Suzanne Rogers-Lighting the flame

Sunday, February 23, 2014

What is Power?
Today, I had the honor and pleasure to attend +Hendrix College #TEDxHC. We all think we recognize power.
But, do we really?

According to Barb Allen, Powerful leadership is moral leadership.
According to Todd Brogdon, @WestrockCoffee, Powerful companies are for profit, but reinvest in their people/communities because they ask the right questions.
According to Amy Cuddy, @Amyjcuddy, Power poses can be faked until they BECOME real. Interestingly enough, the Science supports this idea.
Hendrix College junior, Sami Kennedy, suggests that collaboration is powerful.
Hen Mazzig, @HenMazzig, used the childhood experience of violence to shape a future built on #HOPE and #ThePowerofGood.
1992 Hendrix alumnus, Stacy Sells, @stacysells, talked about the power of a great college.
Bryan Stevenson's TED talk suggested that Power is just.
To wrap up the event, Mark Gilman talked about the connectedness of humanity to the earth. Our decisions have an impact. Humanity can choose to be powerful or destructive.

So, how does this all translate to education? Education should be moral, questioning, collaborative, humane, and just, which should be faked until it BECOMES real. As long as we continue to evaluate test scores by subgroups we are continuing to see our world with blinders. Let's take off the blinders and see the wholeness of our schools and communities. Perhaps, then, education will finally become humanely powerful.

I welcome comments! Please share your ideas for powerful education communities.

Suzanne Rogers

Sunday, January 26, 2014

What if? Blogpost- What if our nation had a patriotic zeal for education? #GoTeamUSAEducation

#GOTEAMUSA #GoTeamUSAEducation

Today, I read with interest "Biggest Lugers" (http://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/10322224/slider-tucker-west-makes-olympics-12-years-father-built-backyard-track-espn-magazine) the +ESPN article written by +Chris Jones @Mysecondempire. I think that Tucker West, @TuckerWest1 US Olympic Luge team member, is blessed with a father who believes in the Olympic dream. As a former college athlete, each Olympic season rekindles the thrill of patriotic zeal. Today, however, I pondered more deeply. WHAT IF?

WHAT IF parents/guardians spent as much time and money concentrating on the education of their students as they do on their recreational activities? I do realize that often it is the college athletics that can keep a college afloat due to the perception of a great athletic dynasty. Athletics adds fun and spice to any school. BUT...

WHAT IF parents/guardians/administrations cared more about the academic outcomes of their students?

WHAT IF students cared more about their academic outcomes than about the Friday night game, or what dress they wore to homecoming, or who would be homecoming queen?

WHAT IF diversity in school was more about the diverse schools to which our students were accepted, than about the race of the students in the school?

WHAT IF more parents/guardians/administrations were willing to extravagantly invest their time and money into academic outcomes as Brett West invested in creating a backyard luge?

Somewhere along the educational pathway in the USA, athletics and other non-academic activities became the way to keep students in school. National educational mandates now force accountability for test scores and graduation rates. Hopefully, we'll see our nation expressing patriotic zeal for #teamUSAEducation

What are your what ifs?

Saturday, January 4, 2014

EdcampHOME and Paleo/Primal are tied together? YES! (at least in my mind)

There is a certain primitive feeling to the education sphere currently. It is a certain undeniable desperate feeling. There are the defenders of #commoncore and the #edureform movement that seem to be battling each other when we should really be working together for the good of all of our students.

The Edcamp format is about teachers having choice and voice. EdcampHOME is an online Edcamp format that harnesses the power of Google through G+ and Ghangouts. Participants post their ideas for discussions/session ideas. The sessions were voted upon by the members and then moderators created a hangout for participants. The technological aspects can be a bit bewildering to those new to the power of Google. I, myself struggled-but still managed to ask questions in an On Air segment about Rebellion in education, and Hangout with a fellow curriculum director in my state. Huge shoutout to the organizers and moderators of @EdcampHOME!

So, how does the Paleo/Primal part tie in? Great question! As educators were scurrying about hunting and gathering connections and hangouts- the primitive met the 21st century. This year, I've noticed that a number of educators in my local sphere and my virtual sphere like @twhitford and @JessicaMPitts are on the Paleo/primal bandwagon. These educators are powering their bodies with densely packed nutrients. I've also realized that these same Paleo/Primal educators deeply desire the best for their students and are willing to go the extra mile. It is this primal educational feeling that empowers Edcamps. I find it strangely akin to our first one room school house teachers. They did it all! They did not sit passively waiting for someone on high to provide curriculum, supplies, or professional development on classroom management. These one room schoolhouse teachers were primitive, but knew how to help their students achieve.

As educators, we need to reach back to our primitive roots in the one room schoolhouse and make the connections within our community to power our classrooms and our profession. Let's be Paleo/Primal educators!

@Rogers_suzanne on Twitter
Suzanne Rogers on G+

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Google Summit in Arkansas

I AM Thankful for

The Google in Education Arkansas Summit took place this weekend on the Conway High School campus. Wow! Just Wow! The pure joy of being part of a PLN is in the connection. This weekend, I saw just a couple of Tweets talking about #GIESummit in Arkansas. I literally said "OH MY Goodness! How could I have missed this amazing opportunity?" So, I quickly responded to a Tweeter @davidjhinson from Hendrix College, +Hendrix College to ask if I could register late and still attend. David was kind enough to ask the Google staff, if it was even doable. The answer was yes!

Thankful to be allowed to attend a Google Summit, I thought nothing of ponying up the money for such an amazing opportunity in our state. (Thanks to Dan Taylor for helping with the registration process.) This morning, I drove up to Conway and sat in on the lovely Keynote, "What's on the Horizon" by +Lisa Thumann, @lthumann. Each session I attended built upon previous knowledge. The presenters were Google teachers/trainers familiar with the burning brains of educators. They kindly repeated steps and helped us along the way.

I continue to be convinced that the education sector must simply unleash their students.
We must allow our students the freedom of research, creation, and yes, even expression. Our students walk our halls with powerful computing devices hidden/or not hidden in their pockets and backpacks.
Why stand in their way? Why must they hide or not use their powerful devices. The reality is that they are using them regardless of school rules. A quick scan of the users of Snapchat, Twitter, Vine, Instagram, and other sharing services clearly proves that the students are using these during the school day. Why not engage our students' nimble fingers in the work of education, instead?

Many educators are fearful of technology. Will Smith's character in After Earth said, "Fear is not real. It is a product of thoughts you create. Do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real. But fear is a choice.” Educators need to understand the potential danger with students globally interacting with technology. But, they need not be stymied by fear. Arkansas teachers should be very thankful for Google and the leadership of the CPSD for bringing a Google Summit to Arkansas! The good news is that CPSD has already agreed to host the event next year! Plan ahead to attend!

Don't feel left out! Feel free to peruse the program and presentations!
#GIESummit in Arkansas Program
http://arkansas.appsevents.com/program
Published Arkansas Summit Resources
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkQHmg_Ko-WzdElacTNXOWJNRGNoQmNabkZyWDNOOVE

http://rogerssuzannem.blogspot.com/2013/11/google-summit-in-arkansas.html

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Formative Assessment: Dylan Wiliam

Formative Assessment is continually buzzing through educational circles. It is particularly loud in #SBGChat led by Dr. Darin Jolly, @DrJolly. Last week, I had the pleasure of attending three sessions on Formative Assessment by the renown Dr. Dylan Wiliam, @DylanWiliam, at the Arkansas Public Schools Resource Center's Fall Conference, #APSRC13. Dr. William led me to Tweet rather voraciously. He began by suggesting that educators need to stop arguing about what is and what isn't formative assessment. Ultimately, it is using information to adapt the learning to put the learning back on track. It is constantly making adjustments.
Why was I so engaged? He was saying things that I knew would help our students and teachers achieve their goals. He was reinforcing ideas that we already knew, but had changed, or drifted away from toward newer ideas. The best teachers have always used formative assessment-even if they don't vocalize that they do. We must encourage our teachers to adapt to their current students by using formative assessment to provide timely feedback. We must stop the cycle of teaching/testing ad infinitum. Our students should receive nonverbal, verbal, and written feedback so that they can attain their goals.

So what is formative assessment?

Using evidence of achievement to adapt what happens in classrooms to meet learner needs

Dr. Wilam's work can be found on his website. He freely provides his presentations, papers, podcasts, blog, and resources.

http://www.dylanwiliam.org/Dylan_Wiliams_website/Welcome.html

Our Cluster has ordered Dylan Wiliam's Professional development DVDs on Formative Assessment. It is professional development worth sharing.

http://www.dylanwiliam.org/Dylan_Wiliams_website/Professional_development.html

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Teacher burn out/turnover

This year, perhaps more than any other year I am hearing teachers across the country voicing their fears about burning out. These fears are coming from experienced teachers who are considering giving up the ship in the face of the rising tide of changes.

1. Federally mandated changes to teacher evaluation systems that MUST include test scores

2. Test prep for the next generation of online tests for CCSS. (PARCC has not produced a practice test, yet schools could be accountable for the scores on the field test this spring)

3. Still being accountable for a state test based on frameworks that have been replaced by CCSS.

4. Technology demands of CCSS despite lack of current technology in many schools.

5. Prep time lacking for making these important changes

While the new teacher attrition rate has been high in recent years, with 46% of new teachers leaving the profession within 5 years, experienced teachers are also expressing burn out fatigue at an alarming rate. Poor, rural, and inner city schools tend to suffer the most. Burnout as defined by Susanne Carter (1994) is "physical, emotional, and attitudinal exhaustion that begins with a feeling of uneasiness and mounts as the joy of teaching begins to gradually slip away."

Schools need to encourage their teachers to find a healthy balance between their teaching lives and their lives outside of school to prevent the rising tide of stressful changes from washing these experienced teachers out of our schools. During this Connected Educator month, we need to consider what it means to be continually connected to our work at home, at the ballpark, and at other times and paces when we should be seeking rest and balance instead.

Disconnecting is difficult. Perhaps we need to discuss this important topic within our schools. Is this a topic discussed in your school?

Carter, S. (1994). Teacher stress and burnout. Organizing systems to support competent social behavior in children and youth. Eugene, OR: Western Regional Resource Center.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

#edcamp reflections

edcampArkansas

Today, I had the joy of attending Arkansas's first Edcamp. It was hosted by UCA in Conway, Arkansas.

I looked forward to finally meeting face to face with colleagues from the Twitterverse. (@smith5987: @DaisyDyerDuerr @sabrapro @AudraKimball, and @lconley86) It was great to meet so many #arkEdChat tweeps! It was akin to meeting a relative for the first time-Comfortable, yet slightly disconcerting. :D

As a beta tester of the first Edcamp, my curiosity was piqued, but my expectations were low. Luckily, Michael Mills, @aquiamigo, wonderfully organized the day. The opening was low-key and allowed the participants to ease into the day. Once the schedule was set, Michael organized a full scale rock, paper, scissors event. We met many of our colleagues, moved throughout the room and cheered for our winners, as we paraded toward the final battle. Fast, furious, and friendly competition that got us all on our feet and mixing with our colleagues. What a heart pumping way to begin the day! We then decided which of the 16 sessions we would attend.

In reflection, this is a wonderful set up for a day of school based professional development. Simply place a few important sessions on the schedule and then add in suggested sessions (especially those with teachers stepping up to facilitate!). I liked the 4 x 4 block. 4 different sessions for each of 4 scheduled time slots. Two were before lunch, and two were after lunch. I can see how this would allow/encourage our teacher leaders to step up and share their knowledge. I can also see how this might help encourage them to apply to be presenters at conferences. Allowing teachers to vote with their feet and move freely to the session that best fits their own needs sounds ideal.

This year, Arkansas is fully implementing a new evaluation system based on the Danielson Framework. TESS-Teacher Excellence Support System. Each teacher creates a professional growth plan and develops a plan for their own PD based on their own specific needs. They are then formatively observed on these PGP identified areas for growth. Keeping their PGP in mind, they can suggest a session/ offer to facilitate a session for the school based PD.

Has your school or district attempted an Edcamp? Are you willing to share your best practices?