What are we preparing them for?

Headlines and cover photos are no way to keep yourself informed about today’s world. Just seeing what is being labeled as BREAKING NEWS on 24 hour news channels will not suffice either. There is, seemingly, no end to the number of talking heads or 140 character news cycles that would like to be your guide to understanding the myriad of stories and issues facing the country and world today. They need your view, they crave your click - the advertisers are counting. 

When forging their new nation the Founding Brothers of the American Revolutionary generation ensured the potential for a free exchange of ideas by guaranteeing communication liberties in the Bill of Rights. Like much of what they committed to paper, the Founders sought to ensure the system they envisioned by empowering the most important check on the power they allowed an independent press, the people. How do the People exercise that check? Where does the responsibility lie if the media serves the interests of advertising dollars or access to powerful leaders more than it serves the interests of their readers and viewers? And is it wrong if the readers and viewers choose to not vet them as a credible source or change the channel?

At the center of answering these questions is a movement that has been lumbering across the United States since the early part of the 21st Century. The new standards in education movement. At its core (see what I did there) is the student’s ability to think for his or her self. The challenge for educators in the early 2000s is to prepare their students to apply their ability to learn to new and novel situations, and remain adaptable, for the rest of their lives. Students do not need to be cogs in a machine. Rather they need to know how to take in and search for information at lightspeed and then interpret its usefulness and trustworthiness as applied to their current need for the information in the first place. 

This weekend was filled with teachable moments about news, the media, truth and trust. The issue of immigration has been front and center. The US Government had been following a very strict interpretation of current immigration law and separating undocumented migrant adults from the children they traveled with. The backlash against these actions was swift and loud and, in kind, the support for the need to shore up our borders was as swift and as loud. I am going to focus on two things that happened. 

Time magazine issued a cover with the President of the United States looking down at a crying child of color. The cover read simply “Welcome to America.” The cover is clear in its message. The facts, however, it did not get completely right. This child was not one that was separated from her family. The President never stood over her staring at her in person. It plays though to a left of center narrative of the events. Later in the weekend the Press Secretary was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant (refused service) for the views she supports and defends in her role. In this case, specifically, it was gay rights issues that caused her to be asked to leave the restaurant. There were countless stories, videos, talking head debates, tweets etc on this story and nearly everyone of them was aimed at providing the interpretation you should believe. The responses become increasingly escalating shouting matches on these events, sometimes the issues, but mostly on how the other side did or, said something wrong.

What really struck me, though, was a post I read on FaceBook by a college friend who I do not keep in regular contact with, other than on social media. He weighed in on one of these issues, which is out of character for his page. He started by saying, “I wade into these political waters very reluctantly. I know that putting my thoughts out there will surely solicit strong reactions.” His post was a pretty mild and middle of the road appeal to rational thinking. He explained how he listened and read a lot and then gave his appraisal. It was different than the two prevailing thought patterns being expounded upon through increasingly narrower and narrower lenses. It dawned on me that what really stood out in my friend’s post was the original thought. He took in multiple sources, compared and contrasted them, he vetted them and then arrived at his own conclusion based on the evidence he had. He was applying the skills we are trying to build in all of our students. 

I think about the like mindedness that permeates mainstream thinking and how it is fueled by a media that feeds the extremes. The extremes get our hearts and heads racing. We watch until we are too angry to watch any longer so we share it, retweet it or send it along with some vitriolic message; but we feed it. I can write a mirroring sentence for those items we agree with, we feed those as well. The messages of the middle do not create the same reactions. The stories of compromise and conversation are not clickbait. 

This reality requires critical thinkers to take in and therefore take on the media. This does not have to happen en masse nor does it need to be revolutionary. Rather, we need the people to know how to take it in, vet the sources and make independent decisions. We need people who know when they are being given news and when they are hearing an editorial. Public schools in America must take this on. We must challenge our students to become independent thinkers across our curriculum. The people will continue to have many questions. There will continue to be a media waiting to provide answers. For the Republic to maintain its direction and purpose the answers must be met with discerning and informed eyes, ears and emotions. In Orwell’s 1984, Winston comes to believe that 2 + 2 may, in fact, be 5. But if you have read, it you know that does not necessarily make it so.

If you attend a conference on education in the United States you are likely to hear something along the lines of preparing children for jobs that do not even exist yet. I think we also need to prepare students for the jobs that have existed but have changed so significantly they are unrecognizable. Most notably: informed citizenry. 

Skills vs Content - No Contest

I was motivated to write this post by a student. She is a student I have never met, but many Americans have come to know in the past weeks. Her name is Emma Gonzalez and she is a charismatic student who recently survived the horrific mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman-Douglas High School in Florida. In her impassioned plea to those in leadership positions in her state and country, Gonzalez put on display the multi-layered skill set that she possesses and that was nurtured and built upon by the amazing educators in her life.

She did not stand in front of that (HUGE) crowd and recite the first ten amendments and pat herself on her back for her amazing memory. She did not regurgitate the facts that her Government teacher had taught her about the balance of power or checks and balances, though she clearly has learned them. Rather, Gonzalez came as close as we could need in education to adding a new layer to Bloom’s Taxonomy. She transcended the skills and information she has learned as a student in our public school system.

She moved me. She moved many Americans, on both side of the issues to which she spoke. In a Country seemingly too distracted to be bothered to gather real information, synthesize it for themselves, develop opinions, and act, Gonzalez sounded a wake up call. She, and many of her classmates, made a mockery of those who generalize that this millennial generation are self serving, egocentric, and devoid of real thought. They applied all that they have been taught to the situation in front of them and showed the United States a glimpse of its future - and it is strong but troubled.

As school leaders, both administrators and teachers, we need to be emboldened or finally convinced, that these are the skills our kids need. These are the kinds of students we need to turn loose on the World. The skills based curriculum of CCSS, NGSS, C3, ACTFL and more are still pitted against a traditional content driven curriculum in many Secondary settings. The pendulum needs to swing in full measure and soon. There are many who need to take on the responsibility of ensuring that our public education system enables and empowers students to take on new and unforeseen tasks and issues and feel equipped and ready to tackle them.

School administrators need to get into those classrooms. We need to highlight the lessons and experiences our students are having that lead them to be independent thinkers and doers. School administrators need to have the tough conversations with teachers still leading classrooms focused on docile learners being enlightened by all the teacher knows or can do. Students need opportunities to explore and expand their capabilities while learning critical content. If put in a situation like Emma Gonzalez was, students who do not have the opportunities to explore their talents and develop these human skills will not know what to do with that microphone. We need more and more kids who can.

In my district we just rewrote our mission statement; however; that was not the original task. The original task was to develop a profile of a graduate from our district. Out of that work came the realization that that was, indeed, our mission. The Board of Education agreed. The profile of our graduate does not simply include a credit in Consumer Management, but we do strive to build awareness. The mission does not note the minimum requirements in Fine Arts or World Languages, but we do strive to have students think globally. These are just a couple of examples of how our new mission is intent on developing kids and not just teaching kids.

Now we have to set out to work with our teachers to live this mission. We have to seek out candidates who believe in this mission. We have to present at national conferences and to teacher prep programs so that we have shared this vision with others who can assist us in this process.

My mind goes back to Emma Gonzalez. My guess is that in May she will sit for the AP Government Exam and maybe take a final exam in her high school government class. All I can think is, please, if this kid has not, by engaging in this public dialogue, opted into the greatest assessment of her life that cuts across the curriculum and showcases her knowledge, skills, work ethic, and passion - then nobody has. I am inspired by this student and not because I agree or disagree with her positions, but because I know that behind her is a line of educators, family, and community members that, through tears, know that they’ve done great work here.

Ease Your Way into Using Twitter for Professional Learning

I created a professional Twitter account using my school email address in August of 2011. It existed, unused, for about 8 months. I had no idea how or if I would ever use it. I honestly cannot remember why I even created it in the first place. That spring, I signed up to attend a conference called “Teaching the iGeneration.” The presenter, Bill Ferriter, a teacher in North Carolina, sent us a TO DO list in advance of the conference. There were several online tools he was going to show us how to use with kids and these tools required accounts be created. He was wise enough to have us create all of those accounts prior to arriving.

I tried using many of these new tools in my classroom the following school year. The most lasting take away from that conference, however, was an hour long Twitter introduction that Bill took us through. I am going to summarize the three ways that you can use Twitter professionally. These can be, but are not necessarily, a progression. You could, if you choose to, just live in phase 1 and get everything you might want/need out of Twitter.

Phase 1 - You Do Not Even Need a Twitter Account to Use Twitter.

You can jump on Twitter without ever having to login. Follow this link or type in twitter.com/search . This will bring you to a general Twitter search bar. You can type in the name of people or hashtags. For example if you go to Twitter Search and type in #VHWay you will see tweets from this school year sharing things happening around the building. There are hundreds of hashtags being used to focus tweets relevant to many areas in education. For example; #engchat, #MathEd, #musicedu, #scichat, #sschat, #physed, #ACTFL, #BusEdu - there are so many more.  So, if you're curious if there is a hashtag relevant to you ask me. If I do not know I will find out for you.   **You are a consumer of Twitter content without an account in this phase.

Phase 2 - There are a few people on here I want to hear from regularly.

I am not saying this will happen to you, but it might. If you follow a hashtag relevant to the building or your area you are likely to notice some people who share some pretty good stuff regularly. You might want to see everything they share on Twitter. These people are becoming a part of your Professional Learning Network (PLN). For example, if you search #edtech you might find a lot of people who retweet things from @rmbyrne (Richard Byrne) who has a BLOG called Free Tech for Teachers. But, when he tweets links to awesome free stuff he DOES NOT include any hashtags, therefore you might not see ALL of his awesome stuff. To follow him you would create a professional Twitter account (using your @d128 email address). You would go to his Twitter page and click Follow. He might be the only person you follow or maybe you also decide to follow this guy @JonGuillaumeVH too.  
**You are a consumer of Twitter content with an account in this phase.

Phase 3 - You might not think so but you definitely have something to share.

All of these great people you have now discovered on Twitter once nervously hit TWEET on their first public message. As you discovered, what they have to share is valuable, worthwhile, and maybe had an impact on you and your students. You have something to share and there is an audience for it. Perhaps it is just the story of what you and your students do. That is worth sharing. There is an audience in our community that would love to see/hear that story. Maybe those activities and/or experiences you create for your kids inspire a teacher in your area. You could become a valuable contributor to someone else's PLN. **You are both a consumer and a contributor with an account in this phase.

There is a rich, ongoing professional conversation happening on Twitter. You can take advantage of it in many ways. What is also great about it is that you can do it on your own schedule. You can visit as frequently or as infrequently as you'd like.

I hope you might dip your toe in and ask for some help/support if you like what you find. If you create a Twitter account at any point please share that with me so I can add you to our VHHS Twitter PLN list.

VHHS Digital Learning Strategy - Chromebook Distribution

The CHSD 128 Board of Education has supported digital learning and technology in classrooms at every turn. The past five years has seen the educators in D128 move to Google Apps for Education which they have been using in labs and Chromebooks on carts. The demand for these carts and the creativity demonstrated by teachers incorporating technology in lessons has increased significantly over those five years. The organic growth toward digital components in the curriculum led to conversations about the next steps.

After careful consideration, research, and a pilot program the Board of Education has furthered its support of Digital Learning in the District through what is traditionally called 1:1. Each student at Vernon Hills High School will be issued a Lenovo Yoga 11e Chromebook this August. Students will be expected to have their Chromebooks with them (charged!) on a daily basis this school year. To support the initiative, the Board of Education approved an annual Technology Fee of $50 per student. This fee not only leases the device for the year it also contributes to supports built around the Digital Learning Strategy. At the end of four years, after students have paid $200 in Technology Fees, the Chromebook is theirs to keep and use beyond high school. In addition, students will be allowed to keep and use the Chromebooks over the summers.

So, now we have to get the Chromebooks into the students hands. Ideally all VHHS students will come to school on Wednesday, August 19th having already received their Chromebook. Distribution will take place Wednesday, August 5th and Thursday, August 6th. Students will be picking up packets including their student IDs and class schedules at the same time. We will be using the following schedule for distribution in the VHHS foyer.

• Last Names A-E pick up is Wednesday, August 5th 8:00 am - 11:30 am
• Last Names F-K pick up is Wednesday, August 5th 12:30 pm - 4:00 pm
• Last Names L-R pick up is Thursday, August 6th 8:00 am - 11:30 am
• Last Names S-Z pick up is Thursday, August 6th 12:30 pm - 4:00 pm
  

VHHS offices will be open regular hours August 10-14 for late packet and Chromebook pick up if you're unable to make it during your designated time slot. We are very excited about this additional learning tool being in the hands of all of our students. Please help us achieve our goal of having a Chromebook in every student's hands on day one of school.

Go Cougars!

#VHHyeS

The Chromebooks are Coming...

The Spring Semester pilot of the D128 Digital Learning Strategy is a whole lot closer to reality today. We received a majority of the pilot Chromebooks this week. The plan is to get them into the hands of students on Monday (the day we return from Spring Break).

I think, however, the pilot has already started because we are already learning. We have learned lessons about product acquisition. We have learned lessons about communicating about going 1:1 with parents, students, and staff. We have learned that as excited as we are to get going on this the Chromebook agreements were not ALL returned the day after they were received at home. We are learning about getting a large shipment of Chromebooks ready as quickly as possible.

The picture above is the room where this is happening. It is very cool to see our amazing IT staff work collaboratively and efficiently to get these things out of the boxes and ready to hand over to students. Monday will, no doubt, be very exciting. I want to take a few lines during this acquisition phase to gush about our Information Technology team at VHHS.

I will start by saying that every question I ask that starts with "What if..." gets answered. They play scenarios out with the best of them. This has been hugely helpful as we have planned this larger Spring pilot. They never put up roadblocks or say no. They troubleshoot which, I suppose, is in their nature. It is through their efforts that we are ready. From ordering to managing the mailing, collecting and charting agreements, to deploying the machines, it has been them.

We have shared sheets,docs,forms,ideas,emails and many conversations about this process. This group is as excited as any about the pilot. This is true, even though this will, without a doubt, put more on their plate. They get it!

While I am gushing on them I would be remiss to not mention that during this process they also carried us on the technology side of implementing online PARCC assessments in March! I am certain that my writing focus will shift to the experiences of students and teachers in the pilot. So, I wanted to take this moment to thank some people just getting it done!

Mick, Kate, Diane, Bob, Ben, Peter, Bo, Dave, ( you too Temple, Eli, Will) - THANK YOU! You are the best!

Ice Cream and Chromebooks

The CHSD 128 Board of Education is supporting an expanded Chromebook initiative for the second semester. These are exciting times in the realms of curriculum, digital learning, and educational technology at Vernon Hills High School.

Today we hosted an event to give VHHS teachers and staff an opportunity to get up close with the devices that nearly 450 of our students will have in their hands over the next few weeks.  We celebrated this event with ice cream sundaes in the staff cafeteria (an idea I borrowed from my colleague Ray Albin at LHS). Dozens of teachers stopped by and got hands-on with the Lenovo Yoga 11e Thinkpads.

The timing of this event was perfect. A group of highly energized teachers from VHHS had just returned the previous day from the Midwest Google Summit. I asked those teachers to come down during their lunch and show their colleagues the functions of the Chromebook. What ensued was so much more. I may have underestimated the carryover in enthusiasm from the Google Summit. Instead of showing off the Chromebook alone the teachers walked their colleagues through some of the tools, tips, tricks, and strategies they learned at the Midwest Google Summit. The ice cream event turned into a mini workshop on Google Apps for Education. It was very cool to watch.

My thanks to the teachers who came down to participate in the event. I also want to extend a very special thanks to the teachers who volunteered their time and made the event much more than I was anticipating! It was a great day!