Friday, May 28, 2010
New Resources for Leading and Learning 05/28/2010
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
New Resources for Leading and Learning 05/26/2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
What Leaders Tweeted This Week (Week of 5.17.10)
@patrickshuler: RT @edutopia: RT @physicstweet: "Teachers collaborating w each other is the most powerful way of reforming #education." Alma Harris #edchat
@baldy7: A New Era of Leadership: http://wp.me/pAdzQ-5t Great post for principals and educational leaders.
@web20classroom: New Blog Post: Looking For Change? It Starts At The Top: http://bit.ly/cV1nTW
@berkshirecat: Educational Paradigms: Schooling, Education and The Way Forward: http://bit.ly/cyxV2Q
@bryansetser: Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. John F. Kennedy
@cherylcran: “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” #leadership
@DrJohnMcGinn: Article: "Help, We Need a Highly Effective Leader!" http://bit.ly/dszxi6
@NewsNeus: 5 Traits of 21st Century Educational Leadership http://bit.ly/d8WoGC RT @mattdix
@moniqueschlosse: Leadership Tips: The Top Ten Causes People Fail http://dld.bz/csqQ
@LeadToday: Because it's always been done that way" is absolutely the worst reason for doing anything a particular way
@NMHS_Principal: "Leadership is getting someone to do what they don't want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve" -Tom Landry
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
New Resources for Leading and Learning 05/19/2010
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Monday, May 17, 2010
What Leaders Tweeted This Week (Week of 5.10.10)
@quinnovator: RT @c4lpt: 3 Models of Formal Social Learning http://bit.ly/chj46B@Ed_Leadership: What do Generation Y teachers bring to the profession? Find out in this May EL article: http://bit.ly/dscRf7
@LeadToday: RT @MeredithMBell: "There's always a way - if you're committed." - Anthony Robbins
@tomwhitby: PLN: Visual Bloom's Taxonomy: Bloom's in WEB2.0 Terms. Chk it out! http://bit.ly/ZBHi9
@hdiblasi: eChalk Teams with Don Tapscott-Video Challenge. ideas on how social web invigorates teaching, learning collaboration. http://bit.ly/aOKGVn
@AngelaMaiers: Some Excellent Classroom Management Advice | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... http://ow.ly/1IDLV
@MrKeenan:MrKeenan.com: Philosophy of Educational Leadership http://bit.ly/biIlix
@bhsprincipal: "Social Media in Education: The Power of Facebook" http://bit.ly/ap2jjU via @edutopia
@leahmacvie: Few of us experience entrepreneurship education in school. http://bit.ly/cGFVpx #Buffalo #edchat
@Simplek12: Gd qstn! @davidwees: What technology would you put on your wish-list for your school if you could afford to buy anything? #edtech #edchat
@bjnichols: Not surprising....Mobile & Classroom Technologies Surge in Schools http://bit.ly/cxlHxn
@NMHS_Principal: Is Summer School the Key to Reform? http://bit.ly/bK5dJq Some intriguing ideas.
@joevans: Great article in May issue of Educational Leadership: Professional Learning 2.0 by Catherine Huber Abstract here: http://ow.ly/1Jmdx
@edtechsteve: Love this phrase from Deborah Meier: "Schools should be data-informed, not data-driven"
@pjhiggins: "We are probably the last generation that will make the distinction between being online and not being online" --@teachpaperless
@rliberni: RT @jgmac1106: Reform takes capacity and advocacy. Both take vertical AND horizontal leadership. Need to see 360 to look at future.
@ginaschreck: Perhaps before we worry about getting students using technology in schools- we need school leaders using tech tools!
Friday, May 14, 2010
New Resources for Leading and Learning 05/14/2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh)
What technologies are revolutionizing education? Who are the Generation Zers? The iGeneration? The Millennials? What is the difference between these groups of learners? Are our teaching and leading practices changing to meet the demands of these "prosumers" (producers = consumers)? How do they learn, communicate, connect, engage, power-up? Are we enraging them, or engaging them? Watch this brief video and discover that "Social media isn't a fad; it is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate." What fundamental shifts in schooling are happening in your buildings? What conversations are you having with teams of teachers and leaders to create new behaviors and new paradigms? How vigilant are you to leverage these social media tools to impact not only culture, but learning and the art of teaching?
What Leaders Tweeted This Week (Week of 5.3.10)
Here are this week's e-leader tweets:
@bethanyvsmith: "We look at the web to automate the classroom instead of liberating the mind" #fw2010
@21stprincipal: 21st century principal perspective on Horizon Report. http://bit.ly/9kmSe4
@c4lpt: Build trust, not control in a company's corporate / learning culture http://bit.ly/bF7cvC
@tech4buziness: How To Give Good Feedback: 11 Simple Rules – Leadership Expert™http://post.ly/ea8I
@NMHS_Principal: Online textbooks let students share notes across the globehttp://bit.ly/caCLIn #edtech
@DavidBlenko: Creativity is different from innovation: Why creativity is not enoughhttp://j.mp/dC6Bi5 #leadership
@elem_principal: RT @canyonsdave: RT @mcleod: 50 Incredible Books Every Educator Should Read http://goo.gl/UAdN
@cindyyantis 5 Ways to Lead by Example - Look to a Mother http://goo.gl/fb/PzND3#careeradvice #intheworkplace #leadership #lifestyle
@c4lpt: Build trust, not control in a company's corporate / learning culture http://bit.ly/bF7cvC
@tech4buziness: How To Give Good Feedback: 11 Simple Rules – Leadership Expert™http://post.ly/ea8I
@NMHS_Principal: Online textbooks let students share notes across the globehttp://bit.ly/caCLIn #edtech
@DavidBlenko: Creativity is different from innovation: Why creativity is not enoughhttp://j.mp/dC6Bi5 #leadership
@elem_principal: RT @canyonsdave: RT @mcleod: 50 Incredible Books Every Educator Should Read http://goo.gl/UAdN
@cindyyantis 5 Ways to Lead by Example - Look to a Mother http://goo.gl/fb/PzND3#careeradvice #intheworkplace #leadership #lifestyle
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Examining "Rigor" in Online Content
Leaders,
How are you making decisions when it comes to students needing to recover credit? Are those decisions proactive based on student needs and individualized instruction? Are they based on the need to challenge and engage learners? Or are these decisions reactionary, based on fast and easy options? Read the following guest blog from Michelle Lourcey, Curriculum and Instruction Division Director and Director for Credit Recovery for North Carolina Virtual Public School as she defines "rigor" and encourages leaders to examine the "rigor" in online content to decide truly what is best for kids.
The word “rigor” is thrown around so much these days in educational circles. There are varied definitions for it and just as many opinions as to what it should look like in a classroom. Anyone can claim their teaching or their content is rigorous as there are not many hard and fast indicators to justify or deny that such rigor exists.
The same is true for online content providers, including those for Credit Recovery. One can claim rigor but what does that rigor really look like within the content?
Barbara Blackburn in her book, Rigor is NOT a Four Letter Word (2008), discusses the rigor issue in education, and she references the powerful study that came out in 2006 called “The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High Schools Dropouts.” What is interesting about this study, and what Blackburn points out, is that of the 500 dropouts that were the focus on the study, 88% weren’t failing school, and 70% believe they could have graduated.
Here are some of the salient points that Blackburn found from the study that were “rigor-related:”
Blackburn’s definition of rigor is that “Rigor is creating an environment in which each student is expected to learn at high levels, each student is supported so he or she can learn at high levels, and each student demonstrates learning at high levels.”
The word “rigor” is thrown around so much these days in educational circles. There are varied definitions for it and just as many opinions as to what it should look like in a classroom. Anyone can claim their teaching or their content is rigorous as there are not many hard and fast indicators to justify or deny that such rigor exists.
The same is true for online content providers, including those for Credit Recovery. One can claim rigor but what does that rigor really look like within the content?
Barbara Blackburn in her book, Rigor is NOT a Four Letter Word (2008), discusses the rigor issue in education, and she references the powerful study that came out in 2006 called “The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High Schools Dropouts.” What is interesting about this study, and what Blackburn points out, is that of the 500 dropouts that were the focus on the study, 88% weren’t failing school, and 70% believe they could have graduated.
Here are some of the salient points that Blackburn found from the study that were “rigor-related:”
- 47% of dropouts said classes weren’t interesting
- 66% would have worked harder if more had been demanded of them
- 81% called for more “real-world” learning opportunities
- 75% wanted smaller classes with more individual instruction
Blackburn’s definition of rigor is that “Rigor is creating an environment in which each student is expected to learn at high levels, each student is supported so he or she can learn at high levels, and each student demonstrates learning at high levels.”
This definition must apply to all online options, including credit recovery options as well. If a student has not shown a mastery knowledge of the goals and objectives of the NCSCOS, then already a foundational gap exists in the student’s learning that will certainly show itself again. NCVPS has definite beliefs as to what rigor looks like when it comes to not only Credit Recovery but all online learning.
- For credit recovery, the course recovery process should do more than meet an immediate need. While it may be more convenient to give students a few hours in front of a computer screen and this is the end of the recovery process, NCVPS believes that credit recovery programs should ensure that all the goals of the NCSCOS are being achieved.
- For all NCVPS courses, NC certified teachers individualize and differentiate instruction for each student.
- The teacher / student ratio is one teacher for every twenty students for credit recovery and one teacher for every thirty students for other NCVPS courses.
- Our content must be engaging and challenging with “real-world” connections and 21st century themes.
- Students interact with the content by reading, viewing, and hearing it in order to address all learning styles.
- Students must show their online teachers that they can make the learning their own through assessments that require creation and synthesis, more than just pointing and clicking at answers.
- Students should be prepared to go onto the next level of instruction.
- There should not be gaps in the student’s learning just because the student went through a credit recovery program.
Why perpetuate gaps for students? Why choose credit recovery options that meet an immediate need but not a student’s long term learning needs? Shouldn’t we demand more from our students when a class is failed? Of course we should.