#Vanmeter- Leading the Educational Transformation

Make LEARNING the Constant

2011-11-08T14:54:00.000-06:00

There has been a lot of discussion lately about extending the school day or school year. The Des Moines Register seems to be pushing for more seat time a couple of times a week. Is adding more minutes to the day or more days to the year going to have the impact on student learning that we need? I am not so sure.

It is true, that students in other countries who are performing better on standardized tests have more seat time than students in the United States. It's true that our school calendar is based on on agrarian society that no longer exists. It's true that seat time is how Carnegie Units are measured. Using this rationale, one could definitely argue that going to school for more hours will increase the likelihood of students learning more. I mean look at the impact of spending hours upon hours of free throw shooting over the years had on Shaquille O'Neal's free throw shooting percentage:) If spending more time working on skills is the answer, as the Register proclaims, increasing the hours of instruction students receive will definitely increase our student achievement scores, or will it?

The problem I see with the idea of only increasing the amount of time students go to school, or with only increasing the number of days students are required to attend school, is that there is little discussion on improving what is actually taking place in the classroom or during the school day. We have tons of data suggesting that Iowa schools are not doing as well as they once did on standardized tests. How can increasing the time in schools not performing up to par increase learning? It won't, but it might help schools better prepare students for a world that no longer exists and who can do really well on NAEP. That sounds exciting to me!

We need a system designed to allow students to learn what is expected in whatever amount of time that might take. For some students it could be an 8 hour day, for some students it might be going to school 200 days during the year, and yet for other students, it might mean going fewer hours and fewer days. Yes, I said some students could or should go to school for less time. We have students in schools throughout Iowa and the U.S. who are not challenged and who would gladly jump through any hoops we place in front of them, if it meant they didn't have to continue to go to school. We need a system designed in which learning is the constant, and time is the variable. We need a system that isn't based on doing well on NAEP and PISA, but in which students are able to actually develop a love for learning. Being able to adapt and learn more and newer skills is the world our students live in and will continue to live in.

This idea is based on the notion that what students are asked to know and be able to do will remain the same as they are now, and I haven't seen any increased expectations in this regard. Making the Common Core more clear and definitive isn't going to help students develop a love of learning, nor is it going to raise the level of expectations for students in Iowa. It will however, help adults measure how well students can fill out bubble sheets.

Is this the best we can do for kids in Iowa?

Is This the Change We Have Been Waiting For?

2011-09-07T16:29:00.001-05:00

If you read my blog, you probably already know that I feel schools need to change. I have written a number of posts about this very topic, so when I finally heard the leaders of our state sharing the same sentiments, I was excited about the possibilities. Would we once again be considered a leader in public education? Would we design a system that meets the needs of its students instead of the other way around? Would we provide students access to the best technology available to help foster their learning? Would we come up with a way to ensure that only the best teachers were working with the students of Iowa? Would we develop a curriculum that is challenging and encourages students to question, inquire, and think? The questions kept coming to my head, but there was no real guidance being provided. Then at our annual SAI conference, Jason Glass and Terry Brandstad outlined three factors they felt needed to be in place to transform Iowa schools:

1) Establishing clear expectations and measures for all Iowa students.

2) Developing great teachers and principals.

3) Promoting innovation to improve learning of students.

After hearing these goals, I thought I could get on board, but there were still no details given. I really didn't know what this meant. I know that we need to be able to clearly identify what students need to know and are able to do, and that we need a way to effectively measure student learning. I also know that the Iowa Core and Common Core and the Iowa Assessments are not the answer. I know we need the best teachers and principals working with the students of Iowa. I also know that as long as we have our current system in place it would be difficult to provide the best to all students. Finally, I know that we needed some fresh ideas to improve our schools, but I questioned how this would be paid for and how these ideas would be scaled up.

After leaving the SAI conference in early August, I had more questions than answers. During the Iowa State Fair, Van Meter was fortunate enough to have senior, Dani Hubbard participate in the Governor's Education Summit Student Roundtable. I was able to listen to the questions being asked to the panel of students. Questions about expectations of students, quality of instruction, and high school exit exams. It was clear that the student panel thought more could be asked of them as students. They also felt that the relationships with teachers, the teachers passion for their subject and for teaching, and their ability to meet the needs of all learners were critical to the students' success. They also were not too excited about the idea of an exit exam. The questions asked that day be Linda Fandel started to paint a picture of what the plan might look like. I even emailed my staff this:

Teachers,

Change is hard. More change for all of us is around the corner. Director Glass will be announcing the plan for Iowa late Sept. or early Oct. If you are paying attention at all, you have noticed there is a chance that:

All Juniors will be required to take the ACT
Teachers will be paid differently (probably more)
Students may have to take an exit exam to graduate
The school day/year will be extended
And there are many more ideas floating around. The point is, schools are going to be forced to look at doing things differently. With the changes we have made the last couple of years, I feel we are well positioned, but I am sure sometimes we find ourselves reminiscing about the "good ol' days." I am sure there have been a few things we have done as a District in which you have thought "Why are we doing this.? School was okay for me. It'll be okay for these kids. Why change?" My question to you is when was the "good ol' days?"

I shared with you the website www.iowafuture.org prior to the start of the year. On that site, I recently read about Jamie Vollmer. He is an advocate for change in schools, but understands the dilema and the history of how what we are asked to do in schools today is significantly different than what they were designed for. He has a lot of great information that you should take the time to read. I have attached three documents, but there is more on these two sites:

http://www.iowafuture.org/2011/08/19/vollmer-reform-a-systems-problem/
http://www.jamievollmer.com/

The system is flawed. There never was a "good ol' days," so get used to doing things in new ways. The current system we have forces us to do more than what it was designed for. We do so many great things. Teachers do a better job today with more challenges than ever before. Don't let anyone tell you differently. However, we have to get better, so what are you doing today to improve?

Keep up the good fight.

Go Dawgs!

We have an excellent staff of wonderful people teaching at Van Meter. We do so many great things. This email was really me reminding our teachers that we can do better. Then on Tuesday, Sept. 7, John Carver, Van Meter Superintendent, asked me to go to a press conference. Linda Fandel and Jason Glass were going to share some of their ideas on what needs to change in Iowa. I thought this would be a great way for me to have a head start on what was down the pike for schools in Iowa. I wanted to hear it straight from the horses mouth instead of the filter of local media. I am including my notes (yes, I know they are difficult to follow, I was using my phone), but as I have reflected about what I heard, I don't know if I have a clearer picture or if the water has been muddied even more.

Though I am not against all students taking the ACT or having exit exams in theory, I am against having more hoops for students to jump through. From what I have seen so far, higher expectations sounds like more tests. It also seemed as if Jason Glass is much more in favor of having students take the ACT than students taking exit exams to graduate. It appeared to me that Jason and Linda Fandel were not on the same page with this topic. It will be interesting to see how it plays out on October 3.

There was little discussion about how to help teachers improve their instruction, but there was a lot of discussion about how the old step and lane system needs to be replaced. I agree whole-heartedly with this. Though I don't know the ins and outs of the compensation system Dr. Glass described, it was apparent that there will be a push for a system that pays teacher for their effectiveness instead of how long they have been teaching. This is a step in the right direction, but will not improve the overall quality of instruction students are receiving. I am anxious to hear what is proposed to help provide only the highest quality of instruction to all of our students.

The aspect of the plan I am most intrigued about is the funding for innovation. We need to reward schools districts that are willing to take a chance to improve learning opportunities for students. Doing things the way we have always done them is not effective. How will this work exactly? I know we don't need a repeat of the RTTT, but I know we need to support schools that are being successful. I am anxious to learn more about this part of the plan.

I know we need a flexible system that is focused on student learning. Time should not be a part of the equation. Why should all students be expected to be at the same place at the same age, while in the classroom for the same amount of time for the same number of days? How does this ensure students are learning what is expected? I don't think extending the amount of time in classes will improve learning for all. It will help for some, but instead of focusing on the amount of time a student is in school, I hope to see a component focused on what the student knows and is able to do. I know there has been some discussion of competency based grading. I will be anxious to see what happens with this.

If we can design a system that clearly identifies what students need to know and do, students should be able to progress through their learning at their own rate. We have the technology, the human capital, and the capacity to design this type of system. Do we have the courage? I look forward to October 3 when the official plan for making Iowa the world's leading educational system is shared. Will our leaders have the courage to truly create something different?

We are hosting a conference focused on teaching and learning with technology on September 21. We have a great menu of sessions for participants to choose to attend. However, we are most fortunate to have Jason Glass speaking to the entire group. I look forward to his message and anticipate more information being shared about the future of education in Iowa. If you are interested in attending, be sure to register soon.

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY!

2011-04-22T15:07:00.004-05:00

On Wednesday, the entire secondary staff at Van Meter attended the 2nd Annual Iowa 1:1 Institute. It was a great opportunity for our teachers to learn, collaborate, and share about their experiences teaching and learning in a 1:1 environment. Over 1,200 educators participated in the conference this year. Many are there to learn what it takes to implement a 1:1 technology initiative. Many are there to ask questions about different web 2.0 tools, software, and other technologies that will help make them a more effective teacher. Still others are there to find out what all of the fuss is about when it comes to kids having access to technology. I have news for you, IT IS NOT ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY! Though the technology can help teachers more effectively:

Teach for Understanding
Provide Rigorous and Relevant Curriculum
Assess FOR Learning
Differentiate Instruction
Center the Classroom Around Students Needs

Providing students a laptop will not magically improve the quality of instruction provided to students.

Our focus as move forward as a state needs to be on ensuring all teachers are providing meaningful learning opportunities for students. The focus should be on LEARNING! Don't get me wrong, there were many great sessions at the 1:1 Institute. Many focused on quality instruction, but there were too many sessions talking about cool tools, and not nearly enough about one or any of the 5 Characteristics of Instruction outlined in the Iowa Core.

Next year, we need more sessions like Matt Townsley and Russ Goerend's Rethink Assessment. We need more sessions that help teachers see how effectively implementing quality instructional strategies like the five outlined in the Iowa Core is what will truly improve learning opportunities for our students. We need more sessions focusing on how to not only teach students the universal constructs, but how we as educators need to model these skills as well.

We need to take the next step in our journey to transform the educational system in Iowa into a system that meets that is flexible enough to adjust to each student's needs instead of trying to cram all students through the one-size fits all model we have now. We need to help people realize that it is not about providing every kid a laptop, but it is about providing students the best instruction from the most qualified educators. The sooner we are able to ensure that all students have access to the best teachers, the sooner we will see the system transform into what it needs to be.

Do Walkthroughs Make a Difference?

2010-10-06T09:11:00.004-05:00

During last night's #edchat, educators from around the world discussed how teachers are observed by their administrators. The chat led to a discussion on walkthroughs. I have been a principal for seven years now, and each year I have tried to design a walkthrough template that was meaningful to me as an administrator, but more importantly meaningful to the teacher. It has been a challenge. Finding the right balance between collecting data and providing feedback to teachers is difficult.

Last year at Van Meter, we used the whole year to design a template that allowed us to focus on the 5 Characteristics of Effective Instruction found in the Iowa Core. Teachers and administrators had input in its design. The template we came up with is used to collect data for us to determine how often each characteristic is observed. The program we use is called ewalk. Our walkthrough data is collected on this template by using our iPod touches. The data is then used to analyze what we are doing as a building. The results of our first couple of weeks of walkthroughs are here. The data is great for analyzing our building data, but does little for feedback to individual teachers.

I really wanted to come up with something that is more meaningful for teachers than the 5 Characteristics of Effective Instruction template. One of the challenges of walkthroughs is that they are so short in nature, so I wanted a template that would be easy to use, but also provide feedback to our teachers in a hybrid walkthrough model. Teachers that on our evaluation schedule are required to have a formal observation. We will still do the formal observations using the documents established by the district. But now I am also doing 10-15 minute walkthroughs using a template I designed similar to Chris Lehmann's from SLA in Philadelphia. This template allows for more meaningful feedback to teachers and enable us to have a more open dialogue about what effective instruction looks like.
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To further enhance the discussion, in early October, we did group walkthroughs that included an administrator, a secondary teacher, an elementary teacher, and students. Yes, I said students. We want to empower our teachers and our students to have a voice in what takes place in our classes. I would have to say the discussions that followed the walkthroughs were as powerful and meaningful to the teachers involved as almost any conversation I have ever had with them. Listening to their peers is meaningful, but listening to students talk about what works for them in classes is priceless. We plan on doing these types of walkthroughs monthly to help increase the learning of our students by improving the quality of instruction they receive.

It will be our first year of using these walkthrough templates. I believe the process we have in place will allow us to collect a lot of data which will help us improve as a building. However, more importantly, using the 10 minute walkthrough, we will be able to have meaningful conversations on how to improve the quality of instruction for each of our teachers. I look forward to the journey in helping our teachers be the best they can be, because I for one believe walkthroughs do make a difference.

What Are You Doing To Threaten The Status Quo?

2010-09-06T10:41:00.009-05:00

Recently Will Richardson shared an article about an upcoming movie called Waiting for “Superman.” This article from New York Magazine really made me think about what I am doing as a building principal to threaten the status quo in public education. I am fortunate that I work in a district in which the first time I met our Board President, he told me he would be disappointed if I didn't take any risks or didn't try to create something new and different. I know not everyone works in a district like Van Meter, but we all have the ability to threaten the status quo.

What are we doing at Van Meter to threaten the status quo?

Some would say this:

Providing laptops to students in grades 6-12
Embedding technology in most lessons
Providing meaningful PD through development of Professional Learning Communities
Time for teachers to collaborate by changing start and end time of school day
Focusing teacher learning on the 5 characteristics of effective instruction
Skyping with people all over the world including the creators of Sweet Search, YouTellYou, and Diigo

All of these suggestions are great things we have going on as a district, and it will improve the quality of teaching by our teachers. But how much is it really changing the status quo of our school? I would suggest really not that much.

Wait a minute. Did I just say that what we are doing at Van Meter is not a threat to the status quo? I did for these examples that I just gave. Technologies have always been a part of education, teachers have always had some level of PD and prep time, we all know some strategies are more effective than others, and students have had guest speakers at school for years. So really, none of these changes are really that different from what we have always done.

If we are going to change the status quo, we must truly challenge what schools were designed to do, educate the masses to be relatively the same at relatively the same time. How are we doing this at Van Meter? We are:

creating an environment in which everyone is a learner.
empowering our students and teachers to control their own learning.
ensuring opportunities for students to learn within their own passion.
providing the support needed for our students/staff to be life-long learners.
allowing students/staff to demonstrate their learning in multiple ways.
becoming creators of content instead of consumers of content.
taking risks to challenge students/staff to not always do it like its always been done.
trusting our students and staff to learn the necessary skills when they see fit.
being flexible with our time.
Allowing students to show mastery and moving on instead of waiting for the rest of the class.
developing a system that puts the learners needs in the middle and adjusts everything else about school around those needs

I am sure there are more things going on than what is listed, but our end goal is to create a school that empowers our students/staff to THINK, LEAD, & SERVE as global, digital citizens in this ever changing world. We must be willing to take the risks necessary to challenge the status quo, or we will never have the lasting impact necessary to change what "school" looks like.

What are you doing to threaten the status quo of your school?

It's Not Just the Relationship, But the Shared Experiences

2010-06-27T09:09:00.004-05:00

I just read @web20classroom's blog post about relationships formed from his PLN. It really is about the relationships. It doesn't matter if those relationships are with family and friends, or people we only know through twitter, the relationships we form are the foundation for our existence as a people. But there is more to it than that, it is about the shared experiences we have with people. These shared experiences are what make having relationships worthwhile.

The #vanmeter team is at #iste10 for the first time. So far it has been a great experience. We have reconnected with people from our past, and met for the first time Mark Moran,his assistant Shannon, and Kyle Pace. These are individuals from my PLN, so it is cool to finally meet followers with whom I had connected with virtually over the last year. Many members of the #vanmeter team had a fun night on our inaugural evening in Denver for ISTE. Ask @johnccarver about Hamburger Mary's. Last night was really the first time I had socialized with some member of our group, and the experiences we had from last evening helped our relationships grow.

We all have a personal learning network. Our family, our friends, our colleagues, our neighbors, are all members of our PLN. This concept has existed since the beginning of mankind. People have reached out to others for guidance and support long before twitter. However, even though we can post ideas on twitter and our followers can read them, it doesn't mean anything until we have an opportunity to share in an experience.

For example, yesterday, I observed a discussion at edublogger about the term Personal Learning Network. The question was, "Is PLN really an appropriate name for the relationships we build." It was interesting listening to the various points made. The conversation started before I got there, about a topic that I really didn't care to discuss, however because I was a witness to the discussion, I now have a better understanding of @jonbecker, @budtheteacher, and @mctownsley's thinking. But I didn't contribute to the conversation, so they don't know my thoughts. All of those individuals are people I follow on twitter, but there wasn't much sharing on my part, so our relationship had no opportunity to grow. It wasn't really a shared experience. I was more of a passive observer of the conversation.

If we want to build relationships with people virtually, locally, or within our own families and friends, we must be willing to share in the experiences by contributing to the discussion, by sharing our thoughts, by letting people know how we think and feel. This is what is most important about the PLN. If you want to develop a relationship with people, you must be willing to contribute. So as we continue to move forward, join the conversation, contribute to the discussion, and enjoy the shared experiences of your PLN.

Student Post- "It is Exciting to Come to School Again"

2010-06-01T09:48:00.002-05:00

Below is guest post from Van Meter junior Katie B. This post has not been edited or tweaked by me in anyway. Please read and post your comments below. Katie looks forward to your responses. Enjoy.

I still remember my very first day of school at Van Meter. Coincidentally, it was my very first day of kindergarten. I had barretts in my hair and a backpack decorated with cat stickers slung over my shoulders. Most memorably though were the butterflies that were flying around my stomach at what felt like 65 miles per hour, give or take. I skipped, not walked, into my very first classroom so excited to be there that not even the kid beside me who insisted on flinging his boogers could wipe the smile off my face.

That was almost 12 years ago and somewhere during that time the allure of school wore off. Maybe it was the removal of nap time or the awkward stage known only as junior high. Either way, attending school turned into a thing that we students HAD to do instead of something we wanted to do; much like taking out the trash or staying home on a Friday night.

But this year, my junior year, that all changed. No, Van Meter Community High School didn’t get a new lunch menu. It began the one to one program and entrusted its students with their own personal MAC laptops. More importantly though, our teachers and administrators gave us the opportunity to be apart of what has become the beginning of an educational movement! Similar to a tidal wave to the face or a nice cold Coca Cola on a hot, Iowa summer day, students at Van Meter felt the refreshing impact that the computers had on us. Suddenly, I was excited to come to school again. I wanted to see what our teachers could do with the new technology handed to them and I was eager to learn something. What a crazy thought! No longer was I dragging my feet and wondering when oh when would that bell finally ring to signal it was 3:15.

The opinions concerning the laptops vary, but one thing is for sure: these laptops have made us students more responsible then ever. If you miss a day of class, there is really no excuse for not having the homework assigned the day before turned in since all the teachers at Van Meter have a very simplistic email address already programmed into your contact book. In addition, the laptops are not indestructible and no one wants to bring their damage report (complete with charges) home to the parents.

The introduction of the one to one program has made students regard time management in a whole new way. With the Internet and the games it provides just a click away, students have been forced to make the decision between homework and mind-numbing video games. It is now our decision as to what we accomplish during the spare time that we have. With so many distractions, said decision can be tough for some.

In the same way that a casino dealer hands out poker chips to the player, the administrators and teachers at Van Meter have given us the tools needed to be successful. What we do with our chips is up to us. We can play them wisely or frivolously. We can think our actions threw or make decisions on gut feeling alone. Or we can be smart or just downright stupid. Our future is in our hands and the impact it is felt now more then ever! The teachers at Van Meter Community High School have always been and always will be here to guide, support, and teach us, but now more then ever our chances for success lie solely on our decisions and work ethic. We only have ourselves to applaud for our success or to blame for our failures. It’s a scary thought but also an exciting one, just like the introduction of the computers themselves.

Judy Jeffrey Interviewing Van Meter Students

2010-04-13T16:28:00.003-05:00

Today, Judy Jeffrey, Executive Director of the Iowa Department of Education visited with several randomly selected students from Van Meter. The Van Meter kids did a great job answering her questions and sharing their personal viewpoints on how school and learning has changed for them. One of our students Josh P. livestreamed the conversation. Here is the recorded version. It is about 20 minutes long. It is definitely worth viewing. Once our students got comfortable with Director Jeffrey, their passion for learning became very evident. Enjoy.

Iowa 1 to 1 Institute- A Great Success

2010-04-08T07:25:00.007-05:00

I want to thank CASTLE and Scott McLeod along with Nick Sauers, Jamie Fath, and John Nash for supporting and organizing a wonderful event yesterday in Des Moines. It was a great opportunity to connect, share, and learn. I think we would all be hard pressed to find a better conference for educators interested in a 1:1 learning environment. And the thing that still amazes me, is it was free for all participants. Great job CASTLE!

It was a great opportunity for me to connect with other Iowa educators. I particularly liked the reflection time at the end with other principals including, Dominic Giegerich, Jeff Kirby, and Brian Downing. However, the best part of the conference for me was the opportunity to meet in person, Patrck Larkin. We have talked a few times and tweeted a lot, but to actually get the opportunity to meet someone from my PLN that I hadn't yet met face to face was very enriching for me. I want to thank Patrick for taking the time to come to Iowa and learn with us. He was able to help me in my session about Twitter and PLNs. It was great because Eric Sheninger also Skyped in with us earlier in my session. I tried to show people in my session the power of Twitter and developing a PLN that allows you to connect with great educators through out the world. I think having Eric and Partrick participate in my presentation was an enriching opportunity for all of those which attended, but it was especially enriching for me because both of these guys have helped me grow as an administrator.

Unfortunately, we did not livestream or record our session so I am going to follow Russ Goerend's lead and try to record my own reflections about Iowa 1 to 1 Institute. I believe there is a great power in networking. We can lead the change we want to see in schools. We are gaining momentum. The Iowa 1:1 Institute was one more step in facilitating the transformation of our educational system.

Don't make too much fun of me:)

Passion for Learning- What Are We Waiting For?

2010-02-24T10:07:00.005-06:00

On February 23, 2010, I was able to participate in the evening #edchat discussion through Twitter. I have participated a few times, but this was one of the few occasions I stayed on for most of the hour. It was a great conversation about learning within your passion. There was much debate and discussion about the role of passion within the current school system. #edchat made me think and I like that.

I usually arrive at "work" around 6:00 a.m. CST, and on a day with no evening activities I leave around 5:30 p.m. CST. So if talking about school stuff until 7:00 p.m. on a Tuesday night is "work", I worked for about 13 hours on Tuesday. I tell you this only because I feel that if I really felt what I do everyday was really "work", I would probably get here around 8:00 a.m. and leave around 4:00 p.m. However, I am one of the lucky ones, I am one of the people that truly works within my passion. And if you don't have a job that is within your passion, then I feel sorry for you because your days have to drag on.

Passion can be described as an intense desire or enthusiasm for something. Why can't we design student learning around this intense desire or enthusiasm? Too many educators think it is not possible, the system won't allow it, or all kids need to learn the same thing, hence our factory system. I do think all students need to have similar basic skills, what I don't agree with is that all students have to learn these skills the same way or within the same topics. I believe all learning can take place within your passion. We don't have to have a curriculum for that, we have to have a system that allows for the flexibility needed for teachers to design learning opportunities for all learners within the system. Our current model is too rigid, outdated, etc., so why don't we change it?

Think about the experiences you have had in school in which you truly learned something you still use today. I would guess you could think of a way in which you could have learned this skill within your passion. For example, one of my passions today is golf. I love everything about golf. I love the individual accountability you have for counting your own strokes. I love practicing my skills to improve the angles and club speed needed for various shots. I love that you play outside. I love that you can compete against your self, other individuals, or with teams against other teams. Golf is a great game. Now if you were to ask me some questions about geometry, math, science, or many other topics, I can think of many ways in which you could intrigue or spark my learning by applying it to golf. But if you asked me to do the odd problems 1-51 on page 172 or something of that nature, I would get it done, but would I "learn" it? I can answer it for you. No. I would understand it well enough for my test, but I wouldn't have anything to tie it to because it wouldn't be meaningful to me.

Passion is the key component to true learning. We need to design learning experiences around students' passions. It is our duty as educators to develop life long learners. As adults, who wants to learn about things you could care less about or that are not applicable to your life? Nobody that I know of, so why do we make students learn about things outside of their passion or irrelevant to their world. Schools need to change.

If you have a passion for learning (I assume all teachers do) you will commit yourself to designing learning experiences around student passions, and if all educators do this, our system will change. It will become relevant to all students, and we will be able to develop global, digital citizens, who understand their passion and who can THINK, LEAD, & SERVE. What are we waiting for?

I Witnessed History Today

2010-01-29T18:04:00.014-06:00

On Thursday, January 28, 2010, members of the Van Meter School community participated in a testimonial to the Iowa House/Senate Education Appropriations Committee. It was an eye opening experience for many of the members of the committee as well as the other members of the audience that day. As Sandra Dop from the Iowa Department of Education said, "I witnessed history today." Powerful words from someone that had been exposed to what schools should be like for learners of the 21st century.

What she witnessed that day, was a diverse group of Van Meter students displaying how they learn best and describing what they think school can and should become. She saw and heard testimonials from seven students ranging in grades 5-12. These students were a microcosm of students from most Iowa schools with varying degrees of "ability", from various socio-economic backgrounds, and households. This group of students was not selected because they were the "best" students, they were selected because they had shown a passion for learning in a new modality, and they wanted to share it with the world. They are students that fit our mantra of creating global citizens, who can THINK, LEAD & SERVE.

What she witnessed was hundreds of people participating in a backchannel discussion via Twitter and the #vanmeter hashtag. It was a great display of how connected we are with other learners throughout the world. Over 600 tweets were made with the #vanmeter hashtag that day, and it opened the eyes of our policy makers to the possibilities technology can provide for students in the state of Iowa.

What she witnessed was our students live streaming the entire presentation via JustinTV. Be patient the audio and video get better:)
Watch live video from derondurflinger on Justin.tv
Watch live video from derondurflinger on Justin.tv
Watch live video from derondurflinger on Justin.tv The opportunity for the rest of the world to share in this event was very powerful and again supports our belief that our students now have the opportunity to learn with, and from learners everywhere.

It truly was a great chance for #vanmeter students to share how teaching and learning has changed for them. Hopefully, our visit to the Capitol will lead to policy changes needed to make our educational system more sensitive to the needs of students in the rest of the state as well.

However, the magic didn't stop at the Capitol. Upon arriving back at the school, Shannon Miller, our district librarian asked me to come to the library so we could see what was going on. What we saw was Ruggero Domenichine from New Zealand teaching our students how to share photos on his website youtellyou.com. Not only was this a cool learning opportunity for our students, this was also more verification for us that learning is not restricted to our own classrooms and buildings.

Our learning did not stop there. Later that afternoon, Shannon Miller, John Carver, and I were able to share our experience from the day with Tom Whitby and Steven Anderson. Great leaders whom have expanded my learning via Twitter and other means. It was nice to finally put voices with the tweets, and the enriching conversation put a wonderful cap on an eventful day.

Sandra Dop hopes that what she witnessed on 1/28/10 was the beginning of the beginning for educational transformation in the state of Iowa. I can tell you that the lead-learners of Van Meter Schools believe we have positioned ourselves to help lead the transformation needed in the state of Iowa to improve schools and increase meaningful learning for students everywhere. For all of those who helped make 1/28/10 a great day, your help is appreciated. For those who missed out, hopefully by reading through some of the tweets and watching some of our students' presentations, you can share in the experience we had the day educational transformation began in the state of Iowa.

2010-01-25T07:33:00.002-06:00

Be Part of the Education Transformation Proclamation!

With the “roll out” of our 1:1 laptop program last August, and bringing our Virtual Reality system “on line”, the rate of change for teaching and learning at Van Meter is accelerating exponentially. Our thinking has forever been changed. We are now connecting and networking in the classroom, with the other schools not only in Iowa, but nationally and globally as well. We have had over 130 visitors “come to see” and more are on the way. This is an exciting time!

#vanmeter goes to the State Capital!

Iowa State Senator Brian Schoenjahn, co-chair of the joint House/Senate Education Appropriation Committee, has invited Van Meter and Superintendent Allen Nelson from Clayton Ridge Community Schools (IA), to give testimony before the entire committee. The focus will be on “educational transformation.” Iowa Legislators truly care about Iowa youth however many are “digital immigrants.” Our mission is to show them the connectedness of learning and give them a glimpse of what could be (or perhaps of what is).

Be a part of the presentation!

We are scheduled for THURSDAY, January 28 with testimony beginning at 10:00 am Iowa time. (That is 11:00 am New Jersey time and 8:00 am California time) Our plan is for the presentation be interactive, with Twitter “shout outs” being displayed, video streaming and a “back channel.” We want to include as many people as possible and are hoping for 500+ tweets! The ThinkLeadServe Wiki has been created and we invite you to post ideas and artifacts. The intent is that the ThinkLeadServe Wiki will give committee members and their staff a starting point for carrying the conversation forward into action!

What is our core message: We need to transform education!

We have before us an opportunity to rethink and redesign teaching and learning. Leadership and dialogue need be established so as to build consensus and direction for education in Iowa. Our current educational structure has served us well for 100 years, but the World has changed. It is crucial to our State, and to our Nation, that a new educational system emerge so as to empower our youth to THINK, LEAD, and SERVE.

Please join us on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 10:00 am (CST).

We would like our network of friends to contribute to the conversation. There are two ways you can participate:

just use the hashtag #vanmeter to contribute and follow the conversation or
be a part of the conversation on the coveritlive link on this page

We appreciate your help and we look forward to hundreds of people contributing to our efforts to transform the educational system. See you Thursday!

If you have any questions contact @johnccarver, @shannonmmiller, @derondurflinger via twitter or email us at john.carver@vmbulldogs.com, shannon.miller@vmbulldogs.com, or deron.durflinger@vmbulldogs.com

We Have a Teacher for That

2010-01-20T15:29:00.009-06:00

I have received a lot of feedback through posted comments, email, and face to face conversations from my most recent blog post about paying the best teachers $100,000. Though I think all teachers feel they could be paid more, many teachers are concerned about what "best" actually means. This has led to some interesting conversations and it has helped me reflect on what I think it means as well.

Defining "best" can be a challenge, but I think I may have a plausible solution. "Best" is different for every student. What works for one student may not work for the next. However, I believe we can create a system that enables us to match the most appropriate teacher for each respective student's learning style. Everyone has a certain modality in which they learn best. It is possible their preferred mode of learning varies from subject to subject. For example, I love listening to a great history lecture, but a math teacher lecturing doesn't do much for me. However, with technology, we are able to quickly and easily match our students with the teacher that most meets their individual needs for every subject.

In the system I hope to help create, students will have a menu of teacher options to choose from for each subject. Each teacher will provide a bio that includes how they teach, what types of assignments/projects they assign, and data that supports learning of students that learned "best" in the modality described by each teacher. So if a student learns more by listening to a lecture and taking notes for an essay test for social studies, a teacher can be found that meets those needs. But if the same student needs to use manipulatives and do projects in math, a teacher can be found to meet those needs as well. Whatever the learner needs, the learner can get if we provide multiple options from around the state, country, or world.

To help kids find the "best" teachers, I envision a system in which a student goes to a webpage and enters information for how he or she wants to be taught, and more importantly for which he/she best LEARNS. In this model, the system adapts to the student by providing the most ideal teacher possible for every learner based on teaching and learning preferences.

Maybe the student is a visual learner, learns best by doing hands on projects, likes to collaborate in small groups, and doesn't feel the need to have to meet with the teacher everyday as determined by past learning experiences, surveys and other tools used to help determine the best way for an individual student to learn. Data could be collected from multiple learning experiences each student has had and essentially help develop and individualized plan for every student. Periodic exposure to other teaching methods as the child progresses through school would help determine if the plan needs to be altered. This information plus more would be entered into a database and all available teachers from across the region, state, nation , or even world that meets these criteria would be recognized and displayed to the student. The student and parent would then have a menu of choices of teachers for which to choose from to identify the teacher that best meets the learning needs of the student.

To help determine the "best" teacher for each student, this database would also provide resources for the parent and student such as the following:

References from Students/Parents/Teachers/Principals
Achievement data from standardized assessments of students from the teachers' previous classes
Learning data of students from the teachers' previous classes
Videos of the teacher actually teaching and helping kids learn

This process would help ensure the likelihood of learning for the student because the selected teacher would teach in a modality that was ideal for this particular student.

In this system, teachers would be paid $1,000 of per pupil funding for every student effectively taught. Thus, if a teacher taught 100 students well they would earn $100,000. This would increase teacher pay, but more importantly more students would learn at a higher rate. It is the best of both worlds.

I know this isn't the perfect system. I understand there are other factors that impact student learning. But I also believe the most important factor in determining student success is the quality of instruction the student receives. Why not expose every student to the very best teachers throughout the nation instead of just exposing them to the teachers in the building the student happens to attend.

Skeptics will say that we can never find the ideal partnerships using this system because there will be students that don't care no matter who the teacher is, or there are parents out there that won't provide the support needed, or students won't take my class because I make them work to hard, or whatever other reason we have all heard before. Don't we already deal with issues now that make educating some of the kids we see difficult. No matter what system we have, there are going to be challenges. Some teachers give in to these hurdles, but great teachers are able to overcome those challenges.

The database helps the student say, "I learn best by____________, ____________, __________"(fill in the blanks), and I say, "We have a teacher for that."

Pay Teachers $100,000 or More

2010-01-07T21:42:00.001-06:00

Occupying my time with our 4th snow day of the year has allowed me to make multipletweets, read several articles, play board games and ping pong with my family, lose in video games to my boys, catch up on others blogs, and finally reflect on what our educational system can become. Two blogs today have helped to confirm my idea on how schools can change to meet the needs of our students.

After reading Paul Wood's post about snow days and Aaron Eyler's post about class sizes of 50, I am convinced more than ever we can create a structure that allows all student exposure to the best teachers and greatly increase teacher pay, all while decreasing the amount of money and resources spent on education.

Educators know and research has proven, the greatest factor in increasing student learning is the quality of instruction the student receives. Unfortunately, all students do not receive quality instruction every day. If we could guarantee every student was exposed to high-quality instruction from the best teachers, we could greatly increase student learning.

We also know that teachers are not paid at the level they should be, especially our best teachers. The factory model we currently use supports mediocrity and encourages teachers to be paid for their experience or their level of degree, not for their ability to help kids learn.

Our current system is just not as efficient as it could be. We are investing millions of dollars in a model designed to prepare students for a world that no longer exists. The structure needs to be transformed and with effective leadership, we can create a learning network that is economically feasible and truly meets the needs of all learners.

I have been thinking about this for a while. My former boss Arnie Snook and I used to talk a lot about what schools could be as more and more technology became available. We discussed a system that could help assure all students received instruction from only the best teachers. In this system we would be able to pay these teachers a salary of $100,000 or more for their ability to help kids learn.

I believe it is possible and I believe it could help solve two of the biggest issues with our current system:

Teacher Pay and
Teacher Quality

Our state has long been considered to have one of the best if not the best educational system in the nation. In Iowa, as I am sure it is in most states, schools receive a dollar amount per pupil living in the district. The cost is funded by state aid and local property taxes. This money is used by schools for many things, but 80% is used for salaries. Even though most of our funding goes to cover personnel costs, it is in my opinion that most teachers still are not paid well.

What if instead of all of that money going to the district, and then being divvied out to teachers, the money was given to the parent to be spent not on another district, but on individual teachers. This would be similar to a voucher, but instead of all of the money being paid to another district, it would go to individual teachers.

For example as a parent, lets say I get $5000 of the $5800 dollar/pupil cost to pay for my child's education. I could choose which teachers my child would have and I could pay them at a rate deserving of their skills. So if I wanted my child to have the best Math teacher, I could pay the teacher $1000 for his/her services. If the teacher had 100 students, he/she would get paid $100,000. There would have to be some sort of regulations placed on what could and couldn't be charged, but hopefully you get the idea.

I am sure all teachers would like to make $100,000, but after reading Aaron Eyler's postabout class sizes of 50 and potentially handling 250 students in a blended learning environment, teachers could potentially earn $250,000. I think that is probably a good pay raise for most educators.

Not only would teachers get paid a nice salary, those teachers that were not as effective would be eliminated. If people didn't want to hire you to work with their kids, you would have to find something else to do. The teacher unions would be dissolved and we would have a more capitalistic system in which the best teachers made the most money.Capitalism at its finest.

Good teachers are paid good money, and all students would be guaranteed the best teachers. Sounds like a good idea to me. If you wonder how this is possible, study blended learning environments, 1:1 schools, and online classes. Less money is spent on busses, books, and buildings and more money could be invested on student learning. Every student is given a laptop, a netbook, or a smartphone. Why not? These devices are a cheap way to open up the world to every student.

It is possible and I think it is needed. There are plenty of excellent teachers available to serve in this kind of system, why don't we give them a chance to increase their circle of influence from one classroom to the rest of the world.

I would love to have the opportunity to choose my children's teachers not only from educators in my district, but from others in the state, nation, or world for that matter. My children's education would be truly personalized to meet their learning needs and we could design a learning program that met each child's needs. That is exciting to me not only as an educator, but as a parent.

I look forward to your questions and comments. Hopefully this will spur some discussion about the role of state departments of education, administration, buildings, sports, and more. I have thought about most of it, but am anxious to hear everyone's thoughts. Under the leadership of John Carver, Van Meter Schools is committed to creating a system that empowers students to find their passion and learn in a system that enables them to THINK, LEAD & SERVE.

Are You Kidding Me?

2009-12-21T16:40:00.005-06:00

The state of Iowa recently divvied out approximately $60 million from a total settlement $179.95 million dollars to schools from the Iowa School Microsoft Settlement Program. The lawsuit was a result of Microsoft overcharging Iowa consumers and schools for certain products. According to a press release, 3 out of 4 schools will receive a portion of the money. Why aren't all students in Iowa going to see the benefits of the money you ask? Great question. The information below was taken from the Dec. 8 press release found at http://www.governor.iowa.gov/index.php/press_releases/single/223/

Q&A about the Iowa School Microsoft Settlement program:

WHICH SCHOOLS ARE ELIGIBLE?
An “eligible school” is a public elementary, middle or high school in Iowa reporting a qualifying free and reduced lunch eligible student count as certified by the Iowa Department of Education. For elementary and middle schools, the percentage of students reported in the free and reduced lunch count must be 23.8% or above. For high schools, the percentage of students reported in the free and reduced lunch count must be 18.9% or above.

HOW CAN THE FUNDS BE USED?
The funds must be used on computer hardware and software which assists a school in the implementation of the Iowa Core Curriculum. The funds must be used to supplement, not replace, technology purchases by a school. Vouchers can be redeemed for thousands of eligible products from numerous companies, not just from Microsoft.

HOW ARE THE FUNDS DISTRIBUTED?
School districts with eligible schools must complete a short application linking the school’s technology purchases and activities with their implementation of the Iowa Core Curriculum. Once approved, districts then submit invoices for hardware and software purchases to the court-approved settlement administrator. If validated, a check is sent. Schools can redeem purchases until they have “used up” their allocated amount. They have until August 16, 2013 to redeem.

HOW MUCH MONEY WILL BE DISTRIBUTED?
More than $60 million will be distributed to the Iowa Department of Education and eligible schools. Eligible schools will receive vouchers ranging in value from $1,000 to $450,000.

WHEN WILL THE FUNDS BE DISTRIBUTED?
Vouchers will be distributed in January 2010. Schools will have until August 16, 2013 to redeem their vouchers.

Additional information about the Iowa School Microsoft Settlement program, including lists of eligible schools, is available here.

Though I am all in favor of distributing the money to schools to help improve technology in the state of Iowa, it is concerning that not all students will have access to the technology as a result of these funds. Governor Culver said “These funds come at a critical time, not only in helping our schools improve access to the latest technology but to use that technology to implement the Iowa Core Curriculum,” said Governor Culver. “As we work to innovate and rethink our approach to education in Iowa, these funds will supplement our efforts to improve student learning.”

If the leaders of the state of Iowa want to see innovative and creative thoughts about changing education, why would the money be limited to certain schools? Why put more money into a system that obviously isn't meeting the needs of all students? For decades, we have done a great job of putting money into the existing structure and hoped for a different result. Are you kidding me? More money isn't the going to help, a better system is the answer. Albert Einstein once said that "Insanity: is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Giving schools money to buy more technology won't change the way schools do business. However, putting more money into our current model of teaching and learning is how we have always done things, so why change. We must like the results I guess.

Shouldn't the money be given to schools that are being innovative and creative? There are schools in Iowa that are willing to take risks to improve the quality of education our students receive. There are schools that are thinking differently and that have been innovative.

I am all for schools with greater challenges being given an equal or even better opportunity to receive funds. However, when the only criteria for getting the money is the number of students the building has that qualify for free and reduced lunches, we restrict schools, and more importantly deserving students from districts that don't meet that criteria from this money that could potentially help recreate the educational system. Not only is this flawed thinking, it is wrong.

The main criteria for the funding should have been schools that are already thinking differently. It should have included stipulations for doing something innovative. It should have strings attached that clearly stipulate that if you don't do something with the money that is innovative, creative, or better for learning, you have to pay the money back. I guess what I am saying, is the funding should have gone to schools where the leadership of the building/district get that we have a flawed system that requires an overhaul in how we do business. I am afraid that we may have created a funding source for schools to keep doing things the way they always have, but now they will have some neat technology to go along with it.

Leadership is the key to improving our educational system, not money. If we want to see different results, we must start doing things differently. I hope in the future, the powers that be consider rewarding those that have shown innovation and districts that are willing to make the changes necessary to help our kids succeed in today's world, not yesterday's.

We Need LEARNERS, not Teachers in the Front of our Classes

2009-12-13T19:34:00.006-06:00

On Friday, Dec. 11, 2009, I was very fortunate to be able to attend a discussion led by Will Richardson @willrich45 hosted by Scott McLeod and Iowa State University. It involved about 40 people mostly administrators, but a few business people, AEA folks, and one teacher. The discussion centered around the idea that the world has changed, and is rapidly changing more, while the educational system has stayed relatively the same. For those of you that follow my blog, or for those of you that know me personally, you know that this discussion was right up my alley.

Though we talked about many things including, educational policy, the Iowa Core Curriculum, leadership, technology and many other topics relevant to our current educational system, the thing that stuck out to me most was our discussion about schools needing to focus on learning. This seems like such a simple idea, but when you really think about it, too often decisions in education are not based on learning. Too often decisions are based on money, policy, or teachers. Not learning. Will said something like this:

We need learners, not teachers, in the front of our classes

Teachers are no longer the smartest people in the room; the smartest people in the room are the ones you invite in from outside
Teachers come in all shapes and sizes from all parts of the world
We need to create learning communities, not teaching communities

We have had this exact discussion at Van Meter. Not too long ago, the teacher was the primary source of information for our students, but today, if a student wants to know facts or find information out about a particular subject he/she can just do a google search and find more out about the subject than most teachers can provide. To perpetuate this situation in our district, we recently adopted a 1:1 computer program in grades 7-12. Students literally have the world at their fingertips. Teachers had better change in our district, or they will have no chance in connecting with our students. Not only will their subject become irrelevant to our students, so will the teacher.

What are we doing to make sure LEARNERS are at the front of our classes?

We are creating a culture of inquiry in which collaboration is the norm. The adults are learning with our students from other teachers and other experts in our building and throughout the world. We know students have access to whatever they want to know about a topic, so we are trying to facilitate their understanding by learning with them. We use our experiences to help students navigate their way through this world of instantaneous information.

We expect our teachers to adapt to this ever changing world by being risk-takers. It is easy as a teacher to get comfortable with what you have always done, but if you are truly a learner, you are creative and innovative. We want our teachers, no, we expect our teachers to think outside of the box. We support innovation by encouraging our teachers to do something new by modeling it ourselves. We are creating a learning community.

I think it is safe to say that our teachers have been asked to learn more this year than any year they have ever taught. With the 1:1 program, teachers have had to become lead learners, because they know they are no longer the smartest person in the room. It has stretched their thinking into what schools can be in the future.

We are by no means where we want to be as a district, but we are heading in the right direction. We have teachers partnering up with other districts in the state of Iowa and we have teachers partnering with other districts in the U.S. We also have students collaborating with adults as they direct their own learning.

Our spanish teacher, Stacey Wigant is working with the spanish teacher, Juliana Smith from Newell Fonda in a collaborative format. They are using a Ning to get our students to collaborate online. Stacey didn't even know what a Ning was until about 3 weeks ago. Her guide through this learning experience s another one of our teachers Shawn Hyer who developed a Ning for his reading classes all of two months ago. He has been teaching about 15 years and says this has been his most exciting year of teaching, not because of the technology, but because of the learning he has had to do to use it effectively. It has inspired him.

We also have our social studies teacher, Brent Jorth partnering up with New Milford High School teachers in New Milford, New Jersey. Yes, New Jersey. We met them through Twitter. I sent a DM to Eric Sheninger a few weeks ago about trying to get our kids to collaborate and the next thing I know we are going to have our sociology classes working together 2nd semester.

One of our students recently met one of her favorite authors on a day in which she was home sick from school. Watch the video on Shannon Miller's Library Voice blog. Our students have been empowered by lead learners like Shannon to think outside of Van Meter's walls. Our students are embracing the opportunities to learn anytime anywhere.

These "teachers" have been reinvigorated about the possibilities of what our school can become. They are excited because they are leading our staff and students as learners. It is inspiring to see so many teachers passionate about coming to our ever evolving learning community.

We do need learners at the front of our classes, and we need learners leading our districts at the local, state and national levels. We are fortunate to have a true lead learner in John Carver, leading our district. He has embraced the need for change, and has provided an atmosphere in our district to be the change that we want to see in schools.

It has been a blast for me to see such innovation taking place in our school in such a short amount of time. We have empowered our students and teachers to THINK, LEAD, & SERVE within their passions, and they are taking advantage of it. I hope to continue to learn along with them.

Why Doesn't the System Adapt to the Student Instead of the Student Adapting to the System

2009-12-04T17:07:00.005-06:00

Recently I read a great blog post from Doug Johnson. He writes in response to a post from Scott McLeod on his Dangerously Irrelevant Blog below:

As much fun as speculating what education might or ought to look like in 2050 (I'll only be 98 years old, after all), I'd suggest energies are better spent in realizing the potential of the technologies and opportunities we have available to us - TODAY. These would be my questions for Will ...

Why don't we now have an IEP for every child (and every teacher), with tech facilitating this today?
Why doesn't every child have a laptop or netbook with 24/7 access to tutorials, information, and productivity tools for all learners with genuinely differentiated approaches and resource for each student TODAY?
Why is not every teacher taking advantage of challenging/engaging game environments and MUVEs TODAY?
Why is every teacher not taking advantage of a nearly unlimited number of resources to allow the creation of relevant assignments based on personal interests for every child TODAY?
Why do teachers and students not have 24/7 access to information professionals (librarians) TODAY?
Why do there only seem to be a few teachers in every school that make creativity, problem-solving and global interactions a priority TODAY?

Why are these things not the norm, but the exception TODAY? It would take no extra funds, no revolution, no scientific breakthroughs, no visioning. Just work.(And I'll bet these things are not universal even in the districts of the administrative geniuses Scott describes.)

Doug talks about changes that need to happen in education TODAY. I couldn't agree more with the questions Doug is asking.

With the resources that we have available today through technology, all students and teachers could and should have a plan based on their needs that will help them improve and learn at the highest level.
Laptops for every student, in every school would truly empower students to learn 24/7 about their PASSIONS in a way that will allow them to THINK, LEAD & SERVE in this global, digital community we all live in.
Kids have grown up on video games and love to dream and live in this virtual world, and yet most teachers have no idea the amount of learning that could take place in their classes if they harnessed the power of gaming in their classrooms.
Kids have access to so many tools that would allow them to create and develop products to demonstrate their learning on a level, no textbook, notepad and pencil could ever do.
Students should not only have access to their school librarians, but to all of their teachers 24/7 so they can learn when and how they learn.

We need students that can create, students that are globally connected, and students that are problem-solvers because they will be the leaders of our world in the not to distant future. All students should have opportunities to develop these skills on a daily basis.

As Doug described in his post. All of the questions he asked about schools today could happen easily for free, but he forgot one important question. Why do we expect every kid to adjust to the system instead of the system adjusting to the kid?

We live in such a diverse, connected world, begging for people that are:

Adaptable
Creative
Innovative
Risk Takers
Collaborative
Problem-Solvers

But our current educational system wants all students to develop the same skills, at the same rate, taught in the same manner, to each individual. ALL educators know that this system is not conducive to true learning. We know all people are different. We know all kids develop differently. We know every student has different strengths & different weaknesses and different likes & different dislikes. We know that all students learn differently. We know that for a student to be passionate about learning and to become a life-long learner, we have to help students find what works best for them, which may or may not be what works best for everyone else, especially the adults.

The current educational system needs to change. We have known it for years because so many efforts to reform education have been attempted. The problem with reforming the model we currently have is it somehow morphs back into what it always was. The system will always become what it always was because the focus has always been on what is best for the adults, and not on what is best for the students.

For the system to change in a way in which meaningful learning is the norm instead of the exception, we will need an entirely NEW system. The factory model needs to be replaced with an educational system that is more similar to the world in which we live in. It needs to be:

Adaptable
Creative
Innovative
Willing to take Risks
Collaborative
Full of Problem-Solvers

The system needs to be what we expect from the kids. We are trying to create this type of system at Van Meter. We are excited about the direction we are going, but we are only one small school in Iowa. For these needed changes to take place throughout the U.S, we are going to need educational leaders who are willing to BE what they expect our students to become.

Changes in Public Education

2009-11-03T07:20:00.007-06:00

At Van Meter, we as a staff have had many discussions about what changes need to take place in public education to meet the demands of the tomorrow's world. These discussions and the subsequent changes that I believe need to take place in public education are why I wanted to be a part of such a great team. In these difficult economic times, many school leaders have gone to a bunker mentality and will try to hope there way through these tough economic circumstances. Not at Van Meter. We are using this situation as an opportunity to improve what we do.

To make needed changes to any system, or individual for that matter, often a significant emotional event needs to occur. The current economic situation of our state is that significant emotional event. Everyone has been affected by the economy. Schools are no different. We recently received a 10% across the board cut to state aid. This was over $260,o00 for Van Meter Schools. Many school districts in the state of Iowa are in even more challenging financial situations. This event will force schools to make a decision. They can either try to maintain as close as possible what they have always done, or they can use this situation to make changes to how they do business. Van Meter is taking the latter approach. We have a school board, administration, and teacher team committed to providing the best education possible for the students of Van Meter. That hasn't changed. What will change is what that system looks like.

The current educational system was founded on the premise that we needed to model our system like the factories we were preparing students for...early in the 20th century, over 100 years ago. Our society and our way of doing business in the U.S. has changed, but schools have not. It is often said that teaching is the one profession that a teacher from 100 years ago could walk into a school today and pick up where they left off. Imagine if doctors still performed surgeries like they did 100 years ago, ouch!

It is time for schools to meet the needs of students of today. To do this, we are going to have to:

Create
Collaborate
Communicate
Be Innovative
Think Critically
Problem Solve

We are going to have to use the skills we expect our students to use to be successful in the world they will live in to create a educational system that is different from its current structure.

The current economic conditions will force dozens of school districts to consolidate, share, or dissolve. It is expected that in 3 years we will see 30-50 fewer school districts in the state of Iowa. Really for the first time in state history, there is a true competition for students. Schools with decreasing enrollments will have a difficult time surviving. We need to design a system that allows us to maintain our identity as a small school, but that can meet the needs of students in the 21st century. We are going to have to get better at what we are currently doing to provide an educational system that helps students find their passions, identifies their strengths, and develops the skill sets necessary for our graduates to be global, digital citizens that are prepared to THINK, LEAD, & SERVE in the 21st century.

It is an exciting time to be a part of such a forward thinking and innovative team. We will see changes in public education in the state of Iowa, and we feel that the model we create at Van Meter will be the cornerstone for other schools to replicate in years to come. Share your thoughts. I look forward to reading your comments.

Time

2009-10-04T20:03:00.002-05:00

Time. Time is always the one resource teachers and schools never seem to have enough of. When trying to make improvements to the teaching and learning that takes place in school, the one limitation to full implementation is the lack of time teachers have to collaborate, observe, and learn. Time for planning, time for improving, time for working with struggling students, time for working with students that need more rigorous challenges. Educators never seem to have enough time. However, I would argue that we have enough time, we just don't always use it to its optimum potential. Schools need to get creative in how it allocates its time. We need to be innovative and flexible in developing daily schedules and yearly calendars that allow us to meet not only the needs of our students, but also the needs of our teachers.

Research has proven that the most important factor to student learning is the quality of teaching that a student receives. The only way to improve the teaching is to improve the skills of the teachers. The best way to improve the skills of the teacher is through high quality professional development. Currently at Van Meter, teachers have biweekly PD for approximately 3 hours of training a month. Along with the full days of PD prior to the school year and the one built in day of PD during the year, our teachers receive about 60 hours of professional development for the school year. Is this enough time for training to improve the skills of teachers to provide the highest quality of instruction our students deserve?

Recently the Des Moines Register has been questioning the ways schools use time. In this week's Sunday Register, the amount of PD teachers receive throughout the state is questioned. Please read the article and think about what we could do differently with our schedule to help our teachers receive the training they need to meet the demands of teaching students in the 21st century. It is a conversation we will be having as a district in the near future. What can we do to ensure our teachers have enough time to improve their skills? I look forward to hearing your thoughts as we look to improve our skills as educators at Van Meter Schools. Please comment below.

New Leadership at Van Meter Schools

2009-09-15T06:58:00.006-05:00

On Monday, September 21, three newly elected community members will be sworn in as Van Meter School Board Members. Congratulations, to Liz Thompson, Lance Lauterbach, and to Brian Gordan. They will join returning members John Seefeld and Maureen Fisher to form the new school board for Van Meter Schools. I want to welcome all of the new board members to our team, and I look forward to working with each of them.

The Van Meter School District has gone through significant changes in it leadership in the last three months. The District has a new Superintendent in John Carver, a new Secondary Principal, Deron Durflinger, and a new Director of Teaching and Learning, Jen Sigrist along with a school board that has 60% of its team being first-time board members leading the district. My guess is that not many districts have gone through that kind of overhaul in its leadership team this year.

As schools throughout the state are challenged with declining enrollments, less money to work with, and struggling programs. It could be concerning to see so many new faces leading the Van Meter Community School District. Van Meter has always provided a high-quality education to all of its students. Grade levels regularly see over 90% of its students at the proficient level on ITBS and ITEDS. Last year the state average on the ACT was 22.4, Van Meter's was 23.6. While some school struggle getting kids through school, we regularly see a graduation rate of near or at 100%. These are all great indicators that our students are receiving a good education. So one might ask, with all of these new people and new ideas, how can we continue to provide such a good education? The answer is simple, get better at what we do. As Stephen Covey said, "Good is the enemy of Great."

Van Meter Schools must continue to be innovative and be a trend setter for other districts in the state of Iowa to ensure our students are receiving the best education possible. We are currently establishing a network with other districts involved in the 1 to 1 laptop programs. We will be leading a meeting of the leadership teams of those districts in October. We have partnered with Rockwell Collins, Mechdyne, ISU, UNI, Iowa, Marshalltown Community College, IHCC, and DMACC as well as other districts in the state of Iowa to form a committee to determine how schools with virtual reality systems can improve the quality of education students receive.

So, even though new people are leading the district, things really haven't changed. Van Meter Schools will continue to be a high-quality district and a leader in the state of Iowa because of the visionary leadership of our Superintendent and our dedicated Board Members, each of whom is committed to providing the best education for the students of Van Meter.

It is an exciting time for me as a professional, because I get to be a part of so many innovative ventures that I believe will help shape changes in public education. And it is an exciting time for me as a parent, because my own kids get to come to a school that is committed to providing the best education possible for all students with a community and a school board that is willing to do all it can to support Van Meter Schools.

If you have any questions/concerns, or if you would like to discuss things that are going on at the Van Meter Secondary Building, email me at deron.durflinger@vmbulldogs.com or call me at (515) 996-2221. I look forward to working with you and GO DAWGS!

Week 3 Update

2009-09-07T11:38:00.004-05:00

Congratulations to Coach Trudo and the Van Meter Bulldogs Football Team for pulling out an exciting victory on Friday night vs. Des Moines Christian. It was as an exciting high school game as I have seen and will long be remembered for all of those in attendance. Go Dawgs!

Below are some of the happenings at Van Meter:

Our secondary staff is doing an outstanding job of integrating technology into their teaching. We currently have 16 of 22 teachers with a wiki or a blog. We have several teachers that have had students create many items ranging from podcasts, to comic life stories, to iMovies. Students and teachers are learning together. It is very exciting to see so many students and teachers engaged in the learning process.
We are working on getting students email accounts and hope to have those up and going before the end of the week.
Enrollment is up 14 students in the secondary building. We have had to move desks to make sure there is enough seating in classrooms and we are working on adding a 3rd lunch shift to accommodate all of our students in the cafeteria.
We will be finalizing our move to the new office on Monday, September 14. We should be ready to do business on Tuesday, September 15. The office looks great. It will be a more accommodating location for visitors and allow us to provide a safer environment for our students.
Remember that Wednesday, September 9 is a 2:15 dismissal and that on Monday, September 14, students will not have school due to teacher professional development activities.

I hope all of you had a great Labor Day Weekend. We are moving into our 3rd week with the Macs and so far all seems to be going well. If you have questions or concerns about anything, you can contact me via email at ddurflinger@vanmeter.k12.ia.us or call me (515) 996-2221 ext. 101. I will try to get back in contact with you ASAP. I look forward to working with you.

1st Week with the MacBooks

2009-08-28T10:20:00.004-05:00

We are finishing our first week with the Macs and so far, things seem to be going pretty well. Most of our teachers have developed either wikis or blogs to communicate with students and I have seen a lot of engaging activities taking place in classes. We are almost one week in and we haven't had any machines damaged (knock on wood:)). This weekend will be the first true test for students as far as taking care of their laptops. We are confident they will do a good job.

I have had many great conversations with parents about the MacBooks. We are making changes to how instruction is delivered, and parent support is very important to the success of our students. If you have questions about classes, contact teachers via email, or check out their wikis and blogs. Both of these tools are a great way for you to stay in touch with what is going on in your child's classes. But the best way to find out what is going on is to have your child show you some of his/her work. Students are collaborating, creating, and presenting their learning in multiple ways and they love to share their products.

Next week is Homecoming and Mrs. Wesselmann and the Student Leadership Team have planned many great activities for the week. Come to the school and observe our students school spirit during the week. It should be a fun week for the students and families alike. We hope to see you at the game Friday night. Go Bulldogs!

1st 2 days of school

2009-08-22T09:57:00.003-05:00

We made it through the first two days of school. We had an assembly with each grade to discuss my philosophy, expectations, and policies. However, most of our discussion was around the laptop initiative. We had presenters on Friday from the Electronic Crime Institute. They will be a great source as we move forward. More information will be available soon. Most people I talk to are very excited about the initiative, however there are still a few questions out there that will get answered as we move ahead.

I am looking forward to the rollout Monday night. Students in grades 10-12 need to be in the big gym by 5:00 p.m., and students in grades 7-9 need to be in the big gym by 6:30 p.m. Following a quick assembly we will have assigned breakout sessions for orientation. Remember, we want at least one parent to attend with their child. If you have a student in both sections, a parent only needs to attend one orientation session. If you haven't paid yet you can pay online through the PaySchool on the District's web page. I hope to see you Monday night.

Also, don't forget about the FanFest Saturday night at the school. It should be a lot of fun. Go Bulldogs!

Welcome Back to School Night info

2009-08-16T19:56:00.001-05:00

Monday, August 17 from 5:00-6:30 p.m. the secondary teachers will be available in the lunchroom so students and parents can get a copy of this year's class schedule. Also available will be more information on the laptop initiative. We hope to get all forms turned in by this Friday, August 21. Remember that students/parents will need to have the acknowledgement form completed and the $35 technology/software assessment will need to be paid prior to getting a laptop on Monday, August 24. Stop in and see your advisor during Welcome Back to School Night Monday, August 17 at 5:00 p.m. We hope to see you then. If you have any questions or would like to speak to me directly, I can be reached at 996-2221 ext. 101. Go Bulldogs!

1 to 1 Laptop Initiative... Why are we doing this?

2009-08-07T08:36:00.000-05:00

We are excited about the opportunity we are providing for our students at Van Meter Schools. Not only will all students in grades 7-12 have the opportunity to use a MacBook 24/7 during the school year, elementary students will have close to a 2:1 student to computer ratio meaning the K-6 students will have many opportunities to use technology as well. Many questions have been asked about why Van Meter has decided to go to a 1 to 1 laptop initiative. The most important thing to remember is that it is about student learning, not the laptops. We want to give our students the best opportunities we can to be successful in the globally competitive world that they will live in. I will post my reasons, and I hope that you will respond and ask questions on this blog.

Though this list is not all encompassing of the reasons why we are moving to a one 2 one, it provides a background for the move:

Improve student achievement and increase student learning.
Improve student engagement.
Complements project-based learning driven by research, collaboration and production of a final product.
Broaden learning beyond the classroom.
Takes advantage of teachable moments.
Preparation for tomorrow’s workplace.
Allows teachers to more easily differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students.
Opens up more opportunities for teachers and students to collaborate with other educators, students, and professionals throughout the world.
Instructional tool to help teach the Iowa Core Curriculum
Give students a tool to help them become self-directed learners
Levels the playing field for all students
Make technology integration more efficient; more time spent on instruction
Teach digital citizenship and technology usage to students
Schools need to change and this is one tool that will help