A Journey Toward Excellence

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Stop thinking of the race to the top and embark on the journey toward excellence.
- Regie Routman

As I learn more about Student Learning Objectives (SLOs), there is much to be impressed with. It uses the SMART framework, which will help us to develop goals that are more specific and attainable. Multiple measures are considered. The Common Core and essential skills are addressed. As a participant said in my session today during Educator Effectiveness training, it forces teachers to dig deeper into their own practices and collaborate with colleagues. All good things.

However, the hangup that I am having is the fact that SLOs are tied to teacher evaluation.

In a paper titled “Choosing the Wrong Drivers for Whole System Reform“, posted by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction on the Educator Effectiveness webpage, Michael Fullan talks about the wrong and right types of drivers when trying to improve schools. One of the wrong drivers is accountability, specifically “using test results, and teacher appraisal, to reward or punish teachers and schools vs capacity building” . Fullan goes on to say that teacher accountability in and of itself is not a bad thing. It just shouldn’t be used to drive school reform.

With this in mind, I have several concerns when I hear that student learning outcomes will directly correlate to teacher evaluation. First, expectations may not be set high enough. If the focus is on attaining the goal instead of setting high expectations for student learning, the bar will most likely be lowered. Wisconsin has already experienced this dilemma. When No Child Left Behind became law, consequences were set in place if a school or district did not see adequate yearly progress in their student’s growth. When schools started missing the mark, the benchmarks for “proficient” and “advanced” (the bar) was brought down so kids would meet the mark. This has most likely resulted in unreliable assessment scores and misinformed professional conversations.

Second, innovation might be discouraged. I’ll use the analogy of swimming. If I am looking to improve my practice as an educator, I have to wade out of shallow water in order to apply new skills and understandings. I need to feel somewhat confident to take these risks, and know that I will be supported if things go less than well. If growth is celebrated in our pursuit of mastery, then professionals are more inclined to pursue these laudable goals. However, if the focus is only on results instead of growth, I might prefer to tread water instead of swimming toward the deeper end of the pool of learning. Innovation is stymied when setbacks during the process of learning are not recognized as points for celebration.

Third, student involvement in developing these learning objectives seems to be absent. If it is their learning that we are truly after, students should be a part of this process. Regie Routman described this well at the Wisconsin State Reading Association convention, when she encouraged educators to help students to understand the learning target instead of just posting it on the board. And how do we understand something? By being immersed in its development, connecting it to prior knowledge, and wrestling with the concept or skill, both with peers and in our own thinking.

All of these areas of concerns ultimately tie into student achievement. If expectations are not high enough, if teachers are not improving their own practices, and if students are not involved in the goal setting, I find it hard to imagine a learning environment that allows students to reach their potential. Educators need to model the same process we want our students to use in pursuit of mastery. As we rethink the purpose of school in the 21st century, I think it is essential that the path we take is one that constantly moves forward. If we don’t, the status quo continues.

What I believe will drive school reform in the right direction is building capacity in educators to be the best we can be now and in the future. Michael Fullan describes this well, when he states that “the mindset that works for whole system reform is the one that inevitably generates individual and collective motivation and corresponding skills to transform the system”. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction posts this important paper side by side with the process for tying Student Learning Objectives to teacher evaluations. I propose we address this possible contradiction by continuing to consider better ways to both improve our school systems and encourage life long learning. In other words, let’s set the bar high and innovate in our practices to ensure students can reach their potential. Learning is about the journey as much as it is about the end result.

Connected from the Start: A Necessary Read

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A good book encourages thought. A great book will change the way you think.

When Lani Ritter Hall, co-author of The Connected Educator, asked me to review Kathy Cassidy’s new e-Book Connected from the Start, I got a little nervous. Who am I to pass judgment on the work of a highly connected educator like Kathy? Even worse, what if I didn’t like it?

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Fortunately, my worries were unfounded. This book is a necessary read for all elementary educators. The only thing she got wrong was which grade levels this book was most appropriate. I can imagine any K-5 teacher could implement the ideas Kathy shares to help their students become more connected online.

Instead of giving you a persuasive essay about why you should buy this book (and you should), I will share two ways Kathy’s work has impacted what I do as an elementary principal and literacy leader.

1. Digital Portfolios

In the beginning of the school year, Dropbox was the tool selected for my teachers to curate student writing. The plan was to share these web-based folders with parents as the year progressed, so everyone could see student growth over time.

One problem was (and still is) that the teachers are doing the work. Although Dropbox is a great tool for online storage of many types of media, we have found it a bit time-consuming for documenting student writing. The teacher has to take a picture, upload it to the student’s file, and organize it chronologically.

After reading Kathy’s book, I realized that a great digital portfolio tool was right in front of me: a blog. She has her students, as young as six years, regularly post online. The students’ content is not only given a broader audience, it solicits comments from other teachers, peers and family members.

This practical application in a primary classroom is powerful. It comes from someone who has been there and done that, and not from an administrator (like myself) or from a technologist that lacks that meaningful and authentic experience.

2. Collaborative Writing

I had been thinking for a while how I might show 4th grade students how to share their writing with an audience beyond our school walls. After reading Kathy’s book, it sparked the idea of using Google apps to make this happen.

We plan to have the students write a narrative based on one of the fourteen scenes from Chris Van Allsburg’s The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Students can use Google Drive to create these stories, and post them on one Google Site. It would be maintained by educators from both schools, even though we are hundreds of miles apart. Teachers would show students how to comment effectively on another student’s writing. The benefits of these practices are a broader audience and a more authentic purpose to their work.

Lani Ritter Hall stated that “there is not another e-book out there like this”. I couldn’t agree more.

My (Somewhat) Successful Attempt at Disconnecting

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During my spring break, I vowed to stay offline for two whole days. 48 hours. No Twitter, blogging, emails, or even web access. My goal was to be in the dark and yet see the light. I had felt lately that my online connections were not as purposeful as they had been in the past. It seemed like I was checking my feeds more often than I was checking in with myself.

My wife and I scheduled a vacation during the break. This was the perfect opportunity to pull the plug. It helped that the vacation site we picked did not allow cell phones in any of the public areas. If I wanted to take full advantage of the amenities, I had no choice but to focus on the face-to-face interactions that maybe I was neglecting beforehand.

Day 1

When we dropped the kids off at my parents, we left without leaving the car seats. Talk about not being present! Fortunately, we were only 30 minutes away from each other. While I waited for my parents, I sneaked a few peeks at my Twitter feed on my smart phone because I wasn’t technically “on vacation”, but quickly caught myself and shut it off. Instead, I listened to an interesting interview on the radio about the paper industry in Wisconsin. It is being directly affected by the digital influx we have all experienced. (“Paper Cuts” is an ongoing investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; I highly recommend you check it out here). Had my eyes been glued to a screen, I probably would have missed this relevant and important conversation with this reporter.

Day 2

I almost felt a sense of freedom. There was more time than I knew what to do with. I had no purpose, other than to have no purpose. The most in-depth conversation my wife and I had was whether an animal we spotted out our window was or was not a muskrat.

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The only way we knew how to find the answer was to Google “muskrat” for an image.

Muskrat it was!

Day 3

Although I wasn’t necessarily missing being connected, I was curious about what kind of interactions may be waiting for me online. We checked out and headed for a Starbucks. Once offsite, I felt good about becoming connected again. I discovered several conversations and was tempted to jump in right away. However, I chose to let them sit and not feel rushed to respond immediately. Whatever it was, it could wait.

Besides the brief disconnection, I have made other modifications to be more purposeful in my actions. No longer is an iPhone or iPad also serving as an alarm clock. I went out and bought a real alarm clock. If someone needs to get a hold of me, they can call me on my landline. I am also making a concerted effort to use paper and pencil when taking notes, instead of feeling obligated to tap-tap-tap them into a productivity app. The Moleskine/Evernote Smart Notebook has helped me bridge the print and digital divide.

After the connection hiatus, I have felt more present for my family and for myself. It helped me remember that my purpose for connecting online was to learn and to share, directed by me and not by a notification (I have shut those off, thank you). If you are feeling the same way, I highly recommend taking a break from all things connected and see what you may have been missing.

eReaders and Research

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My last post briefly described the process used to deliver eReaders to reluctant readers in my school. Because this just recently happened, it will be a while before I can share any type of data about the results from this project.

In the meantime, there have been a few requests to share some of the research that led to our decision to implement this technology in our book club. You can find all of the sources I referenced at this Diigo link, with what I found important highlighted. I will continue to add to this collection of studies.

For a more concise explanation of the process we used to determine that eReaders might increase student’s reading skills, here are the steps we followed.

Current Reality

Our students were pretty exuberant about being invited to be part of a book club in the beginning of the school year. They had new titles to choose from. They were all of high interest and at their reading level. Two adults were available, not to teach but rather to guide as the students gained confidence in a literate environment. Snacks were provided. They got to listen to a good story read aloud by a teacher every time they met.

As the year pressed on, the reality started to set in that these reluctant readers were coming to book club after their regularly scheduled school day. Attendance started to drop. A lack of engagement showed itself in a variety of ways. It was obvious that enthusiasm was waning. What to do?

“When in Rome…”

When I have talked to these students (mostly boys) outside the context of school, I have found them most enthusiastic when they speak about video games. Whether the subject is Minecraft or Call of Duty, their excitement rises several notches as they discuss strategies and experiences they associate with these forms of media. It is obvious to anyone within 20 feet of these ten and eleven year olds that technology holds their attention like none other.

Somewhat related, I used to share relevant education articles with my staff via Springpad. It is a very useful web tool for curating information. The only problem was, none of my staff were using it. They were all on Pinterest. Now, did I force my teachers to start using Springpad? Of course not! I got myself a Pinterest account and started posting important teaching articles for them to find and read. My purpose for using these technologies was not to simply use them, but to communicate information with others.

eReaders and Research

Reading is all about communicating and understanding. It is the science of making sense of words. There are a lot of conversations out there about the pros and cons of digital texts in schools, and some have been helpful. For example, we chose the Nook Simple Touches because we didn’t want a tablet device or even a backlit eReader to disrupt the sleep patterns of our students late at night. They need the rest.

Yet, another article cites research that there is no discernible affects between eInk and LCD screens. This source contradicts the other. Which research is more reliable?

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This leads to two very important points made by Doug Fisher at the Wisconsin State Reading Association Convention this year:

  1. Even if there is a body of research showing one thing, there’s a tendency to look at one article that counters.
  2. What I knew at a prior time may have changed as I learned more (paraphrased).

What this means to me is we need to read each study about reading and technology with a discerning eye. This is why I value the collective knowledge shared by Doug Fisher, along with other education researchers such as Richard Allington, Sheila Valencia, Nell Duke and Peter Johnston. They look at many studies about a topic before making any recommendations. There are pundits and columnists out there who coud learn from this process. For example, there are at least two writers for the magazine Time (Lisa Guersney and Annie Murphy Paul) that tend to represent a research study as truth, instead of what it really is: A lone study.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy reading their columns. They share information that is important for everyone to know. But what separates these two from true disseminators of educational information, such as Kim Marshall of The Marshall Memo, is a) they are not educators, and b) they seem to espouse this information as infallible. For example, Lisa Guernsey defined “e-reading” as three year olds watching eBook apps on an iPad. While I share her concerns, there was no effort to define eReading in the broader sense and clear up misconceptions. The concept of “screen time” is no longer relegated to sitting a toddler down in front of a television. Research out of context is when studies aren’t placed side-by-side with related studies.

For me, I will continue to keep an open mind about how technology can possibly enhance, or harm, literacy skills with students. Of all the studies I have discovered, the one I find most interesting comes from the Pew Research Center. It found that digital reading is on the rise and print reading is down. At the same time, people read more when they read eBooks. Now, there are oodles of research to support how the volume of reading is correlated with an increase in reading habits and abilities (see the researchers I mentioned previously). Like I said in my previous post, words are words. Reading happens in one’s mind, not in the text or in how it is delivered. Both print and digital texts should have a place in schools. This helps me feel confident that the professional decisions made based on what we know at this time along with our assessments of our students’ abilities and interests is in everyone’s best interest.

Bringing the Book Club to the 21st Century: eReaders and Literacy Intervention

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An adapted version of this post was published on Ed Tech’s website, found here.

“Hey, Mr. Renwick, when are the iPads coming in?”

“They’re not iPads – they are eReaders. I am not sure.”

two days later

“Hey, Mr. Renwick, when are the iPads coming in?”

“They’re not…nevermind. Soon!”

This is a continuous conversation I have been having with one of my 4th graders. He,
along with nine other 4th and 5th graders, will soon be receiving eReaders. They are
members of our after school book club, which also serves as a reading intervention. Our
goal is simple: Get our most reluctant readers to start reading habitually. We believe that
introducing digital books as part of our available library of texts will further engage our
students in this most critical skill.

Why go digital?

The book club students are not lacking in available books to read. Before it started, one
of our reading teachers purchased many high-interest, easy-to-read texts for the
students from a local book store. In addition, the book club meets in our school library
media center. They are surrounded by stories.

Yet proximity does not necessarily mean all students will read. They have had access to
these books for years. Why haven’t they picked them up yet? After reading the current
research on digital literacy, we felt eReaders can increase levels of engagement with
our reluctant readers in a way that print has not thus far. These students, like many their
age, go home after school and play video games or interact on social media. The
diffference is the chance that they will pull even the most engaging text out of their bag
to read independently is less than likely when compared to their peers. But with an
eReader, even the basic ones we have purchased, the relevancy of reading goes up
for these students. We are speaking their language: Technology.

Two Types of Text: Differentiating Our Instruction

It is not that technology is the end all, be all for our students’ reading diet. We see it
rather as a segue to a more literacy-centric life. Words are words. The whole point of
reading is to be engaged and informed. The actual comprehension, enjoyment and
learning happens inside one’s head, not in the text. Both the print and digital word
provide the same thing – an opportunity to experience someone else’s life, a far away
world, or a different culture than our own. The text, regardless of the format, is the
vehicle that takes us there.

That being said, reading print versus digital text requires a shift in instruction. For
starters, students can see their progress with a print book by simply looking at the
thickness of the remaining pages. We will have to teach them how to assess their
reading volume with the percentage complete data on the bottom of the screen. Second, annotating and highlighting important passages in a digital text only demands a
touch of the screen. With print, a packet of sticky notes plus a pencil would be
necessary to curate text that resonated with the reader. As well, there is a certain
getting used to when reading on an eReader for the first time. We are swiping pages
instead of turning them. We can increase the font size if the type is too small on an
eReader. Print books don’t require a charge every month or so. As much as students
enjoy their technology, it comes back to good instruction to show students how to use
it efficiently and effectively.

A Balancing Act

Our book club students were allowed to choose the texts to be downloaded on the
eReaders. As we navigated through all the choices, we slowly realized that there
weren’t a lot of nonfiction books that work with our simple eReaders. That makes sense.
Many newer nonfiction books have lots of graphics, which lend themselves better to
print at this time. It provides a great point I plan to make with our students: Life long
readers rely on a variety of formats when interacting with texts, both digital and in print.
In the mean time, if an eReader gets a student to pick up a book more often, I say why
not?

If I Post on My Blog and No One Reads It, Did I Really Write It?

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My staff and I are having some good conversations about the how and why for becoming more connected online with our families. Questions such as “Why should we?”, “What are the benefits for students?”, and “Is it one more thing added to my plate?” are all items we have tried to address.

More specifically, the biggest question seems to be, “Why should we share student learning online when it seems like no one is reading it?” We don’t lack for data that supports why we should start engaging with our families and community through tools such as social media. Consider the following research cited by Meg Carnes and Kitty Portersfield in their book Why Social Media Matters (Solution Tree, 2012):

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75% of parents ages 18-29 use social media.

8% of adults under 30 read a print newspaper.

90% of families with incomes of $30,000 to $49,000 have a cell phone.

This information seems to support our efforts in creating classroom and student blogs, as well as sharing student work via digital portfolios. Yet it still seems like we are sometimes speaking into a vacuum. Families do not comment on our posts. We have had very few (if any) requests from parents to gain access to their child’s gallery of writing housed online.

Moving Forward

Despite these initial concerns, we have already seen benefits to becoming more connected educators. One thing I have stressed with staff is we are trailblazers. Not every school is doing this. Many families are unfamiliar with the tools we are trying with students. I have encouraged teachers to stick with it, because eventually they will come. Even posting their printed classroom newsletters on a classroom blog is a step in the right direction. Right now we save them on an internal drive, but it seems like they would be better placed online so parents can access 24/7. I have modeled this same practice by adding our school’s Twitter and school blog feeds to our district website.

There is also the engagement factor. When teachers have told students that their work will be shared online, their interest and efforts have piqued. All of a sudden, they realized that their potential audience just got a whole lot bigger. This subsequently sets an additional purpose for their learning activities, even if it is nothing more flashy than word work or summarizing a text they just read. Documenting these evidence-based practices over time also shows the students that these daily literacy activities are very important toward becoming better readers and writers. Growth can be seen more easily and authentically when their visual and audible learning products stand side-by-side in curation tools such as Dropbox and Evernote

FInally, there is definitely a need for parent education. It is obvious to me that families have the digital tools. They use smart phones frequently while waiting for their children to be dismissed at the end of the day. With that, we have a technology night planned for parents in the next couple of weeks. My role will be to show everyone how the devices they hold in their hands can access a wealth of information about their kids as well as learning resources in general. All of the tools we are trying out have a mobile application to access them. The idea that a parent can check their child’s grades, attendance and learning progress while waiting in the lobby should be a novel one.

A great resource for digital parent outreach is Joe Mazza (@Joe_Mazza) and the #ptchat he moderates on Twitter. You can check out the multitude of ways his school has connected with families in the latest edition of Principal magazine. In your school, what ways have you become more connected with your families online? Please share in the comments.

Are You Changing, or Are You Growing?

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Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.
- John C. Maxwell

Although snow is still on the ground here in Central Wisconsin, I am preparing for the upcoming gardening season. Two new raised beds will be installed. My family and I have selected what vegetables we want to grow this season.

Long before this year, I have kept a compost pile. If you are not familiar with this, it is a container that houses dead leaves, kitchen scraps, and most anything else that was once living and not an animal by-product. When this mixture breaks down into a soil-like material, it can be spread over soil and beds to aid plant growth, water retention in soil, and the overall health of a garden. Some refer to compost as “black gold”, because of all the benefits it provides toward a great harvest.

Now, I could let this pile sit. It would eventually decompose and become compost at some point in time, maybe in a couple of years. However, I can accelerate this process by turning over the dead plant material every now and then. Putting in this extra work in the beginning results in more compost both now and in the future. My efforts will lead to better results at a faster rate compared to doing nothing at all.

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I see some parallels between compost and the new ways of learning available today. Tools such as social media, eBooks and digital portfolios are ripe for the taking. They just require a little extra effort in the beginning, plus some reflection as to what outdated practices they will replace. Moreover, I believe these new tools differ than other shifts in learning in the past. Being more connected will most likely not be an initiative that comes to us top down. It needs to start from the ground up, in classrooms willing to start accelerating the learning process and innovate. The students are asking for it, in their lack of engagement if not in their words. Many of them may already be using these tools on their own time and can teach us how to use them. That is okay. Maybe even better.

So, we can sit back and allow these personalized, self-directed tools for learning to eventually come to us. Maybe we can try one out next year when we are more comfortable. Our students’ audience for writing will continue to be only us, and maybe the parents. Sharing students’ learning will happen on special days a couple times a year. The purpose for our students’ work will be to get that grade above passing. Or…we can turn over our instruction and start to accelerate our own process for learning. We can be learners alongside our students, growing as a connected community whose diversity of resources knows no limits. Students will ask you what you all did while they were absent, because they don’t want to miss anything.

If you were a student in your classroom right now, would you want to wait until next year to become more connected, or even one more day?