A New Decade

Posted on January 17, 2012 by sutterlearn

In about 24 hours I will have been a father for ten years.  I am occasionally reminded of romantic times when I didn’t just teach children about writing poetry, but I followed my own inspirations to create; this was the practicing before the preaching.  In honor of my first-born, and a return to practice, I’d like to share one of those creations as it captured a magical time before she knew it all and I questioned as much.  Life was new to us both, may it always be so.  Happy birthday Nenna!

First Field Trip

Off to get pumpkins, cider and doughnuts.  A cultural introduction we share.

Rainy, dreary, muddy, gray.  Classic Michigan Autumn.

Strands of blonde and blue beacons light my way to childhood for a few hours.

A fearless rush into the field to pick the perfect gourd, then one for me.

“Are you having fun,” I ask? YES! glows, beams, penetrates my heart.
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Time, won’t you stop?

A few dainty bites, a sip, almost obligatory to the occasion, then it’s off to play.

Animals in the petting farm weave swarming children.

Pensively watching life orbit about her pink raincoat, I know my child.

Even now there is some deep, strong, wise solitude almost three years old.

Parking lot hands the whole time.  Her choice.  My delight.

Photographs nor words rival the heart as captor.

Posted in Parenting | Leave a comment

Community Conversation – You’re Invited!

Posted on December 29, 2011 by sutterlearn

Over the past five years I have become increasingly aware of the importance of an educated and engaged citizenry regarding effective education systems for our future generations and the children in front of us today.  At the height of my awareness, I came across a non-partisan organization that facilitates community conversations to explore issues, build deeper understanding, and gather new solutions that will then be presented to lawmakers.  This opportunity felt like a natural extension of the conversations I have with individuals on this blog and in isolated pockets, but this will be a group forum and I want you to come!

On Tuesday, February 7, 2012 from 7 until 8:30 p.m. I will host a Community Conversation on Education, facilitated by The Center for Michigan.  Issues we will cover include the following, plus any new concepts brought by you:

1.      Teacher and School Leader Quality

  • Improving Teacher Preparation
  • Providing Stronger Support for Teachers and School Leaders
  • Holding Teachers and School Leaders More Accountable For Student Success

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2.      Ideas for Improved Learning

  • Expand Preschool and Early Childhood Programs
  • Change the School Calendar
  • Reduce Class Sizes
  • Increase School Choice
  • Anytime, Anyplace Learning Through Online Technology

3.      Family and Community Involvement

4.      The Public’s Investment

If you would like to participate in this live event in Holt on February 7th, 2012, please email me (walt@sutterlearn.com) or comment to this blog post and I will expedite an RSVP Evite to you directly with details.

Posted in Leadership, Politics, School Reform, Teachers | 7 Comments

Funding Backpacks

Posted on December 22, 2011 by sutterlearn

Paul T. Hill, of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, often has forward-thinking reform ideas that I would like to see implemented to scale.  Recently, in a paper called “School Finance in the Digital-Learning Era”, he submits an idea to alter our school funding model to assigning per-pupil dollars to actually be per pupil.  Hill suggests creating a student “backpack” or personal account of the funds allotted to them that parents could direct to the educational services they select as best-designed for their children.  Essentially, this is to enhance the marketplace for technological education providers that might better meet learning needs of 21st century learners.  A family could mix and match funds in their account to provide public education in various forms.  An effect from this idea would be increased competition in that education organizations would improve their performance to attract those “backpack” dollars.

I’m all for improved educational performance and revising our funding model however I have two main problems with Hill’s concept.  States are already managing the distribution of funds to hundreds of districts. Ensuring adequate and equitable funding in this model is taxing on resources as is, but considering what it would take to manage thousands of individual student accounts with a wide variety of providers seems like an exponential burden on state finance systems.

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We need funding reform.  We need to leverage technology more.  We need thinkers like Paul Hill bringing innovation.  We must consider the effects on all children and people we have agreed to serve.  All of these must be accomplished together.

Posted in Parenting, Politics, School Reform, Students | 1 Comment

High Quality Tutoring

Posted on December 22, 2011 by sutterlearn

Did you know that the ESEA legislation (or No Child Left Behind) has provisions for supplementary educational services (SES)?  In short, if a school is not achieving, the government allocates money for additional tutoring support.   Vendors providing this support must be approved and managed by the state, with full reporting of how the money flows.  Sounds like a good program, right?  As I’ve followed the snail-like re-authorization of the ESEA it turns out that many of the states applying to waive provisions of the ESEA are actually waiving this one!  Perhaps they’re the smarter, more confident, and more patriotic states.

As we’ve heard for nearly a decade, in the ESEA For humans, it is much more purchase levitra in canada than just becoming knowledgeable and efficient in requisite skills on instruction and administration. Therefore, it can be stated that these centres of physiotherapist Glasgow play an imperative role in preventing and controlling varied types cialis prescription canada of disorders. Penegra works like the real visit that drugstore sildenafil purchase and is obtainable through any authorised medical store. Common Concerns There are viagra canada mastercard some things that you should not receive and / or maintain an erectile. the federal government mandates that states must verify “high-quality” teachers based on specific certifications in subject area and developmental age of the students being taught.  SES vendors don’t have this same requirement.  Basically, if a body of students underachieves with trained, “high-quality” teachers, they become eligible for tutoring from individuals with unspecified training or certification requirement that the state must use resources to manage and report upon.  It seems a better use of state resources would be to focus on high-quality, first-line education.  If your mechanic can’t get your car working, do you randomly take it to the next shopkeeper on the block, whatever his or her specialty may be?

Posted in Politics, Teachers | Leave a comment

Transformational Leadership

Posted on December 12, 2011 by sutterlearn

I informally rejected and have laughed with people when I talk about the “transformational” aspect of my job, until today.  An educator who has been in this business since I was a child stopped me to share that some of the work our team has done over the past few months has facilitated conversations that “this district hasn’t ever had, but has needed for a long time!”

I hesitate to take much pride personally, but when I came across a podcast from Richard Elmore (Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education) tonight, I realized that transformation indeed can come in many forms and is coming from our work.  This concept has led Elmore to create a new Ph.D. program in Transformational Leadership which entails, not 3-5 years of research-laden toil, but combines cohort study and a residency, coursework from economic, business, and humanities colleges matched with educational theoretical work to bring new thinking to public school issues.  It sounds like he’s teaching transformation through a transformed approach to doctoral study.  If the commute to Harvard wasn’t such a pain (and my wife hadn’t insisted I take a break from college), I’d enlist today!
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At its simplest, transformation is incorporating new ways of doing things, maybe having conversations that we haven’t had, but needed.  It’s not the new document or system created, so much as the new thinking that enables new ways of work.  The real magic and prize comes from, as Elmore says, “investing in people”.  When people are guided to create new thought through adversity or necessity, transformation occurs.  When we care enough about our long term success to invest in our people, I think we’ll find that transformation can come from within.

Posted in Coaching, Leadership, School Reform | 1 Comment

Specific Feedback

Posted on December 7, 2011 by sutterlearn

Few things are as meaningless, yet hurtful, as general criticism.  When I work with a child, professionalism guides me to be specific in my first instruction and even more specific in my expectations when I provide feedback on the next go round.  That’s what teachers do.

This isn’t so true when people critique public education.  Frequently comments are about how teachers, schools, or districts fail kids.  That’s about how general these sound bytes come out.  Don’t get me wrong, they’re great for sensational news, just not all too intellectually enticing…bland actually.
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Can we agree that if we’re in conversation with someone who wants to badmouth our profession, we insist they bring it with sufficient intellect and specific feedback?  Let’s insist on having people name names and cite facts when they discuss how poorly teachers perform, how mismanaged school finances are, or how antiquated our system is.  Demand that people be specific in this feedback.  If they don’t find it harder to critique once they’re expected to assign facts to their complaint, they may just think deeply enough to have a decent conversation where we both learn something.

Posted in Politics, Teachers | 3 Comments

What are you transforming?

Posted on November 28, 2011 by sutterlearn

Transformation is such a lofty word that implies a huge overhaul of something. With the odd name of the team I’m on right now, “Transformational/Instructional Coaches”, we’ve received plenty of jabs and jokes.  I’m still hoping someone does give us shirts with Transformer toys on them, as threatened…I’m not too proud to wear it!

I continue to make sense of the role as it evolves, and it honestly has evolved.  I expected more emphasis on the Instructional Coaching role, where we would be learning in classrooms with teachers, improving the quality of instruction together and supporting collaboration.  I’ve come to realize where we are as a district is in a much more transformational phase.  To be sure, there is instructional coaching going on, just not as much as I expected to have time pursuing.   Transformation is happening, but as much as we’re all experiencing change of how we work, we’re also codifying, creating consistency, looking horizontally and vertically at our district as a system delivering educational support.  A lot of that is what I’ve coined “transformalizing” great existing practices into collaborative mores. Through these activities, we identify weaker areas in practice, curriculum, and process.  Tending to these takes time and energy in transformational coach mode, which is necessary before instructional coaching can begin in earnest.  The ultimate goal is for a transformation phase to establish a foundation strong and fertile enough to support an instructional improvement focus.  We’re not that far from it.
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Initially, I didn’t like the name “coach” in itself.  If you followed some of my October posts regarding “What is a Coach?”, you’ll see that I’ve come to terms with the name.  A metaphor that really helped me understand and be okay with the evolution of this role is that of a stagecoach, the original root for coach.  That kind of coach is simply a vehicle for getting people from one place to another, together.  So if we’re working toward improving systems in an isolated conference room, or helping to improve instruction in an overcrowded classroom, transformation is happening, instructional improvement is happening, coaching is happening and people are moving, together, down the road of understanding from where we were.

Posted in Coaching, Leadership, School Reform | 2 Comments

What Do You Read?

Posted on November 13, 2011 by sutterlearn

From time to time people ask me what I read to keep up with things from the classroom to the world.  Wide reading is a requirement at Sutterlearn.com and here are some of the sources I read regularly:

  • Education Week (edweek.org) is “American Education’s Newspaper of Record”, self-proclaimed.  It’s a great weekly variety from policy to classroom management with lots of journal summaries and editorials from leading educators.
  • Educational Leadership and SmartBriefs are the monthly magazine and daily email update, respectively, of www.ascd.org.
  • Kappan is the monthly magazine of Phi Delta Kappa International (www.pdkintl.org).  This is another great professional magazine with easy to read, but meaty articles on practice and trends in education.

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I also follow a few blogs:

  • Always Learning – A personal blog by an international school technology teacher in Japan.  Kim Cofino rocks!
  • Zhao Learning – Yong Zhao, formerly of MSU, is Associate Dean of Global Education at the University of Oregon.  He’s an amazing thinker…wish I had him at State!
  • The Supe’s On – Mark Stock is Superintendent of Laramie School District One in Wyoming.  He is personally responsible for me blogging and provides great, practical thinking about the complexities in education.

That’s what I read, how about you?

Posted in Coaching, Leadership, Politics, School Reform, Teachers, Technology | Leave a comment

Elements of the Vision

Posted on November 13, 2011 by sutterlearn

I have a vision of how schooling can become learning for most kids.  Maybe one day I can articulate the details into a plan.  Maybe one day someone will care with me to try and make it happen and reframe our imagination about the purpose of school.  Here are some elements of what I’d like to see schools become in our society:

Revisited Timeframes – The workaday world runs 8am-5pm, so schools are a good childcare system for this.  If schooling were learning, we wouldn’t be bound by the 8:30 to 3:30 routine.  Why don’t we go until 5 already?  Most teachers don’t work just those hour anyway, so let’s erase the divisive summer breaks, extend the days as needed, and create schedules that allow for more participation by the community.  Science has shown that high schoolers function better in evening and night hours, so let them sleep in and learn later.  Do all students need to be in school at the same time?  Can we work in shifts to serve better?

Fluid Rosters – A teacher student ratio of 1:30 may be economical, but what if we considered our charges to include all of the kids in our building.  Many of us do already.  Let’s melt the class lists into one school list that allows us to flow children by skill set, not merely age or grade level.
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Blended-Experiential Learning – To support the first two concepts, let’s reduce class sizes temporarily throughout a school day (or look into shift work concepts).  Kids could spend part of their learning time guided online where ratios can be larger, or on site in experiential learning environments like nature, athletics, fine-arts, or project-based groups.  Thoughtfully planned thematic teaching could relate these team-based experiences back to individualized instruction in smaller classrooms.

Portfolio Assessment – Grading practices get so much press.  What’s the report card scale…now?  How subjective is it?  Did we confuse rigor with rigidity?  Let’s make solid rubrics together, in age-appropriate language, and teach kids early to build their own portfolios of work showing their progress and mastery of standard skills.  This can be done with counting or naming letters all the way through statistics formulae or literary dissection.

Dream with me.  What are your wild ideas for creating preK-12 learning?

Posted in School Reform, Teachers | 1 Comment

More Technology…Thinking

Posted on November 10, 2011 by sutterlearn

Have you ever talked with an IT person?  In my previous career I loved hanging out on “the 5th floor” where the IT people listened to my clients’ and my dreams, then like magic made them come true: a website, a database, an online form, an interactive video.  Okay, it’s not magic, just a lot of 1’s and 0’s, but the way technology people think is not merely a linear algorithm of which tricks to pull from a hat, but creating a new way forward.

Around schools there’s a lot of clamor for more technology, but I think what we could use is more technology thinking.  Teachers are great at using metaphors to help people learn.  It’s brain-based and pure constructivist.  Tech people don’t rely on metaphors though because that implies using what we know to overcome a challenge; they work more on the premise of, “imagine if…” where we allow the challenge to be defined, while the solutions remain unlimited.  If we want to see true transformation, real reform, we need everyone with a vested interest in children to do some technology thinking of new ways to do new things.
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“Humanity lies in man’s capacity to question the known and imagine the unknown.”

-Margaret Mead

Posted in School Reform, Technology | 3 Comments