Concept-based curriculum and instruction

I'm in a 2 day workshop with Lynn Erickson on concept-based curriculum and instruction.  For our "homework" tonight we are in groups of 9, each of us reading a chapter from Lunn's book Transitioning to Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction.  I was happy that when we numbered off, I ended up with number 8, thus having to read Chapter 8 which is about what principals and coaches need to understand about implementing concept-based models in schools.

Now, I have to say that for over 20 years I've worked at schools that already have a concept-based curriculum - the PYP.  However I've also consulted with schools that are moving from a more traditional way of teaching as they have decided to take on the PYP.  As with any new curriculum, change is hard - and those leading the change need to consider up-front what they can do to both to avoid the stresses and failures that might be associated with change, and to sustain any changes that do take place.

In Chapter 8, Lynn writes about how to set the stage for curriculum implementation.  This falls into 3 main steps:

1. Examining the hidden impediments to change - for example principals who do not provide the necessary support will certainly make change less likely to succeed.  Some people embrace change (the early adopters) and others are reluctant to move out of their comfort zones. Coaches and principals need to consider the different personal characteristics of their teachers to help them to successfully implement change.
2. Setting up the learning team - some schools know they need to change because students are struggling, yet teachers in these schools may be reluctant to change because of past failures. Conversely, schools that are experiencing success may not see the need for a change towards a concept-based curriculum.   In both cases, setting up a school learning team made up of teachers and instructional coaches is important before implementation.  This team should have members that are well respected by their colleagues, have diverse perspectives and be committed to a concept-based curriculum.  It's really important that there are teachers on this team, as they are the ones dealing with the change and can help anticipate and resolve the problems, as well as help mobilise the buy-in of the rest of the teaching faculty.
3. Shaping a shared vision - it's really important to show teachers what a concept-based curriculum looks like in practice.  The teachers who are the ones implementing the changes are often not the same ones that were part of the decision making and curriculum development process.  Many teachers who are expected to change their practices experience anxiety and fear of failure, so support, modelling and coaching are vital. 

When adopting a new curriculum teachers go through fairly predictable developmental stages:

• Self-oriented - wondering what it is and how it will affect them
• Task-oriented - wondering how they do it 
• Impact - questioning how the change is working for students

Coaches need to recognise what stage their teachers are at and design differentiated job-embedded PD to address the level of concern that individual teachers have.

When adopting a concept-based curriculum it's also important to consider student assessment. Traditional assessments measure knowledge and skills, but often don't provide much data about student understanding.  Assessments will need to be redesigned in order to focus more on conceptual understanding.

I have had an absolutely brilliant time today and can't wait to get back to school tomorrow to continue the learning.

Photo Credit: Anne Davis 773 Flickr via Compfight cc

The crucial role played by tech-leading principals

I came across the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Tech-leading Principals today.  These are:

• creating an atmosphere that inspires innovation
• fostering collaboration
• being open to new ideas
• being a connected learner
• locating and providing adequate resources,
• taking risks
• having a visionary focus.

In the book Personalized Learning: A Guide for Engaging Students with Technology, Grant and Basye write "the importance of a principal's role as instructional technology leader cannot be overemphasized".  However many principals find technology, in particular mobile devices, to be challenging - they are the ones who end up dealing with the disciplinary issues of cyberbullying, inappropriate use, distractions, the dangers and misuses of the web and so on.  Often the conversation about how to keep students safe is about blocking technologies or access to websites.  However other principals realize that blocking technologies does students a disservice, and that an education that fails to account for the responsible use of mobile devices and social networks does not prepare students for the future.  Students need to learn how to be safe and responsible when the go online outside the classroom - as with their mobile devices they can be online anywhere.

Photo Credit: sekihan Flickr via Compfight cc

Schools where teachers stay

Over the past school year I've been on the Recruitment, Development and Retention R&D Task Force. While a lot of my energies have been spent looking at recruitment, in particular the new Global Recruitment Collaborative launched by ASB last Fall, I've also read a lot about how best to develop the talent of the teachers already employed, and the factors that lead to a high percentage of teacher retention.  At ASB over the next 2 years our retention rate is predicted to be 95% according to our Superintendent Craig Johnson - so ASB is obviously getting it right!  Last week on Facebook, I noticed several shares of an article on the Shanker Blog regarding schools where teachers stay, improve and succeed.  For this post I'm therefore going to outline the main points and discuss how these fit with my own experience and observations in international schools.

In the article, Matthew Kraft and John Papay argue that it's important to consider teacher retention because teachers have such a large effect on student learning.  In addition how effective teachers are depends largely on how they are supported or constrained by the schools where they teach.  They argue that we traditionally treat teachers as if their effectiveness is fixed, which means that it is portable when they move from one school to the next.  However my research has shown the opposite: that talent isn't very portable because high performance depends on such things as resources, colleagues and climate of the school - so some teachers who are excellent in one school can end up doing poorly in another when they leave behind the resources, colleagues and support of the school where they have been successful.

Kraft and Papay agree that "the contexts in which teachers work profoundly shape teachers' job decisions and their effectiveness".  They explain that "teachers who work in supportive contexts stay in the classroom longer, and improve at faster rates, than their peers in less-supportive environments." Interestingly enough, it's the factors that are hard to measure that are the most influential in teacher retention.  These include the quality of relationships, collaboration among the staff, the responsiveness of school administrators and the academic and behavioural expectations for students. High rates of turnover relate to poor working environment: teachers' views of the following 6 factors in a school strongly predict whether or not they stay in a school and how much they improve professionally while employed there:

1. Consistent order and discipline 
2. Opportunities for peer collaboration
3. Supportive principal leadership
4. Effective professional development
5. A school culture characterized by trust
6. A fair teacher evaluation process providing meaningful feedback.

The good news is that working conditions in schools can improve over time, and that teachers are responsive to these changes.  A recent study from Harvard University indicates that school principals play a key role in establishing productive professional environments in schools.  My own experience confirms this.  It doesn't take long for a poor principal to destroy a collegial working environment, through the encouragement of such things as cronyism, micromanagement, bullying, rivalry and back-biting. At the same time, once such a destructive leader moves on, a school can regenerate itself fairly quickly by hiring a principal who can build a new culture of supporting teachers and students. Even if the poor principal stays, a teacher who is performing poorly can choose to completely regenerate him/herself by moving to a different school with a more positive working environment. And in such a school, that teacher is likely to stay.  

Photo Credit: rexboggs5 via Compfight cc

A coach is NOT an administrator

Some weeks ago in our Leadership PLC we were discussing the options open to a teacher who wants to take on more of a leadership role, but who doesn't want to become a school administrator.  There are actually many options that we brainstormed, for example to become a consultant; to work for the IBO or another educational body; to move into the training of teachers at a university; to become an author and write a book; to work in management in an organization outside of teaching, for example starting an NGO; to go into politics or perhaps work for a UN organization; to specialize further in their own field; to become a school inspector as part of an accreditation team; to get involved in school design; to become an educational headhunter; to engage in action research; to open your own school or centre; and finally to become a coach.  Thinking about it, I have known teachers who have moved into all of these different areas - who have made that choice instead of following a more traditional pathway into school administration.

Both coaches and administrators work on building teachers' capacities, and while there are similarities in their roles, there are also distinct differences.  Both coaches and administrators work with a variety of teachers to promote meaningful change, and as such both need to be good at developing relationships based on trust and respect so that both mentoring and challenging can occur. Both also are engaged in observing teachers, collecting data and analyzing it in order to help teachers identify their strengths and areas that need to be worked on for professional growth.  Both can also look at the big picture that data is showing, for example trends and areas of need in the school.  Both coaches and administrators also provide resources - albeit different ones.  Coaches might work with teachers to identify workshops or online courses that would be most appropriate in helping them to achieve their goals, while administrators might be more involved in the funding of the PD opportunities.  Ultimately both administrators and coaches are involved in building the community of learners within the school and promoting collaboration and reflection.

But here is where it ends.  In the book Building Teachers' Capacities for Success, Pete Hall and Alisa Simeral write about the distinctions between a coach and an administrator:

• peer -v- supervisor:  coaches and teachers are more equal - there is not a power issue going on - whereas administrators are mostly seen as being a "higher rank".
• constructive feedback -v- summative feedback:  while both coaches and admins might observe lessons, the job of the coach is to help the teacher reflect on what could make the teaching better.  Administration usually give summative feedback, for example if the work/lesson observed was satisfactory or whether it needs improvement.
• modeling lessons -v- evaluating lessons:  similar to the point above, a coach is more likely to model a new instructional strategy or tool, and to take part in a classroom activity without judgement.  A coach should not be in an evaluative role.
• leadership, goal setting and professional development:  Hall and Simeral write that a coach is a "servant leader", putting the needs of others ahead of his own.  A coach is a facilitator who works to help teachers achieve their personal goals.  An administrator is what Hall and Simeral describe as a "visible leader", more responsible for setting whole school goals that apply to everyone.  Both admins and coaches can play a role in goal setting, though the coach is more likely to ask teachers what they want to focus on and what support they will need, whereas the administrator may direct a goal for a teacher based on performance.  Coaches provide personal professional development, whereas administrators are more likely to coordinate whole school PD.
• counseling -v- directing:  coaches spend a lot of time listening, building empathy and asking questions to provoke thinking.  Administrators are less inclined to empathy and are more focused on finding solutions.
• motivating -v- inspiring:  I'm not sure I agree with this distinction.  I think both coaches and administrators can be motivating and inspiring.

In my role at ASB I take on both hats, and I'm wondering how well I manage to combine them.  As Director of Educational Technology I definitely have an administrative role, however I've also taken on the role of tech coach for two grade levels and for all the specialist teachers.  I try to shift between the roles as best I can.  I have a desk in the tech office and another one in the coaches office, though most of the time I'm not at either but in the learning and collaborative spaces around school.  I'm pretty clear about the fact that while I may collect and analyze data, I'm not there to evaluate people - and I think most teachers do know that.

What do you think?  Are you a coach or an administrator?  Do you think the same person can do both roles?

Photo Credit: bez uma via Compfight cc

Too much empathy -v- a visionary with nobody following

Last month I went to Switzerland for Days 5-8 of the Cognitive Coaching Seminars.  One of the things we discussed was the difference between field dependent individuals and field independent individuals.

People who are field dependent enjoy working with others.  They are collaborative and enjoy mentor relationships.  They see things holistically, taking in the overall picture, but can have difficulty with individual parts.  Often they work from intuition and "gut reactions".  These people like and need concrete experiences.

Field independent people, on the other hand, like working alone to get a job done.  They are logical, rational and task oriented and see things analytically, from the parts to the whole - they are really good with details.  They like to figure things out for themselves and often avoid asking for help.

Now let's think about how these characteristics impact administration and coaching.  Administrators who are field dependent are often accused of having too much empathy which could make it hard to take tough decisions and get things done.  Administrators who are field independent may come across as visionary, but with nobody following them.

Teachers who are field dependent and independent want different things from administrators and coaches.  Field dependent teachers want their coaches to be warm and to show personal interest in them when supporting them, for example to seek their opinions in decisions that are being made.  They want their coach to provide both guidance and modeling.  They respect coaches and admin who have an open door policy and who practice what they preach.  On the other hand teachers who are field dependent want coaches and admin who are knowledgeable about curriculum and instruction yet at the same time maintain a professional distance.  They want admin and coaches who focus on tasks, yet who show independence and flexibility, and who make decisions based n data and analysis.

When I assessed my own cognitive style I came across as being very field dependent.  In particular I really like helping others to achieve and I enjoy being part of a group or team effort.  So now I'm wondering, does this strong preference in me mean I come across as having too much empathy, so that it's hard to get a job completed?  I think I definitely do give a lot of personal support and provide guidance and modelling, but do I also need to focus more on tasks and perhaps give messages more directly and articulately?  And should I try to focus more on local and rational analysis to solve problems and make decisions rather than relying on empathy and intuition.  Such a lot to think about here!

Photo Credit: Free Grunge Textures - www.freestock.ca via Compfight cc

Future Forwards Volume 3

This weekend ASB hosted the Future Forwards Summit.  This was a global conference on educational innovation with the mission of empowering schools in developing their capacity for innovation.  The goal was that the 15 schools who attended would leave the summit with their own prototype model of an R&D department for their school.  

One of the things I'm often asked about our R&D department by teachers in other schools is what do we actually research?  This question was answered by Craig Johnson, ASB's superintendent, as he drew the line between innovation and implementation.  Craig's message was that 

A lot of important ideas in education, that don't exist at your school, don't need to be researched, they simply need to be implemented. So, are you "researching a new topic and exploring new frontiers" or are you designing an implementation plan for something that is best practice already but doesn't exist at your school? 

A great question - that gets right to the heart of why we have an R&D department that focuses on innovation and exploring new frontiers in education.

The Future Forwards Summit coincided with the publication of the 3rd Volume of Future Forwards. These books are collections of thoughts, hypotheses, discussions and reflections on practices, research and ideas that are relevant to emerging new paradigms of teaching and learning.  The books are divided into 3 sections:  Paradigms, Ideas and Practices.

In Volume 3 you will find the following:

Paradigms - Looking to the Future
These chapters are about paradigm shifts - different approaches that radically challenge established conventions.  Here you will read chapters about relevance in a global educational ecosystem, the impact of a school R&D department, essential conditions for effective R&D in schools, the Global Recruitment Collaborative - a new way of dealing with the "talent wars", rethinking PD for the future, and how personal learning devices can personalize learning.

Ideas - The Next Step
These chapters are about how current research is changing or impacting existing practices or established norms.  Here you will find chapters on using visual analytics to support student learning, using technology to shift culture in a local Indian school, and the TRAI (technology, robotics and artificial intelligence) Summit.

Practices - Innovating in the Now
These chapters describe the application of an instructional practice in a completely novel way or the successful mash-up of different practices.  In this section you will read about how our tech audit has transformed the personalization of tech PD, accelerating and innovating intersessions, learning analytics and data visualization in a 4th Grade class, exploring wellness data, new media in art and Maker Saturdays.

These eBooks are completely free - enjoy and please consider sharing them with others in your professional network.

Future Forwards Volume 3
Future Forwards Volume 2
Future Forwards Volume 1

Profile of a Modern School Leader

This week we are interviewing for the role of Assistant Superintendent for the next 3 years at ASB. Our leadership team already drew up a list of attributes about what we are looking for in a leader for the future.

As I was thinking over what we are looking for in our next Assistant Superintendent today, I saw this graphic posted by Edwin Lagos (@elag87) on Twitter.  I contacted Edwin to ask him whether this graphic was part of a blog post he had written.  His reply is that it was inspired by another infographic by Reid Wilson (@wayfaringpath) that had been posted on the COETAIL website.

As I considered the infographics by Edwin and Reid, it occurred to me that both involved a huge climate of trust.  Teachers will only step outside their comfort zone, take risks and allow themselves to fail, if they know that school leaders encourage a culture of innovation and motivate the community to take risks.  I love the way that "Trusts" is the biggest word on Edwin's infographic. Trust is also something that we talked a lot about in our recent cognitive coaching workshop.  The facets of trust, according to Tschannen-Moran in Trust Matters:  Leadership for Successful Schools are as follows:

• Benevolence - caring, supporting teachers, expressing appreciation for efforts, being fair, guarding confidential information
• Honesty - integrity, being truthful, honoring promises and agreements, having authenticity, accepting responsibility
• Openness - communication, sharing important information, sharing decision making, sharing power
• Reliability - being consistent and dependable, demonstrating commitment
• Competence - setting an example, problem solving, conflict resolution, working hard, setting standards, buffering teachers, being flexible.

Below is a copy of Reid Wilson's infographic on the Profile of a Modern Teacher.  Click on the infographic to go to a larger version.

Are you a modern teacher or modern school leader?  What do you think are the most important attributes that you bring to your role?  Are there any others you could consider important in a school for the future?

Hierarchy is the death of creativity and innovation

One thing that Jim Collins' team found when researching how a good company can become a great company is that many small, start-up companies are high on creativity, innovation and risk-taking, whereas a more established company can often be a victim of its own success.  Collins charts the movement from an egalitarian, fun company to what he calls "an unwieldy ball of disorganized stuff" which leads to a hierarchy being established with a "we" and "them" attitude, the result of which is that the most innovative people leave and the creative magic starts to wane.  Let's think how this applies to education.

Over my 30 years in schools, I've worked in large schools of over 1,000 students and small ones of under 300.  I've also worked at small schools that have become large schools and I've thought about what vital spark disintegrated as the school grew.  Certainly the small schools seemed friendlier places:  I knew every single teacher and student who worked there and they all knew me, whereas in large schools, especially those split among multiple campuses, this was not the case.  I recall one time when I went for a parent conference with my daughter's teachers and some of the teachers I spoke to were surprised to find that I was also working there!  I also recall working in small schools where everyone had to pitch in and take on multiple hats, and where there was also a feeling of having a finger on the pulse, or being involved more closely in decisions that were made.  In others it was pretty much an "old boys club" where cronyism was rife and where the culture became less and less innovative the more the school grew.

Jim Collins writes "the purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence".  His point is that basically if you have the right people onboard in the first place, who are self-directed and self-disciplined, then there is no need for a bureaucracy which is only in place to manage the "small percentage of wrong people".  His advice is to avoid bureaucracy and hierarchy and instead create a culture of discipline.  Today at lunch I was sitting with our R&D Coordinator and we were talking about the fact that everyone at ASB works hard because they are so motivated and given a huge amount of freedom within certain guidelines (autonomy and purpose).  I remember saying to him "I'm working harder than ever before, but I'm also much less stressed."  Jim Collins writes about this, referring to the culture in good to great places as being one of freedom and responsibility within a framework, and that these places are filled with self-disciplined people who engage in rigorous thinking before taking action, and who are willing to go to extreme lengths to fulfill their responsibilities.

Photo Credit: opensourceway via Compfight cc

The Management-Leadership Matrix

It's an old, old debate - which is more important, management or leadership?  It's addressed in John P Kotter's book Accelerate too.  There's a nice graphic to accompany it too that reinforces how BOTH are actually very important.  First, however, it's important to think about the different role that each one of these plays:

• Management - is responsible for stability and efficiency - both are needed to run a successful business
• Leadership - is what creates the changes that are necessary to take advantage of new opportunities and move in new directions

Kotter writes about how organizations evolve.  He writes that any organization over 10 years old and with more than 30 employees will tend to have many people working on management issues and doing these effectively.  However he writes that in the majority of cases sufficient leadership is not evident.   Now as long as things are fairly stable, there are not many challenges and there is little competition, you can survive with this situation.  The problem is that this "stable" world is quickly disappearing.

Here is the Management-Leadership Matrix.  It shows clearly what happens in organizations that have good management AND leadership, good management but poor leadership, good leadership but poor management and neither management nor leadership.  It's been interesting to think about the schools where I have worked and to consider which quadrant they fit into.

  

Legacy apps and legacy systems

Another session I attended at ISTE 2013 that made me think was Chris Lehmann's session entitled Technology Transforms Pedagogy.  At one point he talked about the things he taught in his English class long after they were necessary for students to learn - for example HTML4 - and asked "What are your legacy apps?  What are the things you are still teaching that are no longer relevant?"  I started to think about keyboarding.  A parent of a new 5th Grade student recently asked me if/when we were teaching it.  We do actually introduce the Typing Club in Grade 2, but I'm wondering how useful this is long-term for our students.  Is keyboarding something that has reached its expiry date?  He then asked us to think about how we would end this sentence:

Technology means that I have to let go of .....

The next question we started thinking about was legacy systems.  Examples could be the way we communicate with parents, professional development models, curriculum, class schedules, grading, assessment and administration.  Are these now legacy systems - do we continue to do these in the same way without questioning their relvance to our students' futures?  Which of these could we change or control, and what could we do?  And how could technology make that change happen?

Photo Credit: onkel_wart (thomas lieser - computer dead) via Compfight cc

Fast, good and cheap?

Last week I visited friends I used to work with in Switzerland and had a fascinating conversation with one of them about the Project Management Triangle.  This triangle is basically about designing and delivering a project, and the theory is that you can do 2 of the 3 things but you cannot do all 3 at the same time.  For example you can design something that is a good quality quickly but it will not be cheap.  You can design something quickly and cheaply, but the quality will not be good.  You can design something that is high quality and cheap, but it will take a long time.

I wonder if the Project Management Triangle can also be applied to school improvement?  For example I have seen schools grow very quickly without a lot of investment both in human resources and in infrastructure, but there has been a definite decline in quality/morale.  I've also seen schools develop and become better in a very short time, but it has been at a huge cost in both new buildings and in professional development.  What do you think?  Do you think that schools can improve and focus on all 3 of these at the same time?  Can they improve in a short time without a huge investment?  Could the investment actually be a human one?  Could teachers in a school decide that in a short period - maybe one or two years - that they will take advantage of the amazing amount of free professional development that is available - sometime from within the establishment itself - in order to change mindsets and really move forward?  I think it is possible.  Do you?

The image of the Project Management Triangle is taken from Wikimedia Commons and is licenced with a Creative Commons licence.

A culture that makes the obsolete impossible

I'm at the Google Summit, and also reading through my Twitterstream and just came across a link to a blog that I've not seen before.   As we're learning so many new things here, I think it is very relevant to ask the question:  what do you do about teachers who simply don't want to change the way they do things, who just don't want to move on and try out something new?  One method of dealing with this was advocated by someone I once worked with who made life so horrible for people who didn't fit in that they ended up becoming sick and leaving.  The really awful thing about this, though, was that this was a school that did not have a supportive culture - teachers were not encouraged to try things out, make mistakes and learn from them as that was seen as damaging the reputation of the school.  The fear of failure was so palpable and the consequences so dire that very few teachers wanted to try out anything new that might possibly lead them to being in the spotlight, so the end result was that the school in fact did not move forward.  Ironic, really.

J Robinson, on his blog The 21st Century Principal, asks:  What would a school that has a culture that makes obsolete impossible look like?  I feel I can answer this question, because I am now working in such a place.  Here's J Robinson's suggestions:

• an expectation of personal and professional growth, a culture of lifelong learning and professional development.  This is certainly true of ASB and I think I have mentioned in previous blog posts how many opportunities I've been given for professional development both inside and outside the school.
• the school culture values risk-taking more than playing safe.  At ASB our culture of research and development means we are prototyping new things (some of which we may decide we don't want to adopt).  J Robinson points out something very important here:  leaders can't ask others to take risks if they themselves aren't willing to do so.
• leadership in the school includes more than the principal.  Teachers at ASB are encouraged to be leaders and every single committee that exists does so because teachers have volunteered to be part of it.  J Robinson writes that having teacher leaders means that peers are the ones who are pushing other teachers to grow professionally. 
• collaboration is the norm - everyone is part of the solution, everyone owns the future of the school which leads to teachers feeling that the school is "their school" and that they have a voice in its direction.  

So how do you get a school culture like this?  Well clearly it is mostly down to the leadership of the school and here our leaders are forward thinking and inspirational: I can feel their energy and passion and their commitment to the school's mission, values and goals.  I love listening to our school administrators, I love reading the things they are writing and the questions they are asking, I love the way they are thought-leaders.  I love the honesty and integrity that is shown in the way they live their beliefs and values.  I love the way they listen to us and communicate with us and value us all and the contribution we are making to the education of the students.  I love their passion for what they are doing.  I love the way that they say that great just isn't good enough.  I appreciate that they are real and not fakes.  If we all admire these things (which it seems we do) and all aspire to emulate them, then clearly we are striving to move forward, to be the best we can be, and obsolescence is therefore impossible.

This is actually the 3rd international school where I've worked that has had this culture.  At a time when I'm hearing that in countries like the UK and the USA teacher morale is low and stress levels are high, I feel I've been blessed to spend 90% of my teaching career at schools where the culture was a forward thinking and supportive one, and where I was supported as a learner as well as being a teacher.

Going to the Moon

Today I heard the news that the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, has died.  I've thought about the Apollo 11 mission quite a bit over the past few weeks, since the metaphor of going to the moon was one that was used by our Superintendent when he described the journey that ASB set off on last year to rethink education and what we are doing to turn those thoughts into reality.  This year we have 2 amazing new campuses and it seems we have "lift off", but there is still a long way to go between the launch and actually walking on the moon.  I'm new, and so obviously I wasn't involved in all the preparation for the lift off, but it's clear to see all the preparations that went on pre-launch that have set us on our way.

The school started by looking at the mission.  It was important to affirm that this was the right one and that we all still cared about making the mission come true.  At this time 2 more core values were added:

• Practice, perseverance and reflection are integral to a culture of excellence.  These are not just glib words like other mission statements I've read.  When this school talks about a culture of excellence they know what they are talking about and how to get there.  All coaches know that practice is important and that when you face setbacks you need to persevere.  Reflection ties the whole thing together.  A culture that does not value reflection, that does not value thinking critically about what you are doing in order to get better, is one that will never achieve excellence.
• We are the trustees of our environment.  I love this one because it goes beyond immediate achievement, because the focus is on the future.

I've already written about the 4 things that were identified as being really important in the roles of teachers:  learning, talent, advancement and resources.  If our metaphor is that "we are going to the moon", and going to the moon is something that has never been done before, then obviously it's important to think about how to do things differently.  One of the first things that was considered was curriculum.  I've been at schools that have considered curriculum before and this process has taken 4 or 5 years to review.  Teachers get frustrated in this process.  ASB decided that this traditional model was not going to work because people want to try something new and implement it - so what has been done is to capture this initiative and put it into a new curriculum review model so that everything is moving and everyone is revising their curriculum every year.  As Heidi Hayes Jacobs described in her book Curriculum 21, it's important to constantly consider what to keep, what to cut and what to create.  A good example of this is the way at ASB there has been a complete change in everyone's mindset for using technology in the best way.  Technology is completely embedded - I've heard it described as the DNA of learning here.

In the first few weeks of school I've been part of collaborative planning for the first unit of inquiry in each team.  We do consider what was done before, we look at the standards, we develop assessments that align with the standards and we look at instructional approaches.  We revisit these every year with every unit of inquiry, but this year we are committed to going further - we are looking at personalizing the learning.  The purpose and focus of our curriculum development is to come up with personalized learning for every child.

Just as in the Apollo missions, our R&D team is very strong here at ASB - it's the heart of every decision we make to move forward with teaching and learning.  We need to think differently - we need to consider people, teams, structures, roles and responsibilities, time, facilities, operations and processes, governance, policies and resources.  And all of these need to be considered in the light of the school's mission and core values.

Yesterday our Superintendent sent out a message to all parents.  This weekly briefing is called Vichar, which I looked up in a Hindi dictionary.  It has many meanings:  thought, idea, opinion, voice, consideration.   He wrote about how the building of the new campuses has been similar to a pregnancy and how on 13th August,  our first day of school, the baby was born.  As a parent myself, I know that the birth is the first step, sometimes compared to what comes later it can even be seen as an easy step.  After this comes the nurturing, the guidance, the times when you lie awake at night wondering, worrying.  Most new parents think in terms of having a baby - but in fact that period of time is over and done with quickly - then you have a child, and a teenager and then finally an adult.  That is what you really have.  You might choose to have a baby but what you get is an adult.  Both my children are adults now.  My daughter flies the nest next month to go to university.  It's a strange time for me, full of mixed feelings.  

So the baby has been born, the school is open, childhood approaches and possibly some rocky times with a lot of lessons to be learned.  But one thing is certain, I have no doubts about it at all.  This child is going to the moon.  

Photo Credit:  Once in a Blue Moon by Kuzeytac, 2008  

Superstructing: R&D and T&L

I've heard the word "superstructing" many times at ASB, but only this morning did I come to appreciate how this concept ties everything together.  In a presentation by Madeleine Heide to the new teachers this morning, we came to see how superstructing has evolved at ASB so that it underpins the way the school is fulfilling the mission, the core values and the strategic plan.

One of the things that we talked about in small groups right at the beginning is the mindset, skills and tools that are needed for ASB to achieve its strategic plans.  This got me thinking about a blog post from Silvia Tolisano last year where you will find some great graphics that describe how important all of these are.  I was interested to hear that Heidi Hayes Jacobs is going to be using the work ASB is doing on superstructing in her new book.  The term superstruct originally came from a game designed by Jane McGonigal - her TED talk was about how she believes playing games can lead to solutions to real world problems  (see this blog post).  Jane explains that superstructing involves putting a whole new structure onto a prior structure to do something new that you couldn't do before.  Jane writes:

Superstructing means reinventing our tools and processes, our organizational structures and even our concepts of cooperation and collaboration.

Jane's blog gives details of the outcomes you can monitor as indicators that you are on your way to the kind of reinvention necessary for success in the next decade:

• achieving more and different participation
• implementing once inconceivable possibilities
• inventing and testing smaller and bigger practices
• creating stranger and more shareable products
• designing and participating in new world-changing practices

Click here to find a PDF version of this with more details on Jane's blog.

It is highly unusual for a school to want to do all these things - to want to superstruct - but ASB is doing just that.  It is removing outdated models of committee work, giving people choices in the way they participate in the changes, facilitating everyone learning leadership skills as these are the skills teachers need to get good at to move forward, using time differently (which is difficult as schools function in very traditional ways) and prototyping.

ASB is superstructing through two core teams the R&D (research and development) and the T&L (teaching and learning) teams.  The diagram below is taken from ASB's Superstruct blog and explains the relationship between the two core teams: 

Madeleine explained how the T&L team's role is to make end results happen now, while the R&D team is looking ahead of the curve at what was possible or what could be invented to make a difference to education in the future.  The T&L team set up different task forces to look at current issues such as 21st century skills, high student achievement, assessment, differentiation and so on - these are the things that ASB has to implement now as they impact on the teaching and learning of today's students.  The R&D core team set up other task forces to look at project based learning, multi-age classrooms, online/blended learning, BYOD, games based learning, green education and so on.  These are the things ASB is prototyping for possible implementation in the future.  These teams are open to anyone who wants to join, and there are are no other committees at the school.  In this way ASB has been superstructing: using what existed from before, but organizing things differently in order to achieve the strategic plan.

I was curious to hear the feedback at the end of the first year of superstructing.  It seems clear that the faculty loved being given choices and loved the way they could participate at whatever level they chose.  They also loved the ambitious goals, the collaboration across all areas of the school and the learning that was going on.  Teachers felt they were part of a school that was moving forward.  Some of the challenges teachers identified was that there was too much going on and that made clarity, communication and decision making hard.  Teachers commented on the challenges to do with the processes, but not the actual work that they were engaged in.

So - that's the history and this is where I have arrived.  How do we move forward from here?  Well this year the focus is on simplicity.  We need to be focused on our work and move away from the investigating and talking to looking at the impact we are making - this after all is the measure of our success - how all these new initiatives are having an impact in the classroom on teaching and learning. 

This year there are 2 goals for T&L, as follows:

• personalizing learning - high student achievement and individualized learning  It's not just about differentiation, it's looking at the individual child!
• mastery of 21st century skills - through standards, curriculum, instruction, assessment PD and learning environments

In addition there are 3 areas that the R&D core team wants to go into on a much deeper level:

• project based learning
• games based learning
• alternative schedules and structures for the school year.

There will be collaboration with university researchers and divisional prototyping of these and ASB has set up an international research collaborative with a few other leading international schools.

These are exciting times to be at ASB, and I'm blessed to be a part of them!

Photo Credit: sueños...del futuro by Ruurmo, 2005    

Visionary Leadership

At ISTE I went to a session with Kyle Pace and Steven Anderson where they unpacked the NETS-A with a call for visionary leadership. A year ago when my old school was looking for a tech director I wrote a post about the sort of person I thought we needed. The actual job description the school had come up with was very nebulous and is certainly out of sync with the educational technology standards for administrators as described by ISTE: 


Visionary leadership
- Planning for technology and being involved in the planning process 
- Having and funding a technology leadership staff 
- Making funding for technology and integration a priority 
Kyle and Steven discussed how people in power sometimes block technology for no real reason and don't understand the use of tools in the classroom. There is a need to understand the importance of technology for students' futures and for that you need the visionary leadership. If you are not an administrator using technology then you cannot effectively evaluate a teacher's use of technology. 


Digital age learning culture 
- Technology is used and embraced by all leaders 
- Leaders seek out new opportunities for technology integration for themselves and encourage others to do the same.  They attend conferences, workshops and seminars to further their understand the importance of technology.   Everyone in the school needs to be on the same page and so administrators should go with their teachers to these conferences so they can learn together and then implement this learning when back at school again.. 


Excellence in professional practice
- Involvement with social networks. Administrators should build a PLN, read educational blogs and be connected educators.
- As they use and encourages the use of a PLN, they will understand the importance of teachers participating in online PD.  This form of PD needs to be recognized as it is what teachers want - teachers are taking back control of their own PD and need to be supported. 


Systematic improvement
- Providing the means for funding for the improvement of technology.
- Reaching out to the community using social media etc to gain further understanding 
- Allowing all educators to seek out new opportunities for PD 


 Digital citizenship
- Modelling technology use
- Promoting, modeling and establishing policies for safe, legal and ethical use of digital information and technology.  It's impossible to teach students these without using social media.  
- Maintaning a blog to personally reflect on educational issues. It's difficult to change practice if you are not reflecting on it. A blog opens line of communication. 


Photo Credit:  :) by Seyed Mostafa Zamani, 2011 

Strong Leadership

This morning, after a discussion with a colleague about how good principals should be modeling the behaviours they want to promote among their teachers, I was prompted to go back and re-read the T.H.E. Journey article entitled 7 habits of highly effective tech-leading principals.   These attributes are those that principals have identified as being those that an effective technology leader should demonstrate.  I felt that they all actually apply to any sort of educational leadership - both to school heads, department heads, tech directors and even to classroom teachers who want to demonstrate good 21st century skills.  Here are the 7 habits with a few comments on what I've experienced.

1. Encourage an atmosphere that inspires innovation:  teachers and students will be prepared to take risks and try new things if they know that they won't be sidelined if these aren't always successful.  A good leader knows that people learn from mistakes, that no matter how many mistakes you make or how slowly you seem to be making progress, you are still ahead of those who are not even trying.  It's important for all leaders to make sure that their classrooms and schools are ones where  people feel safe to experiment in order to learn new things.
2. Foster collaboration:  the PYP is all about collaborative planning and this involves respecting everyone's input, suggestions and points of view.  I remember a couple of years ago I was told that it wasn't my place to question the central idea of a unit of inquiry since I was just "the IT teacher" - actually the person who said that was wrong.  It was my place, as part of the planning team, to unpack the central idea and the lines of inquiry to ensure that the students had something authentic to inquire into.  For me, collaboration goes a lot further than just working together in our school teams.  As teachers I think we should be collaborating with other teachers globally and our students should be too.  I love it when I see school leaders walking the talk, using social media to learn with and from others.
3. Be open to new ideas:  the PYP also promotes devolved or distributed leadership - which is important in international schools where principals and teachers are constantly moving.  Pedagogical leadership involves being reflective and valuing feedback.  It also involves recognizing that some teachers may have a great deal experience in a variety of international schools and that they bring with them great ideas that have already been tried and tested in other places.  Strong leaders value such expertise and ideas and do not feel threatened by them.
4. Be a connected learner:  this is the key to keeping abreast of new technologies and how they impact on student learning.  Principals need to be connected and learning so that teachers and students have confidence in what the person can do, not just what they say.  
5. Provide adequate resources:  these could be actual devices, websites or tools that allow collaboration.  Hardware and software can be expensive, but there are also many Web 2.0 tools that are free and there is an amazing amount of information in many different forms such as podcasts, videos and so on that students can access for free.  External professional development can also be expensive - perhaps it's cheaper to bring in a consultant for the whole school, perhaps there are people on staff with expertise that can be shared.  This year we've also explored using Skype to have our students connect with authors and other experts.
6. Take risks:  today in our team leaders meeting we were talking about how challenges can be turned into opportunities given the right support.  The expression "if you don't risk anything, you risk everything" is true.  One of the attributes of the IB learner profile is risk-taker.  All leaders should be modeling this if they want students to develop this quality, as students are more influenced by what they see you do than by what they hear you say.  It's Ok to fail - this can be a powerful lesson to yourself and to others who see you cope with temporary setbacks.  You don't drown by falling into water, you drown by staying in it.
7. Focus on your vision and your goals:  for me these goals involve empowering teachers and students to use the technology available to them to transform their learning.

Photo Credit:  Pebble Balancing by Bemep, 2007    

Let people live in your heart: teaching caring and empathy

Caring is one of the attributes of the IB Learner Profile.  Students are expected to "show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others.  They have a personal commitment to service, and to act and make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment."

Empathy is one of the attitudes that is an essential element of the PYP programme.  It is defined in Making the PYP Happen as "imagining themselves in another's situation in order to undestand his or her reasoning and emotions, so as to be open-minded and reflective about the perspectives of others."

Teaching young children to be truly caring and empathatic is not an easy task.  How can teachers do this?

I came across the documentary series Children Full of Life through the blog of a colleague.  Dave was writing about empathy and about cyberbullying and linked through to this remarkable series of videos, filmed over a year in a Grade 4 class just outside Tokyo.  Throughout the year their teacher, Mr Kanamori, deals with issues of trust, respect and friendship.  His motto is, "Let people live in your heart".



Part 2 of the documentary deals with bullying.



In Part 3 of the documentary you see students standing up for a member of their class - against a decision that the teacher has made.  You can see how students have built a sense of empathy and personal responsibility.  At the end one of the students says, "You come to school to be happy, everyone must be happy.  If one person is unhappy, everyone will be unhappy."



Parts 4 and 5 deal with how the students react to the deaths of the fathers of two of their classmates and how they support the students through these difficult times.






As a teacher I feel I have learned a lot from watching these videos.  Thanks to Dave for linking to them on his blog.

Photo Credit:  Have a Heart by Pink Sherbert Photography  

Reformation -v- Transformation

Every so often I read a blog post that really makes me go Aha!  This morning was one of those times.  I was reading The Single Best Idea for Reforming K-12 Education by Steve Denning on the Forbes website.  Steve starts off writing about the fact that if we are talking about reform, it's in response to a problem, and that in his opinion the biggest problem is the factory model of management (top-down, controlled, carrot and stick approach, weeding out dead wood).  He says:

I believe that the single most important idea for reform in K-12 education concerns a change in goal. The goal needs to shift from one of making a system that teaches children a curriculum more efficiently to one of making the system more effective by inspiring lifelong learning in students, so that they are able to have full and productive lives in a rapidly shifting economy.

Steve Denning highlights several implications of this shift, some of which I am summarizing and commenting on below.  To me these involve not so much a reformation of schools, but a transformation of student learning.

• As education shifts from students learning content to students creating knowledge and being able to use their skills in new situations, teachers and parents need to take on new roles to enable and inspire student learning.  For me having worked for many years in IB PYP schools where the focus is on inquiry and students constructing their own knowledge, this is probably the most important change that I've seen that has had an impact on learning.
• With a change of focus from covering content to developing knowledge, understanding and skills the shift of emphasis for assessment needs to move from output to outcomes.  It's not a matter of looking at the test scores or the statistics of the average number of points the school has achieved, it is more a matter of looking at each individual student and what they are able to do.  Steve Denning refers to this as a shift from a focus on things to a focus on people.  Once again I can say I'm happy to have worked in schools where the focus is on outcomes (again a big part of the IB PYP).  At the international schools where I have worked there have been some standardized tests, but teaching to the test is certainly not what we do!  Both of my own children, who have only attended international schools, have benefited from this focus on outcomes with the emphasis on what they know, understand and can do.
• Teachers will only be able to inspire their students if they themselves are inspired - therefore the role of the administrators will also change.  Steve Denning describes this shift from being a controller to being an enabler.  I am thankful that I have worked in a couple of schools where this was the case - where I thrived and grew as a teacher as a result of being empowered - and I have worked at other schools where I was controlled and where I felt stifled and unhappy and as a consequence I was a fairly mediocre teacher.  Of course the schools where I was able to make the biggest impact on student learning were the schools where I was supported and empowered.
• The role of accountability must change in a system of self-driven student learning.  Students take more responsibility for decisions about how the learning takes place.  Learning is measured in terms of the questions students ask, not the answers they give.  Self-assessment becomes more important.

One of the most powerful aspects of blogging is that it is two-way communication (I've also heard this referred to as communicating WITH as opposed to communicating TO) and responses to Steve Denning's articles were numerous (in just a week his article was read by over 10,000 people).  As a result of this Steve has been able to refine his thinking and to respond to some of the questions, comments and feedback from readers.  Please click here to read Part 2 of this debate.

Photo Credit:  Cheerleaders by Lew Holzman  

First day back, new school year

Today was the first day back for me this new school year.  Today only the new staff and the teacher leaders were back (the grade level and subject leaders) - other teachers will start next week - and the focus of this morning's presentation was on developing and empowering us to be instructional leaders - to encourage us to be more of a professional learning community at school.  This meeting was an interesting one.  We discussed the various facets of our leadership role:

• carrying out our duties with a high degree of professionalism
• communicating in a respectful and open way
• developing a collaborative team culture
• embracing change and continual professional learning to improve teaching practice and enhance the learning of all students

When I got home I decided to try to find out more about the various things we discussed in the meeting (transparency, teamwork, a growth development mindset, feedback and lateral accountability - more about these in another blog post) and I came across this Edutopia article by Eric Sheninger about leadership strategies for making change.  These support the fourth area of our leadership role (change and professional learning) and therefore I felt were a good way to move forward in this area. Briefly here are his suggestions:

• A no-excuse attitude:  challenges and complications should not be used as excuses not to push forward - we need to focus on solutions and the changes that are needed to improve teaching and learning and not on the problems.  We need to be catalysts of change - we can make a positive difference every day.
• Model a vision for excellence:  which will involve collaboratively working with staff to transform the classrooms into learning communities where all students are engaged.
• Embrace 21st century pedagogy and curriculum:  action is needed to turn the talking into reality.  Students need to be digital citizens and to develop skills to live in a global society such as creativity, critical thinking and problem solving.  Teachers need to have the freedom and encouragement to take risks and use innovative teaching strategies and therefore principals and teacher leaders need to promote and support 21st century pedagogy.
• Inspire teachers with professional development that taps into their interests and passions: this will involve them working with others in professional learning communities in school, and building up their professional learning networks with others who share their passions worldwide.
• Connect with other leaders/principals: there are a lot of ways of getting and staying connected such as blogs, educational chats on Twitter, nings and online conferences and "unconferences".

Photo Credit:  Free colorful Happy Rainbow Valentine Love Heart by D. Sharon Pruitt  

Seven Million Minutes

Everyone at RSCON3, it seems, was raving about the keynote by Salome Thomas-EL (Principal EL) and although I missed it because it was in the middle of the night here in Europe, I managed to catch it on the archives.  All through the keynote the importance of caring for and believing in students so that they could reach their potential was evident - and this was especially powerful given Principal EL's experience with children who have serious barriers to achieving their dreams such as poverty, violence, neglect and low expectations.  His message is that every child will learn, as long as we don't give up on them.

It's not possible in this blog post to cover everything that was said during the keynote (it seemed like every sentence was absolutely VITAL) or to express the passion with which it was delivered, but here are a few of the ideas I took away from it:

• To be a catalyst for change you have to have a vision of what we do with the 7 million minutes we have students in our care from PK to Grade 12.  However a vision is not enough.  A vision without a plan is just a hallucination.  We cannot waste any time developing this plan - time is so important because we cannot wait even a day to make a difference in students' lives.  It's better to waste money than time - you can never get back time that is wasted.
• Teachers have to participate in school communities:  there is no room for passengers on the ship, only crew.
• Young people must believe in themselves and take responsibility for themselves and their learning.  And we must believe in them and help them become successful.  Self efficacy is about teaching students how to respond when they are not successful.  Failure is a part of life - students must learn to move on and become stronger.  Setbacks should be seen as temporary and students must believe that they can become successful when they work hard.
• We reach students through great teachers who are supported by great principals.  If the teacher is not successful, the principal is not successful - both need to work together with the students.
• Do not be afraid of conflict:  make tough decisions for the children and embrace conflict as the price of leadership.  Do not be concerned about being popular - be concerned about doing what is right for the students.
• In education there are short-term gains and long-term gains.  A test is a very short-term thing in the life of a child.
• If students are cared for and supported they will become successful.  When this happens be there to celebrate with them.

Photo Credit:  Chi ha tempo non aspetti tempo by NuageDeNuit