School Newspapers

As one who facilitates (can't really call it teaching) a high school newspaper staff (can't really call it a journalism course), I was very interested in Steve Taffee's recent Blogg-Ed Indetermination blog, "Student Newspapers Are Dead! Long Live Student Newspapers!" Click here to read the blog. Steve is a long-time, noted education blogger and I tend to agree with him most of the time. And I agree with most of this blog. Yes, print newspapers are bad for the environment and paper costs the schools money. Online newspapers can offer readers richer formatting and color, video, and audio. And articles can be published to the web as they are finished rather than having to wait for the rest of the planned articles to be written, edited, rewritten, laid out, printed, and distributed.

Now, I hold no special sentimentality about newspapers in general. They are destined to become relics as they are rapidly being replaced by other media. But for now I believe there remains a vast audience out here for the paper bound school newspaper simply because many inner city school students too often do not have regular access to the Internet. That situation is changing, of course, as home computers and Internet access become as necessary as TVs, even among our poorest citizens, but we are not there yet. And the current recession has slowed down our progress(?) in that direction. So at least in schools like the one where I work, the printed school newspaper not only is alive but it is flourishing.

Free Teacher Professional Development Opportunities

The following are taken from www.bigdealbook.com:

Adobe professional development workshops offer free, live online
product demonstrations, or view recorded online presentations and
seminars on how to implement digital communication skills and
eLearning solutions.
Suits: K–12 teachers, trainers, administrators
Costs: Free
Locations and Dates: Online, anywhere/anytime
Web: http://www.adobe.com/education/resources/training/index.html

The Adobe Online Professional Development Resource Center offers
resources for schools and districts that want to use Adobe products for
online professional development. Resource support is available to create
and distribute on-demand professional development content,
incorporate live sessions with Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro and provide
guides for learners using Adobe Acrobat 9 PDF portfolio files. The free
PDF guides offer step-by-step help.
Suits: K–12 teachers, administrators, professional development staff
Costs: Free resource support; check online for Adobe product education
pricing
Web: http://www.adobe.com/education/resources/k12/resourcecenters/communication/communication_collaboration/


Annenberg Media uses media and telecommunications to advance
excellent teaching in American schools. Annenberg professional
development resources consist of instructional video-on-demand programs
with coordinated Web and print materials for K–12 professional
development. The VoD courses, searchable by discipline and grade, include
a Facilitator Guide and Teacher Talk email discussion list.
Suits: K–12 teachers, administrators, professional development staff
Costs: Free online; purchased on VHS/DVD by phone at 800-LEARNER
Locations and Dates: Online, anywhere/anytime
Credits: Graduate credit available
Web: http://www.learner.org/

Tech & Learning and HP have teamed up to provide a free
professional development series called Fundamentals of K–12
Technology Programs. Each of the ten identified issues is a PDF
package that can be printed. The ten topics include Anytime, Anywhere
Learning, Technology Systems, Educational Technology Leadership, and
21st Century Learning and Assessment. Registration is free and includes
an option to receive free copies of Tech&Learning digital edition.
Suits: K–12 teachers, administrators, trainers, technology coordinators
Costs: Free
Locations and Dates: Online, anywhere/anytime
Web: http://www.techlearning.com/article/15188

Here is a set of practices from The Knowledge Loom that support the
effective integration of technology into the curriculum. Good Models
of Teaching with Technology (GMOTT) is a free resource for assisting
teachers in preparing technology-enhanced units and lessons. The practices
are detailed in online spotlight selections or can be downloaded as an entire
book. Project samples are included along with a template that guides the
creation of customized units and lessons.
Suits: K–12 teachers, administrators
Costs: Free
Locations and Dates: Online, anywhere/anytime
Web: http://knowledgeloom.org/gmott/index.jsp

Internet4Classrooms’ technology tutorials are easy to manage modules,
searchable by specific technology skill or selected as a complete module
set for a software application or technology integration project. Dozens of
available topics cover a wide range of technology tutorials, including
operating systems, Web page development, multimedia and WebQuests.
Suits: K–12 teachers, administrators
Costs: Free
Locations and Dates: Online, anywhere/anytime
Web: http://www.internet4classrooms.com/on-line.htm

The Intel Teach Elements: Project-Based Approaches is a self-paced,
interactive course from the Intel Teach initiative. Explore project-based
approaches in your classroom that are free, just-in-time professional
development. The animated tutorials and interactive knowledge-checking
exercises help motivate and ensure deeper understanding of 21st century
learning concepts. Offline activities help teachers apply the concepts.
Suits: K–12 teachers, administrators
Costs: Free
Locations and Dates: Online, anywhere/anytime
Web: http://www.intel.com/education/elements/

NCTM e-Workshops for fall cover a variety of math topics at different
levels, preK–12. Featured topics for fall include algebra, problem solving,
geometric thinking, math games and reasoning with data and probability.
Click the Fall 2009 schedule to register for specific titles. Each math topic is
a structured three-hour workshop or two 90-minute sessions consisting of
an initial workshop and a follow-up. One registration fee connects an entire
group to the session using one Internet connection, one phone line for the
live program with a projected or large-screen computer and speakerphone.
Participants get one electronic copy of the activities used in the e-Workshop
for classroom implementation.
Sample Session: Reasoning with Data and Probability – Grades 3 to 5
Participants: Grades 3–5; additional sessions for preK–2
Date: October 5, 2009; follow-up session, November 16, 2009
Suits: K–12 teachers
Costs: $179 fall registration
Locations and Dates: Vary; see online schedule
Credits: Credit available
Web: http://www.nctm.org/profdev/content.aspx?id=22846#reg

PBS TeacherLine offers more than 100 online professional
development courses in content areas, such as math, reading and technology
integration. Teacherline courses are developed through partnerships with
national leaders, such as the Concord Consortium, ISTE and McREL. The
newly updated Tech330 explores Web 2.0 tools (wikis, blogs and social
networking) within the context of collaborative classroom projects.
Suits: K–12 teachers, administrators, technology staff
Costs: Free trial for 30 days; Tech330, $199; check Web site or call
(800) 572-6386 for subscription pricing for all courses
Locations and Dates: Online, anywhere/anytime
Credits: graduate credits available; 2 credits for Tech330
Web: http://www.pbs.org/teacherline/
Plus: The PBS TeacherLine Peer Connection offers more than 200
professional development modules for coaching, mentoring and
communities of practice.
Suits: K–12 coaches, trainers, administrators
Costs: Free trial for 30 days
Locations and Dates: Online, anywhere/anytime
Web: http://www.pbs.org/peerconnection/

The Northeast & The Islands Regional Technology in Education
Consortium (NEIRTEC) has compiled papers, lessons, tools and guides
to support technology planning and integration. Of particular note is the
Collaborative Evaluation Led by Local Educators: A Practical, Print-and
Web-Based Guide. The detailed guide links to how-to Web resources for
each stage of evaluation.
Suits: K–12 teachers, administrators, technology integration team
Costs: Free
Web: http://www.neirtec.org/tools.htm

The Professional Development Focus of the Year series identifies
resources from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
journals, publications, Web sites, e-Workshops and sessions at the Annual
Meeting and Regional Conferences that relate to one of the key themes
from Principles and Standards of School Mathematics. The 2009 focus is
Equity: All Means All. Resources are categorized by Elementary, Middle
School and High School, and past Focus of the Year themes are archived.
Articles cover general classroom strategies, research and publications.
Enhanced articles include a professional development guide with discussion
questions, activities and extensions. Articles can be purchased and
downloaded directly from the Web site.
Web: http://www.nctm.org/profdev/content.aspx?id=10836

ProQuest’s Training & Support Center offers quick-start guides,
free-Web training sessions, recorded videos, PowerPoints, information on
setting up in-person training and more. Get video podcasts via Apple iTunes
and Adobe Flash. Click Web Class Lists | Dates for the free Web Training
Classes. Whether you select self-paced or on-site, the extensive list of
workshops makes it easy to find training to meet individual or staff needs.
Register for a free trial of ProQuest K–12 to explore the research tools.
Suits: K–12 teachers, administrators
Costs: Free
Locations and Dates: Online, anywhere/anytime; see online schedule for Web
training classes
Web: http://www.proquestk12.com/trainingsupport.shtml

Thinkfinity offers several free professional development training
opportunities for individual educators to learn more about the Verizon
Foundation’s Thinkfinity resource. The following options are available:
• Self-guided overview
Audience: Educators, parents, after-school practitioners
Delivery: Online via FLASH (15 minutes)
• Educator Webinar
Audience: Educators
Delivery: Interactive Webinar (1 hour)
• Thinkfinity Literacy Network Offerings
Audience: Educators; literacy program administrators, staff and
volunteers; students of all ages; English language learners; parents and
caregivers; community members
Delivery: Online courses, self-paced and self-moderated (30 to 90 minutes
per course)
Suits: K–12 teachers, trainers, administrators, professional development
staff
Costs: Free
Locations and Dates: Online, anywhere/anytime
Web: http://www.thinkfinity.org/pd/request_training.aspx

Cloud Computing

I have been encouraging students and colleagues to migrate from Microsoft Office 2004 (ours is an Apple school) to Google Docs primarily because most already have Gmail accounts. However, I remain conflicted regarding which online service would best serve our needs. One thing is certain. As a small inner-city Catholic girls high school, we have better uses for our limited resources than upgrading our MS Office and Adobe software products every few years. Migration to free or very low cost online services becomes a higher priority as our locally installed software suites continue to age. While we can't completely rule out free locally installed substitutes such as Open Office, keeping things technically simple through use of web-based applications appeals to me. Complicating the issue is, of course, the question of trust. Will whatever service we adopt be reliable, safe and secure in the long run? On the other hand, are our aging servers and lack of a reliable backup system even less trustworthy?

There are an ever increasing number of viable options and even Microsoft has announced their 2010 planned entry into the market. Microsoft plans to offer reduced editions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. I've only started to look closely at Zoho.com's offerings and so far I'm impressed by both the depth and breadth. Consider a web-based suite of applications that includes:
--word processing ("Writer");
--spreadsheet ("Sheet");
--presentation ("Show");
--customer relations manager ("CRM");
--e-mail ("Mail");
--note taker ("Notebook");
--document management ("Docs");
--wiki ("Wiki");
--organizing tool ("Planner");
--instant messaging and group chat (Chat");
--web conferencing ("Meeting");
--project management ("Project")
--web applications creator ("Creator");
--database and reporting ("Reports");
--invoice ("Invoice"); and
--centralized public repository ("Share").

This could be the one but will they be around long enough? At least give it a look.

Intro to Technology Integration

Two-minute introductory integration video from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction-video.

Nine-minute overview integration video from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-overview-video.

Free technology for teachers: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/08/masher-great-video-creation-tool.html.

"I need my teachers to learn": http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/09/i-need-my-teachers-to-learn-great-new.html.

Example Teacher Web 2.0 Portal

Example Teacher Web 2 0 Portal

A Great Ice Breaker

Teacher Tools 3

http://classroom.jc-schools.net/guidance/teachers.html
Parent guidance resources
http://www.rayslearning.com/comment.htm
Teacher report assistant
http://www.thinkinggear.com/tools/
ThinkingGear Tools are designed to help you create and implement instructional products and materials that can be infused into your current curriculum.
http://www.thinkport.org/default.tp
Thinkport is a resource for Maryland educators, families, and communities from Maryland Public Television and Johns Hopkins University Center for Technology in Education
http://www.region15.org/curriculum/graphicorg.html
Region 15 graphic organizers (English and Spanish)
http://www.bcr.org/cdp/index.html
BCR’s CDP enables access to cultural, historical and scientific heritage collections of the West by building collaboration between archives, historical societies, libraries and museums. The key to its success is collaboration.
http://www.findsounds.com/
FindSounds.com, a free site where you can search the Web for sound effects and musical instrument samples. Take a look at the types of sounds you can find
http://www.chemcollective.org/
The Chemistry Collective is a collection of virtual labs, scenario-based learning activities, and concepts tests which can be incorporated into a variety of teaching approaches as pre-labs, alternatives to textbook homework, and in-class activities for individuals or teams.
http://www.educationworld.com/tools_templates/
The educator's best friend.
http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/
Welcome to a place where teachers and students can connect art and curriculum.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/
NOVA Teachers
http://member.thinkfree.com/member/goLandingPage.action
Free web-based document sharing.
http://www.nicenet.org/
Nicenet is a volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to providing free services to the Internet community. Nicenet's primary offering, the Internet Classroom Assistant (ICA) is designed to address the pedagogical needs and limited resources of teachers and their students.
http://tappedin.org/tappedin/
K-12 teachers, librarians, administrators, and professional development staff, as well as university faculty, students, and researchers gather here to learn, collaborate, share, and support one another.
http://www.intime.uni.edu/
Integrating new technologies into the methods of education.
http://www.lasw.org/
This web site represents an association of individuals and educational organizations that focus on looking at student work to strengthen connections between instruction, curriculum, and other aspects of school life to students' learning.
http://www.pbs.org/teacherline/
Professional development for PreK-12 educators. A service of PBS Teachers.
http://www.inspiration.com/community/
Find and share ideas about visual learning, Inspiration®, InspireData™ and Kidspiration®.

Teacher Tools 2

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplans.jsp
Scholastic - Teaching Resources
http://www.classroom20.com/
social network for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies
http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/sites/sites085.shtml
Education World
http://www.edutopia.org/
Edutopia - the George Lucas Educational Foundation
http://letterpop.com/
Newsletters, actionable presentations
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/index.shtml
Teaching Ideas - free lesson ideas, activities and resources
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/blogboard/
Teacher Magazine blogboard
http://www.4teachers.org/
4Teachers - Teach With Technology
http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/intech/javatimer/javatimer.html
Class Timer - count down/count up
http://www.megaconverter.com/mega2/
Mega-converter
http://www.engrade.com/
Engrade is a free set of web-based tools for educators allowing them to manage their classes online while providing parents and students with 24/7 real-time online class information.
http://www.gradeconnect.com/front/
GradeConnect - An online course management system that streamlines and enhances communications between teachers, students and parents.

Maybe Arne is Right

From the June 11, 2009 The Economist print edition.

American children have it easier than most other children in the world, including the supposedly lazy Europeans. They have one of the shortest school years anywhere, a mere 180 days compared with an average of 195 for OECD countries and more than 200 for East Asian countries. German children spend 20 more days in school than American ones, and South Koreans over a month more. Over 12 years, a 15-day deficit means American children lose out on 180 days of school, equivalent to an entire year.

American children also have one of the shortest school days, six-and-a-half hours, adding up to 32 hours a week. By contrast, the school week is 37 hours in Luxembourg, 44 in Belgium, 53 in Denmark and 60 in Sweden. On top of that, American children do only about an hour’s-worth of homework a day, a figure that stuns the Japanese and Chinese.

Americans also divide up their school time oddly. They cram the school day into the morning and early afternoon, and close their schools for three months in the summer. The country that tut-tuts at Europe’s mega-holidays thinks nothing of giving its children such a lazy summer. But the long summer vacation acts like a mental eraser, with the average child reportedly forgetting about a month’s-worth of instruction in many subjects and almost three times that in mathematics. American academics have even invented a term for this phenomenon, “summer learning loss”. This pedagogical understretch is exacerbating social inequalities. Poorer children frequently have no one to look after them in the long hours between the end of the school day and the end of the average working day. They are also particularly prone to learning loss. They fall behind by an average of over two months in their reading. Richer children actually improve their performance.

The understretch is also leaving American children ill-equipped to compete. They usually perform poorly in international educational tests, coming behind Asian countries that spend less on education but work their children harder. California’s state universities have to send over a third of their entering class to take remedial courses in English and maths. At least a third of successful PhD students come from abroad.

A growing number of politicians from both sides of the aisle are waking up to the problem. Barack Obama has urged school administrators to “rethink the school day”, arguing that “we can no longer afford an academic calendar designed for when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home ploughing the land at the end of each day.” Newt Gingrich has trumpeted a documentary arguing that Chinese and Indian children are much more academic than American ones.

These politicians have no shortage of evidence that America’s poor educational performance is weakening its economy. A recent report from McKinsey, a management consultancy, argues that the lagging performance of the country’s school pupils, particularly its poor and minority children, has wreaked more devastation on the economy than the current recession.
Learning the lesson

A growing number of schools are already doing what Mr Obama urges, and experimenting with lengthening the school day. About 1,000 of the country’s 90,000 schools have broken the shackles of the regular school day. In particular, charter schools in the Knowledge is Power Programme (KIPP) start the school day at 7.30am and end at 5pm, hold classes on some Saturdays and teach for a couple of weeks in the summer. All in all, KIPP students get about 60% more class time than their peers and routinely score better in tests.

Still, American schoolchildren are unlikely to end up working as hard as the French, let alone the South Koreans, any time soon. There are institutional reasons for this. The federal government has only a limited influence over the school system. Powerful interest groups, most notably the teachers’ unions, but also the summer-camp industry, have a vested interest in the status quo. But reformers are also up against powerful cultural forces.

One is sentimentality; the archetypical American child is Huckleberry Finn, who had little taste for formal education. Another is complacency. American parents have led grass-root protests against attempts to extend the school year into August or July, or to increase the amount of homework their little darlings have to do. They still find it hard to believe that all those Chinese students, beavering away at their books, will steal their children’s jobs. But Huckleberry Finn was published in 1884. And brain work is going the way of manual work, to whoever will provide the best value for money. The next time Americans make a joke about the Europeans and their taste for la dolce vita, they ought to take a look a bit closer to home.

Hope for "Our Endangered Catholic Schools"

The following article was published last April and, frankly, I forgot about it. So instead of writing about it, I'll just quote the entire article from the April 21, 2009 Washington Post.

The positive findings in the Education Department's recent evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program provide more evidence that high-quality private and parochial schools can have invaluable benefits for low-income, minority students. Tragically, however, Catholic schools, long the heart and soul of urban private education, are disappearing. Last year, seven Catholic schools in Washington were converted into charters, and the Dioceses of Brooklyn and Cleveland are considering another round of school closures.

This accelerating crisis, which robs disadvantaged city students of desperately needed educational options, has such profound and negative implications that two U.S. presidents, almost two generations apart, urged intervention. One of us helped staff Richard Nixon's "panel on non-public education" in 1970; the other wrote the Bush administration's report last year. Yet schools keep closing.

If America is to preserve inner-city Catholic education, help is needed from the other side of the aisle. We hope the Obama administration will step forward.

Most urban Catholic schools were originally built to educate the children of European immigrants; today, they mostly serve poor African American and Latino students. With their long track record of successfully educating ill-served populations, these schools can play a central role in the nation's effort to expand educational opportunity and reduce the achievement gap.

But not if they disappear. Between 2000 and 2006, nearly 1,200 faith-based urban schools closed, affecting 425,000 students. Most were Catholic schools, though other faith traditions also closed many of their inner-city schools.

In these communities, good schools are scarce. Districts try, and charter schools start, but a big fraction of the successful schools in such neighborhoods are Catholic. They have intentionally kept their tuitions low to stay within reach of poor families. Their disappearance weakens American urban education and blights the prospects of many thousands of needy youngsters.

Piecemeal local solutions have fallen short. This is a national education crisis that needs a national response.

It's possible that President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan understand the gravity of this challenge. Over the past decade, their home town of Chicago led the nation in Catholic school closures -- 63. Surely they grasp the heart-rending human impact of these school closings.

Both have solid records as urban education reformers, particularly with regard to charter schools, which are built on the belief that parents need sound education options and that the common good is well served by schools run under various auspices, not just by large public-sector bureaucracies.

Urban Catholic schools, though far older than charters, are cut from the same cloth. They serve the public interest by providing a rigorous, safe education to needy students, and they are run by an organization, the Catholic Church, that through hospitals, charities, food banks and more has long made valuable contributions to the larger community. Yes, religion is woven into the fabric of these schools, but that shouldn't justify governmental indifference to their plight, especially given the paucity of other great schools in these communities.

The Obama administration could help turn this fatal tide. Stimulus funds could be used to shore up schools on the brink, provide assistance to their teachers and administrators, or expand and replicate promising local strategies. The president could support education tax credits or scholarships, which would help needy students and stabilize school enrollments. By simply underscoring his support and concern for these schools, he would indicate the bipartisan nature of this issue, thereby providing cover to others eager to act but wary of the political implications.

America can no longer be distracted by the ideological battles surrounding educational choice and competition. The issue today is simply our willingness to save vital institutions that have admirably served poor children for generations.

Republican administrations have pushed this issue as far as they were able to -- but without great success. We are audacious enough to hope that, for the sake of hundreds of thousands of at-risk children, this Democratic administration will put its shoulder to this wheel and push until there is movement.

Chester E. Finn Jr., a White House aide from 1969 to 1970 and assistant secretary of education from 1985 to 1988, is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Andy Smarick, a White House aide from 2007 to 2008 and deputy assistant secretary of education from 2008 to 2009, is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Fordham Institute.

Teacher Tech Tools 1

http://www.ideastoinspire.co.uk/index.html#2
Ideas to Inspire
http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/
ICT in My Classroom
http://dougbelshaw.com/blog/
Education. Technology. Productivity
http://www.edublog.jrowing.com/
Teaching Learning Technology
http://happyhippy.edublogs.org/
I Should Be Marking
http://www.billmcaninch.blogspot.com
It's Elementary My Dear Watson
http://sharegeography.co.uk/
Share Geography
http://www.digitalgeography.co.uk/
Digital Geography
http://www.2learn.ca/teachertools/Wordprocessing/wphow2.html
Word Processing Tools
http://www.grammaruntied.com/
A guide to grammar, punctuation and style
http://sqooltools.com/
eLearning
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/methods/whatworks/edpicks.jhtml
Doing What Works
http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
http://www.besthistorysites.net/
Best of History Web Sites
http://nsdl.org/
The National Science Digital Library
http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/assessments/
Interactive Assessments
http://www.fsdb.k12.fl.us/rmc/tutorials/whiteboards.html
Interactive Whiteboards In the Classroom
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/index.php?method=FreeDownloads
An empowering place where teachers buy & sell original and used teaching materials and make teaching an even more rewarding experience
http://adavis.pbworks.com/Language+Arts+Examples
Blog To Learn
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/03/lp322-01.shtml
Education World--The Educator's Best Friend

Five Technology Processes

Building on Commitment

A few blogs ago I referred to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I invoke that model again. Operationally, individuals or groups do not move upward through levels before each lower level is substantially and continuously satisfied. When a lower level is not being substantially satisfied, individuals and groups will regress to efforts to regain satisfaction at the lower level. Arguably this concept applies as well to my model above, with exception. I can see where the actions required at more than one lower level might be ongoing during the same time frame without deterring progress. For example, installation of computers and word processing software would probably be necessary, to some degree, before word processing training should begin. Yet installation of computers and word processing software can readily be installed while constructivist pedagogy orientations and instruction occur. As noted in the "The Results Are In" blog below, Maslow's hierarchy can apply to education as well as to the work place. A great interpretation of his thoughts on education can be found here are are quoted in part below:

Maslow believes that the only reason that people would not move well in direction of self-actualization is because of hindrances placed in their way by society. He states that education is one of these hindrances. He recommends ways education can switch from its usual person-stunting tactics to person-growing approaches. Maslow states that educators should respond to the potential an individual has for growing into a self-actualizing person of his/her own kind. Ten points that educators should address are listed:

1. We should teach people to be authentic, to be aware of their inner selves and to hear their inner-feeling voices.
2. We should teach people to transcend their cultural conditioning and become world citizens.
3. We should help people discover their vocation in life, their calling, fate or destiny. This is especially focused on finding the right career and the right mate.
4. We should teach people that life is precious, that there is joy to be experienced in life, and if people are open to seeing the good and joyous in all kinds of situations, it makes life worth living.
5. We must accept the person as he or she is and help the person learn their inner nature. From real knowledge of aptitudes and limitations we can know what to build upon, what potentials are really there.
6. We must see that the person's basic needs are satisfied. This includes safety, belongingness, and esteem needs.
7. We should refreshen consciousness, teaching the person to appreciate beauty and the other good things in nature and in living.
8. We should teach people that controls are good, and complete abandon is bad. It takes control to improve the quality of life in all areas.
9. We should teach people to transcend the trifling problems and grapple with the serious problems in life. These include the problems of injustice, of pain, suffering, and death.
10. We must teach people to be good choosers. They must be given practice in making good choices.

Practicing What You Believe

Today I was reviewing old notes about professional development and found this that I once wrote in response to a request for PD recommendations: "The professional development focus should not be on technology, rather on pedagogical practices. Should technology be found to be complementary to or facilitating of constructivist learning, teachers will seek training and education in the use of technology." At the time I was certain that if teachers believed in the value of a student-centered approach to teaching,technology integration would naturally follow. Seemed logical, however,it was not exactly what I experienced when observing classroom teachers. Wondering if there were studies on this issue, I conducted a web search and found this: How teachers integrate technology and their beliefs about learning: is there a connection?. The final sentence in the FINDINGS section states, "Put simply, the researchers stepped into the classrooms with a constructivist lens and found there was no significant correlation between teachers' reported beliefs about instruction and their actual practice of integrating technology." The questions I am left with are: 1) technology integration aside, do teachers who profess to believe in the value of a contructivist pedagogy actually practice it? and 2) what do we do now, focus on technology integration disassociated from student-centered learning?

Just In Time Learning

About a year ago I bought a book on Adobe's Photoshop and determined to learn how to use it. It was/is touted as being the premier photo editing software; however, due to its capabilities, difficult to learn and use. Being proficient in many off-the-shelf applications, I thought I would breeze through the book, thus becoming a Photoshop expert. Wrong! Well, maybe not entirely. Working through the book, in about a month I "Photoshopped" a lot of photos, creating some really cool effects. But I really couldn't find much use for the edited photos (a few family laughs was about it) so my interest in Photoshop wained. Its been about 10 months since I've even opened the application. What I mostly need in photo editing is redeye correction and cropping. The old tried and true Microsoft PhotoDraw (yes, I still have a copy installed) or Paint.net work just fine for such basic editing. So, whatever esoteric expertness I developed with Photoshop is now mostly gone. Why? Because I didn't have a need to use it. Of course, to regain my familiarity with the software would take less time that it did to learn it initially, but practically I wasted my time during those two months a year ago.

This seems to be pretty much how it is regarding most things technological. How many of you have been required to sit through four hours of, say, MS Excel professional development? This continues to be typical of technology professional development sessions, even though experience has taught us that ten percent of those attending the sessions will remember ten percent of what was presented. That ten percent needed only to remember the ten percent they remembered. They had no immediate need for the other ninety percent of the information and the other ninety percent of the attendees had no need for one hundred percent of the information. The ten percent with the need(s) probably could have satisfied their need(s) in a timely manner with a 15 or 20-minute one-on-one training session with a knowledgeable user. I call this Just In Time Learning. Or better, Just In Time Training.

It sounds a bit like the "authentic" (realistic, project-based, problem-based, inquiry-based, etc.) learning that we are familiar with as a pedagogical tactic, with two major differences: the training occurs because an immediate need is realized and the training is conducted during a time frame when the need is prevalent--just in time. Sending an email message to tech support, asking a more knowledgeable colleague, clicking the Help menu item in most applications, conducting a Google search, or perusing an online tutorial are just a few Just In Time Training vehicles available to address an immediate technology need. My experienced guess is that when technology training occurs just in time it will more likely stick.

I am not proposing that group technology professional development be abandoned completely. Group orientations and collaboration are valuable to familiarize staff with potential software uses and to exchange technological integration into classroom instruction and curricula ideas and experiences. Group training sessions are also appropriate before and during introduction of new or major upgrades to administrative and management software.

The Results Are In

There are good and bad urban public charter schools and there and good and bad urban non-charter public schools. Profound! Regardless of reformer and transformer interventions, mayoral control or not, instant principal and teacher schools, more money spent per student, more hours in the classroom, more alternative schools, less bureaucracy, less union interference, more firings and hirings, more school turn-arounds, closures and openings, and Arne's focus on whatever works, the infamous "gap" continues, whether it be the real or perceived gap between the our and other advanced nations' students or between disadvantaged and not-so-disadvantaged students. (Phew, and I surely missed a number of experiments.) So what does work? Why exactly do some school do better than others that yields significantly better test scores? And should the goal be to equalize test scores, assuming that tests are good indicators of student potential as well as current knowledge? Probably not. I think the best we can do is strive to equalize education opportunity.

It could be that the "no excuses" schools are on the right path but I'm also inclined to agree with the notion that "our urban public schools cannot succeed unless health, social and employment issues are addressed" (see Jay Mathews blog). My thoughts on this turn to basic management theory. Many will remember Maslow's hierarchy of needs pyramid: simply put, the majority of lower level needs (physiological, safety, love/belonging and esteem) must be met before one can experience self-actualization. As Deborah Meier observed

The poor kids I encountered in kindergarten were accustomed to more formal and more consistent good manners—whether it was in how to address their elders or how to dress properly. They were less whiney and more obedient.

Children of the poor get tougher and more unmannerly slowly. In time, they lose respect for authority. Perhaps because adults are rarely able (or willing) to protect them. Maybe because many public authorities quite openly treat them and their families disrespectfully. Over time, they come to depend on “the streets” and their “peer culture” for safety...

When children of the poor realize that their lower level needs are not being met, they begin to seek satisfaction elsewhere, usually from within a culture that does not place much value on education. Obviously a small percentage of urban poor children achieve educational self-actualization in spite of their communities and economic circumstances. I will bet that these children are somehow experiencing a greater degree of basic needs satisfaction than the majority as well as being indoctrinated with the no excuses concept.

How important is technology in the educational setting?

I was recently asked that question. I stumbled. I know I should be able to answer it; no, I know the answer. But I just could't seem to filter and organize the billions of synapses that were firing to form a concise response. I mumbled something about the ubiquitousness of technology and the skills and knowledge needed to perform successfully in higher education endeavors and the after-education environment. In retrospect a better response would have been to narrow the question to something like, "How important is technology in facilitating the learning process?"

I categorize educational technology into five general processes, mostly for my own use in setting priorities for providing service and support (numbering not necessarily indicative of priority):
(1) interactive education process (core subjects teaching-learning primarily within the classroom);
(2) unilateral learning process (students using technology not under the direct supervision of a teacher);
(3) technology as a separate subject area (e.g. computer courses);
(4) school administration and management (school information/management systems, course/learning management systems, routine administrative and management functions; and
(5) faculty/staff technology professional development.
To refine the question a little further, we'll remove numbers 3 through 5 from consideration. Now the answer leaps to mind--it's that tried and true buzzword, "engage". Whether or not you agree with Mark Prensky's digital native-digital immigrant concept, we can all agree that K-16 students have access to and have used a hell of a lot of digital interactive stuff. They are comfortable in that world and they bring that world to school with them, whether we allow them to do so or not. At least outside of school they operate in that world. If you are a proponent of the constructivist or constructionist pedagogy and agree that engaged students learn faster and deeper, you will allow, even encourage, them to bring their digital world into the learning process and you will use those tools to guide them.

The answer then should have been, "Kids are immersed in technology and technology is indisputably in their futures. It follows, then, that if we intend to engage them fully in the learning process, technology most be a major ingredient in the educational environment."

FAIL - Individualized PD Plans

Reading Will Richardson's recent post, "Personalizing Education for Teachers, Too," brought me to a time about a year ago when in my role as technology director, I felt that our schools had stagnated in moving toward our goal of enhancing student achievement by adopting and implementing engagement and contructivist learning practices. A major objective within the goal was technology integration.

I addressed the stagnation issue to the Director of Schools and we agreed that I should present a "straw man" concept plan to the administration so as to get the discussion going. The day of the presentation came and we soared through the slides on engaging students, pedagogies, curriculum changes, and technology department reorganization. The administrators were obviously enthused and were offering insights and methods for consideration. Then we got to the keystone of the entire plan, an individualized professional development program.

I conceived and proposed an individual program that included multiple methods from conferences and eLearning to one-on-one to accommodate learning styles and broad content choices (unspecified) to accommodate teacher interest. I emphasized that all we had discussed to this point was dependent on an aggressive, multi-faceted PD program. As with previous talking points, I paused for reaction. Silence! It seemed to me to be an awkward silence. You know what I mean--no one in room even looks toward another. Rather, they look down at the table top. Seconds like hours pass and I click to the wrap up slide. "Thank you, Bill. You've given us a lot to think and talk about."

I still don't know why the cold shoulder. When I asked, the "awkward silence" was denied. "Really, do you think so? I thought your ideas were well received." I imagine that I had ventured into an off-limits subject area. One reserved for senior administrators. Almost all the teachers (92%)I had collaborated with in preparation for the presentation indicated that they desired more control over the what and how of their technology PD. In anonymous surveys, all were unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with the current PD program. And in group and one-on-one discussions on the subjects, teachers appeared willing, even eager, to discuss and work with me on the concept. It's got to be an administrator thing.

Technology Integration Model

I've been wrestling with developing a comprehensive yet simple to present/explain model for technology integration. I was initially attracted to the Mishra-Kohler Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) model. It says a lot but because it was developed in a pre-service environment for the use of pre-service practitioners, it may not address all the elements necessary to actualize the model in a K12 environment. For example, it assumes that the infrastructure, hardware, and software are already in place. And I wonder if such other factors such as space, place, time, communities, and administrative/board commitment should be integrated into an application model as "essentials" to tech integration. I'm working on what else and I suspect that many of these can be subordinated to the three types of knowledge (TPC) and infrastructure-hardware-software.

No More Teachers' Dirty Looks

Jeff Utrecht, The Thinking Stick, recently blogged about virtual high school initiatives in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Very enlightening in view of what else I've been reading about advances in school architecture designed to be more in line with new pedagogies and collaborative environments. The blog also got me to envisioning the complete disappearance of schools--not schooling, but the physical buildings, and local, even state educational bureaucracies. Not only will the walls come down but political/educational boundaries will be eliminated and students will no longer be grouped, by age or otherwise. Initially, the new schooling systems may be commercial and competitive under the auspices of a federal department of curriculum compliance and assessment. How will students, parents, teachers and bureaucrats know when a student is ready to what? Matriculate? Graduate? What? Or could we leave the "what?" up to the business employment market? How could we handle social activities like sports, plays and concerts? Interesting.

Didn't Get the Job

What made the difference? I was afraid to ask. Was I afraid of the answer? Of the two finalists for a K8 school district technology director position, I was the one notified today that the other candidate was selected. "It was an extremely difficult decision to make, as both candidates possess..." blah, blah, blah. Never able to accept rejection well, I didn't hear anything after "possess."

Having been laid off as of the end of last July from a director of information technology position (eight years) for a upscale independent school, I wasn't just looking forward to employment, I was getting (am) desperate. I need the money! Why was I laid off? A department reorganization and job description redesign left me in philosophical opposition to the reigning administration. Really though, I was being asked to accept more responsibility for less money.

So, again, why wasn't I the chosen one? Age? Possibly. The demands of the online application make it impossible to avoid indirectly admitting age. I'm 67 now and that, coupled with my 20+ years of technology executive and manager experience, would surely have given the search team reason to expect that I would accept the position only if compensated at the upper end of the range or beyond. Should I have made it clear during the interviews that I would be satisfied at the mid-range?

Could it be because I am white? Maybe, but probably not. Although, the district is 60% Hispanic and 25% African American with the rest being white and a small percentage of Asians, the four members of the search team were white so.... I wonder if the other candidate was Hispanic. I would feel better if he/she were.

Ah ha, it was because I am a male. Right? After all, three of the four members of the search team were female. Could be but I don't know that other candidate was female.

I would like to think that any of the aforementioned reasons, or combinations thereof, would be beneath the search team members. So, I've come to the elevated conclusion that I was overqualified for the position. My resume cover letter reads, in part, "I believe that the key to enhancing student achievement lies in the confluence of curricular content, construtivist pedagogies, and technology integration--that the interoperability of these three elements will foster engaged learning, encourage students to accept accountability and responsibility for their own education, and consequently prepare them for success in the 21st Century." Was that too much education jargon for a technology director? Yea, I'm competent in the technical aspects of being a managing technologist, but, as most of us have come to realize over the past two decades, infrastructure, hardware and software, no matter how abundant, will do little to promote enhanced anything, much less, learning. And during the interviews I repeatedly emphasized my interest in technology integration, developing new and supporting curricular content, technology professional development, advanced pedagogies, eLearning, acceptance and promotion of Web 2.0 and the need for schools to revisit post-industrial place, space and time constraints to teacher and student collaboration and communication. Could I have gone so far as to suggest that students might be allowed to use certain personal collaboration tools--in school? I suspect that I should not have strayed so far from my technology roots. Hell, I even mentioned multi-discipline, vertical and horizontal co-learning, co-teaching, mentoring and broader external community learning environments.

Of course, this last may not have been the reason I wasn't selected, but I don't want to hear it. I do not want to believe that the other candidate was simply more qualified than I or even that she/he was a "better fit." Don't you love that phrase--don't rock the boat!

I'm changing my cover letter and my resume and if I ever get another interview opportunity I will stick to topologies, servers, help desks, database management, E-rate, hardware and software installations and troubleshooting/fixing, telephony, operating systems, web design/development, and other stuff like that.