Author: Bret Olson

Is Changing Culture Really the Answer?

Bret Olson2 Comments

I’ve written a lot about building culture and community recently.  Through some of the conversations I’ve had and articles that have been shared with me, I’m starting to wonder if “culture” itself is what needs fixing, or is there something larger?

My philosophy about developing a successful school environment has, for a long time, been based around the idea that “culture” is the most important ingredient and that focusing on building a positive culture will pay huge dividends.  In fact, my theory was reinforced at my past school when we focused hard on improving the culture of the school with very positive results.  It all made so much sense to me, build a strong culture with happy and engaged teachers, students, parents, and community members and everything will be better.  I guess when I simplify it that much it seems a bit silly to think that “culture” is the be all, end all.  

Reading an article from the Harvard Business Review (HBR) called Culture is Not the Culprit I’ve been forced to question my philosophy on “culture” as the main ingredient for success.  Despite the title of this article, the authors (Jay Loersch and Emily McTague) don’t write off culture as a non-issue but rather show how culture is a PIECE of the puzzle.  I think that I agree with the title of this article if it is read with the right emphasis.  For example, if you read it, “CULTURE is not the culprit”, then I don’t agree.  However, if read, “culture is not THE culprit” then I think we’re getting closer to what I’m starting to believe.  What I’m coming to understand is that “culture” itself is not “THE” culprit, in that it’s not the ONLY thing that needs to be addressed.  Rather there is much more to this puzzle than I had previously been examining.  

The authors of the HBR article are out to shock people with their title, for good reason.  They argue that too many major corporations blame “the culture” and try so hard to fix “culture” that they aren’t looking at the other important pieces necessary for improving/growing a company.  This hit home with me, hard.  I have been so focused on the idea of “culture” lately that I’ve essentially isolated it as THE area for improvement.  The reality is that it is only a part (I will still argue that it’s a big part) of what we need to focus on in order to improve as a school community.  

I mentioned my past experiences earlier and I want to share more about how we improved the school overall while focusing on culture.  See, the trick is, that while I’ve been focusing on culture so much I’ve almost forgotten all the other important things we were doing to improve the educational experience for our students.  The HBR article’s main point is that instead of focusing on culture, companies should focus on improving their business structure and how they can be better at what they do.  THEN, as companies improve and become more successful the culture will follow along with it and improve naturally.  In previous schools I’ve seen so much focus on culture that I think that is what gets all the credit for improvement.  However, if the authors of this article were to look at that situation from the outside they would suggest that it wasn’t the focus on improving culture but rather the focus on improving the educational experience that really affected change.  Which makes me ask myself a lot of questions and completely reconsider whether we should be spending time on building culture at all!

When I read articles from a source like the Harvard Business Review I have to remind myself that while schools can often times feel and operate like a business, our “client” base is very different from that of the traditional business.  This means that we need to focus our “product” in a very different way from what a traditional business might do.  So while culture might be something that can come along naturally as the business model improves and customer satisfaction grows, as a school we need to look at it differently.  In order to increase “customer” satisfaction as a school we need to not only focus on culture but we also need to remain focused on improving as educators.  If our “service” is education, then we need to continuously look at our practices as educators and find ways to improve.  

Apple is on version 9.3.2 of iOS, the original version was released June 29, 2007, almost nine years ago.  That means they have upgraded to a new version (on average) once every year.  What about education, when was the last time education upgraded to a new version?  When was the last time your teaching practice upgraded versions?  We’re all experienced educators and we’ve all attended numerous conferences, read books, taken masters classes, and done countless other things to help ourselves grow as educators.  I know that every one of us has improved, but by how much?  In “software versioning” each number means something different.  As I understand it (based on this wikipedia article) the “9” is the “major number” and means that a significant improvement has been made, something like changing the framework.  Continuing with this example, the “3” is a “minor number” implying minor modifications or features added, and lastly the “2” is a “revision number” meaning small bug fixes have been made.  When I think about education as a whole and try to use this system I wonder where we’ve made real change as a profession.  Are we still on version 2.0, maybe 3.0?  We’re most certainly not updating our entire framework every year like iOS, nor do I think we should be.  However, when you think about your educational practice I’d like to ask you to think about what kind of upgrades you’ve made during your career.  Have they been “major”, “minor”, or “revision”?  

Next year we are working to make big changes to the culture at AC.  I’m not sure if I would go so far as to say that we’re changing the entire framework but I think we’re going to be close.  Adding a House System while improving the handbook, assessment manual, and reporting practices along with establishing clear and effective communication tools, are all changes we’re excited about for next year.  Together I think these improvements will go a long way toward helping us reach our goal of improving culture.  However, when I look at these things individually I realize that they’re not all “culture” pieces by themselves.  It’s not until taken together that they become a huge shift in “culture” at AC.  

Culture isn’t the ONLY thing that needs to change, nor is it the magic pill that will automatically improve everything within a school.  Culture is a (big) piece of the overall puzzle.  It is something that we need to build around and use as the focal point of our growth.  Working to  improve our educational practices, while building a positive and caring culture, will lead to rapid growth both in our teachers and, most important, in our students!

Positive Notes Home

Bret Olson1 Comment

We’re in the home stretch, three weeks until summer break, wow!  I keep thinking about our school culture and I’ve been reading even more about it as people share amazing articles, links, and books with me (thank you!)  I will keep it short this week because I think it would be really valuable if you went to this link and read a great blog post that was shared with me.  I’ve written about ideas for improving school culture the last two weeks and the theme hasn’t died down in my mind, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not going anywhere!  

Last week I brought up the idea of positive notes home.  The author of the post I shared above makes a great case for dipping your toe into the waters, it’s not a huge time commitment but the power of those notes IS huge!!  As an example, one of our colleagues came to me this week to show me an email he received.  He wasn’t trying to brag about his child but rather was sharing it with me to help confirm my theory.  It was a glowing email about his child’s performance in class and the way it made him feel, as a parent, was exactly the kind of feeling I believe we need to start fostering in this community.  He was proud of his child and happy about the growth shown academically but along with those feelings he was thankful toward the teacher for sharing.  This is what I’m after, that parental feeling of positivity and thankfulness for us (the teachers!)

We need to bring parents to the table.  They need to be more a part of the school community than they are now (as a generalization).  By communicating regularly, and not just for “negative” reasons, we will begin to forge a connection that we can draw upon to help get them more involved in their child’s education as well as the school community.

As I said, I’ll keep it short this week.  PLEASE give it a try, send a few positive notes home and see what comes back!!

Pushing Forward with School Culture

Bret Olson3 Comments

Last week I wrote about school culture and how it is, perhaps, the single most important piece to achieving the academic success that we strive for in education.  I’ve continued thinking about the importance of shaping a school’s culture and have had a lot of conversations and feedback based on last week’s post (thank you to everyone for your thoughts!)  As a result of all these conversations I decided to start trying (and modeling) a few strategies that I thought could be beneficial to further engage our student and parent populations.  I’ve found a high level of success at the initial level and I’m excited about some of the feedback I’ve received from parents and students alike.

In the past I’ve written about the importance of feedback and how giving and receiving feedback are things that people need to practice.  Similarly, I read Thanks For the Feedback a while back, upon Dan’s recommendation, and have been thinking a lot about the concept of learning to receive feedback.  There are a lot of factors at play when receiving feedback, which is what we’re asking our students and parents to do as part of the process of further engaging with academics.  One of the most impactful ideas is that people need to be in the right mindset when receiving feedback, otherwise it may fall on deaf ears and be ignored.  

One challenge that exists when sharing feedback with students and parents is that all too often we only make time to share the “negative” feedback, the stuff intended to help our students improve and grow.  This is essential information and must be shared with students and parents, but it’s not the only piece.  Balance is an important part of life, in all aspects, and when it comes to feedback there is no difference.  In order to reach a level of balance in student/parent communication that will act to further engage these stakeholders we have to ensure that we aren’t solely focused on the “negative.”  If we only contact parents about “negative” issues or approach students with “negative” feedback they will begin to block us out and our feedback will be completely lost.  

Which brings me to my idea, one of a few I’ve been trying out lately…and seeing incredible results!  Positive messages home.  I’m not making things up just to have an excuse to contact parents and celebrate their kids.  Rather, I’m looking for the positive and taking the time to share the celebration with students and parents.  Meanwhile, I continue to make my usual parent contacts for less desirable reasons (detentions, missing work, etc.)  What I’ve noticed is that when I copy (CC) parents on these messages to the students (I always do this), I’m receiving a response from the parents 85% of the time when I share a positive message, compared to an approximate 20% response rate for “negative” messages.  One of my (many) theories is that as we engage more parents with positive messages that our response rate on “negative” messages will increase.  It’s only natural, that as parents begin to see that we’re in this together, that they’ll begin to engage further with their students academic pursuits.  When I have kids come up and thank me for sharing a positive message with their parents I know that they’ve had a conversation around this topic.  My hope is that we can find a way to help parents open the lines of communication by starting with the positive, then when the “negative” arises they’ve already established a path for having these conversations.

It takes a village to raise a child and we’re all in this together.  After a few conversations around this topic, some teachers have already jumped on the bandwagon and have begun to share more frequent (both positive and “negative”) messages home, with wonderful results.  If you’re keen to help continue this surge toward a more positive school culture I encourage you to give this a try.  Let me know if you’re thinking about it and I can give you some time-saving tips to help prevent spinning your wheels unnecessarily.  There’s no better time than the present to celebrate the wonderful students we are fortunate enough to work with every day, you never know when that one positive note home is going to change something for a student or parent!  

Starting with Culture

Bret Olson2 Comments

I’ve recently been thinking a lot about the culture of our school.  Having been in four previous schools in various places around the world I’ve been a member of a variety of different school communities.  Some have been naturally very positive and others have required a lot of time and effort in order to reach a comfortable level.  However, the one thing that holds true in all of these schools is the importance of creating a community centered around the school.  I believe that means that every stakeholder must be appropriately involved in the educational process, we can’t reach a point where we are ever comfortable with leaving any particular group of people out of the learning community.

Throughout this first year at AC I’ve watched, listened, and felt the pain of teachers as we’ve banged our head against the wall trying to engage students and parents in the learning process.  We have a lot of amazing students and families here at AC.  However, there are also a large number of students and families who are disengaged and, at times, completely oblivious to the reality of the expectations for learning.  I don’t mean to make a sweeping generalization, as that wouldn’t be fair to all of those students and families who are integral parts of our community.  I know that we, as educators, haven’t given up on a single one of these students or families and we work extremely hard to engage them.  What I’m worried about right now is the possibility that we’ve given up on some of the parents, maybe even written them off as completely disengaged.

There is a lot of evidence to support the theory that students whose parents are more involved in the school community do better academically.  This is powerful stuff, especially when you look at our attendance at parent nights or PTO meetings.  Where are all of our students’ parents?  As I’ve settled in at AC I’ve had the chance to sit back, observe, and ponder questions such as that.  There is one thing that keeps boiling to the top as I contemplate our community; I’m concerned that we haven’t done enough of the “right” things to engage our parents.  There is no doubt in my mind that we’ve tried a lot of strategies to engage our AC families but what I think has become obvious is that we’ve yet to find the “right” or most successful strategies.  

Not to be lost in this conversation are the kids, what impact has this had on their learning?  Well, as I mentioned above, there is a lot of research to support the theory that students whose parents are involved in the school community achieve more academically.  That is very important to consider as we ponder, as a school, how to best help our students grow as learners.  So, let’s think about that for a second…which of your students struggle the most to engage with the learning process here at AC?  How involved are their parents?  Next, and what I want you to consider as the most important question, what have you done to further engage those parents in their student’s learning?  Have those strategies worked?

We need to come together over a common understanding of what it means to engage our full community.  As I said earlier, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this lately and I’ve also had a number of conversations with different teachers, parents, and students.  Let’s work as a team to bring this entire community together around one common theme, student learning!  I’d love to hear your thoughts, concerns, and strategies to further engage the different parts of our AC community…please share!

Surrounded by Feedback

Bret Olson1 Comment

This past week I had the chance to get into a 5th grade classroom and a 7th grade classroom to work with some students on our iLEARN Communities.  Dan and I are working to bring the PLC (professional learning community) structure to the student level.  We want our students working to Lead, Engage, Assess, Reflect, and Network (LEARN).  As part of this process we approached the two grade levels a bit differently to initiate the process.  What was most interesting to note after reflecting on these two sessions were the similarities and differences.  The most important of which, is the fact that both groups identified “feedback” as one of the most important ideas to be successful within this process.  

Our approach with the 7th grade students was to start with a discussion around “How the Brain Works” and getting them to think about collaboration as an important concept for success.  As we introduced this group to the iLEARN Communities concept, they independently brought up the importance of feedback in all aspects of their learning.  This was exciting for a number of reasons.  For students to realize that feedback plays a role in all aspects of their learning was very powerful because it couldn’t be more true.  In fact, we had an article to share with them all about the importance of feedback.  It was exciting that they were already leading themselves down this path before we led them there.  

The 5th grade group also started leading themselves down the path we had hoped they’d follow.  We started with this group using a different strategy.  They’re deep into their Exhibition of Learning (EOL), the culminating piece of their years in the PYP.  Instead of starting with brain research we decided to try to unify the iLEARN Communities work with their EOL.  After discussing with a small group of 5th graders I was excited to hear them using the word feedback so frequently.  I asked them why they thought feedback was so important, or at least why they kept bringing it up.  I’m paraphrasing but essentially they said, “feedback helps us grow and get better.”  Talk about exciting, these kids were begging for feedback and couldn’t get enough!

I guess feedback is on my mind even more than usual because we’re heading toward the end of another school year.  We’ve begun scheduling end of the year conversations with teachers, a process that includes giving and receiving feedback for all parties.  I’ll be seeking feedback from teachers about the supervision process and perhaps more importantly I’ll ask for feedback on my feedback.  As a part of this process I’ll also be drawing together a year’s worth of feedback into one conversation with an aim toward planning for future success.  It’s an exciting time for me, I believe that the process of reflecting and celebrating growth is hugely beneficial to the learning process.  As the lead learners in this (or any) school, it’s imperative for us as educators to go through the same process we want our kids to go through.

Our students are on the way, they’re thirsting for feedback and see it as extremely valuable.  I know that teachers are, literally, begging for more feedback to help them grow and improve.  It is my goal to provide these opportunities for feedback to our teachers as frequently as possible.  I believe that as an admin team we did an acceptable job of providing feedback this year BUT I see a lot of room for improvement.  I’d like to ask a question, and I’ll ask the same question to those teachers I meet with at the end of the year…what can you do to improve the feedback process with your students?  

Answering this question honestly and implementing those changes will, guaranteed, improve the level of success in any classroom.

 

Maintaining Balance in a Hectic Life

Bret Olson4 Comments

This past week I had to stay home sick, something I don’t do very often.  I know why I got sick.  It wasn’t some bad fish, it wasn’t because I went outside with wet hair (although the dunk tank surely didn’t help), it was because I hadn’t done a good enough job of taking care of myself and finding balance in my life.  I pushed my body too far and it finally gave-in to something I would’ve normally fought off.  

It’s easy to do, push ourselves too far.  We’re all dedicated professionals who work hard to help our students become successful.  We also like to have our own lives.  In my case, I normally spend the weekends resting and relaxing.  I do some reading, cooking, and try to get outside a few times to enjoy the weather and this beautiful country.  That recharges my batteries or, as Stephen Covey used to say, helps me “sharpen the saw”.  However, these last few weeks I didn’t do that very well (owing to traveling for AASSA and a full day at the We Are Ecuador event) and the result was me getting knocked back so far that I needed a day in the middle of the week to recover.

What do you do to help make sure that you lead a balanced and healthy life?  Getting plenty of exercise is certainly important but, as I realized after last week, exercising while your body is trying to fight off sickness might not be the best idea.  We have to know when to slow down and pull back on our regular routines.  Whether it’s skipping a Tuesday night Zumba class in favor of lounging on the couch to give your body some rest or postponing a weekend trip to climb Fuya Fuya, we have to recognize when our bodies are nearing a breaking point.

I want to keep this short and sweet this week.  Take some time for yourself to make sure you’re feeling recharged and fresh for our students…more importantly, for you!  Step back and ensure that you’re setting yourself up for success for this last downhill run, we’re almost to summer…take care of yourselves and it will be here before you know it 🙂

Use Your Connections, Build Your PLN

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AASSA was great, there was a lot learned AND you met a lot of really intelligent people!!  So what do you do now?  As I’ve written already there’s plenty of reflection to be done and once you’ve thought through everything there are goals to be set.  There’s one more thing to attend to in order to bring your conference experience full circle.  Your network.

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Image provided by:  www.StockMonkeys.com

Long gone are the days of trading business cards (for most of us anyway.)  We’re in the digital age now, but connections are still as valuable as ever…maybe even more so!  Developing and fostering a professional/personal learning network (PLN) is perhaps the most important thing you can do as an educator, especially an international educator!  Sometimes in the international world we get stuck on an island, a PLN is the best way to connect and share ideas.

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn is a great resource for contacting professionals.  Some people use it to share and discover articles and news.  Personally I think there are better tools for that sort of thing but to each their own.  My recommendation for LinkedIn is to establish connections that you can count on as a professional network for the long term.  Think of this as your binder full of digital business cards.  A great resource for the future.

Twitter:

I’m a huge proponent of Twitter.  You may have noticed at AASSA that I was pretty active on Twitter.  To be honest, I’m not usually as active as I was that week.  However, a conference like that is made for Twitter.  My Twitter usage varies depending on my schedule and what I have to share.  However, I consider it as one of my top resources as an educator.

Building a network of people to follow on Twitter takes a little time.  However, it’s not hard and as your understanding of the Twitter-sphere grows so too will your PLN.  Follow these easy tips and you’ll quickly have lots of wonderful ideas flowing down your feed:

  • Follow your colleagues.
  • Look at who your colleagues are following, then follow some of those people.
  • Use Twitter’s suggestions, it’s amazing how smart Twitter can be 🙂
  • Go back to the #L4LAASSA feed and follow anyone who had something insightful to say.
  • Ask…feel free to reach out and ask people who to follow, I’m happy to make recommendations.

Twitter Chats:

Once you’re established on Twitter it’s time to start discovering Twitter chats.  These “conversations” usually last for about an hour and are centered around just about any topic.  Search here for educationally focused chats (warning: this page is a bit overwhelming.)  Once you’ve identified a Twitter chat you’re keen to join, do just that…join the conversation (this article does a good job of explaining how and why to join Twitter Chats.)

Twitter chats are a fantastic source of learning, networking, and sharing.  The amount of learning that takes place in a quality Twitter chat is amazing.  Think of it as a very focused session at a conference, except it’s crowdsourced and not just one person talking at the group.  In terms of sharing, this is a perfect place for you to share ideas you’ve been thinking about and get feedback from peers.  Lastly, the networking and bonding that happens in a Twitter chat is really cool.  The people in your PLN start to become virtual friends who you can rely upon.

As educators we enjoy the reality that we’re never done learning.  So once you’ve gotten your head around all of those notes you took at #L4LAASSA, it’s time to build your PLN and continue your professional growth.  I’m happy to help, if you’re looking for support please reach out at any time!

 

AASSA – Where do we go from here?

Bret Olson2 Comments

I’ve been reflecting on all of the learning from our time in Lima, there certainly was a lot of it and I’m confident it will keep me busy for quite a while.  I went through all of my notes and took notes on the notes.  I’m trying to synthesize my learning and make connections from one session to the next.  To be honest, it’s hard work!  However, a conference like this should be the genesis of great ideas.  Too often we leave a conference, class, meeting, etc. with new learning but it gets quickly set aside as we return to the shuffle and hustle of “school.”  I wrote earlier about a strategy to ensure success while working toward goals, but how do we choose those goals?

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“Less is More” – Priorities Matter

Drawing on a few of the key phrases from the week, I’ll start with “Less is more”.  Looking through my pages of notes I can’t help but get a little overwhelmed.  In total I had about 24 pages covered in scribblings (not to mention the newspaper I decorated with ideas and thoughts while flying home).  Add all of the resources shared on Edmodo and Google Drive and there’s a lot to go through.  So where to start?

I’m starting with the “less is more” concept.  I’m starting with me.  Before I can commit to new initiatives or goals I need to take a look at what I’m currently doing.  There’s only so much time in the world, priorities need to be evaluated.  So, that’s what I’m in the process of doing.  How is my time spent?  What are the non-negotiables?  What can be reduced?  What should be set aside for the time being?

“Think Big, Start Small, Learn Fast” – Patience is a Virtue

On Wednesday I spent the day with the Innovation Academy at FDR.  I really enjoyed the  experience of learning about the progressive program they’ve created but it was even more special to learn about how they’ve gotten to this point.  The real key, that I can see, is that they started small.  They didn’t get in over their heads and they learned along the way.  These guys had a long term vision and they worked methodically toward their goals (they’re still working to grow and improve!)  

Once I figure out my priorities and create the time and opportunity for myself to launch into the next great idea I’ll be sure to follow this maxim.  I’ve long been a proponent of working slowly, often at odds with those who want to dive in head first.  It takes patience and confidence in both yourself and the idea to go slowly.  As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”  It takes time and patience to create something great…Think big, start small, learn fast!

“Stay Foolish” – Disrupt, push forward

A sign on the door in one of the IA classrooms read, “Stay foolish.”  I love it!  That, along with the implicit messages from Ewan McIntosh and Martin Skelton, left me with the idea of being disruptive.  The thinking we have today in schools is too much in line with the status quo.  Where are we going?  Seemingly nowhere if we look at education and where we were 5, 10, even 25 years ago.  Sure the technology has advanced but have the philosophies?

I’m pretty sure I haven’t come up with the “next big thing” in education but there are certainly some ideas that are capable of disrupting the status quo and the “usual” educational thinking.  One of the early commercials for Apple discusses the idea of challenging the status quo and thinking differently.  It’s prophetic in a way, at the time of this commercial Apple wasn’t yet the world leader in technology that they’ve become today.  But their ideas, their “foolish” thinking and challenges to the status quo have literally changed the way we communicate.  

How can we “push the human race forward” by staying foolish and disrupting the status quo?

Using What You’ve Learned

Bret Olson3 Comments

This morning at #L4LAASSA we were lucky enough to welcome Ewan McIntosh.  He helped us disrupt our thinking in a major way.  Have a look at the 10 takeaways from Ewan’s presentation:

  1. Provoke
  2. Curate wonder
  3. Ask the right questions
  4. Create a War Room (project nest)
  5. Capture the thinking
  6. Design discussion
  7. Drive towards problem-finding
  8. Take risks
  9. Build, build, build
  10. Know why

One of MY major takeaways/reminders from this session is that this this isn’t a one day workshop or keynote.  This HAS to be an ongoing thought process.  I think this is quite obvious to everyone involved, however dedicating the time to continue the journey after returning home is always the challenge.  In fact, it’s the same for any long term change project…the hard part is keeping the momentum going.

While sitting in front of Ewan McIntosh it’s very easy to get excited and brainstorm ideas.  But come Monday morning the “real world” comes crashing back down and there are proverbial fires that need to be tended.  So how do you take a great idea and keep it alive?

Whether it’s something taken away from a conference or even the idea to start a diet, how do you follow through successfully?  To me the concept is easy, it’s the implementation that’s tough.

Set Aside Specific Time:  

Setting aside specific time in your schedule is very easy, holding yourself to that time is the hard part.  What happens when “something comes up”?  Do you scrap the time you had allotted for your continued professional growth?  Usually, and unfortunately, the answer is ‘yes’.  This time must be sacrosanct, don’t waiver in that belief.

Find an Accountability Partner:  

This can take multiple forms.  First off, and maybe easiest, is to find someone who has the same goal/focus as you and work together.  Meet together once a week, set appointments and hold each other to them.  If you’re working with a partner there is an extra motivation to hold yourself to this time, you don’t want to let that person down!  A second option, if you’d rather work alone or on a different project, is to partner up with someone who has a goal, any goal.  Even though the goal isn’t the same you can check-in on progress and support each other throughout the process.  Most of us work better as a team, we’re collaborative beings by nature…go with it!

Reflect Publicly:  

Of course this requires more time…maybe.  See, reflection is one of the most important parts of the equation.  Without this you’re not going to move very far down the path toward success.  So, when you reflect (which you should be doing anyway), do it in a way that you can share publicly.  Perhaps you make audio notes while you’re in the taxi, maybe it’s a group chat on Voxer, or maybe you just take a picture of your War Room, white board, or notebook and share it to a blog.  Sharing publicly creates two things: another level of accountability and an opportunity to receive feedback.  Put yourself out there and see what comes back!

If you can put these three pieces in place when you’re working on a long term goal there is no doubt that you will see success.  A little bit of time up front will pay big dividends on the backside.  Don’t be afraid to invest a little time in yourself!!

 

iLEARN – Engaging Students in Their Learning

Bret Olson1 Comment

Officially, Day 1 of the AASSA conference today was exciting.  Dan Kerr and I spent most of the day in the same sessions learning and digesting together.  Something we’ve been thinking about for a while now is bringing PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) down (or up!) to a student level.  During a session focused on feedback with Bill Cotter and Kelly Paredes we had a chance to think a little further about what this might look like.  Take 2 minutes and 47 seconds to listen to our reflections and thoughts about iLEARN (individuals – Lead, Engage, Assesss, Reflect, Network).