Random thoughts of an ed admin lifer

Okay, so maybe the Pink Floyd was a little “edgy”. What I wanted to do is start a discussion about the imagery and hopefully get into some deeper meaning about the role education has played, is playing, and will play in our world. Here are some images and thoughts that I get when I watch the clip. (I sure am glad I don’t teach with that guy!)

• Faceless students being hauled off (to become another brick in the wall?)
• The crushing of creativity & individuality.
• Rote memorization.
• Corporal Punishment.
• Students entering the school (box) in assembly line fashion.
• Individual identities going in and exiting as faceless beings.
• WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE THAT BOX?
• A maze, a big clock, a “teacher”.
• A lot of focus on feet – modernity marching on relentlessly?
• Egg carton like classrooms.
• The “machine” . . . gears and hammers pound & grinding kids into a common mass.
• Chaos ensues.
• Breaking down the wall – the wall of what though? Is it a symbol or a barrier?
• Is the resulting rebellion a form of self organization?

Anyone brave enough to chime-in?

Hey teachers, leave those kids alone! I love the tune, hate the lyrics.

Sit back, crank the volume, and take a look at this video.

Be warned, the vivid, thought provoking imagery may be disturbing to some.

See what symbolism stands out for you and drop me a few lines about it.

I’ve always wanted to use this as a conversation starter for a professional development day on instructional improvement - but haven’t gotten up the nerve . . . the ground “beef” just doesn’t seem appropriate.

Hi Everyone (Anyone):  I’ve not made a post for a while - started taking some classes and every spare minute seems to find me with my nose in a book!  Anyway, I came across this quote in an article on the philosophy of educational leadership.  The article contemplated modernist and postmodernist applications to education and more specifically ed leadership.  The quote really struck a chord with me - lots of implications about how we do business . . . give it a read and see if it means anything to you:

 “Order, predictability, structure, rationality, and control have not freed the human spirit, ignited human passions or promoted human creativity, and this failure is taking a toll on personal lives as well as on organizational activity, social relationships and global conditions” (Sackney & Mitchell, 2002).

I’ve been working with a committee from our school division on developing an assessment protocol. I am wrestling with the following thoughts:

Why do we continue to try to provide assessment information to students with percentage grades? The easy answer is because our “Ministry of Education” requires the school to provide a percentage grade for credit classes in grades 10, 11 and 12 so they can be reported on the students’ official transcripts. However, the more disturbing answer is that the percentage grade is required to provide a sorting service for society. This really became apparent to me during several discussions with other educators over the past few weeks. Some of the arguments about proposed changes to our grading practices were couched in not impacting the chances of some students getting into university or impacting how scholarships are distributed. I may be cynical, but I don’t think it really maters, in the big picture, what the criterion for the sorting process is. As long as the sorting happens! Obviously this is contrary to what we strive to do in our classrooms—to provide rich assessment information to students to help them improve. How do we resolve this very strong conflict between providing sound assessment for learning information to students and parents vs. providing information for which gate-keeping decisions are based?

I am helping to plan a reunion for the high school where I work (and attended).  As I was thumbing through some things from yesteryear I came across this cartoon, drawn by a student, once published in our student newspaper.  In what year do you think this picture was drawn and why?  Feel free to add any commentary about the deep educational implications of this work : ) Check back next week for the answer.

I’ve heard people say that schools are the only places that a person from 100 years ago could be dropped into and still be able to recognize.  I have even caught myself nodding to this statement.  I had some time to reflect on this today and yes, I do believe that a person from 100 years ago would be able to figure out where they were if they were to suddenly appear in our schools, just as they would if they were to pop into a bank, police station or restaurant.  I know that the people, usually presenters at conferences, who make such statements, are well meaning and the intent of their message is that we need to continue to improve the way we help kids learn.  As educational professionals I believe we have an ethical responsibility to do so!  It is easy to make sweeping statements like education hasn’t changed in 100 years.  It takes more energy to observe how education has changed in 100 years.  What are the ways in which you believe education has changed and improved since the turn of the 20^th centruy?

I have been wrestling with the issue of whether it is appropriate to include “behaviour” as part of a student’s mark.  It is common practice for teachers to award students marks for good behaviour or to deduct marks for poor behaviour.  This is done as an attempt to motivate students to do things right, like coming to class with the appropriate items, having homework done and arriving on time.  Sometimes if is very cut and dry:  Students will receive two free lates, after that, one percentage point will be deducted from the student’s final grade each subsequent late.  Sometimes it is a bit wishy-washy:  Students will receive a mark out of 10 on their classroom participation and cooperation.  Whether the practice is to reward desirable or penalize undesirable behaviour, it impacts the student’s final grade in the course.  I agree that a student’s grade should reflect how well they know the concepts, targets, objectives, learning outcomes (or whatever else they are called) of the class.  I also understand that some courses have a larger emphasis on the affective domain, physical education comes immediately to mind, and consequently it is somehow more appropriate to include this domain as part of a student’s grade.  Certainly it is not less important for a math student to come to class prepared and participate in the lesson than a phys. ed. student.  So how do we properly assess behaviour?  Do we separate the two components completely?  Can they be completely separated?  Isn’t it important for the end users of the grades–the gate keepers to post-secondary education—to know the affective characteristics of a student, as well as their level of academic achievement?  What about the “soft skills” so sought after by employers, shouldn’t a student’s marks communicate something about their capabilities in those areas?  I know, more questions than answers . . . what are your thoughts?

Back to the power of vision . . . I know that leadership vision and the articulation of this vision is important in all organizations, including schools and school divisions.  I also know that often the leader’s vision differs from others in an organization.  A two part question for teachers:  1.  What is your vision?  And 2.  Do you share your vision with your students?

 P.S.  My vision:  School - a place where we help kids learn.   (simple, maybe - but really think about it . . .)

One theme that continues to resurface at this conference is the importance of leadership vision in the learning organization.  My question is how do you go about articulating this vision so others get on board? What about succession planning so the vision doesn’t die when the leader moves on?  Ideas . . .?

Wed. July 18, 2007

Prairie South School Division’s Technology Learning Consultant Dean Shareski presented at the BLC07 conference in Boston. Dean’s Session was called “Beyond the Wow Factor with Google Earth” and focused on using the amazing mapping software applications that are available for free on the web.

It was comical when Dean introduced himself as being from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and asked if anyone knew where Moose Jaw is located . . . and then proceeded to show us where he lives on Google Earth – not just location of Moose Jaw, but also his house and the location of his office at Lindale School!
Click here for Dean’s wiki about the session.