Author: Patrick Larkin

I have been in school leadership for over 25 years. I feel blessed to be an educator. I have had the good fortune of working as an English teacher, an Assistant Principal, a Principal, and an Assistant Superintendent in three districts in MA. I am also proud to be an IDEAS Instructor working with educators across the state and region who are part of schools and communities that promote anti-bias, anti-racist education.

My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (March 8, 2015)

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Twitter is whatever users want it to be…

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A lot of the chatter in the Boston-area over the last few days has been about some nasty Twitter comments made about the 17-year old daughter of former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling. This whole story began over the weekend when Curt tweeted a congratulatory Tweet to his daughter Gabby regarding the fact that she will attend Salve Regina College next year and be a member of the softball team.  Unfortunately, this celebratory tweet from Curt to his daughter brought out some vulgar tweets from people who are not fans of Schilling. If you are out of the loop on this story, which has now gone national, you can read about it here on Schilling’s Blog (Warning – Schilling’s article shares some of the x-rated tweets that were made).  I have also listed a few links at the bottom of this post from news sources who have covered this story.

Twitter
Twitter (Photo credit: Wikipedia)




Anyway, my reason for writing this post is not to editorialize on the Schilling situation.  Instead, I would like to defend the use of Twitter which I heard classified by local sports radio host Michael Felger as “a sewer.” The interesting thing about Felger’s commentary about Twitter is that he does not use it himself.  How can someone who does not understand the scope of Twitter declare that it is something vile? For me this is akin to denigrating a movie that you have not seen, a book that you have not read, or a location that you have not visited.

Is it fair to make final judgements on cities, towns, or countries because of the negative headlines that are coming out of that location. No, I think we need to go a bit deeper and find out both the negative and the positive of places before making a decision. The reality here in regards to Twitter is that it is a microcosm of the world we live in.  If you hang out in a bad area of a town or city known for a certain type of criminal behavior, then you are going to see more criminal behavior.

Twitter is an amplifier

So let’s look at this incident in regards to the area that it emanated from, the sporting world. Unfortunately, the trend in our country (and probably beyond) is that people who are fans of a particular team or athlete take their passions about that individual or team to a level that is well beyond the lines of decency that we expect. The same can be said for Twitter-based conversations that are related to athletes or teams. While we see many comments that are inappropriate, it is a lot more common to stumble on some negative and/or offensive comments than you would find regarding some other topic.

My point here is that Twitter amplifies conversations bit it does not change the standard on its own. Pick some of the opposite sides of the spectrum out there (i.e. Red Sox-Yankees, Patriots-Jets, Democrat-Republican) and you are more likely to run into some conversations, both in-person and on Twitter, that cross the lines of decency.  Twitter is not the issue, but I will give in to the point that there are a lot of people who will say things online that they would not say in person. But again, the main thing here is that a discussion that lends itself to venomous comments takes new heights and is amplified on Twitter.

My Six Years on Twitter have been extremely positive

For me, Twitter has been a godsend that has connected me with educators from all over the world. I have seen very isolated instances of nastiness and would call the stream of information of which I partake the furthest thing in the world from the “sewer” that Michael Felger describes Twitter as. The connections with the fine educators I have connected with on Twitter have opened the door for endless learning opportunities for me, for teachers, and for students.

In addition, our use of these tools in our school community has helped us have conversations with our students about navigating this digital world and helping them avoid some of the negative aspects of social media. It has helped us build a sense of community by the use of a school and district hashtag (#bhschat and #bpschat) to share news and successes.

Of course I could ramble on and cite countless examples of the connections that have taken place on Twitter over the past six years for me and others I know, but the important thing is why it is happening. We know where to go and where to look for the constructive conversations that we seek and I find it insulting to be thought of as someone who hangs out in a “sewer.” There are a number of amazing hashtag-based chats that allow educators to have constructive and meaningful conversations with others who share our passions about students and learning.

There are some nasty things happening on Twitter for sure, but that is not indicative of the intentions of the majority of Twitter users. Those people who use Twitter for positive ends know this and those who refuse to partake should refrain from jumping to drastic conclusions.  While social media may not be for you, please don’t insult my right to use it.

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An Uplifting Story – Burlington Blog Update (Edition 18)

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The post below is actually a copy of a weekly e-mail that I send to our staff  to promote our Burlington Public Schools Blog which shares the great work going on across our school district. I also try to give a quick technology tip/resource that I think would be useful. It is the 18th post in the series.

As we deal with this record-breaking winter, we’ve finally surpassed the 100-day mark of the 2014-2015 school year.  Given the fact that it has been a little depressing dealing with “Snowmageddon”, I have decided to share an uplifting story about a father in Florida who was concerned about his autistic son and finding him a job that would highlight his strengths. 




Burlington Blog Update

Only 77 more posts to go…

Here’s to another 5-day week!

Blizzard Bags Making News Across North America

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As we were discussing Blizzard Bags at work this past week, I noticed my phone had an incoming call from Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia. Since we were in a meeting, I let the call go to voicemail. Ironically, when I checked the message a bit later, the call was from to discuss Blizzard Bags.  The call was from Paul Bennett, a professor and consultant from Canada who has spent some time on this topic. Mr. Bennett has voiced concerns for quite a while on the need for schools to ensure continuity for students when bad weather interferes. He wrote a piece back in 2010 titled Schools Out, Again: Why “throw-away’ school days hurt students where he cited concerns regarding lost time due to weather in the Province of Nova Scotia.

Anyway, here are a few of the stories regarding Blizzard Bags that have been in the news over the past week:

“Blizzard bags” make for a smart snow day – Halifax Herald, Paul Bennett (A lot of comments)

My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (March 1, 2015)

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

I Think It’s Obvious Why College Students Prefer Real Books

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A child reading in Brookline Booksmith, an ind...
If this is how you grew up reading, what would your preference be? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Earlier this week the The Washington Post ran a story titled Why digital natives prefer reading in print. Yes, you read that right. Every time I see one of these stories it makes me think a bit about why this is the case. It actually amazes me that people are so surprised that “Digital Natives” prefer real books to e-books. The fact of the matter is the in the case of this article, we are talking about college students who have spent more than a decade completing their reading in real books and having educators assign work from real books.  Just because they now have access to e-textbooks and/or e-books does not mean that they will choose to abandon the workflow they have used for their entire educational career. Why are we surprised by this? 

In Burlington for instance, we handed out iPads four years ago and our current seniors have had iPads for their entire high school careers. Yet, we have not seen a seismic shift in the amount of reading that has moved away from traditional books. Again, is this a shock? Given that these students had done almost all of their reading through eighth grade in a traditional format, I think not. Do I think that our elementary students will feel the same way? No, I think we will start to see more of a split in the choice by students in regards to a preference of reading online vs. reading traditional books.

The Only Way To Get Students Comfortable With E-Reading

The major problem in regards to seeing some of the unique aspects of reading online is to have students guided through the process and shown some of the things a reader can do digitally that they cannot do with a traditional book. Unfortunately, this is still something that many educators are uncomfortable with or unwilling to try. Personally, I love reading online and the fact that I can click on hyperlinks, bookmark key points/articles, and interact with others interested in the same topic/novel. In fact, we have had a pilot in our middle school this year using LightSail that has shown some indications of success. (I’ll write more about this later).

The point here is that we need to give students access to all of the tools and resources that can help them engage with whatever they are reading and then let them choose what works best for them. The key part of whether students choose to read traditionally or online is choose to read.  We need to encourage reading and discussion about reading with our students and help them on a pathway that will help them enjoy this lifelong journey. The only mistake in this whole conversation is to micromanage the decision.

Embrace the Struggle

We need to embrace the struggle that is part of this and have meaningful conversations to guide our own learning and the learning of our children.

Denying these opportunities benefits no one! 

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My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (February 22, 2015)

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Pondering School Work For Snow Days…What The Heck Is A Blizzard Bag?

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photo via – https://c1.staticflickr.com/
It is old news by this point that we have had a decade’s worth of snow this winter in the Greater Boston area.  In the last few weeks, we have had three times more snow than we did during the historic Blizzard of 1978. While many schoolchildren are thrilled to have missed multiple days of school (five here in Burlington), the thoughts of administrators have turned to making up some of these days prior to the dog days of June.  Here in Massachusetts, our district will pilot “Blizzard Bags” in an attempt to reduce some of the make-up days that now have us in school until Thursday, June 25. 

What are Blizzard Bags?

I have to admit that I was unfamiliar with the term Blizzard Bag when I first heard it and was unaware that the practice of employing Blizzard Bags to compensate for snow days is something that has been happening in states like Minnesota, Ohio and New Hampshire for a few years. In fact, I have started to bookmark sites of districts using this practice to get some ideas about how this works.  In all honesty, I have been underwhelmed with what I have found thus far on many of the sites. Many of the samples are simply worksheets that students would do independently and would fall short of the definition of structured learning time articulated by Massachusetts Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester in one of his weekly updates below:

The Department has received inquiries regarding so-called “blizzard bags,” assigned work sent home with students in advance of an expected storm. In many cases, this work appears to be very similar to normal homework assignments; there is educational value, but it does not necessarily meet the standard for structured learning time. For this approach to count toward the student learning time requirements, school districts must ensure that such work is structured learning time, is substantial, and has appropriate oversight and teacher involvement.  

Blizzard Bags in Burlington 

 As expected, we have received numerous inquiries from parents and news media about our Blizzard Bag proposal which must be approved by both the Burlington School Committee and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. In all honesty, we have not yet articulated what the work will be that students will be asked to do in grades K-12.  The plans will be constructed over the next month or so and then brought forth to our School Committee.  

 While I can’t tell you specifically what our Blizzard Bags will be, I can tell you some of the qualities I think these assignments should have.  But before, I go down that path I think it is important that we recognize this wonderful opportunity we have before us. We have been presented with a chance to discuss learning and the countless activities that we could offer students to learn outside of our schools. We need to embrace this collaborative endeavor and ensure that we include staff, students, parents, and others with experience in this type of endeavor in the planning. Lastly, we need to be honest with ourselves regarding the fact that this will not be perfect. Some of the learning opportunities that we create will work well and others will not.  But isn’t that what happens as we plan lessons during our 180-day school year anyway?

 So here are a few of the opportunities that I think Blizzard Bags should provide students…

  • Independence
  • Collaboration
  • Hands-on
  • Digital learning
  • Inquiry
  • Teacher Feedback 
  • Peer Feedback
While I could continue with more examples, the point here is that these assignments should allow for choices by students and staff. They should not be worksheet-driven as a few of the examples I have seen in other districts using Blizzard Bags. In the end, we are attempting to have a learning experience for our students that would be equally as meaningful as a day at the end of June. No offense intended here, but I think we can do much better than that.

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A Question For School Leaders…Are you preparing students for…?

On By Patrick LarkinIn Future Ready, National Association of Secondary School Principals, Technology IntegrationLeave a comment
Image via http://farm8.static.flickr.com/ 


I still remember how excited I was back in May 2011 when the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) published their position statement on Social Media and Mobile Technologies.  As we approach the four-year anniversary of this document, my feelings have changed to disappointment due to the limited progress I perceive in this area.  Ignoring and/or banning the use of social media and mobile technologies in schools is still far too prevalent and it is bad for kids.

 Here is the key phrase in this position statement for me:

“Education should prepare students to be active, constructive participants in a global society.”

The best way for this to happen is also clearly articulated in the position statement:

“Encourage and model the appropriate and responsible use of mobile and social technologies to maximize students’ opportunities to create and share content.”

Along the same line, the recent interview below that Joe Mazza did with Richard Culatta, Director of the United States Office of Education Technology Culatta talks about what we need in our schools to create schools that are “Future Ready.”  

“It’s not OK for district and school leaders to say I’m not that tech savvy. Even joking about that is not funny anymore…The strategy for using technology to transform learning cannot be delegated…”


So I ask my colleagues the following question: What are you doing to model the use of technological tools in your role? 


Here’s a place to start 

 If you aren’t sure where to start, NASSP has shown great leadership over the past four years with its Digital Principal Award that selects three school leaders annually “who exhibit bold, creative leadership in their drive to harness the potential of new technologies to further learning goals.”

 Check out the work of this year’s winners John Bernia, James Richardson, and Bill Ziegler to get a look at what best practice looks like.  In addition, look back at past winners (2014) Daisy Dyer Duerr, Jason Markey, Derek McCoy, (2013) Dwight Carter, Ryan Imbriale, Carrie Jackson, (2012) Eric Sheninger, Mike King, and me.  All of these school leaders are just a few keystrokes away and they are willing to answer questions that you may have to help you and/or your school community move forward on this challenging and exciting path!

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To Have Technology or Not Have Technology Is Not The Question

On By Patrick LarkinIn Educational technology, Future ReadyLeave a comment


I have read with great interest Larry Cuban’s three-post series titled The Lack of Evidence-Based Practice: The Case of Classrooms Technology. As someone who supports the integration of more resources for students and educators, I think there is some truth to Mr. Cuban’s words. However, as someone who has seen a number of anti-EdTech posts over the years, I also feel strongly that there is no new information here. 

It is quite easy to find examples where large amounts of money were spent on devices for schools with little forethought given to intended outcomes or professional development. We need look no further than Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) which seems to be the poster child for anti-iPads/Devices in schools.  The bottom line in this whole conversation is summed up in the tweet below from Will Richardson. 

Unfortunately, I have spoken with many administrators who have spent money on devices without a firm understanding of what they intended to accomplish with them. But despite the fact that I believe the schools and districts who have integrated technological resources thoughtfully are in the minority, I am tired of those like Cuban who wish to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We need to put our energy into finding outliers where things are working well and highlight the steps that were taken in these schools and districts.
Assertions that success stories do not exist are false. But the difficult part here is pinpointing the real cause of success because it has much more to do with the mindset changes regarding learning than it does with the deployment of devices.  School communities that embrace a more constructivist mindset where students are encouraged to create their own understanding of key concepts with access to modern technological resources are what we all need to strive for.  
As Tim Holt points out in his rebuttal to the Cuban posts, Taking On Larry Cuban and The Case of Classroom Technology (Parts 1, 2, and 3), it is ironic that Cuban is utilizing technological resources like his blog and his Twitter account to get out his message. Imagine if he encouraged schools to teach students to use such platforms to connect and learn with others who share their passions on a particular topic? I imagine some of his colleagues at Stanford could show him some evidence of the successful integration of technology to impact student learning. 

Anyway, I am left to ponder the Five Stages of Innovation and wonder whether or not Mr. Cuban will ever hit the fifth stage? 

The Five Stages of Innovation 

  1. People deny that the innovation is required. 
  2. People deny that the innovation is effective.
  3. People deny that the innovation is important.
  4. People deny that the innovation will justify the effort required to adopt it.
  5. People accept and adopt the innovation, enjoy its benefits, attribute it to people other than the innovator, and deny the existence of stages 1 to 4.
— Inspired by Alexander von Humboldt’s ‘Three Stages Of Scientific Discovery’, as referenced by Bill Bryson in his book, ‘A Short History Of Nearly Everything’.  (source – http://www.philcooke.com/five_stages_of_innovation/)