My name is Kevin Snyder. I have been a school district level educational technology administrator for 14 years. I will share the processes my district goes through as we innovate new learning opportunities for our students. The opinions expressed are solely mine.
The Lancaster City School District is the Place to Be Innovative
I feel honored to have been nominated by several people in my district to receive #BestEdTech awards at the State of Ohio Educational Technology Conference in Columbus, Ohio Jan. 27-29, 2013. I have been nominated as the Ed Leader Innovator and as the Technology Coordinator Innovator. It means a lot to have the support of your organization especially in the field of educational technology. As educational technologists we need to be supported as we embark upon change programs so we feel free to take calculated risks. The Lancaster City School District has fostered a culture which enables risk taking and which seeks to constantly improve the education of each child through innovation and creativity. This is why I enjoy working her so much. The board of education, administrators, teachers, support staff, students, and parents support our efforts to provide a quality education to our students and values the impact technology makes upon student learning.
Lancaster also received several other nominations for #BestEdTech awards. Lancaster High School is a finalist for the best 1:1 program in the state of Ohio. The staff at LHS has done a phenomenal job at incorporating iPads into student learning with several staff members engaging students through Project-Based Learning (PBL). Matt Gillispie at LHS has been nominated as a Teacher Innovator. He has been instrumental in leading the building toward the 1:1 program. You can view a video of Matt in action at this link. Tanya Clark-Cupp has been nominated as the Teacher Innovator as well. This last year Tanya was named the Innovative Technology Teacher of the Year for the Lancaster City School District.
Below is some information about the #BestEdTech Awards including the voting link. Please consider voting for the Lancaster 1:1 program and staff for these awards.
The nominations are in for the first-ever #BestEdTech Awards! All nominations were received from peers and now voting is open to help make these nominees the winner!
#OETC14 will recognize the work of schools, colleges, programs, teachers, administrators and tech coordinators from around the state through the #BestEdTech Awards. The winners will be recognized on our social media channels and the winners/representatives will receive a free day conference registration to be recognized at #OETC14 in January 2014. These awards are nominated by the Ohio education community for Ohio programs/people only, but voting will be available to anyone on our social media channels!
All nominations have been posted as they were written and submitted to us.
I have never planned a massive educational technology conference but decided this would be a good year to do it. If you have not heard, October 10, 2013 is professional development day for all Lancaster City Schools teachers. The teachers will be meeting at Lancaster for a day full of sessions focused on innovative uses of technology to improve teaching and learning. Our students will be of school in observance of the Fairfield County Fair.
I have always wanted to bring a session-driven, #edtech topic day to all my teachers. This will be our own mini-eTech (State of Ohio Educational Technology Conference) day. I decided to take it a step further, however. I thought to myself, why not invite other teachers and business people from around the state to the event to present or to attend? After months of work, I have finally released the schedule of sessions and I have opened it up to anyone to attend, for FREE!.
There are 70 sessions to choose from but sessions are filling up fast. Please consider coming for a day full of the sharing of best practices in educational technology. After all, the price is right.
Just a few more details. Lunch is on your own. I tried to get this provided by several vendors but could not swing it. Also, beware of the Fairfield County Fairgrounds. Traffic will be heavy in that area.
Use the Twitter #TechToberFest13. You can follow me on Twitter @MrKevinSnyder.
I have been debating with myself for the last month whether I should write this blog post or not. Obviously, I have now decided to write it. I want to preface this post by stating that this post is based on my observations and experiences both as an educator and, more directly, as the parent of special needs children. This post is not intended to take issue with the school district I work in, the district my children attend, or any one individual. This post is intended to provoke thought, discussion, and hopefully action.
Now that I have some disclaimers let me start with the idiom of placing a "square peg in a round hole." Wikipedia (I don't like to cite them but they are easy) states that this idiomatic expression describes the unusual individualist who could not fit into a niche of his orsociety. I am using this expression to illustrate my experiences working with parents of special needs students, including my own experiences. As many of you are aware, I work for a great school district and recently have been involved in leading a 1:1 iPad program for all high school students. During the first two weeks of August this year, we held parent information meetings to tell our parents and students about the program before the school year started. We also used this time to have the students set up their iPads so they would have them ready for the first day of school. We made these meetings mandatory for parents and students and the turnout was tremendous. Our auditorium and cafeterias were packed with parents and students eager to hear about the program. The meetings were successful, after we worked out some technical bugs, and we had most of our students ready to go for the first day of school. Now for the nitty gritty portion of this post. Each evening, I was approached by at least one parent and asked if his or her student would be receiving an iPad. At first I was surprised that I would be asked this question. I asked the first parent why he would ask that question. Of course we are giving each student an iPad. The first parent told me that his student was in the MH (multiple handicapped) classroom and therefore assumed that his student would be excluded from the program. I assured him that ALL students get an iPad and that we would help him and his student use it in whatever means possible to help his student learn This first parent was surprised, maybe shocked, that his student would be included in the program. Each succeeding night I encountered another parent or two who asked me the same question. It struck me that these parents have become so accustomed to having their children excluded from the same experiences and learning activities as other children that they had difficulty believing their children would be included in a massive project like this. After talking with these parents it also struck me how my special needs child has been excluded from educational activities. I first thought back to pre-school. Private preschools would not consider her because of her disability. We had taken our older daughter through this preschool and it was excellent. This excellent preschool would not take our square peg because she would not fit in the round hole as expected. I then thought about my daughter and when she started special needs Kindergarten. The school she was attended approached us before school started and stated that the students in the special program would not be attending school on for three days so the teachers could go to an inservice. The other students would all be in session. The school was surprised that I would object to this and that I pointed them in the direction of some laws which clearly stated that this would be in violation of the law. In the end, the students in the program were in attendance that day with a substitute teacher and the classroom educational assistants. There are other examples I could cite but I think you get the point. I bring all this up because we, as educators, need to look at our services differently. I know we don't like to think of ourselves as working in a customer service industry but we better change that viewpoint. In the era of school choice, it is imperative that we serve our customers (students and parents) as we would like to be served. Or as the Golden Rule (Wikipedia strikes again) says "treat others as you would like to be treated." If you, or your child were a square peg how would you feel if the school tried to fit him or her into a round hole? More importantly, how would you feel if your child were not accepted into a good school or excluded from a program because of his or her disability? How would you like to be treated? This is just food for thought because I believe that the schools which do not adopt a customer service model will slowly lose students, causing a revenue shortage, leading to fewer programs, and eventually total failure. I am glad my district has now adopted customer service as a focus area and has started the process of including all students. In the end, student success equals our success. Our success equals societal success. If we fail to build quality customer relationships we will fail our students.
Lancaster High School is embarking on a 1:1 iPad program for August of 2013. The school has been preparing for this massive project for over a year now. Last May we provided every teacher at LHS with an iPad and some basic training. Throughout this school year we have provided additional training from our own staff as well as Apple Professional Development. Our focus has been on the pedagogy of teaching in a 1:1 environment with an emphasis on Project-Based Learning. We have been training our staff and supporting them as they have moved through the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) progression of technology integration. (New SAMR Pedagogy Wheel from Edudemic) Our most recent survey of staff indicates that more than 80% of them consider themselves as moderately or completely prepared for the implementation the 1:1 iPad program. Here is our first video highlighting bullet points of the program geared mostly toward parents.
Mark your calendars for October 10, 2013. Lancaster High School will be hosting a full day of technology professional development to its staff and staff members from other districts. Please come and learn from teachers and instructional leaders how to use technology to innovate teaching and learning. Did I mention it is FREE?
I need lots of sessions so I can host lots of attendees. The fewer presenters I have the fewer attendees I will allow. This could be a great day to try out an Ohio Educational Technology Conference session or just a great way to share best practices. Come and help make this a success.
I recently read a book titled "Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change" by Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler. These are the same authors who wrote "Crucial Conversations". This is an excellent book and I recommend that all organizational leaders read and study it as it has research-based, proven, methods for leading change. As an educational technologist change is a constant. The strategies I learned in this book will help me influence the behavioral changes needed throughout the organization in order to achieve meaningful and purposeful change. In this blog post I will summarize the main points of the book. I encourage you to read it as my summary will only provide you with a glimpse into the science behind influencing change.
What does influence look like? There have been many great influencers throughout history. One of my all-time favorites is Braveheart. Braveheart tells the story of William Wallace, who above all else, influences his Scottish countrymen to take on the English after many years of tyrannical rule. The behavior he sought to change was the belief in and desire for freedom. The clip below demonstrates many of the influence principles noted in the rest of this post. If you watch the movie you can notice most, if not all of the influence methods discussed in the Influencer book.
Influencers don't just randomly create change in human behavior. They count on three keys to success (pages 13-34):
1. Focus and measure: Influencers are crystal clear about the result they are trying to achieve and are zealous about measuring it. Unsuccessful agents of change make one of three early mistakes that undermine their influence: 1) fuzzy, uncompelling goals, 2) infrequent or no measures, or 3) bad measures (page 16). "Start every change project with a clear and compelling statement of the goal you're trying to achieve. Measure your progress. Don't leave it to intuition or hunches. Measure your measures by the behavior they influence. And finally, measure the right thing, and measure it frequently" (page 26).
2. Find vital behaviors - Influencers focus on high-leverage behaviors that drive results. More specifically, they focus on the two or three vital actions that produce the greatest amount of change. "The good news is that the key of finding no more than a handful of high-leverage behaviors works with almost any problem. Change vital behaviors, and soon you'll achieve the results you've wanted all along" (page 28).
3. Engage all six sources of influence - Finally, influencers break from the pack by overdetermining change. Influencers identify all of the varied forces that are shaping the behavior they want to change and then get them working for rather than against them. According to the research, by getting six different sources of influence to work in their favor, influencers increase their odds of success tenfold. It is important to note that you cannot ignore any of these six sources. All must be engaged in order to ensure successful change. It is likely that a couple sources are more important than the others but if any one source is neglected, the change will fail. The six sources are: 1) personal motivation, 2) personal ability, 3) social motivation, 4) social ability, 5) structural motivation, and 6) structural ability.
How do you find the vital behaviors people need to change in order to achieve results?
Influencers don't create methods for changing behavior until they have carefully identified the exact behaviors they want to change (page 35). Influencers then identify the most important of those behaviors (top two) and focus their execution on these two behaviors. Influencers stay focused on these top one or two behaviors because, according to the Pareto Principle, the old 80-20 Rule, 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of your efforts (page 44). Follow these four vital behavior search strategies to avoid spending your time and effort on the wrong behaviors (page 47):
1. Notice the obvious - Recognize behaviors that are obvious (or at least obvious to experts) but underused.
2. Look for crucial moments - Find times when behavior puts success at risk.
3. Learn from positive deviants - Distinguish behaviors that set apart positive deviants - those who live in the same world but somehow produce much better results.
4. Spot culture busters - Find behaviors that reverse stubborn cultural norms and taboos.
Influencers identify the behaviors that need to change through finding the obvious but underutilized actions, examining the advice of experts, tailoring their own change program and trying to see what will work for them, and examining the 2 percent of time they fail not the times they are successful (page 62). These crucial moments inform them of the actions they are needed to follow. Often times studying the individuals who are outliers in their success will help you find the positive behaviors others need to learn. And, they look for behaviors that might be needed to break free from a culture that sustains past problems (page 63).
One of the most influential restaurateurs in the business is Danny Meyer. Danny identified vital behaviors and then used all six sources of influence to create a environment which places hospitality as the change needed to make his restaurants successful. Here is a video which demonstrates how his restaurant keys in on behaviors, speaks up when there are mistakes, and then works quickly to maintain a high level of hospitality.
Now that you have identified the vital behaviors that need to change, how do you ensure the behaviors will change?
The key to changing the vital behaviors is to overdetermine change. It is imperative that all six sources of influence are engaged to determine change. Quick fixes rarely work. There are no silver bullets. Impacting change on just one or two of the sources of influence may improve results, but if you are facing a long standing behavior challenge you must utilize all six to make long-lasting change (page 68).
There are two basic drivers of behavior. At the end of the day a person asks, "Can I do what's required?" and, "Will it be worth it?" (page 69). The first question asks "Am I able?" The second, "Am I motivated?" No matter the number of forces that affect human action all these strategies work in one of two ways. They either motivate or enable a vital behavior. Some do both (page 69).
Is is therefore necessary to consider that the methods used to affect behavior change fall into the domains of motivation and ability. These domains are then further subdivided into personal, structural, and social sources.
Motivation
Ability
Personal
Make the Undesirable Desirable
Surpass Your Limits
Social
Harness Peer Pressure
Find Strength in Numbers
Structural
Design Rewards and Demand Accountability
Change the Environment
Let's look closer at each of these sources of influence and the tactics you can employ to change behavior.
Personal Motivation - Help them love what they hate
"Is the vital behavior intrinsically pleasurable or painful?" (page 78). Sometimes people like to do things that may give them pleasure in the short-term while harming them in the long-term. For instance, an obese person may eat cake in the short-term for pleasure and sacrifice the long-term health effects it will have on his body such as diabetes. Bad actions, such as this, are usually fun and offer immediate gratification to the person. On the hand, long-term behavior changes may seem far off, fuzzy, and too much work to not be worth the sacrifice. "To turn this around, influencers learn to help others love what they currently hate by allowing them choices, creating direct experiences, telling meaningful stories, and turning the tedious into a game" (page 111).
Allow for choice - when given a choice, people often step up to the plate and deliver (page 88).
Create direct experiences - "let people feel, see, and touch things for themselves" (page 92).
Tell meaningful stories - create vicarious experiences through telling compelling stories. "The difference between influencers and the rest of us is that when influencers recognize that others aren't personally motivated to enact a vital behavior, they don't work around that problem. They work through it. They operate on the confidence that people are not morally defective, but morally asleep" (page 108).
Make it a game - keep score, make it a competition, show constant improvement through visuals, create and record measures over which individuals have complete control (page 110). Personal Ability - Help them do what they can't
In order to change behavior, leaders need to help employees learn new skills. "World-class influencers spend far more time engaging people in deliberate practice than the rest of us" (page 142). Deliberate practice involves realistic conditions, coaching, and feedback. Break the behaviors down into smaller actions that allow people to judge their own progress, give them support when they have setbacks, and help them develop the skills they need. Most importantly, provide them with meaningful opportunities to learn the interpersonal skills necessary to master the new behaviors. "Develop greater proficiency at deliberate practice as well as the ability to manage your emotions, and you significantly increase your chances for turning vital behaviors into vital habits" (page 143).
A great example of deliberate practice is that of the Karate Kid, Daniel. Daniel deliberately practices, with the expert help of his mentor (Mr. Miyagi) who provides him coaching and corrective feedback so he can properly defend himself. If you are not familiar with the Karate Kid (where you born on a rock?) here is a synopsis video.
Social Motivation - Provide encouragement
Our peers play a vital role in our ability to change our own behaviors. They can provide both positive and negative reinforcement through enabling the right behaviors or, conversely, the wrong behaviors. Therefore, influencers "use the power of social influence to support change by ensuring that the right people provide encouragement, coaching, and even accountability during crucial moments" (page 146).
There are three best practices that help magnify the power of social support:
The Power of One - one respected individual can create conditions that compel ordinary citizens to act in different ways (page 151). This respected individual must have credibility with the peer group you are trying to influence or else it may have a converse effect on the behavior change. Sometimes these respected individuals need to make sacrifices, particularly with their ego, in order to affect change.
Engage Formal and Opinion Leaders - sometimes and outside expert can shed light on the situation while other times it is important to engage informal opinion leaders throughout the organization. It is important to know who the formal and opinion leaders are and get them on board early and communicate with them often throughout the change process to ensure success. You can find out who your opinion leaders are by having all employees make a list of people they believe are influential and respected and then make a list of the names that appear most often. These are your opinion leaders.
Create New Norms - It is so difficult to break from old norms and establish new norms. I was struck over and over throughout this book by how influential leaders have tackled this problem. Invariably, the two methods they employed to create new norms were:
1. Make the undiscussable discussable. "Unhealthy norms are almost always sustained by what we call a culture of silence" (page 173). It is critically important that individuals are empowered to speak up about issues or problems, including when they notice a supervisor acting poorly. Management needs to embrace this new culture to break the code of silence which exists in nearly every workplace if the new norms are to have a chance to succeed.
When I think of discussing the undiscussable, the movie "A few good men" comes to mind. In the movie, a murder is covered up because of a code of silence. The code is so powerful that subordinates are willing to go to jail before they speak up. Here is a clip from the movie.
2. Create 200 percent accountability. "Create an environment in which everyone is responsible not just enact the vital behaviors - but to hold others accountable for them as well. When this happens, people make personal transformation that are hard to believe" (page 181). In essence, we are all accountable to everyone. Therefore, if a team member is not practicing a new norm, then another team member must step up and call him out on it. This includes calling out a member of the management if he is not following the new norms.
Social Ability - Provide assistance
"Influencers take care to ensure that those they want to influence are sufficiently encouraged to adopt vital behaviors" (page 186). Provide more than just a nod or acknowledgement of the adoption of vital behaviors. Provide information, coaching, and/or hands-on help. One way to do this is to enlist the power of social capital. As the Beatles suggested, we're more likely to succeed when we have "a little help from our friends" (page 193). Positive friends who model and expect the appropriate behaviors enable others to embed these behaviors into their daily routine. It is important that people have a social network which is supportive and is a resource for them when they need help. Interdependence, working as members of teams, with common purpose, language, positive supports, and open and honest feedback with 200% accountability help to form a basis for providing needed assistance to support the behavior change initiative.
Structural Motivation - Change their economy
Things can be a powerful source of motivation for individuals. These things can include rewards, perks, bonuses, salaries, and the occasional boot in the rear (page 218). "Your goal with structural motivation and using incentives should not be to overwhelm people to change. Rather, it should be primarily to remove disincentives - to "change their economy" as it were" (page 218). Further, it is important to make certain that positive and negative incentives are not undermining the influence message you are trying to send.
Use extrinsic reward third. "In a well-balanced change effort, reward come third. Influencers first ensure that vital behaviors connect to intrinsic satisfaction. Next, they line up social support. They double check both of these areas before they finally choose extrinsic rewards to motivate behavior. If you don't follow this careful order, you're likely to be disappointed" (page 218).
Use incentives wisely. Engage personal and social motivation before you choose to use incentives. Make sure that rewards are immediate or close to immediate and that they definitively reinforce the behavior you desire. Symbolic rewards are often more motivating than financial rewards. Think of the Ohio State Buckeyes football helmets. When players accomplish feats on the field they are immediately rewarded with a buckeye leaf on the helmet. This is an immediate positive and symbolic reward for reinforcing behavior. Make sure that what you are rewarding is a vital behavior. Do not award just results such as scoring a touchdown. Also make sure you reward the block which freed up the runner to get to the end zone.
When all else fails, punish (page 242). Sometimes it becomes necessary to discipline an employee. Influencers typically try a "shot across the bow" in which they make an announcement to the entire group that if a behavior is exhibit then the discipline will be quick and decisive. Many times this will impact behavior change. It really impacts behavior change if someone immediately gets punished and publicly the first time it occurs. This typically tells everyone that you mean business and they better come around. Unfortunately, this does not always convince everyone to comply and it becomes necessary to fire an employee.
Structural Ability - Change their space
There are nonhuman forces which influence behavior. These can include such things as the physical buildings we work in, how they are designed, the sights and sounds, etc... Often times we see people misbehaving and we try to change them. Sometimes we need to change the physical environment to be conducive to the behavior change we are trying to reinforce.
Remember to think about things, the physical environment, and then identify ways the environment can be changed to enable behavior change. First, learn to notice things. Observe people as they work and notice how the environment interferes with success. Second, make the invisible visible. Provide visual cues around the space to make people knowledgable of their environment. This is why you see signs in doctor offices about the positive or negative effects of proper hand-washing, or lack there of. Third, mind the data stream. Use the visual cues to draw attention to important pieces of data which reinforce the behavior change.
Manage the physical space of employees. Consider the proximity of the employees and how that affects performance (propinquity). Employees need to have time and space to chat, get to know one another, and jointly work on problems (page 268). This helps to insure that they are not operating alone, or in silos. Make the work of the team and individual visible to everyone, regardless of the mess it may cause (my desk is always a mess, what a relief). Keep in mind how you can change the physical space to make it easier for employees to enact the behaviors you desire. The physical space can help to make a good behavior unavoidable if properly planned.
Are you ready to become an influencer?
If you have read this entire post you must be dedicated to learning about influencing change in your organization. You are most likely a school district administrator and possibly even an educational technologist. If you focus on a change initiative, measure the right variables, identify the vital behaviors (remember the 80/20 rule), and then engage all six factors of influence you are much more likely to have success than if you try a quick fix. Change is hard but it is achievable.
I had a lot of fun today judging senior English projects for Ms. Marvin at Lancaster High School today. Ms. Marvin asked me to sit on a panel of experts as a fictional grant committee. The high school students submitted grant proposals to the committee I was a member of and gave a presentation. This was a wonderful learning opportunity for students as they were presenting their projects to a real audience which made it much more valuable to them. After we heard all the proposals the committee met and decided if the grants would be funded in full, part, or not at all. We came back to the classroom later and made our recommendations to all the students in front of the class. We gave them direct feedback on why their proposals were funded or why not as well as strengths and weaknesses of each.
I never thought I would be like Simon Cowell from American Idol, but I did find myself pointing out professional dress issues and holes in the evaluation and budget plans. I was pretty tough but fair on the students. My other committee members were very helpful to the students in making the connections between their proposals and what is the real need or how they could make their grants better. I asked some very pointed questions to the kids and they had to think on their feet. Some were prepared for the questions, some were not. In the end, I think they all learned a great deal from the exercise.
Project-Based Learning is such a wonderful instructional method because the students have to solve real problems, troubleshoot, think creatively, collaborate and communicate, and then present to a real audience. Ms. Marvin is such a great teacher because she uses PBL effectively in her classroom. If you would like to see an example of her using PBL, watch this YouTube video.
Throughout my 13 years of educational technology leadership I have typically been out in front of leading change. I have recently embraced a new role for my myself. I am now learning alongside my teachers.
What am I talking about? Let me explain. For the past twenty years I have been a Windows PC user. I have deployed, provided training, planned curriculum, purchased software, and installed networks to take advantage of Windows PC's. Things are in the midst of change for my district...and me. Two years ago our high school was awarded the Transforming Teaching and Learning Grant which provided professional development for Project-Based Learning and 5 iPad carts. We chose the iPad because it was more established than android rivals and had the Volume Apps Purchasing Program. A bonus was the Apple Professional Development Services that could be used to strengthen our teachers. More on that in a moment. Once the other teachers in the building started learning how to use the iPad carts in the classroom they demanded more. The high school and I partnered on a 6th cart of iPads and the demand soared higher. At this point, we decided the high school staff was ready for a 1:1 implementation. We decided to give it a calendar year to train the teachers and get them ready for the instructional shift. We have now completed the year long professional development and are ready to deploy in the fall of 2013.
This brings me to my main point. The last time I used a Mac computer to any extent was when I was in college. I graduated from the University of Akron in 1993. Since then I have been a Windows PC user and I am quite proficient with them. This change in my district to iPads has thus resulted in a need for Macintosh computers so teachers can produce iBooks. To help train our teachers on using iPads for instruction and to facilitate the implementation of IBooks author, we have provided 30 Macs and have purchased PD from Apple. It was during these PD sessions that I discovered I had a deficiency. I found myself not able to answer every questions teachers would ask during the sessions. I found myself meandering my way to the answers with them. I had not felt so lost in a long time (educational technology speaking, on a personal level my wife has to help me find things in the house because I can never find them). I found that many of the teachers knew a lot more than me and they were showing me tips and tricks. I contemplated my future and decided to purchase myself a mac book I have been using, not exclusively though, to accomplish basic everyday tasks. A lot of times I still migrate back to my Windows PC for comfort. Using a Mac on an almost daily basis has helped me to learn along with the teachers. I am no Mac expert at this point, but at least I know how to use one now.
As I reflect upon the process we have undergone in recent months, I realize that one of the most important things we can do in educational technology leadership is to empower our teachers to use technologies in ways outside from our own comfort zones. These teachers are now using technology to design learning opportunities for students they otherwise would not have access to. It is important that we allow teachers to stretch our own limits so we can do what is best for the students.
Mark your calendar for October 10, 2013. Join us to share best practices in integrating technology with teaching and learning. Most importantly, it is FREE to all who register to attend. This teacher in-service day, affectionately known as TechToberfest, will be a great way for our teachers to share with one another. We are not stopping there, however. In addition, we are expanding our knowledge by inviting other educators to come and share their best practices with us. Together, we can learn from one another. To take it to yet another level, local businesses will be invited to the teacher in-service through the Lancaster-Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce. We believe this will create a synergy in the community around our integrated uses of technology and that local businesses should be aware of the skills our graduates possess upon graduation.
Please consider presenting a session or two at our TechToberfest. There are so many teachers around Ohio and elsewhere who are using technology in innovative ways to impact student learning. We are very interested in learning from you and sharing our best with you. We are accepting proposals until July 31, 2013. The schedule will then be created in August and registrations will open in September. Sessions about iPads, Google, response systems, Marzano strategies, RTI, special education, arts, Project-Based Learning, 21st Century Skills and any other cool uses of technology in education are encouraged.
Goal 1 - Engage students in learning activities that promote 21st Century Skills - Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Collaboration and Communication, Creativity, and Innovation.
Strategy 1 - Establish a one-to-one student to computer (tablet) ratio at the high school during the 2013-2014 school year.
To accomplish this first strategy, we provided every high school teacher, administrator, and counselor with an iPad in May of 2012. The teachers were provided with an initial training and then used them at home for the summer. Upon their return the engaged in year-long professional development activities in their TBT's, during late starts, and from Apple Education. We were very fortunate to have received the Transforming Teaching and Learning Grant in May 2011. This grant provided high-quality professional development to four teachers and one administrator in the high school and enabled them to purchase 5 iPad carts. This group of teachers and administrator (Kelli Marvin, Matt Gillispie, Ashlin Henderson, Denise Rooker, and Scott Matchett) were extremely successful and sparked an interest in the rest of the high school staff. The demand from the high school staff was clear enough by May 2012 for the district to approve the 1:1 project.
The board of education, superintendent, treasurer, principals, teachers, students, and parents are all very supportive of this project. The support they have demonstrated has enabled this program to move from conception to reality.
We now have a robust, Meraki wireless network, Apple TV or reflector in every room, and just purchased 1740 iPads and Otterbox cases for deployment to students in August.
Goal 3 - The district will promote new uses of technology to foster student creativity and innovation.
To accomplish Strategy 1, we set aside $100,000 from district technology funds to provide mini-grants to teachers who wrote proposals to a committee identifying how they planned to use technology in innovative ways to affect student learning. The maximum grant award per proposal is $10,000. The committee received 29 grant applications and awarded 16 of them for a total of over $99,000. These grants have been highly successful in enabling teachers to use technology in new ways.
To accomplish Strategy 2, we accepted nominations for the an elementary and secondary innovative technology teacher awards. The Innovative Technology Grant Committee recently selected two deserving winners from an impressive list of nominees. Our elementary award has been given to Tanya Clark-Cupp from Medill Elementary. The secondary award has been given to Jacqueline Yahn from General Sherman Junior High. These two teachers will each receive $1000 classroom technology grants. It is important to note that these two teachers, and many others, have been sparking innovation in the classroom instruction in our schools.
As you can see we take innovation seriously in Lancaster City Schools. Please come and share in the learning on October 10, 2013. If you do come please realize that the Fairfield County Fair is in session this day and traffic can be problematic.
If you have questions or comments about TechToberfest, please contact me at 740.687.7300, k_snyder@lancaster.k12.oh.us, or on Twitter @MrKevinSnyder.
I had a chance discussion with my superintendent today. He gave me much more credit than I deserve for being an innovator and someone who pushes the edge of the envelope. He told me "when you stop innovating and pushing us to do different things that is the day you should find a new job." I really admire his approach to this and it is a key reason why I am fortunate to work in a district with a superintendent and board of education who enable risk-taking, creativity, problem-solving, and innovation. As an educational technologist, it inspires me to work harder and think deeper about how technology can and does impact student learning. But most importantly, the support of the board and superintendent makes it possible to put some of those ideas into action.
Of course he joked with me that sometimes my ideas are a little too far outside the box and then it is his job to tell me to rethink it or to put it on the back burner.
Hopefully I don't stop thinking of new and innovative ways to impact student learning so I am not forced to find another job anytime soon.
As an educational technologist or school leader, are you pushing the edge of the envelope?
It seems that every year there are peaks in the demand for computer and technology repair requests. Of course, the highest demand is during August and September as we try to recover from the summer moves and cleaning. Once we hit October we have caught up and are back to a consistent work flow. That is, until the spring.
It no longer amazes me that after the high stakes testing (Ohio Graduation Test in March and Ohio Achievement Tests in April) are over we see a rash of support requests. These requests are for teachers to do projects with their students. This does not mean that we do not have teachers using projects throughout the school year. However, we do have several teachers who do not embark upon projects that utilize and integrate technology with student learning after the tests. Some of these teachers will write in their work orders that their computers have not worked or been turned on all year. I do not believe that my district is an exception in this pattern.
What about your school? Do you have teachers who barely or rarely use technology (other than centers) with their students until after the tests? I bet you do.
If you are a school leader you have likely heard some of your teachers respond to demands to make use of technology in the classroom by saying "I don't have time to learn to use technology in my classroom." They may even follow that up with "I have all these reading, writing, and math standards I am teaching and I don't have time to learn something else."
Why do our teachers not have time to learn how to effectively use technology to impact student learning? Today's school climate and requirements are much different than they were when I started teaching in the mid 1990's. Now, teachers are required to get their master's degree while they are working, assess their students constantly, analyze the data from the assessments, differentiate instruction for every student, challenge students to be creative problem solvers, and cover duties such as lunch (I hated lunch duty) and playground. These are just a few of the responsibilities of teachers. In addition, we provide teachers with computers in their classrooms, smart boards and projectors, DVD's or access to Internet streaming video, textbook companion workbooks or materials, etc.... Most teachers have a 30 minute, uninterrupted lunch which is always interrupted or spent making copies or grading papers, and a 45 minute or so planning period which is used to make copies, grade papers, plan lessons, communicate with parents and students, and sometimes take a restroom break. Most of these teachers are not just planning for one lesson. They are planning for multiple lessons. Teachers have to be master managers to handle all these moving pieces. I have not even mentioned classroom management and student behavior. If you would like to read a good description how teachers try to manage this, read Chapter 9 "How Do Teachers Make It All Work" from Differentiated Classroom by Carol Tomlinson and ASCD. After you read this ask yourself how you could handle this for 150 students, with three different subjects to prepare for (Ex. Social Studies teachers may teach History, Government, and Economics). Keep in mind, you have 4 minutes or so between classes, one 30 minute lunch, and one 45 minute planning period.
There are many teachers who can handle all the different assessments, differentiate instruction for each student, grade papers with meaningful, corrective feedback, filter through a menagerie of resources to plan and implement effective lessons, and still have a life outside of school. These teachers are outstanding and they should be celebrated. However, there are more teachers who cannot manage all these different responsibilities and resources. Does this make them bad teachers? No, it makes them average teachers and it comprises the bulk of teachers in our schools. Could I effectively manage the responsibilities and resources while maintaining classroom control to differentiate instruction for every student I teach? No. I too would be in the average range for teachers.
Therefore, it is critically important that school leaders filter out the less necessary resources and responsibilities for our teachers so they can focus on the most important ones. This is what average teachers who we think do not want to learn technology are doing for themselves. They cannot handle one more thing, even though they recognize that it will have a positive influence on learning, because they do not have the time to devote to learning it well enough to ensure student success. Instead, they will focus on their tried and true practices so they can make sure students learn in their classroom. For these teachers, we must provide them only the most critically important technologies and sustained professional development in order to ensure success. There is no need to install a smart board in classroom if the teacher will not make use of it. Instead, since most elementary teachers use centers for instruction at some point in the day, have computer or iPad centers for the students to use and only put a few programs or apps on them that are directly tied to the curriculum. For our average teachers, less is more. It is more because they gain more time to plan, assess, and differentiate instruction. That is what impacts student learning. Leave the more advanced technologies to those advanced teachers who can take full advantage of them and take learning to another level.
Much of this is why we wrote into our technology plan two important initiatives. The first was to set aside $100,000 of our technology budget to a grant process for teachers who are willing to go above and beyond our set of standard classroom technologies. We called these Technology Innovation Grants. These teachers received grants for professional development, innovative technologies such as sensors for agricultural education, ipads and apps for specific objectives, restaurant design software for our Culinary Arts program, etc... In addition, we recognize that we have many teachers going above and beyond with innovative uses of technology. Therefore, we are currently in the nomination process to award two of our teachers, one PK-5 and one grades 6-12, as Innovative Technology Teachers of the Year. This award will celebrate the success of our best teachers and will continue to set the bar for the rest of our staff.
In summary, we are trying to impact student learning by ensuring that our average teachers have adequate technology in the classroom while also enabling our advanced teachers to do more. In the end, we are realizing more bang for our technology bucks because the technologies we are installing are being used adequately and appropriately. No longer are we installing technology that does not get used or sits on a shelf.
In my previous post I discussed the book "District Leadership that Works: Striking the Right Balance" by Robert J. Marzano and Timothy Waters (2009). This post will be about how districts enacting second-order change can maintain the momentum and not lose sight of the vision. As we can all imagine, second-order change is tough, and as the saying goes "when the going gets tough, the tough get going." This also mirrors the advice Marzano and Waters provide to district leadership beginning on page 109. In the section titled "Some Advice for District Leaders", the writers provide the following corollary story: A well-accepted principle taught to Top Gun Navy fighter pilots is that the safest move when encountering an enemy during air-to-air combat is to "turn into the threat" (Driscoll, 2005). If a fighter pilot's first move is to turn away from an oncoming enemy plane, he or she lose sight of the situation and forfeits the ability to make necessary corrections in behavior. The same principle seems to apply to district leaders when faced with "threats" regarding their second-order change initiatives. Turning into the threat means being proactive regarding the change process. Marzano and Waters make the following recommendations for proactive district leadership regarding the change process. I will relate it to the 1:1 iPad initiative my district is undertaking. Recommendation #1: Know the Implications of Your Initiatives The implications of going 1:1 in a school are vast. We have to consider the effects on curriculum, teaching strategies, learning styles, logistics of the school day, assessment, funding, parents, students, administrators, and of course teachers. In our case we have had the great pleasure to learn from some districts who have already taken on this change. We have visited Defiance High School in Ohio and New Lexington High School in Ohio. I have also engaged in many twitter chat sessions on #1to1techat and exchanged emails and phone conversations with district leaders around the country. This is where I believe our 1 year phase in process has helped us the most. We have been able to fully discuss the implications and have been adjusting policies and procedures accordingly. Recommendation #2: Maintain a United Front This is where the rubber meets the road in district leadership. This takes me back to "when the going gets tough, the tough get going." We, as district leaders, must not be afraid to adjust on the fly and privately recognize any problems with the change as they happen. It is then critical that we engage all appropriate stakeholders and make changes as we need. Most vital though, is that we stay true to our vision and support the process no matter how hard it gets. Recommendation #3: Keep the Big Ideas in the Forefront Changing our instructional, curricular, assessment, and logistics can be a daunting task. We, as district leaders, must make sure that we keep emphasizing with all stakeholders the ideas, theories, and best practices involved in impacting student learning. Again, we are fortunate that we have taken a 1 year phase in process for our 1:1 implementation. I believe that when we launch in August 2013 our teachers and administrators will be properly prepared for the most part. We may experience some backlash from parents and students as we are conducting school differently than has been done in the past. We must make sure that we continue to communicate with our parents and students about these best practices so they understand how it will benefit all students and better prepare them to be college and career ready upon graduation. Recommendation #4: Use What is Known about Acceptance of New Ideas On page 110, Marzano and Waters reference work by Everett Rogers (Diffusion of Innovations, 2003). Rogers documented through research how to create an atmosphere in which radical ideas or innovations are adopted. In his research, Rogers concludes that individuals are more likely to adopt an innovation or accept a new idea when they see in them the following four attributes: 1. Relative advantage - individuals need to understand how and why new ideas or innovations are better for them personally or for the people they care most about. In this case, our teachers are the ones who had to buy in early on this change and they did. Our teachers recognized before we began our 1:1 initiative that this was what was best for students and how it would have a positive on impact on instruction and student learning. Most parents and students have been voicing positive comments at this point. It is important that we continue to communicate with them as we implement the change. 2. Compatibility - stakeholders are more likely to adopt new ideas or innovations when they are viewed as compatible with personal values and prior experience. In this case, again, our amazing teachers value technology and its impact on student learning. Our 1 year phase in implementation process has enabled our teachers to further refine their instructional practices to take them to higher level. We have some teachers who are still apprehensive but the 1 year process has helped to bring them along. We will not start on day one in August with 100% of our teachers ready for this change and that is OK. What is important is that we continue to support them when they need it and encourage them to implement as they are ready. 3. Trialability - pilot testing new ideas or innovations in safe low-stakes settings will increase the rate of their adoption. In the case of Lancaster High School, our pilot group was formed when we applied for and received the Transforming Teaching and Learning Grant in May 2011. This group was then trained in Project-Based Learning and embarked upon using iPads in their classrooms. This group and their expertise set the stage for the rest of the building to see the success and desire to implement on a mass scale. 4. Evidence - people are more likely to adopt an idea or innovation when the idea is associated with evidence that it works. Again, our pilot group of teachers from the Transforming Teaching and Learning grant provided the rest of our high school staff with the evidence they needed to accept the 1:1 program. Recommendation #5: Communicate with "Sticky Messages" On page 111, Marzano and Waters reference the book "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell (2002). In the book, Gladwell introduces the concept of "sticky messages". His premise is the idea that ideas or innovations "catch on" because there is something about them that sticks with people. The "sticky message" in our case was fostered by our pilot group of teachers and the subsequent inclusion of the goal to establish a 1:1 program from our district written in Technology Plan in May 2012. The first goal and strategy in the plan, which was unanimously approved by the board of education reads as follows:
Goal 1 – Engage students in learning activities that promote 21st Century Skills – Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Collaboration and Communication, Creativity, and Innovation Strategy 1 - Establish a one-to-one student to computer (tablet) ratio at the high school during the 2013-2014 school year. As we embark upon full implementation of the 1:1 program in August 2013 and beyond we, as district leaders, must continue to communicate the simple messages that are the staple of this change initiative. We must use these "sticky messages" to continue to reinforce the change to all our stakeholders.
Recommendation #6: Manage Personal Transitions On page 112, Marzano and Waters reference a book by W. Bridges (1980) titled "Transitions: Making sense of life's changes". Bridges makes a distinction between change and transitions. Simply put, change is external and transition is internal. In our case, this change is is a gain for our students. However, it is a transition for our teachers and for some teachers they are losing some of their tried and true teaching practices. One key to managing the process of personal transition is for leaders to treat the experience the same way they would the process of grieving. When leaders recognize that for some individuals in the district, second-order change represents significant personal loss (loss of expertise, loss of confidence, loss of relationships, and loss of status), they will respond as they would following the loss of loved ones. They will organize and schedule events intended to honor the past: the people and initiatives that helped move the organization forward. It is important as leaders to allow our teachers to go through the grieving process, acknowledge the past success and the people involved, and allow time for the teachers to mourn the past. Bridges (1980) refers to this period of mourning as the "neutral zone." The neutral zone is a period of time when people are letting go of the past, accepting what has ended and what has started, assimilating new knowledge and skills, and building confidence in themselves and in the future. We may shorten the period of time our teachers spend in the neutral zone through what Bridges refers to as the four P's to a new beginning:
Purpose - our teachers need to know why our school has changed and why it is necessary (Student Learning, College and Career Readiness)
Picture - people need a vision or picture of what the future will look like as a result of the change (Pilot teachers, Technology Plan)
Plan - people need to know the plans for implementing the changes (our Technology Plan)
Part - people need to know what part they can and will be asked to play in the future (Teacher Based Teams)
In conclusion I want to emphasize the importance of district leadership stability in the change process. In our case, the change was started by our pilot group of teachers. Once they experienced success and other teachers recognized the impact, they demanded more technology to implement in their classrooms. The demand created a need for the district to put a plan of action together to build upon the momentum and seize the moment. The plan was approved by the board of education and put into place. Board approval of the plan is vital to the long-term success of the change because district leadership changes. Continuity in district leadership can make or break second-order change. In our case, our superintendent changed immediately after the passage of the Technology Plan in the summer of 2012. We were fortunate that the new superintendent came from within the district and new the support the board of education had for the program.
I recently read the book "District Leadership that Works: Striking the Right Balance" by Robert J. Marzano and Timothy Waters (2009). Chapter 7 is about the Perils and Promises of Second-Order Change. My reading of this chapter caused me to reflect upon our district's decision to launch a 1:1 iPad program at our high school.
We are currently in the gear up phase of implementation of the 1:1 iPad program. In May of 2011 a group of high school teachers and an administrator were awarded the Transforming Teaching and Learning Grant. This grant provided for high quality professional development from eTech Ohio during the summer of 2011 in Project-Based Learning (PBL). The team then reviewed many different types of devices in the Fall of 2011 to determine which one would be best for implementing PBL. The team decided to purchase 5 iPad carts. One iPad cart would be used by each of the four teachers involved in grant and the fifth cart would be available for the other teachers in the high school to check out from the library. After a couple months, the grant team began to flourish and the fifth cart was always reserved and being used. There was a high demand for another cart so the district provided a sixth cart. The staff at the high school used it to its fullest also. It was obvious that a shift was happening at the high school and the staff could see the difference the carts and PBL was having on student learning.
The district decided to include the implementation of a 1:1 iPad program at the high school in the new Technology Plan in May of 2012. This plan called for all high school teachers to receive iPads before the summer so they could learn the basics of the new devices. The plan also called for the teachers to engage in professional development during the 2012-13 school year so they would be prepared for the students to get iPads in August of 2013. During the 2012-13 school year the high school has focused on the pedagogy behind PBL and on how to use the devices to support student learning. Building department meetings, late-starts, our PBL grant team, and Apple professional development have all been utilized to prepare our teachers for the 2013-14 school year.
With this background in mind and after reading Chapter 7, I asked myself the following questions:
Is this a first or second-order change?
Have we properly prepared our stakeholders for the change?
Have we communicated our change well to all stakeholders?
Do we need to alter our program in any way right now in order to make the change more successful?
To delve deeper into these questions to find solutions I will first give you an overview of Second-Order change as is detailed in this chapter.
Table 7.1 Characteristics of First-Order Change and Second-Order Change (P. 105)
First-Order Change
Second-Order Change
Is perceived as an
extension of the past
Is perceived as a break from
the past
Fits within existing
paradigms
Lies outside existing
paradigms
Is consistent with
prevailing values and norms
Conflicts with
prevailing values and norms
Can be implemented with
existing knowledge and skills
Requires the acquisition
of new knowledge and skills
Requires resources
currently available to those responsible for implementing the
innovations
Requires resources
currently not available to those responsible for implementing the
innovations
May be accepted because
of common agreement that the innovation is necessary
May be resisted because
only those who have a broad perspective of the school the innovation as
necessary
Is the Lancaster High School 1:1 iPad Program a first or second-order change?
First, this change is definitely perceived as a break from the past. The important thing to note in this change is that the change agents in this process were the high school teachers. They saw the impact it would have on student learning. They were the ones demanding more technology. They were the ones who started to change their instructional practices. They, led by the initial grant team of teachers, have be the change agents.
Second, this change lies outside existing paradigms. Providing each student with a learning device and sending it home with the students is definitely a new paradigm. We are still debating the particulars of the program and defining boundaries. There are currently changing regularly as we have visited other schools implementing the program and discussed it with policy and legal experts.
Third, this change conflict with prevailing values and norms but not as much as you would think. The high school staff, in general, has been integrating technology with instruction for several years. The change here is that it is now directly affecting student learning, not just instruction, in that each student will have a device to learn with.
Fourth, this program has necessitated increased professional development so teachers can be prepared for the change next school year. Most teachers have welcomed the training and have already advanced further than I thought possible. We will be wrapping up our Apple PD later in this school year to complete the first year of training.
Fifth, the board of education, superintendent, high school administrators, and myself have all had to allocate resources differently to implement this innovation. This program will cost over $1 million and required a level of dedication by the administration to technology that has been quite impressive. The board of education has provided leadership and direction to the district and is advancing this program because they know it is best for student learning.
And Sixth, there was initial resistance to this program by some high school teachers and administrators. This initial resistance has been mitigated by the year-long professional development effort we have put in place. There is still some resistance but with continued effort we will bring them along as well. There has also been no real opposition from our parents. We have communicated through video, print, and in parent meetings about the program. There response has been overwhelmingly positive.
This change, after reviewing Table 7.1, leads me to conclude that this is indeed a second-order change.
Have we properly prepared our stakeholders for the change?
I think we have worked well with our high school teachers in preparing them for the change. Of course, there will be tough times ahead as Marzano and Waters describe on pages 107-109. Some teachers, parents, and administrators may think we were all crazy to do this when we get into the midst of the program in the Fall of 2013. It will be critically important that the administration listen to the concerns of staff and parents when we get into the fall and make some adjustments. Most importantly, however, will be the reiteration of the vision for the program and its impact on student learning. We must maintain the vision and stay true to it, no matter how difficult it may be.
Have we communicated our change well to all stakeholders?
We have created several videos about the program and how it will impact student achievement. We have also communicated to our parents in our district and building newsletters. In January, all incoming freshman parents came to an event known as SPIN night and listened to administrators explain the program. We will also have more parent meetings in August to inform our parents. We need to continue to reach out to parents, especially now that we are close to the spring of 2013 so they are properly informed about the change. Communication is often the hardest part and we will continue to make a concerted effort to communicate.
Below are some of our videos from early in the process to the present.
Do we need to alter our program in any way right now in order to make the change more successful?
I welcome input in this area. We are currently struggling with policy considerations such as charging a deposit for the devices, opening or closing the App store during the school day, and how to check-in/check-out iPads for students who have not paid a deposit at the end of the school day. What we have done is put the preparation of our teacher first. They have worked through the pedagogy to change their practices in anticipation of what is to come next school year. How can we better communicate with our parents? Any input you can provide is welcome. I will continue to blog about this program and the change process in the coming days and months. Please check back as we progress through the program.
