Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘West Vancouver’

So, What About Handwriting?

Posted in Change, SD45, tagged , , , , , , on February 15, 2011| 42 Comments »

George Couros, a principal from Stony Plain, Alberta, and my digital colleague, has done a nice job of starting a conversation last week on his blog about cursive writing here.

I definitely want to continue this conversation and, while I often write with a view or a position, I am really writing this with less of an opinion and with more of a question today.

I do come to the conversation with my own biases.  I don’t know how to handwrite.   I was slow to learn how to print and given how messy it was — and still is — I never really took to handwriting.  I don’t think I’ve missed out on not knowing how to handwrite. I can read handwritten work, sign my name but, beyond that, it has been a life of printing and, more recently, keyboarding.

I recently discussed this with several teachers in our district who suggested that handwriting is a huge hang-up — particularly for boys — and creates a level of stress that interferes with their learning.

The instruction of cursive writing is not simply teachers clinging to past practices, it is part of the curriculum.  In Grade 3, one of the prescribed learning outcomes is:

legible print, and begin to show proper alignment, shape, and slant of cursive writing

This is an important starting place.  When I posted to my Twitter network for information (pro and con) on the use of cursive writing in schools, here are some of the thoughts — and humour — I received:

“printing is the norm when it comes to using technology so cursive writing is, in effect, obsolete; no need to teach it”

“maybe it could be part of “history” class”

“it’s not the Middle Ages anymore”

“the tactile feel of pen on paper is important”

Several posters also suggest that handwriting prepares students for high school and university exams which, in large part, are still done by hand, although I think this is less true every year.

I was also pushed to a number of others who have written on the topic.

Dana Huff makes the point:

. .  .this complete inability to use cursive concerns me. It shuts off a whole realm of communication to students (even if it is, as has been argued, an archaic means of communication). For example, census images I’ve read while researching my family history were all taken down in cursive, and very few are available as transcriptions. I also experienced the recent joy of reading a diary my great-great-grandmother kept in 1893-1894 — in cursive.

Beth McKinney makes the argument, supported by a number of others:

While students do need to be digitally competent to succeed, teachers need to continue to teach cursive handwriting according to much of the research . . .  Though the repetitive drills that accompany cursive handwriting lessons may seem outdated, such physical instruction will help students to succeed. These activities stimulate brain activity, lead to increased language fluency and aid in the development of important knowledge.

Finally, like George Couros in his post on this topic, I am intrigued by the quote from Kate Gladstone:

The more education a child had been allowed to have before his/her handwriting was changed over to cursive — in other words, the fewer months and years s/he had spent learning/using cursive — the larger his or her vocabulary was (as measured by the number of different words used in the student’s writing over the course of a year).  The differences were huge — the kids who’d been required to do the least cursive had vocabularies THREE TIMES the size of those who’d been required to do the most cursive.

From this, for some reason, the researchers decided that the second half of 3rd grade was a great time to change everyone’s writing to cursive (which, as the researchers pointed out, basically means putting all other aspects of written English on hold in order to go back to scratch and start all over again with the ABC). An even more logical next step, though, would be to wonder why any age-group at all should be required to spend time on what amounted to an exercise in vocabulary-stunting (not that cursive in itself is bad for your vocabulary but you’re unlikely to increase your vocabulary while that and other things have been put on hold for the sake of changing your handwriting style). The fact that the vocabulary-stunting effect was worst for those who’d been changed to cursive the earliest can — as the researchers noted — be at least partly explained by the fact that any educational damage has worse effects when imposed on younger, more impressionable, more ignorant students.

It was also interesting, in reading the articles shared by my network, that many suggest teaching writing as a precursor to printing, such as Samuel Blumenfeld.  This, as I have found out, is quite common in other languages.

As our education system evolves, we are often looking to wedge more into the day–be it physical activity, digital literacy or a range of “21st Century skills”. The really hard part is always letting go. For our Grade 3 students beginning to learn cursive handwriting now, and graduating in 2020, will it be something they need to have learned to engage in that world?  If we were building curriculum not from our memories of our learning, but from a blank slate, would cursive handwriting cross the bar to be included?  Do teachers and parents hold onto handwriting as important because it is part of our teaching tradition? What about the research that supports the value of cursive writing, even in an increasingly digital age?

I look forward to the continued discussion.

Read Full Post »

Feel Free to Stay a While

Posted in Professional Development, SD45, tagged , , , , , , on January 30, 2011| 32 Comments »

I spent 25 minutes in a Spanish 9 class this week.

I think it was one of the longest class visits I have had in the past three years.  I realize my visits have become a quick walk-through — usually, no more than five minutes. When I am in schools, I do my best to visit seven or eight classrooms for a chance to see part of an activity, or to ask a few students to explain in their own words what they are learning.

I do attend some of the teacher workshops and share in what they are doing, but I very rarely take the opportunity to observe the flow of a class.

I had an amazing experience this week, in Ms. Michelle Metcalfe’s Spanish 9 class, at West Vancouver Secondary School.  I had been encouraged to attend by Principal Steve Rauh; I have been meaning to visit for a while.

I had the opportunity to see, first-hand, some very interesting work Ms. Metcalfe, as well as others in the Languages Department, have been doing using Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) as the core of their language instruction.  TPRS, places the focus on fluency over grammatical accuracy; some of the results are very impressive.  Students who have been taking Spanish for only five months were doing free-writes of up to 100 words.  It was agreed, the success West Vancouver Secondary is having with TPRS is worth sharing and, this spring, we will find professional development opportunities for other teachers who want to learn more about it.  I am also very curious about other experiences with this relatively new approach to language acquisition.

TPRS, was only part of the story though.  My time in Spanish 9 reminded me of what master teaching really means.  Ms. Metcalfe had every student engaged.  Spanish 9 draws an interesting mix of students. From my secondary principal days, I know the course does attract those interested in learning a second (or third, or fourth) language, but it has also attracted many learners who have struggled with French, and who need to find another language to help stay on the university path.  Watching Ms. Metcalfe connect with the students, carefully timing her questions, checking for understanding and seamlessly moving between activities, is something that cannot be learned in a book.   All students were truly engaged, leaning in towards her, and nobody was buying out.   Ms. Metcalfe  used every second of her class — right up to the bell.  As she later explained, “We just can’t waste any time”.  The experience epitomized the power of mixing the art and science of the profession.

So, some of the big ideas I left with:

  • we need to expose TPRS to more people for consideration
  • seeing students truly engaged in learning is very powerful
  • excellent teaching is a joy to watch
  • I need to find time to be in classes for more than five minutes

Thanks Ms. Metcalfe, Mr. Rauh, and the students of Spanish 9 — you engaged me in my best learning of the week.

Read Full Post »

Parent as Participant

Posted in Personalized Learning, SD45, tagged , , , , on January 26, 2011| 23 Comments »

I am often challenged by discussions about “21st century skills” or “personalized learning” as they are often quite theoretical.  The audience is provoked by videos documenting the changing world outside of school, and we make lists of the skills we want from our graduates in our ever-changing world.  There is usually head-nodding approval of the skills we want going forward.

These conversations do have value and it is important to continue to show the longterm vision of where we see the path of learning and schooling going in the years ahead.

We also need to get to the hard work of making the ideas concrete.

Another challenge of the sessions, is that we often use them to highlight the one student, one teacher, one parent, one principal modelling a new way — and lament how we seem unable to have these ideas spill out into other settings.  Usually we get to a point, and someone says, “this is great, but how is it scalable?”

So, we need to begin to define baselines we all can commit to on the journey.

There is no one particular document I see as the textbook for where we are going, but in West Vancouver, we are using A Vision for 21st Century Education as a starting place for conversations.

And this past week, in meeting with our elementary principals, we took on the challenge of addressing what many see as the most challenging suggestion in the document — the changing roles for parents.

In a section entitled “Shifting Roles” the document suggests three:

• From Passive Student to Active Learner

• From Parent as Supporter to Parent as Participant

• From Teacher as Lecturer to Teacher as Guide

Here is how the changing role for parents is described:

The increased role of the parent also has to be acknowledged. With greater information availability, parents can be more involved with their children’s education progress, overcoming challenges, and supporting learning outcomes. They can learn more quickly and more intimately what their child is doing at school. They can help guide decisions and more rapidly respond to challenges.

Technology allows far more access to the student’s progress than the periodic report cards and parent teacher interviews of today. Parents are already beginning to expect greater feedback than in the past.

Furthermore, parents have to recognise their educational role outside the classroom. A student’s out of school learning is critical. “Students only spend 14% of their time at school. Indeed, learning is an inherent part of everyday life: each new experience, at home, at work, or during leisure time, may throw up a challenge, a problem to be solved, or a possibility of an improved future state.”

While we envision a stronger role for parents, we are aware that not all students have the family support structures that will allow such involvement. BC needs all of its students to have the best possible opportunity and any implementation of this vision should take such issues into consideration. The system must be structured in such a way that those who face societal barriers such as being single parents or immigrant parents are able to participate to the degree they are able while the system incorporates the support structures necessary to ensure the students get the support they need.

There are lots of people who needed to be brought into the conversation, but we started to draft out what a five-month, one-year and three-year action plan would look like if we wanted to shift parents as supporters to parents as participants in our elementary schools (we also agreed not to say — “we are already doing that”).

Before the end of June we should:

– communicate the vision around “parents as participants”

– use blogs, newsletters and other media to engage staff, students and parents in a discussion about what this would look like

– schools develop their own vision for parents as participants in their schools

– communicate specific examples and rationale to parents about the key role they play in their education

– working sessions for staffs as to how best to encourage parent involvement in learning rather than just volunteer work

– input from parents through a survey to help design plans for next year

By the end of the 2011-12 school year we should:

– use September Curriculum Night for discussion and feedback

– create school/staff action plans in school grade-alike groupings using feedback from end-of-year surveys

– continue throughout the year, on a monthly basis, to highlight the importance of parent participation using various communication tools: website, meetings, email, twitter, etc.

By the end of the 2013-14 school year we should:

– consider big changes to structures that provide myriad opportunities for parents to share their expertise and passion — this needs to be intentional, purposeful and ongoing

– develop ongoing Community Forum dialogues , surveys, and other systemic structures to find out how best to involve parents in learning

– explore different models for schooling (alternate schools, self-paced, etc) where parents could be true partners in the learning — different kind of choice than what we have typically focussed on around programs (French Immersion, Montessori, etc.)

So, that is our start, just our first thinking after one meeting.  We are committed to going deeper with this work, and moving from vision to action.  We have lots to do.  Our next steps include working with other staff and parents to make sense of this very complex notion.  It is also clear, while this is a specific focus on one of the “shifting roles”, it has a major impact on the roles of students and educators (tangible thoughts on these changes will be in future posts).

We are very curious what others are thinking as they look at how we embrace shifting roles in our system.  We would love others to help fill in the gaps as we move forward with designing our plans.

Read Full Post »

Making Transparency Concrete

Posted in Change, SD45, Social Media, Technology, tagged , , , , , on January 12, 2011| 24 Comments »

Transparency has become a well-used (in fact, over-used) mantra in the workplace — and, in the public sector in particular, there has been an increased demand for transparency.

For me, transparency promotes accountability, accessibility, and it provides timely information for students, staff and parents about what their school district is doing — it demystifies the work of schools and school districts.  Most people in the community have a clear idea of what teachers do, but as we move farther away from that direct relationship in the class, there is much less of an understanding of what non-enrolling teachers, school administrators, district staff and Trustees do.

My goal around transparency is to help bring greater understanding to these important roles and to the full scope of the work we do in our district.

My own evolving list of strategies to increase my transparency, as well as that of our district, include:

1) Giving the Community Multiple Channels of Communication: including traditional methods like letters, telephone calls, and new methods through social media and text messaging.

2)  Giving Out My Contact Information: Many were surprised when I gave out my contact information to everyone.  It is on my business card, it is posted on my blog and on our district website.  I don’t want anyone to ever say they don’t know how to find me.

3)  Build a Relationship with Traditional and New Media: Some people are easy to contact when they have good news to share, but can’t be found when there are more difficult issues.  It is often said that education is poorly treated by the media — we can change that by not complaining and by engaging the media.  This includes both traditional print media and new media — dismissing edu-bloggers as ‘not influential’ would be a huge mistake.

4) Sharing my Cell Number: I remember, 15 years ago, when teachers were getting e-mail addresses at my school.  Some teachers were adamant about keeping their e-mail addresses private — they were private e-mail accounts and they would only share their e-mail on their terms.  This was and is ludicrous, since the district email is not a private e-mail; it was/is a work e-mail and our work is working with the community.  My cell phone is also provided by the school district, so it  is my work phone.  So, I don’t really get the idea of not giving out this number, and this is also reminiscent of the e-mail discussion from 15 years ago.  I can always choose to answer the phone, but I would much rather have people find me on a mobile number.  I look forward to my office phone completely disappearing one day.

5)  My Calendar is Not a Secret: I do have some confidential appointments on my calendar, and they will be labelled as such, but I am fine sharing my calendar with anyone who is interested.  I know most people in the school district, let alone the community, have only a limited sense of the work I do.  The more people who understand the work — the greater appreciation for the work.

6)  Creating Personal and Corporate Identities: This is subject matter for a future post about how we can balance our own personal identities in the context of our district identities.  I am mindful of the separation between my own identity and that of the one in the district — but they are also closely connected.  FYI, I don’t have access to post to district Twitter or Facebook accounts — this is done through our Communications Officer.

7) Meet at Schools: Whenever a teacher or administrator wants to meet, I do my very best to do it at their school and not in my office.  While this is not always possible, most of our schools are within 10 minutes of the board office, so, on the most part, it can be done. As well, I often use these out-of-office meetings as an excuse to visit at least a couple of classrooms — it gives me a better sense of the tone in the school.  The more I can connect “as a real person”, the better.

8)  I Share a Bit About My Life: I have four kids, the oldest two are in school.  They attend public schools — I have a personal interest in a great public school system in BC.  This is a careful balance, but we have public jobs and people appreciate knowing some of the things in life, beyond the job, that drive us.

9)  Tell My Story in My Words: There are a lot of reasons why I blog, and one of them is that I can share my messages — unfiltered.  I don’t have to worry about being misquoted, or hope that others will share ideas in a timely way.  My blog allows me to connect in real-time to the community.  It is also a place for discussion and dialogue.

10) Think Twice if it Needs to be on E-mail: Rather than sending e-mails with information to groups of people, if there is an appropriate place to post the information publicly and share the link with those who would be most interested, I prefer to do this.  One tool I am using is SlideShare to post Powerpoint presentations publicly, rather than e-mailing the presentations to those interested.  I am amazed how many times people have stumbled on information I have posted publicly, and who really appreciate the content.

I have said that transparency will be a key aspect of everything I do, as well as regularly asking questions like, “How could we do this in a more public and engaging way?”  There is a lot to do and this list will continue to evolve.

I am curious about how others promote transparency in education.

Read Full Post »

Truth About Leadership

Posted in Personalized Learning, Professional Development, SD45, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 8, 2011| 10 Comments »

We have just launched a new teacher leadership series in West Vancouver.  Building on some of the fine work that has come out of other districts, over the next several months, we are bringing teachers and administrators together to explore the attributes and opportunities of leading learning.

To support the conversations, all participants are reading the latest book from James Kouzes and Barry Posner, The Truth About Leadership.  Kouzes and Posner have been powerful forces in the discussion about leadership for the last 30 years, and this new book is a reaffirming roadmap.

They write:

as much as the context of leadership has changed (in the last three decades), the content of leadership has not changed much at all.  The fundamental behaviours, actions, and practices of leaders have remained essentially the same since we first started researching and writing about leadership

There are many lists on leadership — but I do like the lists of “truths” that Kouzes and Posner share:

1. You make a difference

2. Credibility is the foundation of leadership

3.  Values drive commitment

4.  Focusing on the future sets leaders apart

5.  You can’t do it alone

6.  Trust rules

7.  Challenge is the crucible for greatness

8.  You either lead by example or you don’t lead at all

9.  The best leaders are the best learners

10.  Leadership is an affair of the heart

Given the title of my blog, this quote from their book also resonates with me regarding leadership:

You have to say yes to begin things.  You have to say yes to your beliefs, you have to say yes to big dreams, you have to say yes to difficult challenges, you have to say yes to collaboration, you have to say yes to trust, you have to say yes to learning, you have to say yes to setting the examples, and you have to say yes to your heart.

Our commitment to investing in “leading learning”, — bringing together interested teachers and administrators on a regular basis, is not breaking new ground — there are excellent models in almost all districts.  It is, however, exciting as we build our program and structures within the West Vancouver context; particularly, given the current, global conversations about what teaching, learning and schooling should look like in the future.

Our first session was well-received — and the commitment here is that this series is not a one-off — this work is too important and it will be part of what we do moving forward; I left with confidence in new strategies to try as I work with staff, students and leading learning in West Vancouver.

For those interested in a greater sense of the work we are doing, the full slide deck from the opening session Leading Learning – Building Understanding for Leaders is embedded below:

Thanks to our facilitators: Sue Elliott, Audrey Hobbs-Johnson and Nancy Hinds.

Read Full Post »

New Beginnings

Posted in Change, SD45, tagged , , , , on January 4, 2011| 24 Comments »

It’s the New Year and, with it, a new position.  Having spent the last 14 months as the Superintendent-in-Waiting, I start January as the Superintendent of Schools for the West Vancouver School District.

This past fall, I had the privilege to speak at “Opening Day” — a professional development day for all staff in our district — the week prior to school opening.  At that session, the outgoing Superintendent, Geoff Jopson, shared thoughts on the last decade and I spoke about what is ahead.  As I start ‘for real’ in the role, I want to come back to some of the themes — a collection of beliefs, values and commitments.

On Working in West Vancouver:

It is a great honour for me to serve in this community as a teacher and as the superintendent.   I love that on most days, most people are at least a 9 out of 10.  We love what we do; we love who we do it with, and we love where we do it.  The district and community are large enough to feel part of a greater entity, but small enough to be completely connected.

On Being a Teacher:

It is funny that we often use different words for “Teacher”.  We have teacher leaders, lead teachers, principal teachers, support teachers, helping teachers, mentor teachers, and sometimes we take the word teacher out altogether — and have educational leaders, among a range of other terms.  I am good with “Teacher”.  It is who I am, and it says it all.  The rest is about the different roles we have, but “Teacher” describes who we are.    I don’t think we actually need anything more.  And while teachers sometimes fall victim to profiling in the media, and while our profession is asked to do more and more, it is still the greatest profession in the world — and there are few things better in life than being called a teacher.  What we do makes a dent in our world; it matters, and makes it a slightly better place in which to live.

On My Plan as Superintendent:

And what is it that we do, and will continue to do?   I have often been asked about “what will be your plan as superintendent?”  I know in many places gimmicks are quite fashionable — a particular program or approach that will be the be-all and end-all. We hear this a lot from the United States as they talk about No Child Left Behind . . . if only we all just did Smart Reading, or all had laptops, or used EBS, or played first and then ate lunch, or had a particular bell schedule, then our system would move forward and students would graduate in even greater numbers.  These are all worthy and can be powerful initiatives, but there are no magic bullets.  It is the hard work in the classrooms everyday — the mix of science and art; teachers taking what they know about what works, combining this with their skills, and building relationships with their students — this makes all the difference.  In the end, and more than anything else, it is the relationships that matter.  The relationships we have with each other, and the relationships we build with parents and students.

On A Culture of Yes:

It is the “culture of yes”, we have and will continue to foster — one that embraces new ideas and new ways to look at learning and organize learning; a “culture of yes” that supports innovation and creativity for both learners and teachers, knowing this is how we will continue to evolve.  It is a “culture of yes” that touches on the passions we entered the profession with, and that may have sometimes been lost along the way, but hopefully, found again.

We have an amazing community in West Vancouver — and it is exciting to take on this new role.  As I said at the end of my presentation in August, “Let’s go new places.”

Read Full Post »

Our Four Big Boxes for Professional Learning

Posted in Assessment, Personalized Learning, Professional Development, SD45, Social Media, tagged , , on December 10, 2010| 4 Comments »

 

The question most often asked in education is “where are we going?”  It should be such a simple question – but the answer is actually very complex. One challenge is, when you try to do everything, you may end up doing nothing well. And then, when you select a few areas on which to focus, people may feel they are being excluded.

In West Vancouver, I have presented on four major areas of professional focus. While we will always have content, and need to be well-versed in changes and updates, we are focusing less on the “what” and more on the “how” and “why”.   With that in mind, here are our four, big boxes for professional learning which the district guides and supports:

Strong assessment practices:

At its core, our work around assessment is similar to that in almost all jurisdictions — a focus on formative assessment.  We are now in our fourth year of supporting teachers around Understanding by Design (UbD).  I have described this as one of the least-sexy professional development activities we do.  It is hard work, time-consuming and for those who commit to it, a fundamental change in practice.  We are lucky to have our own UbD guru, Sue Elliot, to lead these sessions.  Beyond UbD, our work in assessment is largely teacher and school-based.  The Network of Performance Based Schools has been an encouragement for assessment projects, for many of our teachers — notably, a group of teachers from Rockridge Secondary, who have had their work highlighted around the province, and have also taken their presentation to China.  Assessment is also the core of collaborative time at our schools, including some excellent work at West Vancouver Secondary.  Of the four boxes, assessment is likely the one we have spent the most time in over the last three years.

Instructional expertise:

If assessment is the box we have spent the most time in over the last three years, instructional expertise is the area where our time commitment has diminished.  Particularly, when it comes to issues of classroom management, this is an area that can really help.  As we have focussed on backward’s design (for very good reasons) for our lessons and units, we have placed a lesser emphasis on professional development around instruction.  Throughout B.C. you can hear comments like, “We have already done Barrie Bennett.”  We know there are some strategies which work better than others, and we need to come back to them.  Robert Marzano has a great list (here) covering high-yield strategies.

Child development expertise:

This is an area of focus that likely would not have made the list only three or four years ago.  With the implementation of Full Day Kindergarten and StrongStart Centres, there is a clear policy move in this area. There is also mounting research about the key role the early years play in setting up children for the rest of their life.  We have become versed in the Early Development Instrument (EDI) and are working with our local preschools in new ways we would never have considered five years ago.  This spring we will welcome Dr. Fraser Mustard to West Vancouver for a Community Forum focussed in this area.

21st century learning

I don’t love the title — it feels dated and cliché.  From a district perspective, this is largely connected to digital literacy supporting teachers with the skills to have students create blogs, wikis, discussion boards and other spaces that promote skills like critical thinking, collaboration and creativity (see here for a full list of “the 8 Cs”).

This is not a surprising list.  It is probably very similar in most progressive jurisdictions around the world.  As we talk about it more, hopefully, it will help to create a framework for our work as professionals.  I have written previously (here)  about our wonderful model in West Vancouver, balancing the importance of individual, school and district professional learning.

Read Full Post »

Seth Godin, the Two Percent and Education

Posted in Change, SD45, Technology, tagged , , , , , on November 10, 2010| 12 Comments »

I love how Seth Godin uses his blog to succinctly articulate ideas with a straight forward, common sense approach.  Seth, is an author and public speaker and I find a number of his posts have ramifications for education – something I thought when reading his recent post Alienating the 2%.

I find we often spend hours thinking about, worrying about, and strategizing over, the group Seth refers to as the two percent:

If you have fans or followers or customers, no matter what you do, you’ll annoy or disappoint two percent of them. And you’ll probably hear a lot more from the unhappy 2% than from the delighted 98.

I am not giving away any trade secrets when I suggest that as we propose innovations, we often have the faces of particular students, educators or parents in mind – wondering how they will respond, knowing that they often relish their role in Seth’s 2%.

Here are just three of the issues in education (as well as in the West Vancouver context) that seem to fall into the two percent challenge:

More Feedback, Less Marks – We have had almost universal appreciation for how teachers and schools are embracing the use of feedback through formative assessment, and in turn, results are improving.  We have heard the concern that this approach to assessment has the greatest benefit for weaker students, thus shrinking the gap on the spectrum between those at the top and those at the bottom.  This is great – except if you are at the top – the old way was working great for you and this new way, while it still works well for you, has just increased your competition for university.

Wireless Technology – On one level, it is a trust-in-government issue (can we really trust Health Canada’s statements on safety), and there is also some pushback around whether these “gadgets” are really necessary.  We can lose sight on the conversation about what we are trying to do – provide access to information and collaboration through web-based, secured learning environments; provide assisting technologies to enable students with special needs to work with their classmates; connect with classrooms in other communities, provinces and countries, as well as to utilize digital texts, and extending learning beyond the traditional bell-to-bell of school.

Embrace First Nations Education – West Vancouver has very few First Nations’ students.  As of the September count, we had about 30 students who self-declared out of our 7,000 student population.  We are making a concerted effort to work with our local Squamish Nation, to better support our First Nations’ students, and also improve the understanding of all of our students about the Squamish Nation.  For some, this is an add-on, or an initiative that is only about a small number of students – most of us see it very differently.

Back to Seth:

It seems as though there are only two ways to deal with this: Stop innovating, just stagnate. Or go ahead and delight the vast majority.

Sure, you can try to minimize the cost of change, and you might even get the number to 1%. But if you try to delight everyone, all the time, you’ll just make yourself crazy. Or become boring.

I am committed to not being boring, or having West Vancouver become stagnate.  Whether it is continuing to embrace formative assessment, supporting wireless technology to transform learning, or more involvement with our local First Nations, for starters, we need to keep the 98% in the foreground.

The easiest thing to do in education is nothing.  There is something sadly reassuring about our children’s education looking like our  K-12 education experience – I heard once that the best advice to a vice-principal who wanted to become principal was to make sure nothing changed because nobody would complain, and in-turn, everyone would say you are doing a good job.

We have to be better than that.

Read Full Post »

Home Reading Goes Digital

Posted in Change, Personalized Learning, Technology, tagged , , , , , , on October 31, 2010| 3 Comments »

How best to use new technologies to support our primary students is an issue we are wrestling with in our district.  As teachers and schools experiment, some thoughtful and innovative practices are developing.  One that is worth highlighting comes out of Irwin Park Elementary School.  They have taken home reading and moved it into the digital age.  What I really like about the initiative is that it doesn’t simply replicate what has been done in the paper-based world on computers, but allows collaboration in a way not possible without the technology.

The program comes from the primary classes of Maria Yioldassis and Leslie Dawes and has been supported by the school and by our District Principal of Technology and Innovation, Gary Kern. 

This project exposes students to digital text and introduces them to reading online in a school context.  It also allows students to collaborate and share their experiences with other students. 

The teachers have students read digital texts they find on two popular sites, Starfall and Tumblebooks.  Both sites provide text at various reading levels and accompanying visuals.  Once students finish reading the books, they make brief comments on what they read, a process that can first be done in class, and then be repeated at home (see screen shots below). 

Some of the findings from this initiative include students having become self-confident in navigating through their e-books, choosing an appropriate book, reading the book, and then sharing what they have read through the website.  This process has been replicated at home and also during choice time within the classroom.

Teachers have also reported an increase in student confidence with online material; an increased awareness of what others are reading, and an overall sharing and appreciation of books read.

This very simple idea is spreading in West Vancouver. This fall, professional development days focussed on digital literacy; a number of teachers throughout the district have become comfortable with creating similar class spaces for their home reading programs. Many who are very interested in using this technology in their classes see this as a wonderful entry point – it is not an add-on as home reading is already going on. In addition, it allows parents to participate; it gives students greater ownership of their own learning, and it models the collaborative skills we want to build in students throughout their schooling. 

What we are finding is the entry point for most teachers with a digital presence is as a one-way communication: informing parents and students of upcoming calendar items, class news and homework.  What is exciting about this Home Reading program, something we are calling a “next practice,” is how it engages students and families with the technology.

There is still a lot to explore, particularly with our youngest learners and how best to use technology to support their learning, but projects like this one are very exciting.

Read Full Post »

Professional Learning . . . The West Van Way

Posted in Professional Development, SD45, tagged , , , , on September 27, 2010| 3 Comments »

Today is our first meeting of the year with school professional development representatives from all West Vancouver schools.  This group of volunteer teachers meet on a regular basis to share their successes and challenges and help to evolve our very impressive model.  This group is chaired by the West Vancouver Teachers Association (WVTA), Professional Development Co-Chairs, Karen Harmatuk and Sue Elliot.

Here is a one page overview of the Professional Development model in West Vancouver (scroll on the right to see the entire document):

Our Professional Development Model, or the “Collaborative Model” as it is often described, helps guide all of our work in the district.  Our core values genuinely guide the work:

•1. Our primary learning focus is on improving student learning

•2. We work collaboratively on district, school and team goals because teaching is too difficult to do alone

•3. Our work is supported by current research

The model is built around our students and improving student learning.  It also makes it very clear the best learning is collaborative.  I was reminded of the power of collaboration this past week as “Learning Teams” from Pauline Johnson, West Bay, Cypress Park, Irwin Park and Ridgeview spent a morning together looking at digital literacy.

Our professional learning model in West Vancouver is really quite simple, but important to always come back to as a guide.  As district, school, or individual professional development grows, it is important to ensure these three strands are continually supported.

Every year we look at “how we can strengthen the collaborative model.”  The model is messy – but, so is good learning.  With all the talk about personalized learning for students, that is really at the heart of what we are trying to do with the adults learning in our district.  It doesn’t mean that every staff member has an individual, unique plan, but rather they have a personalized plan that blends together district, school and individual needs.

For all of our educators, it starts with our professional growth program.  The description from 15 years ago, and the purpose of teacher growth plans, is still very relevant today:

The purpose of the Professional Growth Program is to support the professional growth of teachers for the continuous development of instructional practices in order to enhance student learning in West Vancouver.

Like all the work we do either as individuals, collaborative learning teams, schools, or as a district, at its core is the improvement of our students’ learning.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts