What Happens When They Leave?

I've always felt that one of the hardest things about being an elementary teacher (sorry I can't speak for my secondary friends) is saying goodbye to "my" kids at the end of the year. Even with all of the switching throughout the day for various subjects, I become very close with my students and always pass them on with a bit of trepidation. Did I prepare them well? Are they confident enough to be successful? Will they be the good people I know they can be? These are the questions I ponder at the end of every year.

Today I had my mid-year conference with my principal. I got to show him all of the wonderful things I have learned through my participation with the PLP IU13 cohort like our class blog, our private class wiki, and some of the different things I have accomplished as I have been building my PLN on Twitter. He was very enthusiastic and excited about all that I was sharing, and he asked several great questions about how we can get more people to use these different tools. But then he asked me one question that stopped me in my tracks. I can't remember the exact wording, but he asked me something along the lines of, "So how do you feel about teaching your kids like this and then knowing they might not get to learn like this next year?"

This is a question that has popped into my head on several occasions, and I have very quickly shoved it right out. I am focusing on the opportunities I have right now to work with my kids and trying not to think about "what ifs" for the future. The future? I do not know if my current class will have these same learning opportunities as they move on to future grades. Nor do I know if I will have the technology resources available next year to teach my own class the same way I'm teaching this year. It's a scary prospect because I am seeing kids who are starting to love reading and writing, kids who are enjoying connecting with the world around them, kids who have some choices in their learning opportunities, and kids who are seeing the value of learning beyond filling in bubbles on a test.

Please understand, I am not commenting on the abilities of the teachers in the grades following mine. They are all amazing teachers, and they take wonderful care of the kids. But I'm starting to really look at my role and my students' educations very differently. Am I doing them a disservice setting up my classroom in a way that may not be replicated again for 1, 2, 7 or even 11 years? My gut tells me that kids are resilient, and many will adjust to a traditional classroom setting, but should they have to?

I throw this out to those of you who are and have been doing things differently in your classrooms. Whether it's a different behavior management system, different grading or instruction, the incorporation of self-directed or project based learning, or utilizing other types of web 2.0 tools. Do your students go back to traditional classrooms after they leave you, and if so how do they do?

If You Could Build An Administrator

I have the very unique opportunity to be part of an entirely new faculty at a brand new intermediate school opening in my district this year. Since last year we have been asked to ponder the possibilities and think about how we would like this school to move us forward with how we teach and how we view our students as learners.

The next phase in this process is the selection of the principal, and today we were asked to share our thoughts on the qualities we would like to see in our new principal. That got me thinking. What are the qualities I most value in administrator? What are the qualities that would best help me grow as a teacher and learner? After some thought, I came up with this list of qualities and possible questions I would ask for each one:

Quality 1: Uses Technology - I need a principal who uses technology to develop professionally
Question 1: How do you use social media / online networking to develop your personal PLN? Which blog do you read or what one person do you follow on Twitter that you feel is most influential for your personal growth?

Topic 2: Understands Instruction with Technology - I need a principal who is familiar with how technology can really be used to help students learn, not just technology as glorified worksheets
Question 2: How do you see teachers utilizing technology in the classrooms at our new school to prepare our students for their lives today and the lives they will lead in the future?

Topic 3: Being Present Our Classrooms - I need a principal who comes to my classroom because he or she wants to see what's going not just because principals have to do observations
Question 3: How often should a principal be in the classrooms? With such a large building how to do propose you will make yourself a positive presence in the school for all of our students?

Topic 4: Supportive of Risk-Taking / Creativity / Thinking Outside the Box - I need a principal who supports and encourages all of these things and then helps teachers reflect upon their teaching
Question 4: A teacher (or team of teachers) approaches you with an idea of how they would like to change instruction based on what they have learned through their PLNs. This is a very different method of teaching, nobody else in the district is doing anything like it, and the teachers cannot currently say whether it will increase test scores. These teachers feel very strongly that this change is a sound teaching / learning strategy that will work for their kids. How do you handle this situation?

Topic 5: Able to Handle Difficult Situations - I need a principal who is able to make difficult decisions and is willing to support teachers in difficult situations (parent situations would be one example)
Question 5: Reflecting upon and learning from each day helps us to continue to grow as teachers and administrators. Tell about a difficult situation you had to handle during your time as an administrator that, upon reflection, you feel you may not have handled as well as you could have. What could you do differently the next time you were faced with this difficult situation?

Topic 6: Transparency - I need a principal who does not play games and is open and honest with everybody at all times.
Topic 6: The faculty of our new school has been working very hard to make connections and learn how to have difficult conversations. How will you continue to foster this community while encouraging its members to be transparent and have open, honest, difficult conversations when needed?

I'll throw this out to you. What do you believe are some of the qualities you need in an administrator to be able to grow as a learner and a leader?

Interesting Confirmation and An Audience

We spent the day at my parents' house today, and I had a really serious, heated, LONG conversation about education with my parents. One of the things I've struggled with as I've jumped into my PLP work and started developing my virtual PLN is that I'm part of the choir, and I'm following the choir. How do we spread the word to others who aren't in education. Who better to start with than my parents, right?

My dad, who is a school bus driver now that he retired from his other job, confirmed something that I have been saying for a while now. People in this area don't want schools to change because kids will never be able to survive if they don't know how to do the things that we know how to do. My dad wants me to teach the basics first, and then once the kids get the basics I should move on to the harder stuff. He said something along the lines of, "Make them understand what they are doing, and then you can use all the technology you want. I don't want a bunch of stupid kids running around who can't do their jobs because their calculators and computers don't work!" News flash, Dad. They probably won't be able to do their jobs no matter how much they know because all of their jobs will be technology based.

We talked about many different aspects of education. My dad often focuses on kids being "bad" or acting like "jerks" so I think it was different for him to hear that there are reasons why these kids do bad or jerky things. I also tried to help him understand that the positives he is providing will not instantly undo the mess parents have created the last 10 years, but he's doing something. I could tell that there were several points with which we did not find common ground, but he and my mom were listening. That is what's important - somebody not in education was listening to me, seeing things from my point of view, and starting to consider education differently than they had before we talked.

This is what "the choir" needs to do. Whether we are teachers, administrators or parents, those of us in education who believe in change need to start talking. We need to find audiences, sit down and talk about what our kids need to succeed. This is the only way we are going to combat those who are "Waiting for Superman" and those who have nothing nice to say about teachers and public education.