This has nothing to do with professional development, but you can’t unlearn this type of information.  I receive a newletter from the PA House.  This issue focused on Gov. Rendell’s transportation funding and how it helps PA repair it’s 5900 structurally deficient bridges.  (FYI: It involves toll booths which will cost $$ to build)  Not to be a fear monger, but the newsletter included a link to see the PA bridges and roads that are in need of repair.  Just glancing at a few Pennsylvania counties, I see that my family and I cross dozens…DOZENS of bridges that are considered structurally deficient. 

Click here to see maps of the near 6000 bridges in need of “immediate repair.”  If you live in PA you may really be better off not looking.  We are considered the worst in the U.S. 

I don’t consider myself a liberal or a conservative, but I only get am stations in my truck.  Rush had a very good point this afternoon (that’s all I give him credit for.)  I don’t know the exact context, I am assuming there is a big stink over rasing taxes for road repair, but he was going down the list of Minnesota museum exhibits, sports areas, and other various pork that is funded completely by taxes, all while the infrastructure goes into disrepair.     

Just another reason to get actively involved in public service at any level.  

Photo Credit:  1st Politician Molito’s66 

Great meeting this afternoon yielding interesting action.  I successfully lobbied the MIS department to relax the internet filter for teacher accounts.  To be honest, it was an unexpected, but welcome move by the department.   

Here is how it went down.  After some back forth between the director, I, and a well intentioned technician, the conversation changed from what could go wrong to whose responsibility is it when something does go wrong. Each side had valid points.  The techs feel they need to protect both the system and the students, while I see internet use on company time as an adult decision.  The sticking point was really a common argument; if something goes wrong who is responsible, the user or the provider.  There was a real worry that if a large problem was revealed that the “well they let me” defense could be invoked. 

In the end there seemed to be a small, albeit contentious, agreement.  Decision: Teachers (I say professionals) are capable of making decisions regarding what resources are necessary to effectively teach.  The caveat is that if they find evidence of misuse, they reserve the right to lock it back down.  Frankly, I am okay with that if it is done the right way.  I hope the right way goes something like this: run the reports, collect evidence, and provide a warning.  If the violation is recorded again then the person needs to be taken through the proper discipline channels. 

We all agreed that violations are things like gambling, eBay shopping, or fantasy sports.  What the majority of us call complete stupidity if you are supposed to be at work.  (Unfortunately also a reality) 

It’s a start and we’ll see how it goes, but I think this may be a move that will be looked upon as positive for all parties.  The teachers are treated like capable, professional adults, the administration shows trust in the staff, and the students have a chance to learn from up-to-the-minute material located on the web.       

Or did I just give myself a whole lot o’ rope?      

We interviewed 100 (okay 81 so far) teachers, top 6 answers are on the board.  The question is, what would excite/encourage you to participate in PD more often?

Here are some interesting responses from real teachers across the US. 

1.  If we could select ourselves what areas we believe would help us in doing a better job on a day to day basis. While I always like to learn, at times, some of the programs we must attend are not able to be used in a day to day basis. If could have a “salad bar” of PD would be nice.

2.  Direct relevance to the field of online learning. Opportunities to share as well as learn. Doing more than sitting there and listen to/watch someone present something.

3.  If it were differentiated and ongoing. Too much “spray and pray” happens in districts–I give you a too much info in one sitting and pray you implement it

4.  I would like to be offered more choices. Also, when we receive training, that is as far as it goes. There is no opportunity later to discuss what we learned or how we are using it. If something I learned fails, I have no chance of receiving insight from others as to what might have happened or what might make it work in the future. Therefore, I am more likely to try it and give up than I would be if I had an opportunity to discuss it.

5.  If there were more options and not everyone had to attend the same PD opportunities within the school district. For example, I may feel that I need to learn more about behavior management so I could choose that and another person might choose reading, and another person might choose technology in the classroom. Outside of school there are many PD opportunities and it is nice that the school district often helps with or covers the cost of these opportunities.

6.  Having release time after a PD session to reflect on and build the new learning into the classroom programme. Too often we attend PD but then get sucked up into the business of our class to be able to properly internalise the PD experience.

Bonus: To provide balance 1.  I don’t know

Honestly the last answer is one of the best.  Jim Gates brought up an excellent point when we discussed the fact that 50% of the participants said they were happy with the PD provided them.  Jim said, people are happy because they are unaware of what is possible.  How can we expect folks to want change who don’t know it exists?  Needless to say I felt like I was pushed all the way back to go.

Thus far, and I am far from finished, I find that there is a need to begin breaking PD up into smaller and smaller groups.  I like the conference approach to summer PD where a teacher/staffer can choose from a list, but how does that work during the year.  There is a need for ongoing PD, but will the current system of both school and union make it difficult for teachers to progress.  As one person said, “PROGRESS!!!..being allowed to progress and affect the changes that need to be made.” 

Will the majority of our efforts be blocked by business as usual?

(Note: I made no attempt to correct or alter any of the responses except “Progress”.  They are word for word.)

CNN/YouTube Debates 

I am surprised that this ground-breaking moment in both politics and media passed with so little talk about its implications.  Say what you will about CNN, but did Ted Turner just usher in a new media era?  Has there been another convergence like this besides, “head over to our website and answer a few questions…”  Granted, I know very little about how the questions were selected for the televised debate, but from I my point of view the candidates we asked and “mostly” answered some interesting questions. 

Check the recap here.

For us eduphiles the candidates were asked if they would scrap or change NCLB.

I have not made my own decision, but I hope Gov. Bill Richardson gets a fair shake by the educational community. Great answer. The other candidates leave a great deal of room for in-action.

What do you think? What legitimacy, if any, does this bring to YouTube as a media outlet?  Like it or not it is time to start paying attention so that we can make an educated decision come Nov 08′

The republican debate is on Sept. 17. Submit your questions now!

So far an impressive 68 educators have participated in a short professional development survey I put together.  52 from PA (I did email all 200 of my co-workers) and a few from as far away as California and Washington.  Needless to say I am pleased and I do have ample data to make some broad conclusions about professional development as it is currently provided.

One anomaly that puzzles me is in the response to questions #3:  What types of training is provided most often?  Behavioral, Pedagogical, Adminstrative, Technological

It is entirely possible that this question is poor, but if 70% of the participants feel they are being provided with pedagogical training then where is the disconnect?  My district is obsessed with behavioral issues.  We do not have a behavior problem per say, but we often find ourselves in program after program focusing on the “proper” way to “deal” with the children of today.  In no way am I discounting any of these programs.  Some of them have teachers raving; I am just trying to illustrating my point.  My district spent the entire 2006-2007 school year on behavioral issues and, in my mind, sacrificed teaching skills.  (I suppose were supposed to already have that down already, right?)

I do find some clues in the 5th question that was an open ended response to:  What would encourage you to participate in more PD?  The answers range from more money to small group collaboration, but the common thread that runs throughout 90% of the responses is relevance.  Relevance to “my” classroom, “my” situation, or dealing “real” classroom issues.  I believe these teachers are asking for more pedagogical training and, of course, that coincides with the overwhelming feeling the 75% of of feel disconnected from the professional development process. 

Although, quick and dirty, I feel this survey has merit.  Teachers are not engaged in professional development the way it is offered today.  They want choice, they want personal relevance, and this should be to know one’s surprise, they want more. 

I look forward to taking this information and applying it to my situation as a new technology integrator at my district.  I will differentiate, I will use small groups and online collaboration, but most of all I heed the words of one participant and provide refreshments, numerous breaks…and treat you like adults.        

Punch and pie anyone?

Wanna find out how big your network is?  Ask a question. 

Eliciting participation is the key to a having a reliable network.  Without participation you have a stagnate web space full of old pictures and fragmented comments.  My question is how do you gain prolonged interest and participation without constantly going to hot button issues?  I believe anyone can gain a spark of interest by publishing an angry rant about teacher salaries, or internet nerds killingAmerica, but what keeps an individual engaged and willing to spend time deep in conversation with others?

Over the past few weeks I have been actively engaged in action research.  My subject is professional development.  I see a huge contradiction in the way we are asked to teach (MI) and they way we are taught (in-service).  I envision a future of on-demand PD that is available to the teacher when they need it, at the time of their choosing, but I digress.  It is summer and in order to gather necessary data I needed a different approach.  I called upon my network.  I have access to 1000’s of teachers across the country.  Granted the majority of them are tech savvy, progressive, educators, but I thought that I could gain a relatively large and diverse sample for the simple needs of my paper.  I was wrong.

This is in no way intended to be mean or angry and I want to thank, from the bottom of my heart those of you that have helped me.    It simply raises a point that I am sure others have toyed with before.  How is it possible that one person posts a picture of an airport and receives 30 comments while another asks a serious academic question and receives 4?  I blame it on blog ADD.  Very few stick to one topic (including me) and explore it in the depth that it deserves.  Or could it be that the 3% (on a good day) of people that are willing to participate force us to change topics on a weekly basis just to gain interest?  I don’t know.   

I have to think seriously about these matters because I am introducing a professional network to my teachers in August.  And while the initial excitement will prove fruitful how will we manage to prolong serious discussion over a period of time?  Projects?  Action research?  Do I have to constantly have something prepared to make sure everyone is participating? 

I am sorry if this has offended anyone, but I get a real sense of a hierarchical structure to edublogging and it is off putting.  I do want to take time to thank my personal network that I now believe only consists of a few handfuls of people but those people are amazing.  You folks truly inspire me and always make me feel welcome.  I suppose it’s my fault for drastically over estimating the size of the network, but optimism got the best of me.  I urge you all to take the time and go answer a question.  After all there are no stupid ones, right?

Okay, back to the paper.  I will fill you in on the data when it is complete.  I believe you will find it interesting.

I am finding it may be difficult to put into words what exactly is needed in professional development.  Please take a moment to finish this 6 question, anonymous survey.  Thanks, Ken

The data will be used in a graduate research paper for Walden University.

Click Here to take survey

I am in the midst of an ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT…

I would love to hear any thoughts and feelings you all have reguarding professional development and they way it is provided in your district.

Please provide me with name, experience (yrs), and location. 

Here is my problem statement:

Educators in the DuBois area school district need to provide a relevant education to their students.  Currently, few teachers are demonstrating 21^st century applications or skills in their classroom.  We believe that this is a result of inconsistent professional development and a lack of technical support.

Therefore, we will make a concerted effort to provide quality in-service training that is relevant to the educator’s aptitude and follow up with consistent skill reinforcement.  Furthermore we will make a concerted effort to provide adequate resources to educators whenever and where ever they choose to use the new knowledge or skill they have acquired.  

Research Questions:

1.  What are the 21^st century skills we want our teachers to model?

2.  How can we provide consistent and relevant training to 200 teachers?

3.  Will adequate resources encourage teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum?

I believe that feelings are relevant to atmosphere or environment so I encourage you to let it out.  If you would like to keep anything private, please note it so that I do not publish the comment or include you name on the paper. 

Thank you network.

Take Care.

Blizzard Edition

Yeah! It’s finally here and I can open my mouth.  Pageflakes, the RSS aggregator and now so much more, has released it’s new edition.  I had the distinct honor, and advantage to be among the first group to demo the Blizzard Edition.  I gotta tell you it was a blast.  Dan and the pageflakes team were absolutely dedicated to getting it right.  So much so, they delayed the release by close to a month.  Was it because they were slow and unprepared?  No, it was because they took every piece of feedback we gave them and addressed it. 

Enough smoke, check out my pagecasts and play with it yourself.  I think you will find a huge amount of personalization that is only limited by your imagination.  Be sure to use the anything flake and the web page flake.  It may become your one stop on the web.

Be Good