Giving Thanks

This weekend is the Thanksgiving holiday in Canada. It’s a time to sit back and be thankful for all that we have living in one of the greatest countries in the world. Given this, I thought this would be a good time to reflect on what has been going on since school began and to do some reflection.

The first month and a half of school has just blown past. I started a new position at a new school in August and it’s been a bit of an adjustment. Besides being in a new school, I have to commute for about 40 minutes each way. The drive, which is mostly highway driving, gives me plenty of time to think and ponder the many things that go on each day. I’ve moved from a smaller K – 12 school to a larger highschool in a different community from which I live. To add to the mix, my one daughter is accompanying me as we have transferred her to on of the elementary schools near the highschool. She has made the transition extremely well and has adjusted to life in a new school. In fact, given how her life has been the past few years, it is so awesome to hear her talk about what she does with her friends and all the activities that she is doing. Each day we get to spend time talking about the day and what has gone on in the time we drive to school and home. As a parent, it’s so great to have time to spend one-on-one with any child and this time together has allowed me to share stories and laughs with my 4th daughter. It’s built in parent-child time that many people don’t have and for that I am very thankful especially since she hasn’t had such a great time at school these past few years.

Being at a new school has strengthened my belief that it doesn’t matter where the school is or the size of the school when it comes to creating a positive school climate. What matters is the attitude and caring of the adults in the building. People seem to expect that, in a larger school, there isn’t the time for all students. From my experience, that’s not true. Instead, it’s the attitude that the adults/teachers in the building bring with them each day. If people arrive with a negative attitude, it doesn’t matter the number of children in the building, the attitude is still there, being shared with everyone. In fact, the smaller the populace, the more likely that the negative attitude will spread. And children, being the sponges that they are, will absorb that attitude and actualize it. Students reflect what they see in the adults around them. So, I’m thankful that I’ve been able to move into a position where, for the most part, there is a positive attitude about the school and the students which is reflected in the care and concern the staff has for the students. Some days are trying, as are some people, but a positive outlook goes a long way at overcoming the stresses and frustrations that everyone has no matter where they are or what they do. I’m thankful for all the great staff with whom I work.

In my new position, I’m no longer the principal. Although it has been a bit of an adjustment, I’m enjoying my more supportive role, helping teachers and students, working with the other administrators to create a positive climate for the school. Not everything is roses but it’s a nice change. I’ve learned that no person is an island but being a principal is very close. As vice principal, I have a changed role that allows me to do a number of different things because I don’t have the administrative responsibilities that a principal has and I’m developing a different skill set within more supportive role. I’m thankful for the role I have within the school.

As many of you know, I’m a firm believer in the use of technology to support the learning of students. My new role allows me to do that in a much greater way than when I was a principal in a smaller school. I’m helping staff to see that there are technologies that will help them to enhance their teaching and give students different opportunities to demonstrate what they know. In the short time I’ve been in the school, I’ve been able to get small things going that, I hope, will be the building blocks for bigger things. So I’m thankful for the opportunity to share with the teachers on a new staff, some of the things I consider to be important in schools in the 21st century.

Really, as people who live in North America, we have so many things for which we can be thankful. As a husband and father, I have countless things for which I am thankful, from a loving supportive wife to 8 awesome children who have taught me more about life and living than I can mention here. I have met some extremely wonderful people in the 7 communities in which I have lived and taught and the internet has allowed me to meet so many more people whom I consider to be “friends”. As educators, we have the chance to reach out to touch, and be touched, by so many. We do have much for which to be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blogging has its perils

I've decided to run my blogging from here for the near future while I decide exactly what I'm going to do about the whole socialmedia situation. As usual, things have come to a head because of people working at finding ways to make things difficult. It is a long and complicated situation but safe to say I've made all my Plurks and Tweets private and I won't be looking to add to my list of readers any time soon. I've also decided to write from here versus my wordpress blog while I decide what to do about the my growing "local" readership! Not that this will deter anyone since they will find me here too. I just feel it's time for a break away from where I was.



Being an educator in today's world means that, for the most part, you live your life in a fishbowl. Being an administrator in a small rural community means your life, your family's lives and even your friend's lives are sometimes at the mercy of the local rumor-mill. Now, I've learned that a thick skin really is all the defence you have in these situations. You have no recourse and no way of really knowing who is saying what, how anyone found out or what exactly is going on. I've learned to ignore this just the same as I"ve learned to ignore the eggs on my house - they wash off rather easily and no one will own up to it anyway.



As someone who writes and discusses what it is like to be an administrator in such a setting, it is enevitable that someone from the local community is going to eventually find you, either through googling you or through other means. Now, it has been that I don't get into discussing personalities or the decisions of others in my writing. Instead, I focus on the impact of working and living in such a situation has on me, as an administrator, and on my family, in the general sense. However, no matter what you do, people who are looking for slights or who want to find fault will indeed find that despite anything I do. So, now I have to decide how I handle such things - do I continue to reflect and examine how education is impacted by being in a small rural setting or do I move on and, for all intense and purpose, forgo this aspect of my writing? Do I focus on general educational themes?



It's unfortunate that I even have to do this but, knowing how things work, to even continuing to mention anything about my current position will probably create future problems. Since it really is difficult for so many people to see how things impact the larger "educational" situation, I'm inclined to think that to further discuss my own learning and growth will not be viewed as my personal journey but as somehow having to do with someone else. Despite the fact that I've grown so much in the last 4 years, I know that I'm at the brink of something great and wonderful as an administrator and I would like to reflect on this as I have reflected on some of the other things. I remember that, as a teacher, my fifth year teaching the same grade was such a breakthrough year for me. I really was able to put things together, see the big picture and I began to move toward a Constructivist approach which really helped me see the connectedness of the subjects in a way that I hadn't before.

That is why this is such a struggle for me. I can sense the same sort of growth happening this year as things that have been slowly growing and sprouting begin to really take root. Despite this, once bitten, twice shy and I'm really tired of being bitten. I need advice and, again, turn to those of you that take the time and read my ramblings. What do you think? Where should I go with this?

It's about the other person

Recently I’ve been involved in some discussions about how teachers might become better users of technology. It began with a post over at Dangerously Irrelevant where Scott McLeod posted

In many industries, knowledge of relevant technologies is a necessary prerequisite for either getting or keeping one’s job. Sometimes the organization provides training; sometimes the employee is expected to get it on her own. Either way, the expectation is that use of the relevant technologies is a core condition of employment.
Why aren’t our school organizations expecting more of their employees? Are we that desperate for workers?

The discussion that follows is worth reading just to see the complexity of the issue. Now, I don’t think that we are desperate for workers or anything like that but it made me wonder why it is that there are many teachers who are not taking advantage of these tools in their teaching.

Now Scott pointed me in the direction of Greg Farr, an administrator in Texas, who has some great posts about technology and its use in the classroom. I suggest that you take a look at what he has to say about technology use in education plus a whole lot of other things.

One of Greg’s posts deals with the use of technology and it being a tool that should be used just like all the other tools a teacher has at their disposal. He describes, very well, the whole idea that teaching is not about the tools but

True teaching and learning MUST allow for subtleties and nuance, for opinions expressed in tone of voice, for emphasis via a small hand gesture, or doubt cast with the slightest raising of an eyebrow.

He goes on to say

I maintain that TO THIS DAY the best way to assess a teachers ability is to take them outside, give them a group of 20 students, no pencils, no paper, no electricity, nothing but a pleasant day and a tree to sit under. And tell them to teach. A true TEACHER would take this opportunity and run with it.

I have to concur 100% with this. Teaching concerns human relationships. It is anchored in assisting students to add to their knowledge, seeking ways to scaffold learning to push them into places where they will need to stretch and question, examine, accept or reject and search for more. It is sometimes uncomfortable and challenging, frustrating and rewarding the whole while being centered around relationships.

A similar thing was happening over at Teaching Generation Z where Graham Wegner’s Parable2.0 provided for a great discussion about how teachers who are wanting to share their passion for the use of web2.0 tools often find it frustrating. The parable looks at how, in their desire to bring other teachers on board, often end up in a frustrating situation. The discussion that followed explored how many teachers identify with the parable and how it unfolded. One such contributor was Clay Burell from Beyond School, his blog looking at teaching, technology and a few other things. Clay’s comment

As a classroom teacher who does drive his own geeky projects, I know how overwhelming it can get - and I have the skills to survive and troubleshoot and tolerate frustrations and “Crosbian Messiness.” To expect others to be able to handle the strain of things too ambitious, or too time-consuming relative to the rest of the teaching load on the teacher’s plate, is dangerous.

is right on the mark. Those of us who are using the tools and doing various projects are able to do so because we have advantages that others don’t. Now, some of these advantages include what Clay points out:

skills to survive and troubleshoot and tolerate frustrations and “Crosbian Messiness.”

However, the one thing that isn’t stated is that many of us have created networks of other users and “techno geeks” with whom we can discuss, question, collaborate and bounce ideas off of. Many of us twitter, pounce, Facebook, Ning, …. sharing our discussions, thoughts and, now that we have developed relationships, parts of our lives. We have adopted the interconnectedness of the networks and built relationships which are now leading to people planning meetings at conferences (like NECC where I WON’T be going!) and personal rendezvous for such things as golf.

Relationships - this is what brings, and binds us, together. Whether it is Sharon Peters looking for feedback on a post, Alec Corous looking for assistance with web conferencing, Vickie Davis and Julie Lindsay discussing their Horizon Project, Will Richardson and his discussions of learning or Dan Meyers, who questions and challenges, helping to stretch the discussion, helping us to reflect on our ideas and thoughts while providing some great tools and insights into using web2.0 tools in teaching, these relationships help us connect and develop, grow and learn, keep our perspective and motivate us These relationships have become a large part of how we are growing and developing our teaching and understanding. These are the relationships that those teachers not engaged DO NOT have.

Showing other teachers all the tools isn’t what is needed. Helping them develop relationships and make connections is. We can show and demonstrate, rave and mandate; it will not bring others to question, grow and adopt. We have many examples of educators who are beginning to delve into using these tools. Overwhelming them with the possibilities just pushes them away. Helping them to build their own networks, seeking out teachers who, like themselves, are testing the water and encouraging them to continue in their own lifelong learning will empower them to develop even more. Not all of them will see the benefits of all the tools they encounter but the relationships they develop during this process will go further, I believe, to bringing about powerful change than any tech person can hope to do by themselves. Maybe that’s the lesson we need to take with us as we continue to approach those around us, showing them the power of our networks and the learning that these networks encourage. As was posted tonight on twitter

kolson29 finished watching really bad movie, off to bed. Twitterverse very different from even a week ago…….more “conversations”, less telling.

Let’s invite others to start their own conversations, starting where they are and moving forward instead of where we want them to be.

But our year is only partly over!

Tomorrow morning life will once again begin that familiar cadence as school begins for 2008. We’re almost half-way through the year but 2008 is just beginning and with it all the expectations of a new year. It seems kind of funny to be starting a new year in the middle of a school year. I mean, all the rest of the world works on the calendar year, beginning in January and ending in December, kinda. Why is education so different? Why do we begin our year in August/September and end it in June? Why couldn’t we transform our school year to begin in January and end in December? Would it be impossible? What is keeping education from doing this?

The new year will start whether we are ready for it or not. Instead of waiting until June to finish our schooling, why can’t we finish it in December - have exams and begin our new year in January? What is keeping education from joining the rest of the world and following a yearly schedule that is more closely aligned to the calendar. We’d get rid of all the problems with birthdays - born in X year, you begin school instead of having a cutoff of, like, September for students.

I’ve thought about this for quite awhile, ever since I began having to deal with budgets that would begin in August and end in June but really didn’t happen that way since they ended with the Dec cycle. So, as I prepare to go back to school, knowing that I have about 3 weeks to finish my course and then exams begin, I really wonder if this is the best for students. Why can’t we finish everything up, write exams and be done with the year like everyone else? January would see us beginning another year, students would be moving on to a new grade in time with a new year. We might even be able to do some moving of holiday time so that there is a bit more time off now or at other times of the year instead of the huge break in July and August when students lose so much. We are no longer an agrarian society yet our school system is still being run like we were.

Would changing the way our system was organized allow us to break the mold in other areas? Would we be able to redesign how things work and take into consideration what works best in each area? I mean, what works well in cities might not work as well in the rural areas. Do we all have to be cookie-cutter replicas? Education the world over looks very similar, from what I’ve seen. Why is that? Why is it we seem to have only one formula for schooling?

Tomorrow, ready or not, school will begin for many educators and students. Life will once again fall into a familiar pattern as education moves forward to the end of yet another year - in June. Maybe we need to disrupt that pattern. I mean, for the first time in history, there will be more people living in urban areas than in rural which could give way to a whole group of new developments and changes. Could 2008 be the year of the great educational reform?