Collaborative Interaction in Distance Education…

Siemens (2007) discusses the evolution and increasing acceptance of distance education because of three reasons: 1) global diversity, 2) communication, and 3) collaborative interaction. In this post the third reason, collaborative interaction in distance education, is the element of discussion. There have been many technology innovations over the past few years that have dramatically increased the number of tools that can be used to enhance online and distance education. This idea of collaborating online is an important element in my selected research topic for EDUC 7102 of the use of wikis for collaboration in education. Judd, Kennedy, and Cropper (2010) define wikis as, "…websites that can be interactively edited by any number of people using simple online tools" (p. 341). Two important reasons why wikis are chosen to be the subject of research in this course include the scholars who associate the use of wikis with constructivism as well as the use of wikis as an online cloud computing internet-based learning tool. Su and Beaumont (2010) state that, "A wiki is able to provide a learning environment which is closely aligned with the social-constructivist approach and is more natural than many tools where open collaboration and the exchange of ideas are important" (p. 417). Snyder (2009) describes credits wikis and other web 2.0 technologies by saying, "These elements support an online learning community framework that is interactive, collaborative, and constructive" (p. 52).

Web 2.0 tools and their implementation in the classrooms are getting lots of attention from the educational research community and wikis are one example of these online tools (Olligies, 2010). Wikis are generally used as a collaborative learning tool for learning communities (Lin & Kelsey, 2009). The role wikis play in e-learning environments and the role wikis play as web 2.0 tools that combine social networks with online learning are discussed by Hazari, North, & Moreland (2009). The study found that, "Wikis can promote collaboration in group assignments, encourage negotiation, and make students comfortable with new generation of technology tools (Hazari, North, & Moreland, 2009, p. 195). Sheehy (2008) explores the role that wikis play in communities of practice and how it can be used as a collective knowledge repository. Florea's (2008) study about the use of wikis as, "beneficial for online information literacy instruction" (p. 428).

Distance education must evolve if it is going to continue to rise as a viable, quality educational alternative to traditional face-to-face learning contexts. Web 2.0 tools such as wikis can be an important technological tool to create a culture of collaboration and interaction if it is structured and implemented correctly. Collaboration is an increasingly important component of the world of work as well as communicating in a global society. Wikis and other web 2.0 tools provide ways to communicate effectively in a global context for both education and work, however more research must be done on how to use these tools to maximize effectiveness of their use in the fast-paced and ever changing world that we live in.


References:

Florea, M. (2008). Using webCT, wiki spaces, and eportfolios for teaching and building information literacy skills. Journal of Library Administration, 48(3/4), 411-430.

Hazari, S., North, A., & Moreland, D. (2009). Investigating pedagogical value of wiki technology. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2), 187-198.

Judd, T., Kennedy, G., & Cropper, S. (2010). Using wikis for collaborative learning: assessing collaboration through contribution. Australasion Journal of Educational Technology, 26(3), 341-354. 

 

Laureate, Education, Inc. (Producer). (2007). Distance Education: Higher Education, K-12, and the Corporate World  [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

 

Lin, H., & Kelsey, K. D. (2009). Building a networked environment in wikis: the evolving phases of collaborative learning in a wikibook project. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 40(2), 145-169. doi:10.2190/EC.40.2.a

 

Olliges, R. (2010). Wikis and collaboration: are they a mix?. Journal of Philosophy & History of Education, 60(1), 77-80. 

 

Sheehy, G. (2008). The wiki as knowledge repository: using a wiki in a community of practice to strengthen K-12 education. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 52(6), 55-60. doi: 10.1007/s11528-008-0219-9

 

Snyder, M.M. (2009). Instructional-design theory to guide the creation of online learning communities for adults. TechTrends, 53(1), 48-56. 

 

Su, F., & Beaumont, C. (2010). Evaluating the use of a wiki for collaborative learning. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 47(4), 417-431. doi: 10.1080/14703297.2010.518428

Distance Education Part 2…

Scholars are discussing e-learning trends and how online distance learning must evolve. Examples of voices in this conversation are Moller, Foshay, & Huett (2008). Moller, Foshay, & Huett (2008) in part 1 of their series on e-learning trends discuss how training and development increasingly rely on Internet distance education in workplace settings due to its economic benefits as well as its ability to provide a customizable learning experience that is unprecedented. "If the most important training is that which is actually used by learners, it stands to reason that as web-based instruction evolves and learners become more adept at maneuvering within the environment, they will come to demand greater customization of the learning process to cater to their individual interaction needs—whatever those needs might be" (Moller, Foshay, & Huett, 2008, p. 75). Part 2 of Moller, Foshay, & Huett's (2008) series discuss the role online distance learning is playing in higher education. There is a need for performance-based outcomes in online distance learning, particularly in higher education. "The conclusion, therefore, is to understand that the faculty, the distance education organizations, the learners and their employers, and the ID field all have a common interest in performance-based definitions of quality" (Moller, Foshay, & Huett, 2008, p. 70). Huett, Moller, Foshay, & Coleman (2008) also discuss in Part 3 of their series on distance education the ever-increasing role that online education plays in K-12 education. They conclude with the confession that "As much as our understanding of technology in education and training has developed over the past 40 years, we still understand only a small fraction of what is required to transform the craft of instructional technology and design into an engineering or science-style discipline" (Huett, Moller, Foshay, & Coleman, 2008, p. 66).


 
The reality is that education must be continually studied and redefined if it is going to successfully meet the ever-changing needs of our society and world. There are three important educational theories that are important to education in general, and specifically in educational technology (Ally, 2008). They are behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. The cognitivist school of learning, which, "see learning as an internal process that involves memory, thinking, reflection, abstraction, motivation, and metacognition" (Ally, 2008, p. 21), is an approach that is the most appropriate to meet the learning outcomes in a distance education environment in my opinion. The emphasis on activating existing knowledge, chunking knowledge into parts to reduce overload, a variety of learning strategies should be used to meet learner outcomes, different modes of information presentation, and learners should be motivated to learn are important components to designing instruction that is learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered and when done effectively, community-centered (Anderson, 2008). Constructivism can also be utilized as an effective theory to promote the four goals of distance learning. Both of these approaches accommodate the needs of the learner and can be used as a basis for facilitating the complex process of learning. Behaviorism in my opinion does not fully accommodate for the complexities of the learning process due to its emphasis on the role of the instructional medium rather than the learner.


 
References:
Ally, M. (2008). Foundations of educational theory for online learning. In Anderson, T. (2^nd ed.), The theory and practice of online learning (pp. 15-44). Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.


Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications     for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 1: Training and Development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75.


Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, July/August). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 2: Higher Education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70.


Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), 63–67.

Distance Education Part 1…

Education must inevitably change as students change. Specific approaches to education must evolve to meet the needs of the students as well as meet the learning goals of the educational milieu. Distance education must evolve and change due to rapid technological innovations that are taking place as well as the shifting needs of the glocal (global and local) context of the 21^st century.

The four goals recommended by Anderson (2008) are learner-centered, knowledge-centered, community-centered, and assessment-centered. Any learning environment that utilizes these four areas can improve student experiences whether they are in distance or traditional education. Paloff & Pratt (2005) describe the need for institutions and educators in distance learning institutions must be learner-focused and highlight openness, flexibility & humor, honesty, the willingness to take responsibility for community formation and the willingness to work collaboratively as important aspects for success as online learners. All of these aspects of the learning process are essential to successful learning in whatever context it takes place. Distance learning's unique context is not a face-to-face learning environment; therefore a different conception of learning must be understood than in a traditional educational experience. Best practices must be researched to and be continually modified due to the technological and communication changes that occur in the societies that distance learning institutions serve.

 

References:

Ally, M. (2008). Foundations of educational theory for online learning. In Anderson, T. (2^nd ed.), The theory and practice of online learning (pp. 15-44). Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.

Anderson, T. (Ed.). (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. (2nd ed.). Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). The role and responsibility of the learner in the online classroom. Retrieved from http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/03_24.pdf

What are Some Issues & Controversies in Teaching 6th-12th Grade History/Social Sciences?

Is the predominant role of social studies instruction about history? That is a question that is raised in our reading this week. Almost all social science educators consider history to be the most important component in the social studies curriculum. Chapin (2011) confesses this in her statement, "History truly has the central place in the social studies curriculum" (p. 167). Within the parameters of teaching history you have two major fields that are studied, namely US History and World History. Chapin (2011) also points out two different tasks that students should grapple with when learning history. They are:

1. To make sense of the interpretations of the past and be aware of the various perspectives and
   
2. To use thinking skills and reasoning as a historian would in looking at evidence, point of view, and interpretation.
   

   (Chapin, 2011, p. 168)
   

Different versions of two fields of history are represented in all 6-12 grade classrooms in the United States but they vary in scope, sequence, emphasis, and chronology. Even within these two accepted fields of study many raise the question what (and whose) history should be taught? This is a very important statement that has developmental and identity ramifications for the teachers teaching and students learning history. A famous historical idea that comes to mind is that the winners write history, not the losers. This question touches on the topics of civics education, multicultural education, and global education. Chapin (2011) demonstrates this reality when she raises the question: "The most significant controversy in the teaching of history is whose history should be taught. What do you think should be the emphases in US history? World history?" (Chapin, 2011, p. 198). Chapin (2011) also states, "What is the proper balance between nationalism and global education? Multicultural education and unity?" (p. 230). Think about these questions and reflect on them for your posting below.

In addition to the above issues that are always present in history discussions we also need to discuss what methods/approaches are used to guide the students in learning history and acquiring history and critical thinking skills. Should we teach it through textbook and supplemental materials that have been mostly used throughout the history of education? Should we integrate the technological innovations of the Internet, computers, and tablets (such as the iPad) and create a new way of teaching history? This current debate is being held not just in social science education circles, but throughout the world as education and its current structures and institutions struggle to remain relevant in a very digital and paradigm-shifting world. This is another question that you as future educators must grasp and struggle with in your future as you teach history and other social sciences to the nation's youth. What are the benefits and trade-offs for each of these two approaches? How does this question relate to the others listed by Chapin (2011)? Furthermore how do you create and organize instructional units to balance these two approaches? Your decisions on what to include/exclude impact the developing identities of the learners in your classroom as well as partially impact the values of our society in the future when these students grow up, live, and vote (or don't vote). Respond to these probing questions in your responses below. Also respond to one another's comments to promote peer review and interaction.

 

Reference:

Chapin, June R. (2011). A Practical Guide to Middle and Secondary Social Studies, 3rd ed. Boston: Pearson.

 

 

What Does Good Lesson Design and Planning Look Like?

"Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose." Charles Eames

The most important part of the learning process is the designing learning experiences for students that meet the goals that they are intended to teach. That is why the way design is important from the way you construct the objectives all the way to the final assessment that you use for the students to demonstrate their knowledge of what was learned. The lesson planning and design process has many similar threads in how lessons can be created. Boiling the main ideas that the students need to grasp into main ideas and then using these main ideas is the best starting point for beginning lesson design. Then creating and scaffolding learning activities that introduce, reteach, reinforce, and assess these main ideas make up the lessons.

Wiggins & McTighe have an excellent framework for the unit and lesson design process in their book Understanding by Design, (UbD)which is now in its second edition. It should be used or referred to in your future methods courses, however below is a simple visual that demonstrates the approach to layering lesson design in three major parts that encapsulates the UbD approach. The "enduring" understanding are the first tier and are the most essential elements of the unit, followed by the important to know and do the second tier, and then the worth being familiar with are the third tier. The entire unit that you design for any given subject, content area, topic, interdisciplinary, theme, etc… can be broken down into these three tiers. After this backwards be design step is done, then teachers can create meaningful learning activities that can be used in a successful learning unit. Below is a quote that encapsulates this approach. Read it and then respond to this posting by communicating your thoughts about lesson planning and design and how this approach might be helpful in about three to five (3-5) sentences. Then respond to a classmates posting in a substantive, meaningful way.

"The goal of UbD is merely to ensure that learning goals and evidence of learning follow a deliberate design so that all teachers regardless of genetic gifts or dispositions or sense of devotion or dedication are able to impart real learning based on understanding and not merely on rote knowledge or aimless recall." Wiggins & McTighe, Understanding by Design.

 

Why Digital Storytelling?

Engaging students in the process of digital storytelling is a wonderful way to provide the students with the opportunity to create something that is authentically a demonstration of their own learning as well as a great way to thoughtfully integrate technology within the classroom. Stories in and of themselves are a great learning tool that has been used for millennia by all cultures leading back to the eve of civilization and prehistory. Current non-literate hunter-gatherer populations that are still present in some parts of our world still have vibrant oral storytelling traditions. Today we can harness easy to use technological tools that are internet-based such as voicethread.com, storybird.com, and many other that are based on programs like Windows MovieMaker for PC and IMovie for Mac that are usually present in basic Office Suite applications. Regardless of the tools that keep changing that are becoming simpler and easier to use, students can definitely be engaged by creating stories. According to Bernajean Porter, a respected consultant on digital stories and other technologies,

"Digital Storytelling takes the ancient art of oral storytelling and engages a palette of technical tools to weave personal tales using images, graphics, music and sound mixed together with the author's own story voice. Digital storytelling is an emerging art form of personal, heartful expression that enables individuals and communities to reclaim their personal cultures while exploring their artistic creativity." (Click here for her website)

 

The power of stories and Digital storytelling is a compelling way that engages the students in various skills. This includes:

• having the students learn about the different elements of a story,
  
• practicing communication through crafting stories,
  
• grasping content that is relevant to whatever is being taught by understanding and creating a story, and also
  
• providing the students with an avenue to integrate technology in an authentic learning task.
  

The benefits to digital storytelling are explained by this wiki and are as follows:

• using digital storytelling will assist both the visual as well as auditory learners
  
• allowing students to practice and engage in active learning
  
• developing a sense of ownership, or pride in work
  
• increasing fluency
  
• learning to think critically about what might be the most effective combinations to create audio and visual elements
  
• increasing technology and media literacy
  
• teaching primary resources and other content-specific skills
  

There are multiple websites that can assist us with examples and approaches to utilizing digital stories. Here are some of them that I suggest and the reasons for their inclusion on this list. The University of Houston's website titled the Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling is an excellent and trustworthy resource. It has great pages on the website that explore important aspects of digital storytelling and is definitely important to refer to when understanding the overall uses and resources for digital storytelling. Another great resource for Digital Storytelling is called the Center for Digital Storytelling, accessed here. It is a great resource that includes examples of digital stories in different contexts for different uses. Both of these sites are reputable and are a great place to start understanding digital storytelling.

The following resources are wikis that provide further details about digital storytelling and their application within the classroom. Some sites include rubric examples, lessons, and other items that are useful to the classroom teacher. The first wiki is by Dr. Couros,, and serves as a simple resource on the subject with helpful links. The next wiki that can provide some useful information is from ISTE (International Society for Technology Educators), the pages about links, definitions, and examples are the most useful. A practical wiki that has lesson ideas, rubrics, and other essential information is here. A great stop for teachers who are expecting to use digital storytelling in their classrooms soon. The final recommended wiki is here, and it has a presentation that further explores digital storytelling and its uses in the classroom.

Now it is time for the conversation to begin. What do you think about digital storytelling? What uses do you think it has educationally? How should it be used in the classroom? What age group is appropriate for creating digital storytelling and why (elementary education majors, refer to storybird.com before you answer this question)? What content areas do you see digital storytelling used the most? How can you apply it in your own content area? Please post your responses below.

Why Teach Social Studies to Middle and Secondary Students?

"Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results." Machiavelli

 

Teaching history and social science effectively is one of the most important functions that the educational system does for its citizens and future voters. Involving students in the social sciences through creating and implementing authentic learning experiences is essential to assisting students to become 21st century global citizens. In our global, digital world full of technologies and diversions we must be able to empower students to become critically engaged in the study of history and current events. It is also essential to provide them with the information literacy skills so that students can navigate and sift through the overwhelming waves of information so that they can become productive U.S. citizens. Another fundamental component that social science instruction should involve is to provide students with inter-cultural skills to interact and collaborate with others throughout the world. All of these parts work together to create the conditions for successful social science instruction.

As a social studies teacher you are making the decisions about what learning goals are involved, what instructional strategies are the best way for the students to meet these learning goals, what is the best form of assessment for demonstrating what students learned, and how does it connect to state and national standards for social studies. In addition you also have to create relevance for the students with regard to why the information being learned is important as well as how it relates to their present and future success in the 21^st century. Scaffolding instruction to meet the levels of the students is an essential component to any good teaching. Good planning provides ways for students to learn information and be exposed to it in different ways such as visual, text, oral, etc…When this is done through good unit planning it assists with scaffolding. Supplementary resources for units that are from a broad range of text levels and provide students with choices for demonstration of knowledge also assist in scaffolding and differentiating the content within the unit.

 

Your personality, character, and experiences strongly influence what content you teach, what lessons you design, and the learning community that is established in your classes. Finding ways to reach out to other teachers is a particular need that you must fill if you are going to be able to remain effective and reduce your burnout. Many schools may provide common planning time with your departments and/or interdisciplinary teams. This is your avenue to share your frustrations, troubleshoot, and help you to not get burnt out during the academic year; however these relationships with other teachers may also be a part of the frustration if you do not find other support outside of your colleagues. Also your interactions with parents and other family members of your students can provide challenges. Communicating with parents as often as possible is important, particularly for your most challenging students. Notes, emails, and phone calls home can help build these relationships, but make sure you are sharing both the positives and negatives of the students so that the parents understand that you truly want that student to succeed.

 

Teaching social studies to students is both a rewarding and challenging experience. As you reflect on your role as a social studies teacher in middle or high school what are you looking forward to the most? What are you looking forward to the least? Why did you choose social studies as the subject you wanted to teach? Use the ideas above about the role of social studies in education, effective practices in instructional design, your background and experiences, as well as your communication with parents of students as you articulate your answer. Please post your response to this and other thoughts on social studies education and your role as a teacher in the discussion section below.

 

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years." Alexis de Tocqueville

Reflection on CPS Ren10 Initiative and the Small School Movement…

"The principle goal of education is to create men and women who are capable of creating new things, not simply repeating what others have done." Jean Piaget     

Each school is a reflection of the pedagogy, parental and community involvement, leadership, teacher commitment, student demographics, and other contributing  factors that comprise the learning community. Piaget's idea of education as stated above encapsulates what some education reformers are doing. They are literally creating new things, specifically new schools. Some posit that creating new schools and shutting down or turning around low performing schools is the most successful approach to school reform. Current adherents to this model include the current Obama administration, which is exemplified by choosing Arne Duncan to serve in the role of the Secretary of Education. Duncan used this approach when he was the CEO of Chicago Public Schools in Chicago's Renaissance 2010 Initiative before serving as Education Secretary. Duncan (2006) outlines his reasons for using this model in his article "Chicago's Renaissance 2010: Building on School Reform in the Age of Accountability" in Phi Delta Kappan. This approach to urban school reform includes the claim that new schools provide a more conducive learning environment that results in higher achievement than other schools because new schools have the ability to engage students and families more effectively than traditional existing schools. In other words, Duncan espouses that new schools result in a more positive school climate/culture than traditional existing public high schools and therefore school performance indicators are higher in new schools.


It is important to understand the background of Chicago's Ren10 initiative in order to place CPS Small Performance High Schools in context of how and why they exist. Ren10 initiative is a process of school proposals that replace low performing schools with new schools. It is a controversial initiative that began in 2004 under Arne Duncan when he served in the role of CEO of Chicago Public Schools. The CPS website http://www.ren2010.cps.k12.il.us/ provides further details concerning the process and goals. It states, "In June 2004, Mayor Richard Daley launched Renaissance 2010, a bold initiative whose goal is to increase the number of high quality educational options in communities across Chicago by 2010. New schools are created through a competitive, community-based selection process which establishes a set of high standards to which every new school will be held accountable" (CPS, 2010). Many researchers have discussed Ren 10 and its implications including Ayers & Klonsky (2006), Cohen (2006), Robelen (2006), and Kahne, Sporte, Torre, & Easton (2008), and Honig (2009). Researchers from the critical school have also discussed Ren10 including Lipman & Hursch (2007), Lipman & Haines (2007), Arrastia (2007), Means (2008), Lipman (2008), Saltzman (2007), and Smith & Stovall (2008). 
     
The Ren10 approach has now become a national model since Arne Duncan is now the Secretary of Education. Duncan defended this approach, "Closing and reopening schools is both educationally sound and morally warranted. We are hired to fight for kids — not for bureaucrats, reform groups, teachers, principals, or local school councils. We close schools when kids are getting hurt. Under Renaissance 2010, the adults involved are held accountable because the school ceases to exist" (2006, p. 458). Within this model the poor performing schools get shut down or phased out and new schools move in the facility. Although Ren10 has a strong emphasis on charter schools, two other forms of new schools are also a major part of this approach to urban education reform as demonstrated on their website (www.ren2010.cps.k12.il.us). These two types are called Contract Schools, which follow many CPS guidelines and curricula but have more flexibility in hiring, and Performance Schools, which follow all CPS guidelines, curricula, and hiring. The latter, Performance Schools, are the selected experimental group for this study, specifically high schools. These are completely CPS high schools, they hire all certified staff as all public schools must do, all CPS and Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) guidelines must be followed, all staff are a part of the collective bargaining agreement of the Chicago Teacher's Union and the Chicago Board of Education, and they are funded in the same way all CPS schools are funded. There are a few differences in how they function. All CPS Performance High Schools have more autonomy than traditional existing CPS public high schools in the areas of budget allocation, curriculum, autonomy, school governance, and school size. Every new CPS Performance High School has been proposed under the Ren 10, and all are under a school performance contract that includes a five year agreement that can be terminated if the school does not live up to its performance goals as well as an annual review by the Chicago Board of Education, and if necessary, the school can be closed at any time (Duncan, 2006). Another aspect of Ren 10 Performance Schools are the different types such as Military, Selective Enrollment, Magnet, Small Schools and others.


The difference in traditional existing CPS public high schools is how they function. The traditional existing CPS public high schools are limited in ways that include a lack of autonomy in budget allocation, school governance, and curriculum they depend on CPS's Central Office to approve these aspects yearly. The limitations on traditional existing CPS public high schools are perceived by many to result in less successful scores on the school performance indicators. Research concerning the success of small schools (including Honig, 2009; Garth-McCullough, 2007; Farmer-Hinton & Holland, 2008; Werblow & Duesbery, 2009; Kahne, Sporte, Torre, Easton, 2008) includes arguments and case studies that state that this approach is more effective than other types of schools in the areas of overall student performance, however no study found has compared how new small CPS Small Performance High Schools compare with traditional existing CPS public high schools that serve similar populations in Chicago.     


There are gaps in prior research about Ren10 that need to be filled. One gap is that there is no comparison between CPS Small Performance High Schools with traditional existing CPS high schools. It is important to measure the effectiveness of Small Performance High Schools when compared to traditional existing public high schools because it can shed further light upon Small Schools research. If Small Performance High Schools are effective than CPS can provide a school model that is an alternative to charter schools for educational leaders, administrators, teachers, teachers' unions, families, and community members. Since CPS Small Performance High Schools are non-charter schools an analysis of their effectiveness when compared to existing schools is needed in order to recommend this type of school as a district operated public school alternative model to charter schools. Comparing CPS Small Performance High Schools started through Ren10 as an alternative to traditional high schools can provide educational leaders, urban Boards of Education throughout the country, policy-makers, students, families, and communities with a model that accommodates the need for a higher degree of accountability based upon performance, but is not a charter school. It can provide school choice to communities that need it without the ramifications or legal maneuvering that is necessary for charter schools. 

A helpful theory that is appropriate organizational learning theory. This theory has been used in education in studies ranging from educational administration Rusch (2005) to managing change and improvements at the school district level in Herrenkohl (2008), Honig (2008), Knapp (2008), and Louis (2008). Gajda & Koliba (2007) and Scechter (2008) discuss this framework from a school improvement perspective while Giles & Hargreaves (2006) discuss it in light of school innovations and Professional Learning Communities. It has even been applied in the context of information systems and learning in Baxter, Connolly, and Stansfield (2009). Organizational learning theory is applied to small schools by Honig (2009). The unique structure and school culture that is created in a new CPS Small Performance High School creates its own organization of learning through collaboration, the use of technology, partnerships, and events that include students, staff, families, and community members in a learning community. This dynamic interaction can be analyzed with the organizational learning framework in order to gain insight into what is happening during this process as well as understand the unique learning climate that takes shape in each school.


Ren10 Small Performance High Schools can provide a district-run alternative to charter schools throughout the country and drive social change by positively impacting urban public education without the loss of public school education jobs. The drive to privatize public education on the premise that this improves the outcome is unwarranted. Small Performance High Schools are a way to provide accountability and quality to districts as well as provide urban parents and communities with a public school option that offer urban students an education with positive results in the areas of student outcomes, academic progress, and student connections. Exemplary public school educators will be supplied with a rewarding teaching experience that provides union protections, long-term job security, and retirement opportunities that school districts can provide. It also is a way to invest taxpayer's money and connect it with positive results in the three areas of school performance and provides the transparency and accountability that should be demanded by the public when allocating limited resources.

  References

Arrastia, L. (2007). Capital's daisy chain: exposing Chicago's corporate coalition. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 5(1). Retrieved from http://www.jceps.com/?pageID=article&articleID=86

Ayers, W., & Klonsky, M. (2006). Chicago's renaissance 2010: the small schools movement meets the ownership society. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(6), 453-457.

Ayers, W., & Klonsky, M. (2006). Private management of Chica.go schools is a long way from Mecca. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(6), 461-463.

Baxter, G.J, Connollly, T.M., & Stansfield, M. (2009). How can organisations learn: an information systems development perspective. Learning Inquiry, 3(1), 25-46. doi: 10.1007/s11519-009-0038-8

Burkholder, G. (2010). "Sample Size for Quantitative Studies." [Study Notes]. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/43017/CRS-ENG112-4003564/Sample_Size_Analysis.pdf

Chicago Public Schools. (2010). Small high schools. Retrieved from http://www.cps.edu/Schools/High_schools/Pages/Small.aspx

Chicago Public Schools. (2010). Office of Performance . Retrieved from http://research.cps.k12.il.us/cps/accountweb/

Chicago Public Schools. (2010). West/Central/South Zone Map. Retrieved from http://www.cps.edu/SiteCollectionDocuments/Zone%20maps/HS_West_Central_South.pdf

Chicago Public Schools. (2010). "Renaissance 2010." Office of New Schools. Retrieved from http://www.ren2010.cps.k12.il.us/

Cohen, L. (2006). Its not about management. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(6), 459-461.

Creswell, J. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

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An Introduction to an Urban Teacher…Part 1

"I have never let my schooling get in the way of my education." Mark Twain

        

    Academic experiences divorced from practical application is not useful because it does not positively impact progressive social change. The goal of becoming a scholar practitioner elicits the kind of reaction that the priorities of anyone pursuing academic training is to improve the part of the world you occupy in order to positively impact social change. My academic experiences include two graduate degrees in the field of education and graduate classes in the fields of religion and church history. In every part of my graduate experiences I have been volunteering and/or working with children and/or young adults. The academic experiences provided me with the training to effectively do research and demonstrate what was learned through writing, teaching, presenting information. However I have almost always been refreshed by my professional experiences as an educator as I have been pursuing academic degree programs. I have found many times that academics are disjointed from practical experience, hence why I agree with the idea that educating myself in many ways is done outside of academics and schooling.

    My first graduate school internship was to create a mentoring program for incoming college freshman who were admitted on academic probation. After I transferred to a certificate Master's program in Secondary Education I substituted at all levels, especially middle and high school. After numerous permanent substitute teacher positions that ranged from 7^th grade language arts to high school gym teacher I received my certification and taught religion at a private Lutheran School for 6^th-8^th graders and taught religion and theology to preteen students up to young adults. I happily moved with my family to Chicago after receiving a job at Chicago Public Schools teaching high school social studies to students who were academically-at-risk for a special program in a South Side predominantly African American high school. Throughout all of these experiences I was a part-time student and I continue to be committed to being a scholar practitioner. I enjoy and feel rejuvenated by fulfilling the dual roles of teaching and learning simultaneously. It provides my teaching practice with fresh ideas and provides me with opportunities to teach others whom I work with about the latest scholarship about education. It also anchors the theory of academics with the practicalities of being effective in the school and classroom. 

    My professional role in this small school within a school did include being assistant disciplinarian, lead teacher, and high school social studies teacher at a small school for academically-at-risk students on Chicago's near South Side until my host high school became a "Turnaround" and was handed to the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), and everyone was let go. Currently my status is a displaced tenured teacher, one of the more than 1000 teachers who have this status due to CPS's budget woes, and approximately 1700 other teachers will be in a similar place due to CEO Ron Huberman's new 2010-2011 CPS budget. I am currently interviewing at various CPS schools and have already sent over 100 resumes over the past few months to various teaching and administrative positions. However I just received a position as an adjunct professor at Trinity International University (TIU), a small Christian University, Graduate, and Divinity School in the northern suburb of Deerfield. I will be teaching the ED 110 Technology for Teachers course, which is very exciting. I spent and three semesters pursuing an Master's of Divinity at the Seminary right after I graduated from college before I switched to the education profession. will be Within my role as a CPS teacher I deal with the realities of poverty and its ravages on youth on a daily basis and in many cases it is an entirely different reality than educational theories. Examples include when teachable moments come concerning gang violence, or when interpersonal issues result in fights in school, or instances occur that are manifested as a result of the social and emotional struggle of being a poor minority student in an urban setting which in some instances circumvents the ability to being academically successful no matter how hard a student tries. It is at these moments that I as a scholar practitioner can bridge the chasm and provide students with the encouragement and hope to break through the ethnic and academic barriers they face. Educational theory and academics fail to provide the adequate training to react accordingly in these situations because the interpersonal communication and relationships that are built as teachers and students which are necessary to live and thrive in these challenging urban educational settings are difficult to measure. 

"A constant stream of mediated contact, virtual, notional, or simulated, keeps us wired in to the electronic hive -- though contact, or at least two-way contact, seems increasingly beside the point. The goal now, it seems, is simply to become known, to turn oneself into a sort of miniature celebrity. How many friends do I have on Facebook? How many people are reading my blog? How many Google hits does my name generate? Visibility secures our self-esteem, becoming a substitute, twice removed, for genuine connection. Not long ago, it was easy to feel lonely. Now, it is impossible to be alone." William Deresiewicz 

     I currently hold two graduate degrees and am pursuing an Educational Specialist (Ed. S.) in Educational Technology at Walden University. One is Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) with an emphasis in Secondary Social Studies from National-Louis University. The second is Master of Education in Educational Leadership (M.Ed.) from American College of Education. I have excelled in these programs and they provided me with the quantitative and qualitative training to understand and complete research in the microcosm of the classroom and the school. I consider myself capable of the skills that are necessary to be successful to participate in quality research, writing, in-depth analysis, teaching, learning, communicating, leading others, concentrating, conceptualizing what I am reading, and capturing ideas. Many of these traits were fostered during my two graduate degrees and my grades and graded work reflect this reality. 

     I also completed an intensive 120 hour administrative internship as part of my M.Ed. in Educational Leadership which I embodied the five principle competencies as laid out by the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Office of Principal Preparation and Development's website oppdcps.com (2009). They include: 1) Develop and articulate a belief system through voice and action; 2) Engage and develop faculty; 3) Assess the quality of classroom instruction; 4) Facilitate and motivate change; and 5) Balance management (http://www.oppdcps.com/downloads/Eligibility_Communication.pdf ). The principal eligibility program of CPS exceeds state standards and works directly with the American College of Education (ACE) to provide a principalship training degree program that is a collaboration of CPS and ACE. ACE works with urban school districts throughout the country to improve teaching and educational leadership. All principal preparations for CPS and other districts and institutions throughout Illinois are about to change due to the new laws concerning the principal endorsement, reviewed here, which will have to be addressed in detail at a different time.

     Before I started pursuing my graduate degrees in education I pursued a Master's Degree in Church History for three semesters. This rigorous academic program provided me with the technical training, writing, and academic skills to successfully research, cite, and produce research papers. I will always feel indebted to the thoroughness and attention to detail that I learned as a student in this program. In both my undergraduate and graduate experience in religion I pursued courses in ancient Hebrew and Koine Greek. The discipline it takes to become literate in these languages and the familiarity with English language and grammar that I learned because of it is invaluable to my current competencies.

"The principle goal of education is create men and women who are capable of creating new things, not simply repeating what others have done." Jean Piaget

    My leadership development in the field of education includes participating on VOISE II school design team for CPS Renaissance 2010 initiative from April 2009 to July 2009 when it was abruptly stopped due to politics between an alderman and CPS. Included in this process is extensive 3 hour professional development sessions led by national and local educational innovators and leaders on nine topics that range from developing and implementing, school operations and financial management to assessment and data-driven instruction. I also was the leader of the Chicago World School design team for CPS Renaissance 2010 where I worked with leaders from a Local School Council (LSC), other educators, parents, and community partners to plant a school that combined the International Baccalaureate Organization's curriculum and standards with innovative educational technology and environmental awareness to create internationally-minded students with 21^st century technology skills and are able to model living and learning in an environmentally sustainable way. This school concept has now been placed on hold due to the CPS budget woes and the lack of funding for the small school movement, a past trend in national urban education reform which has since been replaced with the school "Turnaround" that Duncan has made national policy. I was a Virtual High School mentor and lead credit recovery initiatives and Saturday School in order to maximize opportunities for our students to graduate successfully prepared for a number of post-secondary options. I also mentor did mentor new teachers and regularly facilitate professional development that range from training teachers on the online Gradebook to leading teachers through articles and activities that are targeted around instructional strategies. 

Educational Technology and its Uses…

"We shape our tools and afterwards our tools shape us." Marshall McLuhan

      The role technology plays in our lives and its ramifications for life and learning should be discussed and debated in order to provide thought, balance, and insight into how and why it is used. Educational technologies should be thoroughly analyzed and understood by the intent, which should be a research-based tool that can increase student achievement. Formative articles that have contributed to my pursuit of this degree include Nicholas Carr's article in The Atlantic Monthly, written in July/Aug 2008, called "Is Google Making Us Stupid," which discusses how the digital revolution is impacting they way people think. William Deresiewicz wrote an article titled "The End of Solitude" in January 2009's Chronicle of Higher Education, which discusses how social networking and other technologies are creating an environment where solitude and contemplation is disappearing from our increasingly digital and connected world. Also in March of 2009 Educational Leadership published an article by Maryanne Wolf and Mirit Barzillai called "The Importance of Deep Reading" that discusses the implications of literacy in an increasingly digital world and its impact on deep thinking and contemplation. I don't think that the educational world should completely accept all technologies without proper caution because the implications for the way it reshapes how we live and how we learn are still unknown.

     I enjoy communicating by introducing quotes that communicate effectively what I am feeling. Relying on the insights of the giants who have gone before us is important as we move forward. Lewis Mumford wrote: 

"Western society has accepted as unquestionable a technological imperative that is quite as arbitrary as the most primitive taboo: not merely the duty to foster invention and constantly to create technological novelties, but equally the duty to surrender to these novelties unconditionally, just because they are offered, without respect to their human consequences." 

In many ways this is true and we must be thoughtful about how and where integrate technology. The current debate between Partnership for 21^st Century Skills and the Common Core movement is a healthy trend that we should be grappling with as educators. I am not saying that technology is not important; however every new technology that is used in educational circles is marketed in various degrees of intensity. Katie Ash raises a point in her blog about eLearning Update that not all programs are created equal. This statement can be said about all educational technologies, and we as instructors must always realize that before we use it in the classroom.



Books:


Birkerts, S. (1994). The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age. New York: Ballantine Books.

Editor, Jacobs, H.H. (2010). Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World. Alexandria, VA: Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development Publications.

Articles:

Carr, Nicholas. (2008, July/August). Is Google making us stupid. Atlantic Monthly, 56-63. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

Deresiewicz, William. (2009, January). The end of solitude. Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(21), 6. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/The-End-of-Solitude/3708

Halverson, R. & Smith, A. (2009). How new technologies have (and have not) changed teaching and learning in schools. Journal of Computing in Teacher Educaton, (26)2, 49-54. Retrieved from http://crste.org/images/Halverson_Smith_How_New_Technologies.pdf

Webliography:
http://p21.org/ : Promotes various technology skills and advocates for technology skills that is equal to content

http://commoncore.org/: Philosophically against Partnership for 21^st Century Skills movement stating content is more important than technology

http://www.edweek.org/dd/ : Digital Directions is a website committed to educational technology sponsored by Education Week and it is a useful resource for research and information about educational technology

http://www.edutopia.org/ : A website committed to what works in education.