Three beliefs about online learning

I was pleased to be asked to serve on our state's Online and Digital Learning Council. This small group's primary responsibility is to advise the Commissioner of Education and the state legislature on what laws should govern the rapidly growing learning opportunities for student provided online. 

I wish I could say I bring lots of expertise to this council. Other members have led, or are leading, online schools - public, charter, and private. Still others head their district's online learning initiatives or work for intermediate service agencies that offer support for school online programs. I am one of the two, I believe, representatives who actually work in a public school district. I hope I will bring a perspective that serves our district students well. 

From my experience, from my readings, and from conversations with my district's excellent online learning facilitator, I going into this work with three main beliefs:

1. Online learning creates opportunities for my district's students and that is a very good thing. Online classes can provide students classes our district cannot. It can make learning work with unusual work schedules or other demands that make attending school from 8-4 difficult. Online learning may work better with some students' learning styles. And if there are options for learning, a few teachers may be put on notice because of the competition. All good for our kids.

2. Online learning needs to be regulated to make sure it adheres to state standards for both content and rigor. While schools can and should offer as many different learning opportunities as possible to their students, they also have an obligation to make sure that those opportunities are of high quality. Online learning needs to be aligned to state standards and it needs to offer the same level of rigor as F2F classes. We don't need kids taking online classes because they are easier or less work. 

3. Every class ought to be a blended class. Online materials, activities, social/collaborative tools, and enrichment resources should be a part of every class - K-12. To make sure this happens, we need funding for teacher training, adequate bandwidth and content management systems, and the ability to provide devices to access this stuff for all kids. 

I am not sure whether online learning will be a "disruptive" technology or not (See Avoid The Hype: Online Learning's Transformational Potential) - nor do I really worry much about that description. Too many educational reformers set about trying to instigate "disruptions" when I believe the real ones happen, like earthquakes or volcanoes, from natural forces we have no control over. 

My goal is to see that education effectiveness for our kids is improved, whether through supplementing traditional educational institutions and practices or through providing completely new means. 

Readers, what things do Minnesota's Commissioner of Education and Legislature need to know about Online learning?

Carving out responsibility

On a regular basis, I get asked questions like these:

• What is the librarian's role in online learning?
• What is the librarian's role in implementing the Common Core?
• What is the librarian's role in 1:1 and BYOD programs?
• What is the librarian's role in differentiating instruction?
• What is the librarian's role in RtI?
• What is the librarian's role in [insert latest trend, technique, silver bullet, thoughtful initiative, etc]?

There are roles in all these change efforts for the librarian and library program - and I am more than happy to suggest some. But in doing so, I may be making a mistake.

As a profession, each of us need to begin actively carving out our own roles when a new initiative is begun in our schools. We cannot afford to wait to be told what our job is - or just keep doing what we've been doing in hopes nobody notices.

The ability to identify the pieces of a change effort that are we uniquely suited by expertise and resources to do and that make a genuine contribution is the most important skill of today's school librarian.

So this Halloween, don't just carve a pumpkin, carve out a new role or two in your school.

See also: The Entrepreneurial Librarian, LMC, Jan/Feb 2013.

Image source

BFTP: 10 Things I Wish I Knew As a First-Year Teacher

A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past.  Original post October 8, 2008.

This is in response to (a very flattering) request by Joel on his So You Want to Teach blog. He's asking for a list the 10 Things I Wish I Knew As a First Year Teacher.

Man, that was over 30 years ago now. I started as a high school English, speech and drama teacher in a small school district in Iowa in 1976. I was also the yearbook, newspaper, class play and speech contest adviser. My first year's salary was $7,800. We lived in a house that I would not put a dog in today. And I was a terrible teacher.

If I knew then what I know now...

1. Leave your ego at the door. I think I lost my temper at least once a day before I somehow learned not to take student remarks and actions personally and to actually be more mature than the kids I taught. Man, this was really hard. Prepare to be dissed. It comes with the job.

2. Admit ignorance or uncertainty. The best questions to discuss in class are the ones for which you really don't have a good answer.

3. Let the kids teach each other. Your goal should be for your students to do more and more and for you to do less and less.

4. Don't play gotcha on tests. Let kids know exactly what you expect them to know and be able to do. That way you are an ally in their success, not the enemy.

5. Some administrators are incompetent. Be subversive when it helps kids. Make at least one really good friend on the teaching staff with whom to commiserate.

6. The majority of parent complaints will come from extra curricular decisions. Give the school board member's kid the lead in the play. It's not a hill worth dying on.

7. You'll never be able to live on a single teaching salary. Get used to a second job and/or a summer job. Or marry for money.

8. If at first you don't succeed, try a different age group to teach. I didn't like teaching high school students. I loved teaching middle schoolers. I like teaching adults even better. I found elementary children fun, but sort of annoying. Sorry.

9. Lighten up on yourself. Teaching is a hell of lot harder than it looks. Practice will make you better, but never perfect.

10. Some kids will do well because of you; some will do well despite you. You won't reach every kid, but there will always be some kids who will benefit from knowing you. Have faith that you are doing good in the world.

I need to add one:

11. It takes a lot of courage to be a good teacher. To buck the system, to work with challenging students everyday, to do what you know in your heart is right, to try new things and sometimes fail, calls for real bravery. Who'd have known?

I still get the urge to place a full-page ad in the town paper where I first taught, apologizing to everyone who may have had me as a teacher for the two years I was employed there.

I still might.

My first year school picture. Oh, as a teacher, not a kindergartner.