To Learn Twice

Last week in Suburban Life I weighed in on the ISBE Guidance on returning to school immediately after processing it and building this summary overview . Now one week later, after being interviewed by John Williams on AM 720 on these topics and having more time to think about it - I have put together what I believe regarding these guidelines as of today - July 2nd - with about 6 weeks left to develop a plan to return to school. The pandemic has impacted everyone in the world and we are all struggling to figure out how to navigate our new situation. Please know that I truly appreciate the work of the Illinois State Board of Education and the task force that developed the guidance . I always try to presume good intentions and I believe all of those working on the ISBE Guidance have the best of intentions for students and families. My biggest concern is that the ISBE Guidance should have been released as DRAFT guidance weeks ago and shared with others to provide feed...

In our District the majority for school funding comes from local property taxes . This fact creates a natural symbiotic relationship between property owners and schools. The top factor that influences home values in our state is the quality of local schools. On some level, this is one of the reasons why people support their local schools and want them to succeed - the result is higher property values. Schools have a responsibility in this symbiotic relationship to help raise the value of their community’s property. One way to do this (the way tied closest to our mission) is by doing a great job: helping students to be successful, creating opportunities for a positive learning experience, and connecting students to their community so they want to come back here to live (and hopefully buy a home). Another key method is by sharing the success of our students and promoting both our schools and communities in the process. A way we help facilitate this each year is by meeting with local re...

In recognition of School Board Member Appreciation Day last week, here is a primer on what it means to be a school board member. As a superintendent I have a single supervisor that consists of 7 people. These 7 volunteers are elected to serve as representatives of the community. As community members indicate they are interested in serving as Board members, before they run for a 4-year term, I share this document with them: “ What it Means to Serve on the Board ” that serves as an introduction to the role. I also meet with them and share my experiences as a superintendent, but also as a former board member. Most of this information I provide is from the Illinois Association of School Boards , the professional organization that supports school board members in Illinois. The IASB outlines 6 main responsibilities of a school board: Clarifies the district's purpose Connects with the community Employs a superintendent Delegates authority Monitors performance Takes respons...

I am returning to my blog to begin a periodic narrative of what a superintendent actually does and some of the decision making that goes into this role. Since we are already into snow season here is a quick description of what goes into calling off school for cold or snow in my role. It usually begins with a series of conference calls in the day or days before a potential emergency weather event  with DuPage County and the Office of Emergency Management. At the same time, I am discussing what we are learning with our local elementary school districts and other high school districts in DuPage County. There are several calls or emails between these groups and this continues throughout the day leading up to an emergency event. We follow our processes outlined on the District’s Emergency Closing Information page .  If we can make a call the night before, we try to before 9PM. Otherwise superintendents across DuPage County are monitoring the situation all night. We are in ...

As school leaders, we often have those around us approach us with requests that are difficult to meet. Many times, the first instinctive response we reach for in those difficult situations brought to us by a student, parent, or colleague is: “no.” That answer is safe, easy,  and  doesn’t require us to extend beyond our comfort zone. I heard once that the secret to helping others is by trying to get to “yes.” That doesn’t mean that the answer will be “yes,” but the trick is to figure out what it would take to get there  and  be open to walking down that path. Once you open the conversation up, you must listen carefully  and  find the good points. In nearly every difficult conversation, even those where you strongly disagree, there is usually some good idea. Looking for good points could get you closer to “yes.” It might not be what was asked for at the start, but working to “yes” gets you further than ending with “no.”

Almost everyone is done for the summer, or soon will be, and I believe this is your best time to grow through reflection because you actually have some time you can dedicate to the process. I have long practiced “ Currere ” as a method for structured reflection on a project or a school year. Here is a quick way to break down a school year using Currere by asking four simple questions: What was my experience last year? What do I want to do next year? How am I feeling about current abilities and skills? What is my path forward to a successful year next year? The trick to taking action on what you learn from reflection is verbalizing what you are going to do next year. Speak your plans out loud and listen to what you are saying. As told in the recent “ Rationally Speaking ” podcast, you don’t have to explain your plans to anyone but yourself, but you do have to say them out loud - even if you just speak to a rubber duck . You will then help yourself build a better plan. The r...

Last week the Illinois House passed new legislation that would mandate that cursive is taught in schools across Illinois. This comes during the same time that they cannot pass a budget, for two years running . This got me thinking of the question "at what cost does cursive come at?" So I have attempted to estimate and cost it out. The two major variables for hard costs are materials and professional development. Handwritten cursive requires consumable workbooks. A common set of materials for teaching cursive, which typically occurs in 3rd grade, is the  Zaner-Bloser Handwriting series , which comes at a cost of $11.69 per student. According to the Illinois Report Card  we have averaged 152,545 third graders each year over the past five years. This gives you a cost of student materials of $1,783,246 for the first year,   and for every year after that . Many schools haven't been teaching cursive for a while, so we would have to coach up our teachers, modify dail...

The recent  SchoolCIO Summit in Baltimore  focused on closing the digital divide across the United States. SchoolCIO Summit attendees, comprised of K-12 edtech leaders, came from different backgrounds ranging from large urban school districts like Baltimore, to small rural ones like Neosho, Missouri, and everything in-between. Attendees identified the toughest digital equity challenge to be Internet access. Many attendees equated the Internet with water or power--a utility that is necessary in today's modern world. There are government agencies, communities, and businesses partnering to close this gap, such as the nonprofit  EveryoneOn , whose Chief Programs Officer, Veronica Creech, led a panel discussion on the topic at the summit. The "One Million Project" ( #1MillionProject ) sponsored by  Sprint  seeks to close one-fifth of the five million unconnected families through WiFi hotspots.  Comcast’s Internet Essentials , which works in partnership with the ...

One of the challenges in working in education is the ease in which the public can attack schools. I believe that there are several societal changes that have led to the rise of teacher and school bashing: 1. The death of the local free press: It used to be easy to get a reporter and photographer to show up at school to see the awesome things going on. Now a lone reporter, who is spread too thin, tends to only show up when things go wrong. It is the bad news that gets Web visits. 2. Bad news has more places to travel fast: Social media promotes the travel of bad news--especially when it can be delivered in a punchy headline, picture, or video. 3. Schools are just buildings from the outside: The public drives by and sees our buildings but can't easily see what is going on inside of them. Without evidence that school is different, the public is left to believe that school is a place that is worse than before and headed in the wrong direction. We need to change this perception. What ed...

The calendar has now flipped to August and teachers are getting ready to return to school. As I reflect back on my early teaching career, I remember spending many hours planning amazing lessons, but not as much time thinking about the people I would meet. As I became a more veteran teacher, I realized that the time at the start of the school year was better spent getting to know my students and investing in building relationships. This school year, I challenge all of us to intentionally focus time on the learner. Push off some of the early time dedicated for content to connect with students. Research tells us that you will make that time back in effectiveness with the relationships you build. This strategy holds true for administrators as well, as the relationships we build at the start of the year will offer us insights into the student experience as the year progresses. Once the school year gets started, all educators should consider following the example of  Karen Ritter , assis...

We are finally reaching a point in schools where the divides between students, devices, and connectivity are closing. One of the last divides to close is easy access to instructional resources as many schools still use outdated, static, and heavy textbooks. With the onset of easy-to-use tools like  Google Classroom  for distribution of content, teachers need to be on the lookout for easily distributable open resources. Summer is the ideal time to start pulling some of this material together. Phil Lacey has pulled together a catalog  of many online repositories where teachers can get started. One of my favorites is  CK12  which is now easy to share with students using Google Classroom ( here are instructions ). For schools looking to move in this direction check out the # GoOpen  resources provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Here, John King explains: "Openly licensed educational resources can increase equity by providing all students, regardless of...

I never even considered. We have seen the devices become the primary computers in homes that never had computers, which has introduced younger students to computers and allowed parents to use computers for tasks like applying online for jobs. Our 1-1 program has also offered our students the chance to become amazing technology leaders through their work with our student-run helpdesks. One of the challenges this brings to us as a staff is providing "staff development" for our students. As a result, we host a  Student Technology Leadership Summit  to allow students to build their skills and share with their peers. I have also seen the benefits of 1-1 in a Cub Scout troop I help lead, where all students are from a 1-1 school. One of the badges involves building a computer game. Because every kid has his own device running Scratch, my kitchen table will become a computer lab. Sometimes, the unexpected extracurricular outcomes are as great as those we see in our classrooms.

As we move into a new era of ESSA, we must take lessons learned from the disassembling of NCLB. The past few decades have focused on standards, accountability, and higher level thinking in education. The common visualization used to legitimize these goals has been the pyramid of Bloom's Taxonomy.  But, under NCLB, schools have focused on only one of the three domains of learning in Bloom's Taxonomy: Cognitive. What about the other two domains of learning, Psychomotor and Affective? How have educators reached the mind, body, and heart of each student? We have failed at reaching all children and really changing education because as a profession we have focused on only one of the three parts of the whole child. This has resulted in what I call, “The Investment Gap.” It’s time to close that gap and invest more of our efforts into the other two domains. To become a change agent, and really impact each individual student you serve, there needs to be a connection beyond content, bey...

If you have not noticed lately, education is under attack and those of us in the education profession have nobody to blame but ourselves.Today, we educate more students at a higher level and face greater challenges than ever before in the history of schooling--yet we spend little time showing the public what we do. Instead, we invite our students into our schools each day and work magic behind closed doors and leave the public to believe that classrooms operate just as they did 20, 30, or 40 years ago. We need to open our doors and show that schools are different. We need to put our students out in front where they can show just how amazing they are. Each time I am in a situation where adults interact with kids in an educational setting, the adults walk away stunned by the level of work, creativity, and ability that is demonstrated in our classrooms. If we want the attacks on education to end, it's time to stop letting people believe in an outdated image of our schools.

Are you asking your students for their perspectives of the programs and technology you provide to enhance learning? This recent post by Audrey Mullen , a sophomore in California, provides a too-common look into the high school experience in the 21st Century Classroom. I recently had a conversation with a student who was frustrated with a program that adapted the level of questioning based on her success. She had always been the first to complete her work and master concepts, but now the target kept moving higher based on her mastery of concepts. From her perspective, this was creating a more difficult school experience. How frequently do we listen to these student voices and, when we do, are we reflecting on, or even changing, our practices? Are we having conversations with students about the choices we make and why we believe they are appropriate? As we continue to adopt more technology, instructional changes happen at a quicker pace. Involving students in discussions about those ch...

If a school is moving to 1:1 and expecting students to use a single device all day, I believe it’s essential that district leaders live with the same device first. In 2012, I began modeling this by using a Chromebook exclusively for my job. After working effectively in this environment, I was confident that students could, as well. In the past year, Chromebooks have become the top device purchased by schools for reasons explained in the new eBook  Less Waiting, More Learning with Intel-Based Chromebooks . In addition to this eBook, K-12 Blueprint offers several great resources for “going Chrome,” including a  Chromebooks page  and a  blog  where educators such as  Alice Keeler  and  Kyle Pace  share their expertise. Learn what it takes to advance to the next level of technology-powered education on K-12 Blueprint from a team of incredible educators.  Cross-Posted to the K12Blueprint Blog

We have arrived at the time of the year where everyone is finally back in school. Some are just starting this week, while others have been back for almost a month. With back to school comes a season of change, where leaves turn colors and crops are ready. Just this past weekend, we enjoyed the fall harvest by taking the family apple picking. One of my favorite moments during this time is showing my kids that when you turn the apple upside down, you can see the remnants of the flower that became the apple. Day after day, that bud was given what it needed to grow and now, in September, it has become something entirely new. This small flower developed into a source of energy. This lesson applies to the classroom as well. Good teachers know that all of their efforts will be worth it because of the bounty at the end. Make sure you give your students everything they need to grow into sources of energy that will evolve from the delicate flowers that sit in your classroom today. Cross-Posted...

Beyond the many specific lessons educators took back with them from  #ISTE2015 , I observed the following big-picture trends that indicated some major shifts in thinking in K-12 edtech: •  Sessions on tools are lame and should be avoided.  The days of telling people where to click in sessions are no longer valuable. There are YouTube videos for that now. Show me what you are doing with it and how it impacts instruction. Even better, show me what your students are doing with it. Have your students come tell me about it--in person, virtually, or on video. • We are entering the age of the instructional coach.  Schools are finally figuring out that tools are only good if your teachers are using them effectively. Coaching will be an area where we invest a lot of time and energy over the next 5 years. Tools to help with coaching are starting to heat up too. • Stories are gathering importance.  Yes, testing is here to stay, but leaders and communities want to hear ho...

Welcome to the end of the school year--the last final weeks until your students go out to whatever comes next: the next grade, college, or work-life. I believe there are two things you should invest your time in during these final weeks: reflecting and challenging. Although this time of the year is insanely busy, take some time to reflect on what you accomplished this year and take some satisfaction in your success. Sketch out some notes on how to keep improving into the next year. Challenge yourself to head into the next few months laying groundwork for taking your craft to the next level. Then challenge those around you to do the same. Provide opportunities for your students, or those you supervise, to reflect, provide feedback, and set goals. Then open up your digital calendar or task list and pick a day in the fall when you are going to follow up. Then next fall, reach out to those you influenced this year to double your impact. Those 4th graders are going to be amazed when their 3...

On May 8th  Tech Learning Live Chicago   comes to the Lincolnshire Marriott. Among the many other topics being presented at this one-day conference, I will be co-moderating a session that will look at “Leading for Transformative Change.” I will join a group of district leaders who will discuss the ideas, people, and resources needed to spark movements that result in new directions for schools. It is interesting to see how similar and different these mixtures can be. Over the past five years, under the leadership of Dr. Ken Wallace, our schools have helped lead the way in becoming a successful 1:1 Chromebook school district. As we have progressed, we have been active in sharing our successes and challenges through hosting site visits, sharing our resources, and presenting at conferences. In all of these interactions, I’ve learned that no school has the same formula to create a successful 1:1 program. Each has its own set of transformative ingredients to find success. However, t...