Symbol of Hope

One of my roles at work is to work with students who have been identified as "Limited English Proficient," their teachers, and their families. These children are often the children or grandchildren of immigrants. Like my great-grandparents, their families came to this country from wherever they had lived before filled with dreams, desire, a strong work ethic, and a willingness to make it as a family. For each family, it's not easy. They come from a variety of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. They have native languages in Gujarati, Malayalam, Serbian, Spanish, Tamil, and others. Many work two shifts to make ends meet. Sometimes the children understand why their parents or grandparents made this journey and sometimes they don't. In the end, the children and their families simply want to be welcomed, make friends, and lead good lives. As I work with the teachers that support these students and their families, they share stories of the worry and anxiety that this election cycle has had. The vast majority of our families are legal immigrants, however, the broad brushes of politics have stirred feelings that have made these students and families feel unwelcome.

I live in Chicago and for most of a century, the Chicago Cubs have been pretty dreadful. We tell stories of 1969 when a team filled with Hall of Famers, Willams, Jenkins, and Santo, fell out of contention. We remember the ball going through Leon Durhams legs in the '84 playoffs. We share stories of Steve Bartman, a fan who was blamed for the collapse of the '03 Cubs by manager Dusty Baker, and rarely talk about about moments prior shortstop Alex Gonzales error that led to the collapse. Through all of this, Cub fans have been extremely resilient. From the Die-Hards like of previous generations like my Grandfather Rudy, Uncle Al, and Aunt Bea, to the friends that have consistently crowded the bleachers whether they were winning 70 or 90. For Cubs fans, even in the darkest of times, there has always been hope.

This month, my television has turned into a nationwide version of the Jerry Springer show. Debates and political campaigns, regardless of your political ideology, have become more spectacle than policy discussion. Growing up, political dialogue I would expect to see on the MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour or hear from Milton Friedman, now has references from Wikileaks and Access Hollywood.   Like the historic observer of the Cubs, regardless of the side of the aisle you sit, it can feel like we have reached a point where there is no hope. Our families with Limited English Proficient students certainly feel this way. In Field of Dreams, Terrence Mann (James Earl Jones) reminds Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) through the seas of change that have swept our country, one constant remains, Baseball. This is no truer than now. While we watch one of the ugliest elections of our time, the Chicago Cubs seem to have risen from the ashes. With the best infield since Tinkers to Evers to Chance, America is being swept from a northside ray of hope. With a hashtag #nomorenextyears the lovable Cubs are providing some positive all of us need.

In times of darkness, each of us needs a symbol. A reminder of what is good in this world and the difference each of us can make. A silly positive moment, to remind us of what can be, to see the good, and believe in each other. As we work with students and their families that feel the negative swings whether from their own lives or from a national dialogue, sharing symbols of hope and a positive future. Helping them find ways where they, or more appropriately we, can make a difference. That is the guidance all of us need.

Symbol of Hope

The Way We Learn

I was in a first grade class the other day. Children were asked to read independently. Some chose to pick up a book. Others chose to open an app on their iPad. Two individuals, a boy and a girl, walked up to the teacher independently at different times and asked if they could use Brainpop. My first reaction as an observer was that watching videos isn't reading. And, it isn't. However, the experience stuck with me. I've dwelled on it for the last 15 or so hours. Maybe there is more to this.

I have two children. One is a vociferous reader. Hand him a book and two hours later he is done with it. He is constantly reading text, whether in print, on the screen, or on the back of a cereal box. He tends to prefer stories, often towards leaning towards technology such as science fiction. At times he enjoys humorous fantasy or comic strips. My other child is a utilitarian reader. He reads because he has to or because he wants a specific piece of information. He is my non-fiction child. His reading is often how to do something or how something works.

When I needed to figure out how to add freon to my wife's minivan, I read the directions and that only got me so far. When I clicked over to youtube and watched some homemade videos, instantly I understood. I even had the video replay as I did it.

For both of them, and many of their friends, they learn more often through video. My utilitarian learner is constantly watching how to videos. He wants to know why something works or how he can modify something into something else. His video stream reminds me of the scenes from A-Team or MacGuyver, when they build something to solve the problem. However, instead of the montage, he is taking in the step by step analysis of how to do it. My vociferous reader seeks out videos that are either how to get through a video game level, political humor, or SpongeBob.

While we would project my vociferous reader as the one most likely to learn more because he reads more, I think my utilitarian reader is working to learn more often. In our heads, because we grew up in a text-driven society, access to print opened and closed doors. However, if a picture is worth a thousand words, how much value is there in a video? My utilitarian learner has skills at age 9 that I could only dream of. He is the curious one, wondering deeply about how the world works.

I am not sure which child will be better off. I hope for the best for both of them. Either way, I think the way we learn maybe changing. Text may not be the gatekeeper to knowledge anymore. Like those first graders, perhaps some of the time we may access learning more efficiently by clicking the video and checking out Brainpop.

Learning to Dance

I Don't Think That Word Means What You Think It Means

I taught high school in the mid-Nineties. As with all schools, there was one teacher who expounded on how challenging her class was. She frequently mentioned that she had high expectations for her students and that most often she was disappointed by the children of this school. When talking with one of my administrator friends, he explained to me, this talk was simply code for the fact that 60-70% of her students got a "D" or "F" in her class. The administrator saw this as a problem. He explained to a young wet behind the ears (from swim practice) intern that our role was to help students learn the concepts. If many students weren't passing it was on us. Either we needed to be better in facilitating learning, our measurement had bad questions or a bad scale, or we needed a new measurement.

Recently, I have heard the word rigorous used when describing why students are doing poorly on a measure. The most recent incident was when two speakers at a conference I attended explained that the reason students were now doing more poorly on a new assessment of standards than previous assessments of the same standards is that the test was more rigorous. Perhaps Vizzini might call this "inconceivable." Lets look at the situation:
                              Same population being assessed, check.
                              Same standards, check.
                              New Assessment, check.
                              New Scoring Rubric, check.
One may look at the situation and ask, perhaps "rigorous" doesn't mean what you think it means. Perhaps we have a bad scale designed only to pass a few students. Perhaps we have some bad questions that only a few kids can get. Or perhaps, we have a bad assessment overall.

We are finding that more "rigorous" often is test maker jargon for not many kids are going to get this. I was a swimmer. Swimming the 200 fly was more rigorous than swimming the 50 fly. No matter how slow you tried to go, there was no way around it, you were more exhausted after 200 fly than 50 fly. Doing a Tough Mudder is more rigorous thank doing the mile run. Failing a lot of students on an assessment isn't about more rigor, rigor comes through the experience, it's about trying to set the bar so people will fail, just like the teacher who was "challenging" or having "high expectations." Code words are code words and we need to recognize the situation. The more I think about it, the more I find these actions "inconceivable."

The Days Before Television

The sun rose as I pulled into Caruso Middle School parking lot on Friday morning to drop my eldest at Cross Country practice. Mrs. Spies warmly greeted her 30 to 40 students and their requisite drivers as she welcomed them in for their morning run. Across the screen of my phone came a group text from our friend's daughter celebrating to with my sons, my wife, her sister, and her mom, "and just like that, it's my Bar Mitzvah weekend." What followed was congratulations from the adults and memes (funny videos and pictures) that she and the children were making instantaneously to celebrate the event. Yes, I said making. As adults mostly we share them, but children, they often create them. Here were shouts of joy from a child becoming religiously a woman, and due to her family dynamics and the tools in her hand she had the capacity to share them with the world.

The other day, I took my son and his friend out kayaking. They had met at camp and it seemed like a terrific adventure. They children brought their phones with them, in nice waterproof cases, and I brought the dog. There was great fun as they tried to tandem paddle down the river. Occasional tossing of algae at each other. Occasions when paddles collided. With their phones draped around their neck, they took the occasional picture. As we pulled past the river into a lake portion of the journey, my son's friend asks Siri to FaceTime her father. Simply, she wanted to share the view and moment with her dad. While she was having a blast with her friend, that moment, that time, just like that she was able to bring her dad into an event, talk with him, show him, share, and then return to tossing algae.

From time to time I see articles shared about how children's devices and screens are the problem. I remember my uncle raving about the "idiot box" television as he listened to the dronings on of the radio. I think it's easy for each generation to cast stones at what the youth of the day are doing. I think it's harder to boil it down to the essential values of what is driving youth to make those choices and understand how the children are doing that. Gary Larsen once drew for his Far Side comic strip, the following:

A satirical commentary that families once did something when they were bored that wasted time and that during the seventies and eighties, families chose television. When my children are bored, they sometimes watch screens. From my perspective dreadfully boring expository dialogues walking them through Minecraft, Pokemon, and the best Nerf guns (don't ask why, I don't get it either). When my children are bored, they also create movies. Filming themselves making silly songs, dancing, reenacting scenes, and making their own scenes. Most importantly, when I provide my children with an experience such as kayaking, seeing a cave, walking through a museum, they are there too. Often sharing the moments with their friends, our family, and with each other both orally and digitally.

Youth has always wanted their voice to be heard for her they are. In the 50's and 60's it was ham radios. In the 70's it was the high school and camp radio stations. In the 80's films such as Pump Up the Volume and Breakfast Club, the cartoon Jem and the Holograms celebrated this theme. In the 2000's with Raise Your Voice is one example of the continued theme. And now on the Internet all across youtube, youth creating their channels and sharing their stories. The theme is we want to interact and share our perspective of the world. The tools of today are our phones, our tablets, and our Chromebooks. Yes, we can long for times when kids played stickball in the street and spent time tossing rocks across the pond. We can also see our kids for who they are and create opportunities for them to embrace their world and maximize who they can be.

Sharing Our Story

SaveSave

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