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Archive for June, 2018

Some Thoughts on Students and Change

Posted in Change, SD45, tagged , , , , on June 25, 2018| 7 Comments »

One of the best parts of June is attending all of the graduation ceremonies in our schools. There is such a great energy and these events are full of nostalgia and excitement. I have used this space several times before to share some of the messages I have left with students as I got to address the grad classes. And I want to wrap-up this school year by doing that again.

In all the talk of schools being slow to change, I am struck how students are driving change around two key social issues of our time – that of Indigenous Education and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.  As adults move slowly, students just move and seem almost confused about why we are waiting.

The other topic I come back to this year is the positive choice so many families are making for public education.  In a community where families have more options than in most other places in the country our families overwhelmingly choose public education.  They see what their children get from a public school education, and equally important what they contribute to the system through their participation.

Taking out some of the school specific notes and other pleasantries, here are some of my key notes from this year’s grad speeches I have given:

I began doing the job of Superintendent when this year’s graduates were in grade 4.  And while you may know me best as the person responsible for not giving you any snow days during this period of time, I have had the chance to see our schools really change.

Your graduation looks very different from when I spoke to graduates in 2011.

I want to highlight two key social areas, really where you and your fellow students have shown the way for the adults.

The first area is Indigenous Education.  During your time in our schools we have moved from Indigenous Education being something that is studied in grade 4 and 11 to something that is integrated in all of our work.  We started with cultural projects, but moved to real human connections.  We were guided by the Truth and Reconciliation Report in our country, and students, like you, have led the way.  We are on the way to Reconciliation because of your leadership – helping guide the adults.  I am a Social Studies teacher, and 20 years ago, never mentioned Residential Schools in my classes, we all know now its place as part of our history.

The other area I want to highlight is another issue of social importance, the work around sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI).  When you started school, there were arguments in British Columbia around books in schools which showed a range of different families. We have come a long way and again students like you have led the way.   Conversations from washrooms, to gay-straight alliance clubs to curriculum that teaches our diversity have at times seemed hard for the adults, but again not for the students.  When I am told that young people don’t have a huge impact on our values – I see the SOGI work and know they are wrong.  You have made our schools more open, more tolerant and more loving than they were even a decade ago.

And your steadfast commitments going forward will ensure the few loud voices around us who want to move us backwards will not win the day.

So, some things have changed – but others haven’t.  We are so deeply proud of our public schools in our community.

I know families have choices they can make on school – and my thanks to all of you for choosing public schools.  Whether you are going to work, for a gap year or off to college or university we hope you are academically prepared and more importantly prepared to be citizens for our world.

It is cliché, but it takes a community.  In West Vancouver, which is really like a small town, it takes the outstanding staff, committed and supportive parents, and dedicated students to make this system flourish.

My thanks to all of you for doing your parts.

It is a great honour to serve as Superintendent in West Vancouver.  We have the reputation as the finest education system in the country.  And each day I see it come alive in our schools – from academics, to athletics to the arts.  Thank you all for your contributions to this reputation and to our community.

Thanks again for reading, engaging and challenging this year here on Culture of Yes.  I will likely drop in for a post or two in the summer and back at full capacity in September.

Happy Summer.

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In Defense of Knowing Things

Posted in Assessment, tagged , , on June 18, 2018| 12 Comments »

Here is a quick quiz, put these in order from most to least important for students to be focused on in school:

  • collaboration
  • critical thinking
  • creativity
  • problem solving
  • knowledge
  • communication
  • flexibility
  • leadership

This is a quiz I was given recently in a room full of Superintendents.  We started with our #1 answer.  I selected creativity.  It was a popular choice, but so was critical thinking and problem solving.  We were then asked to give our last place answer.  As we went around the room, everyone was saying knowledge, until it came to me.  I said flexibility.  I had knowledge in 4th of the 8.  Basically everyone else had it in 8th.

Two thoughts.  One – this is a terrible quiz.  You cannot take any of these items in isolation, their power is how they work and connect together. Two – knowledge is unfairly getting a bad name.

The quiz bugged me.

I appreciate the sentiment that goes into activities like this.  The goal is for everyone to say “knowledge” is the least important and to think about if this is true, is it reflective of the systems they are leading.

There is a version of this 21st century learning talk I have given before. It goes something like this , “Particularly with changes in technology, we all have access to facts at our finger tips, so school becomes less about the transmitting of facts, and more about the making sense of them.”  This has been some of the exciting shifts in schooling over the last couple decades.  We no longer need to spend classes recording notes in our binders off the overhead, instead we can engage in activities that allow us to work with the facts that we all have access to and go deeper with notions of collaboration, creativity, problem solving and the others attributes that are on the list above.  The growth and value given to core competencies in British Columbia is part of this positive trend.

That said, knowing stuff is still important.  And while Jeopardy-style knowledge may be less important now and schools should rightly spend less time on memorizing dates and reciting poems from memory than when I was a high school student, you cannot do all the other things on the list without knowledge.  The amazing growth in inquiry-based learning has been a phenomenal development in schools – but inquiry is nothing without knowledge.

I have become particularly attune to this lately, with the craziness over fake news, and the like, which is mostly coming from the United States, but also in pockets here in Canada and other places around the world.  I still think it is important to know stuff.  When my kids read the paper or watch the news, I want them to have the knowledge of what has happened in the past, so they can be critical of what is happening today.

I am definitely not advocating we go back to our system of events 20 years ago.  The progress of schooling has been great.  I am wanting to be sure as we rightly shine a light on the range of talents we want for our children we don’t diminish the value of knowledge.  Knowing stuff is still cool.

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Play The Trap

Posted in Change, tagged , , on June 7, 2018| 3 Comments »

When I get asked about my advice for June, I share a hockey metaphor – “Dump the puck in deep and play the trap.”

June is a great time in schools.  It is full of celebrations.  There are track meets, music concerts, year-end field trips, awards ceremonies, final exams, graduation ceremonies and more.  And the energy, oh the energy!

So what is with the hockey metaphor?

For non-hockey people, it is probably first worth explaining what it means to play the trap.  Playing the trap became synonymous with boring hockey particularly in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.  A team, often to protect a lead (but sometimes for the entire game), would line up their players in-between the blue lines, making it very difficult for the other team to generate any offense.  Rather than playing a free-flowing game, they would dump the puck in the offensive zone and often only send one offensive player in to chase the puck.  It was seen as highly successful, so successful (and boring) that rules have been changed to try to stop teams from using the strategy.

And what does this have to do with schools in June?

June is great in so many ways in schools!  In addition to the list above, it is also incredibly stressful, a time when people are all tired – late night followed by early mornings at school, when high stakes exams are being written, when plans for summer and the fall are being finalized, and when everyone is just a bit on edge.  To be blunt, in June I find students, staff and parents say and do things they wouldn’t do at other times of the year.  Everyone is looking towards the finish line.

I have written before about the good times in the school year to think about changes in school.  My June advice is that this is not the time to be aggressive with new ideas, changes or a time people really want you to help them think differently.  When a situation looks to be heating up, I would encourage everyone to “dump the puck in deep and play the trap.”  Maybe wait at least a day to respond to “that” email, or suggest a meeting in early July.  I find everyone has a completely different disposition even a week after school is out.

June is crazy.  Crazy good.  But crazy.

And sometimes the best offense, is not being more aggressive, but playing a good, disciplined defense.

So take some advice from Lou Lamoriello and his New Jersey Devils of a couple of decades ago, and take a defensive strategy – it just might help you win a championship!

 

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