The end is near...or is it?

As the laptop closes on the Organization and Administration course, I feel more prepared to take on an administrative role. My eyes are open wider to the ups and downs that an administrator faces. Of course, I do not begin to believe that I 'know it all', as nothing could be further from the truth.

As a first year principal, a big fear of mine is that I will attempt to do too much too fast and become quickly disillusioned. However, with the knowledge and experiences from this coursework, I feel that I have a strong foundation for making sure that does not happen. If anything, I should be able to recognize when I am attempting to do too much. If, and when, I assume a leadership position, my first activity would be to gather as much information about the organization as I can and develop a personal vision. I would then meet with the staff to incorporate their views into the vision to have a shared guiding vision for the school. Another pitfall to be wary of is forgetting that the vision needs to be constantly reviewed and evaluated to ensure that it reflects the desires and needs of the organization. Activities and initiatives must be reflected upon in light of the vision. A dusty vision will be ignored and ineffective.

I found the Organization and Administration of Schools readings and activities to be meaningful and very project based. Collaborating with a team around the important topics of leading a public institution mirrored what I see happening when I observe the activities of current administrators. The ability to be working through internship activities at the same time as this course allowed me to put theory into practice right away. My team referred to data from my district which made the experiences even more meaningful for me. The chance to review and analyze student benchmark and state test scores was very valuable and made the development of the vision and instructional goal meaningful since I know the students personally. Also, the instructional goal and action plan are in line with initiatives taking place in my district. I liked the group arrangement and learned that even when I might think I have the best idea, that having a group to reflect with allows what might be a good individual idea become a great group idea. I have learned that wanting something won’t make it so - hard work, review, reflection and feedback are all necessary to advance an agenda. The climate of a school will dictate success with efforts for improvement/ transformation. However, when a leader models from the front and is willing to put in the time and effort, the staff is more likely to ‘feel’ it.

Our team met the profile for principals outlined in the National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators. Our action plan included many examples of visionary leadership, encouraged activities for a digital-age learning culture, outlined activities for excellence in professional practice and spoke to efforts for systemic improvements using technology infused collaboration and instructional resources. The action plan includes many opportunities to take advantage of the talents of school staff and community members to advance toward the vision for the learning organization.

An effective leader is more than a person that manages the day to day operations of the facility. A leader that wishes to transform the learning organization must value the input of the staff and community. In this way, the vision is ‘owned’ by all and all efforts are directed toward increasing student achievement.

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CC Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/a03575/3632344397/sizes/m/

Building Blocks

The Organization and Administration of Schools is the fourth course in the Johns Hopkins/ISTE program. Previous courses, although online, have followed a pretty traditional format. Read the readings, complete team and individual activities and write papers. This course is drastically different in structure and activities.

At the outset of the course, participants were teamed with others that have similar positions in their district. My team consists of three other ladies, one in Philadelphia and two from Chicago. The team has worked well together. Although we hold similar positions in our districts, we have been able to also contribute unique perspectives, making the group better as a whole.

Team discussions have been more frequent as the material and concepts in this course take more effort and time to grasp. I have found that in order to have the concepts more clear in my mind, the more discussions we have, the better. In past courses, I have enjoyed the team activities, but felt they were supplemental to the individual activities. This course is the opposite. The team activities are THE activities. Without careful attention to the team activities, the individual work would be much more complicated to complete. It seems to me that figuring that out is one of the hidden objectives of the course. The team has decided that this course, while providing us with information, is also teaching us that the life of a principal requires teamwork and flexibility.

The drafting of the action plan in sections is very important for me. I tend to leave assignments to the last minute and am very thankful that the course is not going to allow that to happen! The team activities leading up to each part of the action plan work like research, in my opinion. Each member contributes effort and information that each member can then incorporate into the individual action plan. Taking the time to think out the team challenges before working on the written component makes the action plan more complete and 'real'.

As mentioned above, the structure of this course has been an eye opener into the life of an administrator. Keeping the upcoming weeks hidden seems like a preview to the fact that a principal can never be sure about what will happen next. I'm hoping there is not a huge curve ball in one of the last weeks! The components of the action plan are distinct areas, yet we have seen that they are each intertwined. As an administrator, it will be important to realize that although a school (or district) has many parts, it is the parts that make up the whole. They are all connected.

Change is Constant

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As an elementary classroom teacher, I thought of curriculum as a checklist. At the start of each year, I was handed a curriculum guide for each subject that I referred to often when planning lessons/activities. Every third grade teacher has the same curriculum guide, but is free to be creative in how the curriculum is taught. In my classroom, I worked very hard to ensure that I was addressing each item on the 'list', as I knew the curriculum reflected the state standards. I was in awe when I realized that not all teachers handled it that way. I discovered there was picking and choosing going on and some teachers would leave out content that they ran out of time to 'cover'.

I'd say that my view of curriculum is more comprehensive after reading Glatthorn's Developing a Quality Curriculum (1994). I have worked in my district to align curriculum to standards, develop a K-12 scope and sequence, and also to write units for the curriculum. What has changed in my view is that the curriculum needs to be more rigorous when it comes to mastery objectives.

Through the curriculum alignment and review process of our third grade health curriculum, I realized that our content (what students will know) and our performance

(what students will be able to do) are written at a very low level of thinking. Possibly, the content column could be redescribed as 'what students will remember and understand' and the performance column could be defined as 'what student will apply, analyze, evaluate and create'.

When the written curriculum is more rigorous and defined, the taught curriculum will be too. This, in turn, will lead students to be better thinkers and problem solvers. This will make for better performance on the tested curriculum.

In addition to these modifications to the written curriculum, I would like to see our curriculum guides make reference to organic and enrichment objectives. At this time, the objectives are written for mastery and are of high importance. (Glatthorn, 1994)

Class discussions have been helpful for me to refine my thinking in the area of curriculum development and implementation. As a teacher, one always has thoughts about how things could be different and/or better. Being able to participate in a discussion where participants have a similar agenda is helpful to clarify and stretch one's thinking.

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Glatthorn, A. A. (2004). Developing a Quality Curriculum. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc..

Image from: http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/slatta/hi216/learning/bloom.htm

Tech For Learning

As a school administrator and instructional leader, I would support and expect the use of technology that supports an increase in student collaboration, problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making. Technology tools that stimulate the creativity of students and allow for reflection by students related to the curriculum while applying these skills are the types I would expect to see embedded in the written curriculum and actively in use in the taught curriculum.

There are many technology tools that can be used to support the written and taught curriculum. The types of tools that students can use to demonstrate learning are blogs, wikis, discussion forums, podcasts and many others. I suggest these types of tools because they allow students the opportunity to reflect on their learning. Thinking about thinking and processing the hows and whys of learning experiences are very valuable for students. When teachers incorporate technology tools that encourage higher levels of thinking for curriculum topics, students will be able to make connections across content areas. Most recently, I have been working to define the learning space for my teachers. They are constantly focused on the physical space and have a hard time identifying which tool to use for which purpose from the digital space.

Learning Spaces on Prezi

With the learning focused schools model, we have a real opportunity for teachers to see that technology must be embedded within the learning activities and not simply something that is used at the end to create a product to summarize learning. In fact, when technology is used that way, it is often a waste of time and effort. A summary report project is not the best use of technology.

Students can use a blog or wiki site to develop a portfolio of their learning experiences and as a place to host evidence of learning. Podcasts can be used to reflect on learning, but also as a way to share learning in a higher order way. Preparing the script for a podcast forces students to think about content in a new way, a way that requires critical thinking and decision making that is not present in a simple summary report. A wiki can be used by multiple students to collaborate on research, by entire grade levels to organize learning or by a global community to share in a learning experience.

Technology tools are not currently present in our tested curriculum, however, it is my opinion that when effectively included in the written and taught curriculum then the skills that are developed when using these tools will result in better results on the tested curriculum. Technology tools can be used to increase critical thinking, problem solving and decision making and these skills will be beneficial to students as test takers.

Technology is an excellent tool for differentiation, when used appropriately. There are software tools that turn text to speech, assistive hardware, and web tools. These tools can help teachers tailor learning experiences to individual needs in the area of multiple means of representation.
Teachers can meet the multiple means of expression with creativity technology tools that promote problem solving, such as Scratch or increase critical thinking, such as when using a digital storytelling tool. Collaboration tools, such as wikispaces, reflective tools, such as blogs and portfolio tools, which can be a wiki, blog, or other reflective environment are all technological tools that are helpful when teachers are trying to provide multiple means of engagement.

Visit my Universal Design for Learning resource links:

CC Image Link

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Post prompts:

• As a school administrator and instructional leader, what instructional technology would you expect to see in the written, taught, and tested curriculum of a school or school district striving to meet the needs of 21st century learners?
  
• What instructional technology would you promote to differentiate instruction for all learners? Consider some of the Web 2.0 tools discussed in Week 3 and some of the tools/ applications suggested in the UDL discussion.

Purpose of School = Life

Here is my philosophy of education I most recently submitted:

Education for today’s learner must be engaging, relevant to real life and be student centered. Students must be challenged to uncover information and solve problems that reveal learning. The teacher must work hard to craft learning experiences for students that motivate them to be self learners. Students may be working together with other students in their class, students in other classes, and/or students from around the world. The educator guides and facilitates learning to- ward identified learning goals. The educator of today’s learner must set high expectations for ALL students and believe that ALL students can learn.

That is the philosophy I have for educating today's learner, and I would suppose that my beliefs about the purpose of school must support it.

As my own children are approaching public school, I have been working to figure out just what I expect school to be for them. I want them to be great thinkers, great friends, great readers, questioners, respectful ~ all around great people. I know school isn't the only place for them to learn about life, but since they will be spending so much time there, of course I expect that school will do part of the job of preparing them for life. I believe our children deserve schools that respect them as people, encourage them as learners and support them to be the best they can be. School and education serve many purposes, but the one purpose I do not believe schools should make their focus is on producing workers. I am more interested in schools producing great and thoughtful people.

Schools must provide students with courses that combine learning into activities that are relevant to real life. When subjects are taught in isolation, students have difficulty determining not only how the subjects fit together, but how they fit into any of it. Coursework done through project based, problem based, and/or inquiry based learning exposes students to the subject area content in the context of real life.

Students, in my opinion, learn better when they can organize their learning by combining the learned information to make sense of the world and their place in it. Burrello explains that it is not just a matter of changing the structure and culture of schools, but rather there needs to be a shift in thinking. He writes, "...learners are actively engaged in constructing new knowledge that helps them make sense of the world around them." (p. 121) Educators must shift their thinking and focus on the needs of the learners and how to meet those needs through carefully planned and executed activities.

As an instructional technology specialist, I work with teachers every day to move them toward a shift in practice. Specifically with regard to technology use in education, teachers have seen technology as a way to produce a product. With the pressures of time and testing, teachers have difficulty realizing that the true place for technology is embedded in all that is happening when learning. The learning is in the process, not the product. Technology is an additional way to increase the depth of learning during the process of learning. When the focus is on the content and process, the product is the learning.

In the end, I was thrilled with Burrello's statement, "The purpose of education is to support and empower, challenge and inspire all learners to become members of a community that understands that learning is the key to the good life." (121-122)



Reference:
Burrello, L., C. (2001). Educating All Students Together. Corwin Press, Inc.: Thousand Oaks, CA

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Assignment: What are your philosophical beliefs about the purpose of school, about what subjects should be taught, and about how students learn? How does your work demonstrate your belief?

Photo from the Great quotes about Learning and Change Flickr Group.

Reflections of Self

I really enjoyed the opportunity to complete a full clinical observation cycle, as it gave me the chance to take a deep look at the process and at myself. I worked with a first year kindergarten teacher and we both learned a lot during the process.

In my opinion, the post conference went well for both of us. I was able to share some information that the teacher agreed was helpful and she was able to give feedback about how I handled the observation process.


Reflections on Environment
The environment for the post-observation conference was the teacher's classroom. This location was selected because it allowed me to refer to the areas in the room during the discussion and would be comfortable for the teacher. I sat on the left of the teacher for our discussion, which meant we were often face to face, but there was nothing between us, like a desk or table.

After watching the video recording of the post-observation conference, I noticed that there was constant eye contact between the teacher and myself. I am known for facial expressions when speaking, so that is something I worked hard to keep under control. I often used a head nod to show agreement as well as comments such as 'right' and 'yes'. I discovered that the transition words I used during the conference were words such as okay and alright.

The observation was focused on three (3) particular students, and in my recounting of events during the post-observation conference, I had difficulty being sure I was matching the correct information with the correct student name. The teacher and I worked it out, but this would be important to pay more attention to during future interactions.

Reflections on Strategies to Improve Instruction
To open the post-observation conference, I referenced our pre-conference and shared the pre-conference documentation. In addition, the teacher and I had discussed a word assistance poster that I had seen in another classroom. During the post-observation conference, I provided a copy of the document for the teacher to duplicate for use with her students during kid writing activities. The teacher and I reviewed a behavior tracking form from the observation and we discussed the behavior of the three targeted students based on this documentation.

I allowed the teacher to share her reactions and reflections for the observed lesson and then shared my information after clarifying her thoughts. We discussed her opening activity and I provided some suggestions for keeping the targeted students focused in a whole group setting. The teacher received this input well and it seemed she would attempt to implement some of the suggestions. Keeping track of student names (all three began with J!) so as not to confuse behaviors between students is very important. In the future, I would try to have a picture of the student in advance, so that later reference to a given student would be surely be accurate. Once we clarified the students during the opening of the post-observation conference, I feel confident about the accuracy of my comments. I did suggest that a change in grouping of students might be a way to keep the targeted students more on task and the teacher was receptive to this, commenting that now that she knows the students better, one of the groups did need adjusting.

One thing I had noticed during the classroom observation was that the teacher speaks really quickly. I was nervous to bring this up, because it seems very personal. However, when working with younger students, a teacher's tone of voice and pacing can really affect student behavior. I suggested she consider slowing down and to monitor how that affected the students. She took this 'criticism' in stride and seemed eager to make adjustments. After reviewing the post-observation video and closely watching her facial reactions and body language, I could see that she was not insulted at all and I was glad about that. I did note in the video that I said the teacher should try to slow down and lower her voice. In the future, I would choose my words more carefully and say something like, 'Have you considered slowing your voice down? or "One thing that might have an effect on students is a slower pace." The use of the word should seemed very directive.

The teacher commented that she is frequently watching the time because there is so much to get done. My suggestion here (as a victim of over planning, myself) was to try planning 3 days worth of activities that actually last 5 days. That way, she can focus more on the quality of the work getting done, over the quantity of work to be done.

Having never taught kindergarten, I questioned the teacher about her activities to be sure I was clear on the expectations and goals for student learning. I had prepared notes in advance covering the different areas of the lesson, so as the teacher shared her thoughts I was able to provide suggestions along the way. The teacher was disappointed (and had expressed concern) about the amount of students she could see during her rotating groups. Since the initial observation, she had restructured the group work and reported that she is now seeing more students. I had some suggestions for this, but held them back since she had improved this on her own.

Conference Behaviors
Prior to the post-observation conference, I planned to use the collaborative approach with this new teacher. I had sketched out the following flow of conversation: clarifying (t), listening (s), reflecting (s), presenting (s), clarifying (t), problem solving (s+t), encouraging (s), negotiating (s+t), standardizing (s+t), reflecting/summarizing.

It was difficult to refer to the plan during the post-observation conference, but after analyzing the video, I found I had been able to stick to the plan pretty well. The areas that could have been more deliberate were clarifying (t), problem solving (s+t), negotiating (s+t), and summarizing (s+t) at the close of the conference. I tend to think these areas were not comfortable for me due to the fact that I am not the teacher's actual supervisor. I do not have the ability to hold the teacher to any plan we develop and therefore probably shied away from the activities that would seem evaluative.

All in all, the entire cycle went well! I would think that with more experience and practice, it would become second nature to identify the correct approach for different teachers and apply the matching continuum of behaviors during the cycle.

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Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-o/3933065734/

Classroom Arrangements

The arrangement of a classroom provides information about the learning environment and the teaching style of the teacher. The placement of student desks, teacher desk, and supplies dictates the path of movement around a room and can also work to create a learning feeling (or not) in a room. As a classroom teacher, I experimented with many room arrangements and have even let the students decide seating location and placement for portions of the school year. Having been out of the classroom for five years now, it is interesting to observe how different teachers have their room setup and how the students interact in the setup.

I visited a variety of classrooms during the past school week and found it interesting to see that every teacher sets up the room in a different way. In some cases the student desks are grouped and in other rooms, the student desks are removed from one another. Some classrooms have the teacher desk near the door and in others the teacher desk is in the back. The organization of the room provides clues as to what is happening in the classroom. One of the rooms I visited had no teacher desk, which I found very interesting. When I asked the teacher about it, he replied that there just wasn't room for a teacher desk. This particular teacher is a teacher that integrates technology into many classroom activities and has found that using the laptop with the LCD projector works fine using a student desk.

A diagram of a first grade classroom is seen here. The student desks are organized into four groupings and the teacher desk is in the back of the room. At times students face the front wall and other times they shift to face the left wall of the room to see work done on the whiteboard (not interactive). Otherwise, when the students are working, they face each other. I enjoyed watching them work together, ask one another for help and engage in social interactions. The pattern of movement is clear and the students were able to move from learning center to learning center with little chance of bumping one another. The elementary classrooms in my district have 3 desktop computers and 1 laptop computer. In this room, the students used the 3 desktop computers during center time to work on a skill based reading program. The computers are also used to access educational websites by students. The laptop is also available for student use, however many teachers house the laptop at the teacher desk which reduces student use.

Some second grade rooms I visited had a similar setup to the first grade room and the equipment and materials were used similar also. When I moved to a third grade classroom I saw a shift in student placement as can be seen in the diagram below.


















The student desks, while grouped together, are all facing front. The teacher desk is out of the way in the back left corner. Students are able to move around, but with the rows all facing front, it makes movement between rows difficult , especially for the teacher. The teacher holds reading groups and students work independently when not in the teacher group. At these times, students are able to work together, but the room arrangement does not facilitate groupwork for the most part.



The fourth grade classroom in the the above diagram is far from the arrangement of the first and second grade rooms. It is closer in nature to the third grade room, but now the student desks are not touching one another. The students are in rows all facing front and in their own space. Due to the amount of students and the room size, this type of arrangement makes movement around the classroom more difficult. I plan to visit this room again to see if the teacher reorganizes the student desks from time to time. The placement as I observed it may seem very teacher centered, but can also be seen as very modular. The student can quickly turn and move desks to form and reform groups when needed.

From my observations, when student desks are arranged all facing front, the learning environment is more teacher centered and movement around the room is more difficult. I noticed more and more of a teacher centered setup as I moved up the grade levels. Primary grade rooms, first and second grade, were arranged in cooperative groups, had clear pathways and used learning centers during group work. Third through fifth grade moved further away from grouping students as the grade level increased. All elementary classrooms have 3 desktop computers and one teacher laptop. Teachers use the computer equipment differently from one classroom to the next. Although there is a K-6 technology curriculum in place, there is no expectation that it is implemented in a systematic way. This creates pockets of use and students are exposed to the amount of technology with which their teacher feels comfortable. It is my role to work with the teachers on effective use and often model and co-teach to increase the integration of technology.

Room arrangements reflect the purpose of the classroom. In my opinion, teachers need to be more purposeful in their arrangement to facilitate collaborative working groups and the increase chances for student interactions for learning. As a supervisor, observing various setup will help when it comes time to consider professional development opportunities. A supervisor might choose to have teachers observe a teacher that uses an opposite setup and discuss the pros and cons of each. Also, when planning for professional development on instructional practices, the supervisor may include workshops on collaborative and cooperative learning. A supervisor might arrange seating in faculty meetings in differing ways to demonstrate to staff how arrangement impacts the interactions.

I will continue to observe room arrangements on future visits to classroom and consider how the setup aides or hinders the learning environment.