Inspiration for the journey

“What has become clear to you since last we met?” – attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson

We had our second meeting on Wednesday, March 28 at 7:30 before school began. With the pressure of school beginning at 7:50, it rapidly became clear that we have much to do just in terms of building effective group dynamics. We spent the majority of the time reiterating what had transpired at the last meeting to a critical team member. That was important work, but could have been done prior to the meeting. First lesson learned. We need to establish group norms that will bring everyone to the meeting operating from the same page.

The meeting was attended by five members, but as the majority of the time was spent in a dialogue between two people, I could see some frustration building. There was very little time leftover to check in with the other team members. Second lesson learned. We need to establish a group norm that will allow each of us to speak briefly on our latest activities, prior to any review of the meeting agenda.

As before-school activities limited our time to meet, we felt the time pressure. It will be important to have a timekeeper to keep track of time. Third lesson learned.

Given these three lessons, I’ll be asking my group to agree to the following group norms.

1. We will start on time and finish on time.
2. We will attend all meetings. If we cannot make a meeting, we will read the minutes and ask for clarification prior to the next meeting.
3. We will have a check-in at every meeting to allow each member to report on any new thoughts, connections made or other relevant activities.
4. We will assign a timekeeper to help keep us focused and moving on our agenda items.

Beyond these practical items, my thoughts have been influence by my reading of snippets from Kouzes & Posner’s classic book on leadership, The Leadership Challenge. I’m on chapter 3, Clarify Values, which is the first step in a multi-step process of leadership. They name two essentials to the process of clarification, which I paraphrase:

• Find your own personal voice
• Affirm shared values with your group

Kouzes & Posner point out that groups whose members are committed to the group’s vision and mission are much more successful in achieving their goals than groups that are not.

So my question has become, “What process will allow our group’s individual members to reflect on and share their values in a way that builds group integrity and commitment to our common goals, mission and vision?”

My first thought is that I need to obtain everyone’s buy-in that such a process is vitally important. It has been my observation that anything that smacks of vision and mission statements in the public school setting is met with resistance from years of overuse. Nevertheless, I believe I can frame the process in a way that reveals the value of such work and motivates the team to participate.

I’ll post more along these lines as this process unfolds.

Sometime in last few months, I was listening to NPR Weekend and heard the “This I Believe” segment.  Tarak McLain’s essay was featured.  He wrote it when he was six years old.   In the back of my mind, it has been calling to me, challenging me to state and then affirm my own beliefs.  So here goes:

This I believe

If you stand in the cradle of a Sunwapta pass between Banff and Jasper National Parks in the Canadian Rockies, you’ll see the clean cleft of earth rising from the mountain floor below, where the cars look as small as the smallest ants.  The mountain face before you rises up as a solitary rock into the sky as far above as it is below.  Large ridges rise along that clean rock face.  Like scratches across its skin, they declare the path it took as it rose in ancient years past out from mother earth.  It takes your breath away.  Looking past the mountain face before you, you see the mountain face is not alone, that same rock, that same cleft of earth defines the face of the entire mountain range as far as you can see.  In your mind, you see the mountain range traveling down the entire continent into the United States and beyond to the very tip of South America.  The force of that movement boggles the imagination.  All at once, your body feels light, immaterial, insignificant.  Somehow small as you are, you are reassured that you are part of all this, all creation.  You don’t have words for it, but perhaps you know that you are stardust and all is well.

I believe in the power of nature the restore the soul.

I believe the very atoms of our body commune in the most mysterious way with every other atom in the universe.

I believe we are all connected as sentient beings.

I believe in learning and that in every experience in life, a lesson is offered.

I believe that every life has a purpose and that purpose is often revealed in time layer by layer as one ages, matures and comes into one’s own.

I am blessed.

There is so much more I believe, but for now this will suffice.  I know I will return to this again.

The Problem:

Does this sound familiar?  Today we were short staffed because of a requirement to deliver a standardized computer test to all the eighth grade students.  I had to cover for another teacher who was assigned to proctor the test.   My first two classes doubled in size and I was in a room adjacent to the testing lab, which shared a common non-soundproof wall.

So what do I do?

In another time and place, I would be scrambling to come up with a plan to keep all my pre-teens (7th graders) quiet and happy.  But today I had no problems.  With a classroom full of computers and a website that supports all kinds of learning, I was able to direct all the students to a thoroughly engaging website called MedMyst: Medical Mysteries on the Web.

The students were captivated by the storyline that placed them in a simulation of future world of 2254 after a great plague.  They played the role of a new recruit being trained to solve medical mysteries.  Students are exposed to a wealth of high quality information on epidemiology, all in a game-like environment.  Each student proceeded at their own pace in learning pathways of their own choosing.  The students were focused, quiet, happy and most importantly learning about disease and pathogens.  I believe that they learned in a much deeper and more satisfying way than I could ever provide using the traditional (boring) methods.

There is enough on this one website for several forty-five minute period classes.  To me this is a glimpse into the future of education.  Online game-like learning modules like these will fully engage students and allow them to differentiate their own learning while providing the best information the web can provide.

Hurrah for technology.  I believe in the future!

Inspiration for the journey

“What will you do with your one wild and precious life?”  – Mary Oliver, from the poem, “The Summer Day”

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”  – Margaret Mead

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
- attributed to Goethe

Beginnings

We’ve begun.  Today is the second meeting of a global education workgroup at Gravelly Hill Middle School in Efland, NC.

Our first meeting on March 4, 2009, was designed to assess the level of interest in global education.  In attendance was my principal, two language teachers (Spanish and French), a 7th grade social studies teacher and myself.  Our district technology director has expressed an interest, but was not able to make the first meeting.

Our goal was to share our initial ideas on global education and brainstormed for the next steps.  To get us started we looked at the following:

1. An example of a mature international schools program:  International School Partnerships Program from the Center for International Understanding at UNC.
2. An example of a global service learning  project:  The Global Run Project

A question arose:  How shall we begin?  The writings of Cool Cat Teacher on her experience starting the Flat Classroom Project with Julie Lindsay provided some initial guidance.  We believe it is important to identify, make contact and establish a long-term connection with another teacher or school first, before we connect our students.

Our initial answer to establish a sustainable connection is to use the shotgun approach, which in our case would be to collect emails to as many potential contacts as possible.  We’ll be compiling our potential contacts in a google spreadsheet.

The intention of this blog series

I’ll be recording the progress of our group after every group meeting by reflecting on our process in this series of blog articles.

There is an issue in educational reform that is often noted but inadequately discussed.

Individualized instruction and/or tutoring is probably the single most effective means of raising performance.  It is easy to understand why it isn’t discussed in reform circles as individualized tutoring is seen as far too expensive to be practical.

A classroom teacher simply doesn’t have the time or resources to individualize instruction for each student.  At the same time, we know that the uniqueness of individual cognitive development coupled with the impact of the proper or improper timing of instruction can make the difference between alienation from or love of learning.

What will happen when artificial intelligence advances to the point where expert cognitive tutors can facilitate individual learning?

Imagine an educational system in which each individual learner can follow their own intrinsically motivated curiosities and be guided by expert cognitive tutors.  How would that unleash the creative energy of students?

Also, imagine a world in which a teacher’s passions guided their curriculum and students came to them without the physical constraints of time or place.  How would that transform their teaching?

Imagine a world in which individuals self-selected their own educational paths.  Would society collapse without the current one-size-fits-all extrinsic controls on what students learn?  Or would society flourish as individuals blossomed to their fullest capacities?

I don’t know.   But I do believe that technology is making such rapid progress that such an imagined world will be possible in my lifetime.   And I believe in Thomas Friedman’s premise that in today’s flat world, whatever can be conceived will be achieved.   So dear friends, in your opinion, how would this possibility change the world?