The paradigm presentations were by far my most favorite part of EDAD 9530: Paradigms and Practices of Schooling. My own paradigm project gave me the opportunity to put in words what I have been doing the past year in regards to technology staff development, and by listening to others' projects, I was able to further my understanding of what is happening in area school districts. We truly did have a class of experts and it was amazing to hear about all the wonderful paradigm shifts taking place.
The past six weeks have been exhausting, but as usual, I am able to look back and appreciate of all the wonderful relationships I've built and the knowledge I have gained. The Senge book has already given me many ideas in systems thinking and I am excited to share the information with my new team this fall. Although the staff development section in Senge's book was not my assigned section, I was able to read it an apply it to my paradigm project. I don't know if our new Director of Staff Development is familiar with Senge's work, but I will definitely be sharing it with her as well.
I will end with an "ah-ha" moment I had during Abby's presentation on Wednesday. She mentioned connectedness as one of her strengths and described how her brain was a giant molecule with all the atoms connected. Abby said that everything was clear in her mind how it all connected, but that she couldn't always put her thoughts into words. She might as well have been describing me when she said that! Connectedness is my #2 strength and I really do feel like everything I hear, read, and experience relates to something else in my life. My brain literally hurts from making so many connections. Now I just need to work on putting my thoughts into words so I can verbalize it to others. I think blogging is just the avenue for that!
Friday, June 21, 2013
Vision Statements
I came across this blog post by Scott McLeod right about the time I was reading Senge's chapter on School Vision. McLeod has several questions worth considering...
How many of us purposefully and explicitly model the learning process for our children? How many of us stand up in front of kids and say, “This is what I’m learning right now. I’m not any good at the moment but this is the process I’m following and this is what my plan is for achieving success. And I’ll give you an update in a few weeks, and then another few weeks, and so on, about how I’m doing?” How many of us purposefully and explicitly show our students what it means to struggle with learning, overcome obstacles, and emerge on the other side more skilled and more knowledgeable than we were before? You already know the answer: nearly zero.
Gandhi said, "We need to be the change we want to see happen." If we want our students to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, communicators, and take initiative in their learning, it needs to be continuously modeled by the adults in their lives. Being open and honest the way McLeod describes in his blog post allows students to see how learning is a lifelong journey and not confined to 40 minute lectures. But how do we move past putting together nice/neat visions statements that hang on our walls? Is it possible to live it out everyday?
Page 347 in Senge's book has a practical checklist for refining and implementing the vision. Our current superintendent has started the visioning process by pulling together community members, parents, teachers, students, and administrators to discuss the future of our district. While I have not been a part of the process, I know one of the main questions revolves around what Senge mentions: "If the vision were realized, how would the curriculum, the design of the school system, the mix of classes and offerings and all other factors fit together? Create a description-not as the final word, but as a starting point for further dialogue." I can feel the change coming on and it's exciting to be at the beginning of something really spectacular!
How many of us purposefully and explicitly model the learning process for our children? How many of us stand up in front of kids and say, “This is what I’m learning right now. I’m not any good at the moment but this is the process I’m following and this is what my plan is for achieving success. And I’ll give you an update in a few weeks, and then another few weeks, and so on, about how I’m doing?” How many of us purposefully and explicitly show our students what it means to struggle with learning, overcome obstacles, and emerge on the other side more skilled and more knowledgeable than we were before? You already know the answer: nearly zero.
Gandhi said, "We need to be the change we want to see happen." If we want our students to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, communicators, and take initiative in their learning, it needs to be continuously modeled by the adults in their lives. Being open and honest the way McLeod describes in his blog post allows students to see how learning is a lifelong journey and not confined to 40 minute lectures. But how do we move past putting together nice/neat visions statements that hang on our walls? Is it possible to live it out everyday?
Page 347 in Senge's book has a practical checklist for refining and implementing the vision. Our current superintendent has started the visioning process by pulling together community members, parents, teachers, students, and administrators to discuss the future of our district. While I have not been a part of the process, I know one of the main questions revolves around what Senge mentions: "If the vision were realized, how would the curriculum, the design of the school system, the mix of classes and offerings and all other factors fit together? Create a description-not as the final word, but as a starting point for further dialogue." I can feel the change coming on and it's exciting to be at the beginning of something really spectacular!
Monday, June 10, 2013
Reading reflections...
In a recent blog post by Seth Godin, he wrote...
Alignment to the mission, to the culture, to what we do around here--this is critical, because in changing times, we can't rely on a static hierarchy to manage people. We have to lead them instead, we have to put decision making power as 'low' (not a good word, but it's left over from the industrial model) in the organization as possible.
The "static hierarchy" Seth talks about made me think of Sizer's chapter on sorting. On p. 72, it says,
"A school which asserts that everyone will proceed in that school in a carefully prescribed way at all times is profoundly discriminatory, and thereby extraordinarily ineffective." Right now I'm visualizing boxes on an assembly line representing our students (Sir Ken Robinson talks about this "assembly line" in his Changing Education Paradigms TED Talk). As time passes, more and more packing tape is being put on allowing little flexibility, creativity, or decision making power. Do we want our students in nice neat packages in the end? Should all the boxes look the same? Do teachers appreciate the diverse talents each student brings to class? If schools spend the majority of their time "taping down" those individual talents and making sure each box is the same dimension and only contains the required standards, our end product will not be ready for "shipping". The students we are educating today are entering a world of professions that haven't been created and will confront global issues that haven't even occurred. Will standardized tests help our students in these situations? I think not.
We are at a crucial point in our education system where some tough questions need to be asked. Senge gives several questions on p. 324 related to the purpose of school and the quicker we start addressing some of our long-held beliefs related to compulsory education, the faster we can move out of the industrial model and catch up to the 21st century which is well underway.
Alignment to the mission, to the culture, to what we do around here--this is critical, because in changing times, we can't rely on a static hierarchy to manage people. We have to lead them instead, we have to put decision making power as 'low' (not a good word, but it's left over from the industrial model) in the organization as possible.
The "static hierarchy" Seth talks about made me think of Sizer's chapter on sorting. On p. 72, it says,
"A school which asserts that everyone will proceed in that school in a carefully prescribed way at all times is profoundly discriminatory, and thereby extraordinarily ineffective." Right now I'm visualizing boxes on an assembly line representing our students (Sir Ken Robinson talks about this "assembly line" in his Changing Education Paradigms TED Talk). As time passes, more and more packing tape is being put on allowing little flexibility, creativity, or decision making power. Do we want our students in nice neat packages in the end? Should all the boxes look the same? Do teachers appreciate the diverse talents each student brings to class? If schools spend the majority of their time "taping down" those individual talents and making sure each box is the same dimension and only contains the required standards, our end product will not be ready for "shipping". The students we are educating today are entering a world of professions that haven't been created and will confront global issues that haven't even occurred. Will standardized tests help our students in these situations? I think not.
We are at a crucial point in our education system where some tough questions need to be asked. Senge gives several questions on p. 324 related to the purpose of school and the quicker we start addressing some of our long-held beliefs related to compulsory education, the faster we can move out of the industrial model and catch up to the 21st century which is well underway.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Fast Food - Slow Food
On a recent car ride from school to baseball practice, my 5-year-old son asked what we were having for dinner. He asked, "Is it fast food or slow food?"
I immediately thought I'm a terrible mother! How awful is it that my 5-year-old has eaten more fast food than home cooked meals in the past month? How sad is it that my 2-year-olds first word was, "Culvers!"
I allowed myself a small pity party after hearing my son's comment, but then I decided to do some reflecting and see how it might apply to other areas of my life. I'm currently taking two summer classes at UNO for my Ed.D in Educational Leadership and in both classes, professors have mentioned two things:
In a world of instant gratification and where everything seems to fly by at a rocket's pace, it becomes increasingly difficult to pace myself and slow down enough to enjoy the process.
I immediately thought I'm a terrible mother! How awful is it that my 5-year-old has eaten more fast food than home cooked meals in the past month? How sad is it that my 2-year-olds first word was, "Culvers!"
image from http://www.pdclipart.org
- "This program is not a sprint...it's a marathon!"
- Enjoy the process!
image from http://www.pdclipart.org
In the past week, I have read The Influencer, The Students are Watching, The 100/0 Principle, The Year of Learning Dangerously, and several pages from Peter Senge's Schools That Learn. Did I mention that one of my summer classes was only 3 days and the other one meets Mondays and Wednesdays for 6 weeks? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the varied class formats UNO provides, but I'm starting to wonder if things will ever slow down enough for me to really enjoy them. I guess that is what a marathon runner learns to do...set a steady pace to enjoy the run and know that there is an end in sight, but it's going to take awhile.
I haven't done much reflecting on what I've read thus far. Everything is in bulleted notes in Evernote. This week has definitely been a "fast food" type of week, but I'm looking forward to meeting with my group to process.
Link to Senge's Notes
Link to The Students are Watching Notes
Link to The Influencer Notes
Link to 100/0 Principle Notes
I haven't done much reflecting on what I've read thus far. Everything is in bulleted notes in Evernote. This week has definitely been a "fast food" type of week, but I'm looking forward to meeting with my group to process.
Link to Senge's Notes
Link to The Students are Watching Notes
Link to The Influencer Notes
Link to 100/0 Principle Notes
Thursday, June 6, 2013
A Much Needed Break
I took a much needed break tonight and went to a painting party with some of the 1st grade moms. I have been completely overwhelmed with classes, reading, ending the school year, starting the summer, accepting a new position for next year, thinking about projects that need to be done, etc. But I reminded myself, "The students (my kids) are watching!" How does mom grapple with stress? Well tonight, it was painting!
I used the Vine app on my phone to create this video as I painted.
I used the Vine app on my phone to create this video as I painted.
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