Leading LearningSamear

Sarah

Sheldon

Alison

Presentation Organization

1. Warm Up

2. Learning in the 21st Century

3. Upgrading the Curriculum

4. Coaches as System Leaders

5. Learning about System Renewal

6. Conclusion

Warm Up: What knowledge, attitudes and skills do you

think are important for leading 21st century learning?

http://math.phillipmartin.info/school_teacher5.gif

A New Essential Curriculum for a New Time – What

do you think?

“I often wonder if our students feel like they are travelling

through time as they walk through the door to the school

each morning” (p7). Heidi Hayes Jacobs

ematusov.soe.udel.edu http://www.vectronics

appleworld.com

web.tech4learning.com

Old School Vs.

New School...

Jacob‟s argues that students feel as though they‟ve walked into a simulation of the 1980s.

Thesis: “As educators, our challenge is to match the needs of our learners to a world that is changing with great rapidity. To meet this challenge we need to become strategic learners ourselves by deliberately expanding our perspectives and updating our approaches” (p.7).

• Society in the 1800s was becoming less agrarian and more industrial

• It was a contentious time with competing viewpoints:

o critical thinking vs. rote memorization?

o racial and ethnic segregation?

o classic Latin or Greek practices?

• The Committee of Ten issued a report on December 4th, 1893 in New York which

recommended the same curriculum for all students - Designed in a factory model of

organization

• Schooling would take place over 8 elementary years and 4 high school years

o English

o History & Civics

o Math

o Biology & Chemistry

Image Source: www.thesummitprep.org

Elementary school was designed to meet goals of High

School (p 9).

“Form should follow function. And now more than ever, we have

genuinely new forms to work with” (p.14). - Heidi Hayes Jacobs

3 Myths:That Jacob’s believes shape our

operational visions of

schools– Agree or

Disagree?

#1 - The good old days are good enough

#2 - We‟re better off if we thinkalike - and not too much

#3 - Too much creativity is dangerous - and the arts are frills (p 15).

Image Source incare-k12.com

Jacob’s makes reference to the work of

Wiggins and McTighe (2005) in

“Understanding by Design,” where they

argue that we should determine what

we want students to be able to do

before we start “short sighted activity

writing” for the classroom. This is

referred to as “backward design” by

beginning with the end in mind. This

means being deliberate and forward

thinking (p.7).

“Designing backward does not mean

going backwards” (p. 8).

Running schools on a continuous “replay button” no longer works (p.8)

The word essential is derived from the Latin esse, meaning “to be.” When

combined with the Webster‟s definition, “to distill to the core,” the application

to curriculum making is clear” (p.13). - Heidi Hayes Jacobs

Problem #1: The

Standards Movement

Four Key Program

Structures: Need to be

Rethought

A New Essential

Curriculum

Overemphasis on dated

standards

The schedule - long and

short is dated

Needs actual replacement

of dated content, skills &

assessments

Overemphasis on low level

testing

The way we group learners-

we know multi-age groups

can work

Change can feel trendy &

superficial, but growth is

deep & positive

Prevailing myth that

standards prepare students

for the future

Personal configurations -

thoughtfully grouped

personnel can be effective

Form should follow function,

and we have so many new

forms to work with

Too much disparity in

interpretation of standards

(p. 9-10).

Physical & virtual space- we

isolate teachers in their

classrooms (p.13-14).

There are signs of

improvement. i.e. Digital

grad portfolios in Rhode

Island (p.13).

UPGRADING THE CURRICULUM: 21st

CENTURY ASSESSMENT TYPES AND SKILLS

You can’t just replace a typewriter with a computer and call it innovative. We need to REPLACE existing PRACTICES(Jacobs, 2010, p.18).

CURRICULUM =

•Content

•Skills

•Assessments

…..that’s a lot of stuff to upgrade.

How do you eat an elephant?

Start small, start focused,

start with ASSESSMENTS(Jacobs, 2010, p.18).

How do you upgrade curriculum??

5 steps toUpgrade

Assessments

Step 1: Figure out what these new assessments are going to look like!

Hint: The new assessments should reflect products and performances of 21st century professionals.

Podcasts Films Online Courses Blogs E-reports Websites Simulations

EmailsDigital Music

WebcastsCAD projections

Email exchangesScreenplays

Online JournalsVideo Conferences

Step 2: Teachers and IT identify what kinds of technology exist in the

school/division

Once that has been determined, differentiated staff development will be needed so staff can learn new technologies.

Examples:

smartboardswebcamsiPods/iPads

web design toolswebquests twitter

photoshop web simulations CAD

Step 3: Replace a dated assessment with a modern one

“We should aggressively

go out of our way to

search for better ways to

help our learners

demonstrate learning with

the types of products and

performances that match

our times” (Jacobs, 2010, p.25).

Step 4: Share the assessment upgrades with other teachers and students

The original assessment can be compared to the new and improved one – this allows for collaborative brainstorming to occur.

Step 5: Embed ongoing sessions and time into the school calendar for

continued upgrades

Teachers need built-in, recurring time set aside to upgrade curriculum and expand their instructional strategies (Jacobs, 2010, p.26).

Coaches as System Leaders

Michael Fullan and Jim Knight

Facts

Good coaching gets results quickly

Coaching has to be part of an overall district improvement strategy

Districts must be organize to create, develop&sustain conditions for instructional improvement

What does not work

accountability

individual teacher development

technology

piecemeal reform components

If Coaching is to be successful a focus is required

What does work

capacity building

teamwork

pedagogy

system reform

“All schools in a district must be

treated as a part of a system.

Changing one school at a time is no

longer an option” (p. 51).

The Coaches role . . .

• lesson planning with classroom teacher

• modeling lessons

• observing instruction

• facilitation of meetings

• reviewing student data

• collaborative marking

Evidence shows successful Coaching requires. . .

• clear articulated professional development goals for both the coaches and the principal

• supportive and collaborative leadership rather than top-down (which creates an atmosphere of resistance)

• training for coaches

• pedagogic, communication and leadership skills

Principal role . . .

• Instructional leader

• Collaborate with coach and classroom teacher

• School leaders need to understand School Improvement plan

• Allow meaningful change to be realized before trying something else

System responsibilities

• building and increasing system level capacity

• support for system and „change‟ leaders

• emphasis on professional learning rather than accountability

North York saw a 20% improvement following the development and implementation of 14 parameters

• Shared beliefs & vision• Embedded literacy coaches• Timetabled literacy blocks• Principal leadership• Early & ongoing

intervention• Case management

approach• Literacy professional

development• In-school grade & subject

meetings

• book rooms with levelled books & resources

• Allocation of resources to literacy learning

• Action research focussed on literacy

• parental involvement• Cross-curricular literacy

connections• shared responsibility &

accountability

Indicate with the clipart tool all the parameters your school district utilizes.

A teacher‟s work has the greatest impact on student success followed by that of the principal and finally the coach.

“The work of the coach is squandered if school principals are not instructional leaders” (p. 55).

Solve the puzzle (use the chat)

Learning About System Renewal by Ben Levin & Michael Fullan

•The introduction of the Education

Reform Act (ERA) 1988 in

England was a watershed event

not just in that country but

internationally

(p. 289).

•The educational strategy of ERA

was based on choice and

competition.

•Belief that competition drives

efficiency and improvement in

economy so why not schools.

•Parents could choose schools

and would need comparable

measures of students

achievement – based on a single

national curriculum

The article focused on the lessons learned about effective change from international

experience with large-scale reform over the last 20 years.

• Many countries have “moved in

similar directions, though with

highly variable degrees of

boldness and commitment “ (p.

290).

•Along the way there have been

growing concerns about basing an

education strategy on choice and

competition (p. 291).

• Recent reforms in many

countries attempt to address both

excellence and equity through

strategies that focus on improving

the whole system by „raising the

bar and closing the gap‟ for all (p.

291).

Levin & Fullan (2008) state that:

Creating change in education is easy.

Many governments have done it by changing funding or policies or information or

governance structures. However these changes are not necessarily improvements (p. 292).

.

GroupActivityU

sing the

Found in the

Elluminate

clipart tool box

State whether

or not you

believe these

government

changes made

improvements

to the school

system.

Clipart Tool

Central Lesson of Large Scale Educational Change

Levin & Fullan (2008) believe that large-scale, sustained

improvement in student outcomes requires a sustained effort

to change school and classroom practices, not just structures

such as governance and accountability.

The heart of improvement lies in changing teaching and

learning practices in thousands and thousands of classrooms,

and this requires focused and sustained effort by all parts of

the education system and its partners(p. 291).

Seven Key Components to Education Reform that are Sustainable

andResult in Better Outcomes for Learners(p. 292-299).

(1) A small number of ambitious yet achievable goals, publicly stated.

(2) A positive stance with a focus on motivation.

(3) Multi-level engagement with strong leadership and a „guiding coalition‟.

(4) Emphasis on capacity building with a focus on results.

(5) Keeping a focus on key strategies while also managing other interests and issues.

(6) Effective use of resources.

(7) Constant and growing transparency including

public and stakeholder communication

and feedback.

(p. 292-299)

The Inhibiting Factors• The use of change knowledge is increasing internationally, but future

prospects remainmixed because it is hard work!

Please jot down a few of your thoughts on why many attempts at school reform fail to achieve their goals!

The Inhibiting FactorsAccording to by Ben Levin & Michael Fullan

• Not a quick fix – governments under pressure to do something now – no patients to stay the course

• High turnover of leaders makes it difficult to have a guiding coalition of leaders on the same page for this complex approach

• Deep Cultural Change requires hard, patient, unrelenting effort over a period of years