Last week I attended the “Meaningful Faculty Evaluation” workshop given by ISM in Philadelphia. For those of you who are not familiar with MFE, it is a process of engaging faculty through conversations and personal growth that is intended to strip away the focus and obsession with weaknesses and focus on what teachers are good at. Now I know that many of my administrator colleagues are thinking “Wait a minute, what about those teachers that need to improve on X, Y or Z?” It’s all there, trust me. And if you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you should.

But the purpose of this post is not to focus on MFE as an evaluation tool but rather on one small, very simple exercise that lives within it that caught my attention. It was, in fact a very zen like exercise when I stepped back for a moment and reflected on its purpose and outcome.

At the very start of the MFE process, teachers are asked the following question “Other than making a living, why this, now with my life?”

Go ahead. Take a minute and re-read it.

Thought provoking to say the least and applicable to not only those of us in the field of education but just about everyone out there who has seemingly struggled with the question of why am I doing this work? It can be at times a challenging, thankless, exhausting exercise to wake up every morning and ask yourself that question. And you should. We all should. It is simply not enough to be working in education as a means to an income or 3 month summer vacation.

My last post focused on how I personally reflect on the year that has just ended, and it seems only fitting that I would follow that up with a post that looks upon the start of this new “year” by sharing my own personal mission statement with all of you.

“Antonio Viva exists to provide mindful leadership, raise a thoughtful, caring and successful son and reshape the world, one creative thinker at a time.”

Consider sharing/writing your own!

Photo Credit: ambergris

You might also be interested in..

• Are we ready?
• Monday Morning Meditation – Balance
• Monday Morning Meditation – A Great Revolution
• A Conversation About Social Media & Education
• EduCon 2.1 Sunday Morning Reflections

I was invited to speak with administrators from the Asheville School this week by my good friend and colleague, Peter Baron from Admissions Quest. The conversation lasted about 30 minutes and we discussed a variety of topics including; using social media in the classroom, understanding how to leverage the potential of social media technology in your communication strategy and changes in school culture.

I hope you enjoy it!

To find out more about Admissions Quest visit http://www.admissionsquest.com/

For information on the Asheville School, visit their website at http://www.ashevilleschool.org/

You might also be interested in..

• edSocialMedia Bootcamp Keynote St. John’s Prep
• Are we ready?
• Your Own Personal Mission Statement
• EduCon 2.1 Sunday Morning Reflections
• Monday Morning Meditation – Balance

Can we harness the power of social media to provide students with a vehicle for exploring and creating original content? WA Mash (Worcester Academy Mashup) is an online magazine where the power of social media is captured to provide creative writing students with a platform for exploring ideas and fostering and contributing to the larger global conversation. By exploring the possibilities offered by the use of social media tools, we explore how one teacher is defining the New Humanities at the secondary school level. Built off the work of Richard E. Miller at Rutgers University, students blog in a timely fashion about a wide variety of cultural, political and economic issues. Most importantly, it is about creating original content and redefining the role of student and teacher. They compliment their work with audio, video, photos and micro-blogging by integrating social media tools like YouTube and Vimeo, Twitter and Flickr. Think Slate or Salon for high school. The conversation will explore the nature and role of the New Humanities in education. How do we define it? What does it look it? What role does it play? And how do we move forward with implementation?

The resource wiki for this presentation can be found at educon21.wikispaces.com/211-3

Using Social Media to Define the New Humanities Classroom from Antonio Viva on Vimeo.

You might also be interested in..

• WA Mash…Preparing for a new trimester
• Technology and Social Media Trends for Schools in 2009
• Are we ready?
• EduCon 2.1 Sunday Morning Reflections
• WA Mash on Boarding School Podcast

This is my first time attending EduCon and I must admit that it has on the whole, delivered in every way. As I sit here in a Starbucks trying to catch my breath and enjoying a Vanilla Rooibus Tea latte I am thinking about the depth and breadth of conversations I have been able to have over the last two days. From our arrival on Friday afternoon, our tour of the Science Leadership Academy, the panel discussion at The Franklin Institute, the Saturday sessions, my presentation, the networking gathering and Sunday morning panel, the experience has been superb.

While I am still gathering my collective thoughts and trying to process much of what I have learned and heard over the past few days, I wanted to capture some of the enduring understandings that have left a mark on me.

• Part of the purpose of school should be to foster creativity, collaboration and courage.
• Schools should be a place where students generate ideas rather than just regurgitate them.
• We should strive to create environments where students have the ability to try out new ideas and test creative ideas.
• Working towards fostering new humanities rich environments where teachers can help “capture and harness student energy in order to shape it.”
• Schools should try to provide opportunities for students to convey concepts and original ideas through thoughtful, technology rich collaboration opportunities.
• “Schools should be about communication.”
• “A teacher has not really taught unless the student has learned.”
• If schools looked to the Mars Rover Mission for inspiration, they could see that any decision that they are about to make that does not meet the mission of the school is expendable.
• Schools should serve as the anchor and social hub for young people; they should be “the place to be” and have access to cool creative tools where students can create.
• As school administrators, we should strive to accept and embrace change with courage and confidence to challenge the status quo, and work toward fostering this mindset among all members of our school communities.
• Schools should work hard to become partners in the local economy where they can provide authentic, real-world experiences that allow students to take their original ideas to market.
• Small “schools” can exist within larger school structures. Meaningful relationships where no child falls through the cracks.
• “Transforming schools is not a mystery. What is needed is the moral courage to do what we know is right.”
• Gary Stager “As the richest country in the world we should provide every student with a computer and a cello.”
• Mandating systemic change has failed our schools, at what point will we truly honor diversity by seeing every school as unique?

I am sure that this partial brain dump is only a portion of what I have been able to digest and I hope that it provides you with a flavor what EduCon has done for my thinking around what education can be. I will be sure to process a more formal response once the conference is over.

In the meantime, have I left anything off the list?

Photo Credit: christopherl

You might also be interested in..

• 21st Century CIOs for 21st Century Schools
• “Equity, Access, and Opportunity” – Harvard Education Letter
• Presentation to WA Board of Visitors
• Sharing thoughts on 1 to 1 Laptop Learning
• Are we ready?

The resource wiki for this presentation is available @ http://antonioviva.pbwiki.com/21st-Century-CIOs

PLEASE NOTE: There are 3 videos that were embedded into the Keynote did not capture in the final video. Here are the links in the order of their appearance.

“A Vision of Students Today”
“The New Media Literacies”
“The Networked Student”

Description: By rethinking what we mean by technology leadership in our schools can we effectively change the landscape in order to harness this powerful new reality to improve teaching and learning? A better understanding that the role of a school CIO includes business partner, classic IT support provider, integrator, strategic thinker and educator, as well as a redefining of attributes and job description are some of the first steps schools can take to help navigate the world of technology 2.0.

21st Century CIOs for 21st Century Schools from Antonio Viva on Vimeo.

You might also be interested in..

• EduCon 2.1 Sunday Morning Reflections
• There is Never Enough Time
• “Equity, Access, and Opportunity” – Harvard Education Letter
• Presentation to WA Board of Visitors
• Sharing thoughts on 1 to 1 Laptop Learning

Open Space Technology Initative Writing Exercise (Note that summaries of the OST principles came from OST resources)

Welcome Everyone!

“Our theme for this gathering is to talk, collaborate and write initiatives for the Academy’s Strategic Plan.  Over the course of the afternoon, we are going to develop our best thoughts around the issues and opportunities associated with our theme. Each of you is invited to draft initiatives for our plan. I want you to keep in mind that you should strive whenever possible to write initiatives that you or your cohort (department, division, team etc) will be directly associated with. That is not to say that we cannot take advantage of the creative potential of this group but that whenever possible, it is wise to generate initiatives that you feel you will have some direct role in.  We want you to know that while we cannot guarantee that every initiative that is drafted today will make its way into the final action plan, we can guarantee that a sub-committee will be charged with reviewing it and giving it full consideration.

As we start, I want you to notice that there is no specific agenda and there is no one in charge. I am serving as the facilitator of this process and nothing more. There are 4 principles to OST and one law.

Whoever comes are the right people. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. Whenever it starts is the right time. When it is over, it is over. The first principle reminds everyone of the obvious fact that those of us present are the only ones here. Whatever gets done will get done by us, or not at all. There is little point, therefore in worrying about all those who should have come, might have come, but didn’t come. It is essential to concentrate on those of us who ARE here.

The second principle is yet another statement of the obvious. Given the theme or task at hand and the people in attendance, whatever happens is the only thing that could have. If we were to change the people, time, place, or theme, and something different would result.

If you are wondering at all with is the deal with Open Space Technology and clearly it is a new approach for Worcester Academy, it is not untried. Groups all over the world, some as large as 400, regularly create their own agendas for multi-day meetings in less than one hour. They then proceed to self-manage the whole affair. While this is not a contest, there is no reason for you to do less well than those who have gone before you.”

Lastly the one and only law of OST is the rule of two feet. It is a law only in the sense that all participants must observe it or the process will not work. We call it the Law of Two Feet. Briefly stated, this law says that every individual has two feet, and must be prepared to use them. Responsibility for a successful outcome in any Open Space Event resides with exactly one person — each participant. Individuals can make a difference and must make a difference. If that is not true in a given situation, they, and they alone, must take responsibility to use their two feet, and move to a new place where they can make a difference. This departure need not be made in anger or hostility, but only after honoring the people involved and the space they occupy. By word or gesture, indicate that you have nothing further to contribute, wish them well, and go and do something useful.

Review Format of afternoon and materials:
Room setup – each goal and corresponding strategy is broken out by individual table. You will notice that they are labeled and will have at them a copy of the strategy as well as the initiative writing template.
I would ask that you look at the handout each of you has received; it contains a copy of the plan in its entirety as well as a set of guidelines for writing initiatives.
(Review both)
Thank you for being here. And thank you for participating. If anyone wishes to remain at the end, we can spend some time debriefing the afternoon and the process.

Note – Close to 65 faculty and staff participated. The event was over in under 2 hours and over 100 initiatives were written. initial feedback was positive and on the whole, people enjoyed the exercise.

Photo Credit: Laughing Squid

You might also be interested in..

• Sharing thoughts on 1 to 1 Laptop Learning
• Monday Morning Meditation – A Great Revolution
• Opening Remarks 2009
• Your Own Personal Mission Statement
• Should School Change Be Organic?