This Spring Break I am taking some time to re-read one of my favorite writers who, at age 82, died last week leaving a huge silence where a voice is most needed. Adrienne Rich was a poet but it is her prose that has always appealed to me. I decided to honor her death by going back to read something of hers that I had not yet read. I came across an essay she wrote in 1973 entitled "Teaching Language in Open Admissions." I tweeted (perhaps to some people "overtweeted") many of the lines that moved me but there was one particular passage that was too long for the 140 character limitation. I hope that the estate of Adrienne Rich believes I stayed within the 10% allowable quotation limitation. I also hope that it motivates others to buy the book and read the essay for themselves. 

"Finally, as to to trust: I think that, simple as it may seem, it is worth saying: a fundamental belief in the students is more important than anything else. We all know of those studies in education where the teacher's previously induced expectations dramatically affect the learning that goes on during the semester. This fundamental belief is not a sentimental matter: it is a very demanding matter of realistically conceiving the student where he or she is, and at the same time never losing site of where he or she can be." [Source: Adrienne Rich, "Teaching Language in Open Admissions" On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose. New York: WW Norton & Company, 1973, p. 66]

To me, this quote connects so many of the issues that I have been thinking about over the past few weeks. 

1. It connects directly to a line from a poem performed at the LTAB competition a month or so ago. One young man's poem had the line (I have to paraphrase here because I could not find it) "You celebrated when I did average" in reference to the problems that young people face in all classrooms where the teacher does not hold students to the level of intellect that shows respect for where they can be and will be in the future. Don't have standards that will make all your students thank you today...have standards that will make them want thank you ten years from now when they probably won't take the time to get in touch with you. Mostly because teaching is not about being thanked. It is about, at your core, believing that you are helping to guide young men and women into becoming independent, critical readers, thinkers, writers, and speakers and that in their awesomeness they will be way too busy to send you a card. 

2. It also connects to the polarized conversations around the new CPS evaluation system. According to CPS, 10% of the new evaluations will be measured by test scores. If taken out of context, Rich's quote above would support this idea in that we should measure where students are and where they can be. However, the whole essay is about a program run by the City College system in New York that aims to help students find their voice and use it to change the institutions that have held them back. I do believe in measuring teacher quality. I went through National Board Certification for that purpose. I ask for feedback from peers for that purpose. But I have yet to see a standardized test that measures the extent to which students have found their voice and are using it competenty and creatively to challenge the status quo. In my mind, we too often measure what is easiest to measure but not what is most important. 

3. Perhaps because I cannot get it out of my mind, it also connects to the conversations about Trayvon Martin's murder. We will not survive as a country unless we begin to challenge our own fears and frustrations to a peaceful world that can be. We will not survive as teachers if we can't see through our own fears of inadequacy and frustrations about student apathy and see students for who they can be. All teachers must constantly question their own beliefs about students, about the role of education, about their role in the classroom, etc and try to find new answers that make sure "the student is more important than anything else." 

I'm not sure how others are feeling about the 360 evaluations under way at Lindblom. Before I saw students filling them out, I felt fine...even celebratory that we were so open and invested in improving ourselves and our school. I still feel that way but I would be lying if I didn't say that I also feel something else. I think the best word for it is anxiety--not quite fear but definitely discomfort. Something related to feelings of rejection and judgement. Something that has given me a "I hope they like me" kind of feeling. It's interesting. I am trying to do what I try to do with all feelings (though not always successfully) which is sit with them and allow myself to try to understand where they are coming from before I respond out of emotion and regret it. 

What this time of sitting has allowed me to understand is just how little I am asked to be accountable for my actions and words. While trying to hold myself accountable for both, I know that our minds are quick to justify our behaviors and validate our own worldviews. Sometimes I don't even know it's happening. It is good to be held accountable. I feel the same way about observations. I can't say I like them but I know that I need to be better at being open to criticism and open to the ideas of others. One of my former colleagues came to observe me the other day because her school is moving to block scheduling. I respect this teacher immensely but didn't have my whole idea for the lesson vetted out. I was anxious about her view of me as a person and professional if the class wasn't perfect. The class went fine. From the reflections the next class day I knew the students achieved the objectives for the day but I asked Liz to tell me what she would have done differently (I thought this was a way to open up critique without the person feeling awkward or sheepish about being honest). She had some amazing ideas to make what I did better. She wondered about my measurement of student understanding given that I did not call on all students. She thoughtfully and respectfully nudged me to be a better teacher. It was helpful critique. 

I use the word critique because I so often see Nate Diamond's students outside my class offering feedback on each other's artwork. Nate overtly teaches the skill of critique in his classes (as do all Art teachers) and, over time, students get better at giving and receiving the feedback from their peers. The more you do something, the better you get at it. Yet as adults we rarely seek out feedback we aren't certain will be largely, if not entirely, positive. Particularly in the world of teaching we can hide in our corners of the building and see only those mistakes or weaknesses that we want to see. That is no way to get appreciably better. 

For those who have gone through National Boards, there is a measure of this anxiety in that process. Watching films of yourself teaching is painful–"Is that what I sound like?" "Why didn't I wait longer to call on students?" "I suck!". Yet, for me, it was because of that anxiety that I forced myself to acknowledge what I knew to be best practice yet was not consistently doing. I could longer pretend that I didn't know or didn't have enough time. Good teaching was good teaching and I should aim for perfection every day even though the exigencies of the day may get in the way. The anxiety made me better. 

So too with the 360 evaluation. I am feeling that same anxiety again. What if I find out everyone thinks I am a jerk? What if I don't empower my peers? What if students don't feel like I respect them as individuals? All of those realizations would suck and I would need a few weeks to recover from the painful blow of honest feedback but, in the end, knowing is always better than not knowing. Knowing makes us better people. 

Edcamp Chicago: Despite what some of you may think, I can be lazy on weekends. Yesterday I had signed up for a conference called "edcamp Chicago" to be held at Stevenson HS in Lincolnshire, Illinois. When I woke up, I had the feeling that I have been having a lot lately. I would like to BE there but I don't want to DRIVE there. I almost didn't go. What got me in the car driving northward was the opportunity to meet two people with whom I communicate quite often via twitter. Some people call this subset one's "tweeps." I refuse. They are colleagues and becoming friends and I looked forward to the chance to meet them in person. So thanks Shawn and Heather for getting me out of bed to get to edcamp. It was great meeting you and the experience of edcamp and the conversations we shared (with others as well) gave me new ideas and insights, but most of all it gave me energy. 

Lindblom: The origins of LMSA allowed for a loose structure and an aversion to meetings. The staff was small and informal conversations were easy to strike up making meetings often superfluous. As we have grown, that looseness has its limits. We are meeting more (i.e. House meetings, department common assessment/curriculum alignment meetings, faculty meetings, etc) because sometimes meetings are more efficient and more meaningful than email conversations. Our freshman academy would be nowhere near as successful without our weekly meetings. Emails are easy to ignore and it's hard to connect the patterns and themes that are so clear when we are all in the same room talking. Sometimes meetings matter. 

Since we have laid the foundation of less is more, it is hard to push for more but I am going to propose an idea for PD days that models the experience I had yesterday. 

The edcamp concept: In the edcamp model, teachers get together at the beginning of the day and present topics that they would like to discuss. Topics that are similar are joined and times for conversations are created. The most powerful part is that teachers decide the topics (principals could create a topic of their own to add to the list, attend the conversations of others, or step out of the way and watch the magic). Once the schedule is created, meetings begin and people make their way to the room with the conversation that most interests them. The conversation can last an hour or ten minutes. People can move to another conversation whenever they want--it's not personal. 

The value of the edcamp model: It is stunning to me that much of the PD world is presentation based leaving little or no time for teachers to talk. This is the value of edcamp. It is all talk. It assumes that we are professionals and that we won't wander into a discussion about "Housewives of Atlanta" (unless it is relevant to the pedagogical conversation). Not only is it respectful of our dedication to and knowledge about our craft but it also holds us accountable to participate and lead. This is a powerful difference from most CPS PDs where teachers fight for the back row so they can grade papers without being seen while the presenter reads off the power point. 

Lindblom edcamp PD Days: In conversations throughout the day, people talked about the problems they would face in bringing this model to their schools. Administration runs PD. Teachers are resistant to share. I kept thinking...Lindblom teachers would LOVE this model of PD. It is often what we do in the lunchroom or when we stop by colleagues' classrooms. This would formalize it a bit more to make sure everyone knew about the conversation and could chose to attend if he or she wanted. So my proposal is simple. On our PD days, we should spend part of our faculty meeting time generating a list of topics (or it could be done before the meeting using a google doc/form) and creating a schedule for the day. Teachers then can make a plan for their day of which topics to attend. The sessions would be optional and could be scheduled around department meetings and personal time for grading or planning. 

What this might look like for reals: We arrive to the faculty meeting with some ideas of what we might like to discuss. A place is set up to allow people to write down their idea(s) and a discussion ensues about what might be joined together. With the final list, a schedule is made and teachers create a personal schedule for their day taking into account other meetings and grading/planning time. One teacher writes, "After-school hallway issues" while another writes "teaching readers to think." And on and on it goes. All driven by our needs and interests. 

More topics might include:

• Finding/creating authentic audiences
• Using technology to advance learning
• Planning interdisciplinary units
• How to manage grading so I still have a life
• Building school culture
• Writing grants
• Using the library resources effectively

The list is endless. Teachers choose which sessions to attend and they stay in the session as long as it is useful. 

Reflection: I see this as an important part of accountability and building community. Whether it happens on-line or face to face at the end of the day, I think reflection is a critical part of the learning process and we often push it off for lack of time. Today, the day after the event, edcamp participants are writing and posting reflections about the event in blog posts or comments. It is partly for the reader but, perhaps even more for ourselves to help us make sense of what the experience of edcamp meant and why it matters. 

What do you think? Do you want to give it a try next year? 

We will nurture each student’s contributions to local and global communities by promoting personal responsibility, service, and intellectual and social growth.

Above is the second half of Lindblom's mission statement (see previous post for conversation about the first half). This part of the mission is trickier to measure as it extends beyond our classrooms and into the hallways, the community, and the larger world. Yet I see both parts of the mission statement as critically connected. I also think it is too easy to declare ourselves successful by the actions of a few and too easy to declare ourselves a failure by the actions of a few. Lindblom is a work in progress and requires the work of those who believe in what we have created thus far and the possibility of what it can be in the future. 

Personal responsibility-Perhaps our greatest challenge as a school is how to teach students to be responsible to themselves, to each other, and to the school itself. I tend to see small behaviors as indications of larger issues and solving the small can lead to bigger solutions. For example, I am on a kick to pick up trash left by students but also saying out loud to all those around that we are a community and must act accordingly. Anyone can pick up trash and put it in the trash can (I also think we would be helped by having more trash cans around the building) and students don't often see this as a community effort to keep our school beautiful. We have to help them see it. We have to model it and discuss it and not give up. I am at the point where some students will pick up trash when I am around or tell their friends in a friendly mocking tone to clean up because "we are all in this together." I feel like such mockery is a huge step in the right direction. Students can use me as an excuse to act in ways that their peers might otherwise not accept. I will gladly be their scapegoat. 

The mistake I often make with my students and one that my mom made with me is believing that, by saying things once, behaviors will change. All cognitive and behavioral science would prove otherwise. It is constant repetition and reflection that makes adolescents (and adults) learn how to behave and why that behavior leads to a greater sense of community and connection with others. 

Service-I think this area requires a much larger conversation mixed with a gut check. We have definitely strayed from this part of our mission. I miss it but also remember the frustration of trying to seek out community partnerships when colloquia do not meet consistently. In shifting colloquium to better meet the academic needs of our students, I wonder what have we sacrificed? Can we do both? 

Intellectual growth-I think, for the most part, we do this rather well. I think of Nora and Mike's sociology class that is reading There Are No Children Here and discussing solutions to problems of public housing and inequity. I think of Nate and Zack's election propaganda campaign at the beginning of the year where students learned by doing (not by being "frontal" teachers). I think of Kari's socratic seminars where students learn to take responsibility for their own learning and the success of the classroom. I think we foster student intellectual growth because we foster our own intellectual growth as learners. That said, we still have students we haven't reached and our work is never done. 

Social growth-Sometimes this growth is harder to see than intellectual growth. It takes a four-year long perspective at times to see our students growing into kind, competent, and creative young men and women. Social growth cannot be separated from intellectual growth. Both must be nurtured together and, like intellectual growth, social growth is something that we as adults must constantly do as well. We must challenge our own beliefs and assumptions and work to become our best selves. We must be honest when we stray from this task and learn how to consistently model reflective living. 

Contributions to the local community-I think this should be our schoolwide focus next year. Contributing to the Lindblom community. Yeah, I said it. SCHOOLWIDE. By that I mean it should find a place in every classroom, colloquium, advistory, etc. I think it should be defined and measured. I think teachers, adminstrators, support staff, parents, AND students should reflect on the ways that each of us currently contributes to the Lindblom community and ways that we can collaborate in the future. I think by working, genuinely working at a schoolwide level, we can build a better school that can commit in more ways to the larger local community of Englewood and Chicago. 

Contribution to the global community-With the technology available at our school, we should be able to constantly engage with the global community. There is no reason a poster board should gather dust in a classroom. Not including our amazing distance learning lab, we have computers with internet access and a host of organizations that help students make connections with the larger world. I would love to work with other people on finding more and more authentic audiences for our students. The more authentic the audience, the more engaged the student. 

Final thoughts: I think this idea of community is the root of the solution for the third focus of this year–school safety/school culture. I'm not talking about car break ins. I am talking about something bigger. Helping students learn how to see Lindblom as a community of learners and a community of creative people who can ALL contribute at a local and global level. I think we need to define community and define what all our stakeholders can do to contribute to making the Lindblom community a great place for everyone to learn and lead. 

Today the Chicago Tribune gave a full editorial page to their analysis of the next CTU contract.  While I agree with some of their stances—such as having a longer school day/year and finding ways to fire ineffective teachers—I have far greater questions about how to evaluate what an “effective” teacher is.

I’d like to dedicate this post to asking questions about how to effectively evaluate teacher performance.  The Tribune editorial seems long on complaints about ineffective teaching, but short on solutions.  I’d like to toss out some of the random ideas that came to my mind as I read the article which you can read here

How do we determine the impact of a single teacher?  I think most of us know that standardized test scores do not determine teaching effectiveness.  After all, which teachers are to thank for high student marks on a Language Arts test?  Is it the English teacher?  Almost certainly.  But what about the critical skills those students may have gained analyzing document based questions for AP Art History?  What about the vocabulary and diction learned from history fair?  What about the logic questions students answered in Math?  I could go on, but I think we all know the point—learned skills do not take place in one classroom alone—it takes a village of teachers.

So how do we evaluate individual teachers education takes a village (and not just teachers—but buy-in from a whole community, from parents to students to administrators)?  This is a subject I’ve recently become very interested in.  I’m going to share my initial thoughts and then I hope some of you will share your ideas as well.

I like the Charlotte Danielson method for evaluation.  This framework evaluates four teaching domains: Planning and Preparation, The Classroom Environment, Professional Responsibilities, and Instruction.  I’d like to see a village approach to evaluating these domains instead of the typical CPS format that currently requires principals to evaluate teachers twice a year with a performance rubric.  I think teacher evaluations would be more effective if we were assessed by the following:

·         Our principal or administrator evaluation

·         A combination of parent and student surveys or interviews

·         Peer evaluations or interviews (with one peer as an advocate chosen by the evaluated teacher)

·         Two instructional observations (one by an administrator and one by a department chair)

Now this process would certainly require more time than the old evaluation, but I believe a format similar to this would move us towards better gauging what effective teaching is.  It would also encourage greater buy-in from students and parents who at many schools feel like they are ancillary parts of the process.

So those are my thoughts in a nutshell.  I know we’re working on a 360 evaluation process at LMSA, which sounds exciting, but what do you think our CPS evaluation system should be?  What do you think about the Tribune editorial article?  I’m eager to hear your thoughts!

Mike

For those of you who haven't yet added to the board in room 210 or want to extend those thoughts here, please feel free to comment. Perhaps having the conversation in more than one place will allow more voices to be heard and help us define and internalize the mission for ourselves. I think missions, if written authentically as ours is, help to guide our actions from hiring to lesson planning to prioritizing our time. 

My two cents...

For some time now I have felt a growing disconnect from a major part of what drew me to Lindblom in the first place. I wasn't looking for a job. I was happily isolated in my own classroom at Brooks and couldn't imagine leaving the students. Yet, when a fellow teacher directed me to the LMSA website where the mission and beliefs were outlined, it helped me see what was missing at my school and I began to wonder what it would be like to work at a school that was driven, truly driven, by a common vision. So I emailed Alan and interviewed with Zack and my excitement over the experiment that was Lindblom began to grow. 

The mission and beliefs were a consistent part of the dialogue my first two years. The beliefs, if I remember correctly, were called pillars and the number of them matched the number of pillars or columns in the front of our majestic building (are they corinthian? doric?). We had the freshman make posters advertising each pillar to help them understand what we, as a school community, held dear and to encourage them to live the pillars in their own way. 

But then we grew. In one year we nearly doubled in size in both students and new staff and instead of working to have both groups buy into and make their own the mission and beliefs, we stopped mentioning them. I think this was a mistake. Don't hear this as a criticism of one group or person. I am putting myself squarely in the camp of letting the mission and beliefs become just a section of the website and not a living, breathing document. We are all responsible for this. Alan and the rest of the administration have created an atmosphere where we have a high degree of autonomy and respect for what we do in the classroom. As with any freedoms, there are responsibilities. That is something I teach my students regularly. 

What are the responsibilities that come with the freedom we are given? I believe one major responsibility is that we hold ourselves accountable to the mission of the school. Yet, I would guess there are new and newish teachers who are not particularly familiar with the words that we have dedicated ourselves to enlivening through action. I also believe that all teachers new and veteran (I didn't want to say "old") need to grapple with the meaning of those words and reflect on their practice to make the mission their own and the actions it elicits authentic. I think we need to do this regularly. My purpose in starting this blog is for me to begin conversations and encourage others to join in on their own time. Let me start with the first part of our mission statement...

"Our mission is to empower students to become independent thinkers in a collaborative learning environment"

Yesterday, a handful of us gathered in my room for the inaugural TEDTalk Tuesday. In my quest to build community and provide opportunities for people to share thoughts and ideas without feeling obligated or guilty, I decided that the content and length of a TEDtalk is particularly suited to a half block period.

My idea for TEDTalk Tuesday is to have different people select a topic (this could be directly or indirectly related to education/learning), to join together during period A to watch the 15 to 20 minute talk, and spend some time reflecting on what was said. Nothing earth shattering and nothing required of those in attendance except perhaps a natural curiosity and a willingness to give up some of their time. 

For this first meeting we watched Nigel Marsh's talk on how to balance work like with "non-work" life. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/nigel_marsh_how_to_make_work_life_balance_w...

Following the talk, we spent another 20 minutes or so discussing what messages we found particularly compelling and what challenges we faced in our own lives trying to create this balance. 

The messages we found compelling were:

1. There is a danger in the phrase, "When _______ is over, I will be able to get my life back and find balance." 

2. Balance needs to be measured across more time than just a day. It is impossible due to the exigencies of our lives to have a fully balanced day, every day. We need to extend our definition across more time yet still avoiding the risk of #1. 

3. Small things matter. Doing small things that are seemingly insignificant can go a long way to gaining a sense of balance in our lives. 

4. Don't let other people define balance for you. 

All of us in attendance found it difficult to balance our work/school lives with our other lives. We talked about the pressures that exist at Lindblom as not being top down like many other schools or businesses. Instead, Lindblom's pressures exist at a collegial level. Knowing that there is always more to do to help students, the teachers at Lindblom stuggle to navigate the pressures of meeting the needs of students after school and during our prep periods and making time for ourselves and our own lives and obligations inside and outside of school. How can we work to maintain the standards that we set for ourselves as a staff but to minimize the anxiety and guilt over claiming time for ourselves and our other interests/obligations? 

Having more experience on the job allows for the possibility of more time but all the teachers and admin in attendance said that it is easy to simply fill the time with new responsibilities. Years teaching does not necessarily equal balance. 

So...in the 45 minutes we gathered we did not find the ultimate answer to the work/life balance but I think we began to talk about ways that we, as a staff, can address some of the anxieties inherent in trying to achieve this balance. One obvious example came later in the day when Lalainya and I worked out during 8th period. Both of us had after school obligations and 8th period offered a perfect time to fit in a workout but we both felt sheepish about spending time during the school day working out. I think one thing we can offer each other at Lindblom is a belief that each of us is working hard to ensure that our students are learning the skills and content necessary to feel success both today and in the future. From this belief, we can challenge each other about ways to improve but also acknowledge that we each are making choices about balancing our lives and that those choices are valid and necessary. 

The book club book speaks to this as well and I hope that when we meet in March we can discuss ways that we can be creative with our individual time at work so that we are energized and motivated to continue the work of making Lindblom and ourselves better. 

This entire post was inspired by a TEDTalk by Brene Brown (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0)

I am sometimes a grumpy teacher. Students have said so and I certainly know when such feelings are rising up in me in the classroom. At its core, it feels like shame and fear. Fear of not being enough and shame when I believe that to be true. Sometimes I say the wrong thing to a group of people (students, teachers, Comcast employees to name a few) who, like all of us, are just trying to do their best and face their lives with as much courage as they can muster. No different than me every day. The largest of this group, the students, staff, administration, parents that make up Lindblom Math and Science Academy, motivates me to get up every day and keep trying. They are my community and I believe deeply in the need for a community. 

Despite my outward grumpiness and inner fears, I still love the classroom as much as I did the first day of my first year teaching. Even now, the giddiness of writing on the whiteboard still overtakes me. I feel lucky to do what I do and have a job where meaning and purpose are so clear. But lately I feel like I am missing something and what is missing is getting the way of doing my job well. 

This year, more than any other year, I feel vulnerable about my ability to reach students to help them feel confident and prepared to face their future. My school is full of amazing teachers doing amazing things. Most often I feel like what happens in my classroom is embarrassing in comparison to the magic happening in the classrooms all around me. When I allow reason to enter into a dialogue with this fear, I know that such doubts are not realistic. I know that other teachers in the building feel the same way and that's what makes us fearful of engaging each other in real conversations, both big and small, that will make us better in the end. 

I have been feeling frustrated and edgy in the classroom lately but also very aware of the power of my words. This creates an inner battle between my urge to fix blame for my frustrations (apathetic students or my own teaching inadequacies) thereby using certainty to numb my fears and the need to let them sit and not react to them (a reality which makes me very uncomfortable and anxious). 

Something else that I realized over the past few months. My frustrations come from wanting my students (and fellow teachers) to care about what I care about and as deeply as I care about it. I want my students to see the value in history and the value in learning because, and I am a lit

tle embarrassed to say this, if they do, then, and only then, am I a teacher worthy of respect and love. Only then am I a teacher and person who is enough. Yet my frustrations send the exact opposite message to my students (and, perhaps, fellow teachers). My frustrations say that they are not enough right then and that they need to be something else in order to make me feel better about who I am as a teacher and as a person. 

So fellow teachers, students, parents, and others. I need your help in challenging me when I go numb with the certainty of blame and the willingness to confuse frustration with my fears of inadequacy. 

And I want it said here that I love the teachers and administrators with whom I work. I love them for their tremendous successes as well as their failures in the classroom–both spoken and unspoken. You are enough because you are trying.

I love my students for how much they teach me by refusing, unapologetically, to be anything else but who they are right then. That is enough. You are enough because you are trying. 

Parents. Good god, parents. I can't even imagine how hard your job is sometimes. I love you for advocating on your child's behalf even when it gets ugly and for seeing through your own fears and frustrations to understand that, in the end, we are all on the same side. The side that wants each child to be better, safer, smarter, and kinder than we are. You are enough because you are trying. 

Inspired by all of you, I keep trying. And because of that, I am enough. 

While I was not physically at the educon conference this weekend, I did participate virtually. It was awesome to hear so many passionate people willing to challenge ideas and celebrate differences all with the same end point: being better teachers/administrators and nuturing creativity and innovation for all (students, teachers, and administrators). It gave me a lot to think about. Too much, really. (I have listed links below from educators who attended educon and what they got out of the experience)

However, one particular moment stands out. I was “in” one of the session webcasts and typing my thoughts with others in the chat room attending virtually. The topic was focused on new ideas of literacy. 

The conversation started small, became huge, and then ended back at a manageable place. Here I was talking to these educators who I didn’t know and couldn’t see about how I read, how students are reading, and how reading is changing as a whole. I at once felt a sense of community (“tribe” was the word used in the chat room) and loneliness. I feel like, in many respects, I live in two worlds. One at school and one on-line. I spend the weekend talking about “big ideas” through twitter and blog comments with a group of some of the most inspiring educators out there...and then I come to school. What I realized is that, at Lindblom, we don’t have those conversations enough. We don’t talk about the bigger ideas in order to have them influence our school philosophy and our department and personal pedagogy. My experience last year having the job of trying to create these conversations helps me understand the main reason: a lack of time. Yet, these educators at the educon conference have children, have hobbies they are passionate about, have grading and lesson planning. Yet they have something else too. They have a idea that they are a community of learners from principal to student and that have to make time for these thoughts and conversations in order for the school to continue to grow and thrive. 

My fear is what is happening at Lindblom is what happens to so many schools. We feel we can’t change the larger picture and sometimes we aren’t fully heard when we try and, therefore, we stay in our rooms and do that job well (really well). I understand this feeling. I have felt it myself at Lindblom and at my previous school. I think all teachers feel it from time to time. Yet, if we give in to this feeling, the isolation builds. 

I love this place too much to let that happen. I see so much potential at our school and so much untapped energy and leadership from students, teachers, and administrators but I also know that focusing that energy and sustaining that energy starts with making time to have meaningful, respectful conversations. Conversations about ideas both big and small and about who we are as a community of learners, where we want to go, and how we might be able to get there.  I think we have an amazing group of students, teachers and administrators whose ideas and energy can keep this school moving toward the mission and vision it was founded upon. Let’s all make time for conversation, reflection, and action this semester. 

Thoughts on educon-Teacher/Administrator Blogs

http://coopcatalyst.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/when-a-school-is-about-learning/

http://philly-teacher.blogspot.com/2011/02/educon-23-takeaways.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-chaltain/lets-end-the-battle-of-th_b_816882.html?ref=twitter&comm_ref=uopx

http://butwait.wikispaces.com/EduCon2.3+Reflections

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch/2011/02/01/educon-2-3-and-our-rockssucks-research-edition/

http://lhealey7604.blogspot.com/2011/02/educon-23-my-tribe.html

http://kristinapeters.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/how-will-you-make-one-change-today/

http://d20innovation.d20blogs.org/

http://www.sarahedson.com/2011/01/hope-is-good-thing.html

http://jakes.editme.com/johnny

http://klabonte.edublogs.org/2011/02/03/educon-omizing/

http://speedchange.blogspot.com/2011/01/messages.html

http://thecleversheep.blogspot.com/2011/02/learning-spaces-of-tomorrow.html