So almost a year ago to the day, I had to opportunity to address about 50 superintendents in upstate New York, and when I posted here asking for suggestions as to what to say to them, I was amazed at the responses, as were the superintendents. Well, this Friday, I get the chance to address 120 middle school principals from New York City at a Middle Level Summit Conference, and I figure I’d see once again what the collective efforts of the group might yield. If nothing else, your thoughts and ideas and conversations are always a powerful model to the types of learning and connecting that can be done.
So I’ll ask again…if you had 75 minutes with this group, what one thing would you bring up/point to/challenge them with? What would be your most important message?
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Please tell them to trust and listen to their teacher leaders. The best leaders know when to go to their ground troops for information. Communicate, communicate, communicate!
I would challenge them to focus on using resources in which speak the language in which our children speak today. ie. Why use outdated and slanted textbooks, when up to the minute powerful information is available on the internet free for anyone to use. Why have just the teacher and students in one classroom be the audience, when there is a global audience available to us at any time. We need to move towards closing the generational disconnect/gap as it relates to how we teach and how we learn. Our kids know how to use these technologies and we should too.
Just a few thoughts: I have 5th grade students that would have never thought about expressing their ideas in writing until I started blogging with them. Now they can’t wait until they can blog twice a week. They are not only writing, but they are reflecting on their writing and other students writing. Knowledge is a collection of experiences in which one has reflected upon. To me, these students are constantly adding to their experiences and reflections and therefore expanding their knowledge in the most powerful way.
At present I have the opportunity to speak to groups of principals in South Africa and my theme is “The fish rots from the head”. It may be different in your part of the world (although, the more I read your blog and that of others in your courntry, I realise that we are not so different after all), but I find that much of the apathy of educators to capitalise on resources, particularly ICT resources, can be attributed to the poor example of head teachers, the inadequate lead that they take and the pathetic support they give to teachers in their schools.
If the head sets an example in using ICT as a productivity tool, and more importantly, as a teaching tool, and is seen to do so, it must have a powerful effect on the staff. Often they lack the conviction (and the knowlege/skills/expertise)to encourage other teachers to make the required paradigm shift.
(See my blog entry: “Rotten fish heads” of 15 April 2007.)
It would be of great interest to me to find out which theme you eventually chose to speak to your group of 120; it could give me some ideas for the future.
Best wishes for your presentation.
Challenge them (and ask them to challenge their staffs) to meet the expected learning results that they ask of their students.
For example, one of our Expected Schoolwide Learning Results is that students should be developing as life-long learners. Administrators and teachers should be modeling that every day for our students. Accept no excuses about not having the time or desire to learn 21st Century skills.
I would ask two sets of questions, both of which are rooted in the assumption that principals are well-meaning, talented educators who want what is best for students/society:
1. Do you feel that you have a good understanding of the technological and other shifts that are transforming global society? What would be the best way(s) to increase your understanding?
2. What kind of supports do you need to enhance your ability to be effective leaders at the intersections of technology, instruction, and organizational management? What barriers are in the way of you being an effective technology leader and how might those be addressed?
I would ask them “what are you doing to make sure that your teachers are making the most of technology to reach today’s students who live in a multi-media world like never before?”
I’d also ask them if they are using social computing (MySpace, SL, FaceBook, etc) as a way to punish/limit children or are they using it as a way to learn about children? Are they trying to catch kids in the act of wrong doing or are they trying to understand the world that kids percieve that they live in?
Play.
I would urge your audience to do whatever it takes to engage in meaningful personal relationships with as many students as they can. The current generation is suffering from a lack of contact with adults who can mentor them formally and tacitly.
Simple civilized conversations with students every day can make a world of difference.
The nature of knowledge and learning has changed. Connecting and using knowledge is now as essential as learning how to gather it. That will be the art of instruction in the future – teaching our students how to use the world’s collective knowledge. Teachers are no longer the gatekeepers of information.
I would tell them that it is not the technology, it is the PEOPLE who make a difference. Focus on the people first, the technology second. Gary Stager’s comment is close to that I think, but I would add “… with as many students [and teachers and parents] as they can.”
The question I would have them ask themselves is what are you doing each day to support the people in the school?
I would say that every lesson should start with a student asking “When are we ever going to use this?”
If the teacher doesn’t have an answer to that question besides an upcoming standardized test, then for what future are we preparing the students?
Being in a leadership position is hard! At the same time, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely!”
I see a lot of fantastic teachers become principals with the utmost intent on doing well and making things better, but the politics of it all become what drives them – instead of what should be the focus. The focus should be on the students and the staff – what I like to call the educational community. Everyone needs to feel safe, be challenged, be positively motivated, feel supported, provide up-to-date resources, be intune to technological advances, have CONSISTENT & EQUITABLE expectations and consequences.
None of the above are hard things to achieve! However,(yep there’s the but) when the outside community gets involved it becomes a political agenda instead of an educational improvement agenda. I’d like to see a principal that challenges the outside community! Let the outside wait and debate (whether they like it or not) and see just what we can do with the resources and without the outside negativity! I believe we can teach our students to reach for the stars!
Here is another bold suggestion.
School leaders should read or read more. Novels, non-fiction, newspapers, magazines – even education books – would make them better educators and citizens.
I was at the Principal’s conference on Friday and I really appreciated your insights and concepts. This is the first time I’ve posted a response to a blog, but it won’t be the last! Thanks for opening up doors for educational leaders by giving us some tools and techniques to integrate current web practices into our schools.