I'm Tired of Hearing It

I have become sick and tired of hearing about Alex Rodriquez in the news.  I'm an avid sports fan and I realize this is big news but enough is enough.  Why should we give so much attention to a person that is a liar and cheater, yet says he wants to be a role model, good things to model A-Rod.  In my opinion he is the most self absorbed athlete on the planet.  The reason he holds a press conference daily is he loves the attention.  The reason he cheated was to break records, since he had enough talent to play major league baseball for a long time.  He need look no further than the mirror to find the person to blame for this, of course that will never happen.  Then for him to say that players want to get rid of PED's, when he doesn't and he will continue to use them in fact I am wondering if he was ever clean.  He doesn't love the game, he loves himself.

Then I think of the testing going on in our country, and it was reported that there had been cheating in 33 states.  People lost their jobs, educators were ridiculed in public, school districts were shamed it had happened.  When the pressure to attain a certain score or the evaluation of teachers became solely dependent on how they did on a three day battery of tests, it is little wonder this has happened.  These people are fighting for their jobs and careers.  The pressure has been put on them from outside, namely politicians that have no idea what being a teacher on a daily basis is.  So little of being a teacher is centered around testing, they are caretakers of children, advisors of youth, and overall great people to be around.

Maybe both incidents are cheating, but one I understand and one I don't.  When you consider an educator makes in a year what A-Rod makes in day, yes they are fighting for their lives.  A-Rod is fighting for people to love him.  Given the choice of spending a day with a teacher or Alex Rodriquez, I'll choose the teacher every time.

Maybe I Rushed to Judgment?

I'm a small town guy always have and always will be.  I just like the atmosphere of a small town and thats how I grew up.  In my home county there is not one stop light in the entire county and where I currently live there is not a stop light, I love that.  Now I do live seven miles north of a city that has state university but even when college is in session the population is only 25,000.

That's why ISTE was a bit overwhelming for me and I posted that in a previous blog.  I also stated that I was glad I went but doubted would ever go again, because it was just so big.  I think maybe my opinion may have been a bit premature.  I rushed to judgment, not a good thing.

As I have been able to reflect on my experience and read others reflections, what a great time I had.  The thing I really enjoyed was getting to meet so many people I consider "Rock Stars" in the education world.  Seeing many old friends and meeting new ones was special, after all we are in the people business and its the relationships we develop that makes this such a rewarding profession, whether its with students, staff, or online friends.

So I am re-evaluating my decision about ever attending again.  I doubt I make it to Atlanta but hope the one after that is within driving distance of Kansas.  I don't fly so distance is an issue, the clinical name for it is called "I'm a coward."  See you at some other point in time.

Never Again

In my previous posts I have let people know my age (which isn't young) or referenced how I wish I had discovered twitter earlier in my educational career (which is still true).  I have also used the phrase at the end of my career.  Sounds like I'm using age as an excuse, and I guess that would be the case.

While at ISTE this past June I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of men I greatly admire from reading their blogs.  Both are in the same age range as myself, and I eluded to my age and how I wish I'd started this at a younger age.  One of the gentlemen then stated, "you're never to old to make a difference in the life of a kid."  I will never forget that statement, as long as I live, if I'd been hit in the face with a sledgehammer it wouldn't have knocked me back any more.  What a powerful statement at least for me.

So here is my charge, the district I'm in charge of leading might need to tape their ankles because we are "going to make a difference in the lives of our kids."  It matters not how close I am or am not to the end of my career I will take the approach I have an infinite number of years left in this business.  From this day forward I will NEVER AGAIN use age or length of time in education as any kind of excuse for anything.  Twitter and the connections I've made have invigorated me and my career no matter what stage of it I'm in.

By the way does anyone want to come and mow the yard of an old guy?

Well It Happened

Well Google Reader finally went away.  I'm very disappointed in this happening and posted several tweets going from begging to just being mad at Google.  I loved reader and have chosen Digg as its replacement but doubt if any will really take its place.

The frustrating part for me is we are becoming a GAFE school for the fall, we are rolling out Chromebooks to all our high school students this year and are very excited about the opportunities this presents.  But I have to wonder what Google will pull the plug on next and how will it effect our decision.  If Google didn't get the message from the enormous amount of tweets how people felt about Reader, then what makes me believe they will stay with all their education apps?

We are a small school and I know we can't compete with corporate America, but please Google don't make me regret going with GAFE, as I really do love your products and what you do.  Then again I loved Reader, too, and now its dead and gone.

Its Been A While

It has been a long time since I've written and have decided to give this blogging thing another go.  I used to feel guilty if I didn't write, like it was an obligation, instead of merely reflecting.  I also thought I had to write a full paper like I was back in high school, I have since realized that length matters not, it is the content of the post that matters.

I would like to say that the inspiration to again blog came from a visit from my friend George Couros @gcouros, at the recent ISTE convention.  We met at a Starbucks and were able to visit for over an hour one-on-one, which I enjoyed very much.  It took us several times to connect, since I rode a public transit bus for over an hour, and missed our first appointment, but we got it done and had a great discussion.  I value his insight as both an educator and friend.

My first ISTE in a word was OVERWHELMING!  There is just so much and in no way can one do it all.  I'm very happy I went, and have a chance to meet many of the people on twitter that I've followed since I started the journey.  The discussions with them was very valuable, after all we are in the people business and its relationships with people that make this profession so incredible.  The technology is nice but the people are the reason we do what we do.  Glad I went but not sure I'll ever go again, of course that opinion is subject to change.

So I hope you will welcome me back, have many new ideas for our staff and launching a 1:1 initiative at our high school.  I promise not to guilt myself or pressure myself to write blogs that I could turn in for a grade.

I Have to Know Me

Every time I make a promise to myself that I'm going to blog more regularly, I end up breaking that promise.  I guess I should make it a New Year Resolution so I won't feel so guilty about not posting, since we break our resolutions anyway.  The truth is I enjoy reading what others write more than what I write.  There are some great educational minds out there.

As with most superintendents I am watching closely our state legislature and for whatever reason we have been declared public enemy #1.  Why the disdain for the education field is a mystery to me, but we are partly to blame, since in my opinion, educators are politically apathetic and will continue to let politicians be our policy makers, which is a very scary thought.  They are taking up some very important topics this session, lap dances, basketball scheduling, and trying to figure out how we can not follow federal laws and guidelines.

By the way if Congress is so worried about the budget cuts that are going to happen this Friday, why did they take last week off for vacations.

Maybe this needs to be my new approach to blogging, instead of worrying about writing a dissertation maybe I should just focus on a couple of items and just write on them.  Ok now I'm renewing my promise to blog more often.

They Love Us, Too

We are in education because we love the kids, at least thats the concept I have always thought to be the truth.  If its not the truth maybe one should pick a different profession, since kids are the very essence of our business.

I will be making a presentation at the USA convention in Wichita, Kansas, on web tools of education.  I have no creative ability whatsoever, and wanted to have a nice audio visual show for the audience.  I turned to our Advanced Technology Class, a couple of weeks ago, at the high school in which I am Superintendent.  Here was the assignment:  Create a presentation for me using either Prezi or SlideRocket.  I then provided them the content for the presentation.  Ten of the twelve students in the class volunteered to help with the presentation

I have made Prezi's before but once again, not being creative, I didn't take advantage of all it has to offer, the students chose to use SlideRocket, which was fine with me.  Their teacher said they worked in groups with each taking a different area of the presentation.  After about a week they asked me over to view what they had done, we made some additions and changed some things and back to work they went.  About a week ago, I viewed the final product and was very impressed with what they had put together for me, now I have a quality presentation.

Then it smacked me in the face, not only do we love the kids but they love us, too.  When we give them the opportunity to help us or do tasks for us they jump at the chance because they love us, too.  They are a great resource that we, as adults, need to take advantage of not even to mention that we can learn from them, and they love to teach us.  I now have a resource that I didn't previously have and they are so comfortable using tools that anytime I have a question or need help I know where I'm heading.

By the way they also taught me how to use SlideRocket, since I never had before.  We have a PD coming up the first of February, and the students are going to present to our faculty how to use SlideRocket, and all I'm out is some pizza for them.  My real motivation is to show the staff that they need to use the resource we got in the business for in the first place.

They Don't Get It

The other night I attended a forum of the legislatures, both incumbents or newly elected officials were there.  As their usual political way, with a room full of educators, they told us their family tree of educators and how much they supported us.  We'll see when their votes are cast in the current session.
A couple of topics really sparked my interest though.

They talked about testing and how we must of have a way to measure kids.  Right!  This made me reflect on when my sister and I had to put our mother in a nursing home.  My sister would go out everyday for dinner with my mom and when I was in town both of us would go.  Mom sat at a table with our 2nd grade and 3rd grade teachers, and we had great visits about school, they way education had changed, and various other topics.  Amazingly, it never crossed my mind to thank them for giving me the Iowa Basic Skills Test, as if that was the highlight of my time with them.

Our governor has put together an Efficiency Task Force to make sure we are spending our money wisely.  No educator was appointed to this until the outcry was so loud he finally put a superintendent on it, 1 educator with 12 CPA's, insurance businessmen, and independent businessmen.  Curious how many of their clients are below the age of 10.  They don't know the education field and are trying to reduce our profession to mere dollars and cents.

WE ARE A PEOPLE BUSINESS.  The relationships and memories we create are of a human nature, not of tests and money.  I don't think they will ever get that because they don't understand what we really do.  I just find it ironic that people outside our profession are so eager to run our profession when they have such little understanding of our true impact on students.  The old saying is certainly true "They will never remember everything you teach them, but they will always remember how you treated them."

I hope I never go into classroom and announce, I saved the district money today, or I sure hope you enjoyed the standardized tests we're making you take.

It Makes No Sense to Me

Saturday our school hosted a Scholars Bowl tournament, which my wife, daughter, and I helped at.  My daughters were both involved with Scholars Bowl when they were in high school, in fact at the high school I was principal our oldest daughter was a member of the Scholars Bowl team that won the state championship.  I was as proud as if she had been a member of a state championship basketball team, and it is the only state title the school has won.

I think it is called Quiz Bowl in some other states, at any rate it is an academic competition.  The students are allowed 10 seconds, except most math questions are longer, to answer questions.  To me this type of competition is the very essence of our profession and its fun.  If you like Jeopardy you'll like Scholars Bowl.

Here is the part that confuses me.  It is a competition, there is a winner and loser.  The students are allowed to talk to each other or look at each others papers when working math problems, until a contestant buzzes in.  Which is legal, once a contestant buzzes in the talking must cease.

My one and only question is:  If we allow this type of collaboration during a competition why is it considered cheating in day to day operation of school?  It makes no sense to me.

Why Are We Letting This Happen

I was going to make a conviction to write weekly but as usual it takes me longer to find a relevant topic and then to collect thoughts about it to put down in this blog.  I will still try to write weekly but that is a goal and not a promise.

I had a great holiday weekend last weekend, we got to spend some great time with family and that is so enjoyable.  The food was wonderful and no pressure in gift buying and did I get the right stuff for someone, I think thats why I like Thanksgiving, plus never ending football games.

I can't figure out why in the world of education we let politicians dictate our fate, when most of them don't know a thing about our world.  In fact I'm not real sure they a thing about anything but they make us and adhere to policies no other profession has to.  We can no longer be politically bystanders or they will ruin our profession.

Lets look at what has happened:
Common Core-I do like parts of this, and like that we can teach deeper and not a mile wide and an inch deep.  I do, however, question why we are virtually allowing the reduction of our curriculum to reading and math.  We have so many students that excel in other areas such as the arts, vocational training, and/or physical tasks.  We treat areas that aren't tested as less important and thats just not the case.

Evaluations-These have become beyond ridiculous.  In Kansas we are looking at several models and both are a minimum of 30 pages in length, our legislature wants our building administrators to spend at least 75% of their time with evaluation.  Yeah thats reality, I'm sure none of them have sat in the office of a building administrator to see this is an impossible goal.  Thats exactly what we need is more paperwork to take us away from the reason we got in this profession, the kids.  Any administrator I've been around knows when there is quality instruction going on, we don't need a book of evaluation processes to tell us.  Its like us doing PD on bullying, thinking that will stop the problem.

More Tests-Once again politicians think we will test our way into educational excellence.  What a dopey thought this is.  My goodness we are killing our young kids with tests.  No wonder they have distain for school, make it fun again.  My fondest memories of school had nothing to do with standardized tests.

I know we have to have accountability and I am not opposed to that, but you know what Mr./Mrs. Politician involve us before you make these requests that will not improve our craft.  I think there needs to be changes in the way we do business but they are focused on classroom instruction and delivery and not on mandates set forth by politicians or others that have spent not time in our profession.

My rant is over, thank you for listening.

Take Your Own Advice

At the start of the week I was asked by a neighboring school district to come over and visit with them about educational technology, which both flattered me and pleased me.  One thing that helped me look forward to it was they are good friends as well as professional friends.  We spent about 2 1/2 hours visiting and I showed them my favorite tools that are available and free.

They are considering an iPad 1:1 initiative and wanted to know what tools they should start their teachers with.  The superintendent kept saying we need a plan to implement, so we discussed that, since I had been at a school that had a 1:1 laptop program.  To be honest we had taken a "Ready, Fire, Aim" approach, but things turned out very well for us, even though we probably could have provided more PD than we did.  Our teachers really came on board, and it proved to be a great initiative.

I got to thinking about a plan for them later that day and into the night.  So the next morning I sent them an email detailing what I would do if I were them.  Then it hit me, at my current district our sophomores have been given laptops, because we are using an ebook for biology.  I have thought this is step one for us to become a 1:1 school.  So why don't I implement my plan in my district?  I then came under the thought that sometimes you need to take your own advice.

Really looking forward to EdCampKC next weekend and reconnecting with friends that teach me so much about this ever changing world of education.  It will be a great time, thanks to all that have a hand in putting this on.

We Do Matter

As we have completed our move to Arma, Kansas, our move seemed to be never ending and moving is such a gut wrenching task anyway.  I had an encounter with a former student at Pleasanton which made  me reflect on our profession and impact on kids.

I had to go to the store and working at the counter was a former student that had graduated a couple of years ago.  She asked me where I was going to be working this year and I told her.  I also informed her that my wife would be working for the district, also.  Her response was "They are lucky to have you guys, you two were awesome."

Needless to say this made me feel good and proud, that a student I had very little contact with would feel this way made me think we do matter to kids, and you never know what one you will influence.  So keep up the good fight, you never know who is watching your every move and who you make a difference to.

I'm Amazed

Reading a post by my friend, John Carver, earlier last week about Superintendents being in the lead role of educational practices by their districts.  I was amazed that many of the things that John said I had said to our faculty at our first meeting on August 13th.  To even have thoughts like Mr. Carver humbled  me greatly and made me feel good.

I have a one year contract at my current district, and I really like it here.  I told our staff that I was approaching this job like I had a multi-year contract, which most superintendents get.  We are going to gravitate to being a google school, we were not renewing our Office license, we are going to switching to gmail over our current email provider, Novell.  I then continued to show them some of the tools we had used at my previous district and how important I feel it is to incorporate technology into our everyday teaching.

Fortunately for me the staff has been very receptive and some have really jumped on the bandwagon.  I've always said we just need to turn the kids loose and they will take off, I have found this to be true with adults also.  I showed a teacher edmodo and what an asset it can be, she shared it and now five other teachers have had their classes sign up for edmodo, this really made me feel good and I also know I need to keep challenging and sharing with them.  It only takes a few to take the bait, and then others will follow.

I then had a teacher from another state want to visit with me about technology, which I was glad to do, his wife teaches in our district and told him about my day one presentation.  We had a great visit, and even discussed me coming to their district for a day of Professional Development, as they are behind technology wise.  I would be happy to do it and then he told me his board had passed a policy that cell phones are not only banned for the students, but also the faculty.  I was amazed, are you kidding me?  To deny people the use of these handy items is right out of the 1960's when I went to high school.  So I told him if I do come over to present please make sure at least one board member or better yet all board members attend.  Behind tech wise I'd say so.

Start Me Up

I wonder when the Rolling Stones wrote that song if they knew it would be played in football stadiums all across America?  I am not going to discuss football, but I am looking forward to it getting started, I want to talk about the start of school.

I get to meet with our full staff both classified and certified on Monday.  I think we have a great day planned for them and I am really excited about getting to meet all of them officially.  I love being so excited, it makes me feel good, and I hope I can excite our staff about the upcoming school year.  I realize the highlight of the day won't be my presentation, but I'm sure eager to share the things I've learned through my twitter connections the past two years.

We are about impart on some new adventures here at Northeast and I hope to bring the staff along and hope they share in my excitement for the upcoming year.  I can't wait to show them some of the educational technology tools I have used in the past and what is available to them.  The primary point is to reinforce that we are learners like the students and school is a joint venture of learning together.  I also know as I challenge some of the traditional educational practices some will be apprehensive and that is fine as long as their minds are open.

We will start classes on Wednesday and I will be firmly planted at the elementary school to greet those young ones as I know their excitement for school is the same as mine.  So come on Mick-Start Me Up.

WOW It's Here

As I have begun my new position, time has really flown by.  As we have taken care of the normal summer time activities budget, maintenance, IT and just the way things operate at my new district and putting my stamp on how I wish things to go I was thinking the start of school was some time off.  As I was reading twitter and people talking about the start of school for 2012 I wondered what the rush was.

Then as I was scheduling a meeting I looked on my calendar and realized that the first of August is next week and I have my first meeting with our building principals a week from tomorrow.  I have met with a group of teachers already on academics for the district and how I see the educational process.  I have met with our principals at a summer conference so I have laid the groundwork for the upcoming year.  But the formal meeting is next Thursday when the nuts and bolts will happen, I'm sure glad I have been working on my presentation to them as the things occurred during the summer and using past meetings I have had in my previous district.  Thank heaven for google docs and Evernote.

I have gotten my presentation ready for my first meeting with the district staff and I'm sure I'll amend it some before the actual meeting occurs.  But I can tell you I'm JAZZED about it and can't wait.  I know that my philosophies will be a little different from what they are accustomed to and thats fine, the previous leadership at the district level was excellent here which has made the transition easy for me and for that I'm thankful.  But as we transition to a google app school, cloud computing as opposed to system operations and the overall use of technology in the classroom I am so excited to get started I can't wait.

Have a great 2012-2013 school year, It's Here.

We've Never Done it That Way

I have had the privilege to coach at three colleges and it was a wonderful experience for me and I met some lifelong friends during that time.  At one of the schools, however we had a secretary that would constantly say "We've never done it like that before" I grew to hate that saying.  For me the answer was obvious-We're doing that way now!

Sometimes I feel the same in the world of education, when we challenge the past practices and why we do things the way we do them.  Questioning some of our practices in the education world is long overdue.  Homework, as a practice to improve learning, textbooks as the holy grail of information, and the reluctance to use modern technology to protect our students.

I started to question some of these practices when my daughters were going through school, granted had it not effected my kids I probably wouldn't have, but the expression "Thats the way its always been done" popped up again which really went up my backside.  Our daughters were good students (fortunately they took after their momma), but when they would come home dazed and confused with some of their upper level classes I questioned in my own mind why this practice of homework had never been challenged.  I just didn't have the guts to publicly challenge the practice, shame on me.  Since I was a building principal, I did question the individual teachers, which I'm sure appeared to be self serving, but I also figured my children weren't the only ones struggling.

I didn't use email until 2002 when our oldest child went away to college, once again shame on me.  It sure beat snail mail to stay in contact.  Then our school went 1:1 and my transformation was pretty much complete.  Surely there is more to instruction than lecture, questions at end of chapter, test.  Fortunately our staff really embraced the 1:1 and we made some great things happen in the learning of our entire building, teachers thinking of new ways to deliver content, and students teaching our teachers as well as administrators how to use these nice new machines.

Enter Twitter into my world and what I have learned is some of the things I questioned are and have been questioned for some time now.  My regret is that I should have challenged these things before more openly.  We are in charge of educating kids so we need to be the frontrunners in new things that are available, instead we let other professions and areas bypass us and students have to learn on the job.  We've Never Done it That Way Before-yes we have and we're not doing that again, we're changing!

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one learned in school-Albert Einstein.

Starting Over

I began my new job yesterday, I am still a superintendent just at a different district.  Yesterday was busy with the unpacking and getting my office organized, going over what I expect from the ladies in the office that I work with, and taking care of normal day to day operations.  Today we do the budget and we will be off and running, now we just have to find a place to live in Arma, and the move will be official.

The only negative I have heard from folks is having to start over at another district.  To be honest I have embraced this and not viewed it as a negative at all, it has really energized me.  I think the primary reasons for this is starting over does take work and energy, but the move has really energized me.  I can't wait to share what I've learned being a superintendent at another district and what I've learned from social media, specifically twitter.

We are just breaking the surface technology wise here at Northeast but I do believe the district is ready to get on board with the tools and teaching aids that technology provides, and I do believe this helped me get the job.  Several teachers heard my presentation at a tech conference this summer, and have shared that I should give the presentation the first day our teachers come back, which I am now considering.  One even said it inspired her to research on her own about available tools to assist her instruction.

I know there will be some bumps in the road, and some naysayers, but that is not going to deter me from our ultimate goal which is improved student learning.  I look forward to the challenges ahead and like I have said before at my age I don't have time for people to come along slowly, lets get on the bus and go.