In Complex Teaching Environment, Access to Data is Key

I read author and English teacher Jim Burke’s excellent list of “10 Elements of Effective Instruction” he developed, and two things struck me.

First, he notes with the complexity of the classroom, managing time is critical for teachers.

“Every year it seems we are asked to do more, though never, of course, given more time in which to accomplish the goals,” he wrote.

In the work we do with districts, we’re constantly finding ways so that technology can help teachers do their jobs the best way possible. I often go back to something an administrator told me once:

 “Put yourself in that mindset, hurried, low frustration level, interrupted continually…” 

I thought of that description again in reading Burke’s list that he modeled after a surgeon’s checklist.

The second part that struck me was No. 5 on his list: “Integrate assessment throughout the instructional process, using the data to establish initial understanding, measure progress, provide feedback, refine instruction, and prepare students for future performances; this includes students reflecting on and assessing their own performance and progress.”

In the work we do with districts, it’s common to discover most schools have more data than they know what to do with it, and often it’s not presented in a format that can useful to them. Burke is right on that integrating assessment and using data to help students improve is critical. The context of his list related to the lack of time that teachers have is even more significant. 

To be able to use data effectively for instruction, it needs to be in format that’s accessible and easy to use for teachers with their busy and complex schedules. It’s also important for data to be timely or in the hands of the teachers as quickly as possible. That’s where technology, if applied correctly, can make a huge difference. Otherwise, “using data” is something that sounds good in a checklist, but it can easily be either scrapped or not used to its fullest potential because, like Burke noted, teachers are never given more time, only more to do.

On Winning

Before you go all Charlie Sheen on me, hear me out. (This really has nothing to do with him.)

We've been talking a lot around the office about winning lately, whether it be in our recreational volleyball league, a new project against a competing vendor (Click here to see why we hate that word.), or just creating the best systems out there.

There' s a lot of drive required to maintain a relentlessly winning attitude.

And really, it's not just an attitude. Winning is a state of mind.

I'm a really competitive person. With that comes a bit of perfectionism; my better must be better than your better. This has mostly applied to sports for me. I started swimming competitively when I was 8 and did that throughout high school. I hate cold water to this day, but still have a lot of good memories from those ten years and a lot of success - with boxes of ribbons to show for it.

While in college, I joined the rowing team. This took things to a whole new level; while swimming was mostly an individual sport, rowing is as team-ish as you can get [and the water got a whole lot colder]. With that came a whole new slew of factors.

However, the competitive spirit was always there. It just manifested itself in different ways. And it's always been a part of who I am as a person.
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Telling people that they just aren't cutting it doesn't always go over well. But if you can get them to understand that it's not personal - instead that it's for the good of the team, and it inspires them to be better, do better, and work harder - then you've got it made. However, it doesn't always work that way.

The same goes for the office.

The key point here: criticism isn't necessarily personal. If you do it in a respectful manner, with good intentions behind it, telling people they need to do better will only improve things for the good of the team. If everyone is working toward the same goal, then it can cause really positive changes.

You can inspire greatness.

But if not everyone is working toward the same goal, this causes animosity toward the rest of the team from said person.

Winning requires a relentless drive to be the best. If you are surrounded by people with that drive, you will be told when you aren't doing everything to help achieve that goal for the team. And it will make you better.

That's really what it takes to have a winning attitude - you have to believe, and you have to not only accept criticism, but welcome it, and use it to make yourself better. If your goals don't line up with the team's goals, then you'll never win. But if they do, then you're just golden.

And nothing can stop you from winning.

A poem has been making the rounds around the office that I thought was fitting as part of this blog. Thanks, David, for sharing this:

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't;
If you'd like to win, but think you can't;
It's almost a cinch you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you've lost;
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will.
It's all in the state of mind.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the one who thinks he can.
-adapted from Walter D. Wintle

Focusing on the goal, not the task.

"Don’t let education get in the way of your learning." - Mark Twain

Work can be pretty boring. Doing the same things over and over makes for a very mundane 9-6 day, 5 days a week. I think a lot of things can get this way - just think about your New Year's Resolutions: eat healthy, work out, lose weight, etc. (Don't lie, I know you've all pledged those at least once.) A lot of kids - and adults - say they 'hate school' or 'hate class.' It's boring, and they're not getting much out of it - and for the most part, they're probably right. None of these sound fun, right?

But they can be.

And it's our fault if they aren't.

The key to keeping things interesting and exciting is focusing on the goal - not the task - at hand. For example, the next email I send or phone call I make, could lead to a completely new project with someone new. The next workout I make up could actually be fun - and not something to dread. And the next lesson you teach can inspire.

It doesn't have to be the every-day mundane - especially when you're focusing on the big picture. Sure, I hate searching for 5 minutes trying to find contact information that buried within a website. You probably hate to run. And your students probably hate writing papers.

But when you can find that glimmer within something that takes your mind off the task at hand, it's not so bad. It won't feel like such a drag anymore. You might even learn to love it.

That's the philosophy we need to take when it comes to education.

And with everything we do, for that matter.

The Journey to Becoming 21st Century Educators (Part 4 of 4): Giving Them What They Need

{by Gail Tolbert}

This is my last of four blogs about many of my friends and connections who are educators, educators at different stages in their career, educators wanting to become 21st Century Educators (Read the first one here) This is my 4th and final blog about my friends’ journeys’ to become 21st Century Educators.

As I listen to their different stories, I see a commonality, a dream, a need, a tool……and it makes me think how we are changing to meet the needs of the 21st Century Learner and how we need to change to meet the needs of the 21st Century Educator too. A great philosopher said that if we are teaching today the same way we taught yesterday, then we are not preparing our students for tomorrow. I stretch this thought to our educators…if we are giving our teachers the same tools today that they used yesterday; then we are not providing them the tools they need for tomorrow.

The good news is that we do not need to create these tools; these tools have been developed, are ready for use and can be accessible to teachers. These web based systems are changing the way we gather information and improving the way we manage our work and providing us with real time, up to date information. I know this as a fact because I have seen them, I have used them and I have seen the amazing results that they offer.

Let me be specific, there are tools to help Christy that will allow her to easily and quickly create and manage her own web site including all the social networking tools. She can easily use advanced editing and design and add class pictures, videos, lesson plans, etc. She can communicate with parents and students; assign homework, add class notes and announcements, a class calendar and links to any resources. Lindsay no longer needs to dream; there are curriculum management tools and the most advanced ones provide an intuitive and easy to use way for teachers to have access to edit, update, collaborate, and share the work they do with curriculum on a daily basis. Some districts think they have all these capabilities…when all they really have are some static documents on their website. These static tools are no longer effective in the ever changing educational environment. Curriculum management means aligning to state standards, mapping and pacing guides, scope and sequence, integration of standards right into lessons, providing teachers with a guide to what, when, and how to teach lessons and give assessments so students achieve their maximum potential. Units and lessons become living documents with reports and search capabilities. District and school administrators use unit map reports and curriculum reports to identify gaps or overlaps in curriculum, review units aligned to state standards, review resources for units and obtain user activity information.

Dawn needs access to an on line testing and assessment tool. She can create her assessments and test questions, access questions from a question bank, schedule the test, and have real time access to all the results by class, content, teacher, student, test or question item. This online testing tool can gather test results, align the test and question to state standards and have an incredible amount of information to improve instructional strategies for her class and each student. To expand on this data, Susan can use an analytical tool that “ slices and dices” student information.Need student data from a certain test, year, class, or individual? No problem, she would have it. She can aggregate the data or look at the data from many attributes. She too can have real time access to student performance data. This analytical tool can not only gather student test results, but can store data and create comprehensive reports with custom dashboards for every school in the district.

Today’ s educators are just like today’ s learners; they need accessible technology especially for analyzing and managing what they do in the classroom. They need this revolutionary technology
for their 21st Century journeys.

The Journey to Becoming 21st Century Educators (Part 3 of 4): Dawn and Susan

{by Gail Tolbert}

This is my third of four blogs about many of my friends and connections who are educators, educators at different stages in their career, educators wanting to become 21st Century Educators (Read the first one here)

Dawn has been teaching for 25 years. She is a seasoned teacher and grade-level chair for her building. She mentors new teachers and works with student teachers. Dawn is a good role model and always learns and keeps current in her profession. Dawn has prepared and given many tests and assessments during her tenure. She has spent many hours creating, editing, updating and scoring tests. She would love to have a tool with which she can store, manage, access and edit her test questions. She wants to create her own test bank. Dawn and her team review lots of documentation and test score results and question the issue of accountability. They wonder if they are teaching and testing on all the state standards. They wonder if they are missing any standards or if they are over teaching and spending too much time on any standards.

They dream about all the information to which they would love to have access about the student results. These dreams include not only student scores and percentages but information about outcomes aligned to the standards and outcomes over time. She wants current, real time information to improve classroom instruction and her instructional strategies for the class and for each of her students.

Susan is a curriculum coach for an elementary school. She meets with and mentors all grade levels on instructional strategies. She knows and talks with Dawn even though they teach in different states. She, too, wants an assessment tool about which Dawn talks. In her building, the discussion on testing and assessments then lead to the bigger picture of student performance data for the school and district. Susan needs to be able to track student progress from kindergarten through 5th grade and then pass that data on to the middle school. She needs one tool with which she can look at the school, the class, the teacher or one child. She needs to track not only how students are performing, but how they are performing on each of the state standards. Parts of her responsibilities include the improvement of student performance through the improvement of teaching strategies. She needs access to detailed, ongoing, current assessment data to give her that information.

The Journey to Becoming 21st Century Educators (Part 2 of 4): Lindsay

{by Gail Tolbert}

This is my second of 4 blogs about many of my friends and connections who are educators, educators at different stages in their career, educators wanting to become 21st Century Educators (Read the first one here). Since I, too, have been a teacher and a principal, they share their stories, their success and their trials with me. As a past educator, I can relate to these stories and have lived similar things. I cherish their journeys and new learning, and hold these educators in high regard. I appreciate and respect that every day they enter their classrooms to educate and teach our children and give 100% of themselves in the process. I want to share some of their stories, their thoughts and lessons and some solutions to their questions with you. Here's Lindsay:

Lindsay has been an elementary teacher for four years. She, too, grew up with technology and is looking for more ways to incorporate technology in managing her work, especially within the curriculum she teaches. Lindsay has learned that having a viable and accessible curriculum is of utmost importance to educators and she has been thinking about her “viable and accessible” district curriculum; it is stored in binders in the principal’s office and the district’s G drive. She can access the curriculum at work through the district network but the curriculum is old and outdated and it is not easy to search or find the information for which she is looking. She has really given up on this useless tool and does not have access to the current district curriculum as she prepares her units and daily lessons.

Lindsay is also on the curriculum writing committee for her grade level. She says the meetings are miserable because there is no process or tools for updating, editing, rewriting and managing the curriculum. Lindsay says the team has discussed how nice it would be to have a curriculum management system. Teachers could edit, update, share and collaborate with others. In addition, they could align their units and their lesson plans to the state standard and the new common core standards and have reporting capabilities about the curriculum and standards. She says they do have a document that is used as a pacing guide; but every time they make a change, they must remember to go in and update that pacing guide, distribute it, and then hope the new version is used. These tasks are all so laborious it is hard to keep up with these committee tasks as well as everything she needs to do for her classroom.

Beyond Client-Vendor Relationships - Creating ACTUAL Relationships and Why We Don't Regularly Attend Conferences

Evade and Avoid

It's terrible how many people absolutely avoid vendors like the plague. As if they are all making empty promises and stealing from unsuspecting victims.

But I can't say I don't understand it.

I don't blame the educators that rush by, avoiding eye contact, pretending to be on your phone, and quickening your pace just to get past a long mess of vendor squares, jetting past fake-ly-excited men and women in business suits, all with a plethora of gadgets spread in front of them, wanting to show you the next big thing that you can't live without.

Don't forget the giveaways - pens, candy, business cards, etc., are sure to help ensure that you remember our names and will inspire you to act on it.

We've all been through it. Even we "vendors" can't stand vendor fairs. Which is probably why we decided NOT to go to ISTE. And I would have loved to go. But we were too late to try to get in as a speaker, or to hold our own program - trust me, we will be planning far in advance for future conferences - so why would we want to get a 10 x 10 ft. box to speak to thousands of people for 30 seconds each? Sure, I guess our name gets out there, but there's more to it than that.



Exposure is great, but being tagged as a 'vendor' isn't exactly the best image to leave. We have a lot to share, and a vendor booth won't let us do that. The real reason I AM a champion of conferences like ISTE because is gives me a chance to meet those people I've established strong relationships with through Twitter [ or my PLN, even though I'm not an educator ], not to be stuck among all other 'vendors.'

Don't Call Me 'Vendor' and I won't call you 'Client'

Standing behind a vendor table, setting up vendor things, making vendor-like conversation is my worst nightmare. My goal in conferences is to really establish a few legitimate relationships with people, where we have an actual conversation and not the vendor 'word vomit' that pours out in the 2.5 seconds when I have 1 tenth of a person's attention as they rush on past my 'vendor' booth, hurrying past the next like there's a fire chasing after them. My stance is to make that relationship last past the 3 days of the conference, and to create something from it.

That's why we're not at every conference just to occupy a vendor booth. We want to become people. We want to become individuals. And sometimes, we can do that better from right here in Lawrence, KS.

With social media, it's easy to create conversations. To get to know other educators. To expand on the educators we communicate with. To share ideas, to collaborate, and to learn from our clients. That's another word we have a lot of trouble with - 'clients'. There's so much negative connotation with the words 'client-vendor-relationship.' A CVR is really when one is always trying to 'get' something out of the other. But the best relationships are when goals and desires are common; creating something

But our goal, above all, is to create true, trusting, long-lasting relationships. Our goal is to create and participate in conversations, as we've done with ContentM for Educators Webinars, or recent conversations about social media mashups for universities. We've created new product offerings because of the conversations I've had with educators, designed to meet the needs we've identified together.

We're willing to invest toward those educators willing to enhance education and to take a risk. Where a partnership is truly a collaboration. Where there is synergy.