Leading Learning presentation for EDER 691.91L70

1. Leading Learning
Samear
Sarah
Sheldon
Alison

2. Presentation Organization
1. Warm Up
2. Learning in the 21st Century
3. Upgrading the Curriculum
4. Coaches as System Leaders
5. Learning about System Renewal
6. Conclusion

3. Warm Up: What knowledge,
attitudes and skills do you
think are important for leading
21st century learning?
http://math.phillipmartin.info/school_teacher5.gif

4. A New Essential Curriculum for a New Time – What
do you think?
“I often wonder if our students feel like they are travelling
through time as they walk through the door to the school
each morning” (p7). Heidi Hayes Jacobs
ematusov.soe.udel.edu http://www.vectronics
appleworld.com
web.tech4learning.com

5. Old School Vs.
New School...
Jacob‟s argues that students feel as
though they‟ve walked into a
simulation of the 1980s.
Thesis: “As educators, our
challenge is to match the needs
of our learners to a world that is
changing with great rapidity. To
meet this challenge we need to
become strategic learners
ourselves by deliberately
expanding our perspectives and
updating our approaches” (p.7).

6. • Society in the 1800s was becoming less agrarian and more industrial
• It was a contentious time with competing viewpoints:
o critical thinking vs. rote memorization?
o racial and ethnic segregation?
o classic Latin or Greek practices?
• The Committee of Ten issued a report on December 4th, 1893 in New York which
recommended the same curriculum for all students - Designed in a factory model of
organization
• Schooling would take place over 8 elementary years and 4 high school years
o English
o History & Civics
o Math
o Biology & Chemistry
Image Source: www.thesummitprep.org
Elementary school was designed to meet goals of High
School (p 9).

7. “Form should follow function. And now more than ever, we have
genuinely new forms to work with” (p.14). - Heidi Hayes Jacobs
3 Myths:
That Jacob’s believes shape our
operational visions of
schools– Agree or
Disagree?
#1 - The good old days are good
enough
#2 - We‟re better off if we think
alike - and not too much
#3 - Too much creativity is
dangerous - and the arts
are frills (p 15).
Image Source incare-k12.com

8. Jacob’s makes reference to the work of
Wiggins and McTighe (2005) in
“Understanding by Design,” where they
argue that we should determine what
we want students to be able to do
before we start “short sighted activity
writing” for the classroom. This is
referred to as “backward design” by
beginning with the end in mind. This
means being deliberate and forward
thinking (p.7).
“Designing backward does not mean
going backwards” (p. 8).
Running schools on a continuous “replay button” no longer
works (p.8)

9. The word essential is derived from the Latin esse, meaning “to be.” When
combined with the Webster‟s definition, “to distill to the core,” the application
to curriculum making is clear” (p.13). - Heidi Hayes Jacobs
Problem #1: The
Standards Movement
Four Key Program
Structures: Need to be
Rethought
A New Essential
Curriculum
Overemphasis on dated
standards
The schedule - long and
short is dated
Needs actual replacement
of dated content, skills &
assessments
Overemphasis on low level
testing
The way we group learners-
we know multi-age groups
can work
Change can feel trendy &
superficial, but growth is
deep & positive
Prevailing myth that
standards prepare students
for the future
Personal configurations -
thoughtfully grouped
personnel can be effective
Form should follow function,
and we have so many new
forms to work with
Too much disparity in
interpretation of standards
(p. 9-10).
Physical & virtual space- we
isolate teachers in their
classrooms (p.13-14).
There are signs of
improvement. i.e. Digital
grad portfolios in Rhode
Island (p.13).

10. UPGRADING THE CURRICULUM: 21st
CENTURY ASSESSMENT TYPES AND SKILLS

11. You can’t just replace a
typewriter with a
computer and call it
innovative. We need to
REPLACE existing
PRACTICES(Jacobs, 2010, p.18).

12. CURRICULUM =
•Content
•Skills
•Assessments
…..that’s a lot of stuff to upgrade.

13. How do you eat an elephant?

14. Start small,
start focused,
start with ASSESSMENTS(Jacobs, 2010, p.18).
How do you upgrade curriculum??

15. 5 steps to
Upgrade
Assessments

16. Step 1: Figure out what these new
assessments are going to look like!
Hint: The new assessments should
reflect products and performances of
21st century professionals.

17. Podcasts Films Online
Courses Blogs E-reports
Websites
Simulations
Emails
Digital Music
Webcasts
CAD projections
Email exchanges
Screenplays
Online Journals
Video Conferences

18. Step 2: Teachers and IT identify what
kinds of technology exist in the
school/division
Once that has been determined, differentiated staff
development will be needed so staff can learn new
technologies.
Examples:
smartboardswebcamsiPods/iPads
web design toolswebquests twitter
photoshop web simulations CAD

19. Step 3: Replace a dated
assessment with a modern one
“We should aggressively
go out of our way to
search for better ways to
help our learners
demonstrate learning with
the types of products and
performances that match
our times” (Jacobs, 2010, p.25).

21. Step 4: Share the assessment upgrades
with other teachers and students
The original assessment can be compared to the
new and improved one – this allows for
collaborative brainstorming to occur.

22. Step 5: Embed ongoing sessions and
time into the school calendar for
continued upgrades
Teachers need built-in,
recurring time set aside to
upgrade curriculum and
expand their instructional
strategies (Jacobs, 2010, p.26).

23. Coaches as System Leaders
Michael Fullan and Jim Knight

24. Facts
Good coaching gets results quickly
Coaching has to be part of an overall district
improvement strategy
Districts must be organize to create,
develop&sustain conditions for
instructional improvement

25. What does not work
accountability
individual teacher
development
technology
piecemeal reform
components
If Coaching is to be successful a focus is required
What does work
capacity building
teamwork
pedagogy
system reform

26. “All schools in a
district must be
treated as a part
of a system.
Changing one school
at a time is no
longer an option”
(p. 51).

27. The Coaches role . . .
• lesson planning with classroom teacher
• modeling lessons
• observing instruction
• facilitation of meetings
• reviewing student data
• collaborative marking

28. Evidence shows successful Coaching requires. . .
• clear articulated professional development goals
for both the coaches and the principal
• supportive and collaborative leadership rather
than top-down (which creates an atmosphere of
resistance)
• training for coaches
• pedagogic, communication and leadership skills

29. Principal role . . .
• Instructional leader
• Collaborate with coach and classroom teacher
• School leaders need to understand School
Improvement plan
• Allow meaningful change to be realized before
trying something else

30. System responsibilities
• building and increasing system level
capacity
• support for system and „change‟ leaders
• emphasis on professional learning rather
than accountability

31. North York saw a 20% improvement following the
development and implementation of 14 parameters
• Shared beliefs & vision
• Embedded literacy coaches
• Timetabled literacy blocks
• Principal leadership
• Early & ongoing
intervention
• Case management
approach
• Literacy professional
development
• In-school grade & subject
meetings
• book rooms with levelled
books & resources
• Allocation of resources to
literacy learning
• Action research focussed
on literacy
• parental involvement
• Cross-curricular literacy
connections
• shared responsibility &
accountability

32. Indicate with the clipart tool all the parameters your school district utilizes.

33. A teacher‟s work has the greatest impact on
student success followed by that of the principal
and finally the coach.
“The work of the coach is squandered if school
principals are not instructional leaders” (p. 55).

34. Solve the puzzle (use the chat)

35. Learning About System Renewal
by Ben Levin & Michael Fullan
•The introduction of the Education
Reform Act (ERA) 1988 in
England was a watershed event
not just in that country but
internationally
(p. 289).
•The educational strategy of ERA
was based on choice and
competition.
•Belief that competition drives
efficiency and improvement in
economy so why not schools.
•Parents could choose schools
and would need comparable
measures of students
achievement – based on a single
national curriculum
The article focused on the lessons learned about effective change from international
experience with large-scale reform over the last 20 years.
• Many countries have “moved in
similar directions, though with
highly variable degrees of
boldness and commitment “ (p.
290).
•Along the way there have been
growing concerns about basing an
education strategy on choice and
competition (p. 291).
• Recent reforms in many
countries attempt to address both
excellence and equity through
strategies that focus on improving
the whole system by „raising the
bar and closing the gap‟ for all (p.
291).

36. Levin & Fullan (2008) state that:
Creating change in education is easy.
Many governments have done it by changing funding or policies or information or
governance structures. However these changes are not necessarily improvements (p. 292).
.
GroupActivityU
sing the
Found in the
Elluminate
clipart tool box
State whether
or not you
believe these
government
changes made
improvements
to the school
system.
Clipart Tool

37. Central Lesson of Large Scale Educational Change
Levin & Fullan (2008) believe that large-scale, sustained
improvement in student outcomes requires a sustained effort
to change school and classroom practices, not just structures
such as governance and accountability.
The heart of improvement lies in changing teaching and
learning practices in thousands and thousands of classrooms,
and this requires focused and sustained effort by all parts of
the education system and its partners(p. 291).

38. Seven Key Components to Education Reform that are Sustainable
andResult in Better Outcomes for Learners(p. 292-299).
(1) A small number of ambitious yet achievable goals, publicly stated.
(2) A positive stance with a focus on motivation.
(3) Multi-level engagement with strong leadership and a „guiding coalition‟.
(4) Emphasis on capacity building with a focus on results.
(5) Keeping a focus on key strategies while also managing other interests and issues.
(6) Effective use of resources.
(7) Constant and growing transparency including
public and stakeholder communication
and feedback.
(p. 292-299)

39. The Inhibiting Factors
• The use of change knowledge is increasing internationally, but future
prospects remainmixed because it is hard work!
Please jot down a few of your thoughts on why many attempts at school reform fail to achieve their goals!

40. The Inhibiting Factors
According to by Ben Levin & Michael Fullan
• Not a quick fix – governments under pressure to
do something now – no patients to stay the course
• High turnover of leaders makes it difficult to have
a guiding coalition of leaders on the same page for
this complex approach
• Deep Cultural Change requires hard, patient,
unrelenting effort over a period of years