Is Education a Noun or Verb?

Standby for RANT.

Face it. How we categorize something affects what we do with it. This is true in every facet of our lives, and no less in education. Just what "IS" education?

Right now, in South Dakota, as is happening in many other states, the underlying debate is whether education is a noun or a verb. Let me explain.

If education is a noun, it then becomes "…a person, place, or thing." It is something we can legislate, quantify, measure, buy, sell, manipulate, categorize, and normalize. We attempt to put it on an assembly line and push out a product - all the same - all measurable (or should that be miserable?) - and we create methods to assess whether the product is good, mediocre, or bad. They should come out, one after another, in development for years and years, and having been worked on by dozens of different people in numerous environments - finally to be released into the world in a perfect and finished state.

How do we measure this success? Let's test students and let them set the standards for how their teachers did - I'm sure they will be unbiased in grading their teachers, won't they?

Wait a minute. Numerous environments? Different people? Let's FIX that - we'll put in place a standard method of "assessing" the teachers (technicians, now…) who are creating the products. We want to make them all the same, so everyone gets the same "advantage."

The ones who produce the best products are awarded in some fashion, and that would usually translate into money in their pocket. If we incentive this production, we'll certainly get a better product! Let's pay the most productive - as determined by the afore mentioned flawed assessment process - $XX dollars for their hard work. This makes "education" better! (Oh, really?) How can actively fostering competition among staff members within a building or district help create an environment the improves the educational process? It instead does just the opposite - it stifles communication and sharing between teachers who are competing for the same dollars!

Let's instead consider education as a verb - something that's alive and precious and worthy of tending - only then can we make it what it needs to be.

Verbs convey action - change - movement - progression - something that's constantly growing and getting better. That's what is required in education. It is not something that can be captured and cloned, but rather an entity that needs nurturing, like feeding and watering a plant. There is growth and maturity and "greening" all along the way. Will repeated watering and feeding and pruning be required? Certainly - that's the only way to get the best result.

How do we nurture education? We need to take it out of the hands of the lawmakers and put it back with the schools, allowing it to be fine-tuned by people who have been trained to teach students, who have years and years of experience in classrooms and hallways and lunchrooms - those places where teachers and administrators meet, teach, and care for (dare I say love?) the students.

Wrestle this beast away from the legislators who have made a career of being elected and keeping constituents happy. I hold legislators in high regard for the awesome responsibility they have in shaping our state and nation. But being an elected official in no way qualifies them to define or create a workable educational environment. Make these same legislators come down to teach a class in an over-crowded room with all levels of ability and conduct. Ask them to sit in a meeting with parents, or observe the lunchroom, or monitor a detention session to find out what really goes on.

Maybe then, they would stop setting up competitions and races and such that create road blocks to the educational process, and instead put those same dollars into making things work instead of actively trying to break them.

Maybe then we could begin to create groups (teams, Professional learning networks, etc) who share best practice and learn from each other.

Maybe then they would put their hearts and souls into it like teachers and school staff do each and every day, to do everything we can to give education life.

That should do it!

Together in Excellence (TIE) 2010

This blog will be longer than any "normal" posts I usually make. I apologize for the length, but it is necessary to fully describe the South Dakota region conference I attended 18-20 April 2010. Here is the paper I wrote as a "trip report" on this conference.

The conference included presentations by @AngelaMaiers and @LeslieFisher, Dr. Jack Bacon of NASA, and numerous "breakout" sessions highlighting technology and it's role in education.

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Together in Excellence (TIE) 2010 was a wonderful experience from beginning to end. The speakers were engaging and informative, each providing unique insights and perspective on motivation, today’s technology tools, and the role of educators in today’s classroom. The in-depth session I attended was time well spent. The breakouts were diverse, extremely valuable, and timely. I will try to do the speakers, the instructors, the exhibitors, and the entire conference, justice with this reflection paper. As I go along, I will try to put this into context as to how it will make a difference in my classroom.

My first experience at the conference was an in-depth session on web 2.0 tools and educational support internet sites. Marcia Torgrude did an outstanding job of introducing tools that can be implemented in the classroom immediately.

One such tool introduced was Glogster, which allows students to develop interactive “posters” to share. These “posters” can include graphics, text, video, and links to internet sites. Using Glogster, students could create an interactive report on a theme, historic event, or scientific process. Using a tool like this requires more than just responding to questions and parroting back answers. It requires the student(s) to synthesize and create to show understanding of a subject.

Another resource shown and practiced was Prezi, which was quite unique in it’s approach. In some ways, I found it similar in theme to Glogster, in that you have one “page” to interact with. On that one page, you identify elements essential to your theme, then organize a presentation by creating a “path” from one element to the next. By arranging the elements, the relative sizes of each, and the order of the path, students must demonstrate a depth of understanding of subjects being studied. She concluded with recommendations for other sites to explore on our own.

Following the in-depth session was the first Keynote speech. Leslie Fisher, a self-professed gadgeter, gave an excellent walk through the world of current technology. Although her presentation was based on “things,” there was an underlying theme of how technology is changing in all areas of society, including the world of education. What I took from that presentation was the changing role of the educator in dealing with a generation of students exposed to technology before they are exposed to education. Gadgets and technology surround each one of us everyday. Students encounter technology before they see us each day. How can we expect them to “shut off” everything and then suddenly learn in an environment that doesn’t fit their way of thinking? That certainly gives one a “wake up” moment to think about; how should each of us respond to this challenge? How do we change ourselves to adapt to this new way of thinking rather than try to force them to change and risk jeopardizing the natural curiosity and ability these students possess?

Monday began with Dr. Jack Bacon taking the conferees on a trip through history and current happenings of the international space station (ISS.) Even though he’s a man of numerous degrees and languages, and could have easily buried everyone in details, he instead wove an amazing story from the very genesis of the ISS to the current day. Embedded throughout the presentation was this one theme; the only way something as massive and complex as the ISS could be created and sustained is through cooperation. He kept returning to the almost two dozen countries and dozen languages of the people who created, assembled, and are currently supporting the ISS, and how it would not be what it is today without that effort. I took from that presentation the need to infuse more group projects into the classroom – not just once in awhile to make it look good, but regularly enough to make it part of the everyday routine. That means I have to change the way I approach “teaching” the students. That’s a real challenge for me.

From there, I attended a series of breakout sessions on various subjects, each very instructive and time well spent. Three of the sessions were based on Apple, Inc. products in one for or another. Two of these, presented by Apple employees, extolled the virtues of the family of Apple products and their role in the education environment. They showed how the products from Apple easily support learning in the classroom.

Another session, about using the iPod in the K-12 classroom, was equally instructive on using technology tools to support curriculum. Presenters showed specifically applications they use for Advanced Placement students in a high school, but also extended that with ideas for other curricular areas and levels. I got a lot out of that session for consideration, including one program for assistive speech for individuals with difficulty or inability to speak. That program has already been recommended to our staff for consideration for one of our students.

The final breakout for Monday was on the importance of social networking in general, and Twitter in particular, and how it can help each of us become better educators. Leslie Fisher gave some history of the Twitter sensation, how it is a natural fit into the education world, and how some of the available add-on’s can help make it better and more usable for us – changing our routine to save time rather than add new demands on our day.

Angela Maiers kicked off the Tuesday session with an outstanding keynote on how to develop technical fluency, and how that makes us better for ourselves and for our students. Of particular importance is our need to filter what we get, then be able to routinely model for our students how to continually unlearn and relearn. She almost seamlessly followed that with a breakout session on building our Professional Learning Network (PLN.) Each of us owes it to our students to keep current, and the best way to do that is to use the smartest people you can find, and learn what they know. Great presentations.

The final breakout session I attended was Marcia Torgrude speaking on Thinkfinity. I haven’t done much with this site since its Marco Polo days. I was impressed with the changes and the community nature that it’s growing into with the new site. That’s something definitely worth following, exploring, and contributing to.

Capping the conference was Dr. Julie Mathieson with a great session on taking what we have gotten during the conference and using that to make an impact on our students. That was a fitting end to the three days.

It was a great conference, and time well spent. There is certainly enough to keep me thinking until TIE 2011.

Alan Buhler

Professional Development - Easier to SAY it than to DO it

"Everybody" in education talks about professional development, about growing (developing?) a Personal Learning Network (PLN,) and really (finally) using that technology we have in the classroom to it's full benefit.

Sounds great! Let's DO it. What?? Difficulty getting started? Not so easy, is it?

We ask our students to do things every day that extend their ability, and some at which they may fail, in order to learn something. It's a pity that we won't ask the same of ourselves.

Begin by taking a good, hard look at where you are - it's like taking a candid snapshot. Assess yourself on as many "tasks" as you can think of. Don't pull any punches. This is for YOU, and no one else. Address things like quality of lesson plans, time spent planning, time spent with parent contact/communication, interaction with team or colleagues, how smoothly your classes run, your back up plans when things go wrong, etc. Make your own list of those things that you think affect you as a teacher/leader/facilitator in your classroom. Bottom line: you can't tell where you need to go until you know where you are. NOW you have a starting point.

Next, go "out" into the world (probably search internet, social networking & bookmarking sites, twitter, conferences, podcasts, etc.) and look for examples you'd like to emulate. Don't be afraid to start locally - there's probably several teachers in YOUR SCHOOL that have experiences (good and bad) from which you could draw. Think BIG here - imagine yourself as that "perfect" facilitator, presenting that fantastic lesson, able to keep track of students for differentiated instruction, teaching to their strengths, engaging them for the entire time you have them - even leaving them wanting more at the end of the class! NOW you have a vision.

After you've looked around for examples, "subscribe", "follow" or "watch" several episodes or posts or tweets from many of the ones you found and think you MIGHT get something from. It won't take you long to figure out the ones that are worth your time. Bookmark sites that interest you, sites that may be within your reach, and also sites that will push your "envelope" a little. Even if you get one or two great links or ideas from each of them every few episodes, it's probably worth your time. But at the same time, don't be afraid/ashamed to "unsubscribe" or "unfollow" someone that isn't feeding your needs - your time is valuable, and you need to be selfish about it! Contribute something that you use that might "feed" others, too. If it's useful or interesting to you, there's probably a dozen others that would feel the same way. NOW you have (at least a start to) an action plan.

I've done this, in a less structured and formal manner, over the last six months or so. I've followed several blogs and podcasts for years, but when they were no longer worth my time, I quit them. Only recently have I gotten a Twitter account, and find that this has been the best resource for ideas and links with the least amount of time and effort that I've ever seen. Maybe I just follow the right people, (favorites are @loonyhiker, @coolcatteacher, @skipz, @tombarrett, @teachakidd, just to name a few....) Their posts are NOT the trivial "I'm doing my hair now" - type posts - they post things that they find valuable from their experience in and out of classrooms, some of them professionals in classrooms already for decades. Us newbies (I've only been teaching a decade and a half...) can pick out things from their wisdom and apply it in our classrooms. (BRAVO AND THANKS TO EACH OF THEM.)

OK - now go out and make your plan! Hope it works for you.