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“I don’t understand why anybody would ever root for the Dallas Cowboys as long as Jerry Jones is in charge” https://t.co/Ohnb9B8RPa
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From ASCD IN Service – “Where would our education system be if we invested the dollars for standardized testing in supporting the emotional needs of students?”
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A look at the self-organized learning environment (SOLE).
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From the Wall Street Jorunal – “Five years into the biggest transformation of U.S. public education in recent history, Common Core is far from common. Though 45 states initially adopted the shared academic standards in English and math, seven have since repealed or amended them. Among the remaining 38, big disparities remain in what and how students are taught, the materials and technology they use, the preparation of teachers and the tests they are given. A dozen more states are considering revising or abandoning Common Core.”
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“Talking about your positive goals and dreams activates brain centers that open you up to new possibilities. But if you change the conversation to what you should do to fix yourself, it closes you down.”
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“Talking about your positive goals and dreams activates brain centers that open you up to new possibilities. But if you change the conversation to what you should do to fix yourself, it closes you down
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“You need the negative focus to survive, but a positive one to thrive. You need both, but in the right ratio.”
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That may be why maintaining a positive view pays off for performance, as Frederickson’s research has found: it energizes us, lets us focus better, be more flexible in our thinking, and connect effectively with the people around us.
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Boyatzis makes the case that understanding a person’s dreams can open a conversation about what it would take to fulfill those hopes. And that can lead to concrete learning goals.
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Often those goals are improving capacities like conscientiousness, listening, collaboration and the like – which can yield better performance.
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don’t focus on only on weaknesses, but on hopes and dreams. It’s what our brains are wired to do.
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Many Massachusetts schools are using technology to monitor students, collect personal data about them and share that data in ways that raise troubling questions about student privacy, according to a new study from the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. The study, released Wednesday, examined 35 school districts across the state, including Boston, Springfield and various rural and suburban districts. Almost universally, the study found, students in those districts have “no expectation of privacy” when going online in school; many are similarly unprotected when using school-issued electronic devices, such as Chromebooks or iPads.
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“If you’re going to lead a school or other organization, it might be smart to give some thought to what it means to be a good leader. But that fact doesn’t explain why some schools proudly announce that they train their students — every last one of them — in the art of leadership. What’s up with that?”
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Thanks @patrickmlarkin Great resource! #satchat https://t.co/cTlJlJRNq6
A Touching Response to Intolerance #WeAreAllBurlington
We often hear people talking about accentuating the positive and not letting negative acts impact us. While these words are great, the true test comes when people are confronted by unwarranted negative actions intended to demean them. As community members in Burlington have seen and heard, the members of OUR local mosque (The Islamic Center of Burlington) had their place of worship defaced this past weekend with USA painted multiple times on its outside walls and sign.
Today the Islamic Center of Burlington responded with the ultimate show of positive energy in the face of this hateful act with an interfaith event “We Are All Americans” where members of the entire community were able to come together and show their support for the members of OUR local mosque. It was inspiring to to see how OUR community members responded to this ignorant act. Our local interfaith clergy group brought together representatives of each of the local places of worship as well as town and state officials. Most important, in my opinion, was the manner in which the Islamic Center of Burlington welcomed all with open arms, giving those in attendance to stand together in support of OUR neighbors who were targeted by intolerance.
The pictures below show the manner in which the members of the Islamic Center of Burlington chose to respond to this incident. They posted their own comments surrounding the spray painted USA which showed how they feel about their community and their country and turned this ignorant act into a touching display of Patriotism.
#WeAreAllBurlington
An Interview With George Couros About The Innovator’s Mindset
This post originally appeared on my EdWeek Blog
One of the hottest new education books is The Innovator’s Mindset by my friend George Couros a Division Principal of Teaching and Learning with Parkland School Division, located in Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada, as well as a highly sought after innovative teaching, learning, and leadership consultant. I caught up with George recently and had the chance to ask him some questions about his first book. Check out the interview below and grab this must-read for you and others in your school community!
What was your motivation in writing The Innovator’s Mindset?
“Innovation” in education is in danger of becoming a buzzword because we use it without really thinking what it means and what it can look like in our schools today. The other trend that I have seen lately is that “innovation” is just used to replace the world “technology, and it can be so much more than that. Ultimately what the word really means in education is about creating new and better ways of learning, which is something educators should all get behind. I wanted this to be more than an “education” book though, but really something that made connections through telling stories, because that is what helps people move forward. If I can help more educators see themselves as “innovators”, and help them embrace this mindset, our students will not only have better opportunities in learning, but we as educators will find opportunities for ourselves that are more rewarding. This book is meant to empower people to embrace change and the opportunities that are in front of us.
Who do you see as the primary audience for the book?
What I am hoping is that this book really reaches leaders, but when I use that term, I am not reserving it for administrators, but any educator that sees the need for creating something new and better for our students. It is meant to not only help see change as something we embrace and model ourselves, but help create the foundation where change is more likely to happen with others. I try to weave in and out between ideas for leadership and things that can happen in the classroom because I truly believe that every educator has the potential to be a leader and make a difference on a larger scale, no matter their title.
Why do you think it is important for educators to focus on Innovation?
If you look at organizations around the world, if they do not innovate they die. Blockbuster actually had the opportunity to buy Netflix but there thinking was that they were good with their current business model, and obviously ended up losing an opportunity to become a truly global organization. Yet many people believe that “innovation” is for someone else, not our own organizations. If school stays the same while the rest of the world changes, people are going to either find or create something better for our kids. My parents saw education and school as a way to something better, because it was vastly different than what they experienced, so I want to continue to make sure that we support this idea and develop not only our students as innovators, but also our educators. We cannot expect our students to become innovative, if we do not create the opportunities for them to do this within the context of school.
Is this more of a mindset for upper grades or is this something that we need to do K-12?
This meant for any level of educator. I share stories from kindergarten to high school, of educators who are really trying to challenge the traditional notion of school and develop something better. What my hope is in this book is that we move from “pockets” of innovation, to a “culture” of innovation. These stories should not be the “outliers” but become the norm, and if we don’t see this as a whole system emphasis, we will spend more time trying to catch up as opposed to moving forward. Innovation has no age barrier, and as discussed in the book, it is about a way of thinking more than anything, that can be a part of what we do at all levels.
As a school and district leader, how would you recommend that educators use this book to engage their schools and communities in a constructive dialogue regarding change?
One of the things that I wanted to do is model innovation even in writing the book. Often authors will provide some type of guide, but I wanted it to be a living and breathing opportunity for not only others to discuss this at their school, but to also be a part of the conversation as the author. By using things like the hashtag #innovatorsmindset, and also creating a list of resources for each chapter on my blog to continue discussion, as well as a Facebook page for the book, I am hoping that I can learn alongside readers. There is also questions at the end of each chapter that is meant to spark conversation and push the idea of innovation in teaching, learning, and leadership within each school. I did not want to write a book that told people how to become an innovative school, because that is the exact opposite of the idea. It is meant to push conversations forward, while also providing ideas and inspiration for schools to become places where creativity flourishes. This will only happen if this book becomes the start to a conversation, not the end of it.
What was your biggest takeaway from writing this book?
One of the things that I talk about in the book is the ideas of “networks” being crucial to innovation, and as I was writing it, I realized how much I have learned from connecting with others and blogging about my learning over the last six years. Stories can truly become the fuel for innovation, and my thinking has been pushed by so many across the world that share their experiences with others. I know that this is not a book I could have written six years ago and that because my thinking was isolated, honestly, because I chose it to be that way. One of my favourite quotes is from Linus Pauling who says, “the best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas”, and this book would not have been possible without the connections to so many amazing educators to which I am truly grateful.
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (November 1, 2015)
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The Paradoxes of Education Innovation
From Ben Grey “nnovation is a beautifully romanticized notion. It brings to mind thoughts of amazing individuals like Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, and Marie Curie who so daringly defied and displaced the status quo. And therein lies the problem. – See more at: http://bengrey.com/2015/10/the-paradoxes-of-education-innovation/?utm_content=bufferb56e7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.WhTSKjVg.dpuf
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Great read @patrickmlarkin interviews @gcouros #innovatorsmindset https://t.co/7GmQl4DAed
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U.S. Technology Device Ownership 2015
From Pew Research Center “68% of Americans have smartphones; 45% have tablet computers. Ownership of other digital devices has not grown in recent years.”
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From The Atlantic – “Black students in the Palmetto State are more likely to be punished and more likely to be subject to corporal punishment, which remains legal there.”
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Fact Sheet: Testing Action Plan
President Obama’s initiative for less testing
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Cesar Harada: How I teach kids to love science
At the Harbour School in Hong Kong, Cesar Harada teaches citizen science and invention to the next generation of environmentalists. He’s moved his classroom into an industrial mega-space where imaginative kids work with wood, metal, chemistry, biology, optics and, occasionally, power tools to create solutions to the threats facing the world’s oceans.
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Improving Your Teaching Through Student Feedback
How can we improve our lessons? When do we know what works and what doesn’t? In today’s show, Dean Shareski talks candidly about student feedback and the role of self-reflection in teaching. Improve the craft of teaching by incorporating his suggestions in your classroom routines.
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Some Ideas for Personalizing Learning in the Younger Grades –
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8 Online Learning Trends that are Changing the Learning Landscape
From Getting Smart – “we see eight trends–some emerging from K-12 providers, some from HigherEd–improving the opportunity to learn online.”
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you are only as good as your network
From Harold Jarche: “It was only through working out loud, learning out loud, and engaging the networks and communities that I had already developed, that I was able to accomplish the objective. In the end, I realized I was only as good as my network.”
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Educational Leadership:Doing Data Right:Eliminating the Blame Game
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Obama plan limits standardized testing to no more than 2% of class time
The White House said Saturday the proliferation of testing in the United States — a problem the administration acknowledged it has played a role in — has taken away too much valuable time that could be better spent on learning, teaching and fostering creativity in schools. To curb excessive testing, Obama recommended limiting standardized exams to no more than 2% of a student’s instructional time in the classroom.
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Beau Lotto – Understanding Perception: How We Experience the Meaning We Create on Vimeo
Beau Lotto’s research into perception has shown that we don’t see the real world—just our version of it. It’s a version we’ve evolved to perceive, where shadows, shapes, and even how we understand time are meanings we ascribe to what we’re seeing. Our senses are telling us stories about the world—and we can control those stories to change our perceptions and ourselves.
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Russ on Reading: Should Reading Be Taught in Kindergarten?
“it is part of the work of children in kindergarten and, therefore, part of the responsibility of kindergarten teachers to make sure that every child is ready to become a successful reader. Most of this work can be accomplished through structured play. Here is the literacy knowledge that rising first graders should take with them from kindergarten.”
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Dear USDOE, Testing Disaster Is Yours, and You Still Don’t Get It: A Reader
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Where did Obama administration’s 2 percent cap on standardized testing come from?
From the Washington Post – “The Obama administration has issued a Testing Action Plan that it says should help reduce over-testing in public schools. That plan includes a cap of 2 percent on the classroom time students spend on mandated standardized tests.”
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How To Design A 21st Century Assessment –
From Mike Fisher – “Contemporary curriculum design involves multiple facets: engaging 21st Century skills, using digital tools, collaborating with others around the globe, performance tasks, and more. Getting these design elements into a teacher’s current curriculum demands that teachers create professional habits around Replacement Thinking. In my book Digital Learning Strategies, I describe four considerations for Replacement Thinking around assessments. In a nutshell, those considerations include:
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Celebrating Your School’s Cultural Diversity
Great idea for a school culture night from Edutopia
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Towards Maturity 2015 benchmark shows just how much we’ve got stuck
Seeing clear connections to adult learning in schools. – “The problem, for the call (to change) seems only to be heard by the already converted.”
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“One of the crucial leadership skills for today and future is ability to learn constantly from various high quality sources, synthesizing information and collaborating with a community to get a better grasp of the constantly changing reality.”
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Helping Students Develop Resiliency and Emotionally Healthy Behaviors | ASCD Inservice
From ASCD InService – “It wasn’t until a site visit last February to a high-performing elementary school in southern Oregon that PBIS clicked for the teachers. During the site visit, staff saw students just like those at Sandy Grade interacting with others and working together in a positive manner. That led staff to ask, “What’s the secret? How are you getting your students to persevere through challenges, work hard, and get along well with others?” The secret? “
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Leverage Inquiry Projects to Combat Bullying | Edutopia
Inquiry projects will get students to examine the causes and consequences of bullying and encourage them to generate their own solutions for change.
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Teens Need More Sleep, But Districts Struggle to Shift Start Times – Education Week
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Editing a Periscope Video & Rotating Before Posting to YouTube
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Our high school kids: tired, stressed and bored
From USA Today – “New survey findings suggest that when asked how they feel during the school day, USA high school students consistently invoke three key feelings: “tired,” “stressed” and “bored.”
Less Testing! What A Great Idea! Burlington Blog Update (Volume 3)
As we near the quarter pole in the school year, I wanted to share some news that I thought would be of interest. Did you catch the news from Washington that President Obama plans to limit standardized testing for students? Here’s an excerpt from the USA Today:
“The White House said Saturday the proliferation of testing in the United States — a problem the administration acknowledged it has played a role in — has taken away too much valuable time that could be better spent on learning, teaching and fostering creativity in schools. To curb excessive testing, Obama recommended limiting standardized exams to no more than 2% of a student’s instructional time in the classroom.”
Sounds like a good plan! Where do we sign up?
Anyway, here are the latest posts from the Burlington Blog:
Day 24 – Day 24 – Presenting at the First National Digital Citizenship Summit – Timmy Sullivan – BHS Senior
Day 25 – Interactive Self-Paced Presentations with Google Slides – Michael Milton – BHS History Staff
Only 140 more to go…
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (October 25, 2015)
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From Kerry Gallagher – “There is both excitement and criticism around the paperless classroom movement. Both camps have good intentions, but neither is focused on the right thing. It isn’t about paper, or the lack of paper. It is about what the tech makes possible when learners push themselves to get creative.”
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From the Hechinger Report – “Rich kids get steered into more demanding math classes while poor kids get less challenging content”
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From the Atlantic – “High-school textbooks too often gloss over the American government’s oppression of racial minorities.”
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From the US Dept. of Education
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From Vox – “Bernie Sanders loves to talk about Denmark’s liberal policies, including free higher education. But for his plan to make tuition free at public colleges, there’s a better comparison: Scotland, which abolished tuition fees in 2000.”
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“Today I read a newsletter from my children’s elementary school. It said 60% of the jobs our middle schoolers learn habit of future workforcechildren will be competing for have not been invented yet. The school district has prepared “6 Habits of Mind” to equip the kids of the future of work.”
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Student led #EdCamp Period Video from our MS! https://t.co/HLq9UhVjYJ @patrickmlarkin @coolcatteacher @dalston411 @SchleiderJustin @mrnesi
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Great resources for research from EdTechTeacher
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Great tutorial on how to use Diigo
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Great resources for teachers thinking about starting a class Twitter account from Alice Keeler.
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From ASCD In Service
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Great resource from the JFK Library
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (October 18, 2015)
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Investing in leadership capacity: The amazing, wonderful District 59 | Dangerously Irrelevant
From Scott McLeod
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Three Examples of Using Instagram in K-12 Settings
A look at some ways to incorporate Instagram i the classroom
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MoocNote 2.0 – More Features for Creating Video Lessons
From Richard Byrne You can now build video lessons on MoocNote by using videos from your Dropbox or Google Drive account. This is a huge enhancement for teachers who work in environments that block YouTube. It’s also great for anyone who has made his or her own videos and wants to add interactive question elements to them.
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Using Flipboard to Curate Tweets From my Staff — Medium
“Using Flipboard to Curate Tweets From my Staff” by @timlauer #ce15 #edtechchat https://t.co/AXAJRw50lV
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Moving from Digital Citizenship to Digital Leadership
Great visual on how we need to support students. But the teachers need to get their first and also share exemplars
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What Close Reading Actually Means
Great stuff from the late Grant Wiggins –
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From Mashable – In today’s technology-infused world, the executive assistant of today is the “avatar relationship manager” of tomorrow. Job descriptions on reed.co.uk, now include responsibilities and buzzwords that may not even have existed as few as five years ago.
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Beyond ‘turn it off’: How to advise families on media use
In a world where “screen time” is becoming simply “time,” our policies must evolve or become obsolete. The public needs to know that the Academy’s advice is science-driven, not based merely on the precautionary principle.
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Charter school to study ‘What learning matters most’
They hope to design curriculum and assessment systems that value the diversity of their students…Don’t we all!
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If you are claiming disruption then, you believe the following three things: A complete, systemic change will overtake the sector The current incumbents will not survive The current incumbents are incapable of dealing with the new world, which will be populated by new entrants.
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Education Reforms Are Here to Stay
Over the last eight years, largely since President Barack Obama’s election, states have recruited schools chiefs who have ushered in major education policy changes during their tenures. In large part, they were criticized for their brash leadership styles and for asking too much of teachers and students. Most of them have now been replaced by new state superintendents who take on that role with more discretion and sensitivity, and are thought of as being more inclusive of community input – but they aren’t getting rid of the policy changes.
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A Brief History of the End of the Comments | WIRED
Interesting phenomenon here. Wondering why this is happening…
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Twitter For Teachers – Part One: The Skittlefall | Blog | Sparky Teaching
#satchat Get colleagues onto Twitter by using candy. It works! —> http://t.co/MJDQ8CWbTu http://t.co/4tM49zu9dI
#EdShare: Raising the Bar for National Sharing
This post originally appeared on my Education Week Blog
It’s Connected Educator month, and I want to issue a challenge to my fellow educators:
Share a Win or Fail with our national PLC this month, and use the #EdShare hashtag.
Let’s break that down:
1. “Our National PLC“
When I hear educators talk about Professional Learning Communities, they are often talking about local or regional groups… even building-level groups. Why is it that we all share our most essential insights with the teacher down the hall, or the district down the road, but we don’t always move to connect beyond the county line? It’s time to think about Connectedness as a national-level activity.
Let’s push ourselves to finding the pioneering districts and thought leaders far from our home states. This month, I challenge you to find an inspiring school or district at least 1,000 miles away. Read about their work. Connect with their leaders on LinkedIn and Twitter. Or better yet, in a Google hangout. And let’s help those leaders find us… by sharing our best insights in places like Twitter chats and online communities with peers from across the country.
Where can you find the national PLC? The Graphite website has reviews of tools from across the country. Key Twitter chats like #satchat, #cpchat, and #edtechbridge draw education leaders from every state. In addition, there are Edmodo, ISTE, and LinkedIn groups connect educators from around the country. These are perfect places to take your next #edshares. If you are going to share, share big.
2. “A Win or Fail”
When something works, share it! Loud and proud. Share excellent classroom practices. Share how your school team overcame a challenge. Share a district success that others can emulate. If you find a fabulous product, tell us. Share your rubrics. Share your exemplars. Take photos and videos, and post them with pride. Share your victories with enough detail that others can flatter you through imitation!
But please don’t forget that your Fails are important to share, too. Ted Williams didn’t bat 1.000, or .500 for that mattter. I know my district is not close to batting 1.000 and I bet your team isn’t either. We pilot products that don’t work as expected. Projects fail to soar because we don’t lay the right foundations. We find tools that teachers love, then find that students or administrators don’t share those feelings.
We can save each other so much time if we shared the “What Not To Do” stories as often as we shared the “What Went Well” stories? It takes a lot of trust to share our low points with new people. So, this Connected Educator month, I promise you this:
If you share your Fails, you will gain more trust because of your transparency, not less. In addition, you will find that there are educators around the country who will tell you how they found success in similar initiatives/implementations. I hope you’ll do the same!
3. #EdShare – A New Hashtag for Connected Educators
#EdShare is for educators to share wins and fails with peers. If you tweet about a great tool or a poor one, use #edshare. If you blog about a success story that I should emulate, use #edshare. If someone should connect with you about your work, tell us why, and use #edshare. This Connected Educator month, let’s up our #edshare game. I’ll be sharing often, and I hope you will, too.
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (October 11, 2015)
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https://t.co/PpT6wgmA3O @patrickmlarkin g8t example of passion in #education #leadership #CE15 #edchat #suptchat #school #parents
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Of the 2,000 high school students in Albemarle County Public Schools, only 25 requested lockers last school year
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@patrickmlarkin here is my post on our Hybrid PD model. Let me know if you have questions or feedback. #cpchat https://t.co/h1jQNAbLK7
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Kids are anxious, afraid and risk-averse because parents are more focused on keeping their children safe, content and happy in the moment than on parenting for competence.
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“kids are productive learners when they come to us, and over the course of 12 years, we pretty much turn learning into something they don’t want to learn anything more about. We make it unproductive and disengaging.”
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From Scott McLeod – It’s late 2015, we’re still overblocking the Internet, and the blame is on us as administrators…
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If we want staff to collab & be part of a PLC then admin needs to model that. Be part of growth you expect #CPchat https://t.co/lL8GfSOY6g
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Interesting read – The courses cover too much material and do so too quickly and superficially. In short, AP courses are a forced march through a preordained subject, leaving no time for a high-school teacher to take her or his students down some path of mutual interest. The AP classroom is where intellectual curiosity goes to die.
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The British publishing giant Pearson had made few inroads in the United States — aside from distributing the TV game show “Family Feud” — when it announced plans in the summer of 2000 to spend $2.5 billion on an American testing company. Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/pearson-education-115026#ixzz3ncETzcdc
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (October 4, 2015)
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This is a great model that more districts should look to replicate
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Once again Finland…Why do we have to complicate things so much for our kids.
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Good perspective from Harold Jarche
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Technology has not yet killed the reliable old TI-83. Nearly 20 years later, students are still forced to use a prohibitively expensive piece of outdated technology. It’s not because better tools aren’t available; they exist, and some of them are even free. It’s because Texas Instruments, the company that creates them, has a staggering monopoly in the field of high school mathematics. The American education system is addicted to Texas Instruments.
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Interesting model for students to lead their own learning
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From Will Richardson – Built on the idea of North Star in Massachusetts, it strips away almost all of the bureaucracy of school as we know it and just focuses on kids and learning. The more I dive in, the more sense it makes.
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“We’ve found that traditional hiring, which is based primarily on credentials, is a terrible approach for junior roles,” says Nick Sedlet, the co-founder of HireArt. “The labor market is changing much faster than colleges can keep up.”
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Free resource with passages categorized by reading level
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More good Google Classroom tips from Alice Keeler
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From Common Craft – It’s back-to-school time and we just published a video that’s perfect for helping students navigate the wild world of media. It’s all about understanding and detecting bias.
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We weighed other factors in our decision: • Standardized test scores do not predict a student’s success at our college. • SATs/ACTs are strongly biased against low-income students and students of color, at a time when diversity is critical to our mission. • We surveyed our students and learned not one of them had considered rankings when choosing to apply to colleges; instead they most cared about a college’s mission. • Some good students are bad test takers, particularly under stress, such as when a test may grant or deny college entry. Multiple-choice tests don’t reveal much about a student. • We’ve developed much better, fairer ways to assess students who will thrive at our college.
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From Ken Halla – WeVideo is an app that you can add in Google Drive or sign up for separately. As with everything else here, it is free and pretty amazing as it lets you add in sound, video, words, effects, etc. Best of all, you can use it with your students in groups as it lets them collaborate much as one can do on a document in Google Drive.
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Lack of sleep not only impairs our judgement, but also lowers immunity, leads to depression, and can even raise blood glucose levels.
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Good resources to help learners evaluate the relevance of a story or reference on the web.
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From Alice Keeler
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We’re rooting for #BAMMYAwards finalists Nancy Burke & @RoweRikW, @dlwest77 & @patrickmlarkin! https://t.co/EhmF6KNG7i
My Un-Learning Journey 
