It stands for 21st Century Lutheran Education. 21CLE is an online conference in its 2nd year. There are speakers across the map. All the presenters love Lutheran Schools and Educators and want to improve Lutheran Schools and Education.
As I was looking through the followers’ list of one of the Guild’s Twitter followers (and after doing some searching of my own), I came to the conclusion that many of our Lutheran schools are missing out on some great opportunities to spread the word about their ministries online. I’ve spend several hours over the last months scouring Twitter for Lutheran schools with little success in locating very many. Of the ones I have found, several have tweeted a handful (more…)
One thing I find very tiresome is helping students learn good searching habits. Even after they search for something getting them to pick a good site (not an advertising site) is hard. I tell me to put the words in Quotations for exact matches. I tell them to use the words AND and OR and so forth. It never gets into their heads like I want them to. Well now I am just going to use this Prezi to show them how to search on Google. Now I am not the author of this Prezi, but I find it very helpful and even learn something new myself. If you don’t know what Prezi is, wait for future article that will go into detail what it is and how you can use it in your classroom to engage your students.
I am sitting in the Vegas airport, hoping my battery doesn’t die before I finish this, but waiting for my flight back to LA. I spent all day at Faith Lutheran Jr. High and High School in professional development. No one is making me go. Well no one but me. My school didn’t say I had to go, I wanted to go.
This past Thanksgiving week I got very sad, because I was not able to go to our annual Lutheran Educators Conference (LEC). Our school didn’t have the money. I am also guessing they didn’t have the love for their teacher or students. I was told the conference was “optional” and not “mandatory.” Everyday we ask our students to learn, but do not ask it of ourselves. Professional development is MANDATORY! In a recent survey of Lutheran educators it reveals that professional development for information, media, and computer literacy is a PRIORITY. Dr. Perry Bressman shared this thought, “Who wants to go to a surgeon who hasn’t learned anything new in he last 10 years?” Why should parents send their kids to us, if we are stuck in our teaching methods that are outdated.
So the only thing that can come from PD is good things. (even if the conference sucks)
I love going to LEC for numerous reasons. It is a time to relax (vacation time for my family), it is a time to learn, and it is a time to interact. Although our staff does interact with each other during the rest of the school year, it is always nice to sit down as a staff for a nice meal. It is a time to bring each other closer to each other. As you may know the Lutheran school system is actually very small in some terms. I have taught at 3 different Lutheran schools and have made connections with other teachers, which is always nice to catch up with at these conferences. I meet new people who in turn can become part of my PLN.
I love going to the sessions and learning new concepts and applications. If I could I would go to a conference every week to learn something new. But, it is also a way to refuel my tank. I can get excited and can’t wait to be back in my classroom to try something new. It helps you from getting burnt out. Most Lutheran teacher burn the match on both end. We need time for ourselves. Mary Irish, principal, talked to this very statement about how we need to make sure we take care ourselves so we can take care of others. Mary compared it to taking an airplane. They always tell us on flights that if we need to put on oxygen mask to make sure we put ours on first before we help anyone else. It is nice to be at a great place. For this SLED conference we were at the Red Rock Resort in Vegas. It was so relaxing. The room was great and peaceful.
What are you doing for PD?
If your school is like mine, you might not get the opportunity to go to conferences, because it is too expensive. But, you should not worry. You can still learn and interact. You need to take your ownership in PD as I mention in earlier post about this being your year. Create your PLN and learn from them.
Here is what you should do.
Go to http://blog.cuw.edu/21cle/archive-2009-presentation-recordings/ and listen to the different presentations from last year 21CLE. Then, make sure you mark your calendars for this years conference – February 25th, 26th and 27, 2010!
Finally you need to keep reading here on Lutheran Educator’s Guild.
Is it worth it for a Church to support a Lutheran School?
I have been in a Lutheran School since Kindergarten. Grade School/Middle School, High School, and College were all in the Lutheran School system. I have only taught at Lutheran Schools. So naturally Lutheran Schools mean a lot to me. For the good and bad, I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for Lutheran Schools.
You probably heard about the Lutheran School Portal. The Portal has been around for a few years now and already in their 2nd design. Does your school subscribe?
I do not think many teachers and administrators know how beneficial the Portal can be. There is almost so much there, it is hard to explain it all in one quick blog post. So I will be taking some time to break down some of the main sections in their own individual posts.
Here is what Bill Cochran states on the main page of the Portal ,
Welcome to the Lutheran School Portal! You have just entered a connection to all Lutheran schools in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). The Portal encourages, connects and informs all those that use it. There are a lot of benefits to being a subscriber to the Lutheran School Portal. Among those are the Premium Services that will help your school enrich the learning of the students. The Lutheran school is an instant link to numerous educational web-sites and services.
Even if your school does not subscribe to the Portal there are plenty of information you can access. Links to the Portal sponsors, links to different resources, and a Bible verse for each day.
Quickly I will write the downfalls of the Portal, it is a little robust. It can be difficult to find what you want, especially when they switched over to the 2nd version this past year.
After discussing with a fellow Lutheran Tech guy, he mentioned how there are so many different places for a Lutheran Educator to go to, can it be too much? His reference was, you have the Portal, plus you have the Synod’s own website, for Ed Tech you have the National Ning site and for our District our own Ning Site. You have LEA website also. Not to mention this Guild. Although each site does do something a little different, there is overlap. I which that the Portal would take all these great sites and somehow be able to embed it into the Portal, while each keep on their own also. It would be great when I go to the Portal I could see all of my Lutheran Sites. I shouldn’t have to go out and search for links to these sites or to be able to look at each District site. I want it all there and maybe a twitter window to see what our Lutheran Teachers are talking about on Twitter.
That is the brief overview and trouble I have with the Portal, I will talk about the great stuff in each of the following posts!
The Following is taking what I started in another post but going into it a little more. Part of my original post is still in this updated and expanded post.
Phone Home ~ ET
The world is different from 50 years ago, 25 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago, and even 3 years ago. In today’s world of education a tool is being stripped away from the students’ hand even before they enter the hallways. Here is one policy on Cell Phones that is like many other school policies:
CLASS II OFFENSE
According to HCS Policy – Use or visible possession of electronic devices including, but not limited to, cell phones, pagers, or other audio/video devices is strictly prohibitedduring school hours. In addition, the use of electronic devices may not disturb or impede extracurricular activities.
First offense: The first time a cell phone (or other electronic device) is taken up, the phone will not be returned for one week (7days). A parent/guardian may retrieve the device one week later between 2:30-3:30 pm.
Second offense: The second time a cell phone (or other electronic device) is taken up the student will receive one day of in-school suspension, and the device will not be returned for thirty (30) days.
Subsequent offenses: The next time a cell phone (or other electronic device)is taken up, the student will receive two additional days of in-school suspension, and the phone or other electronic device will be held an additional thirty (30) days.
I have read and agree to the conditions established at GHS regarding the use of cell phones and/or other electronic devices during the school day.
The school is not responsible or liable for any lost or stolen electronic devices.
Just recently the state of Pennsylvania is proposing a Bill (363) which is amending the original Bill that was created in 1949:
Section 1317.1. Possession of [Telephone Pagers] Electronic
Devices Prohibited.–(a) The possession by students of telephone paging devices, commonly referred to as beepers, cellular telephones and portable electronic devices that record or play audio or video material shall be prohibited on school grounds, at school sponsored activities and on buses or other vehicles provided by the school district.
So are having cell phones in the schools bad? Does this make them a drug dealer? Does this mean there is no educational purpose to cell phones?
New educational uses of cellphones are challenging the “turned off and out of sight” rules that many districts have adopted for student cellphones on campus.
A growing number of teachers, carefully navigating district policies and addressing their own concerns, are having students use their personal cellphones to make podcasts, take field notes, and organize their schedules and homework.
And some recent, positive examples of how the phones are being used for academic learning may eventually lead to more nuanced policies. Indeed, more educators are concluding that cellphones may be the only realistic way their schools can offer the 1-to-1 computing experiences that better-funded schools provide with laptops.
“In our district, especially at high school, students have a cellphone on them at all
times, just like a pencil—it’s an underused tool,” said Rosemary Miller, the technology-integration specialist for secondary schools in the Buhler, Kan., public schools. “We don’t have a computer for every kid, as some school districts do.”
Good for those teachers. They are not afraid of what will happen if they try something new and rewarding to the students. Recently the 7th grade teacher and I redid our 6-8th grade computer curriculum including everyday application of technology. The students love it and are learning a lot more than step by step instructions.
Podcasting and classroom-response systems are among the more than 100 uses of cellphones that educator Liz Kolb has collected, and in some cases invented, for her book Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education, published in October.
Bloom’s New Taxonomy has “creation” as the top level of intellectual behavior. Having students create Podcasts is a great way to evaluate the students on any topic you are covering. A quote from an unknown individual once said, “The one who is doing the talking is doing the learning.” Student response systems can be very expensive. If every student already has a cell phone, using free websites to create polls is a cheap alternative. Liz Kolb has taken her book and went to the web in her own blog: http://www.cellphonesinlearning.com/, where Liz continues to find new ways to use cell phones in the classroom.
Cellphones with cameras also have great potential for simple data collection. They can enrich fieldwork or field trips by allowing students to snap images of, say, leaves, for later identification. Students also can snap pictures of museum exhibits and placards to fuel classroom discussions.
“Mobile citizen journalism” is another popular trend that schools can harness, Ms. Kolb said, though she did not know of any school newspapers doing it extensively yet. “Schools can definitely set up their own mobile journalism text-messaging numbers,”
so students who are traveling can phone in reports and images, especially if they find themselves in the midst of breaking news.
The possibilities are endless. Jon Orr of Faith Lutheran High School in Las Vegas has his bio students take pictures, on their cell phones, of the major organs and muscles of their dissections and upload them, by the way of text message, to Flickr. After the students uploaded the pictures they must go in and annotate on the pictures what is being shown. http://www.animoto.com has developed an application for I-Phone and I-Pod where you can create short video clips on the go. California Local PBS station even held a contest http://www.koce.org/filmonthefly/ where your mobile phone will receive a text message with the secret story prompt, along with the “tag” you’ll use to identify your video as part of our contest on YouTube. You will only have 20 hours to enter your finish product.
The main cause of bans is society is not ready for the power having a cell phone or mobile device, in a classroom, has. They are scared and uneducated of the positives. They only hear the horror stories that media plays for them. The topic of allowing cell phones in classrooms will go on for years. But, as the trend is increasing, every child will have a cell phone before long. 70% of my Elementary and Middle School students have a cell phone and use it regularly out of school. Why not use the tool they already have and engage them in some learning. If there is an educational purpose that can be defined in meeting a state educational standard, then the teacher is doing their job. Liz Kolb did a survey on Twitter: of 100 teachers, 97 of them said that their school had a policy that highly restricted cell phone use during school hours (either banning them completely or restricting their use to non-academic times). Yet in the same survey 40 of the teachers said they were using cell phones in learning, and 87 teachers said they would like to use cell phones for learning in their schools in the future. The educators are catching on. The administrators need to change the Acceptable Use Policies to captivate the students and how they learn. One poster made the analogy that automobiles are used in crimes can be dangerous, they pollute the air, and they cause accidents, but we don’t ban them. Why are we banning educational tools? Beth Holmes in a blog post was discussing a picture taken in 1905 and how they were 21st Century Education in the picture titled:
“A modern training school.” Girls are sewing and cooking. Boys are woodworking. The students are using the TOOLS of the era to prepare for the work of the era. The teachers are working beside their students, coaching and mentoring them as they refine skills that transfer beyond the schoolhouse to life in the real world. Zoom in. Look a bit closer. The TOOLS include needles, knives, chisels, hammers, picks, heat, ovens. The tools of the age are potentially dangerous – but they aren’t blocked from the school. Teachers are teaching students to use the tools of the age – and use them safely.
The last line is a great sentiment for the use of cell phones in education. We need to teach students how to use cell phones and how to use them safely. A new trend is what experts’ call, sexting, where students are taking nude to semi-nude photos of themselves and texting it to other students. What students do not realize is they can be prosecuted for distributing under-age pornography and be labeled a pedophile, even if they are a minor themselves.
The way that students communicate, collaborate, and conduct business (personal or public) over their mobile devices could be both beneficial and detrimental to their futures in the 21st Century workforce. Currently with policies banning cell phones from school campus, teachers get the message that they should ignore cell phones altogether. Which includes talking with students about mobile safety, ethics, and legalese. Students do not understand the ramifications for the media they collect and send on their cell phones. Teachers have an opportunity to help educate students on how to use their cell phones appropriately, for the common good, and for their own upward mobility in the global workforce. (Liz Kolb)
Until we change the way we think, the culture, ourselves we will keep a close mind opinion on any topic, but especially where cell phones fit in this world of education. Let us stop and think about the students and what is best for them. Let us put their lives before ours, even if that means taking a risk to change. Remember all ET wanted to do was “Phone Home” and using tools he found around Elliott’s house he was able to achieve this goal. Let our students “Phone Home!”
The public school system is a system that is everybody’s business. Everyone puts their dollars into this system and should state what needs to happen to this system.
This system needs to change. The context, behavior, culture, leadership, and passion needs to change. The most important aspect to change schools is having the right leader. The leader has the job to get people to see and feel the change. The leader needs to change the conditions of the schools to raise them up and have good teachers want to stay there.
Martin Luther once said,
“Let the wife make her husband glad to come home and let him make her sorry to see him leave.”
We can change it to ,”Let the administrator make the teacher glad to come to school and let the teacher make the administrator sad to see them leave.” Ok, the connection isn’t really the greatest. But, if the school is engaging for the student and the teacher, neither will want to leave. When the teacher has passion, a purpose, and enjoys what they are doing, the student engagement will increase which is what we want, better students, students that are eager to learn and take responsibility into their own learning.
If your an administrator what are you doing to keep your good teachers? If your a teacher what are you doing to engage your students? If your a student what are you doing to take control of your own learning? If your a parent or pay taxes what are you doing to make sure your money is going to the students education and engaging them to become better citizens?
Michael Fullan states in “The Moral Imperative of School Leadership”,
“There is no greater moral imperative than revamping the principal’s role as part and parcel of changing the context within which teachers and students learn.” (p11)
What does that mean? I mean I know what it is trying to say, but what does that mean. What does it mean by a moral imperative? Or revamping the principal’s role? Or part and parcel? Plus what does this have to do with Jim Collins’ five-levels of leadership, as Fullan is making this statement about? Lets take these important key words in this statement; Moral Imperative – a principle originating inside a person’s mind that compels that person to act, Revamping – revise or restore, and Part and Parcel – “a portion” and “something integral with a whole.” Ok maybe that doesn’t make it any clearer. In laymans term, “We must act! We must revise and restore the role of a principal within the schools to help the teachers and students learn.” I hope that makes that statement a little bit more clearer.
SO WHAT? What about the 5 Levels of Leadership?
Jim Collins talk about from being good to great. He states that although a leader may fit into his first four levels of leadership they are only qualify to be good. You must be in the 5th level to be consider great. It is then you can change the context you are surrounded in. It is then you can best help teachers and students learn.
Personally, this takes away accountability on each teacher and student. They should take action for their own learning. At my school as mention before, we are in a freeze, no money for conferences. I debated with our school board that this is bad because our teachers do not do anything else for their own professional development. Our yearly conference was it for most of the teachers. I told him luckily, I am responsible for my own learning, although I want to go to the conferences for many different reasons. But, I am my own barrier if I do not learn. Writing this blog, is one way I am taking my learning into my own hands. Taking Master classes is another, reading blogs another, following educators on Twitter is just another way.
We do need to change how we look at teachers and students learn and how can we reach them in more efficient and effective ways. What are you doing to reach your students and teachers?
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