MeTA musings

Google Docs + Collaborative Learning Teams = win

2012-01-17T15:06:00.000-06:00

Over the past year a half, our staff has deeply engaged in embracing a professional learning community (PLC) philosophy. Our teachers meet approximately twice per month during our 1:00pm student dismissal times for the purpose of collaborating around curriculum alignment, authoring assessments and looking at formative assessment data. Using a "loose-tight" framework, each collaborative learning team is in a different place along the PLC journey based upon their team make-up and students. We are tight in that the teams must focus their work on several questions:

What is it we want all students to learn?
How will we know when they have learned it?
How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty?
How will we respond when a student has already demonstrated understanding?

We are loose in allowing teams to dig into these questions from different angles. This creates a scenario in which teams of teachers are meeting more often together than we're asking them to meet in large group settings at the building or district level.

Google Docs is a tool that breaks down barriers and creates less paperwork for our staff members. Teams create agendas and track minutes in a Google document that is shared amongst the team and with building and district administrators. Some of our teams use Google spreadsheets to share student assessment data as well. This approach has several distinct advantages.

Accountability - At any given time a team member can refer back to previously made decisions within the document. Administrators can also gain a better understanding of the team's progress without being present.
Organization - Teams no longer need to shuffle through 3-ring binders full of handouts, agenda and minutes. Teams are required to create a collection within Google Docs that encompasses their agendas and minutes, norms, goals and other pertinent documentation.
Accessibility - Our administrative team can access these documents where ever and whenever. For example, I was once in our elementary school meeting with a team, and received an instant message asking to elaborate on a comment I had left on a team's minutes from the high school. I was able to go into the Google Doc of the high school team and reply to their request.

Google Docs and collaborative learning teams have been an incredible fit for the staff members in our district.

In what ways is your school district or building or team using Google Docs?

(cross-posted at SchoolCIO)

Feedback drives our professional learning

2012-01-16T22:04:00.001-06:00

After every all-district professional learning day, we send out a google form to every teacher in the district.

Open publication - Free publishing - More pd

Think of this form as our professional learning's formative assessment. The results are used by our Iowa Core team (district leadership team comprised of 2+ teachers from each building, principals and district administrators) to plan for the next professional learning opportunity. I wanted to take a moment to explain why we chose these specific statements and questions. [Although I briefly explained it earlier as well]

The question, "Which statement best describes your current view of our professional learning opportunities?" is one that was added due to the timing of the year. This probe helps us determine if our staff is feeling any sort of initiative fatigue at the halfway point of the year.

The statements about theory, demonstration, practice, collaboration and practice are all tied to Iowa's Professional Development Model. At any given time, our goal to ensure that any one of these aspects of quality professional development is not overtaking the others. In the past, we've heard voices telling us things like "What I learned today makes sense, but I didn't have any time to begin putting it into practice." Striking this balance is challenging, but we've been using this language to collect staff's perceptions of these ideas all year and will continue to do so.

The statement, "This professional learning opportunity will directly benefit my students" is one we strive to earn high marks every time. If the staff give our learning low marks in this area, we know we missed the mark.

We also believe it's important to differentiate between a quality (or poor) messenger and a quality (or poor) message. This is why we continue to use the statement, "The professional learning facilitator(s) was/were effective in his/her role(s)."

"I understand how this professional learning experience relates to building and district goals" is also an important prompt for our district leadership team, because it keeps us grounded in the work we've agreed to focus on for the year.

We've used the statements about follow-up from colleagues and administrators as an attempt to gauge the perceived gaps in our implementation. To my knowledge, our survey responses this year have not identified any major discrepancies between staff and administration, but we continue to use the statements in the event it becomes a discussion point in the future.

We've only recently started using the most/least beneficial questions. The results here have helped us break down the specific activities. I correlate this to a more "standards-based" feedback. We're attempting to differentiate the homers from the gomers.

Common formative assessments were the biggest new learning for the day, so it was important to get a feeling for how much more time and resources we might need to spend on this topic. The results from the statement, "When I think about the common formative assessments work ahead of me and my team this year, I feel..." will give us a better idea of our future steps.

Finally, the open-ended questions give our staff members a chance to sound off and provide specific tips on what went well, what didn't go well and the areas they feel we should spend time on in the future.

Our feedback survey questions and statements have evolved over time, but our use of this qualitative data remains the same -- provide the best possible professional learning opportunities for our staff given the precious amount of time we're given.

(Note: I'm open for critiques of our form and would be delighted to learn about the questions, prompts and statements being used in your neck of the woods driving professional learning planning. Comments are open.)

Eyes Wide Open

2012-01-11T22:27:00.001-06:00

Cynthia McCabe said that:

Until one is hoisted into the high-pressure role of school administrator, there is no way to comprehend the complexities and competing interests that assert themselves into the myriad of decisions made within the course of a day. It's easy for an observer to judge a school leader for decisions that seem to be made for the purposes of efficiency and peace in the faculty lounge. I know I did my share of judging while in the the classroom. However, that ended when my first administration position began. By the end of my first week of crying kindergartners, complaining parents, voluminous paperwork, restrictive policies, tight budgets, and stressed out teachers, I completely empathized with all of my previous administrators and the decisions they had made. My eyes were opened to the realities of the role. (p. 2)

I've had a few days lately when Cynthia's thoughts were real close to home. Then I snapped out of it. To use Cynthia's phrase, my eyes were opened to the tasks at hand that truly mattered -- providing feedback through classroom walk throughs; meeting with teachers in small groups to talk about what's going in their classroom; investing in the lives of my former students; encouraging classroom teachers; and writing notes of appreciation to colleagues.

Our actions illustrate our values. Sometimes I choose to value the management tasks. Other days, I choose to value students and their learning. It's not easy.

Re: Leading with technology

2012-01-10T21:11:00.000-06:00

I wanted to capture this conversation as a reminder to myself of the danger in leading school reform/change with technology. Specifically, this discussion is about the proposed education legislation here in Iowa.
Scott said...

Problem with @terrybranstad's education legislation proposal: No tech. Really. It's 2012. No tech. #iaedfuture
— Scott McLeod (@mcleod) January 11, 2012

to which I replied...

@mcleod personal opinion: I’d be more frustrated if competency-based ed. had been left out of the proposal. #iaedfuture
— Matt Townsley (@mctownsley) January 11, 2012

The conversation continued...

@mctownsley I agree that's more important. But it's 2012. We learn via technology, not just analog. Tech permeates everything! #iaedfuture
— Scott McLeod (@mcleod) January 11, 2012

@mctownsley There's also a very real danger that CBE gets subsumed into traditional school models rather than being disruptive. #iaedfuture
— Scott McLeod (@mcleod) January 11, 2012

@mcleod there’s also a very real danger computers become $1000 notebooks, a la Larry Cuban’s pvs commentary.:)#iaedfuture
— Matt Townsley (@mctownsley) January 11, 2012

@mctownsley I'll agree with that 'computers as expensive notebooks' statement! The key is PD. Oh, wait, that's being defunded... #iaedfuture
— Scott McLeod (@mcleod) January 11, 2012

Teaching isn't easy. Neither is being a school administrator

2012-01-04T16:56:00.000-06:00

Context:

I taught high school math for six years. No doubt, it was challenging. I grew frustrated with the generalizations that teaching was an easy occupation and that the solutions were simple.

Here are a few fictitious examples that aren't necessarily related to pedagogical strategies learned in teacher prep programs:

motivating Suzie who doesn't see the need to graduate high school
helping Johnny learn the three big ideas he missed while he was out sick for two weeks
working with Amanda, a student who is having difficulties focusing in school because her parents are going through a divorce at home.

Add in the complexity of assessment and grading that many of us are interested in and the job doesn't get any easier. Providing quality feedback to students is great in theory, but challenging in practice. Bill lays it out nicely here.

-------

I'm in my second year as a district administrator. No doubt, it's a challenging gig, too. I'm equally frustrated with the generalizations and simple solutions related to professional development and instructional leadership.

Here are a few fictitious examples that aren't necessarily related to leadership strategies learned in administrator prep programs:

confronting Jeff, a staff member who is allegedly stalking a co-worker
delegating tasks to Brenda, a secretary who continuously tries to undercut her supervisor's authority
working in an office without a secretary once Brenda has been let go

Add in the ongoing balance of management tasks such as government and legal regulations with instructional leadership activities such as classroom walk throughs and meeting with teams of teachers -- the job doesn't get any easier.

-----

The purpose of this commentary isn't to suggest that one occupation is more challenging than the other. It is merely a way I hope to briefly illustrate the complexities of both roles. I believe many of our challenges lie within the system rather than the people themselves. Teachers and administrators, let's work together to find solutions to the challenges we both face in the system!

Blast from the past: Myths and realities of student teaching

2011-12-31T17:19:00.001-06:00

[Nostalgia]

Originally published in the April 5, 2004 Wartburg Trumpet, a student-run college newspaper.

Nearly eight years later some things have changed while others have stayed the same. Feel free to make your own connections in the comments below.

Myths and realities of student teaching
by Matt Townsley, Columnist

Get up around seven, teach kids for six or seven hours, and then come home and relax with your college friends. This is often the life of a student teacher, right?

From the outside, it may seem like a semester of student teaching would be less stressful and involve fewer evening hours of preparation compared to the typical academic load. Based of my experiences of ten weeks of student teaching thus far, I beg to differ.

Because a fair number of the friends I have made here at Wartburg also major in education, I do not often hear the stereotypes surrounding education majors, but I have managed to catch a few. With those thoughts in mind, I hope to clear up a couple of myths that are often attached to student teaching.

Myth #1 - "Student teachers have an easier daily schedule - they have evenings off!"

During student teaching, it's vital that school building hours are observed. For me, this entails being at school from 7:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m or 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., at the very least. So, yes, evenings are typically unscheduled, but events such as parent-teacher conferences fill the evening hours at least once per semester for us. Furthermore, I spend on average one to three hours each evening creating lesson plans, checking papers, writing assessments and working on my student-teaching portfolios. For the duration of my seven semesters of academic study at Wartburg, I have never had 10 straight five-day weeks with constant activities eight until four. In fact, there were more days that I slept in past eight in the morning because my day did not begin until nine or 10. True, I did have various organizational meetings in the evenings, but those were by choice and were not necessarily pertinent to the next day's activities like lesson planning, paper grading and test writing are presently for the student teacher in me.

Myth #2 - "Student teachers just teach, check papers and do other regular teacher duties."

Part of this myth is true. Student teachers do teach, check papers, write tests, attend teachers' meetings and discipline kids. In addition to being a teacher, we must journal on a semi-daily basis, create at least one portfolio to be turned in at the end of the semester displaying our progress and reflective thoughts, complete and review a wide array of paperwork before each of six Wartburg personnel observational visits and attend evening seminars on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. More specifically, secondary student teachers are required to turn in a portfolio addressing our progress towards meeting the Iowa Teaching Standards, various reflection pieces describing how our student teaching placements addressed various components of the Wartburg Education Department Knowledge Base, a small research project proving that students are actually making academic progress in our classrooms and an assessment of our personal professional growth during the twelve weeks of teaching.

To sum it all up, student teaching is an experience like none other. It is more than just a trial run at becoming a teacher. It is a test of endurance, perseverance and daily excellence. If nothing else, it is going to make me appreciate being a "student" once again for my final May Term on Wartburg's campus.

Professional development: focus on outputs or inputs?

2011-12-29T17:12:00.001-06:00

Ryan Bretag had this to say about an organization focusing on instructional strategies,

The problem with that is that if we continue to focus on the question “how well are we instructing”, we will continue to search for a non-existent formula. Instead, leaders and teachers need to focus on the question “how well are we learning”.

and

We focus too much on how we want teachers to teach: this strategy, this technology, this belief...In fact, I’m not overly concerned with how any teacher is teaching so long as the learning we desire is happening.

I do think that some instructional strategies have the potential to be more effective than others. Bretag goes on to quote Marzano - it's how you use the strategy that matters. I encourage you to read Ryan's thoughts. I don't have much to add other than a connection to what's going on locally in Iowa. I mentioned nearly a year ago the way the Iowa Core is written focuses too much on adults (inputs) and not enough of on students (outputs). As a district administrator charged with leading our professional development efforts, it's tempting to spend an entire year or more on inputs such as any of the Iowa Core's characteristics of effective instruction. So far, we haven't bit the bullet. Instead, we're learning about and implementing the professional learning community philosophy, specifically the second learning question, "How will we know when each student has learned it?" If Teacher A used more direct instruction and Teacher B used a more of an inquiry approach and both of their students learned the agreed upon learning target at the level the team collectively agreed upon, then so be it.

I realize the pendulum swings both ways here - from a strict emphasis on inputs (instructional strategies) to outputs (learning based on assessments) - and see my philosophical bias leaning heavily towards outputs.

I am looking for the perspective of two groups of people on this topic.

Folks in charge of professional development - the majority of you that I talk with focus on inputs (my perception can be off target, admittedly) what drives you to lean in this direction?
Classroom teachers - where is the philosophical bias in your district - inputs? outputs? What is your perspective on this leaning?

Using Google Forms as feedback loops

2011-11-16T08:12:00.001-06:00

Creating surveys using Google Forms is a fairly straightforward task. In my school district, we often use Google Forms rather than other survey tools, because all students in grades 4-12 and staff members already have Google Apps for Education accounts. It doesn’t require setting up another account!

Feedback Loops
After a professional learning experience, the staff member or team of teachers who planned the activities will send out a survey to assess the perceived effectiveness of the content, delivery as well as get a feel for the next needed steps. Using consistent lykert scale statements has been effective, because it helps compare one professional learning experience to others.

Explicitly asking staff “What next steps could be taken…?” assists leadership teams charged with planning the next professional learning connect one day or afternoon to the next.
Asking staff members to complete the survey within two or three days of their experience has been effective to capture emotions, questions and thoughtful suggestions in close to real-time. Finally, we’ve found that sending a summary of the results to staff after the data has been collected creates a sense of transparency that leads to increased trust between those crafting the learning experience and those taking part in it.

The feedback loop is complete when the lead professional developer kicks off the next day or afternoon by saying,

"Your feedback influenced today’s agenda. Let me explain how…”

Whether it’s Google Forms or Survey Monkey, what’s holding your district back from using feedback loops to create connections from one professional learning experience to the next?

(cross-posted at SchoolCIO)

Slides: Rebooting Educational Technology

2011-11-12T17:06:00.001-06:00

Thank you to Dr. Tom Buckmiller for inviting me to share some of my thoughts on the role of technology in education with his class of aspiring principals.

WCYDWT - Swiss Miss

2011-11-02T21:40:00.000-05:00

Around Halloween last year, it was Starburst. On a cold and rainy November night, this image screamed at me from the closet.

As a former statistics teacher, I've got a few questions.

Bueller?

Loose and Tight Leadership

2011-10-28T10:20:00.000-05:00

Clay, Soldwedel and Many in Aligning School Districts as PLCs:

Loose and tight leadership is based on the premise that relying exclusively on either a tight "top-down" or a loose "bottom-up" leadership approach is not effective. Fullan (2009) has said: "Top-down change doesn't work because it fails to garner ownership, commitment, or even clarity about the nature of the reform. Bottom-up change -- so-called let a thousand flowers bloom -- does not produce success on any scale. A thousands flowers do not bloom and those that do are not perennial." The implication is that a balance between loose and tight provides an optimum leadership style. Of course, getting that balance right is the challenge." (p. 24)

In the district I work at, I believe we value bottom-up ideas, however there's not enough time in the day (nor is it realistic) to seek input on every single decision. I'm not naive enough to think I am a part of the ideal tight-loose leadership model in action, however I thought of a few examples that lead me to believe we're on the right track.

Requiring all teachers to be a part of a collaborative team

providing the teams with time to meet during the contract day twice per month.
asking teams to set a SMART goal for the year within the framework of our district and building goals

Requiring teams to create agendas and minutes every time they meet

providing teams with Google Docs so that agendas and minutes can be created on the fly, accessible to building and district administrators, rather than requiring extra paperwork to turn in.
providing self-paced Google Docs tutorials and help sessions.

This is not an all-encompassing list. I'm curious to learn from readers of this blog. How is your building/district leadership exemplifying (or not) simultaneous loose and tight leadership?

If I were teaching math in a 1:1 environment...

2011-10-27T21:21:00.000-05:00

I'd load up with...

Commercial software:

Geometer's Sketchpad - can be used for more than just Geometry, too
Fathom - dynamic data -- can be used in cross-discipline projects, too
Logger Lite/Pro - science folks likely know about this software already
For writing tests, etc. use MathType

Free software:

Geogebra
Any blogging platform - ask students to explain some of the big ideas of the class. Karl Fisch is doing this with his students.

Big teaching ideas:

Use data that will interest students. Here's an example from my classroom a few years ago, even though we weren't 1:1
Check out Dan Meyer's blog for all things related to using digital media.
Math activity types

Anything you'd add to the list?

Rethink Assessment

2011-10-26T21:35:00.000-05:00

10/25/2011 Update
The video below is designed to be used with teachers and administrators to discuss shifts in grading.

Note: the footage was used at a technology-related learning conference, so some of the questions posed have this context in mind.

4/20/2011 Update
Slides used in today's presentation

The script used today can be found here.

Both are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

~~Video footage is currently being edited and will be posted here once it is available.~~
See 10/25/2011 update

--------

Russ and I have been invited to co-facilitate a morning session at the Iowa 1:1 Institute to be held April 20, 2011 at the Polk County Convention Center. All I can say right now is that it's going to be a unique session. The trailer below tells the rest of the story.

Professional Learning Feedback: Asking the Right Questions

2011-10-24T19:19:00.000-05:00

I've written several times about the importance of feedback as a classroom teacher. I'm a big fan of using feedback from teachers to improve future professional learning as an administrator, too. Just like the classroom setting, it's not easy crafting the right kind of questions for adults either. Here are a few likert scale statements that have solicited valuable insights in the past.

The facilitator was effective in his/her role (Were the people leading the learning doing a good job?)
I believe there will be adequate follow-up from my colleagues related to this learning (Is there an underlying belief this was a one-and-done learning opportunity or will it be sustainable?)
I believe there will be adequate follow-up from building/district administrators related to this learning? (Will the administration be a viable support system or was this an isolated waste of time?)
I believe this learning will directly benefit my students (Perhaps one of the most important questions - Do staff members feel what they learned today will help the students they teach?)

Here is one open-ended questions that seemed to resonate with staff members.

What should our district's next steps be related to ________________? (This question has helped our leadership team get a better sense for the desire of the entire staff)

Finally, this is an open-ended question I've used with mixed results.

Please add constructive feedback related to this professional learning experience

I'd like to do a better job receiving feedback from teachers so that our leadership team can be even more focused in our future professional learning planning. I believe one way we can improve is by taking a careful look at the questions asked of our staff. What questions is your building, district or leadership team using? What questions have I missed? Leave them in the comments below.

Are my grades accurate?

2011-10-17T09:43:00.000-05:00

A teacher at a neighboring school district that I've consulted with previously recently emailed me a question.

"I am looking at my grades for my classes and I am a little worried that my grades for my students are maybe too good. There is no one with a C or less. I obviously don’t want my students to do bad but shouldn’t there be at least one student that isn’t doing good?..."

This email could have just as easily asked...

"...There is no one with a B or better. I obviously want my students to do well, but shouldn't there be at least one student that is doing well?..."

Here was my response:

Be less concerned with the number of A's, B's, C's, etc. students are earning in your class.
Be more concerned with ensuring the grades students are earning accurately represent their current level of understanding.
Be more concerned that your grading system ensures students have an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding at any given time within the grading period, not just "by the test date."
Be more concerned that you've clearly communicated the purpose of your grading system with parents and students.

From assignment-based grading to standards-based grading
It's worth double checking. Are our grading systems setup to communicate current levels of understanding or do they continue to report point accumulation based on assignments?

What did I forget in my response to this teacher?

Assessment Voicethread

2011-10-06T21:08:00.001-05:00

I'm participating in Paul Cancellieri's Assessment digital conversation and wanted to take a minute and explain why I'm spending some of my time this week participating in it with the idea that you might decide to as well.

First, thinking and talking about assessment literally changed my philosophy of education. One of my favorite education quotes comes from a book by Lorna Earl

"...changing classroom assessment is the beginning of a revolution - a revolution in classroom practices of all kinds...Getting classroom assessment right is not a simplistic, either-or situation. It is a complex mix of challenging personal beliefs, rethinking instruction and learning new ways to assess for different purposes." (Earl, 2003, pp. 15-16)

Talking about assessment led me to re-thinking how I interacted with students as they walked in the door. Talking about assessment led me to improve the way I communicated with parents. Talking about assessment led me to a really memorable and fun semester mentoring a student teacher from the local college.

Second, I'm a big fan of asynchronous discussions. My first graduate program was a hybrid format. I went to traditional class a few Saturdays per semester, but the rest of it was online. I loved reading the discussion threads at lunch, thinking about them all day and then coming home to log on and post my responses. I appreciate time to think before sharing my thoughts, so a Voicethread conversation that allows me to record or type a response anytime of the day presents a enjoyable and unique opportunity to learn for me personally.

Third, in my my role as a second year district administrator, I'm constantly looking for ways to learn from folks in other systems. I try to interact regularly via Twitter; attend local and regional conferences; and have been through one graduate program, almost two now. There's still something special though about spending a few days with some really dedicated educators in an environment focused on a topic we're all passionate about, assessment. Call this an assessment nerd fest if it makes you feel better - I don't mind and I hope you won't either!

Finally, I need to add a disclaimer that I am being compensated in a very small way to be a part of the conversation, but I would still be participating for free. Assessment is THAT important in education. I'm looking forward to helping the teachers in my district improve their assessment practices. Any single educator moving forward alone will only be as successful as his/her time and efforts permit. The mantra we sometimes use is "Together, we're better" and that includes the district guy (me) sharpening his tool chest early and often for the benefit of those who were not able to join in.

I hope to "see" you online between now and October 8th!

Teachers play an important role in planning professional development

2011-10-03T22:03:00.001-05:00

"Think back a few years ago when no one in our school was using standards-based grading. Now, look at how many teachers are moving in that direction!" - a teacher from our high school.

I'm in my second year as an administrator in a district of approximately 1300 students. The administrative team consists of me, the superintendent, and three building principals. On any given day, I wear one of many hats: technology director, curriculum director, mentoring and induction facilitator, special education director, and also the guy who completes many of the state and federal reports. I'll be honest in saying there are days when I wonder if central office folks can really make a difference. A few experiences I had today, including the conversation leading to the quote above, helped set me back on the path of feeling a part of this thing we call education.

I tell myself almost weekly that I don't want to lose sight of what it's like to be a classroom teacher. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my current job and its challenges, but there are days (weeks?! months?!) I wish I still was teaching full-time. When I taught high school math, it was easy to describe what I do on a regular basis to those outside the field of education, "I teach kids geometry and statistics." Because school is a part of nearly everyone's upbringing, the life of a high school math teacher doesn't seem too mysterious. When I decided to step away from the classroom, I quickly learned that I needed a "non-education" description of this new job. I describe my role as a person that "helps teachers become better teachers so that more students can learn at a high level." Pretty vague, eh? Let me try to explain.

One of the biggest reasons I took this job was to see if it really is possible for a school to move beyond "sit and get" professional development that lacks follow-up and a connection to student learning, to something meaningful**. I realized that no matter how often I volunteered to teach or observe in classrooms, I would likely be seen as someone who has lost touch with what it's like to be a classroom teacher. The key would be to to enlist the assistance of classroom teachers in planning professional development. Our district leadership team (DLT) consists of building principals, two or three classroom teachers per building and me. Here's an outline of the process we've used over the past 14 months or so. First, we meet a week before school starts for a full (paid!) day together and begin outlining the big picture for the year. We look at our activities from last year, several staff feedback surveys, and a self-study of our progress related to long-term targets we've set. During this day, we also plan the first day of all-district professional learning. Here continues the cycle of plan - execute - reflect.

Execute the professional learning activities with DLT classroom teachers leading as often as possible.
Ask each staff member to complete an anonymous feedback survey, including a question along the lines of, "What do we need to do next?"
I send out the survey results district-wide so that we all have time to reflect on the feedback.
I use the results from the feedback survey and our outline for the year to create activities for the district leadership team to experience. I'll call this the "mini PD" for the sake of further discussion.
Before the next professional development day, the DLT meets for a half day and participates in the "mini PD" that I've planned.
We spend the rest of the afternoon or morning planning the next all-district professional learning activities using an outline I've created ahead of time. Typically, the "mini PD" is an activity or two that might fit into our next all-district professional development day. By trying it out with the DLT, it gives them a chance to experience it first hand before deciding if/how we should use it with our entire staff.
The DLT executes the professional learning activities with classroom teachers leading as often as possible.
(Repeat feedback, reflection and planning based on that feedback)

Today, the DLT met. The meeting started off with the usual "mini PD." It's pretty typical for the team to tweak or even slightly overhaul my learning activities outline during the planning process, but today something extraordinary happened. The learning activities outline was completely overhauled, proving my plan to be mediocre at best. Even though it created some deep conversation about current practice, the "mini PD" the teachers experienced was quickly removed from the outline and postponed until a later date. The plan we came up with is differentiated by building. The teachers in this team made it clear by saying...

"I like the idea of doing .....but based on our feedback, we need to spend more time on...."

and

"We can't overwhelm our colleagues with...but we need to provide additional guidance with...."

It's a great group of teachers to work with, because they're not afraid to speak up when our planning does not look "teacher friendly," but what's really impressed me lately is the team's willingness to seek progress rather than procrastination - sometimes at the expense of pushing the limits of themselves and their colleagues. For example, after sticking to a previously set staff deadline (when I initially suggested we provide more grace), the team shortened yet another deadline. This team of teachers and principals is stepping out on a limb to avoid Parkinson's law, believing that more time isn't always needed to complete a task.

The story I've shared here may not be incredibly memorable for those outside our district, but I hope it begins to illustrate the point that teachers play an important role in planning professional development. Without their input, those of us without classrooms full-time are often left with a mediocre plan at best.

How are teachers being used, if at all, in your district to plan professional development activities?

**This year, our anonymous feedback survey data indicates we're trending in the right direction.

State standards & opportunity to learn

2011-10-01T21:49:00.000-05:00

With permission from a grad school colleague, I am re-posting her response to a discussion on curriculum influences from a semester ago:

I want to begin by first talking a little about my out of state teaching experience and what was taught there. What was taught there was what was mandated by legislation, Kentucky Core Content. For every grade level there were a set of standards that were supposed to be taught. In addition to the standard there was also key vocabulary, suggested activities, and DOK (depth of knowledge) levels. As a first year teacher I really appreciated this resource. I didn't have to worry about what I was teaching but instead could focus all of my attention on how I was teaching it. This experience helped me grow as an educator and I discovered that what I was teaching wasn't always as important as how I was teaching it. What I was being told to teach was very similar to what gets taught here in Iowa.

When I moved back to Iowa and began teaching here my focus switched from how I was teaching to what I was teaching, which I found to be a pretty big waste of my time. Since I have been back over half of the in-services I have attended have focused on what we are teaching. We argue, we debate, feelings are hurt, people are mad and nothing ever gets accomplished. I have been involved in curriculum mapping in both districts I have taught in and feel that for the most part it has been a total waste of time. What if instead of fighting about what we were teaching we were working on teaching it in effective ways. WOW, what a concept. If the Iowa Core isn't implemented I will be very disappointed. Tell me what to teach and I will make sure that I teach it to the best of my ability.
Dr. Pace asked what influences what gets taught and I wish I could say, what students need, what benefits them the most, and what they are interested in, but I can't. What gets taught for many classrooms is what is in the textbook, what the teacher has taught for the past 20 years, what is interesting to the teacher, and sometimes what is easy. Oh, and if anybody asks what the standards say. If only we could find where we put them. I don't mean to be cynical but this is an area of great frustration for me.
For other classrooms this isn't the case. What gets taught often times is what we are currently learning about as a staff through professional development. What teachers feel students need to know, based on assessments. What the standards say should be taught. What resources are available to teachers and students and what various stakeholders feel is important.
In my classroom I try to follow the districts' standards and benchmarks however, in the area of science this can be difficult because these concepts and ideas are being taught in fourth grade and sometimes even third grade. I try very hard to let the students' questions and interests help guide what gets taught. For science, I use an inquiry based approach to teaching and learning. I love it and so do the students.

As we debate and discuss the merits of our first dose of state standards here in Iowa, I've found myself warming up to the idea of spending less time time locally deciding "what" should be taught and instead refocusing that energy on...making sure everyone is clear on the "what."

I can argue both sides of the "state standards" issue. Students all have unique interests and futures and they should spend time exploring these while in K-12 schools. On the flip side, it would be a shame to create an educational lottery in which students in District A are exposed to a more rigorous and relevant curriculum than students in District B.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm when it comes down to implementation, I'm not much of an "outside the box" thinker. So, state standards in Iowa - here we come! It's time to get down to business and the work ahead is ensuring we don't create an educational lottery within my local district or between my district and the one up the road. All students, regardless of the classroom they're assigned to, should be exposed to the same essential concepts and ideas. These concepts and ideas can't come from the textbook, "what we've done in the past" or what "we might find interesting." As my colleague said, "Tell me what to teach and I will make sure that I teach it to the best of my ability." I believe that our teachers, like many teachers across the country, are hard workers who want to do the right thing. It's time here in Iowa for us to spend less time debating what students should be learning and spend more time making sure they all have the same opportunity to learn it.

Textbooks, REAL Formative Assessment and Grading Reform

2011-09-14T20:05:00.000-05:00

I enjoy waking up every day and skimming through my RSS feed to read what other educators are thinking out loud via their blogs. Here are a few of the recent highlights.

"Should the Textbook Determine the Essential Skills We Teach?" By Rick DuFour

In short, the people who contend your textbooks should determine the curriculum are wrong. Those who are arguing about what books to read are wrong. Shift your focus to the knowledge and skills your students must acquire and determine how you will assess whether or not they are acquiring the skills. Then, most importantly, use the results to get better at teaching the skills and intervening for students who struggle.

Bottom line: When teams of teachers begin to answer the question, "What do we want our students to learn?" the answer should not solely come from the materials currently being used. As a former high school math teacher, I taught for the first few years straight through the textbook. While this approach isn't necessarily a poor one, believing that the "what" of teaching begins and ends with the textbook doesn't make sense.

"Is REAL Formative Assessment Even Possible?" by Bill Ferriter

Second, I’m completely exhausted and doubtful that I can keep up this work all year long. I haven’t seen my daughter or my wife much this month simply because responsible formative assessment is an incredibly time-consuming process.
Heck, just last night I spent 3 hours grading one set of graphs because I wanted to get them back to my students in a timely way—but that required working from 5:30-8:30 and missing dinner with my family and bedtime with my little girl.
The past two weekends in a row were similar stories as I spent 5-6 hours both weekends putting exemplars together, writing remediation activities and designing new lessons to review challenging content.

Bottom line: Providing students timely feedback during the learning experience that informs new learning for students and new instruction for teachers is a time and resource consuming process. Bill writes about a possible solution which involves more teacher-created common assessments. One of my biggest regrets from leaving the classroom after six years is not experiencing the power of common assessments first hand. As a district guy now, I can't wait to see us move forward this year and in the years to come.

"Give Us The Tools We Need" by Paul Cancellieri

The primary purpose of grades is to communicate information about content mastery to parents and students.

With this purpose in mind, it becomes clear that there is a clear distinction between the skills and knowledge dictated by our curriculum, and the habits and behaviors that lead to success in both life and school. Both are critically important. Over the past few decades, however, we have combined these two pieces of information into one grade that is displayed on report cards. Conflating content mastery with work habits causes a lot of confusion....

Bottom line: Paul is frustrated with the grading in his school district and lays out one of the more succinct rationales I've seen for moving away from the points-based letter grades scheme we've all experienced. Separating academics and behavior in reporting is a major tenet of my philosophy of assessment/grading.

I'm finding that the feeds in my RSS reader could use a refresh. Hit me up with your favorite assessment/grading links from the past month or so in the comments. Don't be bashful about promoting your own stuff!

Standards-Based Grading: The "College Expectations" Dilemma

2011-09-04T07:59:00.002-05:00

Kelly has a nice write-up about how her physics students are starting to see the benefits of standards-based grading through utilizing test corrections. She really hits the nail on the head, re: preparing students for the "real world."

What about college? aka “They won’t be graded this way in college.”
I hear that objection occasionally, and it even came up again at our science department meeting this week. Honestly, it is a bit of a nonsense statement/question.
Moving beyond the idea that it does not make sense to do each year what people will eventually do one day in the future (should 8th grade look like college? How about 4rd grade? 1st?) and that the more important questions are about how a choice in teaching will benefit them this year, we can ask instead, “What are students taking with them from having this experience?”
So, in addition to learning physics better, increasing their confidence as a student, seeing themselves improve with a challenging skill over time, they are also rather specifically learning how to milk the benefits from making mistakes, what to do when they aren’t immediately successful, and how the best students have been succeeding in school all this time.

In workshops I've done in the past, I use an example that's a bit more over the top when someone asks about the implications of standards-based grading on higher education. It goes something like this:

I attended a small private college here in Iowa during my undergraduate years. The largest class I had was Intro. to Psychology. We had 80 students in a lecture hall. Take away that single lecture hall experience and all of my classes were a lot like high school (and graduate school!) with 35 students or less. Class was fairly interactive and we all knew each other my first name. I hear that down in Iowa City at the University of Iowa, lecture halls are the norm, at least in the introductory courses. It's not uncommon for freshmen to sit in a room of 200-300 students and take notes. (I usually then pause and ask someone in the room to confirm this to be true...which so far, has always happened) Would we ever consider doing this in K-12? "Okay, kindergartners...let's put all 100 of you in a room for 60 minutes and see if you can learn a few sight words" or "Hey 7th graders, let's see if we can all learn about the states in capitals in the gym where all of us can fit! You know, this is what it's going to be like in college." No way. We know that some educational practices are better than others. All of us try to do what's best for our students and that often involves providing them with an experience that we know will be contrary to what they might experience in higher education. If we can all agree that standards-based grading is better for our students, let's not worry about what some universities are doing in lecture halls or with grading practices.

Confession - I like Kelly's rationale better than my own. Get over there and give her the pat on the back she deserves for taking on this difficult issue. You'll read about how her new grading practices are catching on with her students, too. You won't be disappointed.

"Scholarly" Resources for Standards-Based Grading

2011-09-03T16:44:00.000-05:00

Once a month or so, I get an email or a tweet from an educator asking for help locating standards-based grading conversation starters and resources. The question usually sounds something like,

I want to help my principal/team/colleague learn more about standards-based grading. Where should I start?

There are scores of resources available in the uncensored world known as Twitter and edublogging. For example, a de-centralized SBG gala ran its course not too long ago.

Sometimes it's nice to have peer-reviewed literature available to provide more scholarly fuel to the standards-based grading conversation. Here are a few of my favorite journal articles in no particular order.

Scriffiny, Patricia L. "Seven Reasons for Standards-Based Grading." Educational Leadership 66.2 Oct. (2008): 70-74.
Colby, Susan A. "Grading in a Standards-Based System." Educational Leadership 56.6 Mar. (1999): 50-55.
Guskey, Thomas R., and Lee Ann Jung. "Grading and Reporting in a Standards-Based Environment: Implications for Students With Special Needs." Theory Into Practice 48 Jan. (2009): 53-62.
Jung, Lee Ann, and Thomas Guskey. "Standards-Based Grading and Reporting: A Model for Special Education." Teaching Exceptional Children 40.2 Nov. (2007): 48-53.
Melograno, Vincent J. "Grading and Report Cards for Standards-Based Physical Education." The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance 78.6 Aug. (2007): 45-53.
Jung, Lee Ann, and Thomas R. Guskey. "Grading Exceptional Learners." Educational Leadership 67.5 Feb. (2010): 31-35.
Guskey, Thomas R. "Helping Standards Make the Grade." Educational Leadership 59.1 Sept. (2001): 20-27.
Scott, Shelia. "What's in a Grade?" General Music Today 14.3 Winter (2005): 17-24.
Clymer, Jacqueline B., and Dylan Wiliam. "Improving the Way We Grade Science." Educational Leadership 64.4 Dec. (2006): 36-42.

This is not by no means a complete list, but is instead a potential starting point for those looking to expand their repertoire. What "scholarly" resources have you been using to educate others about the benefits of standards-based grading? Add your additions to the list in the comments.

Edit: 9/4/2011 - Thanks, Jason for the SBG Gala 5 and 6 corrections.

What does a district administrator do on the first day of school?

2011-08-25T21:00:00.002-05:00

In my district of ~1300 students, the administrative team consists of three building principals, the superintendent and myself. I oversee curriculum, staff development, special education, technology, new teacher mentoring, many state/federal reports, and countless other smaller projects. I'm in my second year in this role after teaching six years of math in the high school setting. Today, we finished our second day of school and I'm now reflecting on the diversity of activities and responsibilities that filled up these two ten hour days. The following brief narrative is more for my own personal reflection, but it also may answer a question that I used to ponder every once in a while,

"What does a district administrator do on the first day(s) of school?"

-Visited all three buildings to see the nervousness and excitement of the new and veteran teachers.
-Video taped an assembly featuring a cover band of high school teachers literally get kids on their feet to show their excitement to be back at school. (Did I mention the high school principal sang a solo?)
-Assisted one middle school student and one high school student find their way to their new classes.
-Sought out teachers during their prep times to ask them what they were most excited about for the upcoming year.
-Responded to several emails from staff members looking for quick responses to IT requests (Goal: alleviate the work load of our short-handed IT staff!)
-Discussed next steps for our district's staff development with teachers who played a role in designing our before school in-service day.
-Started recruiting new community members for our district's school improvement advisory committee.
-Brainstormed ways to continue supporting our second year teachers.
-Met with an extended learning program teacher to brainstorm new and improved ways to serve our brightest students.
-Sent an all-staff email communicating upcoming changes to our assessment schedule for the year.
-Assisted Kindergarten students in opening their milk cartons during their first snack time.
-Gave high fives to first grade students in the hallway.
-Consulted with a teacher and our IT specialist on modifications to our students use of Google Apps for Education
-Replied to emails from staff members inquiring about a setting that needed to be changed in our student information system.
-Encouraged elementary teachers who have put in a tremendous amount of extra time getting their classroom ready for the first day in the midst of an ongoing renovation project.

In total, my email program says I sent 87 email messages over the past two days. Not sure if that's a record, but WOW.

It's going to be another great year!

Iowa Educators on Twitter

2011-07-13T16:31:00.003-05:00

With so much talk about the upcoming education summit here in Iowa, the number of Iowa educators spending time on Twitter this summer seems to be growing exponentially. I'm a big fan of connecting with educators from around the globe via social media tools, but there's something special about keeping up with what's going on at the state level. How might a person interested in connecting with other Iowa educators keep up or get started? Here are a few tips that have worked for me.

Follow one of the many Iowa education hashtags.

#iowacore is used by scores of teachers, administrators and education agency consultants to talk about ideas, articles and outcomes related to this statewide initiative involving state standards, pedagogy, leadership and community connections.
#iowa1to1 is popular with nearly 10% of the school districts in the state implementing a 1:1 student computer initiative.
#IaCopi is relatively new and is a way for educators to track work in the Iowa Communities of Practice and Innovation program that started this summer.
#iowatl is a hashtag used by forward thinking teacher-librarians.
#iaedsummit will heat up in Iowa later in July once the summit kicks off in Des Moines.

Check out a Twitter list.

My first list of Iowa educators on Twitter filled up quickly, so I had to begin a second one. I learned that a single Twitter list can only hold 500 users! The combined list is over 650. (Note: These lists are by no means exhaustive. Please @reply me on Twitter if you'd like to be added. Pre-requisite is a profile indicating your employment with an educational group in Iowa)

Join a Diigo group

The Iowa Core Discussion Group has been lively at times. I anticipate it will become even more active as districts begin finalizing and completing their alignment plans during 2011-12.

In what other ways are you following the latest news and commentary on education in Iowa? Leave your hashtags, Twitter lists and other digital suggestions in the comments below.

Update: In order to make this resource easy to remember and share, it is now available at http://bit.ly/iaedtweeps

Who owns the grades? [Playing the points game]

2011-06-28T15:53:00.001-05:00

Guskey and Bailey (2001, p. 18)

"Around the middle school years and sometimes earlier, students' perceptions of grades begin to change. Although the reasons for this change are uncertain, it seems likely due to teachers' shifting emphasis from the formative aspects of grades to their summative functions. As a result, students no longer see grades as a source of feedback to guide improvements in their learning. Instead, they regard grades as the major commodity teachers and schools have to offer in exchange for their performance. This change brings a slow but steady shift in students' focus away from learning and toward what they must do to obtain the grade commodity."

Take aways:

Yet another reason not to grade formative assessments.
Who owns the grades in a classroom? In my earlier years of teaching, I believe that I did. Students could dig themselves into a hole, but it was difficult to fill it back in.
I tend to agree that the system creates grade craving for students. Somewhere in school, students begin playing the "points game" and it becomes increasingly difficult, but not impossible, to undo this craving as a given student progresses through the K-12 system.

Review: Differentiated Professional Development in a Professional Learning Community

2011-06-27T08:48:00.000-05:00

Differentiated Professional Development in a Professional Learning Community was the most highly anticipated book on my summer reading list. As a curriculum director for a district embracing the professional learning community concept, this book seemed right up my alley.

Author's spin

Linda Bowgren and Kathryn Sever are both retired educators. They quote a wide range of authors without a clear bias towards any single source.

Worth quoting

On explicit changes to the way staff development is structured,

"Districts must gradually and systematically move from one-shot, one-day, out-of-the-district workshop to job-embedded, teacher-led collaboration in which everyone's learning style can be consciously considered" (4)

Later in the book, this idea is re-visited,

"When planning professional development, districts and schools should evaluate their in-house capacity to address their own needs" (31)

and

"...the best way to motivate adults is to enhance their reasons for participating in professional development and to make learning as relevant and convenient as we can" (38)

I read this book before attending the PLC Institute. At the institute, one of the breakout session facilitators challenged the audience to "be the learner today you want your students to be" rather than sitting in the back row passively participating. This idea of ongoing and continuous improvement came out in the book,

"If the universal focus of mission statements is to support lifelong learning, then all educators must be committed to putting that mission into action in their own lives" (100)

A zinger from p. 109 may spark some serious conversation in the teachers' lounge,

"Sending one or two teachers to attend a conference based strictly on teacher interest will not move a PLC forward"

The authors ended by hammering home the point that staff development time should not mirror a large college lecture hall.

"We recommend that the majority of conference days be devoted to work that furthers the targeted goals of vertical, departmental and grade-level teams...teams facilitated by teacher leaders provide the structure for working on curriculum alignment, analyzing data, and refining common local assessments" (104)

The bottom line

This book was a pretty easy read. While I believe its intended audience is those in charge of formally leading a building or district's staff development, I can also see the potential for a team of teacher leaders to read it. In the spirit of the book, teachers should be provided the ownership of their professional learning in the PLC conceptual framework, it only makes sense that they would eventually read this book, too. I made a note for principals to read chapter 9, "Ten Principles of Principals" because it succinctly summarizes an administrators' role in supporting his/her staff as a part of the professional learning community concept.

Differentiated PD in a PLC lived up to the expectations I had for it. I recommend it for any educator who "gets" the PLC concept, but wants to know more about "making it happen" at the local level.