Rowland Foundation

"Generally teachers don't like traditional observations and they don't often result in significant improvements. Video transforms lesson observations, turning them on their head."

"...the most important thing about using video for CPD purposes is to get away from the idea of video as a management tool, and embrace it as something that you as an individual teacher can have control of."

"The idea is for teachers to start by self-reflecting, and once you are confident in doing so you can share videos with colleagues and develop coaching and mentoring relationships which are more productive and genuinely result in classroom based improvements."

"Those who hold leadership roles within our schools must come to terms with the fact that standards, curriculum, instruction, assessments and accountability will only get you so far in improving student achievement. If you do not address the underlying issue of the student experience, these efforts might not have a discernible impact." "...if students felt as if they belonged to the school community, the more likely they would be confident of succeeding in college." "...students who feel a sense of psychological connection to their school community are more likely to be engaged in their learning and are more likely to behave in ways that promote self-development and socialization."

Simple article with profound implications for students and for working with faculty.

Here are five resolutions from the article...with my personal take on them.

1. Find a trustworthy mentor. (Regardless of your position or how successful you are there will always be others out there who you can learn from.) 2. Form a leadership development group. (Why not two? One among leaders from multiple schools and another among the leaders and potential leaders within your school.) 3. Volunteer in a civic or service organization. (How have you formed connections between your school and the community in ways that the school isn't the primary beneficiary? How do you know the perceptions and expectations of the community unless you are truly engaged with them?) 4. Work in or travel to one new country. (Or, simply visit schools in your district. Have you visited with the admin and teachers from your sending schools? What could you learn from them? What could you learn from other high schools in Vermont that are similar to yours?) 5. Finally, ask more questions than you answer. (If you think that have all the answers…then you aren't even aware of all the questions.)

"Attention provides leverage. The more people we can attract and motivate to join us on a challenging quest or initiative, the more impact we are likely to achieve. So, what are effective ways to attract and retain the kind of attention that helps us to address the challenges we face? Here are five steps that build on each other."

1. Embrace mystery 2. Focus inquiry 3. Excite the imagination 4. Limit availability 5. Be authentic

I don't believe that every successful lesson learned in Corporate America translates well into education, but this article has some very applicable points. jf

‎"There is no evidence that the pencil makes learning faster, easier or better." "I refuse to use pencils in my classroom until manufacturers figure out a way to limit what students can write with them." "If students become so heavily dependent upon pencils, they will never learn to boil berries to create their own medium."

Ode to #Pencilchat: Technology Integration in the Classroom http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/12783558/ode-to-pencilchat-technology-intergration-in-the-classroom

"Here are 5 reasons why we are making student blogging and portfolio development a high priority."1. Positive digital footprints2. Communicating with digital tools3. Transparency for parents and family4. New ways of thinking about Web tools5. Effective digital citizenship++Their world view is changing

It would be interesting to see a group of teachers collaborate over the course of a semester in having each of their students create their own blog. This collaboration wouldn't require common planning / interdisciplinary assignments, but having a common theme to connect the content would make sense.

"The KED program is a concept for personalized education. This means that students, with the guidance of their coach, set and work towards their own personal goals, with the ambition of achieving high final results. Students allocate their study time based on their previous educational experience as well as their individual strengths and weaknesses."

"In Swedish, "Kunskapsskolan" means "the knowledge school." Our name is an expression of our passion for providing excellence in learning and knowledge for the next global generation."

"A continuous research and development program identifies correlations and possible common denominators for achieving excellence. In all these key areas - student outcome, student and parent satisfaction, teacher satisfaction and motivation, and financial performance..."

Interesting and short bit of writing that hits on my personal beliefs about where the majority of transformational focus should be...simply supporting good teaching.

"Education reform needs a face lift -- one that includes higher standards for entry into the profession and mentor teachers assisting those needing to improve."

Agree about the necessity to pursue improved educational outcomes, yet as with other professions (i.e. doctors & lawyers) 50% finish in the lower half of their class. As with all things educational funding is the sacred cow and asking for higher standards of entry, while a worthy goal, would ultimately fall on the sword of budgets.

In December 2010, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel created a national, independent commission to study the teaching profession and make recommendations on maximizing teacher and teaching effectiveness. Drawing on the wisdom and experience of accomplished teachers, expert researchers, policymakers, and academicians, the Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching (CETT) examined the policies and practices governing the teaching profession and crafted a teacher-centered vision of teaching and the teaching profession. On December 8, 2011, CETT presented the NEA with its final report, Transforming Teaching: Connecting Professional Responsibility with Student Learning, which outlines the Commission's vision and recommendations for the teaching profession.

"MIT will make the MITx open learning software available free of cost, so that others ... such as K-12 school systems - can leverage the same software for their online education offerings.

I've used pieces of MIT's open courseware in the past for student ELOs. This could make that work very simple. The platform will be free. Plus, for what they say will be a "modest fee" they will grant a "certificate of completion" to students who demonstrate mastery of the subject.

FAQ's about MITx - http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/mitx-faq-1219

"Ever since Finland, a nation of about 5.5 million that does not start formal education until age 7 and scorns homework and testing until well into the teenage years, scored at the top of a well-respected international test in 2001 in math, science and reading, it has been an object of fascination among American educators and policy makers."

"Critics say that Finland is an irrelevant laboratory for the United States. It has a tiny economy, a low poverty rate, a homogenous population - 5 percent are foreign-born -..." Perhaps irrelevant for the US as a whole, but what about for Vermont?

"Dr. Darling-Hammond said. 'Thirty years ago, Finland's education system was a mess. It was quite mediocre, very inequitable. It had a lot of features our system has: very top-down testing, extensive tracking, highly variable teachers, and they managed to reboot the whole system.' "

"When engaged in consistently, these actions-questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting-triggered associational thinking..."

"Most of us think creativity is an entirely cognitive skill; it all happens in the brain. A critical insight from our research is that one's ability to generate innovative ideas is not merely a function of the mind, but also a function of behaviors."

"Leadership has several aspects, each of which contributes uniquely to school competence and to school excellence. The current focus in leadership theory and practice provides a limited view, dwelling excessively on some aspects of leadership to the virtual exclusion of others. Unfortunately, these neglected aspects of leadership are linked to excellence-a revelation now unfolding from recent research on school effectiveness and school excellence."

Five leadership forces: Technical derived from sound management techniques Human derived from harnessing available social and interpersonal resources Educational derived from expert knowledge about matters of education and schooling Symbolic derived from focusing the attention of others on matters of importance to the school Cultural derived from building a unique school culture.

"These people...aggressively block innovation from happening and will suck the energy out of any organization. When confronted with any of the following three people-and you have found it impossible to change their ways, say goodbye."

SKR Rowland keynote highlights broken down into 8 videos. Videos are 2 minutes long on average.

Video of keynote address by Sir Ken Robinson at the 2011 Rowland Foundation Conference on High School Transformation. Worth a second listen.

May we have the password to gain access?

Hello Karen and others looking for the SKR video, We will be putting that video back up this week. We will also be posting that password for all Rowland Diigo members. We will also be looking to suss a few key points from the keynote. These will then be posted as short 4 to 5 minute clips.

No lecture in the classroom The FIZZ Lecture professional development program trains teachers to create and publish a series of video lectures in order to make the content of their course completely transparent. "Why I flipped my classroom" - Math Teacher, Katie Gimbar

Why: 1. Flipping the Classroom for Accountability 2. Is this Recreating the Wheel? 3. Better Than A Front Row Seat 4. "Why it has to be me!" - Model Teacher, Katie Gimbar 5. Using Classroom Time to Differentiate 6. Self-paced, Differentiated and Collaborative 7. The Research Behind Flipping the Classroom with FIZZ How: 1. Buying the Lecture Boards 2. Writing on and Cleaning the Boards 3. Camera and Tripod 4. Condensing the Content to 6 Boards DOWNLOAD > FIZZ Lecture Planning.doc 5. Sliding the Boards 6. Setting up the Camera and Tripod 7. FIZZ Lecture: The Fine Print 8. Uploading and Posting Screencast tutorials on using Google Docs: Why use Google Docs? Part 1. Uploading Videos to Google Docs Part 2. Creating a Simple Web Page (click here for the template) Part 3. Sharing the URL with Your Students