Friday, March 27, 2020

Leading Distance Learning - Week 2



So, we're in this longer than three weeks.  I'm starting to think longer term, but I don't want to lose sight of the fact that:

  1. Literally EVERYONE is in the same boat.
  2. We have to FIRST address the social, emotional, and connection needs of our students, families, and teachers.
  3. Educators are doing amazing things - regardless if they're officially engaging in remote learning/teaching or providing resources or connections to students while districts consider flexible learning options.  Really - we are ALL innovators in this area because no one has dealt with this situation before. 🙌 
As a school leader (and mom) I'm working hard to constantly communicate a love, appreciation, and excitement for the opportunities in this present moment with the need for balance, self-care, and physical and emotional well-being.  ☯

Some thoughts on Philosophy

One facebook post that's really resonating with me while we work to design our vision for Remote Learning is this one by The Neurodivergent Teacher on Facebook

In her discussion, she notes the physical, emotional, economic, and intellectual of requiring participation in distance learning.  

I also appreciate this tweet from Chris Lehmann.  He poses the following questions:
1) How do we create opportunity for kids to explore high relevancy concepts that are of interest to them with no fear of "getting it wrong."
2)What is our role as teachers when we can suggest not assign work
3) What role does our feedback play in incentivizing kids to do the work?
4) What topics would our classes explore if they could co-create the learning plan?
5) What role do ideas like community and audience play in having kids create artifacts?
6) How do we redefine ourselves as teachers? 

Practice

When we started on this journey, I asked my teachers to connect with students and families - they used google classroom, YouTube, Zoom, Google Meet, google docs, seesaw and much more.  
This week they're experimenting with Screencastify, FlipGrid, and EduCreations.

We also started Think Tank Thursday.  This was an optional conference call for teachers where we aim to develop our collective efficacy as educators by sharing resources as well as our thoughts adapting our philosophy to remote learning.  This week, we are exploring:
  • How we can use tech tools to promote the natural curiosity of children?
  • How can we support parents and children in developing that inquiry at home?
  • How can we use digital tools to promote collective inquiry and dialogue between students and teachers?
One resource I've shared has ben The New EdTech Classroom YouTube Channel.  I particularly like how his focus is on dialogue, inquiry, and exploration.  


Opportunities to Learn & Collective Efficacy

As a school principal (aka middle management), it's cool to see how the leaders in our county are collaborating on a consistent message, consistent resources, and consistent practices across all districts.  It's also very cool to see how teachers at my site are embracing opportunities to learn and explore.  Today, I had the opportunity to connect with other principals of Progressive Education schools in the area.  One idea that I liked and will implement more systemically in the next week is the shared google doc where teachers share with each other:
  1. How and when they're connecting with their students and families
  2. How and when they're planning/collaborating with each other.
  3. Links to their collaboration notes (this can also serve as a journal that they can come back later).
  4. And their suggestions, schedules, etc. they are sending to families.
Our staff meeting can be where they share their ups and downs with this work so that we can learn from each other.

Final Thought (for today)...

This morning, my sister sent me this post, encouraging us all to journal this period of time in our lives. I know I am appreciating the blogs, posts, videos, etc. that I'm seeing.  But it only vaguely crossed my mind that by documenting our experiences creates OUR own living history of this global event.  I encourage you to have your kids create a journal.  When they are older they can have their thoughts as well as learn from yours.  




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