Teaching: From Author Pat Conroy's Experience

When you tell someone you were once a high school English teacher, that person often asks, "Who's your favorite author?" Or, "What's your favorite book?" I never hesitate; my immediate answer is Pat Conroy. I stumbled upon his book The Lords of Discipline and The Great Santini while in college and have never turned back. I can honestly say I have read every word he has put down on paper. But, there was one of his books I read back in the 1980s that was an inspiration for me in my becoming and staying a teacher. That book was The Water Is Wide. This book was based on his experiences teaching school on Daufuskie Island, just off the coast of South Carolina.  His attempts to introduce the kids of Daufuskie Island to the world beyond have always inspired me in some way to believe that "Teaching is undoubtedly the noblest profession of all and our job is to reach out to kids no matter what."

In the video below, Pat Conroy says of his time as a teacher, "Our job is to grab kids and set'em on fire." That's what true teaching is about. This book will inspire you to reexamine what is most important about what teachers do every single day.

Content: Key to Getting Blog Readers

“For a blog to be successful, your content needs to be useful and unique to your readers,” according to authors Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett, authors of the book Problogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income. While Rowse and Garrett mostly define success in the amount of revenue generated by a blog, their advice is also useful to those of use who engage in education blogging for very different reasons.
Obviously, blog traffic, the number of visitors to a site, is important to revenue. If the goal in blogging is to engage others in the global conversation about education, traffic should matter too, because your blog needs to be read by others to be influential. According to Rowse and Garret, it’s useful and unique content that increases the traffic to your blog.

In their book, Rowse and Garrett offer the general blogger some types of  useful content that can generate traffic. The things they indicate are:

• Entertainment: Content that is amusing in some manner.
• Education: Content whose purpose is help readers learn something about a particular topic.
• Information: Content whose purpose is to inform readers about an issue, product, or topic.
• Debate: Content whose purpose is to engage readers in a dialogue or debate on a topic.
• News: Content that tries to keep readers current on events of the day.
• Community: Content that connects like-minded individuals who are interested in a common topic.

While this list is useful from a general blogging perspective, it made me think about what kinds of blog post content are education blog readers are interested in reading. In other words, what does “good content” look like on an educational blog? As a reader of many education blogs and a writer of one, here are some of my suggestions for “good content” on an education blog.

• Resource Sharing: Content of this type offers readers suggested ideas or resources. A blog that focuses on the classroom teacher might offer a description of new Web 2.0 tool that can be integrated into classroom use. A blog that focuses on educational leadership might offer suggestions to school administrators different ways to deal with a technological problem. In my experience, this type of blog post content seems to generate a great deal of blog traffic and comments.  For example, some of my own most successful posts have those sharing iPad app lists or Web resources for schools. In my experience, blog-reading Educators like to read about additional resources, especially technological ones.
• Issue-Opinion-Commentary: Content of this type usually attempts to tackle one of the roaring issues of the day, such as merit pay or testing. In these posts, the content argues for or against an issue stance, and usually links to resources supporting that argument. Some education bloggers use sarcasm and ridicule as tools to support their opinions. This content is used by educators to express their views on the pertinent educational issues of the day.
• Critical or Critique: While some would argue that there is little difference between this content and Issue-Opinion-Commentary content, I characterized this content as more of trying to take an objective approach to a topic. Blog posts that are critical examine a subject from various angles and perhaps leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions. Content of this type seeks to engage readers’ thinking on the topic under examination.
• Informative: Content of this type simply seeks to inform readers on a specified topic. For example, this content could take the form of a book review or a description of a new policy or procedure adopted at a school.  In my own blogging I still do the occasional book review. I have also tried to be informative on topics like how to develop and implement a wireless access policy for your school. Informative content draws readers who are seeking specific information.
• News: Education news is something educators always like to read, and this type of content can generate blog traffic. But unless you are in a position of obtaining news, this type of content is often hard to develop. Most bloggers posting educational news usually provide simple links to the actual sources of that news. For example, I encountered one educational blog post about cyberbullying where the author provided simple links to external sources for accounts of cyrbullied students. News content seeks to inform readers of some current event.
• Lists of Links: Another type of content found in educational blogs are lists of links. This type of content seeks only to connect readers to external resources. There is very little commentary or descriptions. There are simple hyperlinks to resources themselves. Content of this type seeks to provide blog readers with a quantity f possible resources.

This list is not meant to be exhaustive. It is simply my attempt to capture the kinds of “useful content” found on educational blogs. The truth is, if our goal is to engage others in the global education conversation, we have to ensure that we are part of that conversation. To do that, you have to have readers, and according to Rowse and Garrett, good content brings readers.

Technorati Tags: blogging,educational bloggig,successful blogging,amateur blogging

I Have an iPad (Tablet), So What? Transforming How I Do Things

Keep in mind, I’m not really bragging with the title above, but recently, I sat down and did some thinking about my use of the iPad both professionally and personally. As an educator who likes to experiment with technology, I wanted to reflect on how I really use the device. For that matter, I wanted to think more broadly and ask a question one of my college professors in instructional technology used to ask us think about when it came to technology: “So what?” That is still a pretty good question to ask when some shiny new gadget catches my eye. So in this case, I ask myself the question: “So what that I have an iPad. What does that really mean to my job and personal life?” Here’s my responses to that question.

• Having an iPad has actually caused me to use my Android phone less, and use it more when I have my iPad. Part of the reason for this is for my “older eyes” that smart phone screen is just not as easy to read at times. No, I don’t want a smart phone as large as an iPad, but some application text on my Android is so small. At my age, if I can provide my older eyes with larger text and a larger screen, I’ll  do it. I know you can often increase the size of the text in smart phone apps, but sometimes it just can’t make the text big enough. I’m sure there are some other “older” educators out there who experience the same thing. I would also add, for someone with large fingers, doing a great deal of typing on that Droid keyboard is sometimes maddening. When it comes down to it, if I have both my iPad and smart phone in close proximity, I’m going to reach for my iPad. (For those who have become iPad haters, just substitute your tablet name above where I have indicated iPad.) The iPad has become the device of choice if my laptop isn’t available or practical.
• Having an iPad is transforming me into an e-book reader. For someone who is such a big fan of regular books, this is truly transformational. I have over 2 or 3 thousand books in my home, and I have a stack of books I have purchased over the last six months that I call my “current reading stack.”  Now that I have gotten in the habit of buying e-books, the current reading stack in my bedroom isn’t growing like it was. Instead, my e-library is expanding, meaning I do not have to hear my significant other complain about my purchasing more books. Most of the time, the iPad has begun to replace that book that I always used to carry around. The iPad is transforming me into an e-book reader.
• Having an iPad has hooked me into a quest for useful and interesting apps. I’ve always been a bit of an experimenter with software applications. For example, there was a time when I had three or four different mindmapping programs on my lap top. I actually enjoy trying out applications to see what they’ll do. That same habit has now carried over to the iPad. Last night, when running a backup of my device, I noticed that there were several applications listed in iTunes that I had once installed but were now uninstalled. In the short time I have been using an iPad, I have tried more than dozen applications that haven’t earned a permanent icon on my screen. The iPad encourages me to experiment and explore the capabilities of tablets.
• Having an iPad means I no longer have yellow legal pads in my office. Since I began using the iPad, I can’t remember the last time I carried a legal pad into a meeting. In fact, I’ve probably saved a few sticky notes as well because I am just as likely to grab my iPad and create notes and reminders on it as I am to reach for a pen or pad of paper. In practical terms, it means I’ve been using the same sticky note pad since the beginning of this year. I also have not had to purchase a single ink pen. I am still using pens from the same box purchased last year. The iPad has made me operate in a more paperless (and I would add penless) fashion.

Honestly, I am not sure I have finished answering the question, “So what?” I think I have answered the question enough to say that the iPad is an important part of my life, professionally and personally. Yet, the one time I left it at the office, I did not have to fight the urge to go back and retrieve it. If I leave my laptop bag or smartphone, I still blaze a reverse trail to go back and get them.

Technorati Tags: iPad apps,tablets,school leadership,educational technology

What Do Servant School Leaders Do?

According to Ken Blanchard, what keeps people from becoming servant leaders is ego. Our ego gets in the way two ways, he says. The first way is false pride. “When you start thinking more of yourself than you should, that’s when you start pushing and shoving for credit and thinking leadership is about you rather than those who are led.” It is impossible to serve others in the leadership role when all you’re concerned about is whether you’ll get the credit. We’ve all worked for school administrators where everything done in the school or system is all about them, and they usually don’t last long. They move on to the next job that’ll feed their ego. Blanchard says that the second way that ego gets in the way of becoming a servant leader is through self-doubt and fear. It is quite difficult to serve others when you are too busy nursing fears of inadequacies and doubt. School administrators caught in this ego trap can’t be effective leaders because they are too busy trying to hide their faults and shortcomings, and God forbid that someone should point those out to them. They will strike back with a vengeance.

But what do servant leaders do? Specifically, what do school leaders who want to be servant leaders do? Using Ken Blanchard’s framework for what servant leaders do, here’s what servant school leaders do.

S	See the Future.	School leaders who are servant leaders: have a vision. They know the destination for the school. They know where the school currently is and want to take it to the next destination.
E	Engage and Develop People	School leaders who are servant leaders: Treat all school staff right because that is right. Work to turn the school hierarchy upside down. Focus on developing people to fit into the school’s future and inverted hierarchy.
R	Reinvent Continuously	School leaders who are servant leaders: Reinvent themselves continuously. Instill the desire for improvement and reinvention in the whole school. Change the school’s structure when it no longer serves the needs of kids. This means always keeping in mind that the school is there for the kids not the other way around.
V	Value Results and Relationships	School leaders who are servant leaders: Value both results and relationships with students, teachers, staff, parents, and broader community. Maintain high expectations for those results and relationships.
E	Embody the Values	School leaders who are servant leaders: Build all leadership on trust.

Ultimately, if we want schools to be successful. the kind of leader is most important. Servant leadership can bring more success than any other type of leadership. Ultimately, it is just as Blanchard states: “Life is all about the choices we make as we interact with each other. We can choose to be self-serving or serving.” Servant school leaders choose to serve.

Note: Ken Blanchard’s book, Leading at a Higher Level is a must have addition to any school leaders Leadership Library. It is chocked full of ideas. I am still sorting through all the things I gleaned from this book.

Technorati Tags: school leadership,educational leadership,principalship,leadership

Coaching: Key Leadership Skill for School Leaders

According to Ken Blanchard, “Coaching is a deliberate process using focused conversations to create an environment that results in individual growth, purposeful action, and sustained improvement.”

Those of us who have spent time coaching sports teams in schools know coaching’s goal is always:

• to try improve the performance of the individual being coached,
• develop him or her into a better player,
• encourage him or her to move to the next level,
• support all the things he or she has learned in the sport,
• and teach him or her how to support and help one another perform.

Those five aspects of coaching sports are the same five applications of coaching that Blanchard calls for in coaching an organization to higher performance.

In schools, it is imperative that school leaders regularly engage in deliberate conversations with individuals. These deliberate conversations, otherwise known as coaching, are indispensible in efforts to bring an organization to higher levels of performance. As Blanchard indicates in his book Leading at a Higher Level, coaching is a key competency in leadership development and it must be applied when situations call for it.

Blanchard indicates in his book that there are five ways a leader should apply coaching.

• Leaders should apply performance coaching when “individuals need help returning their performance to acceptable standards.”
• Leaders should apply development coaching when individuals are already performing at a high level and who need to expand their role.
• Leaders should use career coaching: when individuals have reached a point they are ready to plan their next moves.
• Leaders should apply coaching to support learning: when it is necessary to sustain recent training or learning.
• Leaders should create an internal coaching culture when they want shift the focus from managing performance to focusing on development and long term growth.

In the schools, it is important that administrators be competent in coaching if they want to make their schools into places where individual growth is valued. They also need to realize that different situations are going to call for different coaching. For example, performance coaching would be entirely acceptable if a teacher fails to manage classroom behavior properly. That means the teacher and the principal come to an agreement on what needs to be implemented and develop  plan to make that happen. However, performance coaching would not be needed when trying to get math teachers to implement a new teaching strategy with graphing calculators. Coaching needed in that case would be coaching to support learning because the goal is not to improve performance, but to sustain and develop a new teaching strategy.

To modify the words of Blanchard, “If we want to make our schools perform at a higher level” we can’t rely on old top-down leadership strategies. We have no choice but engage in the deliberate process of coaching our school staff.

Technorati Tags: school leadership,administration,leadership,coaching,school administration

Who Needs a Flashdrive Anymore? Two Technological Solutions to Storage

Storage is not one of the most exciting technological parts of a geeky discussion about computers, but there are two solutions that every educator should have. One is a Dropbox account and the other is a relatively new storage/cloud solution called Syncdocs. Both of these technological solutions help make using a computer easier and make using cloud applications like Google Docs easier.

Dropbox has actually launched in 2008 and is easily one of my all time favorite technology tricks. Instructional technologists everywhere can win the loyalty of their administrators by simply introducing them to this solution. I can honestly say that I haven’t picked up a flash drive in months because Dropbox made it obsolete. The biggest selling points for Dropbox was:

• Being able to save files into a folder on my school laptop, and having access to those same files on both the web and also in the folder of my desktop at home.
• Being able to share specific folders with specific people. I don’t have to share my entire Dropbox folder, I can share individual files or individuals folders.

Dropbox Web Interface

If you want to brighten an educator’s day today, show them the wonders of Dropbox. They will be amazed. For more information about Dropbox check out their website here.

Syndocs is a solution that takes advantage of Google Docs. Since our district converted to Google Apps last summer, this is an excellent addition to those tools to help maintain consistent storage across devices. Syndocs is an application that you install on your computer and it syncs your Google Docs items across desktops that have the software. Like Dropbox, it automatically syncs upon boot. It allows you to do the following:

• Backup your desktop files in the cloud in your Google Docs account.
• Backs up your Google Docs files on your desktop.
• Whatever folder you designate automatically syncs to Google Docs and back to any other desktops that have the application installed and that folder selected.
• It places any office suite files you save into the designated sync folder into your Google Docs account.

For more information on Syndocs and to download the program, check out the web site here.

Who needs flash or any kinds of portable storage devices anymore. Drobox and Syndocs help you take advantage of storage versatility in the cloud.

BlogPress: iPad Blogging App

BlogPress is another "must-have" app for iPad users who wish to have the capability of blogging from their iPad. As an experienced blogger, having the ability to write blogposts from my iPad enables me to post to my blog using another technological device. I use Blogger-Droid on my Android phone, so I basically have the ability to write and post to my blog from any where and at any time. BlogPress is a simple to use app, that does not necessarily have all the bells and whistles found in others, but its sheer simplicity makes it quite useful. While I prefer using Windows Livewriter for most of my blogging, BlogPress gives one additional way to keep on blogging.  Be sure to add BlogPress to your app list.

Originally posted from BlogPress on my iPad.

Technorati Tags: iPad,iPad Apps,School Admnistration,Blogging,School Leadership