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Monthly Newsletter
November, 2010
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Greetings!
Just when you think your school has finally caught up with the latest technology, Steve Jobs releases yet another innovativ e piece of hardware, promising to change the future of education. And if it isn't hardware these days, there is bound to be a new social media tool that will revolutionize the way you communicate with your entire school community. What's a school leader to do?This month the SFLC has devoted the issue to technology and the ever uphill climb to reach technological Nirvana. We've consulted with Technology Directors and teachers to provide you with some possible answers to questions:- What is a systematic approach to technology innovation in schools?
- How does one design rich learning opportunities that will make the greatest difference for students?
- Are new teaching methodologies and new technologies just "fads"?
- What does a technologically proficient 21st Century teacher really look like?
We hope you will respond to these provocative articles and share how your school is leading or aspiring to lead through technology. As you read this newsletter, the SFLC team is preparing for the arrival our November Leadership Seminar Cohort. Thirty school leaders from Hawaii, California, Tennessee, New York, Chicago, Idaho, Colorado who serve schools as heads, division heads, program directors, deans, presidents and lead teachers will assemble at La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe for four days of reflection, renewal and recommitting to excellence in leadership. We are particularly enthusiastic about our guest faculty and keynote speaker, Rick Ackerly.If you couldn't attend the November Seminar, but anticipate a much needed professional development opportunity, please join us March 20-23 for our next session. Registration is open. This time, we will be joined by guest faculty Peter Cheney. Many of you know Peter as as the former Executive Director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools (1998 until 2007). Peter was also a longstanding member of the administration at St. Paul's School in Concord, NH where he still serves as a trustee. We anticipate this seminar will sell out, so register early to guarantee your spot. As always, we look forward to hearing from you and welcome your comments and feedback and your leadership innovations at our website www.santafelead.org. See you soon in Santa Fe!
Fondly,
Gary Gruber Timothy R. McIntire Carla Silver |
A Systematic Approach to Technology Innovation in Schools
By David Lankford
David Lankford has worked in independent schools since 1992, currently he serves as the Director of Technology at the Episcopal High School in Houston Texas where he lives with his wife and two children. David has worked in both boarding and day schools. His hobbies include studying leadership and volunteering with The U.S. Army Cadet Corps.
Lets look at how an independent school could invest in its technology and personnel by taking a closer look at the ways in which the school's leadership promotes communication.
In many independent schools, technology was put in place to serve two functions. First technology was purchased to assist the administration in storing and processing information complied from internal and external communications. Secondly, the school deployed computers for education to support students and /or teachers in the classroom.
In both cases the school leaders had planned to support the educative mission of the school with technology that was affordable, promised to do everything requested of it, and that was similar to what other schools of the same size were doing. What the school actually acquired over time is an impediment to communication. The seduction is subtle at first and transpires invisibly. That is until is becomes obvious that the right communication is not occurring. The symptoms first appear at the extremities of the organization.
- A teacher asks why can she not save the smart board drawing to her computer for an absent student.
- The head of school arrives at a rival school with no sign of an athletic competition. Only to discover later that the game was moved to the following evening.
- The help desk technician declares, "If we replaced our projectors, new ones would be brighter, save money on bulb replacements and could be operated wirelessly which would cut costs on cables and dongles."
- In the alumnae office they discover that name of an influential alumni has been misspelled because the school's data bases from admissions to development are not connected.
As an independent school administrator, would you notice the creep of miscommunication and be able to suggest a remedy for the situation? (Click here to continue this article).
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Register Now for the Spring Leadership Seminar
At the heart of each school leader is the desire to positively impact community and to contribute to institutions in meaningful ways. The bustling and often hectic nature of schools can leave school leaders without time to reflect on the practice of leadership and feeling
ineffective and unfocused.
Deciding to Lead: The Art and Experience of Leadership is an interactive and engaging seminar for leaders at all points in their careers who want to maximize their leadership capacity and lead with confidence and clarity.
When: March 20-23, 2011
Where: La Fonda on the Plaza, Santa Fe New Mexico
How: To learn more and register click here.
We anticipate this seminar will sell out. Register early to guarantee a spot.
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Richard Kassissieh, Director of Technology at Catlin Gabel School (Portland, OR), is a teacher turned technologist. He believes in good pedagogy, reaching all learners, and building systems to serve schools. He is a member of the SFLC Advisory Board, Los Sabios. Richard writes online athttp://kassblog.com and @kassissieh.
Oh, how many toys exist to consider.
Kindle! Nook! Reader!
iPhone! Droid! Nexus!
Ning! Twitter! Facebook!
Netbook! Apple tablet! XO tablet!
Smart Board! Active Board! Wiimote!
Google Apps! Chrome!
Education technology blogs appear obsessed with tracking the latest gadgets. Certainly, new product announcements provide a rich source of content for writers. It is easier to reflect on the latest company news and speculate on its effect on education than to consider the core question of education. How does one design rich learning opportunities that will make the greatest difference for students?
Face it: most of the devices above won't make a bit of difference  to teaching and learning. Let's stop talking about the devices and start talking about students, teachers, and learning environments. I think Warlick has got it right. So does Larry Cuban. Tom Frizelle, too.
Some of our teachers have also got it right. Suspicious about education technology, they tend to shy away from trainings and conversations about computers in the classroom. It's too bad, because ed tech professionals deserve our reputation for relentless optimism about new technologies. It's up to us to sing a new tune: all about teaching and learning, all the time.
Let's promote with our teachers only the technologies that show real promise and stick with them for at least a period of years. Focus on how a technology integrates with an existing, well-designed learning unit or activity. A little skepticism about new technologies may also help demonstrate our ability to think critically.
Forget the new toys. Let's think deeply about our students, curriculum, and pedagogy.
(To comment on Richard's post, click here.)
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On Fads
By Kevin J. Ruth
Kevin J. Ruth is a Latin Instructor at Tower Hill School (Wilmington, Delaware). He also writes a blog on independent schools (http://introit.typepad.com) and is the author of the recently-released De rebus scholaribus, a look at the life and culture of independent schools as they adapt to the twenty-first century.
Are new teaching methodologies and new technologies considered "fads"? Is that a fair identification of their worth? I think not.
Recently, I participated in a discussion that centered on new  trends in teaching methodologies, largely based on what technological advances are now at our disposal in independent schools. A fellow particpant responded, in a strong tone, that "there is a danger of succumbing to the latest gimmick so that plain and simple learning and teaching no longer take place, and are replaced by a fad. Sometimes it is best to keep it simple and not become distracted by too much that only gets in the way."
My question back at the participant went something like this: "What is plain and simple learning, without distraction?" The answer, after many iterations and false starts, is that plain and simple learning equals teacher-centered instruction with students in traditional arrangements of desks (rows). The teacher guides the instruction, the teachers says how to do every task, the teacher says what's right or wrong, the teacher..., the teacher..."
Although I admittedly use more technology in the classroom than the average person, I remain somewhat incredulous at this exchange. Do we still believe that learning cannot occur with technology? And why do we use the terminology of "plain and simple"? It makes me think of Little House on the Prairie, with students in their early-industrial-era rows, perhaps Shaker in style, staring at a teacher and a chalkboard, with a coal-fired stove heating the room.
When it comes to it, I think that, in most cases, folks are so overwhelmed by the advances in technology that they're scared to welcome it into their classrooms. Why scared? Because Web 2.0 technologies are so powerful that, by their very nature, they force the teacher to re-think instruction altogether. That's not a comfortable place to be for many people.
Education has come face-to-face with just how disruptive technology has become, and this disruption is about to create the next stage of evolution in how students learn...and how teachers teach.
So, is what we're experiencing a "fad"?
No. It's a revolution.
(To comment on Kevin's post, click here.)
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| Click here to read and respond to the SFLC blog, Lead On! |
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And Speaking of Revolutions . . .
Introduction by Carla Robbins Silver
Article by Rob Greco
If anyone is ready to lead the technology revolution in schools, it is Rob Greco, Middle Years Coordinator and humanities teacher at The Children's School in La Jolla, CA. Rob is an educator who sees beyond the fads and fearlessly adopts technology in his classroom - hardware, software, social media alike. An artist, avid blogger, 21st century educator, lifelong learner, Rob seamlessly integrates technology into his daily work with students.
It's almost impossible to describe the way his students take up the endless technology options Rob presents them without simply experiencing it first hard. The SFLC invites you - urges you - to read the following post by Rob on his recent project with his students that resulted in a collaborative writing adventure with author Robin Sloan. I recommend following all of the links as you read along -- you might learn a thing or two about teaching, blogging, feeding your passions, and serendipity.
"Let me Tell you a Story. . ."
Rob Greco
As a result of our recent experience with "Normal Heights", AKA Project Shelldrake, many people have asked me how this project came to be and how I came about sharing Robin Sloan's stories with the seventh grade. Well, let me tell you the story (with several asides) as I remember it.
This story starts with one of my primary forms of professional development. I spend a lot of time online, perhaps too much time, but valuable time nonetheless. There are many that say the web is killing serendipity but I disagree. For me, the internet has allowed me the equivalent of dropping into the library at any hour of the day, something I could have only dreamed about prior to getting online back in the early 1990s. And now with a judicious use of Delicious, Twitter and Google Reader, which I purposely populate with blogs and feeds from a variety of disciplines, I find that with even less effort than before, I am able to draw inspiration and ideas from fields other than my own, and serendipity is preserved.
There are many ways that I stumble upon the blogs that I follow: a recommendation via friend or email, a magazine article, automated suggestions, the result of a web query, etc. Likewise, there are many reasons why I continue following a blog: entertainment value, looking to stay in the know among peers, quality of content, etc.
I'm not fully certain, but it was probably Jason Kottke's blog that turned me on to Snarkmarket, a three-man production with Robin Sloan, Matt Thompson, and Tim Carmody as contributors. It might have been one reference or a series of references that made me decode that it was worth following everything posted on Snarkmarket, that the signal-to-noise ratio was high enough to add it to my feed reader. And high it is-rarely is there a post that I'm not interested in reading, although, on occasion, Robin, Matt, and Tim get on such a roll that it is impossible to keep up with the content that they produce and/or point to. Nonetheless, here I am reading after all this while, and it's not just the content that keeps me coming back-it's also the community. (You must continue reading this. . . so click here!)
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About Us
We are excited to meet you. We are the Santa Fe Leadership Center team, Gary Gruber, Tim McIntire and Carla Silver. Click here to read more about our careers and leadership experiences.
Please visit the Santa Fe Leadership Center to learn more about our programs and our other leadership services and opportunities.
Santa Fe Leadership Center
17 Camino Redondo, Placitas, NM 87043
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