The TWAIN blog

I just got back from watching the newest Harry Potter movie and I appreciate how each movie and book challenges the educational system in such different ways. I promise not to give away spoilers from the movie(s) as I go through this.

The school, Hogwarts, is different than other schools. The basic foundation is for meeting students who are different than normal students. It is a school for the exceptionally gifted but those gifts aren’t necessarily tied to knowledge or passing a state exam. Some will become wizards but there are other roles they can prepare for as well.

The paintings of historical contributors to the wizarding world are interactive. They speak and move about in their frames.

Students are sorted not by grades or scores (but by a hat!). If you read the book, the students are sorted into houses based on their personalities and what they may develop into.

The hallways are ever-changing with stairwells moving around and changing direction. Some classes take place outside and in forests.

Teachers interact with the students in the hallways and during dining times. They are ever-present in the hallways and available at all hours of the day. They answer questions and refer students to the library to find more information on what they are searching.

All classes in this school use project-based, interactive learning. Students make potions, learn to fly on a broom, how to levitate objects, and how to plant screaming vegetables.

Textbooks are common in the Harry Potter world. In a previous story, a book on monsters was a monster itself complete with eyes and teeth. But a common thread in all the stories is how the textbooks are the same today as they were for previous generations going through this special school. One such book on Potions in the current movie references how many errors are in the book based on the writing by one of the previous owners of the book.

A scene in the movie has Harry prepare a potion that no one else in the class can solve based on their notes in their textbook; but Harry has notes written in to his book that allow him to solve the task.

All of this said, there is a certain “magic” about Hogwarts that does make it a place of wonder while still being a school. I wonder if the millions of children who read about this wonderful place realized that it was….school. I think this is one of the major reasons JK Rowling made such a successful storyline because most of the story takes place in a school. Not just any school though – a school built on imagination.

The storyline that carries the most themes surrounding public education can be found in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”. There is a character by the name of Dolores Umbridge who really personifies the danger of state-controlled education. Most of the Hogwarts scenes concern Harry fighting against a teacher who wants to discredit him and get more control of the school itself. Miss Umbridge removes the things in the school that make it so special. She restricts student access and even limits the teacher interaction and lessons they can teach. It is a very dark storyline but I think Mrs. Rowling didn’t just throw this in as a sub-plot. She really is saying something about education and schooling in all her stories.

Based on the wonder of Hogwarts and the world of Harry Potter, can our schools become more like these magical schools?

Can our foundation for schooling be for teaching each child as an exceptional child?

Can our schools have interactivity with images? Is there technology available to make this happen?

How do we sort our students?

Construction issues aside, can we change our hallways? Must the classrooms all look the same? How many classrooms have the same things posted on the walls each year?

Do teachers eat lunch with students? Can teachers be more interactive in the hallways? When students are not in the classroom, where do they go to get answers? Who pushes them to libraries and resources for learning?

Are we teaching kids to fly? Are we letting them learn by doing? Are they getting hands-on experience in a guided practice? Are classes taught outside the classroom?

I like the books because they take you to a place of wonder and imagination but constantly reinforce the need for education. A style of education not seen in public schools. The last book takes the characters out of the safety of their school where they must use all they have learned to fight the ultimate battle. They are tested.

What can we do to make learning, education, and our schools a place of wonder and imagination?

This is the one year anniversary of my start date in my current job. It is a time of reflection for me as so much has changed in just one year – for me and the district.

A great experience for me during this was the support I received from the training I received from TCEA’s Technology Director’s Academy. This is a five-day workshop spread across an entire year. The two presenters were Kari Rhame (from Deer Park ISD) and Lori Gracey (from Bastrop ISD and now Executive Director of TCEA) and they provided so much rich content. I call it my “just in time” training because each session met my needs just in time. I learned about staffing, evaluations, budgeting, technology planning, and developing those Big Hair Audacious Goals (BHAGs) early on. I developed my BHAG that continues to drive my focus and plans for the next few years in my role.

In the district, I helped push them toward high-speed Internet and migrating services to the web. We are looking into wireless solutions for accessing resources online. We are evaluating curriculum, looking into research, reading books, listening to podcasts, and developing blogs for principals and librarians.

The district website was redesigned so each department and campus has a web-editor who can make changes from any computer connected to the Internet. We have an online calendar that not only allows us to see events across all campuses, but also allows visitors to subscribe to events through email, text, and RSS. We can even edit online resources from our phones if we need to.

After attending two board meetings, I put together an idea to make more room by removing some older cabinets and cleaning up some wiring. We now have a media cart for the board room that should make presentations easier without having to switch out cables, laptops, and speakers. The system saves space and allows more people in the room.

This year I was able to take 10 people to TCEA – and most of them had never been to TCEA or a conference for that matter. They were exposed not only to the conference and the magnificent exhibit hall; the conference sparked a fire in them that is continuing today. They have had conversations with teachers and administrators about what the world outside of Kerrville is doing and they want to change….everything.

We have tested our 8th graders for NCLB technology applications and that information isn’t just vital for NCLB but it is sparking conversations about how we should be teaching our students. I even tested a few teachers using the tool and that sparked a few more conversations about what is expected of them to know and use in the classroom.

This summer, I have offered some staff development opportunities to learn about all sorts of Web 2.0 technologies, Microsoft Office 2007, and even a book review of current education literature. Participants have been hesitant coming in but leaving with passion and ideas. The best compliment is that they keep returning and wanting more. I’ve had a few tell me that the 3 hour trainings have been the best trainings they have experienced in careers over 20 years long. They like that the trainings don’t dumb them down or make them feel dumb. That they are encouraged not only to use the resources but that the training website points them to finding more training on their own. They like that I tell them not to become experts, but to become resources to find learning online. This is the key to Staff Development 2.0, if you will (I like adding 2.0 or 3.0 to everything).

My job requires me to wear a lot of hats and to balance a lot of information. I have to know hardware, software, web-ware, networking infrastructure, purchasing, federal and state requirements, administrative input, community involvement, etc. I multitask while multitasking on many things all at once. It is never boring! And when I have a moment to dedicate to one project, I take it head on.

I am making change. I am working with district stakeholders to develop a vision for the district that encompasses the history of where they have been and where they want to go. My title is Chief Technology Officer and I have never been thrilled with the title. It is a little intimidating. In my interview, I asked if I could change the title to which they said I could. But I haven’t found a title suiting the job. I do like something incorporating Technology Vision. Maybe adding something from Disney – Imagineer. Ideas?

I say all this to say….this was a great move. I love this job. I love this town. I love how it changes me as it changes with me. It isn’t easy day to day and there are some frustrations here and there. But, I am challenged and I like that. I love it.

Today was one of those days when a thought actually became spoken words to myself. “What am I doing here?”

I had “one of those days”. The kind of day that I wish I could do over from start to finish.

I went to San Antonio this morning for Tech Fiesta in a rainstorm. It was a 2-day event that I only was able to attend for one day…um…90 minutes. It was a small version of TCEA complete with an exhibit hall and a bag. I went to learn more about technology tools. I did get to see one of my favorite people, Miguel Guhlin, share about Moodle. I like Moodle. I want a Moodle. I am now encouraged to Moodle, thanks to Miguel.

Then, I received an email to my iPhone about something at work that I don’t want to get into here. It was something disturbing enough to me to get in my car and drive all the way back to work to deal with. It was one of those things that made me stop at home for the moment in my kitchen to say to myself, “what am I doing here?”.

I wish I could say that I handled myself well today and everything turned out good. But it was a day that made me wish I was back in the classroom. I often escape in my mind to think about what I could do as a classroom teacher now with the knowledge I have gained. I know I was a great teacher. I managed to be project-based, differentiated instructionally, and award-winning during my five years in the classroom.

While teaching, I also caused the other teachers in my department to turn against me and to dislike me because of what I was doing in my classroom. I shunned textbooks and would not show the movies the other teachers did. I refused to follow their calendars and lesson plans. I made learning real by involving my students with real clients (they were learning web design – they had to work with clients) and by getting them involved with real scenarios.

I never disciplined by regular standards. I informed the parents that I felt that they should discipline their kids and give me room to teach them. I kept parents informed of everything we did by mail, by email, by webpage, and by phone call. My principal informed a parent that he felt I “over-communicated” when she called to say her son didn’t know about a test date.

I never taught the same thing the same way and encouraged my students to learn more than I knew. I admitted when I didn’t know an answer. I even encouraged my students to have fun while learning. I threw paper at them (is that wrong now?) when it would get too quiet in the room because they were working too hard. I was the teacher who received the most “troubled” students but I did not have trouble with them.

I loved teaching. I still do.

And when I have a rough day, I wonder “what am I doing here?”. Is this something other administrators do? Are there moments when you think about the time you were in a classrooms? Do you go to conferences, read articles or blogs and marvel at what you would do with the tools now if you were teaching?

I have to admit…even on good days, I think about these things.

I am only certified to teach Secondary English and I have never taught it. I was hired out of college to teach technology classes and I had no idea what I was doing. I think I only knew Hyperstudio when I started teaching in a PC-only district. I had a collection of “Dummies” books under my desk! I was afraid when kids would come to me to ask questions. And they were 7th graders!!

I never taught English but can you imagine what kind of English teacher I would be? Would I last? Would my students pass the TAKS test or an AP exam?!? I can’t imagine a department chair putting up with me…..much less the campus technology person! And God help whoever the network administrator would be having to deal with mild-mannered me.

But can you imagine what my students would learn?? Can you picture what my classroom would be like? I can. And that picture brings tears to my eyes after a day like today.

Anyone else ever feel like this?

PS: Miguel – thanks for the real comment in person today about my blog. I thank you for that. I am not self-editing this one.

I found two interesting sites today in my regular Hollywood/Entertainment news sites: Ain’t It Cool and DListed. Both of these sites give a different perspective on the Hollywood/Entertainment scene by gathering information from its page visitors who supply info.

The first site is called MagCloud and it is a site for people who want to get into publishing magazines without having to purchase their own print areas. You can upload your magazine while they print and distribute it for you. Is this where printable magazines are headed? Regardless of the Web 2.0 interaction and the decline of print material, couldn’t cost be saved by using Mag Cloud for printing resources for a limited readership? And if you are a blogger who wanted to publish a yearly summary of the blog, what better way than with MagCloud?

The second site is called I’m from Driftwood and it is a blog/social network for gay teens to post their own “Coming Out” stories from the small towns they belong. It is more than just a perspective on gay teenagers; it is a perspective of small town life and acceptance. Very interesting and true stories with great perspectives from the group gathering and posting on this site. Posts include a Google pic taken from the satellite perspective of the small town in which they belong.

What is really interesting about the author of this site is that he helped push the nation’s number one dating site E-Harmony to include gay coupling as part of its site.

With so much “change” in our country, it is great to see more than just the propaganda from both sides of this issue. It is inspiring to read the stories of the citizens in the small towns. I really suggest you check out the site. As a teacher, it would be interesting to develop a similar discussion on a perspective on any issue and share what it is like to live in a smaller town and how that issue affects the citizens in that town. Go back to slavery, to voting rights, to women’s rights, to prohibition, etc. and write from the perspective of your own town on how these rights and the STRUGGLE itself affect you or someone in the town..

A friend shared this with me on Facebook. An interesting perspective on our high tech society. The perspective of our spoiled generation with technology.

Today, I sent emails that had responses within minutes.

Today, I participated in a group demonstration that connected us to a video stream of someone in a different city.

Today, I posted notes on Twitter that were shared with people all around the United States and over half of them I have never met.

Today, I worked on part of a grant on a Google Document shared with two people I have never met but we are all collaborating on the same page.

Without technology, I would have to rely on my own horrible handwriting. I would have to print various copies of it over and over, then use mail to send the writings to the people. I would then have to wait for their responses.

Without technology, the demo of video conferencing resources would never have happened.

Without technology, the idea of Twitter could only be associated with the idea of a billboard and random drive-by’s who see the message on their way to work.

Without technology, I would have drafts of a “work in progress” document and notecards pinned to it as we corrected the different drafts into one solid document. Again, using snail-mail to connect us.

I know I take these tools for granted daily. On Twitter, the Fail-Whale is frustrating to see when it shows that the system isn’t working. My phone has to reboot maybe once a week because it disconnects from the network. My computer runs slower than usual some days. The Internet slows to a crawl after lunch…

These slow-downs happen. But….we are still plugged in. We are still accomplishing amazing things!

And yes, we get frustrated in our jobs when we don’t see progress going as fast as we would like. But….we are doing amazing things. Day by day and day to day.

What amazing things are you doing day to day?