Do You Know What You Don’t Know?
Do you know what you don’t know? This week I had the opportunity to hear this statement made once as “these guys know what they don’t know and are looking for the people who do know,” and also I myself said this week, “Wow, he does not know what he does not know!” So which category would you want to have said about you? I would much rather have it said that I know what I don’t know as opposed to he does not know what he does not know.
So how do we get to a level of knowing what we don’t know? That is the focus of my post here – to talk about what my beliefs would be on how we get to a level of knowing what we don’t know and why that is important.
First of all I believe it takes studying – I think there are people who really don’t know what they don’t know because they really haven’t taken the time to really study and research the area, project, committee or task force they might be working on or leading. So first and foremost it becomes very important that we do our homework, so to speak, so we know those areas that we have expertise and experience and those areas that we don’t know and what it is about those areas we don’t know so that we can go out and find the people or organizations that do know the answers to make the right decisions.
Then, I think secondly it becomes very important that we throw hierarchies and ego to the wind. I believe there are people who just absolutely cannot handle the fact that they don’t know something and are not willing to do a project right or will even let a project fail because they are not willing to accept that they do not know something and need someone else for their expertise and tactical experience.
Finally, I would share a little of my own faith here and say it’s important to start new projects and even every new day with a short prayer saying, “Lord, help me to know what I don’t know and please put the right people in my life to help me understand those things that I don’t know.” You’ll be surprised at the results!
So these three things are very important to taking a reflective and introspective view of knowing what we don’t know. Do you know what you don’t know?
iPads for Everyone
This week my students and I had the opportunity to work with our school board on the use of iPads. I say work with the school board not speak to because it was not a presentation, but more of a workshop. I only spoke for about one minute and then let the students take over.
Here’s what I outlined:
1. iPads, or any other technology for that matter do not make a teacher effective. The teacher is still responsible for that regardless of the modality – even if on-line.
2. Technology, such as iPads, help enhance and facilitate effective student learning.
3. The technology must be in the hands of the students. I firmly believe we must go one-to-one with iPads or some other type of computer. This is the only way that we can truly facilitate 24/7 learning with our students to connect, extend and challenge them.
Setting the Stage
My students had the school board members do a lab that we did the previous week in our Advanced Life Science – Plant and Soils course. they used the iPad, Pasco PASPort sensor system, and the Sparkvue App to test the CO2 levels coming off of different soil samples. The students did this lab as a connection, extension, and challenge to the lab they had done the previous week of actually doing the chemistry to test for Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium in soil samples from our Outdoor Agronomy Lab.
What the Students Did
The students demonstrated a lesson using the iPad that would make a connection between soil testing by hand using chemicals and new technology. By using the Pasco PASPort sensor system, and the Sparkvue App the students extended the school board members’ knowledge by using relevant equipment used by industry to test the CO2 levels coming off of different soil samples. Then the students challenged the school board members to make predictions on carbon levels of the soil. They did a great job of using the idea of connecting, extending and challenging to model the of iPad and bluetooth technology in their ALS – Plant and Soils Course.
What I tweeted
During the school board lab one of my students told them and I tweeted, “Technology allows me to learn in a real and relevant context.” Pretty insightful from my student, don’t you think?
Vision for Technology
Students are always found coming to class enthusiastic and ready to connect to a global society brought together through technology. Technology allows for remote and self-guided learning to further differentiate learning and offer an even wider range learning opportunities. With technology it will even be possible to do distance learning with other schools and extend our learning to a 24/7 philosophy. I for one embrace the idea that one-size-fits-all schools do not work for all students. Because the same teaching techniques do not work equally for every student, technology can be matched with the appropriate pedagogy to meet the educational needs of all students.
Who is Our Chief State School Official?
This past week there was an article in Education Week entitled, Who is Your Chief State School Officer? It was a great article and talked about how state departments of education are needing to become more resource and tool oriented. It went on to talk about some state’s view their department of education as too compliance-oriented. I firmly believe that the Indiana Department of Education is taking huge strides to become more of a resource to all school corporations in the state of Indiana.
For this post I want to share who I believe our chief state school official, or State Superintendent of Public Instruction, is. This past Tuesday I had the honor of introducing Dr. Tony Bennett, our State Superintendent of Public Instruction, for his State of Education Address. I believe my introduction speaks to who I believe our chief state school official is. Here it is:
I had the opportunity this summer to hear Condoleezza Rice speak. She said, “Today’s headlines and history’s judgment are rarely the same.” As I listened, I thought about how true this is. Then my thoughts turned to the man I am introducing this evening. Dr. Bennett is a leader with real vision and who can transform that vision into meaningful strategies for students.
History is beginning to record the success of education reform that first of all recognizes effective teachers and administrators. 2011 and beyond will be the greatest years ever to be a teacher leader in Indiana. The initiatives being implemented under Dr. Bennett’s leadership recognize me as the professional I am. I will be evaluated for my first priority of high student performance and achievement. Additionally, my role as a teacher leader creating a positive school environment that facilitates student learning will also become an important part of that evaluation. This truly will allow me to grow professionally by putting students first.
Furthermore, great school administrators like mine at Lebanon Community School Corporation now have the independence to make decisions that, as an effective teacher, will enable me to put students first. Good leadership includes teaching and building relationships. Under Dr. Bennett’s leadership, the Department of Education is building those relationships by taking a proactive role in being a key resource for school corporations in implementing Indiana’s education reforms.
Families now have options regardless of circumstance. Another part of Condoleezza Rice’s speech reminded me of Dr. Bennett’s vision. She said, “It doesn’t matter where you came from, but where you are going.” We cannot say this, however, if we can look at your zip code and know what kind of education you will receive.
Years from now, I believe history will speak favorably of Indiana’s comprehensive education reform. The best leaders make their promises under the public scrutiny of their followers. Then they keep them. I for one am proud that Dr. Bennett has kept his promises and given all schools the freedom to innovate, respond to students’ needs, and put all students first.
The first time I heard Dr. Bennett speak, I said to myself, “This guy gets it!” In October of 2009, I was blessed to get to know him personally…Since then, the man I saw as a tremendous educational leader has become my mentor, my coach, and—most important—my friend in the best, the rarest, and highest sense.
Please stand and join me in welcoming to the podium our Superintendent of Public Instruction – Dr. Tony Bennett.
Kids Don’t Have R’s & D’s Stamped on Their Heads
Yesterday I had the opportunity to be part of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s Welcome Back to School Education Bus Tour 2011. Probably the greatest part of the day was that I spent it traveling with Indiana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Tony Bennett and his Press Secretary, Alex Demron. Now, before you react because of politics notice I am being bipartisan here and including lessons learned from both political parties. In fact my favorite Dr. Bennett quote of the day was, “Kids don’t come to us with R’s and D’s stamped on their heads.” In fact let’s just call that Lesson #1. I would like to share four other lessons I learned from my day yesterday with these great leaders.
Lesson #2 – Consistency
First of all I have to start by telling you that traveling with an elected official might be one of the most rigorous and invigorating things you can do. We literally went from event to event to event to event, and on and on. I even ended up doing some interviews as well. Pretty cool stuff when I stopped and thought about all of the great things that were happening in education reform. The first observation I want to share is that I have never met a leader so consistent in what he believes and how he delivers that message as Dr. Bennett. This is a leadership characteristic that we all can learn from. He is so passionate and has researched the subjects of his vision and strategy so much that no matter what question is asked of him the message is always the same.
Lesson #3 – Pushing Boundaries
Effective leaders push the boundaries and transform vision into meaningful and hopeful strategy. One topic in Secretary Duncan’s speech really jumped out at me having spent time this past June in China. He talked about, with vivid examples, of how our students now complete globally for both jobs and college acceptance. This was obvious to me as one of the Tuesday’s that I was in China 10 million students were taking the university entrance exam. I was told that less that half would make the cut and less than 20% would be able to go to China’s universities because of space. If I do the math correctly that leaves about 4 million top Chinese students to compete with U.S. students for top spots in our colleges and universities. Secretary Duncan recognizes this disparity and is working hard to devise solutions.
Lesson #4 – Walk the Talk
“Putting Students First” is not just a catch phrase for Dr. Bennett, he has made the hard choices necessary to make 2011 the greatest year of educational reform in the history of both our state and nation. He and Secretary Duncan are unified in their stance that ALL children can learn. Yesterday during Secretary Duncan’s speech in Merrillville, IN I tweeted the following points that the Secretary made: “Poor kids can learn,” “education is the key to raising wages and lowering unemployment,” and one of my favorites “We must recognize that all students are our students.”
When these two leaders say they are “Putting Students First” it is not just “Talk,” they are “Walking the Talk” to do the necessary tough work of education reform. As Dr. Bennett said yesterday, “Good is not good enough and education reform is tough, tough work!”
Lesson #5 – We Must Have the Tough Conversations
I am a huge believer in all of the things that make for a functioning learning organization. David Garvin said that a learning organization was, “an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, interpreting, transferring, and retaining knowledge, and at purposefully modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights.” In order for this to happen their must be inquiry and even discourse. These tough conversations are where lessons are learned. This includes being blunt and totally transparent. As Dr. Bennett said yesterday, “We may disagree on issues, but as we have the tough discussion we will come up with a great solution both can agree on.” It is evident that both Secretary Duncan and State Superintendent Bennett are willing to have the tough conversations.
I hope we all can learn from the examples set by these two great leaders. I believe history will speak favorably of the comprehensive education reform being implemented through the leadership they are exhibiting. Even though Dr. Bennett has an R stamped on him and Secretary Duncan has a D stamped on him they are working in bipartisan concert to “Put Students First.” Remember, as they do – Kid’s don’t have R’s and D’s Stamped on their heads!
You Want Me To Do What? Teach?
I try to read two books per week as part of my own personal professional development. One of the books I read this past week was The Seed: Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work by Jon Gordon. This was an incredible book that I read in two sittings because once you start you can’t put it down. Then yesterday I had two individuals who regularly read my blog say that they really liked my book reviews. I promptly replied that I had not been doing any book reviews, and then I realized as they explained that generally my blogs revolve around something I have read. Amazingly, this made me realize just how powerful my two books a week are to my growth.
One statement that Gordon made in this book really jumped out at me and made me realize how important we all are in the roles we are meant to play. He said, “I’ve learned we are all teachers and students, and a life touches a life that touches a life.” So for this post I would like to share how it came to be that I would be a teacher. Some of you have heard me tell this story publicly many times, but it truly is a course of events that revolved around a teacher, Dr. Hobart Jones, and a student – me. Here’s the story.
My teaching career did not begin with the same story that many teachers share. I did not have an epiphany when I said to myself, “I want to be a teacher.” My journey as an educator began during my sophomore year at Purdue University when Professor Dr. Hobart Jones pulled me into his office and asked if I had ever considered teaching. When I said, “no,” he explained that he saw a talent in me for educating and wanted me to double major in Animal Science and Agricultural Education. It is amazing how someone like Dr. Jones can make a huge impact on someone’s life. His inspiration and personal interest helped me to deal with the challenges of a double major, making my 27 year educational career possible. Without Dr. Jones’ personal interest in my abilities, I probably would have missed this opportunity. It is his example of true caring that I strive to emulate every day of my teaching career.
A narrative of my professional career would not be complete without mentioning my latest chapter, starting the Agriculture Department at Lebanon in 2004. As an optimistic risk taker, the opportunity to start a program where no program existed was just that – a tremendous opportunity. It has been exhilarating to start a program, establish the facilities, and lead the team in building a program that now has 584 students enrolled. It has also enabled me to teach rigorous Purdue University dual credit courses in Advanced Life Science. As the department head of three other young teachers, less than 20 years of combined experience, I have learned how to be a true servant leader. In other words, as Gordon suggested, a life touches a life (Dr. Jones to me), a life touching a life (me to the teachers I mentor), and a life touching another life (me to all the students I facilitate learning with every day).
Remember to take full advantage of all the opportunities to touch the lives you come in contact with!
As You Go, So Go Those You Lead
I was listening to WIBC radio on my way to school, as I always do, this week. One of the guest sports commentators made a comment that caused me to do some thinking. The comment was, “As Peyton Manning goes, so go the Colts.” In other words it was going to be a tough year for the Colts until Peyton returns. This got me thinking about my own role as a teacher leader and department head at my school. What would I want to happen if suddenly I was not around tomorrow?
Now, please don’t take this as me putting down the Colts for not having someone ready to just step into that role because that is not the point at all. The statement by the commentator made me think back to something that I learned from reading the work of John Maxwell. He talked about leading in a way you can be replaced. The idea is that you have been a servant leader in such a way that others have been lifted up to a level where they could actually replace you.
I realize this would be extremely tough to do in the case of Peyton Manning but we can learn from the fact that the other quarterbacks under Peyton are certainly learning from their experience. I am sure my fellow Boilermaker, Curtis Painter, has learned a great deal from working with Peyton Manning. Still, we can reflect on our own situations and think about the people we work with. Are we developing their talents in a way that they could replace us. If we are truly servant leaders, wouldn’t the goal be that if we were gone tomorrow everything would continue seamlessly?
In fact, as Max De Pree said in Leadership Jazz, “leaders have to be vulnerable, have to offer others the opportunity to do their best. Leaders become vulnerable by sharing with others the marvelous gift of being personally accountable.” De Pree also talked about how leaders work to bring the special and creative gifts out in others.
This has really caused me to reflect and determine what I would want said about me if I could not return to school on Monday. I would hate for someone to say “As Byron Ernest goes, so goes Lebanon Community School Corporation.” I would rather have those I have worked with, coached and mentored say, “Wow, because of my time spent with Byron, I am ready the the next big steps and responsibilities that come my way.”
Hopefully, this will cause you to think about becoming vulnerable to those you serve!
Leadership Lessons of Mt. St. Helens
Mt. St. Helens, often described by souvenir brochures as having a quiet beauty and unspoiled nature began to come alive in March of 1980.
On May 18, 1980, at 8:39 a.m., Mt. St. Helens erupted with the explosive force of 500 atomic bombs. Seventeen hundred feet were blown from the top of the mountain sending a cloud of ash and smoke for more than 60,000 feet into the atmosphere. The cloud gave those in its path a gritty taste of natures power. The Indians had most appropriately named this place “Fire Mountain.”
I have been blessed, because of meetings, to be at Mt. St. Helens twice in the last year. The second time, when I took the attached picture, I was able to take my family. While in the area, my wife bought me a beautiful ring with incredible green crystals. When I asked what the gems were she explained it was Mt. St. Helens Jewelry – Jewelry made from volcanic ash processed by heating at high temperatures and under tremendous pressure to cause the ash to turn to a crystallized state. These green (because of the copper) gems are then cut and polished to make the beautiful piece of jewelry shown below.
Then as I was reading Max De Pree’s Leadership is an Art and Leadership Jazz this week I realized De Pree‘s lessons were perfectly illustrated by this Mt. St. Helen Jewelry. Leadership is an art, that like the gems made from ash, is shaped and polished. But before the crystal is even formed the ash must undergo tremendous heat and pressure, just as a leader does. The leader must turn these challenges and problems into opportunities.
Then the leader, like the beautiful gem, must be shaped and polished. Polishing takes others help. Shaping takes us finding our voice and what we believe in. Polishing involves us studying and being involved in professional growth. Shaping involves us helping others – becoming servant leaders. Finally, polishing involves us reflecting.
So let’s not forget that we need to become artists and work hard at polishing and shaping the leadership gem that we are capable of becoming. Also, we must help to polish and shape the leadership crystals of others. Go out and use your artistic abilities to polish and shape someone today!
Haircuts for Leaders
My son will be running for Student Council of his school next week. I’m writing about this now because whether he wins or loses next week is not relevant. The fact that he is, as John Maxwell says, focusing on the big picture is the important thing.
He came home from school with his Student Council applicant packet and said, “Dad, all my friends want me to run!” Notice, he gets it – It has nothing to do with winning, it’s all about running. His buddies want him to finish, and he is bound and determined to do just that.
Heath does not intend just to be in the race. He intends to be a finisher! In The Maxwell Daily Reader: 365 Days of Insight To Develop The Leader Within You and Influence Those Around You, John Maxwell stated, “As you make the success journey, keep in mind that your goal is to finish the race – to do the best you’re capable of doing.” (Kindle Location 3539)
So, what can we learn from Heath? He created the campaign poster that I have attached to this post. Pretty cleaver don’t you think? Also, he decided to get Heath Bars and wrap them in camouflage wrapping paper with a sticker that says vote for Heath. Speech writing is the next skill he is getting from this experience. He is on his 3rd draft of describing his leadership qualities, and is learning what it means to be a servant leader.
Now for the title, “Haircuts for Leaders.” This morning as we were driving to school, Heath said, “Dad, we’ve got to get our haircut on Tuesday after school.” When I asked why, he proceeded to tell me that he needed to look his best and he always felt confident on days after he has his hair cut. After he said this I remembered some advice a mentor early in my teaching career gave me. He said that before any contest, event, test, or anything where a student needs to do well, always give them some reason before hand to believe they have an edge. For example, I just gave a benchmark assessment to one of my classes – before they started I told them they had covered every standard yesterday in a lab they had done.
You can bet that Heath will get his haircut the night before he gives his speech. Let’s not forget the haircut and give those we coach an edge when they need it!
Baby Boomer Turned Digital Native
Baby Boomer Turned Digital Native: One Teacher’s Journey into 21st Century Learning
Introduction
Educational spaces need to be smart, technology rich, adaptable, and configurable in order to meet the needs of today’s students. If the desire is to put students first, it has to be more than just unloading crates of technology into a room for the teacher and saying, “Have at it!” At the same time educators must provide inspirational learning spaces on a limited budget. Technology is everywhere in today’s educational environment. This technology is important not only for engaging instruction, but also for creating a collaborative environment with other educators both inter-school and intra-school. This well planned environment allows the teacher to individualize both in manner of instruction and type of technology appropriate to the student. Solutions that address these needs are imperative to give educators the tools and facilities they need to assist learning, and students the tools necessary for engaging learning. When all these needs are met classrooms become collaborative student learning places.
Let the Journey Begin
As an agriculture educator who never used a computer (because they were not available) for his undergraduate and Master’s studies, or first two years of teaching for that matter, it seems an odd fit to be what I call a “digital adoptee” in my high school. Even though many the same age and older in my profession are apprehensive of technology, I have always been a believer in what it can do for the student. Experience has also taught me how important the physical lay-out of the room and furniture is to the educational experience. I recently had a graduate student visit me for a day, and she said, “Coming to your class is an event!” It is an event because students love coming to class and immersing themselves in the educational process through collaborative learning and use of technology.
When I started the agriculture science program at Lebanon Community School Corporation seven years ago the goal was to give our students the technology and environment they deserve for maximum learning. The environment, not the technology is what is most important. I was able to provide our students with one on one wireless laptop capability, but I also knew that the old five by six (five student desks in a column by six student desks in a row) model would not fit my pedagogy either. The ultimate goal must be that instruction and student learning drives the design, and that the classroom inspires learning (Demski, 2009). Therefore, we kept this in mind when designing our model learning lab which I call the SWELL (SMART Worldwide Effective Learning Lab) classroom. In my room it is tables with rollers and swivel chairs on rollers that give the students the flexibility to configure and reconfigure multiple times during our 87 minute block classes. Tables with four students each allow the teacher to pull up a chair and give assistance, monitor learning, and differentiate activities. This configuration also allows for readily forming important relationships with the students. Dr. James Comer said, “No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship” (quoted in Payne, 2005, p.9). When designing learning places we must remember that positive relationships between students and their teachers are crucial to learning.
Designing SWELL
Because of SMART Technology’s generous donation of SMART Board technology to me as 2010 Indiana Teacher of the Year (SMART donates these packages to all State Teachers of the Year each year), my school decided to use my room as a model for designing a learning lab, and for action research (Stringer, 2007) to help guide technology decisions for our school corporation. The decision was made to gut the room, which was formerly a science room, and start from scratch. The goal was to design an environment where students use the technology to carry out collaborative lessons not being taught by me, but being facilitated by me for student managed learning. What George Wood called, “Learning to learn” (Wood, 2005). The vision was to have an interactive agriculture science classroom equipped with SMART Board technology.
In order to investigate about the learning lab environment we formed a team and made many site visits. The visit that most intrigued the team was to Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management and Economics Library Interactive Learning Lab (Bush, 2009). Our team really liked the triangulated interactive boards, positioned to be visible from any angle in the room. This truly made the lab engaging as there was no front or back of the room. Another component that really fit my pedagogy was the Steelcase Huddleboard. These 32” X 42” portable white boards enabled collaborative group work. The instructor said, “huddle-up and discuss…” The groups then discussed their topic and wrote their thoughts and diagrams on the Huddleboards. After all groups had presented, the boards were placed on a rail and the Steelcase CopyCam took a picture which was sent to all the students via a website. The CopyCam also allowed pictures of the Huddleboards to be downloaded directly to a usb flashdrive or sent directly to a printer. Students were able to listen and be engaged in the discussion as opposed to taking dubious notes. The Huddleboards and CopyCam were a must for the SWELL Classroom.
Enhancing the Student Learning Experience with Technology
It cannot be stressed enough that the digital revolution is not about the teacher using technology, but enabling the student through their use of technology. Even though this author’s school district grapples with the same issues of funding and policies, we are still moving forward to put in place the technology that provides our students the digital content and open resources they need and deserve. Indiana has changed the definition of textbooks to include electronic materials (Fletcher, 2010). Digital resources can now be used to provide for curriculum enhancement (Fletcher, 2010).
In my SWELL classroom we are using Apple iPod Touches to provide reading resources. I am able to push books out to the entire classroom set of iPods at one time. This is a great tool for doing book reads utilizing Socratic seminars. Students are also using the iPods to record data from labs. When left to the students, they find appropriate apps that help engage them in the learning process. Students are allowed to download apps and then at the end of each week all apps not downloaded by me and pushed to all iPods are wiped off. Through our action research the iPod has been identified as a great way for students to access information quickly. Additionally, each class has developed an iTunes song list to play during work time. We are now in the process of testing a set of Apple iPads. The apps that are coming out for the iPad are very innovative and useful to students.
Now with the SPARKvue app, students in my Advanced Life Science courses are doing real-time measurement, data visualization, and analysis. Students can use the new PASPORT AirLink 2 Bluetooth interface to connect to over 70 PASCO sensors, measuring a wide range of phenomena, including pH, temperature, force, and carbon dioxide levels. SPARKvue is designed for scientific inquiry in biology, chemistry, earth science, environmental science, physics, and physical science. SPARKvue can record data from the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.
By going to a Mac platform our students have been able to use FlipVideo to make movies using Apple iMovie. Students this past year were able to report real-time research done in conjunction with a partnership formed with AgReliant Genetics. This research was reported with the use of movies and wiki sites (a Web site where anyone can edit anything anytime they want). Wiki’s make perfect sense in this environment because the students work collaboratively, can edit each other’s work, and pages are easily added (Richardson, 2010). Additionally, the wiki can be shared with any audience, as in this case, researchers at AgReliant Genetics (Richardson, 2010). The key to using this technology is that the students are doing all of the work. Although formal written reports are useful in some contexts, these new and innovative uses of narrative texts, staged performances, and electronic productions made by the students enhance the learning even further (Stringer, 2007). They take great ownership in the process and have the desire to do outstanding work. Using technology in this manner pushes the students to do a greater share of the thinking (Lemov, 2010).
With SMART Response I am able to pretest, practice, and have useful reflection. Each student has their own response tool. This allows for quick feedback (assessment for learning) and allows the students to remain anonymous. All of these tools are really about increasing student engagement.
A Typical Day in the SWELL Classroom
It is first period and time for Advanced Life Science – Plant and Soils. This is a dual credit course with Purdue University’s Botany 210. Students are met in the hallway with a handshake and then proceed to pick-up their Macbook and log-on to their wiki site where they find a link I have put on for their daily current event reading. This current event reading could have also been shared electronically with the students’ emails using the USA Today app on their iPods. Today’s article deals with resistant weeds due to chemicals developed through biotechnology. Students then journal the main points of the article onto their wiki site and do a summary paragraph relating the article to class work presently being done. Then students pick up their iPod Touches and proceed to the greenhouse to collect data on the 240 corn plants being grown to do actual Bacillus Thuringiensis bacterium (Bt) research for AgReliant Genetics. Data on rootworm damage is collected using the iPods. Students then return to the classroom and upload the data to their computers. Students are then asked to produce presentations on either Huddleboards or SMART Boards related to the following topics of economic impact of Bt corn, environmental impact of Bt, genetic markers, or corn rootworm lifecycle. Students then present, and the presentations are uploaded to their group’s wiki site.
Professional Development for Digital Learning is a TALL Order
Dialogue that always occurs when discussing the proper use of technology and the 21st Century learner is that of how should schools provide the necessary professional growth necessary for teachers to provide a rich digital learning environment? One of the major factors at play is the vast array of differences in where staff members are on the digital/technology learning curve. A one size fits all system of professional development will not work where technology is involved (or any other educational subject for that matter). Lebanon High School has developed a process that has proven very valuable to meet this need. In order to eliminate the traditional “one-shot” professional development time where information is thrown out to teachers and hopefully some of the material is caught, our school implemented TALL (Tiger Academy of Lessons Learned).
TALL was started in the spring of 2009. This process was a product of the studies of Garvin (2000) in the area of the learning organization. TALL is modeled after the U.S. Army’s Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL). It is a process with no hierarchy which has teachers working in groups of like interest and knowledge to learn new techniques, study research, try new practices/technology, and book readings. Groups meet formally every week during time set aside in the morning, and have a reporting form on our shared network file that is used to report to the entire staff along with having Ning (internet social network) forums and we are now using our state’s new Learning Connection Network (Indiana Department of Education, 2009). Many groups meet outside the normal school day to work. Groups can start up and dissolve as necessary.
This strategy enables teachers to use the group genius created to improve teaching skills and gain best practices from each other thus improving student achievement. These self-directed professional development (Mohr, et al., 2004) groups provide for teacher-researcher-based discourse about teaching and learning (Weinbaum, et al., 2004). TALL teacher inquiry groups allow for both knowledge production and sharing (Weinbaum, et al., 2004).
As of the writing of this article, Lebanon High School has TALL groups specifically relating to technology including, basic computer usage, Mimio use, web 2.0, and teacher blogs/websites. When it comes to technology, many of our more seasoned teachers who were having difficulty moving toward a more digital environment say that TALL has given them the confidence and skills to match the technology with their pedagogy.
A SWELL Vision for Providing Innovative Technology Solutions
Through the SWELL Classroom and other duplications throughout the school, the Lebanon High School Agriculture Department is a leader in providing innovative networking and information technology solutions to student learning. By proceeding in stages, Lebanon will be able to develop staff, so first round teachers will be able provide support and training, and share lessons (Fishtrom, 2009). The SWELL Classroom allows for designing each lesson to meet the individual student’s needs, and then deliver that lesson in such a way that is effective for that particular child (American School Board Journal, 2009).
Students are always found coming to class enthusiastic and ready to connect to a global society brought together through technology. The plans are to add remote and self-guided learning through technology to further differentiate learning and offer an even wider range of classes. With SMART technology it will even be possible to do distance learning with other schools. The SWELL Classroom vision embraces the idea that one-size-fits-all schools do not work for all students. Because the same teaching techniques do not work equally for every student, SWELL Classroom technology can be matched with the appropriate pedagogy to meet the educational needs of all students.
References
Bush, J. (2009). Purdue libraries celebrate new interactive classroom, start second of three-phase renovation. University News Service. Retrieved on September 3, 2010 from: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/general/2009/story-print-deploy-layout_1_1573_1573.html.
Demski, J. (2009). Space craft: Innovative architecture is bringing form to the function of 21st– century learning. The Journal, 36(7), 34-38.
Fishtrom, R. (2009). Best in tech 2009. Scholastic Administrator, 9(3).
Flether, G.H. (2010). A revolution on hold. The Journal, 37(6), 21-23.
Garvin, D. A. (2000). Learning in action: A guide to putting the learning organization to work. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Indiana Department of Education (2009). Retrieved on August 13, 2010 from: http.//learningconnection.doe.gov.
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Connecting, Extending, & Challenging
In education Connecting, Extending, and Challenging are so much more than just words. They are crucial to 24/7 learning and teaching students to learn to learn. I believe in 24/7 learning. We have to facilitate an environment where our students’ learning continues outside the school day – EXTENDING.
We must also challenge our students to learn and explore new concepts and take on new and exciting projects – CHALLENGING. Let me give you an example. My students just completed a project that I believe models Connecting, Extending, and Challenging – Operation Home Grown.
Following a series of soil chemistry and plant growth lessons n my Advanced Life Science Plant & Soils class, my students made a CONNECTION to organic and sustainable agriculture. They decided to extend their learning outside the classroom and proposed to use 2 acres of our Outdoor Agronomy Lab to grow organic sweet corn.
This CHALLENGED my students to learn how to grow organic sweet corn and come up with a plan for selling it. Not as easy as it sounds. They were challenged with a lack of rain.
Success was realized for this group of students this past weekend when they picked the first of the corn and sold out of 52 dozen ears of sweet corn in less than two hours. When we facilitate learning for ALL students of ALL ages we must remember to Connect, Extend, and Challenge them.
Byron's Babbles 
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