To me, Patrick's seventh point in her blog post for iNACOL from December 31, 2015 is a point that educators, communities, legislators, and other leaders need to look at in-depth. One of our favorite sayings in my office is that we need to prepare students for jobs that don't exist yet. With young children of my own, I find this to be the most important prediction/trend for 2016.
Ten years ago, the job of a social media marketer didn't exist. Today, a company reaching those of us 35 and younger without cable, satellite, or even over-the-air stations use social media to promote their products. Ten years from now, that job may not exist or it may have evolved into something else. I recently asked a friend, who works for a cable company what will happen when cable goes the way of the dinosaurs. She said that she thought they'd be okay because they offer internet too.
Patrick's seventh point is "Balanced Approaches: Asking to What End." She predicts that schools will move to measuring multiple measures of student outcomes. One such school is Iowa BIG. Luckily, this is a school that is in our area and I hope to see many more than 100 students enrolled in the future.
Iowa BIG is a school that really does help students prepare for the future. It is a school that has no seat time requirement, but students have to meet authentic deadlines to meet their initiatives. To read more about iNACOL's thoughts on Iowa BIG click here.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Thursday, January 28, 2016
11 Big Trends of 2016: Part 6 of 11
Continuing to follow along Susan Patrick's blog article form December 31st, 2015, we now go into Data Informed Decision + World Class Standards. Patrick describes the data poverty from the 1990s and early 2000s as a reason for the educational reform movement. However, now in the data-rich environment of the 2010s, we can make more informed decisions through "data based on student work, college and career readiness and navigating life toward leadership and active citizenship."
As I stood at the school board meeting on Monday night, I said that there needs to be a shift to using real-time data to make educational decisions. Among the parents, I was popular. From the district's standpoint, not so much. They want to shift to a late-start every Monday to have Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). Those are important, but I can't see how waiting a whole week to discuss a student's educational needs benefits students. I asked the school board to consider a more creative approach and would have liked to say that the most progressive districts have PLCs on a daily basis, not weekly.
As discussed in the fifth point, schools are designed for slow reaction to change not for real-time change and in today's world if we wait until the policy catches up, our students aren't going to be held at the same world-class standards as students are around the globe. Patrick reiterates that in order to be equitable all students should have world-class standards to meet.
It is time for education programs to focus on educating the whole student, not just having the mentality that "D's get diplomas." As one of the panelist at the iNACOL Online and Blended Learning Symposium stated, "traditional grading doesn't allow for students to achieve exceeds mastery."
As I stood at the school board meeting on Monday night, I said that there needs to be a shift to using real-time data to make educational decisions. Among the parents, I was popular. From the district's standpoint, not so much. They want to shift to a late-start every Monday to have Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). Those are important, but I can't see how waiting a whole week to discuss a student's educational needs benefits students. I asked the school board to consider a more creative approach and would have liked to say that the most progressive districts have PLCs on a daily basis, not weekly.
As discussed in the fifth point, schools are designed for slow reaction to change not for real-time change and in today's world if we wait until the policy catches up, our students aren't going to be held at the same world-class standards as students are around the globe. Patrick reiterates that in order to be equitable all students should have world-class standards to meet.
It is time for education programs to focus on educating the whole student, not just having the mentality that "D's get diplomas." As one of the panelist at the iNACOL Online and Blended Learning Symposium stated, "traditional grading doesn't allow for students to achieve exceeds mastery."
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
11 Big Trends of 2016: Part 5 of 11.
Managing Change
In Susan Patrick's post from December 31, 2015 titled 11 Big Trends for 2016: Predictions and Changes Ahead in K-12 Education, the president and CEO of iNACOL's fifth point discusses the change that is occurring. She states:
"Education leaders are managing change at a frenzied pace (along with the rest of society's leaders). K-12 education environments are designed for slow reaction to change, but as the world changes and becomes a place that requires constant innovation - so must our leaders take on roles for managing change for continuous improvement."
Patrick's assertion that K-12 environments are designed for slow reaction to change rings true. We are bound by roadblocks tied to federal funding, the custodial role of the school for students, the tie to school-sponsored sports, and various other rules and regulations that do not move quickly!
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
11 Big Trends for 2016: Part 4 of 11
Personalized Professional Development
In her fourth prediction from the iNACOL post on 12/31/15, Susan Patrick believes that teachers will start micro-credentialing and having much more say in how they utilize their professional development time. She believes that teachers will have highly personalized PD, similar to the next-gen learning model for students.
I am hopeful that this will become the wave of the future; however, there will need to be some fundamental shifts that happen so that teachers are allowed to do this. First, and foremost, teachers will need to be trusted to manage their own learning. Currently, professional development looks like a typical 1900's school room with one or two people presenting the information that every single teacher in the school must implement. This is regardless of whether you teach music, PE, world-language or industrial arts.
In my time in the classroom, I was never a core subject area teacher and the professional development that was pushed down couldn't always be applied to the subjects I taught, such as high school Spanish. I resigned my K-12 position right before my daughter turned one and stumbled into my current position. I started part-time and worked my way to full-time, but the freedom I have for professional development is amazing. I also retain a lot more by looking into information for myself and then doing things like blogging about it or tweeting about it. Also, just like with students, it's more meaningful because it's personalized.
In the K-12 world, PD is still connected to seat time and teachers in the state of Iowa have to have 16 hours of seat time of Professional Development annually. For next-gen PD to happen there will need to be more voice and choice for teachers too. In addition, it might change how teachers receive licensure and renew their teaching licenses in the next decade. Unfortunately, there is a lot of bureaucratic red tape that stands in the way of being able to do this on a large scale, but I am hopeful that we will see the change Patrick predicts.
In her fourth prediction from the iNACOL post on 12/31/15, Susan Patrick believes that teachers will start micro-credentialing and having much more say in how they utilize their professional development time. She believes that teachers will have highly personalized PD, similar to the next-gen learning model for students.
I am hopeful that this will become the wave of the future; however, there will need to be some fundamental shifts that happen so that teachers are allowed to do this. First, and foremost, teachers will need to be trusted to manage their own learning. Currently, professional development looks like a typical 1900's school room with one or two people presenting the information that every single teacher in the school must implement. This is regardless of whether you teach music, PE, world-language or industrial arts.
In my time in the classroom, I was never a core subject area teacher and the professional development that was pushed down couldn't always be applied to the subjects I taught, such as high school Spanish. I resigned my K-12 position right before my daughter turned one and stumbled into my current position. I started part-time and worked my way to full-time, but the freedom I have for professional development is amazing. I also retain a lot more by looking into information for myself and then doing things like blogging about it or tweeting about it. Also, just like with students, it's more meaningful because it's personalized.
In the K-12 world, PD is still connected to seat time and teachers in the state of Iowa have to have 16 hours of seat time of Professional Development annually. For next-gen PD to happen there will need to be more voice and choice for teachers too. In addition, it might change how teachers receive licensure and renew their teaching licenses in the next decade. Unfortunately, there is a lot of bureaucratic red tape that stands in the way of being able to do this on a large scale, but I am hopeful that we will see the change Patrick predicts.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
11 Big Trends for 2016: Part 3 of 11
For today's post, I am going to continue to follow Susan Patrick's predictions from her 12/31/15 iNACOL post about how education will continue to evolve and change in 2016. Her third prediction is student-centered environments.
Student-centered learning environments already exist, but they don't usually exist in the confines of a brick and mortar building, surrounded by teachers, administrators and paraprofessionals. In my mind, I picture student-centered environments that look similar to a children's museum, where exploration is the best way to learn. At the nearest children's museum, children are greeted by a turtle living in an aquarium, then there are different rooms for them to explore and the adults, or as they call them, playologists are there to guide and foster their creativity. On one side, one finds a grocery store, a pizzeria, a music room, an art room, and a dramatic play area. On the other side, one finds a hospital, a post office, a bank, an aerospace room, and a motion room. Continuing upstairs, one will find a toddler play area with a house, slides, and pretend garden, a large tinker-toy room connected to a model train area and completed with a Lego room.
When we visit the children's museum, you can be sure that we will be visiting each and every one of the areas, but where we hang out the most is very personal to each child. For my usually timid three year old, he loves the gigantic slide and will go down it multiple times. (By the fourth time, I'm done counting). He's in love with the experience of riding the slide, but he's also interested in driving the ambulance at the hospital and playing with the trains. However, what he loves the most right now is going down the huge slide. For my daughter, who is five, there's not a specific spot where she will gravitate. She likes to flutter around like a butterfly and try everything. Typically, she's been through three or four rooms before my son is ready to move on from the grocery store or the ambulance. This type of infrastructure makes it a unique learning environment for each of my children.
Granted my children are three and five and their jobs are to experience the world and try out things, but I imagine a K-12 system where they're given a similar experience to help them learn about the world. What if schools no longer looked like an early 1900's schoolhouse? What if they looked more like a children's museum and as they grew their experiences grew with them? What if the teacher was no longer the "sage on the stage" most of the time and students really did have voice and choice in how, what, and when they learn?
The naysayers will say it's too expensive, "You can't build a school to model a museum!" They will say "that's not the way it was when I was in school." They will say "they need to learn the three r's." With community partnerships and systemic changes as Patrick suggests will happen in her second prediction, yes we can! We can change schools to meet the personalized learning needs of each and every student and we can give them time to let their brains re-charge by using some exploration time to assist in their learning the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic at the same time.
Student-centered learning environments already exist, but they don't usually exist in the confines of a brick and mortar building, surrounded by teachers, administrators and paraprofessionals. In my mind, I picture student-centered environments that look similar to a children's museum, where exploration is the best way to learn. At the nearest children's museum, children are greeted by a turtle living in an aquarium, then there are different rooms for them to explore and the adults, or as they call them, playologists are there to guide and foster their creativity. On one side, one finds a grocery store, a pizzeria, a music room, an art room, and a dramatic play area. On the other side, one finds a hospital, a post office, a bank, an aerospace room, and a motion room. Continuing upstairs, one will find a toddler play area with a house, slides, and pretend garden, a large tinker-toy room connected to a model train area and completed with a Lego room.
When we visit the children's museum, you can be sure that we will be visiting each and every one of the areas, but where we hang out the most is very personal to each child. For my usually timid three year old, he loves the gigantic slide and will go down it multiple times. (By the fourth time, I'm done counting). He's in love with the experience of riding the slide, but he's also interested in driving the ambulance at the hospital and playing with the trains. However, what he loves the most right now is going down the huge slide. For my daughter, who is five, there's not a specific spot where she will gravitate. She likes to flutter around like a butterfly and try everything. Typically, she's been through three or four rooms before my son is ready to move on from the grocery store or the ambulance. This type of infrastructure makes it a unique learning environment for each of my children.
Granted my children are three and five and their jobs are to experience the world and try out things, but I imagine a K-12 system where they're given a similar experience to help them learn about the world. What if schools no longer looked like an early 1900's schoolhouse? What if they looked more like a children's museum and as they grew their experiences grew with them? What if the teacher was no longer the "sage on the stage" most of the time and students really did have voice and choice in how, what, and when they learn?
The naysayers will say it's too expensive, "You can't build a school to model a museum!" They will say "that's not the way it was when I was in school." They will say "they need to learn the three r's." With community partnerships and systemic changes as Patrick suggests will happen in her second prediction, yes we can! We can change schools to meet the personalized learning needs of each and every student and we can give them time to let their brains re-charge by using some exploration time to assist in their learning the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic at the same time.
Monday, January 11, 2016
11 Big Trends for 2016: 2 of 11
Rethinking Measurement
When I graduated from high school, we had 12 valedictorians. Twelve students stood on the stage and got honored for achieving success and, to my knowledge, most are upstanding members of their communities today. I wasn't a valedictorian. I, however, graduated high school with a GPA of a 3.85, was ranked 29th out of 300 students, entered my freshman year of college with 20 college credits, studied abroad my sophomore year of college, and still graduated from college with a degree in elementary education in 3 and a half years. Was I less successful than my peers? Perhaps, but it could be that we were all successful in different ways.
Continuing with Susan Patrick's predictions about the top trends in 2016, her iNACOL post from 12/31/15, she predicts schools will transform to taking data upon entry and exit about where a student stands and that student mastery will not only take the shape of numbers and letters on a report card, but will also highlight students' evidence of success. This will take a new shape of what success means for graduation.
For some students this success might mean being able to achieve a 36 on their ACT test or a 2400 SAT test, but for other students it might be that they're able to pull apart a car engine and put it back together again, and for others still, it might be showing how they were able to make a change in their community by designing a new recreation center and seeing a project through to completion. We need the Sheldon Cooper of the world who can breeze through a standardized test and skyrocket into any college or university that they want to, but we need the Dan Conner of the world to fix our vehicles, and the Penny Hofstadter to remind us that rural farm girls can aspire to be actresses. Therefore, success at graduation might be documented differently for each of the three fictional characters listed above.
Measurement of success at graduation could shift from being twelve valedictorians standing on a stage to honoring not only them, but also those who are successful in the technical field, the performance field, and the service field. How would you rethink measurements of success in your district or for your child(ren)?
When I graduated from high school, we had 12 valedictorians. Twelve students stood on the stage and got honored for achieving success and, to my knowledge, most are upstanding members of their communities today. I wasn't a valedictorian. I, however, graduated high school with a GPA of a 3.85, was ranked 29th out of 300 students, entered my freshman year of college with 20 college credits, studied abroad my sophomore year of college, and still graduated from college with a degree in elementary education in 3 and a half years. Was I less successful than my peers? Perhaps, but it could be that we were all successful in different ways.
Continuing with Susan Patrick's predictions about the top trends in 2016, her iNACOL post from 12/31/15, she predicts schools will transform to taking data upon entry and exit about where a student stands and that student mastery will not only take the shape of numbers and letters on a report card, but will also highlight students' evidence of success. This will take a new shape of what success means for graduation.
For some students this success might mean being able to achieve a 36 on their ACT test or a 2400 SAT test, but for other students it might be that they're able to pull apart a car engine and put it back together again, and for others still, it might be showing how they were able to make a change in their community by designing a new recreation center and seeing a project through to completion. We need the Sheldon Cooper of the world who can breeze through a standardized test and skyrocket into any college or university that they want to, but we need the Dan Conner of the world to fix our vehicles, and the Penny Hofstadter to remind us that rural farm girls can aspire to be actresses. Therefore, success at graduation might be documented differently for each of the three fictional characters listed above.
Measurement of success at graduation could shift from being twelve valedictorians standing on a stage to honoring not only them, but also those who are successful in the technical field, the performance field, and the service field. How would you rethink measurements of success in your district or for your child(ren)?
Friday, January 8, 2016
11 Big Trends for 2016 - Part 1 of 11
iNACOL's tweet on Wednesday, January 6th caught my attention. What will the big trends be in 2016 and will it move all the way to Iowa? Will my future kindergartener and future pre-schooler be given the opportunity to learn where their needs lie, or will they be expected to mold themselves into the factory-style model of education? I'm not sure, but I want to dive into each of the 11 predictions that iNACOL mentioned on Wednesday and so that will be where the next 11 posts take us.
This started by Susan Patrick, President and CEO of iNACOL, citing her prediction in Getting Smart's blog about the 2016 direction of education. She then listed 11 trends looking forward that will shape the future of K-12 education. Her first prediction is that there will be "New Definitions of Success."
If you've followed my blog, you can go back and re-read My Jobs of the Future, and the fact that the jobs of tomorrow don't look like those of one minute ago, a decade ago, or a century ago. So what does it truly mean to be college and career ready, and are the students that graduate from our K-12 institutions, or our high school equivalency programs, really going to be ready for this future world without some major changes to how we define success as a society?
Patrick speculates that a high school diploma's definition of success in 2016 will be expanded not only to show knowledge, but also to include skills, social-emotional intelligence, and important dispositions for future success. In or Adult High School program, we have shifted our focus from the knowledge to begin our program and are focusing more on the social-emotional intelligence and dispositions of our students so that we can help them be successful in earning their high school credential.
There's a shift that is occurring with the re-authorization of the Every Student Succeeds Act, where states and districts now have more flexibility to meet the needs of their students without, as Ryan Wise, Iowa Director of Education stated in September, being "fundamentally flawed." It allows students to show growth and achievement in multiple modalities without punishing teachers and students with more testing and opens a door to allow communities to connect with students.
How does one define success in the global economy? Is it being a proficient reader by 3rd grade, or is it moving a student to whole language when he or she still doesn't know his or her phonetics? Is it being able to name all fifty states, or being able to experience how a state government works? Is it knowing how to count to 100 or knowing that 10 groups of 10 items equal one hundred and that you can re-organize that to 4 groups of 25 or 5 groups of 20 and still have a total of 100 items? Is it having a disposition that allows you to care for the geriatric population or the disposition that can be a mother's helper? Guess what? Each of these may define success, but probably not for the same student.
I have a five-year old, emerging reader. When she and her dad visited her grandparents during the winter break, there was some concern that she wasn't reading yet. I, however, do not think that is the worst thing in the world. Her vocabulary is strong. She knows her phonetic sounds and she makes meaningful connections with print. However, she is never going to be the type of child who plops herself down on her bed and reads a novel in a day. In her mind, the world is too full of things for her to explore, jump on, climb on, paint, stir, color, or tumble about for her to sit silently in her room and read a book. Will she learn to read? Definitely. I am not going to waste my time making her meet some magically benchmark that defines her success. It will just cause tears and anxiety for us both.
I also have a three year old, non-reader. He didn't get to go to his grandparents, because he was sick, but he loves books! His favorite is called I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! and although he can't read the words, he knows when we get to the second to the last page that the mother in the story comes in to the room and yells "WHAT?!" He will listen to stories for quite awhile and he will probably learn a few words before he starts kindergarten. (Hey, isn't that what the littler ones do? Keep up with the older child?)
Do I think my children will be successful? Of course (doesn't every parent?). How they are successful though could vary greatly between the two of them. I see my daughter as a performer, one who will take center stage in gymnastics, tumbling, or storytelling. I see my son as more mechanically minded and willing to stick to difficult problems longer. Both are very unique; however, neither of them will be successful if they have to fit the mold of the factory-model education system.
This started by Susan Patrick, President and CEO of iNACOL, citing her prediction in Getting Smart's blog about the 2016 direction of education. She then listed 11 trends looking forward that will shape the future of K-12 education. Her first prediction is that there will be "New Definitions of Success."
If you've followed my blog, you can go back and re-read My Jobs of the Future, and the fact that the jobs of tomorrow don't look like those of one minute ago, a decade ago, or a century ago. So what does it truly mean to be college and career ready, and are the students that graduate from our K-12 institutions, or our high school equivalency programs, really going to be ready for this future world without some major changes to how we define success as a society?
Patrick speculates that a high school diploma's definition of success in 2016 will be expanded not only to show knowledge, but also to include skills, social-emotional intelligence, and important dispositions for future success. In or Adult High School program, we have shifted our focus from the knowledge to begin our program and are focusing more on the social-emotional intelligence and dispositions of our students so that we can help them be successful in earning their high school credential.
There's a shift that is occurring with the re-authorization of the Every Student Succeeds Act, where states and districts now have more flexibility to meet the needs of their students without, as Ryan Wise, Iowa Director of Education stated in September, being "fundamentally flawed." It allows students to show growth and achievement in multiple modalities without punishing teachers and students with more testing and opens a door to allow communities to connect with students.
How does one define success in the global economy? Is it being a proficient reader by 3rd grade, or is it moving a student to whole language when he or she still doesn't know his or her phonetics? Is it being able to name all fifty states, or being able to experience how a state government works? Is it knowing how to count to 100 or knowing that 10 groups of 10 items equal one hundred and that you can re-organize that to 4 groups of 25 or 5 groups of 20 and still have a total of 100 items? Is it having a disposition that allows you to care for the geriatric population or the disposition that can be a mother's helper? Guess what? Each of these may define success, but probably not for the same student.
I have a five-year old, emerging reader. When she and her dad visited her grandparents during the winter break, there was some concern that she wasn't reading yet. I, however, do not think that is the worst thing in the world. Her vocabulary is strong. She knows her phonetic sounds and she makes meaningful connections with print. However, she is never going to be the type of child who plops herself down on her bed and reads a novel in a day. In her mind, the world is too full of things for her to explore, jump on, climb on, paint, stir, color, or tumble about for her to sit silently in her room and read a book. Will she learn to read? Definitely. I am not going to waste my time making her meet some magically benchmark that defines her success. It will just cause tears and anxiety for us both.
I also have a three year old, non-reader. He didn't get to go to his grandparents, because he was sick, but he loves books! His favorite is called I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! and although he can't read the words, he knows when we get to the second to the last page that the mother in the story comes in to the room and yells "WHAT?!" He will listen to stories for quite awhile and he will probably learn a few words before he starts kindergarten. (Hey, isn't that what the littler ones do? Keep up with the older child?)
Do I think my children will be successful? Of course (doesn't every parent?). How they are successful though could vary greatly between the two of them. I see my daughter as a performer, one who will take center stage in gymnastics, tumbling, or storytelling. I see my son as more mechanically minded and willing to stick to difficult problems longer. Both are very unique; however, neither of them will be successful if they have to fit the mold of the factory-model education system.
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