Student-led PD

About 3 years ago when my son was in grade 3 I showed him how to use Prezi.  He quickly became proficient with this tool and started utilising it for some presentations he had to do at school.  When his teachers saw what he was doing they started asking him to show them some of the basics, and when they wanted to do more complex stuff they would ask my son if he knew how to do it.  He felt very good about teaching his teachers and this extra responsibility inspired him to continue learning and pushing the boundaries with Prezi - so much so that I now direct my Prezi questions to him as well.

It is no secret that our students are often more tech savvy than we are.  It is also no secret that school directed and provided PD relating to technology often does not meet the needs of the participants.  As Keane states, " 'One-off' professional development sessions or workshops do not translate to productivity in the classroom, especially when taught out of context." (2011).  So how can we provide more relevant 'just in time' PD for teachers, while at the same time utilise the vast technological skills and knowledge of our students?

The formation of a student tech club can help to identify potential student tutors - students who can work with teachers, one on one or in small groups, to help build their personal capacity with regard to the use of technology in the classroom.  The outcomes of having students lead PD for teachers could be:

1. Student self-esteem is boosted
2. Student skills and knowledge are recognised and valued
3. Teacher skills and knowledge improves (therefore so can teaching and learning)
4. Student-teacher relationships can be fostered in a different environment

If you, like most schools, are struggling to find the time and personnel resources to meet the ever increasing PD demands relating to technology, you may find that you have invaluable resources in your student population who can help.  Find out what you can learn from your students - I am sure they will appreciate it.

Reference: Keane, T. (2011). ICT Leadership in Schools Part 1. The Australian Educational Leader, 33 (4), pp. 20-24.

QSITE 2011

I spent the last 2 days of my September school holidays attending the Queensland Society for Information Technology in Education (QSITE) State Conference for 2011.  This was an action packed 2 days and I was very privileged to have the opportunity to present 2 workshops.

My workshop on Using Google Apps in the Classroom to Build Collaboration can be viewed here.

My workshop on Using Blogs and Twitter to Build a PLN can be viewed here.

Thanks to @darrenhowell for capturing the conference tweets to Evernote.

A Livebinder of links and resources from the conference can be viewed here.

Thanks to the conference organisers and to all who shared and collaborated over the course of the 2 days.  Looking forward to QSITE 2012.

Rewarding High Performing Teachers

The issue of rewarding high performing teachers with financial bonuses is not a new one.  For years now this topic has been debated and each time it comes up so too does the related issues of identifying these teachers and whether or not these bonuses will have any real impact on student learning.

I strongly agree that a great teacher can help students to achieve wonderful things, not 'just' high results on standardised tests.  I think it also worth noting that we have always had great teachers, and we will continue to have great teachers with or without the carrot of financial gain.  In fact, none of the great teachers I know and have worked with do what they do for the money.  Great teachers do what they do because they love teaching and they love working with young people and seeing them achieve their goals.  If mediocre teachers start doing good things for the sake of money are they really great teachers?  Or are they simply good at jumping through hoops to receive an external reward.

The major goal of recognising great teachers should be to improve teaching and learning, not just learning.  It stands to reason that if you improve the teaching, then the learning will also improve.  So how do we recognise great teaching and capitalise on this exemplary practice to improve teaching in schools?  Rather than hand out cash bonuses I believe we should be taking our great teachers and putting them into consulting and mentoring roles for a 12 month period.  During this time our great teachers could have the opportunity to work with many teachers, in many different classrooms, in a few different schools, therefore spreading their expertise and their exemplary practice and impacting teaching in the best possible way - growing and developing their fellow professionals.  Let's build a national professional learning network by recognising the best of the best and giving them the opportunity to do what they do best - teach!

If the government and education unions are serious about improving teaching and learning then they need to rethink the handing out of cash bonuses.  My fear is that this proposed system of merit pay will do more harm than good, actually alienating great teachers rather than putting them into the positions of respect and admiration that they deserve.  I have no doubt that the truly great teachers would jump at the chance to share their craft with their peers.

Weighing Up the Cost of Merit Pay

QR Codes - Have you seen them?

After reading Jeff Utecht's blog on QR codes at the end of last year I somehow became more acutely aware of these symbols appearing in my surroundings. I think that his prediction that 2011 will be the year of the QR code is right on the money - these things are popping up everywhere:

After encountering the one in the picture above at my local pharmacy, I spoke with my students about the codes and told them to expect to see a lot more of them in the near future. The next day I had two students present QR codes to me:

• One was on the back of an Emily the Strange book
• The other was inside the tongue of a pair of New Balance shoes

Encountering the codes on three very different products in a matter of days has assured me that these things are here to stay and will become a valuable marketing tool in today's world of informed consumerism.

Jeff's blog post has some very good information on how to get started with QR codes.

After you have installed a QR scanner on your phone you can try it out with the code below:

Google URL Shortener automatically generates a QR code for the long URL that you are shortening.  A very quick and easy way to generate your own codes.

It's all about the Balance

Maintaining a balanced lifestyle is something that we all know is good for us, and our children, but is something that is easy to lose. It doesn't take much for our lives to become unbalanced - life gets busy and things get hectic and before you know we can't seem to find the time to eat healthy meals, get enough exercise, or spend quality time with the family. Like everything, it takes deliberate effort and commitment to maintain the balance in our lives.

This recent article on the parentcentral website offers a good piece of advice for helping our children keep the balance in their lives - limit your child's screen time. As adults we know the benefits of taking a break from our computers, however, our children might not yet share this same wisdom.

Time to show our kids that the real world can be just as exciting and fun as the virtual one.

The Neutrality of Technology

When things go wrong we naturally try to find the cause. When people do bad things we often look for somewhere to lay the blame. The advances in technology over the past 5-10 years and the worldwide phenomenon of social networking have certainly received their share of blame for the roles they have played in cyber-bullying incidents.

I have always subscribed to the notion that technology is neutral - it is neither good or bad. How people 'choose' to use the available technologies is a different story. Parents and schools are very deliberate in their efforts to teach right from wrong and both are well aware that at some stage you have to let children exercise what they have been taught in real-life contexts.

I was delighted to read the following article and hear how some students in South Korea have been using their technology to enact positive change:

A Sunshine Policy to Combat Cyberbullies

I have seen far more positive uses of technology than I have negative - it is a shame that our natural instinct seems to be to focus on the negative.

One Size PD Does Not Fit All!

Recently I prepared a resource for an international online conference run by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust in the UK.  The Prezi focused on individualising professional learning and offered some tools that teachers can utilise to take charge of their professional learning.

Digital Literacy - How to build it in teachers through professional development

After viewing this Prezi you can imagine my surprise today when I was involved in a 3 hour PD session that consisted of roughly 50 teachers meeting in a room to learn about the changes that have occurred from Microsoft Office 2007 to 2010.  We also did some work on integrating ICT into the classroom that consisted of the presenter showcasing a unit she had planned.  It was a very good unit and it would have been wonderful if we were in a small group so we could spend some time discussing and deconstructing the unit and exploring how we could apply the same principles to our own units.  I have no doubt that in that room every single teacher was at a different level in terms of their knowledge and skills relating to the office suite of programs and how to utilise ICT in the classroom.  Therefore the only conclusion I can come to is that these 3 hours were a complete waste of time for all involved.

When are we going to accept that if we aspire to true differentiation and personalisation of learning for our students then we must model these same principles in our PD sessions.  PD like this really fits the mould of 'one size fits none'!

Give it a Real-life Context

Recently my family and I moved back to Australia and one of our first tasks was to buy a car, a process that made me realise the usefulness of mobile technology and the importance of having well honed research and critical literacy skills.

I was amazed at how car sellers, private, dealers, and auctions, have embraced technology and enabled prospective buyers to do most of the leg work from the comfort of their home - I could even register for the auctions online and do the bidding from my computer or phone.  Doing the research enabled me to walk into buying situations armed with knowledge and information (and confidence) that leveled the playing field.

Over a 10 day period I was amazed by how much my knowledge of the car market grew.  I was also amazed by how refined my research skills became and by how much more proficient I became at using the available technologies to meet my needs.  Throughout this process it became very apparent that real-life problems (tasks) generate authentic and real-life learning.  I kept thinking what a great project this would be for grade 11 or 12 students; give them a virtual budget and have them do the research to virtually buy a car, something that would be relevant and meaningful to them. This could then be accompanied by a justification for their choice that highlights the reasons for their decision based on their research along with a reflection of what worked and what they would do differently next time.

Tools that I used:

• A number of different sites to find cars for sale and view images
• Forums and review sites to gain information on particular vehicles
• Google maps to locate auction sites and addresses for private sellers
• Email to communicate with sellers

Tools that I would use when doing this again:

• A smart phone would be invaluable for accessing information when at the auction site or at a private sellers home
• Twitter would be valuable for gaining feedback on particular models and makes of cars
• Google docs to collate and share information on vehicles of interest
• Diigo to share links to vehicles with my wife

Providing students with real-life problems that require real-life skills generates authentic interest and engagement in the learning.  Assessment tasks placed in a real-life context provide opportunities for a wide range of knowledge and skill application and the utilization of technology to consolidate and transfer understanding.

Everything Old is New Again

Over the course of my blogging years I have created a number of blogs, however each time I have set up a new one it has been done so using a different account.  Recently I have consolidated these accounts into one so I can easily manage my personal and professional blogs from the one account - now I know that most of you are thinking, "why didn't you just do that from the beginning?"  This is a good question, the answer to which is "I don't know!"  I am just glad that I have finally pulled things together.

This particular blog is a rehash of one that I was writing when I working at an international school in South Korea.  I have removed the school specific posts, however there are still some references to activities and people at that school in some of the archived posts.  The blog has a new name, a new look, and a new location - I am now living in Australia and will be posting about issues, initiatives, and tech integration here in the southern hemisphere.  I look forward to reading your comments and thoughts through this blog.

How do you communicate?

As an educational administrator I spend a lot of time developing ways that we can strengthen the partnership between the parents and the school. Reflecting on some of the initiatives that we have introduced this year to achieve this strengthening I have realized that it really comes down to one major component - communication. Not simply communication in the form of parents receiving information from the school (although this is part of it) but genuine 2-way communication that involves sharing, brainstorming, discussing, and problem solving collaboratively.

This year we have increased the number of opportunities for parents to come to school and meet face to face with the Teachers, the Counselors, the MYP Coordinator, the Tech Coordinator, and the Administrators. I was very pleased at our last meeting when the number of parents in attendance was almost triple that of our last meeting. One of the contributing factors to this improved attendance was the use of SMS texting to inform the MS parent of the event. This reminder text was sent by our PTA VP in the MS and we are very thankful for her willingness to do this.

Seeing the success of this has prompted us to set up an SMS account that enables the MS secretary to send a bulk message to all the MS parents at once. We plan to use the texting service to remind parents of school events including meetings and sporting jamborees, as well as SCA and PTA events being hosted at GSIS. We also envision this being a great way to communicate reminders and notes to our students as well.

We hope that this form of communication, combined with our MS Blog, emails, phone calls, and face to face meetings, will help in our efforts to continue the strengthening of our parent/school partnership through efficient and regular communication.

Differentiating and Collaborating

This afternoon during our PD time I had the opportunity to continue the great work that has been done by our MYP Coordinator and resident UbD guru, MrFambro, by working with the faculty who are nearing the end of their stage 2 UbD unit. At the same time Mr Fambro was continuing Ms Leigh's wonderful work with the stage 1 group.

The goals for this afternoon were:

1. Determine the relationship between the "6 Facets of Understanding" and Bloom's Taxonomy
2. To individually and then collaboratively review a unit of work and offer feedback and guidance on how the unit could be improved to become exemplary

As we worked through our discussions and activities it became very evident just how powerful differentiating professional development can be. All the faculty involved in the stage 2 session had very similar levels of understanding and therefore everybody was able to contribute confidently and knowledgebly. This enabled the discussion to become richer and the level of understanding to go deeper.

When we shared our feedback and guidance at the end of the unit review I was truly inspired by the comments and suggestions that the faculty made. Through collaborating and sharing our expertise and ideas we were able to take a good unit of work and turn it into something that is now exemplary. It was a wonderful process of collaboration yeilding positive results that will ultimately benefit student learning and outcomes. I am really looking to continuing this work next Monday during our Teacher workday.

That's why differentiated PD and collaboration are so important - because they are good for student (and teacher) learning.

Are you a Blogger?

Blogging is a very popular web tool for educators, particularly for international educators. It enables people to write about their overseas travels so their family and friends back home can keep up to date with their adventures. It also enables people to write and share about their teaching and resources they have found useful.

Patrick Larkin, Principal at Burlington HS and guest Blogger on Free Technology for Teachers this week, writes a very interesting post that points out why every Principal needs a blog. I would take this one step further by saying that every Principal (and educator) needs to read blogs. Why? By engaging in the blogosphere you become part of a professional learning network where many talented and dedicated professional educators around the world share best practice and resources through their blogs.

Last night as I scrolled through my Google Reader I felt like I was engaged in a professional development workshop - there were so many links to valuable educational resources and rich discussions related to blog posts! This type of professional networking really is inspiring and can only help to improve educational practice as educators engage with colleagues from around the world through the sharing of thoughts, opinions, articles, resources, links, and ideas.

Lunar New Year

Living in Asia has afforded me many opportunities to participate in and learn about cultural traditions and celebrations. One of the major ones has been Lunar New Year. I have been lucky enough to celebrate the Lunar New Year here in Korea as well as in Beijing, and this year we will travel to Taipei for the New Year break.

This really is a wonderful celebration and it is a great time to see how the different Asian nations celebrate this special event. Two things that I always associate with this time of year are the color red and the smell of firecracker smoke. These cultural experiences are one of the true highlights of being an international educator.

Image Credit

21st Century Educators

21st Century is a term that is used a lot, particularly in education. Along with this term there is often debate and conversation revolving around exactly what this means. Kim Cofino's article, 5 Tips to Becoming a 21st Century Educator, highlights the importance of not just doing things differently in the classroom, but also outside of the classroom.

Being a 21st century educator means utilizing the available technology to engage and collaborate with professionals from around the world, not just the ones within your school walls. Learning with and from colleagues who are dedicated to educational best practice is stimulating and inspiring - your professional learning network (PLN) may just turn out to be the best professional development you have participated in for a long while. I justify this statement with 3 reasons:

1. It's ongoing - your PLN is not a 2 day conference that invigorates you for a week or two, it invigorates, inspires, and challenges everyday!
2. It's ready when you are - the PLN is ongoing and does not require you to miss classes or school days to participate (it doesn't even penalize you if you miss a couple of days)
   
3. It's Just In Time (JIT) - when you have a specific question that needs to be answered, or some help with a particular issue or problem, your PLN is there ready to offer advice, answers, and solutions

Being a 21st century educator isn't about technology, it's about being connected and engaged with professionals from all over the world. Today's technology simply makes it a lot easier to do this.

A Great Time to be in Education!

With Dr Penland, Mr Petrey, and Mr Wendling currently in Canada and the US for recruiting, my meeting schedule has lightened somewhat. This has enabled me to spend more time in the classrooms - in the last two days I have been in 20 different middle school classes. I have observed so much learning and so much enjoyment and engagement in these classes! Here's some of what I have observed:

• Grade 8 students creating stop animation movies in Design Tech - displaying real inquiry
• Grade 6 students writing short stories and sharing these with their peers - examples of great thinkers and communicators
• Grade 7 and 8 students learning the finer points of volleyball - a great example of being balanced
• Grade 6 students performing in a guitar ensemble - another example of balance and also of being knowledgeable and taking risks
• Grade 6 students participating in drama activities involving lots of movement and risk taking
• Grade 7 students researching the countries of South America - demonstrating very open-minded attitudes
• Grade 6, 7, and 8 students studying the language and cultures of Korea, China, and Spanish speaking nations in their world language classes - students have been taking risks, communicating, inquiring, open-minded and principled
• Students enjoying the stories of the Bible and learning the value of prayer - thinking students who are balanced and caring
• Grade 7 students engaging with books and taking their online AR quizzes - communicating their knowledge
• Grade 7 students taking a Science test, while the grade 6 students were learning all about heat and conduction - students being knowledgeable, inquirers, and risk-takers
• Grade 8 boys working an interdisciplinary assessment that involves researching North Korea in Humanities and writing the report in their English class - this has really challenged the students to be inquirers, open-minded, caring, principled, and balanced in their views and preconceptions

After a visit to each class I have the same thought - Wow! Our students are learning so much and in so many different and exciting ways. Whether you are a student, a teacher, or an administrator, this really is a wonderful time to be involved in education!

Increasing Global Awareness Through KIVA

In 2008 I was fortunate enough to attend some presentations by Alan November at the EARCOS Administrators' Conference. During one of his presentations he stated that KIVA.org was justification enough that the internet is a good thing.

At that stage I had a personal KIVA account (which I still have) but I had not considered how this micro finance website could be used in education. This year I have been working with our Student Life Minister, Ms Choe to increase our students' global awareness by lending money through KIVA.

Each student contributed 3000 won (roughly $3 USD) that enabled us to create an account that each Home room could use to lend $25 USD to an entrepreneur of their choice. Interacting with the KIVA website and researching the profiles on the site has enabled our students to learn a great deal about developing countries around the world, as well as gaining an awareness of the plight of individuals who need a helping hand in the form of a loan to get their business idea off the ground, or to expand a business that is already running. The monthly updates keep the students engaged with their chosen entrepreneur, and helps them to feel connected as they see the loan being repaid.

This is proving to be a great way for our students to develop a more caring attitude and to engage in an authentic and meaningful way on an ongoing basis. I hope this initiative prompts some of our students and families to look for other ways that they can make a difference.

Differentiate with Twitter

Early in 2009 our MYP Coordinator, Mr Fambro introduced me to Twitter. I signed up for an account and played around with it for a while, but in the beginning I didn't really understand the point of it. During last year's EARCOS Administrators' Conference I began 'following' some colleagues and found that this really improved my connectedness to what was happening at the conference, and also to online resources related to conference topics.

Since then I have started following a network of educators, technology specialists, and people who are devote to infusing technology into education. Following these people has given me access to a professional learning network (PLN) that provides resources, advice, and answers beyond what's available to me within the walls of GSIS. The most exciting part about my Twitter PLN is that the resources are there for me to access when I am ready - these resources are much more valuable and relevant to me when I have a practical for need for them.

In the latest Educational Leadership journal William Ferriter writes about Why Teachers Should Try Twitter. In his article he writes:

What lessons have I learned from Twitter? First, I finally understand how much differentiated learning matters. My own motivation levels have skyrocketed, I'm accessing ideas connected to my professional interests, and I've taken ownership of my own learning.

This is certainly true for me as well. I feel that I am now connected and part of a global team of educators committed to sharing and promoting best educational practice. With the teacher's role now being one of facilitator and learning coach it is increasingly important that we assist our students in developing their own professional learning networks. Twitter may just be one of the tools that we can use for this purpose.

Source: Ferriter, M. (2010) "Why Teachers Should Try Twitter." Educational Leadership, Vol. 67, No. 5, pp 73-74.

50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Education

The Apple iPad

I am not what you would call an 'early adopter' of new technology, that is if by technology you mean gadgets and tools - I don't have an iPhone....in fact I have never owned an iPod. I am very interested in the latest technology - I have been listening to music in MP3 format since 1999, that's probably why I prefer a simple MP3 player over an iPod.

I have read (with great interest) all about the Apple iPad that was unveiled today and it sounds pretty cool. I must admit that for a few moments I even thought, "I should get one of those." That was until I started to read a little more about it and came across this article:

What's Missing from the Apple iPad

The questions I have now are:

• Is it just an oversized iPhone?
• Is a touch screen/tablet computer?
• Is it a Kindle/Nook with a lot more features?

If the answer to the last question is yes, then the people at Apple are simply brilliant. It certainly tops other ebook readers in terms of features and it will be a great companion for the iBook store, just like the Kindle is for Amazon.

Now I begin to wonder.....do I "need" an iPhone, an iPad, and a MacBook? I have little doubt that MS students around the world will be telling their parents that they deifinitely need an iPad. This is a great opportunity to research this product together and weigh up its pros and cons, while at the same time strengthening the parent/child relationship. Your kids may be impressed that you even know what an iPad is!

Happy Australia Day!

One of the great things about living and working in an international community is that you get to share in a wide variety of celebrations and holidays from the many different nations and cultures that make up an international school.

January 26 is a big day of celebration in Australia as we commemorate the day back in 1788 that the first fleet arrived in Sydney Cove and raised the Union Jack. I am taking great pride today in celebrating Australia Day with my fellow Aussies here in Korea, as well as sharing with our colleagues from other nations a little about Australia's history and beginnings.

Happy Australia Day!

How do you teach students to be Principled?

The IB Learner Profile consists of 10 attributes that students should develop through attending IB schools. Some of these attributes deal with intellectual domain, while others deal with the affective domain. One of the affective attributes is Principled.

This means that we want our students to develop into citizens who are honest and virtuous - but how do we teach this? One way is to engage our students in debate about real-life examples of principled actions, as we as those actions that may not be so principled, like the ones at the following link:

10 News photos that took retouching too far

Our students will be faced with many choices in life so it is important that they are given opportunities to discuss and debate the decisions of others with relation to how principled these decisions have been and how they may relate to the students' own experiences. We cannot and should not underestimate the importance of real-life relevance for improved student engagement and outcomes.