Interdependence

Living and working in this time of doing more with less pushes everyone to re-think priorities. When it seems that everything is important and no more cutting back is possible, re-thinking priorities becomes downright painful. Writing helps me prioritize on a level of getting past the shoulda’s and coulda’s lists, so I examined just how serious I was about what I thought mattered most about my work here. I wrote “Coaching Munificence” to clarify my thinking.

Since November when I wrote that, I’ve tweaked it by applying the quality of munificence to instructional coaching. I’ve finally gotten past thinking of myself as a teacher–I’m a former teacher who is now an instructional coach. Those of you who have talked with me know I slip very easily into teacher-mode, so I’m still working on my self-talk to reinforce the distinct difference between teacher and coach.

The district professional development for all instructional coaches is strategies for cognitive coaching. Besides Planning and Reflecting conversations, cognitive coaching helps coaches recognizes States of Mind that support or inhibit a person’s ability to solve problems, clarify thinking, and increase resourcefulness.

The last district instructional coaches’ meeting focused on interdependence, one of the 5 states of mind. High school teachers work mostly in isolation. Teachers typically have to change their habitual mode of thinking to develop their interdependence with other adults in the school, in the district, and in the community.

Choosing to develop one’s interdependence requires thinking that leads to action that one doesn’t typically do. For example, how often does a teacher ask a colleague for advice, for suggestions, for criticism? How often has a colleague asked a co-worker how she or he manages time or books or behavior or anything else? How often do colleagues use meeting or collaboration time to discuss their hopes, goals, limitations, and strengths?

I’ve had a few conversations this week with teachers that have resonated differently with me simply because I’ve been paying attention to possible paths toward increased interdependence.

In the end, we all depend on each other to some extent. When someone needs help or a favor, we feel perfectly comfortable asking, and usually, help arrives without having to ask for it. Interdependence seems natural when someone is distressed. Interdependence can also seem natural when we deliberately notice incidents of interdependence.

Developing the interdependent habit has been extremely helpful for me. It reduces stress. It makes me feel connected. It makes my working life easier even though all signs are pointing to more stress undermining our capacity to function at our best.

Most people can feel increased stress before others notice it. Developing interdependence may help.

The Done Manifesto

I just discovered via someone I follow on Twitter The Done Manifesto.

It’s over 2 years old, but it’s new to me. And today’s version has dropped the “Cult” word.

Realizing your creative vision, the “founding tenets of . . . design thinking” (Cliff Kuang), or just getting on with things are similar to the Cable Guy’s maxim: Git’er done!!

My favorites are #9 and #13. I just had a conversation this week with someone who agrees with me that if you don’t have any problems or challenges, you’re not living (#9). And when the challenges seem to pile up, rather than doing nothing, doing something keeps you moving forward (#13).

As the crush of grading, holiday activity. and life stuff closes in, #6 might put it all in perspective: It’s good to be alive.

Twitter Narratives

Teachers can’t ignore the impact of students using mobile devices in classrooms, in the halls, driving, walking, biking, and while doing written work for class. They text; they watch snowboarding on YouTube; they update their Facebook pages; they check class websites; they research their next paper or speech; they share google docs with the teacher; and the list continues.

How to engage students without being the grinch who denied teenagers their inalienable right to connect? Check this out for ideas. Post your thoughts and let’s start a conversation.

Memoirs and Personal Narratives.

Twitter in the Classroom

Participation points are intended to encourage students to engage in learning. Engaged means the student has agreed to listen, comprehend, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and respond–usually quickly and by speaking.

Participation points also include free-writing, journal writing, sketching, taking notes, copying notes, reading silently, reading aloud, outlining, etc. etc. etc.

All the above are valuable but “all the above” doesn’t include technology students use to engage in their lives. School is life, right? So let’s get them more engaged.

One suggestion: follow the link to see, hear, and read how a middle school history teacher in an East Los Angeles public school uses Twitter.

BTW you can substitute the “electronic chalk board” with a laptop and projector which every teacher here has access to.

“Twitter in the Classroom”

Still concerned about privacy? There are ways to protect privacy. Still concerned about (fill in the blank)? If you have the same problem now in your class, what have you got to lose by giving students an opportunity to participate electronically? And can’t a student deepen their learning at times other than during the class period? I know I do my best work after 10 p.m. because I’m not fully awake until at least 9 a.m.

Incorporating technology that allows students to demonstrate their learning in ways that engage them before they have to write a short constructed response, write an essay, fill in the blanks, or give a speech. And technology gives teachers another way to communicate with students to encourage deeper learning.

Twitter, just like the telephone, can be innocuous without purpose. Twitter with a purpose is texting for the literate.

Share your ideas in the comment sections. Or better yet, show by video or write a post describing how you use technology in general and Twitter in particular in your class.

Co-Teaching Team Development

Questions that matter

Internationally Competitive

A question of the century so far in education is: what works in countries with high achieving students?

A 9-minute video of Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor from Stanford College of Education, could become a launching pad for discussion in any individual school or district, including ours.

Questions to consider as you view the video:

• What points are valid?
• What adaptations to our school/district would you recommend?
• What points reinforce your beliefs about teaching, instruction, curriculum design, and assessment?
• What points contradict your beliefs?

Linda Darling-Hammond on Becoming Internationally Competitive “Assessment.”

FYI: I became aware of this video via Twitter, which is indispensable to my Professional Leaning Network (PLN).

I highly recommend Twitter as a resource for gathering information. Thousands of educators tweet and because we are basically social beings, we share a lot of stuff. The best part: you can refine who you follow. The 2nd best part: you can search key words and read only tweets that mention the topic you’re interested in. The 3rd best part: not everyone agrees so you get different points of view. If someone annoys you, stop following them.

Remember the Godfather Pizza commercial? “Just do it.” Twitter

Social Networking Required

Ran across this article, “Companies Erect In-House Social Networks” in the New York Times.

Guess what. I don’t read the New York Times. I ran across the article because someone I follow on Twitter tweeted it. Twitter is my social network of choice. I’m wrtngtchr on Twitter just like I am when I blog. It’s my online identity. Kind of like a “handle” for a CB radio user.

Guess what again. What if our students get all the way through high school with no practice or instruction or guidance on how to use social networking for professional purposes and the company they work for requires them to use social networking? Then what?

So here’s my proposal. Let’s all get on Twitter. Let’s start sharing our resources and our ideas with each other. Let’s get good at using Twitter so we can share our experience with students so they are spared the embarrassment of being sent out like lambs for the slaughter with trial and error skills in social networking.

Knowing the difference between “private” and “professional” social networking is already well beyond “nice” to know. Knowing how to use social networking for professional purposes is now a “need” to know skill.

And writing a coherent, cogent message in 140 characters or less–talk about honing thinking and writing skills. Oh, yeah.

I’m pumped.

Lilacs

Greetings! Thanks for reading this blog! Just thought I’d share a little something with you. As I was dogsitting for my daughter and her boyfriend last week in Laramie, WY, I was fortunate to experience the wonderful fragrance of lilacs for the second time this Spring. Since Laramie is a couple of thousand feet higher in elevation, flowers bloom a few weeks later than they do here in Fort Collins. Lucky me to get a second shot of lilac fragrance! As I was walking Bear-dog, I admired the decades old (probably older than I) lilac bushes in full bloom in nearly every yard, and the sweetness of the air transported me back to my childhood. We would often visit Velma in Santa Ysabel, California, an elderly woman whose home was surrounded by lilacs. I don’t remember the conversations or even what she looked like, but I do remember driving home with bunches of lilacs whose powerful scent permeated the car. This memory made me google map her house to see if the lilacs were still there. How about you? Is there a specific smell that takes you back to a childhood memory? Do tell!

Summer Reading

What are you reading this summer?

My 2011 list

2010 list