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Archive for the ‘Professional Development’ Category

Has COVID Changed How Adults Learn in School?

Posted in Personalized Learning, Professional Development, tagged , , , on May 18, 2023| 5 Comments »

I have written numerous times about the impact of COVID on student learning. In 7 COVID Edu Trends That Will Stick I wrote about shifts from an increased focus on equity, to greater digitization of resources to permanent changes to how we think about time in secondary schools.

I have recently been thinking about the shifts we have seen (or not seen) with professional learning for the adults in our schools.  In preparing to be part of a panel for A Cross Canada Professional Learning Conversation, I reflected on The State of Professional Learning in Canada that was published in 2016.  One of the great challenges in education in often being precise when describing why jurisdictions are having excellent student learning outcomes.  British Columbia, and Canada more generally, is widely seen as a world leader in education.  Again, this is ground I have covered before, and don’t want to open debate on PISA or other measures, but it is safe to say, Canada is viewed well across the world for K-12 education.

Three areas of that 2016 report that I still think are crucial today to our collective success include:  our focus on diverse learners, the balance between individual and system professional learning, and the need for leaders to be fully engaged in the professional learning in a community.  I think if anything these three in particular (the report has a longer list) are more important.  The pandemic emphasized the learning differences within classes, schools and across systems.  The need to focus on the diversity of our classrooms is more urgent than ever.  And when it comes to who drives the professional learning, I think of it as a healthy tension between the individual, their school and the system – one needs a balance – to ensure teachers are more than independent contractors who share a parking lot, but also allow for personalization in their own learning.  And if it ever was acceptable to be a school or district leader and not be a learning leader – that time is now over.

So, what have I seen as COVID impacts on the specifics of adult learning?

Content – COVID and other social issues that took place simultaneously have accelerated shifts we saw pre-Pandemic.  We are seeing increased interest in Indigenous learning – particularly related to our local Squamish Nation. In addition, mental wellness and wellbeing, equity, diversity and inclusivity as well as early learning are all areas of greater emphasis.  

Format – I am not sure where the preferred format question will land.  We are seeing a lot of uptake of in-person learning opportunities.  It is hard to know if this is just still the novelty of not being able to do this for several years, or if it is a return to these events which were the cornerstone of professional learning pre-pandemic.  During COVID we saw a huge growth in digital skills for adults, and many are continuing to find professional learning online now.  There is a new balance that is not yet finalized between these formats.

Drivers – Just like with students, staff are looking for deeper personalization and more control over their own learning.  One of the larger societal shifts in COVID was the move to increased remote work.  Of course, teaching does not lend itself well to this.  It is largely an in-person profession with fairly standard hours.  That said, there are more options for remote or flexible professional learning.  And the use of technology (and the dabbling in AI recently) have staff wanting even more precise experiences.  Why go to a literacy workshop with 100 K-12 teachers when you can be connected digitally to a group of educators from across the province working at your grade with similar resources?

There is a digital expectation – just like there is with our students and it is one that we are still working on to support the adult learning.

When it comes to adult learning it is not a surprise their needs are similar to the student learning needs – they want a system that gives them some universal experiences, but also some deep personalization – that provides options for in-person and digital experiences.  It will be interesting to see where we are in 3 years – and if there is a snapback – will 2026 look like the National report of 2016, or will adult learning in schools have been permanently altered by the pandemic.

 

 

 

 

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This is Post 400

Posted in Change, Professional Development, tagged , , , , on January 12, 2022| 8 Comments »

I loved this quote above that I saw recently from Adam Grant.  It nicely summarizes what I love about this space.  I look back at posts I have written over the last twelve years and see how my thinking has evolved.  I was recently talking with my friend George Couros and we joked that we are two of the last bloggers out there.  While more people would read my posts a decade ago than do today, I never was really doing this for you – like Grant argues, I don’t blog for an audience, I blog for me.  I notice that the more regularly I write, the better it becomes.

I have written about the act of blogging a number of times over the years.  My list of reasons I had for starting this blog still hold today:

  • try to be transparent with my learning and leadership
  • model the “new way” many claim is the way students will learn — engaging with the world, and using digital tools to connect in ways we couldn’t connect without them
  • offer a different voice on educational issues from those in the mainstream media
  • work out ideas; get feedback, and push my own thinking

I would not be the person I am if I didn’t have this space to work through ideas.  And I have connected to many amazing people through this blog.

I still run across people who say they want to blog but they don’t have time.  They do have the time – it is just not a priority.  I have tried to make the case for more bloggers a number of times before.  I think for superintendents, it can really help to humanize the roll and make the position more accessible.  Here is a column from last year on Superintendents Blogging in the Pandemic and Beyond and one from 2018 Superintendent Blogging Should be a Fixture.  Of course, I think blogs are great for everyone – students, teachers, principals – anyone trying to work through ideas and create digital filing cabinet.

Here is some advice I gave to new and aspiring bloggers on blog post #150 that still holds true at #400:

  • be clear about what you will and won’t write about — it is easier if you know from the onset the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ behind your blog
  • it is a bit cliché, but write for yourself, not for what others may want; let the blog be a personal journal in a public space
  • do not be too ambitious with your writing — make plans to write once a week, or once a month and stick with it
  • use social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) to amplify your message
  • be thoughtful of the relationship between your professional role (teacher, administrator etc.) and your blog
  • think in blog posts — when you are at a conference, reading a book, or attending a meeting, begin to organize your thoughts and take notes like you are writing a story
  • the more voice you can have in your blog the more engaging it is for readers
  • be a storyteller — our schools are full of amazing stories waiting to be told

When I started blogging, I never really thought about how it would end.  And I don’t think I fully knew that it was actually hard to write regularly.  Anyone who tells you blogging is easy – is lying! But most important things are not easy.

And now 400 posts in, as long as there are new things to think about, and ideas to share and debate, I hopefully will be around for another 400 posts.

Thanks to all of you who continue to join me and connect with me in this space.

 

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Lessons of an Adult Student

Posted in Professional Development, tagged , , , , on June 29, 2021| 11 Comments »

It had been a while since I had been a student. I finished my Masters degree in 1999 – that was last century! At the time, I had imagined continuing on immediately into my doctorate. I actually visited a school and did a lot of research on programs, but other things began to take priority and I moved on.

The opportunity re-emerged about five years ago in conversations with my friend and mentor Dr. Yong Zhao, who was then at the University of Oregon, now at the University of Kansas.  And all the sudden, by the fall of 2018, we had a cohort of 17 students ready to do a Doctorate in Education through a Vancouver cohort of the University of Kansas. My fellow classmate, Gerald Fussell (I guess it is Dr. Fussell now) recently wrote a very good summary of our experience HERE that is a great read for anyone looking to better understand the doctoral experience or maybe join the next cohort.  I won’t cover the same ground, but here are some of my student lessons from my experience:

Sometimes You Need to Start Over

I wrote about eighty pages of my dissertation over the Christmas break.  It was most of my first three chapters.  I knew it wasn’t great.  It felt like I was pasting together a bunch of different ideas and trying to make it coherent.  I needed someone’s opinion, so I sent it off to my advisor.  He got back to me quickly, and we set up a Zoom call.  His advice – don’t try to fix it, start over.  I had assumed he would give me a list of things to fix, and that would give me a good to-do list.  I was not so lucky.  Well, actually I was.  I had all the ideas, my paper just lacked voice or energy.  It was bland.  Not trying to fix it was the absolute best advice.  Two weeks later, 70 pages had become 50 pages and it was a completely different paper – one that was something I was proud to have written.  We always try to fix and edit papers, but sometimes we just need to start over.

Don’t Lose Your Voice

The biggest problem with that first draft I discarded is that I was trying to write how I thought it should be written and not in my voice.  I write a lot.  On this blog and elsewhere, I publish thousands of words each month. And I know I have a casual tone, but I thought I needed to abandon that for my doctorate.  My advisor told me just the opposite was true.  So, in version two, my dissertation read more like my blog posts with my voice coming through. At first it was excruciating not to write in my own voice, and then the words just flowed when I could “just write.”

Grades Don’t Matter as Long as They are Good

I know grades in grad school don’t matter.  And I have spent much of my 25-year teaching career trying to elevate the importance of learning, and decrease the obsession with grades.  But . . . when all of a sudden you are getting grades again, it is the first (and sometimes only) thing you look at.  I was guilty.  I appreciated ongoing feedback until I got my grade and then I was done.  As long as the grade matched the expectation I had, I was no longer interested in ongoing feedback, I was ready to move on.

Professors Want You to Succeed

Again, remember it has been a while since I have been in school.  I think I have been jaded by television and movie characters of college professors over the last two decades. Every professor I worked with really wanted all the students to do well.  None of them wanted a bell curve, or for some to succeed at the expense of others, they just wanted everyone to do well.  Professors challenged me, pushed me, and made me defend my positions.  Especially as I approached some key deadlines over the last six weeks, they went above and beyond to help me hit targets, so I could graduate now.  

Study What Interests You

It sounds simple that you should study what interests you, but I hear from many people that they are not  even interested in their research.  I knew early on what I wanted to study, and it was something I had been wondering since I started as superintendent more than a decade ago, just what do superintendents really do?   I know what I do, but it is that the same as everyone else?   As I began to collect my data, I became obsessed by it.  I had the good fortune of having 59 of 60 BC School Superintendents respond to my survey so I had a complete picture of the province.   If I am going to invest so much time into research and writing, it should be something I care about.  And full credit to every professor along the way in the program who allowed us to design papers and projects that had direct relevance to our work in our school districts.  

Enjoy Challenging and Being Challenged

Having people disagree about ideas was one of the best parts of the program.  I find we don’t debate ideas well in the school system.  We debate people most of the time. Of course, this is so true in the state of world politics and is true in education, that we struggle to take an issue with ideas and we decide if someone disagrees they must be a bad person.   I also find in education most staff are fairly like minded.  So even our disagreements are superficial.  In the program, professors challenged me about my ideas, my data and my future vision.  And they encouraged me to pushback.  I can’t remember another time in my life this has happened.  Even my dissertation defense was loud and tense but engaging and never felt personal.   It is a skill I need to continue to work on as challenging others and being challenged made me better.

Break It into Smaller Chunks

We have all given this advice as teachers to students.  Take a large project and divide it up into smaller parts so you are not overwhelmed.  And a doctorate works with this strategy as well.  There are obvious milestones along the way to work towards.  In addition to individual courses, there is the comprehensive exams, the proposal approval and ethics approval that all serve as useful smaller benchmarks.  I would hear a new term to me often used – ABD – All But Dissertation.  This describes students who finish all the course work but never finish the dissertation.  I see different percentages cited online, but it looks like up to a 1/3 of all doctoral students might fall into this category in some programs.  I know there are a lot of reasons for why this fact is true, but the act of dividing a seemingly overwhelming 100 page research project into small, manageable tasks with obvious small victories sure helped me along the way.  We definitely build up the mystique of the dissertation. 

You Get Out of It What You Want

There are no financial or professional incentives for those of us in the K-12 sector in British Columbia to finish our doctorate degrees.  In some jurisdictions, you need a doctorate to be a superintendent, or you get a pay bump with the added credential, this is not true in BC.  It was interesting for our professors in the program as they universally described our mindsets and engagement as completely different from many of their usual students.  We were there because we really wanted to learn, be challenged, work together, and were driven by intrinsic motivators.  When your motivators are your own, you get out of the doctorate what you want.  You don’t have to do all the readings, or participate in all the discussion boards, or revise a good paper into a great paper.   But you can.  And apparently, we did far more than “regular” students. The program balances the old world of letter grades and credentials, and the new world of personal bests and ongoing improvement.  

Conclusions

I was thrilled earlier this month to successfully defend my dissertation, How British Columbia School Superintendents Spend Their Time, and complete the doctorate process.  I had the sense of accomplishment that Gerald wrote of in his post. I have heard comments before like “a doctorate doesn’t make you smarter.”  I get it and that is true at face value.  But doing my doctorate has made me smarter – it has allowed me to look at issues differently, read papers I would never have read, connect with experts I never might have known, be exposed to new ideas and write, write, write.

My full dissertation is available HERE under the Research tab on my blog site.  Over the summer I am going to take some of my main findings and share them in short, more casually written, and hopefully user friendly posts that will create conversations.  

Next Week . . . . a look at the gender differences in the superintendency.  

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Last 10, Today and Next 10

Posted in Change, Personalized Learning, Professional Development, tagged , , , , on January 14, 2021| 2 Comments »


I was recently part of an interesting national conversation “Future Proofing Education – The Past is a Prologue” with four other superintendents from across Canada. In 2011, early in my superintendency, I joined the C21 CEO Academy which is a national group of superintendents that meet virtually once a month and find other ways to collaborate on thought papers and make other connections. For those outside of Canada, this is always interesting, as education, unlike in most places in the world, is provincial in jurisdiction and not federal – though there are many linkages we have across the country.

At the bottom I share the video with thoughtful comments from my colleagues, Jordan Tinney, Pauline Clarke, Gregg Ingersoll and Elwin Leroux. Here is some of my thinking on the questions we were wrestling with:

What have been the most significant shifts over the last 10 years?

I think our school system has shifted far more than I would have imagined in 2011. If you walk into a classroom today, it very often looks quite different than a decade ago. I can’t be sure, but I am not sure we would have said that as boldly in the past. Did a classroom in 1995 look that different than a class in 1985? In 2011 we were immersed in the conversation of the WHY of change. We would show videos about the world changing around us and act as though we needed to convince those around us that shifts needed to happen. We felt stuck in a world where our system was regarded as one of the best in the world, but many saw the world changing. Flash ahead to today, and even without COVID, things have really changed. And it has not just been technology.

We all probably knew there would be new technology and students and staff would have access to modern gizmos, but beyond the technology, curriculum, assessment and pedagogies have really shifted. Of course this is never ending – we will never be done as the world is always changing. And I have been really struck that across Canada there is far more alignment among leaders. Yes, there are differences between BC, Manitoba, Quebec and the Maritimes but we have similar visions on the future of teaching and learning.

What do you notice about the pandemic shifts?

The first thing I notice is that the pandemic has been exhausting.

I haven’t necessarily worked more, but every day my work has been different than what worked looked like in the past. This is a great reminder for what our students, teachers, principals and other staff have been experiencing – doing new things is taxing. Of course, it is also incredibly exhilarating. We have also seen during this time that we can shift our school far quicker than we thought. We moved from in-person to remote learning over spring break, and since then have had multiple models. We redesigned secondary school timetables in August and we were ready for September. In the past we acted as though any of these changes would take years, but when there is a will and urgency to change shifts can happen.

We have also fully embraced new ways to connect.  Rather than superintendents being filtered by media and others, we have used videos and our written words to reach out to students, staff and families.  Full credit to my colleague from Surrey Jordan Tinney who has modeled the use of video to make a large school district feel like a tight community.  Everyone is thirsting for information, and school and district leaders are seen as honest brokers of information and many have used new platforms to build connections.  

It is also interesting to see the Federal Government now an active participant in education. With a billion dollars invested this past fall in schools, they too have been promoters of a national conversation. And then in classes we have really had to rethink time. With less in-person face-to-face time, what is really important to be done this way, and what can be done other ways. When in-person time is at a premium how does that change our system.

And a final change which I think has permanent ripples in our school system is we have become great partners with the health system. Because of COVID, I talk with, listen to, and share information with doctors, nurses and others in health every day. And I don’t think this should change post-pandemic. This could have lasting positive effects on topics from the overdose crisis to well being and mental health to physical literacy. Our new partnerships should be here to stay.


And what about the future?

My worry is that if we try to focus on everything coming out of the pandemic, we may focus on nothing and snapback to the system we had before. And as good as it was, nobody I talk with just wants to go back. I am curious about what do we need for a future world that is increasingly digitized and automated? If it is my magic wand, we will focus on 1) equity and our most vulnerable in our system and 2) the structures and delivery of secondary education.

And I often get asked what are the three things I think will stick post-pandemic. At least right now my list is:

• Digitization – we are not going to unplug our virtual classrooms – they are forever part of our experience
• Flexibility for students and staff – our kids and adults have had greater ownership over their learning and we have rethought time, this will continue
• Learning is often an outdoor activity – if it was the healthy thing to do to get outside during a pandemic, it certainly is as well after a pandemic


Interesting to see these three in combination as they may not seem to be aligned, but a future system with students outside more, owning their learning, and more digitally connected to the world is a pretty exciting system!

These are those kind of questions with no “right” answers, but are important to think about. We have one of the top education systems in the world, and we will need to keep pushing to keep it that way!

As I said with my last post – I am full of optimism.

Here is the video featuring my wonderful colleagues from across Canada (click on the photo to open the video):

 

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10 Years and Still Going

Posted in Change, Professional Development, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 27, 2020| 15 Comments »

The Culture of Yes turns 10 this month. 364 posts later, and here we are.

Starting this blog seemed like a natural fit.   In an earlier time I had been a newspaper columnist so was pretty familiar with organizing thoughts into 550 words at a time.   And in 2010 I was just officially starting as Superintendent so I was looking to differentiate myself and find a way to have a voice in a way that was authentic and made sense for me.  At the time I had a blogroll that was inspiring.  I would read Dean Shareski, or Will Richardson, or David Warlick and be excited.  The world of web 2.0 was booming and each post I read was opening me up to new ideas and a new world I was trying to understand.

The world of education blogs has really felt like it has had a boom and bust era.  My 2010 entry was just before the boom.  We had a community in BC of edu-bloggers including Chris Wejr, Elisa Carlson, Cale Birks, Dave Truss, Brian Kuhn and others.  It was just as the way we get education news was shifting.  Blogs were opening up classrooms, schools and districts to the community.  It was interesting to see what was being written in local blogs driving conversations in school and in the media.  What I saw in a blog post Monday, I would read in a Janet Steffenhagen story on Thursday in the Vancouver Sun.  The modern network was truly coming alive.  I also loved how blogging came alive in our schools.  We still have a number of staff blogging – including Cari Wilson who is still so great at posting every week!

And yet within 4 or 5 years the internet was littered with well intentioned but discarded educational blogs.   It is not as bad as it sounds.  Like with any trend or fad you get this huge growth, and then some people decided it wasn’t for them, and moved on.  We began to consume more through social media – twitter posts were far easier than 500 word blog posts. And as I wrote, the comments really slowed down (ironically that post about the lack of commenting has 86 comments). And the comments that came were not on the post but on Facebook or Twitter.  The conversation actually happened in multiple places which was not really a good thing – I would often think of a conversation of a post on Twitter, that these people should meet the people talking about it on Facebook, they would really learn from each other.  That said, my thanks to the close to 4,000 comments that have been shared directly on the site – they have challenged me, taught me and encouraged me.  I looked back at my first post – thanks to Brian Kuhn for being the first person to leave a comment.

In my first post I wrote:

It is an exciting time in education.  I feel like we are in the middle of a dramatic shift in what “school” looks like.  We will look back on this time as a pivotal point of change.  I look forward to sharing ideas, and connecting with those inside and outside our system as we work our way through it. 

And it was an exciting time, and is an exciting time in education.  This blog has really been career defining for me.  I love to look back at what I used to think and write about, how I believe some things more strongly now than when I wrote them and on other topics my views have changed – that is what is great about learning in public – I can share this.  And if nobody else even reads it, the act of writing down ideas and taking a position has been exceptionally powerful for me.

When I was asked to describe my blog goal, I have said, I know I am not the New York Times or Wall Street Journal of education blogs.  I am more USA Today.  And while we need the more formal writers, we also need those who are trying to be accessible to those not in education.   I have tried to be a serious thinker who doesn’t take himself too seriously.

Today, I love following other superintendent bloggers.  In BC I read everything that Dave Eberwein, Kevin Godden and Jordan Tinney write.  I just wish more of my colleagues would blog.  As my regular readers know, my doctoral research is around the role of the superintendency and I am fascinated by the role and the work.   I also really appreciate how supportive Jay Goldman and the AASA (School Superintendent’s Association) has been to regularly highlight superintendent blogs in their magazine and to take several of my pieces and work with me to convert them into magazine columns and articles. 

As to my posts – if I want to chase clicks, I find if I write about parenting and sports those fuel interest.  I really enjoy writing about both topics so it is fun to stir debate around them.  They are actually the easier posts to write.    My most-read post to date comes from November of 2010 on Stuart Shanker and Self-Regulation.  I have written about Stuart’s work a number of times, and it is an example of thinking that has really changed my view of education in the last decade.  More personally, my post Teacher during the 2014 teacher’s strike about my dad really sticks with me.  

And yes, every-time I still hit publish I feel anxiety.  I think my high school English teacher is out they’re noticing grammar errors (that was intentional).  And I worry (it has only happened a handful of times) someone will splice a  part of my text and re-post it social media to try to embarrass me or make a political point.  But my blog has changed me.   It has opened doors for me for work, it has introduced me to many new people and given me a platform to share.  Most importantly, it has given me voice and confidence.   I am still a proponent of having everyone write for the world, as we all have stories to tell and we want our children to feel this comfort from a young age.

So, to all who have read and engaged with me over the last 10 years – thank you.   Hopefully I have helped assure you that superintendents are actually human being and not just “those guys” in the board office.  I love our community and my head is full of ideas I want to write and think through with you in this space in the months and years ahead.

I look forward to the next 10!

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What Did I Learn From Anthony McLean?

Posted in Professional Development, SD45, tagged , , , , , on September 16, 2020| 2 Comments »

We have an Opening Day tradition in West Vancouver.  The first day back with staff we come together for a series of annual rituals and a keynote address from a speaker who helps set the tone for the year ahead.  Over my time we have had speakers from Sir Ken Robinson, to Natalie Panek, to Yong Zhao to Jennifer James.  This year we were fortunate to have speaker and actor Anthony McLean join us. And while typically we gather at the Kay Meek Theatre, this year, it was a virtual event – as all staff connected with Anthony and he set the tone for our year ahead.

With the international efforts around Black Lives Matter and calls for increased anti-racism education in schools, Anthony’s message resonated even more strongly than it might have when he was initially booked almost a year ago.  With all of the speakers we have had, it is easy to just be captured by their eloquence and joy, but I try to find a few key messages to take away as well.  Here are three keys that I took away from Anthony’s talk:

  1.  The Authors We Read – Anthony recalled how in school he read zero books from Indigenous, Asian or Black authors.  He made the argument that adding to the diversity of our libraries and learning resources was an easy entry point for us.  Rather than thinking we need to be an expert voice on a topic we might be nervous to lead because we are still learning ourselves we can amplify other voices.  I think back to my own school experience, and even through an English degree in university there was very little diversity in the authors that I read.  It is an easy opportunity to change-up some of the stories we share in classes and books we make available in our libraries.
  2. Separate the person from the behaviour – Anthony told a story about Mr. Rutherford (you can see a short version of the story HERE).  Anthony shared that he was not always the best behaved student.  What stood out for him was how in grade 10 his principal Mr. Rutherford separated his actions from who he was as a person.  This is a great lesson reminder for all of us.  We can be disappointed in behaviours or disagree with someone without them being a bad person.  Like Stuart Shanker told us several years ago in a different Opening Day talk, there is no such thing as bad kids.
  3. Community, Community, Community – When asked what he would focus on this fall with students heading back to school, including some who may not have been to school in up to six months – he said his focus would be on three things – community, community, community.  It is easy to get caught up in the notion that students have missed school and are behind so we need to double-down on the academics.  What our students say is that they have missed  the connections of schools.  And you can’t really get to Math and English if you have not first built trust and community.  Anthony was clear we should lead with curiosity and default to compassion. For us in West Vancouver, all staff have spent time learning about trauma informed practices before students returned to classes.

There was a fourth one that stood out for me, although perhaps not as global and lofty as the others.  Anthony did say, “sometimes pretending you are interested in what your spouse is saying, might save your marriage.” Probably some good advice there!

How we get better at anti-racism education is not simple.  What is useful about Anthony’s message is that he just encourages us all to enter the conversation.   Saying nothing is the wrong thing because when you say nothing you are actually saying something.  Locally I know there are a number of other helpful educators.  I appreciated the blog post by Abbotsford Superintendent Dr. Kevin Godden this past June (HERE) on the topic.  We spent one of our professional days focused on the topic of anti-racism, and we definitely have work to do.  Like with other issues of social justice, including the climate crisis, our students are clear they want us to do more.

Thanks to Anthony for helping us all enter the conversation and provoking us.  Like with many Opening Day speakers of the past I assume his messages will give energy to much of our work this year and beyond.

As a follow-up, over the last couple days Anthony posted an exceptionally powerful video on Instagram (HERE)  where he says, “I was wrong” about  some of his views on race.  The five minute video is powerful in the message around race but also so useful for all of us to be reminded that we can read more, learn more and think differently.  And there is real power when we can say we used to think X, but we were wrong and now we think Y.

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How Do BC School Superintendents Spend Their Time?

Posted in Change, Professional Development, SD45, tagged , , , , on September 12, 2020| 3 Comments »

Happy September!

There is a lot going on this fall in schools and I have no shortage of ideas to explore related to COVID and schooling, but as we head back to school I wanted to use my post this week to share my own learning plan as I also head back to school via Zoom at the University of Kansas. Hopefully later this fall I will complete my comprehensive exam and move to doctoral candidacy (regular visitors to my blog will see I have updated various tabs on my homepage with current content in preparation for my portfolio presentation).

The question that I am pursuing for my dissertation is really a simple one, just what occupies the time of British Columbia public school superintendents? It is a question that has interested me for a long time. I am entering my second decade as superintendent. And while I have a growth plan, receive regular feedback from the Board of Education, and have a job description that is covered by Board policy, the job does seem to be a bit what one makes of it. I followed two very successful longtime superintendents in West Vancouver, and all three of us have done the job very differently. In speaking with colleagues around British Columbia, it appears there are multiple ways to do the job well. I often hear stories of others describing the job, and while some parts sound familiar, others are inconsistent with how I spend my time. There must be some commonality and I am interested in just what is consistent among the 60 of us who hold this position in our province.  From spending time with our Board, to time in schools, to work in the community – just what is common?

And I think there is a wider interest in understanding what BC School Superintendents do. As my research has confirmed, we have one of the highest performing jurisdictions in the world and district leadership plays an important role in school success. And in our context, superintendents are hired by individuals boards who do so with complete autonomy. Understanding the similarities and differences in the work, helps to add to the story of learning success in British Columbia.  

And I like to think many others will be interested in this study. I am sure that I am not the only one of us in BC who wonders how their work compares to the work of their colleagues. Unpacking the impact of the superintendent’s gender, experience, and district size on the way he or she spends time will also be interesting. And it is a position with a high level of turnover (although not as much as many US areas), so for Boards who are responsible for hiring and educators who may aspire to the position better being able to articulate the daily activities of the superintendent will be useful.

I am basing my study on a 2011 study that asked a similar question in Virginia.  I will be surveying my 59 BC colleagues and following up with interviews.  Hopefully they will see the value and be able to carve out the time to assist.  I do think the information will be valuable for all of us.

I often get asked my I would go back to school.  There is no requirement for superintendents in BC to have a doctorate.  Hopefully you don’t think less of me if I tell you one of the reasons is so that I can be part of a re-creation of this iconic movie scene.  Have a great year everyone!

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My “Top 3” Lists for 2019

Posted in Professional Development, SD45, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 23, 2019| 6 Comments »

Welcome to the 10th “Top 3” List.  When I started blogging, one of the things I started with was this year-end list.  Everyone loves a year end list!  And this was intended to be a little different.  The categories change every year, some are education related, some are just silly.  To those who have been here from the beginning, or those who have joined along the way – thanks for being part of this digital community.  We do some serious work but do try to not take ourselves too seriously.

Previous Top 3 lists for:  2018 (here) 2017 (here) 2016 (here) 2015 (here) 2014 (here) 2013 (here) 2012 (here), 2011 (here) and 2010 (here).

Top 3 “Culture of Yes” Blog Posts which have generated the most traffic this year:

  1. It is Time to Ban Cell Phones in Schools?
  2. What do Superintendents do in the Summer?
  3. Reflecting on Competition

My post on cell phones really generated a lot of interest.  My thanks to the AASA who asked me to update the post for their School Administrator Magazine (HERE).  I often get asked how I come up with topics.  I am lucky that I have a lot of people around me that make suggestions.  The cell phone post was a result of me making a joke on Twitter around cell phones in schools, and then realizing sometimes there is a fair bit of truth when you try to make a joke.

Top 3 New Things I got to see when I was at work:

  1. Physical Literacy –  This work is the real deal.  I wrote my most recent post (HERE) on what I am seeing in our classrooms.  This is not just doing PE better.  Nor is it just getting kids to run around.  This is far more accessible that PE in a gym and far more purposeful than just being active.  And the work is having a huge impact in our district.
  2. FIT – Flexible Instructional Time.   The revised curriculum created new opportunities.  It started with thinking about careers differently.  And led to 32 minutes each day in each of our high schools.  This time gives students something they have continually asked for whenever we survey them – some flexible time as part of their formal school day where they have choice and voice – to complete assignments, collaborate with peers and receive extra help in a particular area.  HERE is a post I wrote on this earlier this year.  Even in just a few months, this has really helped shift culture in our high schools.
  3.  New People in New Places –  Good teams don’t rebuild they reload.  That is how I feel about our leadership team in our district.  And while I am now in my 10th year in my position, we have had the chance to continue to elevate and recruit some amazing people to our leadership team.  This year saw new Directors of Instruction with Ian Kennedy and Sandra-Lynn Shortall both starting in their jobs.  We also had a number of new school principals and vice-principals.  Yes, we lost some great people, but new people bring new ideas and new energy and that helps keep our organization fresh. Since I am not going anywhere I like that I can continually be surrounded by people from various places who want to push us forward.

Top 3 Things I got to go do when I wasn’t at work:

  1. KFC in Kentucky – Yes, I am still a vegetarian.  But getting to sit at a table with a life-sized replica of the Colonel at the Louisville Airport was kind of cool.
  2. Running in San Antonio – Our family runs (well actually races) every New Year’s Day.  This past year we were in San Antonio over the break.
  3.  Star Wars Ride-I know it kind of got mixed reviews, but the immersive experience of being in the Star Wars world at Disneyland was a lot of fun.

 

 

Top 3 Culture Building Traditions we have in West Vancouver Schools:

  1.  Opening Day – We are lucky in a district with about 7500 students and about 1000 staff we can come together for special events.  On the Thursday before Labour Day we have a district professional development day where we spend time for the first couple hours celebrating our district and being inspired for the year ahead.  Speakers in the past have included Stephen Lewis, Sir Ken Robinson, Natalie Panek and Jennifer James.  We try to link to a theme for the year – this past year it was physical literacy.  In August of 2020 it will be diversity and inclusion.
  2. Christmas Party – I know the office Christmas Party is largely a relic. We have this fun tradition of a district-wide party in early December where we celebrate the season, raise money for a local charity and raffle off holiday baskets to staff.  It is always a great way to get into the spirit of the season and a nice tradition that brings people together from across the district.
  3. Retirement Party – You can retire, but you never really leave the family.  While everyone hosts events for their retirees each year, the West Vancouver one always invites back former staff to join.  Some staff who have been retired for decades would never miss the annual event.  It is these types of connections that help newer and younger staff see the lifelong bonds that can come from teaching and community.

 

Top 3 Concerts I got to see:

  1. Paul Simon – while I got to see him retire from touring in the fall of 2018, it was a real treat to see him do a couple shows in California for environmental charities this summer, including his headliner act at Outside Lands Music Festival.  Hoping he might re-appear again somewhere this summer.
  2. Cher – I have never been a huge Cher fan, but her concert was incredible.  You got all the hits, and the costumes, and the over-the-top sets and a couple very cool duets with Sunny.
  3.   Judy Collins –  Judy is 80.  And she is still amazing.  Send in the Clowns, Both Sides Now and Amazing Grace. Wow.

I am a big live music fan.   I did also get to see “cooler” artists like Childish Gambino, Kasey Musgraves, Carrie Underwood and others but it is the storytellers and performers I grew up with while listening to the records with my parents that are still the best to see in concert.  Music has a way of taking you back to the first time you heard the songs being played.

Top 3 Somewhat Odd Lessons I have for any new superintendent:

  1.  If you asking people to give their time to come to workshop – no sandwiches.  Everyone loves pizza or sushi.
  2.  Never let yourself win any competition.  I know we are competitive people but nobody wants the superintendent to win the Halloween costume contest.
  3. Always have a $5 bill in your pocket when you visit schools.  There will often be a bake sale or something similar, and you have to make a purchase.  And you can’t ask for change.  Take this advice from someone who has bought several $20 brownies, rice krispie squares and chocolate chip cookies over his time.

Top 3 Quick Takes I have based on my school visits:

  1. Technology is really becoming invisible in classrooms.  This has been a change in the works for a number of years, but when I am in school I don’t really notice it.  It is there – there are students on laptops and other tools in use, but it is never the lead of the story in classrooms.  Listening to students they are not using “virtual” or “digital” ahead of classroom, portfolio or folder – a sign that it is just become normal.
  2.   Indigenous learning is expected across all grades and curriculum.  The curiosity of students and parents to better understand our land and our history is incredible.   We are lucky to have some wonderful leaders in our district and great partners in the Squamish Nation who are bringing this work alive in our schools.
  3.   Students want flexibility – sort of.  There is an ongoing tension between students desire for more flexibility in how they learn and when they learn, and the comfort they have from traditional structures.  We see this with the FIT time at high schools.  This is just a very modest change, and most have really embraced it.  Why FIT has been particularly successful is that the adults have been so committed to the change.

Top 3 TED Talks that I Have Told You to Watch Before and I am Doing it Again:

  1.  The difference between winning and succeeding

2.   3 Ways to Spark Learning

3.  Every Kid Needs a Champion

Top 3 Trends Our Students Are Part of that We Need to Pay Attention to:

How is this for an eclectic mix – from the  environment, to video games, to mental health . . .

  1. The Climate Crisis –  While16-year-old  Greta  Thunburg  became  the  symbol of the movement around the world, it is one that has legs in every community.  Students are asking hard questions and this is only going to increase.
  2. E-Sports – I wrote about e-sports earlier this year (HERE).  It is easy for adults to dismiss what is going on, but the stats are staggering and something we all should get us all to pay attention.
  3.  Well being – Students are becoming more comfortable talking about their mental health, and describing what they need to be supported.  And the adults are getting better with discussing their well being.  From the courses we offer to when we offer them, to the flexibility for students – in our commitment to well being, many of our structures will be up for debate.

Top 3 Ways I pushed myself in 2019 (these were all my goals in last year’s Top 3):

  1. Start my doctorate –  12 months ago I was just getting going.  Now I am half way through my course work and I am beginning to work on my major exploration:  How do BC School Superintendents Spend Their Time?
  2. More real visits –  It can be hard to make time for real visits.  These are what really help you understand what is going on in classrooms.  I enjoyed being in the water with our FAST students (lifeguards in training) this fall, and checking out our drama students at Sentinel and being part of several physical literacy lessons across our elementary and high schools. These visits give me great perspective on what is working in our classrooms.
  3. Focus on assessment –  We are having this great conversation around assessment right now – from students, to staff to parents.  Somewhere is all the excitement around report cards and letter grades over the last few years, this conversation moved to the background – it is now in the foreground again.  It is actually much harder than a conversation around letter grades – it is far more grey.  But it is a great focus for us to have.

Top 3 Things I am Going to do Less of Next Year:

  1. Social Media –  My interest in definitely decreasing all the time.  I check-in to my Facebook account once or twice a week.  I have shrunk my Instagram community and still use Twitter for work, but not nearly as much as I used to.  And I don’t think I am ready for a Tik Tok account.
  2. Coaching Youth Sports –  When I am not working, I spend most of my time volunteering in the gym with kids.  The modern sports parents are wearing me out.  Their intent focus on their own child and their visions of stardom and lack of appreciation for volunteers is sad.  Working with kids on teams still brings me great joy – but I am going to definitely be more choosy.
  3. Inviting People to Meetings –  I get it, when I invite you to a meeting, you feel obligated to attend.  I will do better about not having meetings for meetings sake.  I already have a reputation for short meetings and celebrating meetings that end early, now I need to get better at finding other ways that meetings to move work forward.

Top 3 Things I want Santa to bring for our school district:

  1. West Van Place for Sport –  We have been trying to build an artificial turf field and track in West Vancouver for close to a decade, but it took a huge step forward this year.  We can actually see the finish line.  It is truly a community effort with the School District, Municipality, Community Foundation all making sizable contributions.  And through a matching funds program from the Municipality they have been joined by many local business partners including Onni and Park Royal.  We are getting this done in 2020! Click HERE to learn more . . . we are still looking for someone who wants to make a donation to have their name on the marquee.
  2. A new Sentinel– I think a new Sentinel Secondary School has been on the wish list longer than the track.  Sentinel is a great school ready for an upgrade.  It is always challenging to know how much to invest in a school knowing it might be replaced in a few years.  We can always hope Santa has a Sentinel project in his bag of goodies!
  3.  A Provincial Teachers Contract –  The support staff have settled both locally and provincially this past year.  And our teachers have settled their issues that are bargained locally this year as well.  Hopefully early in 2020, a provincial teachers settlement will be reached and we can continue to focus on students and learning without the distraction of labour challenges.

Thanks for making it right to the end.  All the best for a wonderful 2020!

Chris

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Superintendent Blogging Should Be a Fixture

Posted in Change, Professional Development, tagged , , , , , , on August 1, 2018| 10 Comments »

 

This post is a copy of a column in this month’s AASA School Administrator Magazine

WAY BACK IN 2012, it seemed like almost everyone had a blog. At the time, it appeared a blog (or weblog as it was first known) was a requirement to be relevant in the ever-changing digital world. If I had looked then into my crystal ball, I would have said all school staff and students in 2018 would have blogs. These would be spaces of reflection and used as portfolios for one’s body of work.

I would have predicted we would be increasingly wired to comment on each other’s work and gaining skills in giving public, constructive feedback and commentary.

While blogging isn’t dead, its fate in the schools of 2018 is not what I envisioned. A lot of people have tried blogging, and while some continue, the internet is littered with abandoned blogsites in education. Yet, in this ever-changing landscape, I notice the number of superintendents blogging seems to be challenging this trend and more are taking up a blog all the time.

Beyond Blogging

During the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, I worked with a group of student reporters covering the sports action through their blogs. Witnessing these student bloggers was defining for me. I saw them producing content for the real world, getting immediate feedback. I watched the quality of their writing improve as they felt the pressure of writing for a public audience. Following this, our school district began a process that led to every student having a blog. But over the past eight years, some things have changed.

We have moved to collaborative spaces like Google Docs that allow multiple participants outside the blog format. Instead of seeing blogs as “home base” for content, we use platforms such as Instagram, SnapChat and YouTube to house our photos and videos.

Once everyone started writing, people began to comment less and less on other people’s writing.

The theory was that adults would model how to comment on blogs and kids would observe and follow. Unfortunately, adults have not always been worthy role models. One need only consider the number of news sites that have shut off comment sections because of the immature and often hateful remarks.

Further, in K-12 education, another initiative is always on the doorstep, making it difficult to sustain momentum. Whether it is place-based learning, outdoor education or robotics, all compete for valuable learning time and they may crowd the space.

Sharing Voices

So if true, why is it I find my blog more valuable than ever? I think our unique role makes the blog format particularly powerful to share our voices for three reasons.

The superintendent’s message often is filtered through media, unions and other groups in a community so the blog gives direct access to everyone without interpretation.

The superintendent can be seen as more “real” rather than the elusive boss in the school board office. This role is often times seen as distant from the classrooms and schools, and blogs allow them to be relevant and connected. Blogging allows the superintendent to be an influencer whether at the school water cooler or out in the community.

Superintendents believe strongly in modeling. If we want students and staff to have the courage to share their ideas publicly and be modern learners, we need to showcase this behavior.

A Connecting Factor

The superintendent position can be a lonely job. I find the digital community of superintendents to be a powerful force for staying connected to colleagues. From Canadian colleagues like Kevin Godden from Abbotsford, British Columbia, or Chris Smeaton from Lethbridge, Alberta, to Randy Ziegenfuss from Allentown, Pa., or Pam Moran from Charlottesville, Va., I regularly check in on dozens of blogs that help create a sense of community. (Check out these blogs and others on the AASA Member Blogs page.)

I love blogging. It gives me a voice. It is a place for me to work through ideas. It is a portfolio. It is my home base. And while I no longer say everyone needs to have one, it remains a wonderful space for education leaders to model new ways of leading.

This post is updated from an April 2016 post – Maybe I Was Wrong About Blogging 

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Can I Learn Anything from a Canadian?

Posted in Change, Personalized Learning, Professional Development, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 30, 2018| 13 Comments »

Interest in the education system in British Columbia and Canada generally seems to be at an all time high. Likely, in part driven by high PISA (International testing) results, edu-tourism is flourishing and the world is very curious about what is going on in Canada.  This week I am giving a talk to an audience of largely American Superintendents, which has forced me to try to crystallize exactly what it is in our part of the world that is so interesting.

When we look at structures, our Canadian system has a lot in common with our US counterparts.  We have locally elected Boards of Education throughout most of the country, we have local accountability, a mix of involvement of different levels of government, generally high community engagement in education and strong teacher associations.  We lack the Federal involvement in education present in the United States and seemingly most places in the world, and generally don’t have the ability to raise any funding locally for the school system.   Throughout North America you can find quite a bit in common with how we organize education.

Our system seems to strive for this highly sought after combination of strong equity and high quality.  We seem to have dismissed the idea that one needs to either have one or the other and instead we have committed ourselves to both.  And we also seem to have this unwavering belief that no matter how “good” our system is, we need to continue to change, grow and get better.  There is a sense that we can always improve.   Trying to tightly describe the BC or Canadian uniqueness is a challenge, but I see these as some of the areas that stand out:

We Are Doing What We Always Say We Should Do

The entire BC curriculum has been redesigned.  The prescriptive nature of the curriculum has been reduced with a greater focus on big ideas and the allowance of flexibility and choice in learning for teachers and students.  Interdisciplinary learning has been embraced allowing the teacher a greater opportunity to be creative and innovative in the design of their learning experiences.  Core competencies are the foundation of the curriculum with a focus on communication, thinking and personal and social competency.  Now these areas that we have always said are important, but often in the background have been pushed to the foreground.  And finally, the curriculum has been Indiginized and a focus on the First Peoples Principles of Learning has been emphasized throughout the province.

A former Superintendent colleague of mine, Mike McKay, would often say, “Will What We Know Change What We Do?” – with our system we are trying to make the answer now.

Curriculum

The shift in curriculum is as much about the how as the what.  The move to big ideas, has seen a move to more inquiry based learning.  The curriculum is seen as relevent and ever-changing.  Rather than being static as it has been in the past, it is seen now as nimble, being able to shift as the world shifts.

Assessment

BC does not have high stakes assessment.  Students in British Columbia write Foundation Skills Assessments in grades 4 and 7 in reading, writing and numeracy and then a literacy and numeracy assessment in grades 10-12.  These results are shared with students and families and inform practice but they do not appear on report cards, nor are they part of any school marks.  Teacher judgement is highly valued and they along with schools and districts design a range of assessments (more than just traditional tests) to support students. Increasingly passion projects, portfolios and capstone assignments are a large part of a student’s program

We Have Learned From Others

When I look at our system in BC now, I would describe it as a “mash-up” of what we are seeing around the world.   One can see elements of Finland, Singapore and New Zealand in our system.  International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement have also clearly been influential.  Teachers have looked locally – to schools in their district and our province, to Alberta and Ontario, to High Tech High in San Diego, and many other places and they have all influenced what we do.  BC has always prided itself on being a highly networked province and this extends around the globe, and our system reflects this.  We have taken good ideas and made them ours for our context

No Franchises

BC has this delicate balance of having a lot common with others but not sameness.  Schools and districts share some tenants but are not trying “scale” work to all be the same.  It is this idea of networks.  We are trying to connect and build networks, focusing on diffusion, not replication.

It is hard to pull the BC or Canadian story together.  I don’t think anyone can listen to someone speak about our system or visit our schools and say, we should be like them.  Just as we haven’t done that as we looked to evolve our system.  We are immensely proud of our school system, and it is wonderful to be somewhere that recognizes the world is rapidly changing, so as proud as we are of our past and present, our future needs to change to ensure we continue to have this pride.

Below are the slides I am using for this presentation this week.  It is a work in progress, so any thoughts to help make these ideas more clear are always appreciated (if you are viewing this via email you may need to go to the website to see the slides).

 

 

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