about the power of using hashtags to find specific feedback and help, for example math students in a calculus math class)

He then provided this link http://goo.gl/7AbC8 so viewers could see the responses as they came in.  There were a lot of "yes" responses and brief descriptions of how and why they chose their favorite "social media" site.  

As I looked over the responses, my attention was drawn to the "no" responses and the reasons given why social media should not be used in school.

"Its purpose is social, not educational. The social aspect would serve to distract students. Less technology, more hands on"

I was dumbstruck. How could another educator who was obviously a connected educator in an educational google community claim social media sites such as google plus, edmodo, twitter, pinterest (add your favorite here) not see the value of a learning community for students?

I tried to rationalize how that could be. Maybe they were a lower elementary teacher and couldn't make the leap that little ones can blog and network, too? Maybe they were an upper high school teacher and had some bad experiences? Maybe they worked in a school that controls and squashes teacher creativity?

I could presume that Jack Dorsey (twitter) and Mark Zuckerburg (facebook) probably counted on the inate "social" nature of humans interacting to make their millions (or is it billions?).   But over time, educators have bent and shaped these platforms with a social twist into learning and educational platforms with endless possibilities for students.

Or maybe it is just a matter of semantics.

For those who are of the opinion that social media has no place in school, I think they may misinterpret and perceive it as purely "socializing media."

I suggest they change their mindset from the social(izing) media vocabulary to educational & personal learning media and then go back and answer the question again.

Do you think educational and personal learning networking can be integrated into schools to enhance learning opportunities?

Toll Booth Attendants and making a difference...

Traveling on a motorcycle can be quite an adventure.

My wife and I, recently made a ten-day road trip to the Carolinas and then down into Florida. Leaving from Ohio, we were just a few miles into West Virgina on I-77 when I was reminded by the prominent green highway signs that we would soon be paying $2.00 tolls for the privilege of crossing through their scenic state. Three of them on the way down, and three of them on the return trip. Great. Twelve bucks isn't usually a big deal, but it's the principle of the thing. I don't understand the politics about how they are able to do that, considering none of the other states along the same highway system charge a toll.

Since I had forgotten about the toll booths, we did not have the bills readily available like we usually do. It's not real easy to hold up a loaded bike, wrestle for your wallet, and keep the bike from rolling away while impatient cars are waiting behind you.  With all of the recent rain we were driving in, I wasn't in a good mood when the toll booth attendant gave me "the look" for holding up his line. I profusely apologized, handed him a large bill and received my change. No "thank you", no "have a nice day", no "thanks for visiting West Virginia." Just push the button and turn the light green.

I don't know of any other racket where you can just throw up a little shack and every single person who comes by throws money at you for no apparent reason. You don't even have to thank them, call them by name, or care whether you ever seem them again. Just collect the money and push the button.

As I pulled away and remembered that there would soon be another one coming up, I began to calculate how much money they must be collecting. $2.00 per vehicle, X number of cars per hour, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week....my brain couldn't calculate the number so I just rounded it off to like a gazillion dollars. For that much money, they should at least pretend to like me as they take my money. Next toll, same thing. Take my money, push the green button. No words. Last toll booth, not much different although I did get a slight nod of the head as acknowledgement.

Maybe it's their job. People come, people go. No time to make a difference?

On the return trip, I decided to have a little fun with them. So, at the first one, I made it a point to take my time paying and I asked the attendant if they worked at the same booth every day? He gave me a surprised look like "Omg, this guy is actually asking me a question and I need to answer him."  I found out that toll  attendants actually rotate booths. Hmm, maybe I was onto something here.

At the second booth, I again took my time paying and joked to the attendant that the guy at the last booth said to tell him hi and that he could go home an hour early. That one got a laugh and a "have a nice day!" Okay, this was working.

Maybe they just needed to be treated like people instead of a road sign.

And then we pulled up to our final toll booth.  My wife had the exact change ready in hand, I had the timing in the correct line judged perfectly where we could have just coasted to an "almost stop", exchanged the money and not even put my feet down. If I wanted, we wouldn't even have to look at each other or say a word. The perfect toll booth system working flawlessly and efficient.

Except for one unexpected turn of events....this final toll booth attendant decided to make a difference. When my wife tried to hand him the bills, he smiled, waved her off and told us that our toll had been paid. Have a nice day, thank you, come again!

Another life lesson learned. There is always time to make a difference.

Making the switch from professional development to professional growth...

 I have not always been completely successful with the professional training I have delivered to my staff over the years. Don't get me wrong, I put a lot of time and effort into them and I have great people helping me.  I have been encouraging my staff this year to take more ownership of their own professional growth by showing them how I use Twitter, Tweetdeck, FeedlyReader, Google+, Diigo and a host of modern tech tips to grow my own learning.  I have even at times flipped our staff meetings and professional development sessions by creating glogs, tutorials, and screencasts when appropriate, to use our time more efficiently when we get face to face. But, it seems we still quickly revert to "I come back from district meetings and then you sit and listen while I tell you what you should learn and do." Somehow, that is suppose to make my staff better? And there doesn't yet seem to be a lot of RV teachers taking advantage of modern social media networking to drive their own learning. Or maybe they are, but just aren't in my PLN or circles. Sometimes it seems that I get more professional development thanks and feedback from teachers and administrators who don't even work for or with me as I follow more and  educators on twitter or google plus.
    My teachers worked really hard this year and several of them took college credit classes along the way to improve themselves. During conversations with some of them, I realized that the topics that interested them most were the ones they were living day to day in their classrooms. Next year I will try to change from delivering professional development to professionally growing with them. I will let them choose some of the topics, times, and colleagues they think they should be working with. I will support them as they lead each other in their own professional growth. They have all grown so much in the last 3 years as we worked through one initiative after another and I will be excited to start another excellent year with them in the Fall.

 

Finding your balance and letting go...

   Another lesson of life: Finding your balance and letting go is a matter of context and perspective. Change the circumstances and you change the meaning.

     This past weekend, my six-year old granddaughter faced the dreaded "no training wheels" time on her bicycle. I had secretly begun to feel out what I was up against a couple of weekends earlier when I nonchalantly mentioned it might be time to attempt such a monumental feat when the weather warmed up. When she replied with a firm "No!", I knew I had my work cut out for me. But, another weekend passed and I gently prodded again, this time implying that many of my kindergartners at school had probably taken their's off by now. This time, there was a faint acknowledgement of the possibility when she replied with a "maybe."
      I don't know what finally motivated her, but she was barely out of the car on the next weekend, when she proclaimed to everyone that she had decided to take the training wheels off of her bicycle. So, it was off to the garage, and because I can't resist a good teaching opportunity, I gave her a mini-lesson about numbers and leverage and how a 9/16 Craftsman wrench worked.
     First, it was all around the grassy yard with me pushing her until my back was aching, and imploring her to "find your balance, find your balance." It was after many easy falls and trying again and again, that she was truly beginning to find that elusive feeling. She was not going to give up easily and it was time to move on to the large blacktop parking lot next to our garage. I figured that the next childhood memory to be burned into her brain was going to either be one of glory and victory, or it could very well be one of traumatic terror, blood and stitches.
     With her chin held high, she shouted for me to let her go as I gave her one final push and sent her on her way. She peddled and peddled, around and around, smiling, giggling and shouting as only six-year old girls can do. She had found her balance and let go! She is going to be okay....

Paradox

     My dad is loosing his fight with cancer and I don't know how much time we have left. Lately, when I am alone with him, we quietly talk of finding a different kind of peace and balance, and letting go. He will be okay, too.

Truck Driving 101

   I could have been a truck driver, except for one small problem: I hate to drive, especially long distances. Instead, I am a school principal.
      I am one of the lucky ones. Fifteen minutes from home to school, five days a week, 210 days a year. Mostly two-lane road, most of the traffic going the opposite direction.  And this may sound strange, but a lot of times I never even turn the radio on. It's just me, corn fields and trees for 15 miles.
     On my morning ride, I usually find myself prioritizing the several tasks for the upcoming day,  reminding myself that it's "people first, paper later", putting on my "game face", and bracing for the onslaught of unknowns that are sure to arise the instant crowded buses pull into a school and 300 kids come together for the day.
    On the ride home, it's reflecting on what got done, or more often, what didn't get done, and wondering if we made a difference today to the one's who really matter: our students.
   
   
     I've come to notice a few subtle things out on the road as I travel to and from work. If you pay attention, you can learn a few life lessons from truck drivers. Truckers are really the stewards of our roads. They control how fast we go, or how slow. They honk at us when we aren't paying attention and are constantly looking out for us even when we aren't looking out for ourselves.  Oh sure, we think we are the kings of the road passing and weaving at will as we go about our business, but that's just because they let us. Truckers are like the mom or dad watching over their children, letting them flirt with danger, but keeping everyone at a manageable pace and always going in the right direction. They will flash their lights when it is safe to merge back in after a pass, and give you a thumbs up when you do it politely.  If you are signaling to turn at the last minute and they are behind you, they will move over a little so the truck driver behind them can see your blinker and your intention of turning. That way, he is covertly heading off a potential surprise slow down and a possible accident for his fellow trucker. They just can't stop like you and I can in our little cars. Sometimes they warn us about the police cruiser with radar around the next corner, and sometimes they don't. It depends on whether they think you have been following the road rules, or whether you need a reality check. All of these things are happening around us and mostly go unnoticed by the vast majority of travelers. For the most part, they probably don't get much credit. They are usually not recognized for what they do just out of sight of our rear view mirrors, but they are one of the first to be blamed during the dreaded traffic jam.
 
      I think a school administrator is sometimes like that truck driver. They are always watching over their staff and students, teaching them to weave and pass safely, reminding them to play fair, encouraging them to explore new "roads", keeping them out of harm's way whether they realize it or not, and stressing over the speed or direction everyone is traveling. They remind them to do this and that, and sometimes have to use their bumpers to get things done.  Smiling to themselves and bragging to other administrators when they all learn to merge new initiatives with old, or show how they have grown.  And the whole time, proud that they do it all everyday without causing a full blown traffic jam.
 
      Who knows? If this job doesn't pan out, maybe I'll buy a truck.