Personalized Learning

The great debate in education, particularly where I live in British Columbia, seems to be Personalized Learning or Personalized Education. There was an #edchat chat this Tuesday with this as the topic.

The focus for the chat was based on the following question,

“What do we mean by the personalization of education & is it desirable & achievable today?”

Of course, the people participating in the chat are already believers in life-long learning, engagement, and motivation of students.  As a result, the conversation was a little skewed and one-sided.  Some people did, however, make some very important points about personalized learning.

First, I’d like to share some initial thoughts on the meaning of Personalized Learning…

davidwees ‏@davidwees tweeted, “Personalized learning for me means that the student is required to do more of the thinking in the classroom.”

Top Hat Monocle ‏@TopHatMonocle tweeted, “Personalization of learning means education is student-centered, a systematic change from the common industrial-age model.”


Cale Birk ‏@birklearns continued by saying, “Personalization is finding multiple ways for students to demonstrate their learning rather than a simple standardized test.”Cale Birk ‏@birklearns wrote, “To me personalization means connecting concepts in such a way that it is engaging and meaningful for students.”  and, Cale also wrote…

@cybraryman1 tweeted, “Would love to see personalized learning so children could follow their passions, have more choices, collaborate more & learn globally.”

To me, personalized learning is really about choice: choice in topics (or strand of a topic), choice in how students want to learn about a topic, and choice in how students want to demonstrate their learning.

Why is personalized learning important in today’s schools?Continue reading “Personalized Learning”

School is Home

While I have always known it, from personal experience, this year made me realize once again just how important school is for our students.  School is a safe place for many students.  The ONLY safe place.

Our students know what to expect, for the most part, from school. They know what to expect from their teachers and classmates.  They know they will be listened to. Their stories will be heard. We will laugh and joke with them.  They know that they can come to any of the adults on staff with any troubles they may have and we will help them. We will listen to them and give them advice. We will also ensure that things that need to be dealt with are dealt with in a reasonable and fair manner.

They know they will be fed at school. They won’t go hungry here.  They know they can come to school at 7:30am for breakfast.   They know where they can go to get a snack for recess and they know the lunch program will provide their lunch.Continue reading “School is Home”

Learning From My Little Girl

Friday was the last day of work for me before I began summer holidays.  So exciting!  As is our family tradition, it was Friday, so we headed down to Vancouver as we do every other Friday night.  This time, we headed to Stanley Park, specifically.  This is our favourite place to go as a family. It’s just so beautiful and going there each week, really makes us realize how fortunate we are to live in such a beautiful place.

Unfortunately, this Friday night included an accident that would end up in the emergency ward.  My seven-year-old daughter was being her usual monkey-self on the monkey bars. This time, however, she was trying something new. She was trying to skip 2 of the bars (she’s already mastered skipping on bar). She made her way back and forth on the monkey bars a couple of times, but as she was turning around at the end, she slipped and fell. She landed on her tailbone and let out a very loud scream. She was holding her arm.  On her way down, as she fell, she slammed her elbow into the platform she stood on when getting onto the monkey bars.

It was not good.

We tried to assess the situation, asking Trista to see if she could bend her elbow.  She straightened out her affected arm and bent it – not flinching.  Hmmmmm….this made us wonder about the seriousness of her injury. We decided to make our way home.  Once home, we had another look at her arm and was surprised to see just how swollen it had become.  A trip to the ER was in our near future.  After a quick change (into something a little warmer), Trista and I were off to the hospital.

We didn’t have to wait too long before we were triaged, had x-rays taken, and then was told that Trista had indeed suffered a break. She had broken her elbow.  I’d never heard of such a thing.  She would need surgery, but would have to wait until the next morning for that to happen.  She had an IV inserted for pain relief medicine to be given. And then, I helped bend her arm into place so the doctor and nurse could put on the temporary cast for the night.

              Continue reading “Learning From My Little Girl”

Most Important Thing I’ve Done This Year

As another school year has come to an end, it is a time to reflect on the year, what worked, what didn’t and what you would like to focus on for the following year.

For me, was quite a year that was a year full of firsts.

This was my first year at this particular school.  It was the first time I’ve worked at an Inner-City school.  It was the first year being connected.  It was the first year sharing this connectivity with others.

My friend, previous colleague, and my daughter’s Grade 1 teacher this year, Karen Lirenman (@lirenmanlearns) wrote a blog post where she reflected on her year and then asks her readers, “What is the best thing you’ve done this year?” This question made me ponder my own year and what  the best thing I did this year professionally.

So, how is it one determines what the BEST thing they have done in a particular year? For me, it comes down to the following sub-questions:

What has had the greatest impact on others?

What has helped spread my message in a positive, meaningful way?

What have I done that will continue to have positive impact.

After much contemplation, I think that the best thing I’ve done this year is help to inspire others. For me, this is key. This is meaning.  This is what helps spread the word. More than that though, it is how I have inspired others that really matters.  I didn’t even realize that others were being inspired until some teachers started to express to me how they appreciated my leadership style this year.

One teacher wrote me a note in which she expressed that I was very good at motivating everyone in my quiet way.  She went on to say how powerful this motivation has been on others.  Another teacher talked with me on the last day and said that she felt that, “You gave me my wings and encouraged me to fly”. I did this, she felt, through modelling my own learning, sharing it with others, asking questions, and encouraging everyone to take risks. She feels that this year, she changed who she was as a teacher. She became   more of a facilitator. Her classroom has moved from teacher-directed to student-focused and directed. Many others expressed their gratitude for a great year and how they appreciated my quiet, honest, forthright, positive, student-centred, caring, relationship-focused leadership style.

Many of these teachers are looking at their teaching and personal learning differently.  THOSE are powerful game-changers.  It is inspiring this “game-changing” that makes me proud. It is inspiring teachers to think about what they do, try new things, and reflect on these things that makes me proud.  These are the things that will make the long-term difference in the lives and education of our students. These people now become fire-starters for others in our school.  One of these inspired teachers, has even already told me about who her “pet-project” is going to be for next year. She is going to attempt to mentor this teacher with regards to 21st Century Learning and teaching.

What makes inspiring others so great though, is how they, in turn, inspire me.  Each one of them, when they try something new, explore something, take a risk, ask a question, reflect on their practise, inspire me.  They inspire me to keep working hard, to keep learning, to keep taking risks and to keep modelling my own learning.

I really look forward to what next year brings!

So, now, I pose the question to you,

What was the most important thing you did this year?

 

Reflecting on My Goals

In March, I completed my first 100 blog posts. As a way to acknowledge this, I wrote a series of blog posts focusing on ten new learnings or inspirations I had through my blogging journey thus far. 10 posts. 10 inspirations in each post. 100 new learnings. My final blog post of the series focused on ten things I wanted to learn about or focus on in the near future.

After almost two months since the final post in that series, I thought it was time to reflect on how I have done with the goals that were presented in that post.

  1. Evernote – I’ve used this a lot more. While I do have a lot more to learn about Evernote, It has become my go-to note-taking app.
  2. Dropbox – I’ve set up a school account and created folders for all the teachers and support staff in that account. This has allowed students to work on the iPads and save their work to Dropbox (if the particular app they are using has ths option). Again, while I have figured *some* things out with Dropbox, I know I have a lot more to learn.
  3. Cloudon – Other than opening a few documents in this app, I have not explored it much at all.
  4. Blogsy – Ths blog post is written using Blogsy. :-). I am impressed by how easy it is to use. It is very user-friendly. In fact, I think it us easier to add a photo using this app than using the regular WordPress site.
  5. Podcasts – This is still on my to-do list.
  6. More Webinars – I am still working on watching more Webinars. I signed up for some during the day, however, being a vice-principal in a very busy inner-city school made it virtually impossible to attend these Webinars. Kids always come first. What I really need to do is find some archived Webinars to watch in the evenings. Do you have any suggestions?
  7. Incorporate Technology into Staff Meetings – We are planning our Administative Professional Day with our staff to take place this coming Monday. Part of this day will include reflecting on the current school goals, discussing this year’s school data, and then collaborating to decide on goals for the upcoming year. I am going to incorporate technology into this part of the day. We will use the web 2.0 tool, called edistorm to brainstorm ideas independently and as a group. Here are a few screen shots to demonstrate what we will be doing.Continue reading “Reflecting on My Goals”

Focusing on the Positive

One of my greatest strengths, I’ve been told, is my ability to focus on the positive instead of dwelling on the negative. I see challenges as opportunities to grow and learn.  To get better. To improve. To demonstrate my strength of character. To lead. I make the conscious choice to always remain positive.

The following are some of the positive things happening for me at work right now:

  • A team of 12 teachers and admin in our school came together to make our Innovative Learning Designs Team for our school.
  • In the team of 12, there are 4 different groups, each having different inquiry questions which they are going to focus on answering over the next two years.
  • Together, we put together a proposal for an Innovative Learning Designs grant and I am happy to say that our team was successful with our proposal and received $25,000.00 to purchase mobile technology to support our inquiry questions.
  • As a team, we collaborated to decide on the best ways to allocate the $25,000.00 in grant money and placed our order this past Friday.Continue reading “Focusing on the Positive”

To Lead is to Live Dangerously

About 1 week ago, I began reading, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading, by Heifetz and Linsky.  It was a recommendation that I think will be very beneficial and will help me as I continue to develop my leadership skills.

Here are some powerful-to-me quotes from the introduction that struck me:

“To lead is to live dangerously because when leadership counts, when you lead people through difficult change, you challenge what people hold dear … – with nothing more to offer perhaps than a possibility.”

“Moreover, leadership often means exceeding the authority you are given to tackle the challenge at hand. People push back when you disturb the personal and institutional equilibrium they know. And people resist in all kinds of creative and unexpected ways that can get you taken out of the game: pushed aside, undermined, or eliminated.”

“However gentle your style, however careful your strategy, however sure you may be that you are on the right track, leading is risky business.”

It is very risky because no matter what you do, even if you try hard to do everything right, other people can impact your leadership – and how other’s perceive you. An important lesson to always keep in the back of your mind: perception is reality. In December, I read a powerful blog post by Jordan Tinney (@jordantinney) that resonated with me.  In part, Jordan writes,

“Knowing oneself is imperative; however, it may be that your ability to understand how others perceive you that will be a more powerful tool to help you be a better leader.”

This quote is so very true and transformative if leaders really take the time to reflect on what this quote (and the rest of Jordan’s blog post) means for them.
Continue reading “To Lead is to Live Dangerously”

Mother’s Day Reflection

I have celebrated eight Mother’s Days (if you count the one when I was pregnant with my daughter who is now 7-years-old).  I am very fortunate to have 3 wonderful children: Trista (7), Pauli (4), and Carson (1).  I am proud of each one of them for many reasons. When I became a mom, I became a better person and a better educator. I strongly believe this to be true. I thank my children every day for the joy they bring me and the opportunity to be their mom each day.

Each year, I vowed to myself that I would take time on Mother’s Day to reflect on the year and write a note to each of my children.  They are the reason I get to celebrate Mother’s Day, so why not take a bit of time telling them how much they mean to me and how fortunate I am to have each of them in my life (sappy, I know). This year, I have written my notes to my children in my blog.

Dear Trista,

You are my first-born child, my only little girl. You are so kind and caring to everyone, always willing to help someone in need. This year, you have become a wonderful reader and writer. I am impressed each and every day when you share your reading and writing with me.  You make me so proud because you always do your best. You are kind to your school-mates. They can always count on you to be a nice friend who includes everyone. I don’t think I have ever heard you say an unkind word about another person (well, maybe your brothers). You are a very good big sister, being caring, kind, and guiding them to be the same way. Thank you for being you: sweet, loving, caring, inclusive, kind, smart, helpful, and enthusiastic about everything.  I love you so much!         Continue reading “Mother’s Day Reflection”

Inspirational Speaker

Last week, we had our annual Administrator’s convention for our district.  It is always a great time to get together, network and connect with one another.  This has been especially important this year because it has been, in many ways, a more challenging year due to labour difficulties.

Our convention is a yearly event that includes a keynote speaker on Friday morning and another speaker on Saturday morning. This year, our speaker on Friday was outstanding. Michael Wesch was inspirational. He really put the buzz words “21st Century learning” into perspective. He demonstrated how it could be done.  He showed us through photos and videos what “engaged” really meant and looked like – for both students and teachers. He was a wonderful story-teller and engaging speaker, who did this in a humble manner. (Don’t mind the pirate hat in the photo to the right – the theme for the convention this year was pirates.)

Michael showed us a number of videos throughout his presentation. He showed part of the video he made in his basement. This viral video now has more than 4.5 million views: The Vision of Students Today.

Michael Wesch talked about how important it is to move our students from becoming knowledgeable to knowledge-able. Information is there and we have to teach our students how to access and leverage that information. But, it is more than that, according to Michael Wesch. We need to inspire a sense of wonder in our students (and teachers). He showed this amazing video about wonder, where people in Wellington, New Zealand experienced the sense of wonder through the first snowfall in over 30 years. Isn’t this the kind of powerful sense of wonder we want to inspire in our students and teachers?Continue reading “Inspirational Speaker”

Global Connection

Things have been rather busy lately, as you can see by my lack of blogging.  There has been so much going on at home and at work.  I have so much to share, but very little time to do so.

I would like to tell you about a project with which two of our grade 5 classes have been involved. It is called: Ingreenious Inventions (click to visit the wiki).

Two of our Grade 5 classes, in Surrey, BC, Canada (1), are doing this project with two Grade 5/6 classes in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, U.S.A. (2). Take a look at the map below and you will see the locations of our two schools.

I was in one of the classrooms when the groups of students first met each other via Skype. To say it was powerful learning by all, would be an understatement.  There they were 8 teams of students at each school waiting to “meet” their respective team in the other school. Each team took turns getting in front of the camera to ask questions of and answer questions from each other.  Continue reading “Global Connection”