lifelonglearner

In My Words

Mary Carroll — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:35:09 +0000

Our class, Diversity in Leadership, is coming to a close. It has been an invaluable learning experience. I have been encouraged to grow in multiple ways. I thank the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor for the opportunity to be a part of Cohort 3 of the Doctor Of Education Program.

For this class I thank Dr. Trae Kendrick for challenging us to take charge of our own learning. So, what are we charged to do as educational leaders?

Listen as I have put it in my words: Leadership Imperatives

Is true equity possible?

Mary Carroll — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:11:28 +0000

I believe on a philosophical level there is agreement with the statement: “all children who walk through the school doors should be given the opportunity to meet their highest potential in a supportive learning environment”. In reality schools must address many diverse needs. Is it possible to do this for each and every child? We’d like to believe so. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples within a school. A student could belong to multiple “groups” of diversity.

How about for a special education student? If full inclusion seems to be the right placement for a student, is the general education teacher well-trained to meet the student’s needs? Is there enough staffing in the room to continue to meet the needs of all of the other students in the room? Or maybe the school budget does not allow for additional, necessary personnel. Will this child reach his or her fullest potential?

How about for bilingual students? Research suggests children should learn to read in their home language. Do we have the staffing to fulfill this need? Will the child learn just as well in an ESL classroom? Will this child meet her highest potential?

How about children of poverty? Do we know how they learn best? Do we include their families in our classrooms? Do we have preconceived notions about their lives and beliefs? Do we know how to help them reach their highest potential?

Questions can be asked on and on…but do we go beyond acknowledging differences, beyond celebrating diversities, to one of action? We must challenge ourselves as leaders to go beyond our comfort level. We need to be part of conversations that may be difficult to have when asking if we are providing an equitable education for all children in out current educational programs and practices.

Important to Communicate

Mary Carroll — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:48:02 +0000

How might we as educational leaders best foster understanding and support of today’s diverse learner amongst all stakeholders? To me, there is only one response to this question: continued learning and communication. Educational leaders have the responsibility to share information based on the latest research. Conversations should be happening at all levels: community, campus, district, regional, and state. An important document on which to base these conversations is Creating a New Vision for Public Education in Texas.

Sharing information at the community level could start with the local PTA at campus and district council meetings. Parents, other community members and educators talking with and listening to one another. This would need to be more than a one time agenda item. It would be beneficial for parents to hear the specific concerns each of them have for their children. It would be an eye-opening experience for many to become aware of the diverse needs of students beyond their own child.

Teachers, administrators, and school board members within a district should also have discussions and learning opportunities in meeting the diverse needs of our students. It is an awesome responsibility to deliver best educational practices for each student. We know what is best, now we need to ensure implementation of those best practices. How do we do this? That is a million dollar question for educational leaders. We must continually learn and implement. We communicate our expectations and follow through on implementation. In reality, that is easier said than done.

Communicating with local state representatives who have the power to influence education decision making can be a two way learning experience. It is valuable for legislators to see the local effects of their voting at the state level. Actually seeing an educational issue in the classroom would be more lasting than a phone call or letter about that issue. It is also valuable as a constituent to know who is casting that vote and what influenced the decision.

It is our responsibility to grow professionally. Be a lifelong learner.

When Diversity Touches Your Soul

Mary Carroll — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:05:07 +0000

I had the opportunity to hear Donna Beegle, Ed. D. speak on behalf of generational poverty. If you have this opportunity in the future, don’t miss it. Her website and articles I have read do not ring as true as hearing her speak from experience. Many of her points resonated loudly in my soul. While she was speaking I thought of the post I would make this week.

Education is an avenue of closing the negative gaps created by diversity. Hearing Beegle speak from her life experiences of extreme poverty made me acknowledge some biases and stereotypes I had of people in poverty and their views of education. This hit me on two levels, that of my personal faith and as an educator. I was judging. Wrongly – wrong to judge and making wrong assumptions.

Beegle is an advocate for those in poverty. What she proposes as best practices for teaching and learning with children in poverty is really what is best practices for all students. One of those points being that educators should make a personal connection and build relationships with the student and family.

I would like to share an experience our family has undertaken from a personal level involving global poverty and my belief that education is an answer to relief . We are sponsoring the education of a young girl living in one of the lowest castes in India. We have been connected through a program at our church. We are still building our relationship with her the old-fashioned way through the writing of letters because there is very limited technology there. Hopefully, the digital age will make progress sooner than later in that remote area. Because far away places in the world are becoming more accessable we believe we may even meet her one day.

As educators, we search out ways to serve others, in our daily work and beyond.

For a preview of an upcoming PBS documentary on Beegle: http://web.mac.com/grpinc1/Invisible_Nation_Promo/Invisible_Nation.html

Action Required

Mary Carroll — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:29:20 +0000

A question to be addressed in our Diversity in Leadership class is: What ethical implications exist for school leaders as a result of today’s flat world of almost instantaneous communication and information if an important goal of teaching and learning is to help students to understand the nature of knowledge, how it is constructed, and how knowledge reflects the values, perspectives, and experiences of it creators. The first thing to address is extending this goal not only for our students, but for teachers as well. Teachers must always be in a state of learning and interacting with new knowledge on a deeper level. Is this goal occurring in our classrooms today?

I believe much of the teaching and learning that occurs in our classrooms today is not of the nature described above. This is in part because of the large emphasis placed on the accountability factors related to our high stakes standardized testing consequences. Yes, accountability is important in education, but the teaching emphasis has become one of assuring students will pass THE test. The deeper learning suffers because of this.

Another consideration is teacher educator preparation. Do teachers know how to implement this in-depth teaching and learning? I do believe all teachers CAN do this, but are they trained and supported in this?

Next we should look at our sources of information available to our students. Technology has changed how our students access information and communicate with others. Educators need to understand how this generation of digital natives learns. Born Digital by Palfrey and Gasser will guide this understanding. Because of the vast amount of information now literally at the fingertips of students, as educators, our job is of utmost importance in helping today’s students navigate this knowledge. Put simply, we must teach them how to think. Thinking about, evaluating and creating information must be part of every curriculum. As educators we must be knowledgable as to how to do this. We cannot sit back and wait for the next state adopted curriculum to be adopted for this to happen.

So, what are the ethical implications for school leaders? Action, action, action. If we know what should be occurring we do all we have within our power to make it happen. We ensure our teachers have the necessary tools to teach to the best of their ability. We ensure our students have all the knowledge and skills to pass THE test, whatever that may be, and ensure that their education goes beyond that. We make use of and develop our minds through the works of Howard Gardner and Daniel Pink. We strive to become “system thinkers in action” that would make Michael Fullan proud. We continue to be life long learners and doers.

Global Citizenship

Mary Carroll — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:08:52 +0000

Lady Liberty, representing assimilationist notions of citizenship, welcomes immigrants with “…Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”. Over one million persons became naturalized American citizens in 2008. America accepts more legal immigrants as permanent citizens than any other country. This contributes to America’s cultural diversity.

I remember loving studying about World Geography in fourth grade. My sources of knowledge came solely from the textbook and encyclopedias. Forty years later I can still envision some of the pictures in that textbook. We kept a spiral notebook on the countries we studied throughout the year. I bet if I searched in some dusty boxes that I could find that notebook. There were no world travelers in our farming community. Even though I was fascinated by the cultures around the world, I only knew them through my textbook.

Global citizenship in our ever shrinking world society may begin with our students and their knowledge of and experiences with the internet. Palfrey and Gasser in their book Born Digital refer to Global Voices online. It is a nonprofit citizen’s media organization. It focuses on people and places often ignored by the mainstream media. Teachers can use this site with students to learn about far away places they are studying. Students can communicate with people from another culture. Project Lengua facilitates translation into 15 languages. Global Voices promotes conversations from citizen’s media around the world.

People in Need Partnership is another example of facilitating global connectedness. This site allows you to choose a partner in extreme need from around the world. A relationship is formed between the partners. Pictures, videos and messages are translated and shared. You can learn about the place and culture your partner lives in. There is a page on the site that you would have a personal connection by interacting with your partner.

How exciting it is to have immediate interaction with real people around the world today. Teachers can involve their students in current global awareness. These online opportunities are just two examples of building global community and nurturing global citizenship.

Links: Global Voices online: http://globalvoicesonline.org/

People in Need Partnerships: http://pinpartnership.org/index.php/site/

Relationships First

Mary Carroll — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:55:28 +0000

When looking at generational diversity and racial/ethnic diversity of teachers, administrators and students, which poses the more challenging relationship issues? According to research by William Frey, in Current Issues and Trends in Education, minority groups are concentrated in specific geographical regions. He bases his conclusions on the U.S. Census Bureau. He says most places are largely white, or white and black. Hispanic and Asians tend to stay near the gateway cities they entered the U.S.. That does not lead to much racial and ethnic diversity in most areas. On the other hand, there is generational diversity all around us, no matter our racial/ethnic identity.

Allow me to briefly change course. When I have attended educational professional development for gifted and talented students, I have come away with the belief that the training information is good for all students in my classroom. The same is true when I have attended trainings for special education students. I have found the information will benefit all students. There is no single way to reach all students. The teacher needs to have a wealth of information and strategies. Before she intends to apply any of those strategies, however, she must build relationships with each of her students. She must know her learners and their needs. She must learn about and involve the cultures of each of her students.

The same would be true in relating to generational differences. Be it the administrator, teacher or student who is of a different generation, one must understand the culture of that generation. It is about relationship building. The brand of diversity does not matter. One’s respect and acceptance of all people is only the beginning.

So back to the beginning of this post-which poses the more challenging issue-I believe that would depend on the individual and where she is on life’s journey of acceptance and respect of all God’s people.

Generational Differences in Education

Mary Carroll — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:43:53 +0000

One noticeable generational difference between students and teachers is the impact of technology in education. As educators we need to recognize the technology savvy millennial generation sitting in our classrooms. These students are different based on the fact that they are products of a technological boom in their lifetime. Perhaps we need to place less emphasis on the need to have a large foundation of personal knowledge as opposed to giving them the skills to retrieve, process and evaluate the massive amount of information available to them today.

When asking current college students how technology is being used in their classrooms they enthusiastically share what they enjoy using. Following are a couple of responses: I-clickers, look like a cross between a cell phone and a small TV remote, to record answers to quizzes in class. Before they leave class the quiz has been scored and results given. Another is Podcasts, recorded by professors, to be downloaded; they give a short review or explanation of class material. These can be loaded on their iPods for convenience and portability.

We also need to recognize the changing structure of classrooms due to advancements in technology. Online classes and distance learning is becoming more prevalent each year. A Google search of accredited online degrees seems to be endless. There is also growth of online courses at the K-12 level.

From the Texas Education Agency’s Statement of Need: “Online courses, such as those offered through the TEA’s Texas Virtual School Network (TxVSN), expand the curriculum options available to students and help them address their specific learning needs, while virtual educational programs offer new strategies to meet the needs of younger students. Additionally, blended learning—which combines face-to-face instruction with online learning—allows classroom teachers to better use their time during and beyond the school day to maximize learning and individualize a student’s learning experience.”

I, too, have been drawn into the online learning process. I facilitate a 2 year online Professional Development course for the teachers in my district. It is a combination of face to face learning with online components of coursework and discussion areas. The teachers are able to complete the online and discussion areas at their convenience.

We are at an exciting time in the evolution of education. As students and teachers we need to be aware of and make ourselves comfortable with advances in technology. We need not be slaves to technology, per se, but make use of technology as a tool to assist us in our goals.

For information on Texas Virtual School Network: www.txvsn.org.

Hello Friends/Hola Amigos

Mary Carroll — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:31:45 +0000

Today’s student population is filled with disparities. Money is an issue that creates gaps among the have and have nots. In fact, at some level, money may ultimately be tied to most issues of disparity. However, the English Language Learners, is what I’d like to share some thoughts on at this time.

According to a report at Bloomberg.com, Hispanics are the fastest growing minority population in America. By 2050, they will comprise 29% of American people. At this same time, white Americans will become a minority. Currently, Texas is second only to California in size of its Hispanic population. Texas is one of four states that has a majority-minority (more than 50% of total is non-Hispanic white) population.

There are more that 5 million English language learners enrolled in public schools in America. The National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) supports best practices based on the latest research in bilingual education. English language learners have a new language as well as academic content to master at the same time. There is strong research suggesting that ELL students should receive instruction in their native language.

My local district lacks available certified bilingual teachers to have instruction in Spanish. The district recruits from Monterrrey, Mexico and other areas to fill the vacant slots in the classrooms. The goal for language of instruction is 90% Spanish and 10% English in prekindergarten. This ratio changes by approximately 10% each succeeding year in school until all instruction is in English.

As an educational leader, I would like to see implementation of more dual language classrooms. In this instance, 50% of instruction would be in English and 50% in Spanish (or other language of local choice). The additional benefit would be for English speaking children to learn a second language also. This is not being widely implemented because it has not been a priority of educators, policy makers or of the general public in particular. Americans are comfortable with the historic stand of America as the premier nation in the world. The attitude of -If you are an American, speak English; that is the only language we need to know- is quite prevalent. There is a shift happening in the economic stand of world nations. Nations that are on top economically will become the sources of power and influence. Americans must realize this change is upon us. Having our children learn a second language (or more) will only make our country stronger.

see Bloomberg link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aQxcsvmWDhpE&refer=latin_america

link for National Association for Bilingual Education: http://www.nabe.org/

Changes in Teaching and Learning

Mary Carroll — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:29:18 +0000

According to Daniel Pink, there is a mismatch between what businesses do and what science knows about motivation. Historically, in the business of education we value and nurture the left brained focuses and data based outcomes. The emphasis is on the logical SAT means of thinking. The No Child Left Behind world of education, high stakes testing, is where we currently function. These skills, of course, are necessary but not sufficient if our educational role is to truly prepare students for the future labor market.

We should also be fostering and nurturing contextual problem solving. I believe most educators would agree with this statement, however, it would not fit into our current means of teaching and testing. You couldn’t teach that “skill”, check the box as completed and move on to the next skill. It would be difficult to assess the big picture of problem solving in a one day high stakes assessment.

Pink says the research clearly identifies “IF, then…” rewards do not work effectively today. Relating this to education in Texas: If a teacher’s students do well on the TAKS test, she will then be rewarded with incentive pay. The current research shows that rewards are not effective when cognitive skills are involved. Those rewards are only effective when looking at a very narrow focus. This would foster only teaching so the students pass the test. Student learning would be limited to skills necessary to pass the test. If we continue down this road in education we are not doing what we are charged to do: effectively preparing students for a global labor market.

Additionally, research by the London School of Economics, found that financial incentives can have a negative impact on overall performance. Science demonstrates that rewards do not necessarily gain what is intended. Rewarding a teacher for good TAKS scores will limit her creativity in teaching. Limiting her creativity will limit her ability to nurture the right brain capabilities of her students. Increasing contextual thinking abilities should be forefront in our educational goals.

Perhaps a stepping stone we could implement in schools today could be borrowed from Google. Employees are granted 20% of their time to work on whatever they choose. This has proven to be profitable for them. How about 1 day per week (20% of a school week) students and teachers work on whatever and however they choose to teach/learn about? Wouldn’t it be incredible if this also caused the scores on high stakes testing to go through the roof? Might not even need them down the road?!? Something to consider.

see link for Pink Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y