It’s always interesting to hear from others how they promote and support learning in their school district. Here’s my story.

My district is 3 years old, an amalgamation of 7 small districts into 1. Building culture, unity and morale has been challenging but in many ways is going really well. The big challenge I have is that I’m the only person really focusing on technology, outside of our online classes, supporting 35 schools and 7,000 students. I’m good, but I’m not that good. We previously had some level of instructional support at the school level but staff cuts have pretty much reduced to zero at most schools. So how can I possibly help teachers make the shifts necessary to develop rich, relevant learning for students?

Although I’d love more support, I recognize that’s not likely to happen. What I do have is a group of administrators who for the most part want to push the envelope and provide teachers with everything they can to make them better.

We have a number of administrators committed to changing schools to providing authentic, relevant and connected classrooms. They challenge their teachers to become better, and are truly instructional leaders as opposed to paper pushers. They allow their teachers to try and explore. I’ve begun many great conversations with them and sense their desire for change.

These folks are the real key to the change. So every 6 weeks when they meet, I get some time to plant seeds of change and they’re taking root. The overall plan for our division likely doesn’t look like many strategic plans. We’ve resisted trying to get to specific but rather employ principles of learning that will last.  We are using the new ISTE standards as a guide and specifically this year we’ll pay attention to the second student standard of Communication and Collaboration.

Today I brought in 5 teachers who are on the right track, specifically in the area of social learning.  I asked administrators to move from station to station allowing teachers to share, for them to ask questions and try to learn more about what they do in their classrooms. I then invited any administrators to share with their schools and contact me about developing some ongoing support both face to face and online.

I immediately had some great conversations afterwards from a number of principals as they either enter into social learning or enhance what they have. I have no illusions in knowing there will be some who just don’t buy in, but I’m not worried about those as much as I am glad to have the vast majority looking forward and supporting teachers.

So our model has been to share, invite, support and learn together.  We don’t typically run workshops for blogging, or any other of the latest software. We count on teachers to make the changes and they are. If there is an interest in learning a new tool, we’ll try and find someone or I’ll do the work but we want to focus on big ideas of teaching and learning, “what are the shifts we need to make?” We are building capacity by holding up our champions and doing what we can to allow them to flourish and encourage others. Slow at times but it’s the model we’re sticking with.

prairiesouth, administrators

Maybe it’s the beginning of the school year but I seem to get especially idealistic about the possibilities of new learning opportunities for students. First beauty, now joy.

This month’s issue of Educational Leadership features a great article by Steven Wolk (someone get him a blog) on Joy in School. Wolk finds 11 things schools need to do to create joy in learning.

According to my Random House dictionary, joy means, “The emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something good or satisfying.” Surely our schools can do some of that. Joy and learning—including school content—are not mutually exclusive. Many of our greatest joys in life are related to our learning. Unfortunately, most of that joyful learning takes place outside school.

Each one of the 11 ideas are worth doing. Of particular interest to me is Joy 10: Transform Assessment. The damage of poor and inappropriate assessments have done more to create joyless learners than just about anything. Reading Kathy Cassidy’s blog it’s not hard to see how understanding what good assessment looks likes can create confident, excited learners who already are experiencing joy.

Huge grins all around. The child who told me, “I don’t know how to write” and “I don’t know what to say” visibly sat up straighter in his chair when he saw that he had eighteen reads. He is now beginning to think of himself as a writer.

Why do we always have to point to Kindergarten and primary grades as examples where joy is present in learning? Why does it seem like the further we go in school, the more we lose this joy? I experience this joy daily because I am a learner first. I still think there are great examples of joyful learning in our schools and I’m going to pay attention and document them as much as possible. I’d suggest you do the same.

Photo: Pezzettino Pictures by Mrs. Cassidy’s Class
http://flickr.com/photos/57634636@N00/2556405647/

What a privilege to spend time with a good and smart friend.  Since we began planning for this day back in January, I’ve been looking forward to it.  It was remarkable to see how many traveled a fair distance to attend this one day event.

The day was well crafted by Ewan that included a series of short presentation type deliveries followed by opportunity to discuss and play.

As a group, we decided these were the most important ideas from the morning:

1. R & D is for everyone
2. Building Shared Awareness
3. Remix the curricula
4. Balance between structure and flexibility, saturation and overload
5. Importance of rules in play

The afternoon was spent exploring gaming and the concept of gaming as a learning tool.

One participant summarized his learning this way, “One mistake I’ve made is I’ve never played with a computer”. This was a telling statement about how we view ourselves as learners.

Lots of ideas were explored and my goal was that folks left willing to continue to innovate, explore, learn and share. Not entirely new but a fresh set of eyes always helps.

Working out a New Game photo: by Ewan Mcintosh

Tuesday, students from Craik were able to present their learning with cellphones to Liz Kolb and about 20 ustream guests. The stream was a bit wonky but I did manage to record the hour in 3 segments. The last recording is likely the most interesting as it features more of a conversation with students, Liz and Ustream questions.

Here they are in case you’re interested:

I’m please to announce a great upcoming event being held in Moose Jaw, SK on Monday, August 25, 2008.

Our school division will be hosting a day long event with Ewan Mcintosh. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Ewan’s work, he is outstanding advocate of social media and has been involved with Scotland’s very progressive curriculum innovations.

Here’s a some more information about the day:

Scotland meets Saskatchewan Outline

9:00-10:30
Presentation: Scotland’s story: how curriculum meets innovation
The new curriculum, developed with the profession and parents over several years, has ‘allowed’ more teachers to break with tradition and take up new technologies to facilitate children’s learning. The curricular moves share much in common with Canada’s states’ and provinces’, so what are the similarities and differences in technology, professional development and the way students learn?

11:00-12:30
Roundtable:Assessment is for learning and making the links through new technologies - share experiences from both sides of the pond.

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:30-3:00
Practical workshop:Thinking Out Of The (X)box
Scotland is leading the way in some respects of games-based learning. Experience some of the methodology and ideas in this practical workshop.

6:00-7:30
Focus on Leadership Dinner: Ewan will focus on leadership and explore Scotland’s approach and experience with leading change.

7:30-9:30
TeachMeet08 Saskatchewan
An unconference for teachers, by teachers. Share something from your classroom or professional learning in a seven-minute micro-presentation, two-minute nano-presentation or simply be an enthusiastic lurker.

To register, email me shareski.dean at prairiesouth.ca by June 22.

TeX Embedding failed!25.
Make your cheques payable to: Prairie South School Division and send them to:

Prairie School School Division
Attn: Dean Shareski
15 Thatcher Dr.
Moose Jaw, SK
S6J 1L

This is going to be an outstanding day!

This podcast goes way back to 2006 when I first interviewed Darren, Clarence and Kathy. Since that time, I interviewed them last year as well have had the three of them talk to a couple of my classes and various other PD events.

Here are the links to the other podcasts in case you missed it:

• Darren 2006
• Clarence 2006
• Kathy 2006
• All three 2006
• All three 2007

The post that inspired it all.

I’m always thrilled to chat with these people as I think they represent so much of what good teaching and learning looks like. I’m excited to say that next week the three of them will unite for the first time in Winnipeg. Those will also be some great conversations

This is also my first crack at an enhanced podcast. If you view this in itunes, you’ll have the ability to skip ahead or easily access chapters.

As someone that has the opportunity and mandate to help others understand the changing classroom, I scour my network for new videos that can capture beyond words, what good teaching and learning can be.
I’ve created a number on my own and undoubtedly, these have had at least as much impact if not more than than any book or blog post has done in terms of igniting conversation and action. Getting people to start thinking and pushing them in new directions is challenging. When you only have 40 minutes or less and you want to really make an impact, most of us aren’t gifted enough to do this in a finely crafted talk. I’m not anyway. A well produced video can do this better.
Chris’ recent rant on the Pearson Learning to Change video had me thinking on many levels. I’ve used that video and while it may not be perfect, it creates a conversation. It was disappointing to see them pull it from youtube. Why? Did Chris’ post scare them? Come on Pearson, tell us why?

But here’s the thing. We really only have a handful of videos. We’ve got oodles of books, a gazillion blogs but few quality representation of what true change really looks like.

I had a conversation with Clarence a few months back and I remember telling him that I wanted more from his classroom. What I wanted was a clear picture of what goes on in a great classroom. He has since provided some more visuals. But I want more from Clarence and all great teachers doing great work. I realize that classroom teachers do not have the time to create this type of media. Even if they had the time, they don’t have the expertise to create concise, high quality productions. My most recent production about the learning in our school division took me upwards of 60 hours to create. 60 hours for 7 minutes isn’t often see as productive time but I have already gotten more mileage within my own division from that work than I had expected. I’m fair from being an expert in video production, I’m a one man show but for the purposes of our schools, it gets the job done.

Bob Sprankle is one who captured his classes‘ podcasting approach. It’s a great example of how a classroom operates. Wes has begun to compile a few of these and so has Scott Mcleod. There are some great ones here although many are talks that in round about ways or indirectly address issues. Many are produced by non-educators. The number of videos actually showing classrooms in action or schools really moving ahead are few and far between. We rely on a small number of teachers and educators to produce these pieces, we end up showing the same videos over and over again and I’m bored. There are just too many great examples that could be highlighted in much richer ways if we had the skills and time to create. Teachers need big time support in this area.

Which brings me back to Pearson. The quality of that video was not in question. A well produced piece by professionals, freely given to the world to use. I’m not going to argue the political or even the hidden agendas here, the comments tied to Chris’ post do that well. We need more of these types of high quality productions. The Lucas Foundation has contributed some nice resources. The content and messages are important I’m more concerned with beginning to develop a repository of high quality videos that tell a variety of stories about change. I’ll sort through the ones that communicate the message I think is most important, we just don’t have a whole lot to choose from. Show me…don’t tell me, and Pearson, I wish you hadn’t pulled the plug on your video. More companies with the equipment and talent and money to produced these videos need to be partnering with any number of great teachers and schools and showcase their work

Update: Apparently Pearson did repost the video since there were some errors in the titles (Thanks Chris). My apologies. I still want more.

I must say I was extremely brimming with pride during the Tlt Summit. Our division presented 10 of the 60 non -commercial sessions. As one of 28 school divisions in our province and one of the smaller ones, I think this says something.

Because of a last minute cancellation I was asked to do an additional session. I immediately jumped at the opportunity to suggest the conveners invite Carla Dolman to do a session on her use of cellphones in the classroom. Maybe my smartest decision of the year. Carla agreed and decided to bring with her a half a dozen kids to help her. You should have seen these kids.

I wished I’d have capture it. Carla began briefly by outlining the thoughts behind the experiment to use cellphones. After about 15 minutes she paused and asked for questions. The audience of about 75 immediately began asking the students questions. “Did it change your learning? Were you tempted to use it to text or call in off task way? Was it just a novelty? How did students who didn’t have a cellphone feel? Are you still using it for learning?” Hard, challenging, important questions. These 13 and 14 year olds handled them with a poise and sophistication that would make any teacher or parent proud. I sat back with awe and pride as they took turns, not by design, but simply as polished presenters would in responding to questions and concerns. Wow. Then Carla allowed them to share their formal presentation where they discussed the details of their learning as well as educated the audience about the language they communicate with everyday. Finally they had everyone take out their phones and begin showing them how to use bluetooth and soon they had everyone buzzing with learning as they facilitated a hands on learning experience.

While the story about cellphones is a great one itself, watching students present ideas to a real audience about something they were engaged with was another Tlt highlight. They blew me away.

Now I’m thinking about how I might get them to share their story with more people in yet another live, interactive setting. I feel a ustream presentation coming.

Once a year I get about 30 minutes to try and share with our Board of Education all that’s happening with digital learning in our schools. I call it the State of the Union address. I created this 7 minute video that touches on a few things happening locally. I find that this is a much more powerful way to communicate learning than a standard report which I also provided.

After the video, I talked for a few minutes about trends I see and what where we need to be headed. The Board members responded with some great comments and questions. One Board member recognized that while he might not have the understanding of how learning and education is changing, he knows we have to do a better job sharing this with parents. Another mentioned his excitement for a virtual school project that’s currently on hold. Still another shared a story about his granddaughter who asked him about bio-diesel fuel and when he didn’t give her the answer she wanted said she’d ask Mr. Google. It’s clear they embrace the future.

I was clear to tell them we don’t have all the answers. I told them that many schools can’t figure out how to handle cellphones but they need to begin involving students and understanding its power. To demonstrate I asked if they knew the population of China. While they debated I texted 466453 and “population China” and had the answer set to me before they could come up with an answer. I emphasized that it requires shifts for our teachers and while we have some great examples of those that are on their way, we have a long way to go.

I came across this video from Susan Young after I presented. I wished I had it earlier. I think it would have told them even more.

I’ll take these kind of interruptions any day. Working in my office, the familiar Skype chat box sound alerts me to someone wanting my attention. It was Matthew, a grade one student in Kathy’s class. He wanted to chat. This is our conversation:

Matthew:
are teechr sas yes you can cum from Mathew.

Me:
I will come over tomorrow if that’s okay

Matthew:
yes can you cum at 11:00?

Me:
okay, it’s a date!

Matthew:
see you too moro.

Dean Shareski
Sorry I can’t come in the morning. It will have to be later in the afternoon or else on Wednesday.

Matthew:
how about 1:20

Dean Shareski
That should work. I think my meeting will be finished by then.

Matthew:
OK
do you wont to see wat we havein awr cllas rite nou

Me:
sure

This is what he wanted to show me