I loved it there. Very down-to-earth and caring people everywhere. I learned that in Fort Kent, Les Miserable had just been produced and performed by a collaboration of the University and local high school. I learned about Ployes and had an opportunity to savor this delicacy at a local restaurant. I also visited Ed Latham's solar home on the outskirts of Frenchville to gain a better understanding of the challenges of making choices which leave a small footprint on the earth's limited resources and eco-system.
We met at Wisdom Middle/High School in St. Agatha for the workshops. Students were spending the day in Fort Kent for a school-wide wellness day. Watching students enthusiastically head out and then return later in the day warmed the heart. Teachers from around the region gathered to investigate the possibilities that computer technology offers in helping in meeting classroom goals. Again, there was an ever-present atmosphere of openness and enthusiasm. Loved it.
A page has been created for a collaboration on workshops, conferences, etc. that will be available to educators and others during the coming school year. Please feel free to add, modify, delete, embellish, enhance the page to come up with a valuable source for Maine educators.
Maine school budgets are being curtailed. Superintendents are scrambling to find ways to balance their spreadsheets. In many cases, this is going to have to involve reducing or eliminating professional development days and travel, among many other cuts.
Question: We know the downside, but what are the opportunities?
If you missed this year's FOSSED 2008 (Free and Open Source Software in Education), you might want to check out my impressions of the sessions I attended. Hopefully, it will inspire you to register for FOSSED 2009!
"People want the attention -- no one likes to feel like an underappreciated cog in an overworked machine." ~ Vicki Davis
Vicki was commenting on a post from Ed Tech Trek titled "I'm beaming". In the post, Caroline Obannon was expressing her joy when working individually with a teacher who saw clearly and enthusiastically how a tool could be used in his classroom.
The moral of the story is that teachers are very, very busy people and need to be treated with respect. It is so very easy for people who don't spend every day in the classroom to pontificate by throwing out elaborate schemes that in the end are not workable given limited time and energy. I saw it many times during my 32 years in the classroom. Those who work on making changes in our schools must do so without arrogance and self-righteousness. It is time to start trusting teachers while giving them our support.
From the early Neolithic or late Pliocene To just yesterday afternoon around half past four The professional development most often seen Had participants screaming and running for the door!
The principal would attend a workshop in July, Buy the hottest new book or some videocassette. He would come back to school with a twinkle in his eye And write an S.I.P. teachers could never regret!
He would stand at the podium and preach to the choir Bout' NCLB and shared accountability. "We must raise the bar and then jump higher and higher! Teach from bell to bell with sense and sensitivity!"
The teachers would leave the cafetorium in glee With reams of information packed with jargon to spare. Lugging binders and handouts (at a nominal fee), They would return to class both in rapture and aware...
Of research-based "best practices" that were tried and true And lesson strategies that could not possibly fail! The administration was sharp, knew just what to do: They had "stood and delivered" the PD Holy Grail!
But as we all know, school change is a tricky business; It's hard as a tack and never happens overnight. Workshops don't work, all victims would certainly confess. It requires blood, sweat, and tears and a terrific fight!
Faculty buy-in and active participation Are key ingredients for real, successful reform. To bring about such a meaningful transformation We have to make the two an essential PD norm.
Embed them throughout the entire training process To ensure that teachers get both what they want and need. Create a new culture dedicated to progress Where everyone has an opportunity to lead.
To accomplish this, there is only one thing to do: Sound the alarm and rally the much-beleaguered troops; Get rid of workshops and empower the in-school crew. Change the paradigm; adopt faculty study groups!
Six to eight people working together side by side Go explore topics and issues relevant to each. They travel miles and miles deep and hardly an inch wide, Until they discover a better, new way to teach.
From crunching numbers to trying a new high-tech tool, From reading a great book to designing a lesson, They do any number of things to improve the school. It is always worthwhile and occasionally fun.
Study groups will increase student achievement and more. They will earn the school district and state impunity. But much more important than any assessment score, You'll be a professional learning community!
Let's hope that the the phrase, professional learning community, doesn't deteriorate to simply mean business as usual. Let's not use language to get in the way of communication . . . but instead to help develop clarity and understanding.
Wikispaces is an easy and convenient place to set up a digital learning space to complement face-to-face staff development. It's free and straightforward . . . . without layers of bureaucracy to work through when dealing with limited time and energy.
Check out the WVYDC Laptop Lunch Group right here in the State of Maine as an excellent example.
Web 2.0 - Tools and Strategies for Learning and Teaching with the Read/ Write Web: An online professional development opportunity for Maine educators . . .
I thought this was an excellent post on Maine Ideas in Education. Jeff Bailey and Mary Gamble are developing professional training for their staff, given some days during "late arrival" time at Mountain Valley High School. Their work presents issues we all have in trying to approach technology integration in an optimum manner. I particularly like Jeff's adaptation of Puentedura's Transformation model.
I never get headaches . . . but I think this morning might be my first. Anyone remember that song from the sixties by Malvina Reynolds called "Little Boxes?"
"Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of tickytacky Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same There's a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses all went to the university Where they were put in boxes and they came out all the same, And there's doctors and there's lawyers, and business executives And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course and drink their martinis dry, And they all have pretty children and the children go to school And the children go to summer camp and then to the university Where they are put in boxes and they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family In boxes made of ticky tacky and they all look just the same."
Now originally I'm sure it was simply a lampoon of middle class suburbia and conformist nature of our society. But today, for me, it comes to mind when I think about the NCLB-induced professional time that is top-down with a avalanche of data and an incomprehensible amount of "boxes" and "hoops-to-jump-through."
I would like to argue that top-down system approaches are part of the problem and ultimately will fall under their own weight. I hear talk of professional learning communities and capacity-building, but at times become very discouraged by the weighty bureaucracy, mandates from above, and "blue-ribbon" panels of corporate executives and university officials pontificating abstractions unconnected to the realities of the common people.
We need fewer boxes . . . not more.
Is just doing more, faster, really the solution to the issues of our nation?
Every year there are many professional development activities that teachers can go to and learn things. After every one of those, I have had debriefing with peers about the goods/bads/uglys from that experience and that reflection time is great. How often do you actually get to act on that reflection though? Well, here is your chance. Some of the people that read this blog are very influential people that help set up trainings, presentations, and retreats all over the state of Maine. They would love to hear from us about what things we value at trainings. Many teachers have stated they want "something they can actually bring back to their classroom". That is a great ambition, but specific suggestions are much more helpful in getting teachers what they want. Some people may not be sure what to ask for. Please offer anything you want as there are absolutely no negative consequences to posting your wish list. Realize that every single one of the presentation directors out there want to provide the best learning resource for teachers to use. They need input from you so PLEASE post your ideas!
Welcome to this community blog. We invite you to collaborate with us by sharing your thoughts, beliefs, ideas and resources. At the top find a custom search engine, and below a chronological archive of past posts and an alphabetical index. If you would like to be a "writer," being able to compose original posts, simply send a request to JBurkeMaine@gmail.com and an invitation will then be made.
Learning in Maine is a community blog to share ideas about learning and resources that might be helpful to others. Everyone can make comments on posts. If you would like to be a "writer," being able to compose original posts, simply send a request to JBurkeMaine@gmail.com and an invitation will then be made.
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Last week I had the wonderful opportunity of spending two days in the St. John Valley of Maine. The specific purpose was the St. John Valley Technology Training where I worked with fellow regional mentors and participants from around the region on looking at ways of making technology work for us in classrooms.
I loved it there. Very down-to-earth and caring people everywhere. I learned that in Fort Kent, Les Miserable had just been produced and performed by a collaboration of the University and local high school. I learned about Ployes and had an opportunity to savor this delicacy at a local restaurant. I also visited Ed Latham's solar home on the outskirts of Frenchville to gain a better understanding of the challenges of making choices which leave a small footprint on the earth's limited resources and eco-system.
We met at Wisdom Middle/High School in St. Agatha for the workshops. Students were spending the day in Fort Kent for a school-wide wellness day. Watching students enthusiastically head out and then return later in the day warmed the heart. Teachers from around the region gathered to investigate the possibilities that computer technology offers in helping in meeting classroom goals. Again, there was an ever-present atmosphere of openness and enthusiasm. Loved it.
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