VP stories

Education is in the midst of a revolution. As with all revolutions, there are competing sides and the winner is still uncertain.

Will Richardson (@willrich45) suggests that there are two paths possible (three if you count status quo): one with endless possibilities for students to learn in multiple places; and one where corporations feed the content for the multi-billion dollar industry they have created. In one, students learn through inquiry, questioning and are engaged in their own process of learning. In the other, students are fed a diet of scripted lessons that can be done without the interactions between students and teachers to create knowledge and understanding. One is scary for those brought up in the traditional mode of schooling and the other is scary for those who see education as more than memorizing facts from a textbook (whether it is a digital text or paper).

Jane McGonigal (@avantgame) writes about the gamification of education and how bringing to education the power of the video game and the process of learning that players go through in playing to learn can create lifelong learners with skills that go beyond the classroom walls. Collaboration, trial and error, and ‘new lives’ allow students to push themselves past cognitive safety zones to create new knowledge in the 21st century.

Tom Whitby (@tomwhitby) explores, through his blog, My Island View, a plethora of educators that are moving the conversation forward, utilising digital media and social media to connect to thousands of educators around the world. While retired from teaching, his ideas on what education could look like are thought-provoking and provide insight that many current educators enjoy.

Kristen Swanson (@kristenswanson) has moved the professional development of teachers forward by leaps and bounds through the formation of edcamps that are sprouting up across the world at an alarming rate. Teachers taking control of their own learning, moving forward in areas of interest and sharing their ideas without the cost of conferences or corporations. Her blog often talks about these movements and where we can go with the power of teachers with technology.

Andy Hargreaves (@hargreavesbc) and Michael Fullan (@michaelfullan1) both suggest that professional capital might be one of those things that stick. They provide several examples of how to improve all teachers and educators within a system through utilising the professional capital within a building or district.

These are a few of the educators that I follow through twitter that are on the edge of the precipice of educational reform that is actually beyond reform. It is moving towards a revolution where the outcome is unknown. Lurking through the depths of twitter chats, one can easily get lost in the push to change how we do school. We seem to moving towards a time where anything and everything is thrown against the wall, waiting to see what sticks. I feel privileged to be an educator in this age of change.

Formative Leadership: Using Formative assessment as a style of leadership

Posted by Bryn Williams on May 18, 2013

Posted in: formative assessment, new school, professional development, whole child. Tagged: assessment for leadership, assessment for learning, formative leadership, leadership. 2 comments

Formative assessment and formative evaluation can lead nicely from the classroom to the building to inform leaders within the school, whether they are titled leaders or those that take leadership roles throughout the year (through a more collaborative leadership lens). Throughout the past year and a half, I have been pondering using the theories and ideas of formative assessment through to a formative leadership model.

This short video is a good primer on the concepts of formative assessment, using ideas from the Dylan Wiliam and Paul Black article, Inside the Black Box.

I was thinking about what formative leadership ight look like, using the five key strategies as put forward by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). By looking at the strategies with the school leadership lens, each key idea might look like this:

1. Clarifying, sharing and understanding goals and direction for the school.

2. Engineering effective whole-school discussions, questions, activities and tasks that elicit evidence of improvement and growth in student learning.

3. Providing feedback that moves school goals forward.

4. Activating staff as owners of school goals.

5. Activating staff as learning resources for one another.

Now, these key strategies are a little clunky (I am a Math/Science teacher and not a writer), but I believe that they create a model where leadership is shared and collaborative; a model where the direction/goals of the school is clear to anyone who enters the building, with clear indicators of success; and a model where feedback and ownership is key to success of the school.

The connected educator: it isn't the size, it's the depth of your PLN

Posted by Bryn Williams on May 16, 2013

Posted in: Uncategorized. Leave a Comment

Reblogged from VP stories:

I recently read Tom Whitby's post on the way connected educators are recognized through such forums as the Leaders to Learn From 2013. Part, not all, of his argument was that some of the winners were relative unknown within the twitter-verse. This go me to thinking (as all of the posts by those blogs I follow, do): why do we need to connect when we work in schools and can connect within?

Lessons I have learnt from teaching that I see in adminstration

Posted by Bryn Williams on May 12, 2013

Posted in: Uncategorized. Leave a Comment

Reblogged from VP stories:

When I entered the teaching profession, I had what I thought was a solid understanding of how a classroom works. I knew what types of behaviours were acceptable, what an assignment was worth, the content knowledge of the courses and how to get students to enjoy and understand my class. Then I entered the PDP program (Professional Development Program for teachers) and began my long journey to become a good teacher.

Read more… 615 more words

On April 30th, a group of educators came together to reflect on the ASCD’s Whole Child Initiative and the context of the British Columbian educational system. A group from ASCD’s Whole Child In Action Award winning school, Byrne Creek Secondary, spoke about their school situation, including socio-economic, academic and community influences that converged to help create the school eight years ago. Sandi Lauzon (vice-principal), Iha Farquhar (Community School Coordinator), Maureen DeCamp (EAL teacher) and Mirella Gargiulo (EAL teacher) each displayed the committment and care that they have for their students. Chef Jonas and his Ace-It team created a delicious selection of dishes for dinner that was extremely well received.

I had the pleasure of speaking to many of the educators throughout the evening, including TTOC’s, student-teachers, teachers, counsellors, adminstrators and university education specialists. Each had their own unique situation and thoughts around the Whole Child, but one theme emerged: this isn’t a top-down approach to improving student outcomes.

In Byrne Creek, new programmes and support were all developed by teachers when they had the opportunity to stop, see what was working, what wasn’t working, and where they should go next. The concept of H.E.A.R.T., which was developed at the very opening of the school, became the lens through which they viewed everything in the school, from the free breakfasts, lunches and dinners, the sports and artistic opportunities right through to Later to Literacy programmes they developed.

After the meeting, I spoke with several of my school’s teachers about the Whole Child initiative. A recurring theme re-emerged around the need for teachers to collaborate, find the issues themselves and develop their own solutions. This is quite a daunting task for educators who are slowly (or quickly) becoming the swiss army knife of the community. Teachers are supposed to be nurses, bus drivers, youth care workers, counsellors, chefs, mothers, fathers, drug counsellors, advocates as well as experts in their discipline areas, imparting knowledge, skills, and social responsibility to their young charges. There just isn’t enough hours in the school year to do it all.

This is where carving out time for collaboration is so important. It needs to be embed in the schedule. Some schools do this by balancing tutorials for students with collaboration for teachers, some create time after school that allows for collaboration and some have even set up afternoons as non-instructional time for teachers to meet and discuss their issues. I would be interested to hear how other schools are setting up time for teachers to collaborate.

To really embrace the five tenets of the Whole Child, where each child, in each school is Healthy, Safe, Engaged, Supported and Challenged, you need to make sure that there is the opportunity for the Whole Teacher. The graphic below should also be made to show that “Each teacher….” for each tenet.

I recently read Tom Whitby’s post on the way connected educators are recognized through such forums as the Leaders to Learn From 2013. Part, not all, of his argument was that some of the winners were relative unknown within the twitter-verse. This go me to thinking (as all of the posts by those blogs I follow, do): why do we need to connect when we work in schools and can connect within? what argument can be made for educators to reach beyond their school/district walls for collaboration that cannot be found within their school/district walls?

I have worked in five school districts, at both the school and district level. Every district has their own unique take on professional development; each school and department have their own take on assessment, reporting and teaching. I have met teachers who have graduated from the school they started their practicum and are now teaching side by side their high school teachers. I’m sure this is not isolated, but it is isolating.

We are social creatures. Social constructivism suggests that we construct meaning through our interactions, using the scaffolding put in place by our facilitators, whoever they may be, until we can continue on our own. If our ideas are coming from one space, one social network, one area on inquiry, it is conceivable that a spark will lead to innovation and improved student success. What is more likely, though, is a more traditional process will be indoctrinated into the new educators in the system; new ideas are seen as risky, untested and therefore, dangerous to try out on students.

Also, in this closed system of education, those innovators are the champions of their ideas, but those innovations are lost once the champion leaves: there is no sustainability built into the system. Compare this with a connected educator; one that has access to the ideas from around the world, or across the province or state. If that educator has twenty people in her or his PLN, twenty people that give feedback to ideas, suggestions or even just a ‘like’ or ‘retweet’, the enriched conversations propel that teacher to seek and try to implement new ideas.

A connected educator with 600 educators to discuss would be better than twenty, but a solid twenty is more effective in the learning and improvement if professional development than a surface 600.

I would like to thank everyone in my PLN. They push me forward, into sometimes uncomfortable spaces, that allow me to grow as an educator. The depth of their shared knowledge is staggering. Someone, my brain has forgotten who, said that they have learned more from twitter than any masters or education course. I would disagree. I learned more in a focused area (developing student teachers and the semiotics of learning) during my masters. Twitter is more like a sampling; one that starts the conversations towards the deeper learning.

Whole Child in BC: a possible support for Safe Schools

Posted by Bryn Williams on April 18, 2013

Posted in: blogging, discipline, new school, personalised learning, professional development, social learning, whole child. Tagged: education, Professional development, whole child. Leave a Comment

ASCD’s Whole Child initiative is a growing movement that supports schools to educate our students in a space that allows them to be healthy, safe, engaged, supported and challenged as they become active citizens in our society. With over 200 schools embracing the initiative, examples of the successes are plentiful and are growing each year! In BC, many schools are embracing the Whole Child approach.

“Each child, in each school, in each of our communities deserves to be healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. That’s what a whole child approach to learning, teaching, and community engagement really is.”

Each student must be able to enter school healthy and be able to learn about and practice a healthy lifestyle. This includes nutrition, activity and awareness of mental health issues such as anxiety.

Each student must have access to a personalised approach to their learning and have around them, caring, qualified adults.

Each student must be actively engaged in their own learning and be connected to the school and the community.

Each student must be able to learn in an appropriate intellectually challenging environment that is physcially and emotionally safe for students and adults.

I believe that most, if not all, schools in BC are doing the very things that the Whole Child Initiative are calling for. The caring, professional adults in our schools provide not only a challenging courses in academics, Visual and Peforming Arts, PE, and trades, but also a safe environment, where learners can stretch their minds and hearts to become great global citizens. Sometimes, hearing about what other schools are doing reaffirms our own actions or prompts us to move forward to educate the whole child.

On April 30, 2013, members of Byrne Creek Secondary School will be presenting their work around the Whole Child. They will give examples of how they are meeting the needs of each learner through breakfast and lunch programmes, athletics, theatre and arts programmes, and academically challenging courses. If you are interested in attending, please register ($40/person, $200/6 people) at the BCASCD registration site.

VP stories

Educational stories and ideas

Formative Leadership: Using Formative assessment as a style of leadership

The connected educator: it isn't the size, it's the depth of your PLN

Lessons I have learnt from teaching that I see in adminstration

The connected educator: it isn’t the size, it’s the depth of your PLN

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