Yesterday, Sheryl and I began what we hope will be a successful process to change teaching in New Jersey on a statewide level. This fall, we’ll be running a Powerful Learning Practice cohort in the state in conjunction with Kean University that will include folks from every level of the education construct, from the assistant state commissioner of education to members of the principals and supervisors association to preservice university professors to classroom teachers. (We still have a couple of slots for 5-person school teams if anyone is interested, btw.) In addition, we’ve got Robin Ellis and Kevin Jarrett participating as well, ready to bring their wealth of knowledge and experience to the discussions.
Obviously, while this makeup is decidedly different from the other cohorts we’ve run, we’re hoping we have “the right people on the bus” as Jim Collins would say. While the various levels of representation add some complexity to the process, the opportunity to start a conversation and engage in practice with such a diverse group is pretty exciting. And, it’s especially exciting for me since it’s all happening in my home state.
If things work out as planned, we want to help create a workable model for professional development around these technologies that will take root and last here long after Sheryl and I move on. As I told the group yesterday, our expectation is not that everyone become a blogger or a podcaster or a videographer, but we really believe that every educator at least has to understand what’s happening with Web technologies, how they are affecting much of our world, and the implications and potentials for learning. Hopefully, what we create together will go a long way to making that happen.
Just one final note: as I was walking around listening in on some of the discussions, one of the representatives from the state was voicing her frustrations with the way the conversation with her colleagues has been going so far. She said that they were having a hard time squaring the idea of being more creative while maintaining “rigor” in the process, and that rigor is always contextualized in content. “I can teach my five-year old how to do content,” she said, and it was clear what she meant. We have as much to unlearn in this process as we do to learn.
Will,
I’m quite intrigued by the PLP model. There is so much about this I’d love to discuss, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll keep focused on one question for now.
Is there any concern that the PLP model will increase a digital divide among teachers? Let me clarify. If you are only engaging a select number of teachers in a given district in this process, what happens to the rest who aren’t involved? I ask because having been a teacher for the past 8 years, I know what can happen when you have a group who have been through the training and a group who haven’t. Often a certain sense of resentment or frustration grows among those who weren’t involved, and they become unavailable to some degree for engaging the process in the future. It’s sad and frustrating, but unfortunately, it’s an all too common occurrence.
If you wouldn’t mind, can you tell me how you and Sheryl have thought through this aspect of the process? Thanks.
Ben,
I work in a low performing urban school, where grant initiatives and special projects come and go through a revolving door, and yes, there are teachers who keep saying….why aren’t I ever involved? Oftentimes the projects themselves operate within an isolating design – with only certain classrooms benefiting from funds, PD or equipment, etc.
Listening to Sheryl and Will this week at Kean, as a K-12 team leader, it became crystal clear that PLP will be a very unique initiative – it’s a seed of positive change. The participating teachers will be catalysts for a new teaching and learning environment. The promise of environmental change, supported by the highest level of state educators, hopefully will not cause jealousy among teachers as some special initiatives might, but rather get them on the bus. Our group is very hopeful about the PLP project, and honored to be a part of it.
I know your question was directed at Will but I thought I would throw in my 2 cents. This model is a champion building model. The idea is in Year 1 of the PD to engage a 5 member team in job embedded, professional development that has an intentional focus on scaling what they learn to the rest of the school, district or organization through a team project. Part of the equipping is in how to turnkey what they learn.
Will and I work hard to build the capacity of those participating in ways that help them understand the literacies involved in building a situated community of practice and personal learning network. Our goal is to model ourselves out of a job- and depending on the district that can be in 1 year, 2 years, etc.
In Alabama, the project started with 20 school teams from across the state and expanded to 40 the second year and then it took off statewide as team members began to connect, collaborate and call each other to action through various projects. The DOE got involved and now they are negotiating to become a 21st Century partnership state.
Different cohorts approach the team building in different ways- for example we have one cohort that is made up of 20 high school teams from the same district, whereas the NJ cohort is a state model.
Hope that helps.
Congrats!
As someone who cares deeply about my homeland (NJ), I really really really hope your discussions will broaden to include a wide range of activities, theories and curricular areas beyond Web 2.0 and the humanities. School progress is only possible with a deep understanding of learning, teaching, learning environments AND content knowledge with a willingness to question or replace the curriculum.
Too many efforts focus on one leg of the stool and most of what is called school leadership consists of content-free jargon.
I just spent three days creating the sort of technology-rich constructionist environment for Brooklyn science teachers that I would like them to create for their children, but we also discussed pedagogical strategies AND they learned new things and new things about learning. I will support them in any way I can, but I expect them to develop their own skills and content knowledge in addition to “teaching better,” because all three goals are critical and interdependent.
Let me know if I can help in any way.
Gary
PS: I hope our soon-to-be-recorded interview will include a discussion of the fact that there are no new literacies 🙂
In response to Ben’s question, my district has a team participating this year, it is comprised of 4 middle school teachers and an elementary principal. Part of our plan as a team during the year as we participate is to keep our district involved in what we are doing through a couple of ways. Our team will have the opportunity at monthly meetings to talk about PLP, what we are learning, our team project, our thoughts on the process and the experience of being part of a learning community. We will be able to share with a cross section of our district due to the varying responsibilities each of us have. Our hope is by sharing throughout the year we will generate interest and begin our own conversations to build a PLC and involve others, not keep what we learn to ourselves.
What I love most about the PLP cohort model is the broad range of participants, including, and I think most important representatives from state and local government and teachers.
My district just had the entire management team participate in a presentation and discussion with representatives from Apple about 21st Century Learning. Great stuff, but the teachers, school board members, and state government need to be exposed to this big ideas.
I wish you all the best in New Jersey. Is it wrong to say I am a little jealous!
Thanks for the response, Sheryl. I’m not trying to be a dissenting voice on this project whatsoever, I’m actually very much in favor of many aspects of what you and Will have created, I just worry that even with the emphasis on having the program participants share their knowledge and enthusiasm with the rest of the district, in some ways a quasi-“secret club” mentality may begin to materialize among those not in the program. I think more than anything I’m curious and hopeful that will be overcome after the first couple years the program is established in a district.
Thanks Robin for your comment as well. There seems to be so much competition between teachers some times that when only select people are participating in a program that aims to achieve wholistic goals, the buy-in doesn’t happen. I think about staff meetings where someone shares about a conference or a training opportunity they have had, and how often other teachers in the room are grading papers, talking to each other, or just straight up not paying attention. I’d really love to hear how you guys share what you are doing with the other staff members and how it is received.
I am completely intrigued and very interested in your project. I am responsible for technology for a school in NYC and see it as my self-appointed job to at least expose teachers To the shifts. The thing is of course the direct leadership does not really understand the need for this.
My approach has been to write pd grants and take some time to show teachers some of these tools with out any pressure. So far it has had some impact, but I dream about what you are doing.
change is going at a snails pace in NYC, while the shift are raging white waters rushing through our Metropolis streets and the world.
With this approach to introducing the shifts and Web 2.0. and it’s power in education and the larger world, The world we are supposed to be preparing students to enter, which is essentially no approach, I am speechless.
Can’t some one get to Klein and re-focus some of his
bizarre fetishism with testing/data onto just how poorly we are preparing our kids for; I don’t know what to call it, Digital age, Connected World, or lets just say Dramatically different world than it was in 1995 or even 2002 when he took up residence a 110 livingston STreet and began a policy dedicated testing/data/more testing and yet a little more data, not dissimilar in its fever to a Papal Crusade, but with know plan or budget to support the major shifts the world has gone through in the last 12 or so years.
anyway I am interested in your project and in the results it garners.
please forgive the typos and grammatical errors i tend to shoot from the hip when commenting on blogs
After looking over the PLP model, it’s great that you’re moving ahead with actions that will hopefully give you what you’re hoping for. The more opportunities that are presented in a variety of ways to schools, districts and teachers will allow more to be included in the conversation and journey.
I am responsible for districtwide professional learning in learning technologies in Vancouver, Canada and we’ve been grappling with similar issues. Over the last 2 years we’ve been on a multi-layered model of individual hands-on side-by-side teaching and learning, pullout workshop series based on the side-by-side, districtwide series of increasing skill levels embedded within the disciplines. Most of these are attached with long term funding for professional learning conversations, observations and sharing across schools as well as practice. Sometimes this is quite messy as I can have 20 people with me in a room focused on 20 different projects at 20 different skill levels. I usually only accept what I call learning teams – teams of people who will support each other and have the “hallway conversations†whenever they need it. In their second year with us, they are responsible for mentoring with another and so the ripple extends outward.
We try to build in the time needed for people to get beyond to the level of comfort. This takes a lot of time and energy but the end result is worth it as we’re seeing this unfold.
I have to admit that none of this is done alone. I have a team of 4 that I work with directly as well a full group of 25 others who are responsible for the other disciplines. Together, our goal is to create the conditions for professional learning.
Two of the things I love about the PLP model are a) the emphasis on process and b) the reliance on freely available collaborative tools / social networking technologies.
The focus on process will give participants confidence when it is time for them to turnkey efforts in their own districts. In my prior life as an information systems project manager, we followed a detailed “methodology” during system implementations. It was crucial operationally; everyone knew where they (and the project) stood at all times. I see the same discipline with PLP.
By using free tools and social networking technologies, we are “eating our own dog food,” relying on the very technologies we are promoting to transform professional practice. But it’s not about the tool. It’s about maximizing our effectiveness in the classroom USING the tools. And that, hopefully, is something every educator can get excited about!
-kj-
Hi –
As a high school integration specialist I have delivered several workshops on technology over the years. A few years ago, we did a tablet implementation (this is how I met Will) along with a SharePoint deployment and presented at several conference. My district allowed other schools to visit us to share our model. I wanted to pass along a PD model that came out of one of the visits.
A team of teachers and administrators from a nearby school district visited my high school to observe our use of technology, we then designed a course based on what teachers wanted to learn. Last summer, I delivered a Web 2.0/emerging technologies class for one week during the summer. What made this class so unique, was the curriculum director and superintendent attended the first and last day of the class and gave the teacher feedback on their projects. We used blogs, wikis, podcasts, evaluated tablet/pc’s, interactive whiteboard and interactive response systems. Each student was asked to prepare a request/proposal outlining what they needed in their classroom. We then reviewed all the proposals and the superintendent did a great job of supplying teachers with the right tools with even with a limited budget.
We then had a part two of the class; we met once a month using a hybrid model, (4 hours face-to-face / 4 hours online) over a 5 month period. The teachers had an opportunity to embed what they had learned in the classroom over the course of the year. At the end of the year, they had a “showcase†of best practices; we shared with the district administration and invited members of the school committee. I am not exaggerating when I tell you, people were in tears, they were so impressed and proud of what the teachers and students had produced. It was amazing to see what these teachers had learned and applied in one year! The second group of teachers just completed class one and will continue with me next year.
This is a great professional development model, teachers decide what they want to learn and apply in their classroom and the school administration supports them!
I would encourage other schools to look at this model.
I could not get on the bus fast enough Will, especially as I’ll get to work with Judy O’Connell and Jenny Luca down here in Australia. I think we’ve agreed that for most of the staff who are on the ride, it will be a mystery tour, but I hope with a magic ending. Really looking forward to working with everyone, PLP I hope will the the clincher when it comes to the change in our schools approach to technology in learning, and a really good excuse to have even more fun!
Any chance one could lurk to garner this wisdom from this course or listen to the recordings?
That rigor question has been something our campus PLC has been discussing quite a bit as well.
I like the approach that Robert Fried suggests in the Passionate Learner–that of spreading the curriculum out like a garment on the table for students and you to add to and recreate.
As our teachers put it, there’s always things that can be modified, left out, or rethought so that there is more depth and maybe a little less “breadth”–because after all, what we are after is students who can think.