Room Arrangement Observations

In my role as Secondary Technology Integration Specialist, I have the opportunity to observe many classrooms in our three secondary buildings. 75 percent of the room arrangements are traditional desks, set in rows much like the picture on the left. For the most part, the instructional delivery in these classrooms is PowerPoint presentations from an overhead projector. There are exceptions. Several teachers have begun moving to more tables and collaborative spaces in the classroom. Some utilize a horse-shoe design that allows for more conversational instruction. Last year, during a pilot of 1:1 laptop learning, staff piloting laptops with students switched from desks to tables and a more collaborative arrangement. This year, even without the laptops, they have maintained this arrangement for their instruction.

The classroom on the right is where 21st Century Literacy is taught at one of our Middle Schools. There are computers around the room, along with a laptop cart of 10 more. The teachers and I wrote a grant for the laptops during the first year of the courses existence. This allows for some direct instruction followed by time in class to collaborate, communicate and create.

In most cases, the teacher's desk is either in the back corner or the front corner, which may be a result more of where the power and projector connection is located rather than true teacher preference.

All of our classrooms have a projector with software on the computer for manipulating between 2 video inputs and the ability to blacken the screen.

While at least 2 classrooms in 2 of the buildings have an Inter-active White board (IWB), most do not. 5 years ago, the district started allowing teachers to apply for grants for an Interwrite tablet. Teachers filled out an application, and if approved, received 3 hours of training, and the use of the tablet for their instruction. The thinking behind this was:

a) The pads were 1/3-1/4 the cost of a board

b) The pads were more portable, freeing the teacher from being the "sage on the stage." This allowed for better classroom management, as well as allowing the teacher to work towards more "student-centered" pedagogy. For most staff, the pads have served mostly as a "glorified wireless mouse," though some have made use of the software for annotation and interactive lessons. Some staff have also taken advantage of saving their interactive lessons as pdf files and posting them for students who are absent, or those with special needs.

A few classroom teachers have written grants for Audio Enhancement systems for their classrooms. This universal design feature allows for clearer understanding of the teacher for those with hearing loss, and research has shown added benefits of less missed time for staff, increased speech and language growth, and a reduction in special education referals.

Many classrooms have student computers that have long since passed their prime. Many require 15 minutes for students to simply log in, making them obsolete.

As staff explore integrating 21st Century skills such as collaboration, creativity, communication and problem solving into their curriculum, moving towards work tables and away from individual desks will assist the classroom teacher with this new pedagogy. This also requires that teachers be more active in the classroom, walking around more, rather than standing in one spot to view what students are doing. Professional Development for staff will need to take these arrangement strategies into consideration, and administrators will need to consider the type of furniture ordered to outfit classrooms when making purchasing decisions.

Action Team Meeting Notes: September 28

Today I met with several fellow staff members who work in teacher leadership positions for a training session with our district superintendent, Ric Dressen.

It was an opportunity to learn more about how we can be effective in our role, and where we fit in the district leadership model. We began by sharing introductions and expectations for what we hope to learn today. Our district has been using the "TEAMWORKS International" Framework for leadership for the last 3 years. Many here were interested in learning where we fit in to the Framework and contribute to the leadership of the district. What follows are my notes from the session.

Dressen immediately had us turn to the mission and vision of the district and reminded us that in all of our roles, this is the key!

We have moved from an institutional model of education that moved as many people as we could in the shortest amount of time. Now we are moving to a "service partnership," a flatter system where we all work together for the common good.

In leadership, there is constant pressure from outside the organization and within the organization. The work happens inside. We need to find support systems to assist us, and to develop policies and protocols to create a sense of coherence. Find how you connect to these different forces to be successful. We looked more closely at a quote we saw in August from Robert Quinn from Deep Change:

A team is..."an enthusiastic set of competent people who have clearly defined roles, associated in common activity, working cohesively in trusting relationships, and exercising personal discipline and making sacrifices for the good of the team."

Our focusing question should be: "What has the biggest impact for kids?"

One of the changes in leadership is never having a feeling of competency. Greatest learning in the first 3 years, and then there's some leveling, but you always have new challenges.

Stay focussed on the mission!

Go ahead and fail. Go ahead and make a mistake. We are about innovation and innovation isn't always successful.

There is no upstairs. The strategic plan flattened our organization.

Leadership's Collective Creativity

District leadership shall seek to...

• Live by Core Values and Norms
• value Team Members
• Utilize Problem Solving tools
• embrace Courageous Conversations
• implement Policies
• advance Leadership Training
• find Joy in our work.

How can the staff handbook help clarify my role? (Suggested activity.)

FrameWorks

The research is showing that a new bubble is emerging between teachers and administrators.

Covey talks about change, choice and principles as driving our work in the 21st Century.

It's important to keep district governance as the role of the school board and public, and the management the role of the administrative team. Policy is designed to define these roles.

A site based approach for support, resources and accountability. By doing this, the DO is there to serve the buildings, we are there to serve the staff at the site level.

Leadership that commits to:

• 21st Century research and training
• A focus on Leadership vs. Management
• The exit of non-aligned functions and activities
• The benefits of technology
• The appropriate use of:
• Partnerships
• Consultants
• Outsourcing
• Celebration

Dressen: Moving the natural leadership qualities we have into purposefulness. This is the maturation of leadership.

Then we looked at the Power and Authority aspect of the Framwork.

Cultural Authority-Relational and Institutional

Organizational Authority-Titles and Positions, Roles and Responsibilities (easy to get, hard to lose) Know who this person is to check in with.

Competency Authority-Work within the system/connection/relationships to demonstrate (hard to get, hard to lose)

Look at where you are at within an effort to determine which authority is needed and can move something forward.

Aligning choice with authority.

Team Structure-Not Hierarchical!

Lead Team

Carry out the strategic plan-Few decisions

Admin Team

Building leadership

Action Team

Teacher Leaders (Where I fit in.)

Tools to assist us in decision making and in our role:

• Find the positional authorities to contact so you don't get to far ahead of something. Find the competent people who are the "goto" people. Keep building the cultural piece. We are directing things that the majority of the people may not be interested in moving towards.
• What is the REALITY? Create shared understandings over RESPONSE with feedback loops prior to CREATing the plan. Then create shared ownership and COMMIT to the plan.

What leaves the system when change occurs? As new initiatives move in, what exits, and when?

There is an urge at the implementation phase to allow things to exit. Sometimes exits can be "short term wins" to get buy in.

The goal today was to move from our gut to being more reflective in our work.

Separate yourself as an educator from your position. The push-back is at the position, not at you.

All of us felt that this time had been a worthwhile experience. It was great to have the opportunity to share concerns in a safe, non-threatening environment, and to have our superintendent mentor us in this way. I look forward to future learning opportunities with this group!

Project BluePrint: Curtis W. Johnson

Edina is hosting Project BluePrint Schools this week. Comprised of districts that are suburban and of similar stature in their respective states, Project BluePrint consists of the school districts of Guilford, Connecticut; Wayland, Massachusetts; Cape Elizabeth, Maine; Palisades,Pennsylvania; Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin; Clayton, Missouri and Edina.

Curtis Johnson, co-author of the book Disrupting Class, How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, was invited to speak to the superintendents, curriculum directors, technology directors and teachers representing the different districts. My notes on the session follow.

Johnson began by asking those in the audience "Why would a 14 year old want to go to High School?

His answer: Social Peer group interaction and to feel competent. Are our schools meeting those needs?

He told the story of a suburban Boston convenience store that had lines of people buying milkshakes between 6:30-7 a.m. Johnson said that people "hired" the milkshake to have something to hold on to on the commute, because it was viscous so it would last a long time, and filling enough to get them through lunch.

Not long ago, dropping out could still be a ticket to success later in life. Today, not so much.

The economic downturn has lead to a new normal: We are not on top, we can't just roll out of bed and be successful. Commodities were cheap. Every trend that made us stay on top are in reverse.

China is back and here to stay.

Are we going back to that profile? Here are some statistics prior to the downturn:

• 41% of workforce in financial services.
• 35% of U.S. capitalization was in Real Estate
• 58% of graduates of top universities went into Law or Finance. Not making things, or running things.
• 1/2 of Wall Street trading on average is flash trading w/ naked access. All algorithms based transactions, not creating any value for anyone.

So where are we headed?

We're probably only going to do well if you are prepared to do something with your head. We still lose 20% of the kids. School is rigid, predictable and boring for those at the top, and we lose them too!

Disruption is a good thing!

Christiansen observed the companies like Data General and Wang that died very quickly despite being well managed. The common thread was "good management!" They didn't look out their windows to see what was going on in the rest of the world. Why would they build a $2,000 computer with 4% margin when they could build a $500,000 with 40% margin.

What happened to the phone company?

Look at Toyota. The 1st Corolla's were poorly made, but "non-consumers" could afford them.

What drives organizations? People, Process and Priorities. Enterprises repeat the things that work. This becomes the organizational culture. Listen to your best customers. Who are the best customers in K-12? Parents of the children who do well! (Usually they did well in that type of environment too!)

"Society has moved the goalpost on K-12 education the last few years." From you are supposed to provide access to "you are supposed to provide achievement." The problem is the operating model of current K-12 is the model is not reflective of 21st century realities. Sequences and Silos. Getting to knowledge is not an issue today, yet the sage on the stage is still the most common pedagogy.

The model is NOT the way kids learn. Integrated knowledge is a part of who they are.

Never has every kid learned the same thing at the same time in the same place on the same day.

Standardization in the name of efficiency is not helping our students.

We have a performance problem, not a design problem. They just need to work harder! We don't back up to see if it's really a design problem.

If this is true, a big change is coming....

The online platform behaves like every other disruptor. Online learning 1.0 only appealed to a small narrow population. (TV delivery) 2.0 Online learning was a bit more creative, as it allowed schools to continue to offer subjects like German, Economics, etc.

Now, online learning is heading to the 3.0 phase. More interactive, individualized, beyond the experience available in the classroom. Video-conferences, guided tours of museums, languages, the best Chemistry course in the United States is online. It is too good to ignore.

How do we participate in this? The only examples of professionals participating in their own disruptions that are successful involve these important components:

Separate Space. Don't try to change everything or everybody-Just allow a few to try it. (Dayton's-Target example of decentralized Target didn't have to report to the Department store)

Radical Autonomy-IBM was the only company that survived the changes in the computing industry from mainframe to mini, mini to PC, and beyond.

It's a hard thing for people to do that, when there is fear of "what if they do well?" What about how unions will react?

Portfolio schools. Allow them to go do it and turn them loose. Judging them only on the results they get. If they can get to the 30-40% who we are not getting, then we might be able to do it.

Think about how different our demographics are from 30 years ago. Different internally from each other. Much more diverse. Students in Minneapolis come from families that speak 37 different languages. Shoving computers into classrooms hasn't done it.

It's changing the pedagogy to teacher as facilitator, coach, etc. that is needed. We've been talking about personalizing learning for decades, but the only place we really do it is Special Education.

Inserting our agenda into their use of technology.

Palisades has an Academy program where kids can learn in a different model.

Johnson on "Chartered Schools"-"There is no such thing as a "Charter school" it is a license to create a school under certain criteria. Is a Chartered School better than regular public school? "It's like asking if it's better to cook at home or eat out!"

Wayburn's superintendent asked the question: "How do you entice "us" to change? We're some of the most effective schools in the country! Why should we embrace this?"

Johnson: In the 90's there was no demand for e-mail. The same thing may happen in response to your question. If people are forced to move in that direction, they won't have the time to do it, unless they test it and develop best practice now.

The fuel injector put the carburetor out of business.

There is a perfect storm of kids who power down when they come to us. Parents think we're good at getting kids ready for beyond school and they need an online, student lead experience.

Efficiency in how we use our time as teachers.

In other industries, are their "creative deviants" that are currently underground and we're just waiting for them to surface. Are they under-represented in K-12?

Maybe many who leave after a few years are the ones who are leaving. "We won't get better teachers unless teaching is a better job!" "This is not a professional opportunity if you can't control your work."

Creating a space or environment where we're not compromising the results, but we're adding critical thinking and creativity.

Accountability for results next to the authority for the work. In teacher lead schools, they have both, and it makes all the difference.

Closing comments: see more at EducationEvolving.org

Individual Reflection Log #3: Culture and Change

From Educon 2.1 taken by the author

Culture: What impact does the creation of a positive school culture have on school reform?

I believe that the creation of a positive school culture plays a crucial role in any school reform effort. Prior to beginning a reform effort, there needs to be a positive cultural foundation in place, or the reform effort will crumble. These "pillars" of positive criteria include a focus on learning for staff and students, a trusting environment, shared decision making, a belief that all can learn, respect and caring for all, physical space that all can take pride in and stories, rituals and celebrations that reinforce the values of the community. By having a sense of identity, the goals set forth in the reform effort can be aligned to the mission and vision of the organization. If there is a negative culture to begin with, there will be little support for the reform when implementation dips occur. It is incumbent upon educational leaders to focus first on developing a positive culture prior to implementing a reform effort. Once the organization has the positive components in place as a foundation, real reform building can begin.

Deal, Terrance E. and Peterson, Kent D. (1999). Shaping School Culture: The

Heart of Leadership. Jossey-Bass, Inc. San Francisco.

Change: Based on your understanding of the Marzano reading, which of the 21 responsibilities and day-to-day management of a school are most necessary for second-order change? How does the complexity of second order change demand a very thoughtful and flexible administrator?

Over the past two years, I have had the opportunity to lead a pilot of 1:1 Laptop Learning in my district. This represented a second order change, as teachers were working to alter their pedagogy to a more student centered approach, while maintaining rigorous academic standards. Due to issues related to network infrastructure, limited shared decision making, and the lack of student financial buy in, it was impossible to determine the effectiveness in meeting the goals set forth. It was with great practical interest then that I read the chapter on the two types of change outlined in School Leadership That Works: From Research to Results. Marzanno, Waters and McNulty (2005) identified seven of the 21 leadership responsibilities as being related to second order change:

• Knowledge of the Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
• Optimizer
• Intellectual Stimulation
• Change Agent
• Monitoring and Evaluating
• Flexibility
• Ideas and Beliefs

Of these seven, I believe the one that plays the most important role is knowledge of curriculum, instruction and assessment. By being knowledgeable in curriculum, the leader will understand the impact that the change on each curricular area so that they can understand the impact of the change on teachers in those areas and be prepared to offer guidance. By being knowledgeable of instructional pedagogy, the leader will be able to assist staff with any pedagogical changes that may result from the reform. By being knowledgeable of assessment techniques and requirements, the leader will be able to offer guidance in how the innovation impacts formative and summative assessment and provide strategies for staff to best implement the change to have the greatest impact on student learning.

Marzano, R., Waters, T. and McNulty, B. (2005) School Leadership That Works: From Research To Results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Team Story 3: Edina Leadership Workshop

On Tuesday, August 10, I attended the Edina Action, Administration and Lead Team meeting.
Dr. Ric Dressen, our superintendent started by discussing today's realities:

• Mission, Vision and Core values have not changed.
• 85% of our work is mandated
• Policies and Work agreements
• Resources are limited!
• Evolving societal shift-moving into the management of info world, diversity, global
• Work Drive: Autonomy, mastery and purpose
• Power of Team
• Evolutionary Biology-how kids manage time and information
• Need for Celebration

The title of the session was "To 2010-2011 and Beyond!"

Toy Story 3

Fostering Collective Creativity

Find joy while mission-focused

Develop Team-protocols

Trust is a foundation

Use cross-disciplinary

Focus on Big 3 goals

1. Enhance the Students’ Personalized Learning Experiences

2. Improve the Coherence of Grades E-12 Programs and Services

3. Enhance the Support for and Effectiveness of the District Team

We then participated in a 0-100% Learning Activity around the following quotes:

Leadership is every one's business-Kouzes and Poster

Quinn's quote from Deep Change

Trust=(Credibility + Reliability +Intimacy)/self-interest Maister-Trusted Advisor

The 0-100% activity

5 minutes of individual reflection

15 minutes of sharing

5 minutes summary thought

Chris Holden, principal at C Elementary: If you want to be an authentic leader, you have to start with leadership through service. Our group came up with the following insight: Leadership through service has the potential to foster trust, clarify expectations and produce shared outcomes.

After listening to other group's ideas, we then began looking over the district's Leadership Plan for 2010-2011 including the "Big 3 Goals":

1. Enhancing the Student's Personalized Learning Experiences

• Enhancing Equity Efforts
• Implementation of Instructional Intervention
• Pilot Online, Hybrid and College Partnerships
• Study Summer Academy

2. Improve the Coherence of Grades E-12 Programs and Services
3. Enhance the Support for and Effectiveness of the District Team

Coherence rather than alignment: Logical Interconnections and Consistency

Hargreaves defines coherence as bringing diverse people together to work skillfully for common cause.. and has them moving in the same direction. The four catalysts are sustainable leadership, integrated networks, responsibility and accountability, differentiation and diversity.

The Power of Team

Great Community-We are a first ring suburb that is growing in enrollment. Not many are.

Great Families-Parent involvement is a plus here.

Great Staff

Great Youth

Leadership's Collective Creativity

District leadership shall seek to..

• Live by core values and norms
• value Team members
• utilize problem solving tools
• embrace Courageous Conversations
• Implement Policies
• advance Leadership Training
• find JOY in our work-finding the joy in reaching the mission

Norms

Respect Schedules

Communicate Openly and Honestly

Reveal Your Interests and Work to Common Good

Decisions shared publicly and conversations held confidentially

In the stuffing inside of us, why did we go into education...

We then looked at what district leadership does well. Our group identified:

• Identifies strengths and weaknesses
• Focus on the big picture
• strong mission and vision-living the mission and vision
• Forges partnerships with the community
• Knowledgeable and professional staff
• Service to others
• Hires quality staff

Areas where district leadership needs to grow included:

• More focus
• better boundaries
• Focus on what is good for ALL kids
• Learning is our primary service and function
• Team-more sharing and collaboration
• We need to learn with and from one another

Our group felt district leadership should consider...

• Adopt a classroom
• Ask Questions-find out what we don't know
• Hire more diverse staff
• Celebrating success in a more authentic way, daily basis
• Encourage our personal purpose and passion for what we do
• expanding our perspective and promote them

Overall, the session was a great way for me to see our district leadership in action, and it gave me insight into plans for the coming year.

Photo credit

Individual Reflection Log #2: 21 Responsibilities of a School Leader

This week, I completed a self-assessment of the 21 Responsibilities of a School Leader, and also completed an online survey of the responsibilities from MCREL. Below are my results. I have highlighted the high scores for each assessment in green, and low scores in red:

Responsibilities	The extent to which the principal…	Self-Assessment (1-5)	Balanced Leadership Profile
Affirmation	Recognizes and celebrates school accomplishments and acknowledges failures	4	4.67
Change agent	Is willing to and actively challenges the status quo	5	4.25
Communication	Establishes strong lines of communication with teachers and among students	3	4.00
Contingent reward	Recognizes and rewards individual accomplishments	3	3.50
Culture	Fosters shared beliefs and a sense of community and cooperation	4	3.50
Discipline	Protects teachers from issues and influences that would detract from their teaching time and focus	4	3.25
Flexibility	Adapts his or her leadership behavior to the needs of the current situation and is comfortable with dissent	4	4.00
Focus	Establishes clear goals and keeps those goals in the forefront of the school’s attention	2	4.17
Ideals and beliefs	Communicates and operates from strong ideals and beliefs about schooling	4	4.00
Input	Involves teachers in the design and implementation of important decisions and policies	4	3.67
Intellectual stimulation	Ensures that faculty and staff are aware of the most current theories and practices, and makes the discussion of these a regular aspect of the school’s culture	4	5.0
Involvement with Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment (CIA)	Is directly involved in the design and implementation of curriculum, instruction and assessment processes	5	4.67
Knowledge of CIA	Is knowledgeable about current curriculum, instruction and assessment processes	4	4.00
Monitor/evaluate	Monitors the effectiveness of school practices and their impact on student learning	3	4.00
Optimizer	Inspires and leads new and challenging innovations	4	4.50
Order	Establishes a set of standard operating procedures and routines	4	3.67
Outreach	Is an advocate and spokesperson for the school to all stakeholders	4	4.25
Relationships	Demonstrates and awareness of the personal aspects of teachers and staff	3	4.00
Resources	Provides teachers with materials and professional development necessary for the successful execution of their jobs	4	4.00
Situational awareness	Is aware of the details and undercurrents in the running of the school and uses this information to address current and potential problems	3	4.00
Visibility	Has quality contact and interaction with teachers and students	4	4.00

As I compare the results from the self-assessment and survey, I noticed that there were some discrepencies. For example, I scored myself relatively lowest on Focus, but on the survey, it was one of my top seven. Where I scored myself highest, in being a Change Agent and Involvement in Curriculum and Instruction, those correlated with the survey. This makes sense to me, for in my role as a technology integration specialist, I am working towards change in methodology within the curriculum, therefore, I must know something about both. Marzano, Waters and McNulty (2005) found that the change agent responsibility had a .25 correlation with student achievement, and involvement in curriculum and instruction a .20 correlation with achievement. Contingent reward, a responsibility that showed up as a weakness for me on both the self-assessment and survey had a .24 correlation with student achievement.

In my job, I work with staff in three different buildings. While taking the survey, I used one building as my filter for answering the questions.. This may have skewed my response, for if I were to evaluate my effectiveness and engagement with a different building I work at, I think my responses would have been different. In that building, I have been more active and visible due to a pilot I was running.

My survey report indicated that I was leading a second-order change, one in which requires a fundamental shift and transformation in how things are done, with no return to the old ways (National Academy for Academic Leadership, 2010). In the analysis of my results, MCREL noted the need to focus on Input, Order, Communication and Culture, as often these are perceived as overlooked when a 2nd order change is taking place. I see a close connection between these areas of responsibility and the perception of shared decision making. It has been my experience that often, administrators will ask for input from staff, after a decision has been made in order to confirm that decision. This suggestion indicates the need to gather input and communicate before, during and after a decision has been made.

Marzano, et. al. note that the correlations between Situational Awareness (.33) and Relationships (.18) are relatively close, and that all 21 responsibilities are an important aspect of educational leadership. This process has given me a better understanding of my strengths and weaknesses and areas I need to focus on.