Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.”
James Allen

“Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.”
Arnold Bennett

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
Anais Nin

Three Lessons Learned

I learned a lot this past year about myself, about life, and about business. In fact, the older I get it seems the less I know and the more questions I have. I remember being so sure of everything, so convinced I knew all the answers. But I did have a few epiphanies this year, mostly from watching my 6 month old grandson grow, listening to my four 20 something kids and from the connections I have with very smart people in PLP and from around the world.

Lesson 1- Change comes from within

Even when change is imposed there is a factor of choice: acceptance or non-acceptance. I can complain, bitch and squirm like a victim or I can choose to be powerful and do what it takes (especially on behalf of kids)- one step at a time. It is through being uncomfortable that I will change the most. Comfort = status quo. That is why we never really arrive. A growing teacher is a learning one. When something living stops growing- it begins to die. Growing is uncomfortable. I need to become comfortable with being uncomfortable.

I have to accept the fact that to become what I want I will have to sacrifice and struggle. It is true– out of pain comes the most gain. The decision to be uncomfortable is mine. No one can do it for me. I can point fingers and blame others all I want but the truth is I am where I am because of me. That includes both the personal and professional me. I have to decide to change. Only I can decide when I have had enough or am willing to be courageous enough to move outside my comfort zone. This insight is freeing because it means: 1) that discomfort or suffering does not necessarily mean I have done something wrong and am being punished, 2) that ultimately I am in control and have responsibility for whatever action needs to be done, so the degree to which I suffer is ultimately up to me.

Lesson 2- Objectivity is subjective
Every experience I have comes through my own, personal viewpoint of the world. Even when two of us are going through the very same experience it becomes personalized as I filter it through my own schematic lens. There can be no peer reviews of my direct experience, no real corroboration- even when I beg for it and think I need your approval for my validation. I must trust my own personal experience, because nobody else has this angle. We construct our own understanding based on all that we have experienced. What I do build depends on the books I’ve read, the people I’ve met (on and offline), and the experiences I’ve had. This truth has world-shattering implications for educators if they are willing to let it go deep.

Think about it. In light of above, our job as parents or teachers should be to provide a steady diet of rich, beautiful literature, investigations, and collaborative opportunities in the classroom and in our homes for our own children. We are not teachers. We never have been. We are role models, life coaches, and co-learners. We are experience providers. We are the significant adult with whom our relationship with students helps them learn. We are the learning community creators. We are the close observers and the travel guides for this journey of learning. We are the Mr Miyagi of our classroom community (wax on–wax off). Our role is to suggest, encourage, and make connections for the learners in our care. We couldn’t teach them, even if we wanted to, rather we help them make sense out of the artifacts and information we provide as they construct their own knowledge.

Lesson 3- Not enough time is a lame excuse

“I don’t have enough time.” Of course not. None of us do. I get tired of hearing from folks I am mentoring around 21st Century change that they simply do not have enough time to do the things they need to do to shift. Most of what we interact with in life (professional and personal) is not life itself, but our beliefs about it, our expectations of it, and our personal interests in it. Therefore not having enough time is merely a perception. The truth is we make time for what we value.

I’ll give you an example. Most people who know me would say I am one of the busiest people they know. Which means that if we think of time as a constant then I would not have any time left over for anything new. Which means that at all costs I need to preserve the status quo. Yet when my daughter’s safety was threatened we took in her family (including 2 dogs and a baby), another family member whose house flooded and managed 10-15 medical appointments for a family member who became very ill suddenly. Somehow I made time for all the additional demands. We make time for that which we value. We shift things around and make it work.

I asked my network. (They agreed)

Is the excuse “not enough time” when being asked to shift acceptable? I mean it is probably true but we make time for things we value right?

Audrey McLaren
An unacceptable excuse which means not enough courage. But so many people decide what they value BEFORE they even try it!

Mark Moran
In what other professions is “not enough time” accepted as an excuse not to shift? In competitive professions, you adapt or die.

Cossondra George
The difference is often whether ‘we’ want the change or is it being forced on us?

Barry Dahl
I ask that question all the time in workshops. It’s a question of prioritizing time use to the greatest benefit. I also like to challenge faculty with something along the lines of “when did it become acceptable for a teacher to stop learning?” What are you learning now that will add value to you and your students in the future?

Adrian Bruce
In my experience ‘I don’t have the time to do that’ means ‘I place little value on it’

LaDonna Coy
Agree. And yet I think sometimes when we are asked to shift or see the need for it, we still have to face decisions about what we can stop doing and change doing in order to make the shift. I’m curious what kinds of conditions and supports organizations are putting in place to help people make these shifts?

Patti Grayson
I think “not enough time” is easier than saying “I’m scared” or “I don’t know how”. Deciding to make the shift turns everything you know upside down and suddenly your confidence is gone. It takes the right support system and mindset to decide that it’s worth it, even if it’s not perfect. Administrators need to let their people know they are safe to try new things and learn as they go. It’s always scary to let go of something you know, even once you realize it is no longer of value. Remember “Who Moved My Cheese”?

So what lessons learned do you have to share? Let’s learn from each other.

I look forward to hearing any feedback you may have about the book and hearing how you’ll utilize your learning experience that you take away from it. If you’re so inclined, I’d love for you to write a review of the book on your own blog or on Amazon. If you do, I’d be happy to feature it here, tweet a link to your site out, to get you some more traffic along the way.

Thanks again to everyone who commented, and your awesome insight.

Learn all about the book, join a book club, get a free webinar and more

Interview of the Month

Speaking of the launch of the book, I am honored to be Larry Ferlazzo‘s Interview of the Month for November. Larry and I came to know of each other through the Teacher Leaders Network and our mutual colleague John Norton, an education writer and editor who co-founded TLN and has given both of us helpful editorial feedback over the years. Larry has been a high school teacher for over nine years after spending nineteen years working as a community organizer. He is a published author and runs the popular Websites of the Day blog. Larry also blogs at Education Week Teacher.

In this interview, I shared some of my own education backstory and my vision of teaching and learning in the Internet Age. From the interview:

“I wasn’t one of those kids who always wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. In fact, probably the opposite was true. I came from challenging personal circumstances — the sort where schools more often add to the problem than help solve it. I decided to become a teacher, oddly enough, because I was interested in homeschooling my kids and I didn’t want people saying that I wasn’t qualified.

Once I started taking education classes I fell deeply in love with learning, teaching, and the possibility of making the world a better place one kid and classroom at a time. I know that sounds kind of “noble” but I absolutely mean it. I fell in love.”

Read the full post here

Win a signed copy of The Connected Educator

To celebrate the release of the book, I’ll be giving away three signed copies of The Connected Educator – Learning and leading in a digital age. To enter the drawing, leave a comment on this post telling me what you see as the biggest challenge to schools being full of “connected educators”. Comments will remain open through 11:59pm EDT Wednesday, November 30, and I will draw three random winners on Thursday December 1.

Good luck!

It all began with a Tweet. I tweeted Chris’ post out, and then my buddy and fellow PLP leader Dean Shareski sent me a reply (left).

Dean’s Tweet to Me

I came back with something like, “Don’t tell me — go leave a comment.” And Dean did.

In Defense of Rigor

So I began to think about Dean’s reaction and decide to do a little digging around the word rigor. Dictionary definitions are a wonderful place to start when trying to understand a concept, but then one has to look a little deeper. Right off the bat I found that Dean was in good company with his view on rigor in education. Read this piece by Alfie Kohn who likens rigor to Feel Bad Education. Kohn describes rigor as a cult and links it to the loss of joy in education.

Rigor – The Truth Told

Educationese grows more and more Orwellian. “Reform” now means anything that unions and teachers find offensive, and “academic rigor” means anything that kids do. All the dictionary definitions of rigor – inflexible, harsh, stern – seem exactly the wrong habits for educating for 21st century work skills or in the habits of mind of a democratic citizenry. Getting to the bottom of things, healthy skepticism, intellectual patience, empathy, and respect for knowledge and expertise are more to the point. The best way to start tackling such a daunting task? I’d start by fostering them around children’s natural interests – uncovering, unpeeling their naïve notions about the world – until it becomes an unforgettable habit in the lifetime of learning that schooling introduces us to.

Rigor? Yeah, I am a fan.

The back story

The October 2011 edition of ASCD’s Educational Leadership recognizes coaching in education as “the new leadership skill” — and features more than a dozen articles by practitioners and leading experts, including Bob and Megan Tschannen-Moran, Jim Knight and Elizabeth City. All in all, it’s a great issue — a power-packed resource that addresses most any traditional coaching context you might imagine.

Which may explain why the article I submitted with my writing colleague Lani Ritter-Hall was returned with a gracious “no thanks.” It looks at coaching in a very non-traditional setting: virtual space.

Our draft submission, “Connected Coaches in Connected Spaces,” reports on the development of a new kind of coaching model, specifically designed to promote higher levels of collaboration and learning among educator teams in our Powerful Learning Practice virtual communities. The first coaches trained in this model are now practicing their new skills in live PLP communities during the 2011-12 school year.

The skinny

Using a strength-based, appreciative inquiry approach, our connected coaches lead members of our online communities through a process that results in a shared vision of new ways of learning together in online spaces. The coaches work to increase the confidence and self-efficacy of individual team members. They also work to create learning experiences that demonstrate ways that teamwork is necessary to grow as connected learners.

A Connected Coach guides participants toward collegial interaction by helping build a bridge from the theory they are hearing to practical application. Our experience has shown us that just creating an understanding of how we learn in networks and communities is not enough to generate a deep commitment to sharing and collective knowledge building — the kind of growth that results in innovative school improvement. Connected Coaches, through various activities and discussions, help participants create connections to the content and context, to themselves, and to those who are part of the learning community at school and online.

The edgy part

Although our Connected Coaching model draws strongly from Evocative Coaching (Tschannen-Moran & Tschannen-Moran, 2010), Cognitive Coaching (Costa & Garmston,1994), Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider & Whitney, 2005), the work of Jim Knight, and our own Solution Tree book The Connected Educator (Nussbaum-Beach & Ritter-Hall, 2011), we acknowledge that the model may feel a little edgy or unstructured, especially to those who have not — as we have — spent countless hours learning and leading in virtual professional communities of various sizes, structures and purposes.

We ask our connected coaches to engage in what we call wayfinding, a term we feel is appropriate to the learning that occurs in connected spaces, and we set out pathmarkers to guide them in their role as coaches.

Since we believe this coaching journey is as much an art as it may be a science, we intentionally unnumber the pathmarkers and suggest the process is not prescriptive. We indicate to our coaches that there may be detours; there may be a need to loop back and revisit as they engage in listening, paraphrasing, and asking good questions. We remind them as they wind their way through trust building, questioning and facilitating design-thinking to always be mindful of celebrating progress.

We intend that these markers (which we identify in the article) illuminate the way as coaches facilitate the journey of others toward a more accomplished reflective practice that is as much self-directed as it is collaborative — always with the goal of creating momentum for purposeful inquiry around a shared vision of self and school improvement.

Since ASCD has chosen to recognize coaching as a leadership skill this October — and to provide many useful resources to advance the cause of coaching — we thought we’d share one that got away.

Download “Connected Coaching in Connected Spaces”

And we’d love to hear what you think about the potential usefulness of coaches following this model in virtual learning communities.

Photo credit: Lasára Allen

There is no past we can bring back by longing for it. There is only an eternal now that builds and creates out of the past something new and better. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This post is inspired by the anger, jealousy, weariness and frustration from educators I have seen and heard lately as I have traveled from school to school around the world. In fact, people in general are full of discontent and fear. Rarely do I meet someone filled with purpose, joy and hope, but when I do it grounds me. It brings me back to my purpose and path.

Strife Kills
It is as if we are all working harder but accomplishing less while our children, our students, are more disengaged than ever. In an effort to save kids, we are in a frenzy to try anything–everything– all at once– without much real consideration about purpose, intentionality or outcomes. The more radical the idea, the more true we believe it must be. We are told that the answer lies in not accepting the status quo. The message is that we need to be shifting and that shift has to be huge, fast, transformational and result in higher test scores. We are told it is about the tools and how technology is changing everything. Then another voice calls out and says, no, it isn’t about the tools, it is about the learning. And in our hearts we are frustrated because we feel things are changing so fast that we do not even know what we do not know — much less how all this makes sense in our classrooms, schools and homes.

And all the while, the more convinced we are that schools and the world cannot change, the more frustrating the situation becomes for everyone. The more we strive, the more strife it produces. A quick read from my network connections on twitter shows that many of us are becoming cynical, angry, and discontented. Many of us crave an easy solution, a quick fix that will slow things down and still help the children we serve. We buy books, attend conferences, sit in workshops, and carry signs at marches and yet, we are still unhappy, confused, and tired. The fads, accusations, and rush to action have gotten us nowhere close to what we wanted in terms of helping children. In addition, the amplification of our frustration through social media is creating what some are calling media fatigue. More and more we are hearing a desire to unplug, slow down, find balance and return to high touch in terms of meeting the whole child’s needs.

The Next Big Thing
So what’s the answer? How do we find peace and still be a revolutionary for children? How can we shift, connect and collaborate without giving up a piece of our soul? How do we find the time to learn and grow while still making time for our own kids? How can we get what we want?

What if the “next big thing” was already here? What if the answer could be found inside each of us? What if our peace and satisfaction with ourselves, each other and our work could be found in our own contentment and satisfaction? What if working on ourselves resulted in becoming the answer to the changes we seek?

I believe that:

• Learning is a joyful exploration that has organically embedded within it just the right amount of challenge and motivation to keep us focused.
• Anger, jealousy, resentment, and offense have no place in education and when we entertain them in our lives they kill creativity.
• If we are not happy for people who get what they want, then there is a good chance we will never get what we want.
• Our values, beliefs, and dispositions define the quality of our experiences — what we think defines who we are and what we become.
• Emerging technologies are invaluable for the sharing of our lessons learned in unplugged moments.
• Technology is a medium, a canvas upon which we share the art of what happens in our natural lives. Done right, it becomes an extender of who we are and what we believe.
• Sharing leads to connections. Nurtured connections lead to innovative collaboration. Published collaboration leads to collective action. Collective action results in making the world and ourselves better.
• Learning organizations begin with individuals who are committed to learning themselves first and then extending that learning experience beyond the school house doors.

Serendipitous: Sometimes life hands you a gift
I love serendipity. My appreciation for it has shifted to a belief in how the serendipitous moments of life bring to you what you need at just the right time, if we will relax, focus, listen, reflect and quit striving.

Each day you need to look for what life is handing you. Look for what there is to learn from those around you. Those you run into and come across in your daily activities. Share with each other what you are learning.

Today I am learning…

• How character is developed most when I do not get what I want and yet still do the right thing.
• How strife comes from jealousy and that often those who stir up trouble are simply unhappy people who are not satisfied with who they are or what they have.
• That it is foolish to be jealous of what someone else has if I am not willing to do what they did to get it.
• I have learned that if I keep focused and do what I know is right — when I am ready and have learned enough to handle it — I will usually get what I need. Time and time again when I have tried to manipulate things to get what I thought I wanted, it turned out to be too soon, too late or not what I wanted at all.
• Discontentment isn’t about your circumstance but rather it is about your character. I have found that often when I am operating as a learner, that serendipity will march someone by me who has what I want. I have a choice at that moment to be happy for that person or jealous. Every time I choose to be happy I move ahead three spaces on the game board of life. Every time I choose to be jealous I skip a turn, and opportunity passes me by.

I frequently hear people say “I wish I could travel and speak and live the life” so and so has. It sounds so glamorous and fun. I find myself wondering in response if they are willing to do the things that so and so has done to get it. One thing is for sure — whoever they are talking about certainly didn’t get where they are by simply wishing. Besides what we really need is to find the idea or answer that lies within us, not become a clone of someone else.

We all need to start enjoying life more. Every day that we miss enjoying the life we have been given is a tragedy. Spend time listening to the voice inside you. The one that decided to go into education to make a difference in the lives of children.

Try things out together and then talk about what works and what doesn’t. Use technology to reflect and learn together with others. Use technology to create and to be creative.

Enjoy your life and cherish the impact you are making on children. So much of what they learn from you is caught and not taught anyway. Laugh together. Learn from each other.  Develop a learning community mindset.  Set your mind toward an openness to learning something each day with and from each other in your school. Make up your mind that if you do not get what you wanted today, you will relax and enjoy life anyway.

As I was typing this, Carole King came on the radio, singing these words. Talk about serendipity.

You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face
And show the world all the love in your heart
Then people gonna treat you better
You’re gonna find, yes, you will
That you’re beautiful as you feel

Waiting at the station with a workday wind a-blowing
I’ve got nothing to do but watch the passers-by
Mirrored in their faces I see frustration growing
And they don’t see it showing, why do I?

You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face
And show the world all the love in your heart
Then people gonna treat you better
You’re gonna find, yes, you will
That you’re beautiful as you feel

I have often asked myself the reason for THE sadness
In a world where tears are just a lullaby
If there’s any answer, maybe love can end the madness
Maybe not, oh, but we can only try

You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face
And show the world all the love in your heart
Then people gonna treat you better
You’re gonna find, yes, you will
That you’re beautiful as you feel

So I would love to know– What have you learned lately?

Have you heard of the Teaching Channel? Neither had I until a talented video producer gave me a call and asked if I would be willing to serve as a pedagogical expert in a short professional development video. My task: Coach a first-year social studies teacher through the process of integrating social media into her Holocaust unit.

Teaching Channel is a video showcase — on the Internet and TV (PBS) — of inspiring and effective teaching practices in America’s schools. Since their “beta launch” in early June, they have reached thousands of teachers in all 50 states. Their mission aligns with the goal many of us share: to improve the outcomes for all students in America. The lessons are geared for novice teachers but the truth is these well-produced videos are great for even the most seasoned educator. (The Teaching Channel is a nonprofit and has received seed funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.)

Being Findable
After searching the keywords teaching and social media on the Web, Aaron, a video producer, called me to chat. He wanted a lesson on social media but wasn’t sure where to take it. He knew he wanted me to serve in a coaching role and help a novice teacher use social media while he captured the experience on film. But what might that actually look like?  I was intrigued. What would it be like to work virtually with a brand-new teacher and novice technology user (at least in terms of connecting and collaborating) who was not in my immediate proximity? We started with a Skype call (it was the teacher’s first ) and an exchange of a few emails. I just let the lesson planning and my suggestions happen naturally. It simply felt like “business as usual” to me, and I believe that is the reason the experience ultimately worked so well in terms of outcomes.

Getting the Right Person on the Bus
I also believe that in this kind of situation, a lot rides on the willingness and openness of the teacher. The first teacher we worked with on this project was a full time substitute who was a part time fitness trainer. He was full of passion for fitness and our conversations were rich and informative, but there was no buy-in for the lesson planning on social media. He had so many reasons why this wasn’t going to work. Which really points strongly to a key disposition of effective teachers. Patricia, the New Jersey teacher who appears in the finished video, was smart, open, eager to learn new things, teachable, and willing to share what she already knew (and didn’t know).

There were lots of reasons, which I list below, why we could have thrown in the towel on this lesson. But Patricia didn’t let any of these things dissuade her. She wasn’t easily offended or defensive, and we warmed to each other quickly off and online (I eventually traveled to her school). What I loved most about Patricia was her love for and commitment to the kids in her classroom. It was obvious she understood the balance between the business of learning and letting kids be who they are and making space for laughter and caring. Because there was very little time to develop trust between us — and coaching takes trust — I believe it was our predisposition to be mutually accountable to each other and the willingness to respect each other’s strengths that made this coaching relationship a success.

Why PLNs Are Important for Every Teacher
We didn’t make up the lesson theme just for the video. Patricia was really teaching the Holocaust, and the students were actually reading Anne Frank’s diary. What you see happening in the video is exactly how it went down — it wasn’t staged. We explored the topic and brainstormed together while I looked for opportunities to embed memorable learning moments. The fact that Mary Worrell, my friend and former PLP program admin, lives in Amsterdam and had taken me to the House of Anne Frank a month or two earlier was simply serendipitous. As was the connection that one of the production folks had with an Amsterdam videographer, allowing us to film what happened on the Anne Frank museum side of things.

Patricia was actually teaching about Anne Frank — my PLN included an Amsterdam connection — so I was quick to suggest using Skype to connect with museum curators. This lesson unfolded the way that lesson planning should unfold– as a discovery-driven, passion-based, learning journey, for both the teacher and the students. It truly underscored the value of having a personal learning network and knowing how to leverage it to create great learning experiences.

The truth is that any teacher can have professional learning experiences like this one if they are connected educators. If Patricia had been far enough along on the path to becoming a connected educator, she could have reached out to her own PLN and achieved a contact in the Netherlands that would have resulted in a similar outcome. This wasn’t about my personal influence, but about my ability to tap into a global network of teaching colleagues. Thanks to this connected coaching experience, Patricia now has all the evidence and motivation she needs to begin this network-building journey for herself (a fact she makes clear near the end of the video).

Learning First – Tools Second
What I really loved about this experience was that our focus was on the curriculum, not the technology, even though the purpose of  the lesson was to model effective use of social media. We didn’t come into the lesson thinking, OK, we want to use Skype and connect with someone internationally. Or We we need to use VoiceThread because it’s a cool tool. Rather, the events that unfolded in the planning flowed naturally from the learning objectives to the appropriate technologies. The tools were chosen after we figured out what we wanted the students to know and be able to do. The technology served the learning.

Student Reflection
One piece that got left out of the final cut was an interview done with Thomas, a man in his late twenties who had grown up in schools in Amsterdam and whose parents and grandparents had vivid memories of the war. The students sent Thomas a list of questions. He responded thoughtfully to each one.  In the Teaching Channel video, one of Patricia’s students talks about how valuable it was to not just read stories in a book about the Holocaust, but to actually be part of a conversation with someone who had experience with the facts.

We need to pay attention to this. There is something about living narrative that makes learning come alive for kids and for us all. The willingness of Thomas to ask his grandparents to refresh his memory about the events that happened in the war made the learning more emotional and personal. He shared that it is the culture in the Netherlands to not talk about such things openly, so the experience became one of personal risk for him as well. None of us were just going through the motions in this lesson, just to create a how-to teaching video. Everyone was pushing themselves and taking chances in this learning experience. We were all nudged out of our comfort zones in some way.

Patricia also invited the students to reflect about the effectiveness of the tools in their own processing and understanding of the information, and their insights add something important to this teaching video. We’re able to see the experience through the lens of the learner. And it could have been amplified even more. If these kids had blogged about the experience using their own unique voices, just think of the additional insight we all could have gained. Our students need to be blogging about their learning.

Background Details: Why We Might Have Given Up, or (smile) Talk about a Really Bad Hair Day!
There were lots of reasons any of those involved in this project could have given up before we reached the end. I’m so glad we didn’t. The ROI was so valuable for the teacher, myself, Mary, the kids, the folks at the house of Anne Frank, Thomas, the video team, and Patricia’s colleagues who watched in the background. Here’s some of what we faced:

1. The day we shot the Skype footage from my office the a/c was broken and it was 110 degrees inside.
2. Patricia’s technology wasn’t working the day we first connected, and Skype was blocked at her school.
3. I got three hours of sleep the night before and drove from Virginia Beach to New Jersey the morning of the international chat due to a conflict of schedule.
4. The school didn’t have a/c and filming took place during a New Jersey heat wave. We were all wiping sweat. Makeup quickly melted and hair frizzed.
5. When I arrived the film crew had been lugging equipment up and down four flights of steep stairs. Patricia’s classroom was on the top floor and the computer lab was on the bottom floor.
6. A torrential downpour accompanied by loud cracks of lightning occurred during the interview pieces. We kept having to stop and start and try to get our ideas out between thunderbolts, which made fluid thinking difficult.
7. The rain was so intense the school flooded, triggering a continuous stream of announcements and other interruptions.
7. My car battery died, and we had to find a stranger willing to walk through the flooded streets and give us a jump. But by then, the learning work was done!

Definitely an experience I will never ever forget and yet hope to do again soon.

My Takeaways

• I believe in-house video production teams should regularly capture “just in time” learning in schools and share across the system. Teachers and support staff need to be connected educators who understand how to use the electronic tools available to them to learn and document their learning for others.
• Connected Coaching needs to be a regular part of the PLN-building experience. We all need guidance in creating PLNs with real purpose. One way to give back to the profession is to share your expertise with novices — whether it be new teachers, new technology users, or educators new to the shifting pedagogy of the 21st century. Make the time.
• Students need to be part of the learning and development process. Seek their input before, during, and after the lessons.
• We all start at ground zero when learning something new.
• A group of international strangers who all are united around a shared goal can become colleagues and make learning work seamlessly if they are willing to take risks and embrace the new.
• Learning is not a passive experience anymore. It is collaborative, active, creative, and connected.
• Connected Coaches need to exhibit confidence around learning and make the tools invisible. What was important in my conversations with Patricia was the pedagogy and how it was supported by technology- not the technology itself.
• Because I blog and share my learning life, I have a digital footprint. I was findable. And from my sharing a connection was made. Out of that connection came an idea for a innovative collaboration and as a result we acted collectively across states and oceans to create a legacy — and memorable learning moment for all of us, and most especially for a group of great kids in New Jersey.

The cover to our book: The Connected Educator: Learning and leading in a Digital Age which comes out early Oct. Lani and I hope you will consider reading  it and getting a copy for your faculty as well.

Who should read this book?
To all learners—educators, teachers, administrators, curriculum developers, parents, and students—who have not yet considered the benefits of network and community participation, who have just dipped a toe into the torrent of opportunity, or who already are immersed in digital tools, we ask you to explore with us the power of connected, self-directed professional learning.
Help us remix the concepts of professional learning communities, personal learning networks, and communities of practice to support lifelong learning. Make use of and extend our suggested applications. Commit with us to develop a shared wisdom that supports teachers and leaders as learners first. As we offer our expertise to each other and work to solve problems collaboratively, we will build collective intelligence. This new way of learning will set our children on the road to a life of passion-driven, connected learning.

What Is Different About This Book?
This book is a journey into what it means to be a learner first and an educator second. It is a book about you, about your professional learning. It’s also about us—the collective us in education—and how our own learning can transform student learning through a systemic vision of professional development.

We decided books about being connected need to model what they promote and not be just a linear experience.  So we ask you to Get Connected  in each section by participating in an authentic application that completes each chapter. This is a crowdsourcing activity, that is, an activity in which readers come together in a virtual space and add to the collective knowledge of what is being discussed. You will learn to be a connected learner not only by reading about connected learning but by doing what connected learners do—co-constructing meaning and knowledge.

We were a little surprised at the cover, but it is growing on us now. Learning socially is light, airy and fun right?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Want to preorder?

We rode hard for two hours. It’s weird, these days I always feel guilty riding my bike. It feels selfish or wrong, as there are 100 other things I “should” be doing such as: working in and building PLP community, writing, teaching an e-Course, or even cleaning house, playing with the dogs and visiting my grandson. In education we rarely have closure, you learn to live with it. But lately it feels like I am constantly running…running…running… and always behind . I mean I know I should be exercising and making time for me. I know there needs to be balance but there are so many deadlines and things I feel I should be doing on behalf of others. I wonder if you ever feel that way?

We always listen to music while we ride. Which works nicely with certain songs. It helps keep the cadence up. We try for 85 and as the stoker (I ride in the back) it is my responsibility to watch cadence and push us harder when we fall under 85. One thing most people do not realize is the stoker actually works the hardest on a tandem. I have people say to me all the time– I bet you love it on the back you can just quit pedaling and let David do all the work.  It doesn’t work like that. If one of us is pedaling–we both are.  I connect to the music and use it to help me push harder, harder and faster. Today an old Jackson Browne tune caught my eye. As the lyrics belted out I listened as if for the first time. Running on Empty. It was a favorite back in the 70s in high school. As I listened to the lyrics I was struck by how much I related to what Jackson was saying and how I saw an application in my life now.

Looking out at the road rushing
Under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by
Like so many summer fields

In sixty-five I was seventeen
And running up one-on-one
I don’t know where I’m running now,
I’m just running on

Running on Running on empty
Running on Running blind
Running on Running into the sun
But I’m running behind

As I thought about running into the sun (both metaphorically and physically as it was 91 while we rode) I began to think deeply about being connected in learning communities both on and offline. I started mentally listing, as we pedaled, powerful learning statements to serve as guide posts for the connected leader/learner.

1. Community and network connections should have a purpose beyond sociability and harvesting of links.
Twitter has been described as the most powerful PD some people have experience in their careers. Randomly ask any group of folks who are engaging each other around professional conversations on Facebook or Google+ and they will all tell you that they learn amazing things from each other. But are they? Really? Or is what they are experiencing more aligned to emancipation. The knocking down of the classroom walls and the elimination of the silos teachers have been trapped in for years and years. Through communities and networks, educators have found each other and now they are using social media as the “new space” for their electronic teacher’s lounge. We are all giddy with the excitement of sociability and sharing “cool stuff”. It is powerful. It is contagious. But more importantly in my mind it is not too far removed from the same phenomena that our students are experiencing.

But has anyone really started leveraging their Twitter and Facebook connections as a means to intentionally impact the culture of their schools and districts? What are we doing with the links we are harvesting? Do we ever revisit the ideas shared in a hashtag driven chat and “do” something with them? Shouldn’t we be working together to make our thinking explicit? Working together to challenge assumptions and build shared knowledge? What if we took the collective knowledge gained by trying out these ideas in varying professional contexts and then brought what we learned back to the school community? Wouldn’t the result be professional conversations that could spur systemic change?

Transformation requires intense passion, a willingness to challenge the status quo (no matter what the fall out) and fierce resolve to keep at it and see it through– past the storming, all the way through to performing, where the transformation piece becomes “business as usual”.

Gotta do what you can
Just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it
With what you do to survive
In sixty-nine I was twenty-one
And I called the road my own
I don’t know when that road
Turned into the road I’m on

2. Learning communities thrive when they are built on action or co-created content
Change = action.
Sometimes the act of  writing and talking about the need to change dulls the urgency to change. The creation of documents and policies often creates an illusion of change that works against promoting people toward meaningful reform through action. We have to ask ourselves what we should be “doing” based on what we now know. What would it look like if the ideas were enacted? What strengths do each of us have that we can bring to the table? What should we create or build together? It is the act of co-creating something we care about that produces a sense of community and a sense of ownership.

One of the reasons Powerful Learning Practice does action research together as a community is because the act of co-creating brings people together around a goal and moves them to action. Action research allows teams of educators to decide on something important they can address that will shift culture back in their school or districts. Working through the process moves people past self efficacy to a shared identity and then to the building of collective wisdom from an appreciative perspective.

Rather than everyone just being social and congenial, educators who use action research toward a common focus find themselves co-creating and building a culture of collegiality. The shift in culture should include moving past simply providing *time* for teachers to collaborate, as teachers often do not know “how” to collaborate. Simply collaborating (socially conversing about change), does not provide the framework for concrete action toward change or improved student learning. Rather we should all be thinking deeply about what we should be collaborating about and how to leverage the strength in each of us toward that common goal.

Running on Running on empty
Running on Running blind
Running on Running into the sun
But I’m running behind

Everyone I know,
Everywhere I go
People need some reason
To believe

3. Leaders need to understand how to lead through a distributed leadership model.

As you develop your tribe on and offline– do you understand how to make the most of the skills, experiences, and wisdom in your group? Distributive leadership brings everyone to the leadership table (students too) and allows them to be the CEO of something. The trick is finding out what the something is exactly. Look to your community member’s passion. What are they good at? What do they know a lot about? Leaders should see themselves as capacity builders who care as much about helping teachers self actualize as they do students.

Communities should begin with a loose governance and a plan to evolve. Your framework of leadership should be loosely constructed so that it guides the way. Community leaders need to be working hard toward shifting the leadership to the emerging leaders within your community. Model yourselves out of a job. And have the action groups talk to each other and share what they are learning. Here is a great diagram I have been working on. It was inspired by the book From Silos to Systems by Kilgore and Reynolds. I am still working with how I would change their proposed model. But here is my draft thinking.

I don’t know about anyone but me
If it takes all night,
That’ll be all right
If I can get you to smile before I leave

Looking out at the road
Rushing under my wheels
I don’t know how to tell you
All just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends
That I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes
I see them running too

4. Technology is an amplifier that can accelerate more students and teachers toward a wider reach and deeper learning.
Technology is not a cure all. It isn’t a silver bullet. It is, however, a great tool for connecting folks and providing powerful spaces for meaningful global collaboration. Where we miss it sometimes is not understanding that the learning is what we should focus on– not the tools.

Technology can be a canvas. We use use social media spaces to paint ideas and share beauty. But it is interesting to note that when we are painting we do not focus on the tools first — learning all about the canvas and then in 12 weeks take paintbrush 101. Rather we pick up the brush and start to experiment with the paint. We work with different media and we explore color. Our learning comes in the doing. And so it should be with technology. The magic of this technological revolution is not in blogs, wikis, and podcasts. Those mediums should be invisible and secondary to the learning, sharing, and co-construction that is happening in these spaces. We do not focus on the hammer but rather what we do with the hammer and how much value it adds when we use the hammer to build something.

I used to sit kids in front of a computer and have learners interact with learning objects contained within the software programs. Now I have learners sit at a computer and see it as a portal they pass through to connect with great minds from around the world who live on the other side. Who can we learn from today? What will we build together?

Running on Running on empty
Running on Running blind
Running on Running into the sun
But I’m running behind

What am I missing? What other powerful statements should we add to this list? Will you help me co-create this list we can all use as a guideline to our community building? I look forward to hearing your ideas.

Honey you really tempt me
You know the way you look so kind
I’d love to stick around
But I’m running behind
Running on
You know I don’t even know
what I’m hoping to find
Running behind
Running into the sun
But I’m running behind