I shipped in 2013 - you can too

Doesn't matter whether it was a hit or not, it just matters that you shipped it. Shipping something that scares you ... is the entire point.. from What did you ship in 2010? by Seth Godin

"What did you ship?" is a great question for all of us to ask ourselves. What, beyond just doing one's job, did you accomplish (not try to do, not intend to do, not think about doing, not hope to get done, not plan to do - but actually DO) in 2013? What did you do that was a little bit scary? That you might have drawn criticism for? That may changed the world just a little bit?

Considering what one "shipped" is a good thing to do every year as it closes.  So here's my 2013 shipping list, as best I can recall:

1. Gave presentations and workshops for the LaCresent, Anoka-Hennepin, and Duluth School Districts in MN, the Library Technology Conference in Minneapolis, the SW/SC conference in Marshall MN, the University of Central Missouri at Tan-Tar-A MO and St Catherine in MSP, the TICL Conference in Storm Lake IA, the Baltimore Country Schools MD, Encyclomedia in Oklahoma City, SCETC in Greenville SC, and at AASL in Hartford. I spoke at our state confernces MEMO and TIES.

2. Presented internationally at the ACAMIS conference in Beijing, at the NESA conference in Bangkok, and for the American School in Tokyo.

3. Published the 100,00 word The Indispensable Librarian, 2nd edition. (Whew!)

4. Published these articles:  

• “The Librarian: Your Technology Partner” Library Media Connection, August/September, 2013
• “Top Ten School Library Game Changers of the Pas Twenty-Five Years” Teacher Librarian, April, 2013

5. Published these columns:

• “Teaching Above the Line” Power Up column, Educational Leadership, December, 2013
• “Updated Rules for Securing Data Privacy” Power Up column, Educational Leadership, November, 2013
• “The Online Librarian” Head for the Edge column, Library Media Connection, Nov/Dec, 2013
• “The New School Library” Power Up column, Educational Leadership, October, 2013
• “Everything I Know About Engagement I Learned in Kindergarten” Head for the Edge column, Library Media Connection, October, 2013
• “Making Good Technology Choices” Power Up column, Educational Leadership, September, 2013
• “10 Ways to Promote Online Resources” Head for the Edge column, Library Media Connection, August/September, 2013
• “Put the “Personal” in in your PLN” Power Up column, Educational Leadership, May, 2013
• “The Swiss Army Knife Approach” Head for the Edge column, Library Media Connection, May/June, 2013
• “The Changing Role of the CTO” Power Up column, Educational Leadership, April, 2013
• “The Neglected Side of Intellectual Freedom” Head for the Edge column, Library Media Connection, March/April, 2013
• “Technology Skills Every Teacher Needs” Power Up column, Educational Leadership, March, 2013
• “The Tablet Takeover” Power Up column, Educational Leadership, February, 2013
• “The Entrepreneurial Librarian ” Head for the Edge column, Library Media Connection, January/February, 2013
• “Filtering Fallacies” Power Up column, Educational Leadership, December/January 2013

6. Published 235 blog entries.

7. Chaired a Kiwanis club foundation board, served as the club webmaster/photographer, and was a United Way and YMCA fundraising voluteer. I served as co-chair of the state library tech association legislative board, as the school library representative on the regional library board, and a member of a state digital learning advisory committee.

8. Climbed Carlton Peak on the North Shore with my grandsons and the LWW on our annual roadtrip. Bicycled for 4 70-mile days along the Minnesota River. Played tourist in Tokyo and Laos. Spent a few days in Tucson, AZ and on the Mayan Riviera in Mexico.

9. Walked 3 miles a day, 5 times a week; worked weights at the Y twice a week; and still gained a few pounds! Camped out for a second year in a row with my grandsons in KC. Read approximately approximately 65 books - mostly for pleasure.

Writing and speaking and most of this stuff is more fun than work. My home contains no small children or other dependents to care for most of the time. My day job doesn't require much overtime and I have a fantastic, self-directed team there. I don't play golf, fish, or square dance. Television bores me. My Saturday and Sunday mornings and many an evening are spent writing and designing presentations and workshops. I have, through plain dumb-luck: good health, a supportive wife, an interesting job with great co-workers, and lots of opportunities work toward the betterment of education. At least that's what I hope I'm doing.

I personally measure my days not whether they were happy or unhappy, but whether they were productive or unproductive. Did I have a fruitful conversation or meeting? Did I get something finished? Did I write something worth sharing? Did I read something challenging? Did I do an hour's worth of physical activity? Did I clean up a mess, revise an article, or organize something for the future? Did I do something that made my own life or someone else's just a tad better?

All of us need to "ship" - do more than is necessary on our jobs and professions (especially librarians and tech integration specialists), at home (as spouse/partners/parents/grandparents), and for ourselves (exercise, healthy eating, recreation, and the occasional reward).

What did you ship in 2013 and what will you ship in 2014?

I am by nature a lazy person of middling intellect - so if I can ship, you can ship.

Hazards and rewards of predicting

This morning's newspaper had the traditional sets of predictions for the coming year. Always fun to read, but always dangerous to believe. Prognosticators are too rarely held to account. But when they are, it can be very interesting.

One of the earliest technology scolds I can remember reading was Clifford Stoll. His books, The Cuckoo's Egg (1989) and Silicon Snake Oil (1995) as well as High Tech Heretic (1999), informed and influenced my thinking about the Internet and the role it should play in education and in society.

So when I ran across Chris Meadow's The hazards of being skeptical: Clifford Stoll on the Internet in 1995 (Teleread, December 19, 2013), I was fascinated by just how wrong Stoll was in his predictions. Among those bad guesses (direct quotes):

Then there’s cyberbusiness. We’re promised instant catalog shopping—just point and click for great deals. We’ll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obsolete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet—which there isn’t—the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople.

How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. At best, it’s an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book. And you can’t tote that laptop to the beach. Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we’ll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Internet. Uh, sure.

What’s missing from this electronic wonderland? Human contact. Discount the fawning techno-burble about virtual communities. Computers and networks isolate us from one another. A network chat line is a limp substitute for meeting friends over coffee.*

Amazon, the Kindle, and Facebook - all game changers not yet a twinkle in their creators' eyes back in '95. (OK, Amazon was founded in '94.) Mr. Stoll, how could a smart guy like you have gotten it so wrong?

I published my first writings about the Internet in about 1995 as well so I thought that I ought to go back and take a look before feeling too smug. These are the earliest publications/talks I could find: Why Minnesota’s Children Need Internet Access, text of talk given at TIES meeting, 1994; Captured by the Web: K-12 Schools and the World Wide Web MultiMedia Schools Mar/Apr 1995; and The Mankato Schools' Internet Project, Internet Research, Winter 1995.

So how did I do?

School Internet activities including keypals and joint problem solving between international classrooms will give our students early and varied experiences working with people who have far different cultures and beliefs - the same folks they’ll be working with in an international economy.

Our schools must give students practice solving the kinds of problems they’ll find at work using the kinds of resources they’ll have as adults. Try to remember the last time you used a textbook or lecture to get problem-solving information. Students need practice using real-life tools like the Internet.

Regardless of whether one regards the government as the problem or the solution, access to it and the information it generates is vital if a citizen is to fully participate in the democratic process.

We see a wide-area school district network which allows e-mail, file transfer, and information access as essential to effective staff communication and site-based decision-making. We predict long-term cost savings as a result of the network.

A school district’s Web server can help students, parents, and the public easily access current activity schedules, staff directories, lunch menus, and policies. Not far down the road, teacher created Web pages will be used to help students access class assignments and handouts. The possibilities are exciting. The “blueprint” of Mankato Public School’s Web site only hints at the amount of information which a district can make available to its students, staff and public - everything from policies and lunch menus to job openings and athletic schedules.

The Web can also be an exciting way for students to share their work with others. Creative writing and art, results of student research, and the products of other classroom activities can be displayed on a district’s Web server for other students to examine and react to. Each Mankato school Web site will have a space for a virtual open-house which parents and community members can have access to all year long. Students in teacher preparation programs have ready access to student work for practice evaluating. 

I needed this reminder that perhaps it's better to be optimistic than skeptical when making predictions. I gave a very hesitant approval to spend $1500 on a pair of Google Glass for trial in our district just before holiday break. They've been in the hands of my two young technology integration specialists while school's been out and I am sure they'll come back in January with some amazing ideas how teachers and students can use this tool.**

My prediction? Wearable technologies will be an integral part of first life outside of school with education to follow in its usual foot-draggin' way. Devices that are transparent for the user, as indispensable (and remarkable) as shoes and socks and smartphones, will indeed be game changers. 

But my sense is that it will not be the hardware, but the software that links data and physical objects to create an amazing world of augmented reality that will really be game changer. The ability to look at a person, place, or thing and become omniscient - wow! Look at the book and see a list of other books you'd also like; look at a place and learn its place in history; look at a student and know her ability levels, learning styles, and any special needs. (Or look at your brother-in-law and know exactly how much money he owes you.)

Amazon and Facebook were the "killer apps" of the Internet. I can't wait to see what those are for Glass.

OK, that's my brave (or not so brave) prediction. Hold me accountable for it in 2034.

*Go back, read all of Meadow's article.
** I want them for the mundane reason that I'd like to work with some students in creating a guide for their use that addresses digital citizenship both in school and out.

7 tips for making your principal your ally (for teachers)

Last September, I wrote a blog post on how librarians can create an ally of their principals. In a comment added to that post yesterday, Anne observed:

If I could possibly change a few words so this writing was for teachers in general and not 'librarian-specific', it would be very constructive advice for teachers who are starting out as well as a timely reminder for those who are experienced.

So here you are, Anne. Happy start to your new year.

BTW, all the Blue Skunk posts are in Creative Commons, so anyone can use and adapt anything found here.

Teachers, you cannot afford to have an adversarial relationship with your principal. You cannot even afford a principal who is an "agent of benevolent neglect." You need an administrator who actively supports you, your projects, and your students.

Your principal needs you as well - as a cheer-leader and co-conspirator for change efforts. As a willing participant, even guinea pig, for new programs. As an educator who can positively affect the learning environment of the whole school. As a researcher for best practices information. How exactly does your principal rely on you? Are you important enough to be listened to?

Principals and teachers need to be firm allies in helping their schools change in positive ways.

And it may well be up to you, not your principal, to create this alliance. Here are some concrete ways you can do so...

1.    Report regularly and formally. We should all be sending out a written (emailed) quarterly principal’s report. These should be upbeat, useful, and short. Send digital photos of happy kids participating in activities in your classroom to your principal and information to include in the school parent newsletter. Administrators HATE surprises - good and bad. Keep yours in the loop.

2.    Know you principal’s goals and interests. Can you rattle off right now the three or four things your principal considers important in your school, your building goals? Test scores? Climate? Meaningful technology use? For what is your principal being held accountable by her boss? Where do your professional passions and your principal’s goals overlap?

3.    Be seen outside the classroom. If your principal sees you on committees, attending school events, and even in the teacher’s lounge, not only can you chat informally about classroom matters, but you send a powerful non-verbal message as well: I am full, committed member of the school staff. 

4.    Disagree with your principal - when necessary. You may think that some ideas of your principal may not be in the best interests of your students. If that’s the case, you have an ethical duty to give your reasons to your principal. But this is important: do so in private. Always voice your support in public; always voice your differences in private.

5.    Do not whine. What is whining and how does it differ from constructive communication efforts? Robert Moran in his book Never Confuse a Memo with Reality says it best: “Never go to your boss with a problem without a solution. You are paid to think, not to whine.” I know it feels good to just let it all out sometimes about things that really can’t be changed. But listening to that sort of venting is what your spouse, your mom or your cat is there for.

6.    Do NOT advocate for yourself. Advocate for your students. Advocating for your classroom sounds, and usually is, self-serving. When you talk to your principal whether proposing a plan, asking for funds, or suggesting a solution to a problem, make sure it clear the underlying reason is “It’s a change that will be good for my kids.”

7.    Be a leader as well as a follower. Our communication efforts can and should not just inform, but persuade others, guide the directions of our organization, and improve our effectiveness. If we don’t create the positive changes in our schools that improve kids lives, just who the heck will? Clear articulation of our values and beliefs helps create strong relationships.

Be the teacher principals seek out, not the one they avoid. It's not hard, but it requires mindfulness.