Nikki B. Sweeney

As I worked with the Upper School faculty at University School of Milwaukee this morning, I was impressed by the marriage of student-lead pedagogical practices to the use of technology. I have to use the word “work” lightly here because when I leave a teacher/student meeting I have consistently learned something and feel even more inspired to delve more deeply to support teachers and students in their ever-growing and changing technological endeavors. Whether the teacher or class I was working with was using Skype, Google Hangouts, or Facetime to communicate with students in partner schools on year-long community-based projects, or listening to and responding to original written works shared in second and third languages using Voicethread, or scheduling and conducting writers’ workshop conferences virtually, teachers at USM are leading the way when it comes to guiding their students and it is evident in the enthusiasm students show in their work and with each other.

What also amazes me is the level of tool integration the teachers use, so it is not just the sound, student-lead creation practices with technology, but how they use tools, like Google docs, for example, to provide feedback to students while they are writing and then use shared groups in Voicethread for them to publish, share and receive feedback on their written works! The entire process of learning supported by technology is a solid marriage!

It seems like much of school leaders’ time is spent supporting rather than challenging ways of thinking. In that behavior and attempt to support teachers, professionals are robbed of their own ability to grow and learn. Growth calls on teachers to develop the capacity synthesize new information within the context of their work, make meaning of new information through reflection to reduce the mental dissonance, and then construct mental models that have the potential to improve outcomes with students. This is a learning-focused relationship and one that many in today’s world are not accustomed to. Perhaps this is because it requires change and that is a process in itself that many are more comfortable with than others. Lifelong learning, though requires change or continuous improvement. It suggests that teachers are also learners, and that while supporting teachers is important, so is challenging them.

Ideas and thoughts collide at times creating incredible dissonance in the mind as it makes sense of the information in a more coherent and understandable way. It could take minutes, days, weeks, or even years for this to occur and it’s uncomfortable and necessary to grow personally and professionally. The outcomes, or insights that result from this mindful discomfort impact the direction schools and organizations move. There are many initiatives a school has on its radar at any given time and information regarding how schools are managing them is accessible 24/7 through the many social media tools educators, businesses, and consultants are using to communicate content to the world.  When peering down at the relationships between and within the initiatives like scheduling, project based learning, assessment, technology integration, professional development, parent education, curriculum design, and personnel, it becomes crystal clear that they are intricately related to one another. The goals identified to improve one without considering how it is related to the other can have a crippling effect on the system. That is where the mission of the organization has to be carefully examined. Do the goals for each initiative support the school’s mission? Is the mission even clear? Is it so wordy that one can’t extrapolate what it really means because it has to cover everything as not to leave something out that “might” matter?

As I make sense of things I am often left with questions to reflect on, talk with my colleagues about, and construct meaning from. This week there were many of these occasions and the content that has been streaming through Twitter and ISED indicates I am not alone in contemplating such issues. @GrantLicthman has been sharing his journey through over 60 schools where he’s examining how they are tackling innovation to meet the challenges facing today’s schools. There are broad themes that emanate from his travels, and right now, the ones that are colliding in my mind include pedagogy, scheduling, personnel, and technology.  Block scheduling means the examination of pedagogical practices. Can technology enhance course offerings through blended-learning and online offerings? How can that impact the schedule positively without diminishing the amazing relationships teachers have with their students? Clearly, additional research and reflection are needed and everyone needs to be part of that process because it is bound so deeply in the mission of the school and the pedagogy that has made it such a success. It is time to begin this journey, and I have never been more excited to work with my colleagues on making sense of this web of intricately related initiatives.