The Records Room

Growing up, my mother was one of the local community doctors. Back before corporate run large medical groups, she was in solo practice. Hanging her proverbial shingle outside her office. She ran the business. At first it was a couple of employees and as the business grew, the obligations and support team grew also. During the eighties, the availability of technology changed and as a result, the skills necessary to lead the office and the tools within the office changed also.

One of our first roles of helping out mom at the office was filing records. The had rows and rows of cabinets with patient records. When we were in on the weekend, it was our job to meticulously file them alphabetically in order so that the receptionist, nurse, or my mom could get to them quickly. There were never a lot to file, but usually 15 or 20 that hadn't gotten done by the close of the day on Friday. However, when we would walk into the records room, we were literally surrounded by files. All painstakingly organized for quick access.

I walked into my son's doctors office now. Its a small practice, four doctors. The receptionist is in an open air area with windows behind her. It's a nice view. There are no files. She uses an earpiece to talk to individuals on the phone. In a moment's notice she has all of the information on my son. She sends a digital alert to the doctor to let us know we picked up his prescriptions.

The change from the records room to now didn't happen overnight. There were many that said it wasn't necessary, there would be fewer jobs for people, and it wouldn't improve health care. Many professionals needed additional time, support, and training to make the transition. However, as we complete the journey, we can certainly say that our medical professionals have greater access to up to date information to provide the best care they can.

Thirty years later, we are making the same transition in education. Sure we did it long ago with student records. However, teachers, administrators, and secretaries make up only a small portion of those who work in schools. Students are by far the largest number of workers in a school. The digital transition to student devices is more than simply screen time and glowing parchment. The impacts are more than access to Khan Academy videos and digital games. The impacts begin with simple work flow. If emailing out a page for students saves 10 minutes at the copier (figure walking to the copier, running the copy, and walking back, all assuming that the copier works and their is no line), and 3 minutes of passing out papers, that number alone adds up to incredible savings throughout the school year of teacher time and student time. If digital distribution, means that now I can distribute different worksheets to different groups, not only is time saved but now we can get more aligned products. If digital distribution means that students can send me back their work electronically instead of putting it in a bin, needing to ensure that every paper has made it to the bin and has a name on it (ask a teacher, this is a real problem), and I need to sort it and organize it, there alone is a tremendous time savings. If digital distribution means that I have access to teacher and student materials beyond the age level I teach, there is an incredible time savings and learning opportunity. None of these huge savings addresses the incredible product development opportunities for students and teachers, authentic publishing experiences, or research opportunities available to children and adults. The digital revolution is as much about creating time and learning efficiencies as anything else.

The integration of 1:1 learning won't be easy. It may not be inexpensive. However, the new-fangled ultrasound machine that my mom got for her office wasn't either. Like my mom, we will need to be brave as we change the tools of our practice. In the end, these tools improved patient care, just as 1:1 will improve learning. They allowed more specific and more diagnostic care, just as 1:1 will help in learning.

Checking the Records Room

Start of Something New

August is here and as I look throughout social media, it's a time during which so many people are starting new adventures. Many of my friends are beginning new jobs. Some returning to the workforce after some significant time at home while others are trying new adventures. Some friends are writing new curricula or starting new programs. A new principalship or directorship, teaching in a new place or new content, or beginning at a new school. Its a time of energy and anxiousness. For many it's like that first day of high school, a feeling of being ready for this, knowing you can be successful, and anxiousness of so what is this really going to look like.

As we start something new, there are some things all of us should remember. People want you to be successful. Colleagues, friends, and family all wish you to do well. You were brought to the organization for a purpose and to be a difference maker. However, no one thinks you have to do it on day one. It is in everyone's interest that you succeed in your new role whether it's your first day of high school, first day as a teacher, or first day as a superintendent.

It's okay to get to know the lay of the land. All of us spent the days before entering a new school figuring out where our lockers were, what's our schedule, when's lunch. There really isn't a difference between entering the middle school as a student or a teacher. These are things we need to know. Often we all ask questions. In fact it is better to express our questions rather than hold them in and pretend that we know. Colleagues and clients like fallibility, as long as one works to learn and quickly correct the mistakes. Growing from mistakes is one of the best things we can do, whether we are a new student or veteran administrator.

As we start new things is vital that we start and remain positive. In the book FISH!, Stephen Lundin and Henry Paul look into the culture and climate of organizations that make a difference. They note the importance for employees to "choose their attitude." When one chooses a positive attitude, even challenges can be overcome. In our workplace and in all facets of life there are lots of things we can't control. Our attitude and perception truly impacts how we handle obstacles. Its okay to be anxious, nervous, frustrated, and even overwhelmed. However, by keeping a positive attitude, reminding yourself that this is just a stage and you will get through this. Reminding oneself that challenges make us better in the long run. This perspective will help you be successful on the first day and throughout your journey.

August is for many of us a chance to start or restart with a new joy in our work. For both children and adults, inside and outside of school, this is a chance for a fresh beginning. Lets make the most of it.

Start of Something New

A Computer in My Pocket

My son turned 9 last week. Like all parents, I remember so many things from that day and that summer. Last week I realized he was passing the half-way milestone of being at home each week. Nine years from now, he may be starting his own adventures. Completing high school, looking beyond into a world of what will be for himself. He's my second child, so I have had to come to grips with this idea and this internal conversation before.

One thing I often think about with my youngest child is that he was born just a few days before the first iPhone was released. For the eldest child we had separate music players, computers, video cameras, cameras, and internet search devices. My youngest child has spent his entire life being able to essentially put a computer in his pocket. He has always been able to look up information anywhere, play games anywhere, send notes anywhere. Furthermore, he has spent a majority of his life being able to "ask Siri" most of his questions. Sure often he gets a fractured thought or a repeat the question response, but in his reality, Siri is the being inside his device. Often I wonder what the impact of his life's perspective will be from never living a life without a computer in his pocket. Of always having "Siri" being there.

Frequently, science fiction becomes science fact. Dick Tracy had a watch he could call anyone from. So does my wife. On Star Trek, they would verbally ask "the computer" to show them things and provide ship-wide automation. Alexa, from the Amazon Echo, does that now for many "smart" homes and Siri soon will. I remember days of huge multi-function universal remotes that were hard to program but became one device to rule them all. Now a simple one button remote can do it and soon enough more devices will be like Alexa and be on all of the time. On Knight Rider, KITT frequently served as a personal guide and assistant to Michael Knight on their adventures. How long to we reach that point.

My son turned 9 last week. The iPhone turns 9 this week. In less than a decade, the fabric of how our world connects has changed dramatically. It's very clear that with the work Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple are doing in "machine learning" that we won't be waiting nine more years before we, adults and children, will have our only personal assistants to answer questions, remind us to do things, and connect us with the universe. It will happen. In my work world of education, I wonder if we are ready to adapt to the reality of these children's world not as if it were some distant idea of Isaac Asimov's but the reality of where the world will be by the time they graduate high school. We speak often of the un-Google-able question, but even those decrease in number each day. Perhaps we need to speak of what children can create, innovate, and cultivate with any piece of information being at their finger tips the instant the ask.

There is a great world ahead of us. A place where the human capacity to be creative, connect with others, and develop innovative ideas is possible. Our children will soon live in the world that I used to dream about while watching tv or reading a good book. Can we prepare this generation for life with a computer in their pocket and KITT as their companion?

This generation of elementary students is growing up with always having a computer in their pocket. The next generation may grow up only knowing self-driving cars. And with each innovation, once we let go of our fears we may realize that we are all a little better off.

Virtual Companionship

The End of the Chapter and the Beginning of the Next

During the past 40 hours, I have seen a great many events. I watched 2 graduations; more than 500 students walk past the podium. Each completing a nine year educational adventure. Each stepping forward into a new realm, a new challenge, and a new beginning. I watched a young man stand before a rabbi and choose a new religion after work, contemplation, and deliberation. I saw four young students, each pupils of mine, stand before a congregation and begin the ceremonies of B'nai Mitzvah, signifying a step into young adulthood within our faith. And, I saw a young couple prepare begin the first steps in their journey to become bride and groom.

Life is a book. Its days pages, its months and years chapters. The regularity in which the pages turn is predictable. The chapters create a flow. The contents are unpredictable. For each of the 500 children that walked past the podium. Their book, their chapters, were different. While they had the same start at kindergarten round up and the same end at middle school promotion. The chapters and pages, while predictable in time were each unique, each filled with different twists, turns, and adventures.

As I look at the 4 students preparing for their chance to lead the congregation today, I think of each of them as individuals, as learners, and as people. While close in age, they are not all the same year in school. While each child is smart in their own right, none of them have the same strengths. Some of them thrive sharing in the large group. Some of them most comfortable talking with a close friend. Some are artists, creative in nature. Some athletic, nimble and quick. Some prefer to navigate the lanes of the digital net, aptly moving through the mosaic of code and graphics. Their adventures to here, each challenging with obstacles, trials, and tribulations. With twists and turns that at times made the goal feel impossible to achieve. Each walking before the congregation ready to turn the page to the next chapter and to begin a new adventure.

I look at the young baby girl, standing before the congregation. A toddler discovering the world, embracing it, and openly saying "Hi!" A child for whom the each day the pages provide new obstacles, new discoveries, and new moments. The parents, embracing the moments, loving the discoveries, and subtly waiting for each chapter to pass so that the challenges of this stage and chapter go away and the new ones come forward.

The future bride and groom stood before the congregation with bright smiles beaming. I remember seeing the bride before. Six years earlier, the smile was the same. The hair pulled back in a pony tail. My son grabbing her had, as she, his counselor, walked him to the car. Now a teacher, a bride, a member of the community. In six years, the pages had turned, each chapter filled with ups and downs,  unexpected challenge, and plot twists. There she was, hand in hand with her future life partner ready to begin the next chapter.

Tonight, my son will stand with another student before the congregation and lead us in prayer. Each becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Each turning the page of a book. Ending one chapter and beginning another. Their ceremonies while together in time will be slightly different. Products of their own stories, their own adventures, and their own challenges. Like so many of us. June is a time in which we end one chapter and begin the next. How we choose to begin that chapter is the journey. For the graduates, the young mom and dad, the baby, the bride and groom, and the four b'nai mitzvah students each of you begin these chapters surrounded by family, friends, relatives, and mentors who love you and will support you through your choices on this journey.

King's Cross Station

May the 4th Be With You

Nearly 39 years ago, people walked into theaters awed by the grandeur of Star Wars. From the initial special effects laden shot of the rebel ship being chased by a Star Destroyer going over our heads to the Millennium Falcon escaping the Death Star, the movie grabbed our attention in ways that we had not seen before. Each time we watched, we were engaged in a 121 minute ride of awesomeness.

While Star Wars was the space-western of our time, it's appeal has transcended generations. Battlestar Galactica came and went and came and went again. Predator, Aliens, Terminator all came, all went, rinse... repeat. Star Wars was and is different than most space-westerns. Sure it's a story of grandeur, epic challenges, and good versus evil. But it is also a story of finding the best within ourselves.

The magnetism of Star Wars is the paths of the Jedi and Sith. The idea that there is more to us. Yoda extolls, "Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter." Star Wars reaches us because it recognizes that there is more unknown about human potential than is known. Each of us wants to ask what if, what could be, what may become. Furthermore, Star Wars gives us the path to get there. Obi Wan reminds us that our eyes can deceive us and to stretch out with our feelings.

Star Wars is a story of their being more in each of us than anyone would expect. Whether you are a farm boy from the desolate regions or a smuggler living from payday to payday there is more in each of us. It is a story that grabbed me as a child and grabs many of us when we are open to it. This generation's Star Wars is no different. When faced with adversity, and needing to find something special within oneself. Finn tells Han Solo, "we'll figure it out. We'll use the Force." Star Wars resonates because it talks about each of us being more than what we imagine ourselves to be. We are in the cocoon, waiting to awaken. When we reach out, what hidden talents might each of us discover. As we walk through the days of Spring, perhaps it is time that we look at each of us, our friends, our children, our students and ask what awakening may occur today.

May the 4th Be With You!

Where Would I Be Without My Filofax?

Growing up I knew phone numbers. It was important that I knew at least 15 of them. I knew my mom's work number, the house number, my friends' house numbers, and dad's work number. Seven digit numeric sequences that were paramount to my day to day functioning. Without them, I couldn't make it day to day. Socially, my world was integrated through asking my parents permission to do things and connecting to my friends. The important life aspect of this was the connection, the memorization of the phone numbers was the key to unlock the opportunity, in no way was it vital to the opportunity.

In the 20th century, business leaders were so important that they had secretaries whose sole job was to organize their day. The secretary kept track of the schedule, facilitated appointments, managed key contacts, and helped the business leader pace the day. In the 1980's, more and more business was on the move. As a result Filofax's and Franklin Covey planners rose to prominence. Inside people kept the key information of their lives. Calendars, contacts, credit cards, and meeting notes all in one place. The problem being solved was one Gary Larson put so eloquently in this Far Side cartoon:

Excuse Me - Gary Larson, The Far Side

Needing something to keep track of all of the information we need to have in life is not a new problem. It is simply a problem we are getting better at solving. The 1990 Charles Grodin-Jim Belushi movie, Taking Care of Business, was centered around the premise of what were to happen to a person if they accidentally left behind their Filofax at an airport. The antics surround an individual trying to establish his identity and another impersonating him, with a fun side story of the Cubs trying to win the World Series. The reality is remembering key information is not a new problem, our ways of coping with it are better.

Frequently I hear concerns, what would these kids do without their devices. Inside it is their lives. Their music, their messages, their contacts, and their calendars. In saying this, we are like the old criminals on a Scooby Doo episode. We are curmudgeons mistaking tool for the objective. The device, like the phone number is simply the key to the lock. The child's texts are simply a replacement for hours on the phone with their friends. Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora have simply replaced our CD players and boom boxes. Our calendars have moved from unwieldy Chandlers that if lost our lives would be in peril to digital images that we can pull up on a phone or a watch. 

The truth is that I remember my friend's Steve's home phone number during middle school better that I know our "landline" phone number right now. If I, my wife, or my sons, lose "these devices," our key information is mostly secure, encrypted, and can instantly be pulled down from a back up or accessed by us on the web. Now we have the opportunity to instead of remembering the minute details that opened the doors to relationships, conversations, and business to focus on these interactions instead. As Jim Belushi reminds Charles Grodin after catching Mark Grace's fictional home run in the World Series, it's important to see the moment rather than working towards getting to the event.

Taking Care of Business

Products of the System

When a child is a young star athlete, they stand out. They are the ones who play soccer or basketball and dribble from one side of the field to the other and no one touches them. In football, they are the child who is the running back/linebacker moving from side to side making everything happen. In baseball, they rotate between shortstop, centerfield, and pitcher. When that child is on the mound or at the plate, you know it. There is a different sound as their pitch hits the catcher's mitt or their bat cracks as they hit the ball. At early ages they are simply better than the field.

As these athletes get older, the field thins out to be only the stars. The talent difference for the most part diminishes and we look for where the athlete fits. The system the athlete starred in now becomes a key factor in identifying both the past success and future possibilities of the athlete. Football is a great example of this. In college, many offenses play the spread offense. This is different from the NFL. As a result many quarterbacks and offensive lineman are questioned in regards to their potential in the NFL. The concern is can they transition between systems or are they simply a product of the system.

Basketball is the same way. In college you see a myriad of schemes. Syracuse's famous zone defense, the triangle offense, motion offenses, isolation offenses, the Princeton offense. Each of these schemes are very different and players that play within these systems are questioned as to whether it is the player or the system that drives the athlete to success. In the NBA, scouts and general managers look at the success of second round pick Draymond Green and question how did they miss him. The underlying question is Draymond Green a star or a product of playing in the Golden State system.

While for athletes in many sports, we often have multiple systems available to promote success and drive innovation, the same is not as true in education. Essentially, we ask each child to learn the same things at the same time. We move them through a grade-based system in which every mistake penalizes them, focusing them on achieving perfection the first time out or selecting courses at a lower level so that they will not receive as many penalties. Reshma Saujani points out in her fantastic TED talk, that this is even more true for girls than boys. We systematize our students to become risk adverse. Rewarding innovation only within a slim context of content area production.

The results are worrisome and staggering. When employers indicate the modern student isn't ready for the work force, the reality is that the modern student has worked within a system where the only goal is the minimize mistakes to maintain an acceptable level of achievement. Rarely do we cultivate a system in which children are encouraged to try new things, look at problems (not simply more questions from a textbook), and create new solutions. Rarely do we create an environment in which team success is paramount rather than individual mistake avoidance.

This week, Tesla unveiled the Model 3. An innovative electric car aimed at mass-market production. The product itself is a combination of numerous innovations. Each product Tesla has made relies on risks, creativity, out of the box thinking and team collaboration. Tesla, like Apple and Google, need workers who are not simply risk adverse, but are willing to explore, try, fail, innovate, create, and collaborate. Is our system creating these products or will our students need to rise above the system in  order to be successful? If they need to rise above the system, is it time to reconsider our work?

Think Different