Guest post: Dana Steele - Here lies the truth

In response to my blog post, Curb cut theory applied to education, Dana Steele made this eloquent and powerful reply...

Here lies the truth. I am not meeting the needs of all of my students. It is something that plagues me everyday. As an elementary specialist, I see my students for 25-40 minutes per week. This does not allow for me to engage in the indepth instruction that I long to do. Eventhough I repeatedly chant the mantra - "Quality before quantity!", I still find myself in a race to get material covered. After two weeks, even I am bored over doing the same content. I want to do more. I have many proven strategies at my fingertips. However, I struggle to implement properly due to various constraints and limitations. Not an excuse. simply a fact.

This is how I believe instruction should be. I am a firm believer in Understanding by Design. Coupled with Danielsons' Instructional Framework, they provide an encompassing foundation for any pedagogical or methodology of instruction to be intensive, comprehensive, standard driven, structured, empirical, quantitative and qualitative. Together, UdL and Danielson leave little room for errors and lapses in accountability. Adding to this the application of the Curb cut theory, educators can not help but to provide more comprehensive instruction. The question is how can all of this delivered effectively within the restraints that many teachers face - time, resources, technology, training, institutional, district and administrative support? Whether we like it or not, "NCLB" should be the norm and not simply a goal. Every child should receive a quality, comprehensive, appropriate education that prepares them to be successful global citizens. Because when you really think about it, that's what every educator wants for ALL of their students.

So I don't quite understand how instructional practices are routinely reserved for a certain set of students. Why are intervention services and strategies provided as reactive necessities to individuals who have demonstrated a proven, documented need when it is the foundational philosophy of differentiated instruction? How much more successful our students would be if complete instructional resources were provided - not based upon budgets, debates of necessity and proven, documented need. But the sheer premise that all students are endowed with the inalienable right to an excellent, academically appropriate individualized learning career that indubitably prepares them to be successful, global citizens in any endeavor of his or her choosing.

Since when did meeting everyone's needs become a debate and when is it going to become a norm?

I love the last sentence. It speaks to the heart of personalization. Of humanity.

Aspirational ISTE Student Standards

The first draft of the new ISTE Standards for Students was released last month. There are seven proposed standards (up one from the current 2007 standards) and 28 performance indicators (up 4 from 2007). Just a note that the standards I've re-written below make more sense if you read the performance indicators that go with them.

1. Empowered learner. Students take an active role in choosing and pursuing their learning goals, leveraging technology to plan, convey, and achieve them.
2. Knowledge constructor. Students construct knowledge and make meaning for themselves and others by using digital tools to curate data and information.
3. Innovative designer/maker. Students use computing or digital tools within the design process to solve problems or create new, useful, or imaginative designs or products.
4. Computational thinker. Students identify and explore authentic problems using algorithmic thinking to propose or automate solutions.
5. Creative communicator/Creative learner/Creator and communicator. Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the tools, styles, formats, and digital media appropriate to their goals.
6. Global collaborator. Students use digital tools to learn from others and effectively work in teams.
7. Digital citizen. Students operate in a manner that demonstrates their understanding of the opportunities, responsibilities, risks, and foundational skills required to live, learn, and work in an increasingly digital world.

I have some questions/comments about these new standards.

• These are, of course, very broad. Any "pet" unit or software or topic could be shoehorned somewhere into these standards. Can or will these be used to design a more specific, more concrete set of standards that define basic digital literacy? Not sure the metrics that will go with most of the "performance indicators" under each standard.
• How different are these "new standards" from those written in 2007. Yes, computational thinker (to satisfy the coder advocates) has been added - and "Technology Operations and Concepts" has been dropped.
• While "Empowered Learner" is a lovely aspirational standard, I wonder how readily educators, parents, and society will advance self-determination for students. And some pretty fancy language in this standard - "Students use digital tools during reflection and to bring transparency to their metacognative processes." Is this like showing your work?

Anyway, in general I like the new standards. Just not sure they are sufficiently concrete or realistic to be of great value as schools write their own digital literacy standards. Couldn't we have both aspirational and pragmatic?

Oh, AASL, are you updating your 2007 Standards for the 21st Century Learner?

BFTP: Do you have groupies?

Groupie [noun] 1: a fan of a rock group who usually follows the group around on concert tours; 2: an admirer of a celebrity who attends as many of his or her public appearances as possible; 3: enthusiast, aficionado <a political groupie> from Merriam-Webster.com

Groupies just aren't for rock stars. Librarians and tech integration specialists need them too.

This was sent to me by a classroom teacher in our district:

Dear Mr. Johnson,

The week before Christmas, four students from my classroom were selected to spend a week studying any topic they chose. They were excused from Reading and Grammar for one week and allowed to work on their project. They also had access to the library and the internet.

Yesterday, the first child presented her report on Popcorn. I have attached her presentation to this email. I want to draw your attention to the professional look, pictures that reflect the text, the citation, grammar and spelling of this piece.

I wish to thank the media curriculum team and my media specialist for teaching Powerpoint to my students. I also want to express my appreciation to my media specialist for allowing my students to present their power point presentations to their classmates. This procedure allowed my student to successfully complete a very enjoyable and informative lesson on her own. I did not assist with anything. She knew what to do.

Please consider me an advocate for the importance of having a media specialist within a school. 

Sincerely,
MAPS Elementary Teacher

This library media specialist has a groupie - some one who is an ardent fan of her work, her abilities, and her vision. Someone who is so appreciative of the librarian's work that she will have an ally when the next round of budget cuts come. 

We all need groupies. How do you cultivate them? How do you keep them? How many do you need?

What do you do that makes you a rock star in the eyes of your students or staff?

Original post January 6, 2011