On July 16, 2009, I attended a one day conference called High Schools New Face.  Lots of information and resources were shared throughout the day. 

David Warlick shared his blog – http://davidwarlick.com/wordpress/?page_id=2 –

He has great insight, lots of experience and pushed my thinking a great deal during the keynote address.  His blog is full of resources including his wiki and things he learned today.  I love that he models that he is a learner every day. 

 This is David Warlick’s actual presentation information from HSNF:

http://davidwarlick.com/wordpress/?p=366

http://prezi.com/129654/view/#774  (hit the arrow button for full presentation)

http://davidwarlick.com/wiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LiteracyAndLearningNarrative (This is a wiki that has his presentation ideas!)

 Things that stood out to me personally –

Reading/Arithmetic/Writing Means (these are individual slides):

• http://prezi.com/129654/view/#713
• http://prezi.com/129654/view/#287
• http://prezi.com/129654/view/#601
• http://prezi.com/129654/view/#394
• Contemporary Literacy – http://prezi.com/129654/view/#387 and http://prezi.com/129654/view/#539
• http://prezi.com/129654/view/#546 (vs. just integrating technology)
• Reboot Literacy – http://prezi.com/129654/view/#760

 General ideas that he shared during his keynote:

• 21^st Century Teacher must be a master learner.
• He has his handouts on Second Life (very cool).
• We are preparing our children for a future we can not clearly describe.
• Stop integrating technology.  Integrate literacy – how to teach ourselves!  He really proved the point of how important it is to redefine literacy. 
• With literacy, we are willing, able and encouraged to ask questions. We investigate.  We are digital detectives.  This expands our notion of what it means to be literate.
• Expose what is true, valid, reliable and appropriate. Make numbers tell their story.  Know who is behind the web site resources. 

Thank you, David, for your passion for learning, being a model for educators, and sharing your resources!  It is greatly appreciated, and you made me think a little bit more and understand a little bit more about the importance of the 21^st Century Learning Skills that our students so desperately need.

On July, 16, 2009, I had the privilege of attending High Schools New Face.  During one of the sessions, I got to learn more about podcasting.  I chose this session because although I know of podcasts, have downloaded them and participated in them, I have not created one. I went to learn.

During the hour-long session which was designed just to give us a start, the presenters did a fine job showing us what we need on our computers, describing tricks of podcasting and allowing us to play and get started.  I could barely wait to play and practice.  (And boy! Did they give us resources!)

During our brief practice period, I asked about 10 questions, and the presenters were knowledgeable and patient. Thank goodness for patience!  What I was most curious about was others weren’t asking as many questions.  Is it because they got it quicker than I?  Is it because they didn’t have questions right then?  Is it because they just did not want to ask?

I am a learner hog.  I get rare opportunities to learn with others. And it is even more rare that I get to learn with others who are as passionate as I about certain topics.  I was not going to let the moment pass.  I was inspired by our early morning keynote, and I figured it was time to continue my passion of learning and engaging while I learn. 

What I really liked about the conference was that there was an underlying theme for me.  I noticed that this was about personal learning and growth.  Just because I attended this hour-long session, it did not mean that I was going to podcast with colleagues and students right away.  This was more about me learning personally.  We all know (and I heard this during the conference) that if we don’t understand and use these tools ourselves, then it won’t translate into practice at work for students, for teachers, for administrators and more!

I set a PERSONAL goal of doing one podcast this year and associate it with this blog.  Why?  Because I need to put my learning into action.  It was a quick dose of podcasting, but it certainly was beneficial to me and enough for me to know that I can integrate this into my work.  If I live it and breathe it, then I can share with others how it worked for me. 

I will share more resources in my next post.  I learned a lot in a very short time, and this learner hog will share other tips and tools she picked up at the conference. 

You may have noticed that I enjoy spinning at my local BAC.  I usually go a few times a week, and the schedule for me includes Saturday and Sunday mornings.

On Sunday morning, I arrived to find my usually bike taken by somebody else. A towel was across the handle bars, a signal that someone got their early, staked her claim and then went to work out in another section for a bit.  I am a creature of habit, and I like that bike.  It is close to the fan.  It is in the front.  (I don’t like to be behind other people because I can’t see.)  It is close to the door. (You never know when you need to fill up your water bottle.)  I just like it.  I had to find a different bike. I found myself in the back, away from the door, but still near a fan.  (The fan is the number one criteria for choosing a bike for me.  It gets hot spinning.)

At first I was annoyed.

• I could not see the instructor well.
• We had a substitute instructor. My favorite spin instructor was not there.
• I had a different bike.

So, what did I discover?

1. A different perspective is good.  I saw people with very good spinning posture which reminded me to stand straighter and to take a full-circle spin.  I saw people with very bad spinning posture which reminded me not to lean on the handle bars.  I began to wonder and think about work. – I see people every day with good habits and bad habits.  All I need to do is step back, take a different perspective occasionally and learn.
2. I was a better listener.  I could not see the instructor, but her instructions were clearer than I ever realized.  She doesn’t spin every week.  She was subbing for one of my favorite spin instructors, but when this girl comes, she knows her stuff.  I never realized how well she was prepared until I was really forced to listen to her instructions. Her spinning showed purpose for our workout, and she motivated us the entire time with great quotes and anecdotes.  I am not sure I ever listened that closely before. I know I haven’t.  I realized that I need to re-apply listening to work. I am back in the old habit of listening to respond vs. listening to understand.  I must revisit that personal goal and self-check frequently.
3. I had a better workout. Time went fast as I listened, focused on the purpose of our workout and had fun.  I am thinking that work can be the same.  How can you not have a good day when you are focused, listened and having fun?

So, spinning has taught me about new perspective.  I am taking a step back today.  I will never be all the way at the back, but I certainly will be close to a fan! 

On August 8, 2009, I join two superintendents in a panel discussion for the New York State School Boards Association.  The topics are good ones.

• Attracting High Quality Teachers
• Retaining High Quality Teachers
• Training High Quality Teachers

I met today with one of the superintendents.  We brainstormed for about 1.5 hours of how this might look for an audience of school board members.  We brainstormed their roles in these efforts vs. the roles of administrative teams.  It was an interesting conversation.  I had to keep clarifying. I know my role, but what role does a Board of Education play in these important efforts?

Ultimately we came up with a hopeful outcome for our audience.  We hope to empower them as board members to know good questions to ask about our interview process, our professional development and the retention of our teachers.  This is not an easy task, asking a groups of non-educators to make a mental checklist as they listen to the panel discussion and determine what they will want to learn more about in their districts.  We came up with an activity because by the time they  get to us, they would have already been sitting for over an hour and a half.  We are hoping that will kick off the conversation!  Stay tuned.

The outcome for us? Immediate – to come up with an agenda that feels tight but flexible.  Ultimate – to help board members to construct meaning around 3 big, important topics!

Our school was called yesterday by Congressman Chris Lee’s office! We received the PEP Grant.  THIS is so exciting for us.

“The Carol M. White Physical Education Program provides grants to LEAs and community-based organizations (CBOs) to initiate, expand, or enhance physical education programs, including after-school programs, for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Grant recipients must implement programs that help students make progress toward meeting state standards.”

Our Physical Education Department came to the leadership team in the fall of 2008 and asked about the possibility of writing this grant.  Of course, our superintendent and Board of Education were very supportive of the efforts and work that this would take all of us and encouraged us to begin the process.  One of our first steps was to obtain the assistance of a grant writer.

Rosalie Magino, started us off with a phone conference in December, and boy, was there work to do!  The Physical Education Department members worked tirelessly to collect data, create and publish a survey for our students and community and spent a full conference day (and more) creating a budget that indicated the needs of our students. I can tell you that the month of February was a full month of dedication to this grant.  It was amazing how we all pulled together and got this accomplished and still work full-time jobs beyond our grant efforts!

The grant was due in March, and we have been waiting to hear about the grant.  It was like the anticipation of Christmas.  I could barely focus at work just waiting to hear about the outcome of the grant review process. During the middle part of June, we received an email asking for clarification regarding a portion of our grant.  One of our lead Physical Education teachers met with me to craft a response!  We emailed it, and we continued to wait.

July 7, 2009 was our exciting day.  What this means for our students in our community is endless.  Our first year begins with wellness centers for our buildings with state of the art equipment and technology to support the physical fitness of students K-12.  The second year we will focus on outdoor education, and the third year will be around exergaming (Wii, Dance, Dance Revolution).  How exciting!  I am all aglow. We all are aglow!  I am sure you will read more soon.  The grant began July 1, 2009. The work and the excitement begins!!

After an hour and 7 minutes on the teleconference, I turned it off.  Questions were due by June 17th. This is ample time to create a visual for people to follow along or watch or on which to take notes. This is ample time to organize the event so that it is not listening for over an hour to someone read questions and answer them. This is ample time to weed out repeat questions. This is ample time to create an organizer for notes or a visual to allow for people to absorb the information. This is ample time for one to set up an email address for us to ask follow up questions vs. 93 schools trying to follow up with questions at the end of the teleconference. This is ample time to create a one-pager with questions or key web sites or contact people/names of key people in departments with phone numbers and email addresses. 14 days is ample time to make my time feel a bit more meaningful.  That is an hour and 7 minutes I won’t get back. Thank goodness for Diet Coke and peanut M&M’s.

So, today, I find myself gearing up for a teleconference from our State Education Department to prepare us for our Consolidated Application process.  For those of you who don’t know, this is a very lengthy process of paperwork so that we can receive our federal funding.  I get it. I understand that because someone in the past must have misused the funds, we now have to jump through many hoops to get the funding.  It is accountability at its finest, and I certainly do appreciate that we are held accountable.  Don’t get me wrong.  I am a good, obedient hoop jumper, but I really sometimes wonder about the work that I do.  This will take me most of the summer for many reasons.

1.  The application is released in chunks.  Little things can be done at a time, but for a big picture kind of person, it is really hard to keep looking every day when I could be working on the whole thing at one time.

2.  I have other work to do besides the paperwork mantra.  Staff Development and Superintendent Conference Days and grant writing consume a lot of time.  I also have just the day-to-day list that seems to consume my inbox – Arts in Education, ESL Plan, Data Reports, demystifying the Data Warehouse and more.

I really am not complaining but wondering about how to make this work feel more meaningful and also find time to rejuvenate and feel ready for the school year.