10 things I have learned in my short time at ISTE's inaugural Leadership Forum

Here we go for about the 4th time of getting started in blogging.

Here 10 things I have learned in my short time at ISTE's inaugural Leadership Forum:

From the address by the board of ISTE:

• Intelligent people who truly love to learn surround themselves with people from whom they want to learn.
• Intelligent people also correctly say "inaugural" instead of "1st annual".
• "True leadership begins with a commitment to students" -- Brian Lewis, ISTE President

From @chrislehmann's keynote address:

• Students have the ability today to create profound artifacts of learning.
• Students should have the opportunity to reflect on and direct their learning.
• "We NEED kids to be better than we are".
• The three major design influences for schools were factories, prisons, and churches.
• We cannot replace schools with Wall Street. High-stakes, one-shot testing does not meet the original vision of schools. Schools need to represent our Democratic ideals, not those of capitalism.
• Rube Goldberg has a larger influence in schools than imagined. Why do we keep trying to build a better multiple choice test or filmstrip?
• We have several challenges facing us to change schools:
• Leaders need to change the way teachers talk and model this talk. Students should never be the implied object of education.
• We need to ask questions that we do not know that answers to. That is the link between inquiry and care. In the same vane, we need to care about students, not care for them.
• Technology should be used to optimize person to person time. It should unite and connect...not isolate.
• Administrators, in particular, should understand this and remove themselves from their office for an entire day each week. Remember why we got into education in the first place. (See Brian Lewis quote)
• Schools need to be great places of passion: For teachers in guiding the learning and for students being an active participant in the learning.
• Students need to be synthesizers of information. Were current educators trained how to make this happen for students?
• Schools cannot be depositors of information. Learning needs to matter to students.
• True change happens when leadership develops a vision, models that vision for all, and sustains that vision with systems and structures. If you lead by majority rule, it is the best way to build 49% opposition.
• Leaders need to stop trying to fix the broken...we need to evolve.
• And above all, be one school. Don't have a 1 set of rules for students, one for teachers, one for parents, etc.

If the keynote is any indication, all administrators need to attend this conference as a team to remember what schools can be.

Oh the weather outside is...

Is it wrong that I have been in education for 14 years and still get excited at the prospect of a snow day?

It used to be the prospect of sleeping in or going back to sleep. Teasing my wife that she still had to go into work. Possible dropping the kids off at daycare and getting a nice quiet day at home...

Of course, now, with the new position, the idea of a snow day takes on a whole new meaning. Phone calls at 3 am from our building foreman giving me updates on snow removal and salting, any leaks in the building, which of his guys called off. Then dealing with initiating phone trees and ensuring that everyone is notified. Then dealing with the people who did not provide their contact information and they send off a nasty gram email because they did not get called and showed up at school and found it was closed.

But now, the snow is happening at the end of the day and we have to deal with cancelling activities, clearing the building, notifying parents, making sure that all students leave safely and orderly. We have cancelled the basketball games, getting everyone out and I get to pick up my kids and take what should be a quick 30 minute trip home and make it into an hour and a half.

I guess what goes around comes around...be safe and warm!

Getting settled in

Change is a challenge...that must be why they share so many letters.

I am starting to feeling like I am getting my sea legs in my new office, position, and school. Our IT guys got me a desktop computer. The phone jack for my desk is now operational. I am starting to learn people's names and quirks, as they are me. All in all, not so bad for week number 2 after starting in semester 2.

The "funny" thing is that I just went through the computer set up about 4 weeks ago in my old office. I was using a machine with what could not have been more than a Pentium 2 processor and after enough begging and pleading, I was given a new machine....after my assistant principal got one...and she didn't ask! But, all that is bygones. I spent the after noon at my old office getting all of the programs reinstalled on my computer, going back and forth with IT about my permissions, printer set-ups, scanners, downloads, etc. Finally got the computer running the way I like it and then I was given the new position at a new school. GREAT OPPORTUNITY, no doubt about that. Since I am staying in the same district, I asked if I would be able to merely move my computer to my new building and office. Since I have spent the morning setting up my new, new computer, that answer was no.

Now, with the newly working phone jack, I no longer have to do a 12 yard dash every time my phone rings. In my old position my phone did not ring that much. Now, it rings constantly and 90 times out of 100, it is because the person on the other end is not happy with something I or someone else did. That is the job and that is part of the change and challenge.

Coming into the new school at the beginning of the 2nd semester is the biggest challenge. Sure my office now has boxes all over the place, papers strewn, half-completed projects from my predecessor that need immediate attention from all sorts of people, but that is part of the fun. The hard part is learning who all of those people are. I feel fortunate that there are some people that I know and know me. There are others who want to tell me how things get done and the way that "we have always done them". It is a tough balance between tradition and stagnation.

I am thinking that my reading in Bolman & Deal will come in handy as I navigate through the 4 frames to maximize the working structures that are in place, fully realize the potential in the human resources, CAREFULLY navigate the political waters, and honor the strong symbols of a good school. But like I said, I am just getting my sea legs. Let's hope that outcome is much better that that Italian cruise ship.

Standardized Testing...the new game show?

Today was a bit of a tough day. I had a good day at my new campus and spent the second half of the day cleaning out my office in my old campus. While I do not have computer in my new office yet, I do not get the chance to do my digital learning during the day. So, I came home today from my first week in my new position and had a chance to read contributions to my learning from my PLN. Vicki Davis shared this video on Google+:

 If you watch the video, the contestant admits that it is challenging to "do math sitting here [in the hot seat]". Having been on a televised game show myself, I can be sympathetic to the "hot seat" phenomenon. Having said that, it reminds me of the high pressure situation that we put our students in late April for our NCLB mandated test, the Prairie State Achievement Exam.

For those of you not familiar with the Illinois test, it is a two day test comprised of the ACT (day 1) and the Work Keys plus and Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) developed Science assessment. The scores from these two days of testing are mysteriously calculated into cuts scores to determine if juniors in high school meet or exceed state standards. Amazingly, Illinois uses a test (the ACT) for NCLB that is DESIGNED to sort students and leave some behind. But I digress...we can discuss standardized assessment at a later date.

It seems that NCLB gives schools 1 chance to "hit it big", like on a game show. The trouble is that as schools have to play the game to get students ready make it through the test the mathematics for this question is reduced to a trivia fact. There is no thought about Pythagoras and the 3-4-5 triangle that could generate a great discussion about mathematics and numeracy. I hope that as the CCSS take effect and change mathematics teaching in the early grades, there will be deeper understanding of the mathematics and we can change the game show created by NCLB.

Will high school math classes change form Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2/Trig to Math 1, 2, 3 and 4 with thoroughly integrated topics? Will students come into high school with better understanding of the fundamentals of math to spur deeper understanding in high school? Will there be better assessments that come with PARC?

We will have to wait and see. Until then...BIG BUCKS, NO WHAMMIES!

Copiers -- Possibly the new bane of my existence

As I am getting to know the staff at my new building, it is fortunate that there are some people that I know. One of these people is very friendly. As I was in her office, I noticed a stack of final exams and textbook samples. Jokingly, I said to her that with my new position, I do not have to worry about those things anymore and my life got much simpler with my new job. As I was having a good laugh near her expense, she said “Bob, I have 1 word for you…copiers”. And that is when something hit the fan.

For anyone who has ever worked in a school, you know that the one thing that breaks the most is the photocopier. Machines purchased for the school are typically smaller than what is needed and cannot process the volume or sheer abuse that faculty can dish out. People will try to copy pictures that are mostly dark and wonder why the fuser will overheat from too much toner trying to be processed. Staples jam in the machine. Colored paper is in the wrong drawer and a sheet of green or pink will randomly be inserted into your test. Staff members will begin a copy job and when the machine jams, leave it for the next person. The list goes on and on…and right on to my desk.

We have two machines in the copy room (and a few others, but those are not for general consumption). One machine in the copy room is for anyone to use; the other is strictly for our copy person. We are fortunate to have part-time person in the copy room. Her job is to process copy jobs for the teaching staff. This is meant to increase efficient use of time by the teachers so they do not have to wait for copies. All a teacher has to do is drop off the master and then pick up the final product the next day. The part-time person also has access to her own machine so this will hopefully reduce the havoc wreaked on the machines. She has had training and can handle most minor hiccups that others would leave for “someone else” to fix.

This system is a well oiled machine that has been in place for a number of years…long before I arrived. At the start of the semester the principal received a few emails about “problems” in the copy room and asked me to look into it. I found the copy room, met the copy lady, asked some questions and found that the problem was with our network printers and that issue had been resolved (I can talk about that one at a later date). After I met who I needed to meet and saw what I needed to saw, I sent out a carefully crafted email thanking everyone for my warm welcome and explain how copies should continue to run.

Then the emails came to me, directly. I guess I was asking for it by describing policies and procedures. Teachers asked if the 2^nd machine would have the lock removed to they could use it all day. Teachers grumbled that they like to make their copies their way and need to make sure it is done correctly. Teachers just wanted to moan that machines are ALWAYS broken. I listened and carefully responded. Then watched the replies to my reply come in and respond carefully again. Some people stopped by the office…not to say hi or welcome, but to discuss the copiers.

One question…can I go back to exams and textbooks?

A new beginning

I know, I know…every year I look at my blog and say this is the year that I will take it head on. History repeats itself again, but with a twist. I was just appointed to a new position as Associate Principal for Operations. I am excited about this opportunity but this is a far cry from my experiences in the teaching and learning side of education. I was trained as a classroom instructor. I taught for a number of years and then became the Instructional Leader, dealing with the oversight of curriculum, budget, staffing, etc. Now I am responsible for oversight on the master schedule, counselors, deans, and the rest of the PPS department. Additionally, I oversee maintenance, security, kitchen staff, and my favorite…other duties as assigned.

This new position has come in the middle of the year to assist another campus in my district who had an administrator leave to pursue an opportunity of a principal-ship. I was flattered and grateful for this opportunity that the new campus and the district administration felt that I am ready for, and I am…this will be a big learning curve and I am ready to learn.

In the following weeks (not months) our district will face a new bell schedule (due to a decrease is class periods because of a necessary $10 Million budget cut due to a charter school), Illinois Senate Bill 7 and its implications on staffing and retention of staff, losses in funding, changing enrollments, new course offerings, completely rebuilding the master schedule (due to the reasons above) and much more. I will have to handle all of this in addition to meeting a new staff, balancing my way of doing things with the ever dreaded “this is the way we get things done here”, evaluating PPS, operating the building, being the sounding board for my principal, supporting all staff, handling crisis management (1^st day back to school), and of course…other duties as assigned.

In those immortal words…Let’s get ready to rumble! With all of the challenges come opportunities, so it is going to be a GREAT year!

Top Tools for Learning in 2011

Colette Cassinelli has been compiling a list of the Top 100 Tools for learning for the past 5 years. It is now time to contribute again. Please use the link above or the web address: http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/2011.html to add your thoughts and recommendations to the list. Below are my contributions. Do you agree with my top picks?

Top 10: (These are in no particular order)
Diigo - the ability to access and catalog valued web-based resources and file from anywhere with a connection is invaluable. Plus, the groups allow for targeted sharing and researching.
Plurk - I know that everyone loves Twitter, but Plurk is just as powerful, if not more, because you can follow a true thread of thought. More people should look into Plurk as a microblog.
Google+ - You want emerging...this is exploding. I firmly believe that G+ will make Facebook into the new MySpace (passe and over the hill). Plus, if G+ is included in Google Apps for educators, schools can run their own social network that is monitored for safety and provide some read education and experience in NETS regarding social networking.
Animoto - Such a great tool to introduce digital storytelling and one of the best ways to reinforce the concept of pre-writing!
VoiceThread - Collaborate on presentations, gather input, let students voices be heard!
Wikispaces - Easy to use, infinite in possibilities. The discussions tab provides an opportunity for sharing that thought development and the History tab can take care of any "accidental" deletions
Skype - Connect, collaborate...all for free! Great classroom resource to connect your students with the rest of the world!
Dropbox - File sharing and data backup that is easy as pie. Plus, the more people you get involved, the more storage you get for free.
Wordsift - Very similar to Wordle, but what I like is the linkage to visual images and a thesaurus for better vocabulary development. It emulates what our reading specialists are talking about.

iPad - Come on...iTunes University, Facetime, Digital reader/annotator, the list goes on and on...hopefully, when BYOD becomes SOP, iPad will have only gotten better.

Continue to share and contribute because we will learn together and change education to what it can be.

C&I 579 Reflection 3

Typically, when preparing for a PD session, I have a PPT plan in mind. I create the PPT with links and questions embedded. With this task, it was a lot more involved than originally thought. This session was developed by brainstorming an outline of what to present and how to educate and entertain. I developed a wiki with a multitude of resources and difference methods of presenting information. I made some presentations with Google Docs and had to solve me lack of animation problems. Additionally, I learned a new application, Jing, to do some screen casts.


My intent of the project was to introduce my participants to some of the ways that learning and the capacity of teachers can be increased. I think that my project meets the intent. What I have learned throughout this class and though my other classes in examining professional development is that true change takes a long time and even a four hour session can only introduce material.

While I was trying to demonstrate multiple techniques, I would probably try to be a little more uniform in presentation styles. Additionally, if I were presenting this information in person, for a live audience, I would be able to utilize some of the features of PowerPoint that are unavailable in Google Docs. Additionally, a lot of the presentation is emphasized by the enthusiasm and experience of the presenter. Just as in the classroom for students, there is the art of teaching that is just as important as the science (Marzano, 2003). I am satisfied with the information that my participants would be exposed to and begin to integrate into their instruction. Even with the voice over screen cast, there is the human element missing in this session.

C&I 579 Blogpost 4




Direct Link: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-04-09/

  I love Dilbert Cartoons and my daily calendar always has an eerie coincidental alignment of topics to what is going on in my life. The above cartoon is no exception. I saw this cartoon after reading a blog post that hits "closer to home", as the author of the blog is my professor for C&I 579, Dr. Cheri Toledo. As she has endeavored to create a Tuesday Tool blog post, one of the items posted was the "How Millennial Are You" quiz.

I was surprised with my results on the quiz. Below is the comment that I made on her blog:

I got a 31 this time. I have found that it is because my parents were married for most of my life, I have no tattoos or piercings, and I did not receive a text message in the past 24 hours. When I took the quiz the first time I had received a text message (we don’t have a txt plan with my Blackberry) and I scored a 71. The quiz employs interesting metrics to determine the generation to which you belong. I think that this quiz might make an interesting introduction to a PD session.

If you would like to take the quiz, here is the link: http://pewresearch.org/millennials/quiz/intro.php

C&I 579 Reflection 2

Up to this point in the class, I have been reinvigorated to increasing my PLN and seeking out new people with whom to collaborate. The Author C/C project got me reading some specifics on education with technology and the presentations by my classmates have gotten me intrigued to continue reading. I have continued to explore online resources and the shared links that people have submitted via Diigo have been helpful.

One of the things that I will not forget tomorrow is from the collaboration that I have had with my PLN and classmates. This communication has lead me to develop Google Forms that not only grade themselves, but also email the results to the taker with suggestions on how to do better the next time. I have shared this with my teachers and they are very excited to begin exploring and using this capability. I have further inquired to my PLN how to modify the java script to make the results a little more user friendly from the teacher side. If you are interested in seeing this form in action, here is the link. Don’t worry about the answers to the questions; just make sure that you have a correct email address so you can get your results.

With what I have learned in class, I will continue to share with my teachers and challenge them to examine their practices in their classroom. I want my teachers to continually find new ways to do new things while still exploring the content as prescribed by the district/state/Common Core State Standards. I hope that my teachers get as excited as I do when I learn about the new and changing resources that are available.

C&I 579 Blog Post 3

As I was reading through my Twitter feed, I found the article called "21 Things That Will Be Obsolete by 2020". The article was written by Tina Barseghian in the KQED Mind/Shift blog. After working through our project on creating a technology enriched learning environment, the list was quite intriguing.

My comment:  I read your article after finding it on Twitter. There are some major, heavily anchored concepts and paradigms of schools that will have to be broken before these changes can take place. Won't it be wonderful when it happens? We should all try to imagine a time when students can have access to their "pocket computers" (smart phones) and perform research anytime they want. With that increase in access of information, imagine how the teaching would have to change! A movement away from facts and figures to creating and collaborating! Live the dream.

Update to C&I 579 Blog Post 2

In a blog post based on an article about the death of blogging, I had a conversation continuer...

I received a comment by the author of the blog that I read:

Tim Holt said...

Thank you for keeping the conversation going. And thank you for visiting my blog out here in little ol El Paso

Based on the article and blog post, one of the challenges to blogging is the limited capacity for conversation. The use of comments can help continue concepts and connections of ideas. When commenting on a blog, make sure that you include a post to your blog website to begin gaining connections to authors. It is REALLY neat to have your blog referenced by someone that you do not personally know! See one of my references: (http://dangross.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/coming-home-and-inspiring-success/)

C&I 579 Blog 2

The blog that I read for this post was, strangely enough, about the death of blogging. Are U reading a Dinosaur? by Tim Holt in El Paso, TX and it was based on an article from the NY Times.

My comment that I posted was:


The article is an interesting point that as we "evolve" in our electronic communication, we now have students who view email as too slow of a method of communication. Twitter, which I value, and Facebook, which I use for personal communication, offer instant communication and collaboration opportunities. The blog, as a "slower" version of communication, may be on the same pathway as print media. We are looking at being able to edit and collaborate and develop ideas in a hyper-paced life style and while comments on blogs are interesting to read, they are not interactive like Twitter or wikis.

It is strange to know that we have a generation of students who have been so hyper-connected that blogging and email is viewed as too slow of a method of communication. Students today txt message and tweet to get instant feedback. Non-dynamic text does not stimulate students as books did for older generations. As educators, we will need to find ways to bring in more methods of quick feedback to maintain engagement.

C&I 579 Reflection 1

So far in the class, I have not had a change in attitude. I have been a large proponent of building professional learning networks as a new method of learning and discovery. When I started in teaching, I had made some websites and was familiar with instant messaging and online chat. Fortunately, I attended an administrator academy that reinvigorated my interest and drive in technology integration. Many of the early topics discussed in this class were topics with which I was familiar. I have enjoyed the opportunity to work with other educators, learning with them and exploring topics in more detail.


I selected C&I 579 for the specific reason of finding more of the academic research base that supports the integration of technology into instruction as a method of improving student achievement. The largest concept that has been thought-altering has been the exposure to TPACK. Being in the EAF doctoral program, I want to explore how the leadership of the school can develop this. I was excited when I began reading about this as a potential theoretical framework to my research. As I develop my dissertation topic more fully, I would like to discover how TPACK can serve as a model for leaders to follow.

As I continue in the course, I will continue my reading into the academic basis for technology integration, including 21st century learning and the NETS standards, as it relates to student achievement and the leadership needed to support those efforts.

C&I 579 Blogpost 1

I am currently taking an instructional technology course as a part of my doctoral work at Illinois State University. While I have blogged before (sporadically), one of my current assignments is to review blogs of other educational technologists, comment, and reflect.

The blog I read was by Richard Byrne and discussed http://backchan.nl/.

The section of the blog that grabbed my interest was this: Backchan.nl is an open-source backchannel tool developed at the MIT Media Lab. Using Backchan.nl you can create an online forum through which users can exchange messages in response to a presentation they're watching. There are a lot of free services that do the same thing, but there are a couple of things that make Backchan.nl different. Backchan.nl allows you to select a start and end time for your backchannel. As the administrator of a Backchan.nl account you can create and manage multiple backchannels and schedule them to go live at different times. Backchan.nl also includes voting tools that participants can use to vote messages up or down.


My comment on the blog was: Thank you for this resource. In the past I have used Chatzy when I have done workshops or presentations. The polling option is a nice way that educators can gauge the level of understanding by students or the audience. Have you run into any major firewall problems? The chance to have the audience or students interact as a part of presentation really hits the 4 C's of 21st century learning.


While I have used other back channel utilities before, Backchan.nl presents some wonderful opportunities to educators as well as presenters. The benefits include polling options and more user controlled timing with start and stop times. When I have presented a backchat to a workshop group before, they were hesitant and questioning the attention span of themselves and their students. Once they realized that they could discuss unique aspects of my presentation, ask questions, follow related tangents, etc., they found that they were actual participants in my presentation and were actively learning, collaborating, and communicating without missing my message. It presents a powerful avenue for students to express opinions and find their voice within your class.

Change is challenging

The world's first tech support or, for community relations, bringing people into your transformation idea... (from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRBIVRwvUeE)



When I saw this video, I began to think, how do we get people to make changes? The old addage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" seems to be a working model for a lot of people with whom we may come in contact. For those of us who have been in the teaching profession for a while, we can remember a time when attendance and grades were always done by hand. (Possibly only the geeky math or computer teacher would do something using a spreadsheet...). Where you in the profession when the transition was made to electronic attendance and gradebooks? How much resistance was there? How many times did you hear the question, why do I have the change the way I am doing this? Or even better, I am retiring in 2 years, I am not going to change...


As I look at increasing community engagement, changing the public image of a district, or even incorporating technology into the classroom on a daily basis, there are some of the questions that I will have to address. It is funny that there are people out there that deny that evolution occurs and these are the same people who don't want to change with the times. Take a lesson from biology, species that fail to adapt to changing environments go extinct!

Getting back into the game...

My last blog post was on January 22nd of this year. At that point, I was trying to really get going with posting to the blog on a regular basis. Unfortunately, tragedy struck on Jan. 29 when my father passed away. After that happened, I just had some other things to deal with. While I miss Dad everyday, I have come to terms with the loss and think of him fondly.

One of the classes that I am taking for my Doctorate of Education is a seminar in Community Relations. Oddly enough, one of our weekly assignments is to post to the class blog on a topic of interest. This has got my blogging "juices" flowing again and I will be back in the swing of things.

If you read the blog, thank you to all 6 of you! Please pass it on and share. If you don't read the blog...this really doesn't apply to you then.

US Supreme Court kills Democracy

Everyone should mark this day on their calendars and make reference to this day in the upcoming years in their history classes and on the news with a moment of silence. In a Court decision reported on January 22, 2010, century old campaign finance reform laws were over-turned. Quoted from the Chicago Tribune: “The basics of the Supreme Court's landmark decision on campaign finance:

OVERTURNED

—A 63-year-old law, and two of its own decisions, that barred corporations and unions from spending money directly from their treasuries on ads that advocate electing or defeating candidates for president or Congress but are produced independently and not coordinated with the candidate's campaign.

—The prohibition in the McCain-Feingold Act that since 2002 had barred issue-oriented ads paid for by corporations or unions 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election.

LEFT IN PLACE

—The century-old ban on donations by corporations from their treasuries directly to candidates.

—The ability of corporations, unions or individuals to set up political action committees that can contribute directly to candidates but can only accept voluntary contributions from employees, members and others and cannot use money directly from corporate or union treasuries.

—The McCain-Feingold provision that anyone spending money on political ads must disclose the names of contributors.”
(http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-us-campaign-finance-glance,0,7496875.story, accessed Jan. 22, 2010).

So what does this mean? Extrapolating the effects of this decision our a few years, we will no longer have red and blue states. We will now have red and blue corporations; stores will have political ads running for the candidate that their parent corporation supports. We will see political candidates wear suits that are no longer maid by Armani, but by the same company that manufactures that coveralls worn by NASCAR drivers. Just picture it, in the next presidential election it may not be a democratic candidate versus a republican, but a candidate sponsored by Target versus the candidate sponsored by Walmart. Can you picture the big emblems and patches on their new suits? What will this mean for news corporations? Why they have endorsed a candidate in the past, they certainly never placed a PSA that slung mud at the other candidate. Now, they can have the opportunity.

The new proper "Running Attire"
(http://www.sportscardforum.com/photoplog/images/21935/medium/1_Jimmy-Johnson-Lowes-Racing.jpg)

Even with McCain-Feingold (2002) still in place, the idea of stating who the ad is by at its end to “identify the bias” is like having something stricken from the record during a jury trial. Once the idea is out there and people have heard it, it becomes a little difficult to remove it from their memory. Having ads created by any corporation will not only put forth their interests into the political area, but will also serve as a source of more ad time.

It seems that the Cold War was about just this. Communist countries, while not big on the idea of letting all of the people have a say and being represented, did not want the people to be overrun by corporations and greed. Look at what just happened!

I see mock elections occurring for the next few cycles and then welcome to the plutocracy!

Now, while congressmen and other political figures have received endorsements before, there is a new wrinkle that gets added in…in Illinois, we elect judges. Now, the impartiality of the courts comes into question! “Your Honor, while I was speeding, please know that I spend over $30,000 a year at Target, which is a big supporter of yours, for various personal and corporate purchases. Do you really want to lose my vote?” How doe we get an anti-tobacco lawsuit now when big tobacco will be a major contributor to election campaigns? Which brand of cigarettes did the President quit? Did he just lose potentially a major contributor to his re-election fund?

With the influence of corporations now able to directly affect the outcomes of elections, democracy has just been killed. An individual no longer has a true voice in the country. Our representatives will now be jockeying for corporate sponsorships instead of talking the issues (which they barely do now). How can someone without the backing of a major corporation get equal exposure? How can the candidates represent our interests when they owe their seat to a big corporation? January 22, 2010 marks the death of our representative government, of the people, by the people, and for the people, and capitalism has clearly taken over.

On a positive note, clairvoyance has been proven to truly exist. Want to see the future? Look here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/ (Rent it, it is a good one, and eerily prophetic now)

A challenge to you!

Today, I am at the Tech Forum conference. I really enjoy the instructional technology conferences because I am exposed to multiple experts, get to meet people face-to-face from my Professional Learning Network, gather new online Web 2.0 tools, although with what Clarence Fisher stated in his keynote address, we need to improve our pedagogy and curriculum and not focus on the individual tools, and just generally get invigorated about what can be done.

In one of the sessions, Beyond the Web 2.0 Hype, multiple questions were brought: Are there new literacies that connective technologies create? Or, do these tools afford the attainment of literacy in a different way? David Warlick: People want schools to be better, but not different. Do you believe this true? How does web 2.0 make schools better? Should ask what does it mean to be well educated in the 21st century? Are we teaching kids to communicate in the new methods?

These questions were challenging. Some of the answers were difficult to hear in terms of what we are doing compared to what could be done.

How can we bring the outside world into our classroom? It is with this question that I write this blog post...a challenge of mine own to the 4 people that read this.

For the people that read this, you are probably up to date (or more so than I am) on the newer things out there to increase student engagement in the classroom. I know that you share things. Here is the trick, how many people that you share things with will share with other people?

If you share and the idea doesn't go anywhere, it is like asking a question when teaching and getting the answer. Sure, it is nice, but it is better when you hear that your student went home and described how to answer the question to their parents of someone else in the class. That is when your knowledge has been passed and, in some way, provided you with a legacy. Your passion and knowledge have been passed to someone you have never met!

The challenge to you with your Internet knowledge. How many people have you reached outside of your direct contact? When you share your knowledge with someone, ask them with who are they going to share it? Let your knowledge become viral. Keep the SOCIAL in social networking and bookmarking!

Save Men's Glee

I know that it has been a while since I posted to the blog. To be honest fatherhood, doctorate program and my job were keeping me pretty busy.

I have recently learned of a disturbing situation with an organization at the University of Illinois that is near to my heart, the Varsity Men's Glee Club. For anyone that knows me personally, they know that music has been a big part of my academic career and personal life. Recently, there have been changes to the audition policies of the School of Music that have "demoted" the VMGC to a third tier choir.

Please check out http://www.savemensglee.com to get the full details. If you are in central Illinois, please attend the concert at Foellinger Great Hall in the Krannert Center for Performing Arts on the U of I campus on April 25 at 7:30 pm. If you happen to be a VMGC alum, please get your voice heard through a letter, phone call or other communique. If you, the alum, can make it to the concert, think about attending the meeting at 3 pm with Dr. Coleman and Dr. Kramer to discuss the current state of the VMGC. You can also hear Jim Turpin discuss this matter on 1400 AM.

Below of the letter that I wrote. Please help in any way that you can.

Greetings,

My name is Robert Abrams and I am an alumnus of the class of 1998 of the University of Illinois. Currently, I am the Instructional Leader of Science at Rich East High School in Park Forest, Illinois and pursuing a Doctorate of Education. My students often ask me questions about where I attended college and what I did when I was there. If they are in my office when these questions are posed, I proudly point to my U of I flag hanging on my office wall.

Some of my best memories from my time at the University of Illinois came from being a proud member of the oldest organizations in the history of the University, the Varsity Men's Glee Club. Being a member and executive board member of the VMGC provided me with the opportunity to make some amazing friends from across the campus, proudly represent the University as an ambassador when performing around the state of Illinois and across the Midwest, gain valued leadership skills, and make some inspiring music that I still sing today.

As a new father, I was looking forward to my son attending the U of I and sharing in my experiences as a part of the VMGC. I imagine the experience of sitting in Foellinger and eagerly awaiting the chance to go up on stage and perform the Big Ten Medley and Illinois Loyalty and perform with old friends, a great director, Dr. Barrington Coleman, and my son. I am disheartened about some of the recent changes in the School of Music’s policies and the lowering of the VMGC to the third tier of performance opportunities availed to the general populous of the University.

VMGC is more than just a School of Music course. It is an institution open to university-wide participation by students of every college and department at Illinois with 123 years of grand tradition. VMGC, although a proud unit of the School Music committed to the highest performance standards, also has important constituencies among the Alumni Association and a rich tradition of service to the University at large. Music majors, while being required to get broad experience in all different kinds of choral ensembles, should not be prevented or discouraged from remaining in VMGC in addition to any other coursework, if they wish to do so. Non-music majors, as I was, should be exempt from the arbitrary assignment policy and should be allowed to try out specifically for Glee Club, if they wish. They should not be subject to being reassigned to a different choir because they are “too good for Glee Club.” The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign should not set out to have a “first-tier” mixed voice ensemble and a “third-tier” male chorus in its School of Music, any more than the university should aspire to have a “first-class” football team and a “third-rate” track team.

Tradition and Honor are two values that I learned to fully comprehend while I was at the U of I. I learned about these values as a member of 123 year old organization. There was a history of excellence that I knew I had to live up to. Especially as a non-music major, I was honored to don the tuxedo tails and represent the University wherever we performed. The Glee Club should be restored to its position and reputation as one of the leading collegiate male choruses in the United States. The Glee Club director should be able to hold campus-wide auditions, to augment the ranks of VMGC with talented non-music majors, in addition to taking any music majors assigned to VMGC by the mandatory panel auditions of the School of Music.

It is an insult to the honor, talent, and history of the VMGC, beginning as the Apollo Club in 1886, to allow this policy to demote this grand and historical organization. Allow the wonderful history that Mr. William Olson built and Dr. Barrington Coleman supports to continue to teach and inspire through quality music and performance without mandatorily siphoning off the talent to other University groups. Allow the Brothers in Song to flourish. Please let me know how I can help in this matter.

Respectfully,

Robert Abrams
Class of 1998
VMGC member 1994-1998
VMGC Secretary 1996-1997