The Next Generation of Educational Leadership

A Little Info About Sal Khan and Khan Academy

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 13:42:00 +0000

Before I share the details of my conversation with Sal Khan at lunch the other day, allow me to share with you a few videos that will give you insight into what Sal Khan hopes to do with Khan Academy.

Now that you know a little more about Sal Khan and his vision for Khan Academy, check back in a few days to find out what he and I discussed last week. In the meantime, I highly recommend you browse the Khan Academy website to familiarize yourself with the myriad instructional videos there (math, science, history, finance). I also recommend you look into using not only the videos but also the tracking software to use with your students, regardless of your type of school (i.e. elementary, middle, high school, public, independent).

Lunch with Sal Khan

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:07:00 +0000

Today I had the pleasure of having not only lunch but also a stimulating conversation with Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy. Since I just walked in the door, I haven't yet had to time to get all my thoughts and his thoughts on paper, metaphorically speaking. However, before I forget the things we discussed, I'm going to do my best to recreate a transcript of our conversation and I will share some of that here.

In the meantime, if you aren't familiar with Khan Academy, visit the website and check it out. It is on the verge of becoming a phenomenon (actually, it wouldn't be a stretch to describe it that way now) and it will be a gamechanger in the world of education very soon.

Stay tuned for notes on my lunch with Sal Khan.

Maintain the Routine, Avoid the Rut

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:37:00 +0000

Within the next week or two, most schools will be wrapping up the first nine weeks grading period. (Where has the time gone?) By now, your school or classroom should be well into a routine and rhythm. Procedures should be clearly established by now and both students and faculty should be familiar with expectations for the year. The challenge from this point forward is to maintain the routine without allowing the routine to become a rut. The key is to be consistent with expectations and procedures while infusing new, fresh ideas and approaches to everyday situations and challenges.

Remember, routine... not rut.

Win a Copy of The Complete Idiot's Guide to European History, 2E

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:49:00 +0000

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Complete Idiot's Guide to European History, 2E

by Nathan Barber

Giveaway ends October 07, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

A New Perspective on Saving Paper at School

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 23:40:00 +0000

Schools across the country have been making the effort to become paperless for years. Nevertheless, most schools almost certainly continue to use entirely too much paper. If you've been trying to curtail your teachers' use of copy paper at school, you've probably been emphasizing one of the following statistics:

copies cost $0.xx per page
the elementary school copy machine has made x,xxx,xxx copies this year
copy paper alone has cost the school $xx,xxx for the first semester

If these sound familiar but haven't quite made the impact you've hoped, keep in mind that these stats do not put the use of paper in human terms, in terms that hit home with teachers. Try this instead (as an example - I'm making it up): In the first nine weeks of school, the elementary has used 272 sheets of paper per student (total number of sheets of paper used divided by the number of students in the school). Does this sound absurd? I challenge you to do the math at your own school. Where did all that paper go? What would any kid do with 272 sheets of paper... in nine weeks? Again, I challenge you to do the math.

A beautiful aspect of this perspective on using paper is that you are now free to also take a good hard look at whether you are a worksheet-driven school.

Once you do the math this way, you can pursue the conservation of paper by targeting sheets per student, and you can emphasize liberating students and teachers from mountains of worksheets, etc. Approaching the challenge of saving paper in this manner is a win win situation for your school.

Now go start calculating...

My New Mantra

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:44:00 +0000

I recently read a line in Colt McCoy's book, Growing Up Colt, that hit me like a ton of bricks. The line from the book, now my new mantra, may not be the most profound quote you've ever heard, but it rang true with me in such a way that I shared it with my administrative team yesterday.

In the book, Colt McCoy explains that his parents' philosophy of bringing up their kids was to prepare their kids for the path, not to prepare the path for their kids. That is exactly the message we're trying to send parents at our school right now: the role of the parent is to prepare the child for the path, not to prepare the path for the child.

True story: thirty minutes after our admin meeting, our counselor shared this with a helicopter mom. I assure you, it won't be the last time we use this line. Read it once more and let it resonate: the role of the parent is to prepare the child for the path, not to prepare the path for the child. Thanks, Colt.

Do You (or your teachers) Talk Too Much?

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 22:43:00 +0000

I'm going to divulge something about myself here... When I was a kid, I had every Run D.M.C tape and I listened to these guys all the time. One of their songs that still stands out to me is "You Talk Too Much." (As I'm typing, the song is stuck in my head!) I recently was reminded of this song when I was speaking with one of my teachers after school recently.

This rising star has matured as a teacher significantly since last year due in part to the training she's received in the Harkness method. Last week after school she was sharing with me how much better her classes are going this year and she said to me, "I talked way too much last year." For someone who has been preaching "student-centered school," this was just about enough to make me do backflips down the hall. Think about what she said... That's a powerful statement. If you're striving for a student-centered school, keep this statement in mind. Once your teachers start saying things like this, you're on your way.

The Power of Words (With Friends)

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 01:30:00 +0000

If you haven't been swept up in the Words with Friends phenomenon over the past couple of years then I have one question for you: where have you been?

Words With Friends is a totally addictive, Scrabble-like game played back and forth between smart phones like the iPhone and the Droid. The game combines game play and social media for an app that must have sold a zillion units by now. Practically everyone I know with an iPhone plays Words With Friends with someone. If you don't have it, get it.

Last school year, I started playing Words with some of my current and former faculty. We had a great time going back and forth with the word game. Then something interesting happened. I started hearing about some kids at school who also played Words and wanted some tougher competition than their other friends. One by one, initially, they'd find me in the halls and ask for my Words With Friends screen name. Next thing I know, I have about fifteen games going at any one time with my students. This actually created a great opportunity to start some conversation with some of the students, some of whom I really didn't know all that well. It gave me a chance to say some positive and encouraging things to a few kids I barely knew both through the chat function on the app and in person in the halls.

While I have many I could share, the most amazing anecdotes I have for you involve a kid who otherwise had been a complete introvert for months and a kid who later in the year would suffer a tragedy.

The introvert: I could hardly get her to say "Hi" in the halls when we passed. Nevertheless, she got my screen name from one of her friends and she sent an invitation for a new game. I accepted and we proceeded to play about fifty consecutive games against one another over the next few months. Using the chat function, we started with simple exchanges of "good word" or "rematch!" or even "Merry Christmas." Then, the girl who wouldn't say a word in person in the halls before suddenly opened up and began to speak at school. "Nice game" or "crazy word yesterday" or "I'm gonna beat you next time" eventually turned into actual conversation. Amazing!

The tragedy: Another student I hardly knew sent me an invitation for a new game about the same time as the introvert. I accepted and we also got to know each other a little at a time, first via chat, then small talk in then halls, then actual conversations. Fast forward a few months and this delightful kid learned that her father had suddenly passed away. She received the news at school. In my office. Had we not forged a relationship over the previous few months, a relationship that began with a friendly game of Words With Friends, that unforgettable day would have been much worse, much more uncomfortable. As she will tell you now, the experience was awful but at least there was a friendly face in my office that day when she most needed one.

I understand completely that playing social media word games with students and faculty will appear in no handbook for administrators or teachers, except perhaps under the "don't do this" section. However, this simple game app has been a powerful tool for me at my school with my students. I'm not necessarily advocating this method for anyone else. I'm simply giving testimony about the power of a unique way I discovered to connect with Digital Natives in the 21st century.

A 21st-Century Twist on Current Events Classroom Activities

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 19:20:00 +0000

Remember the days of "Current Event Fridays" in Coach Whatshisname's class? You remember, every Thursday night or Friday morning before school, you stole your father's newspaper (yes, real paper newspaper) to clip an article to paste into a folder and turn in for a completion grade. Hopefully those days are gone for good in your school. If you're still observing something similar in your classrooms, it's time for an update.

Imagine a social studies class in a computer lab or in a class in which everyone has a laptop, an iPad or a smartphone with access to the Internet. Now imagine that after a week of teaching and learning about a particular topic, the student's walk in to discover "Current Event Day" written on the board. The teacher instructs the students to go to Google, then to click the News link at the top left. The teacher the says, "Today's current event topic is Arab Spring. Go!" Immediately the students enter the phrase, hit return and start claiming articles: "I've got the Guardian article" and "I've got one from the New York Times" and "Here's one from the Pakistan Daily Times" and "Cool! Here's one from The Onion!" and yet another says "How about one from Al Jazeera?" Ten minutes later, the teacher leads the class in a deep, meaningful discussion of the Current Event Day topic but with input based on global and widely varied perspectives.

Now imagine this same scenario happening in math class, or science class, or lit class, or...

The benefits should be obvious: the current event info actually can be current now; kids are plugged in and engaged; the activity lends itself to reading-writing-discussion or problem-solving (depending on how the teacher customizes the activity); the activity can be used in any class at virtually any level K-12; kids don't need to rustle up someone's newspapers; kids can have a truly global experience quickly and easily.

This is an easy way to keep an age-old favorite activity of teachers at all levels without staying stuck in a rut. Give this a try in the first few weeks of school and I promise you and your teachers will never go back to the old current events assignments again.

Defining College Prep - Part 5

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:10:00 +0000

In my original post on the topic, I explained that I've been exploring what "college prep" actually means, both in 2011 and in the years to come. After all, I believe its entirely possible we're doing "college prep" in schools across the country based on what college looked like for us years ago rather than based on what college actually looks like now and may look like in the near future. To get a current, accurate snapshot of what's happening on college campuses, my school organized an Alumni Summit, a round-table discussion with current college and university students. In a nut shell, they said the three things most frequently expected by their college professors are:

Collaboration for the purpose of solving a problem
Reading, writing, discussion
Clear, concise, fact-based oral communication

After my last post, Randy commented on a number of things based upon his experiences in high school, in undergrad and in law school, but he pointed to another piece of the college prep puzzle: time management. Randy said, "The students who I saw fail in their endeavors, were the ones who simply could not find an efficient way to manage their time." Randy then asked me to weigh in, so...

In short, I believe time management is a skill kids need if they're going to be successful not only in college but also in life. The good news is that we have four years to work with them on this. However, there are two sides to the time management issue. The first is obvious: there's plenty to do and only 24 hours available every day. With the advent of all sorts of digital calendars, daytimers, alarms, alerts, etc., students today have all the tools they need to manage their time. We must teach them how to use these tools effectively. For example, with the roll out of our 1-to-1 laptop program this year, part of what we'll be doing is teaching kids how to set up and use Google calendars. For those with iPhones, we'll take the teaching a step further and help them sync their laptops and phones. This process will include instruction on how to plan days as well as how to plan weeks, months, semesters, test dates, project timelines, etc. It will be up to the students after that to implement the planning skills we teach them.

Now for the not-so-obvious flip side of the issue... Our alum at the Alumni Summit brought up a really interesting time management issue they face, one that may surprise you. Their rigorous high school experience (Randy, you can identify with this) left them with virtually every waking hour of every day planned, scheduled, prioritized, committed, and more. When they found themselves attending class in college only a few hours a week with no after-school activities like football, choir and clubs, they had no idea what to do with all the unscheduled down-time. They said it actually became harder to plan their project timelines and study sessions because there was too much free time. I have to admit, I didn't see that coming. Being the resourceful kids they are, they've adjusted. However, I believe we ought to consider helping our kids think ahead and be prepared to handle hours upon hours of unstructured downtime.

Thanks, Randy, for bringing up this topic.

Defining College Prep - Part 4

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:20:00 +0000

Collaboration for the purpose of solving a problem
Reading, writing, discussion
Clear, concise, fact-based oral communication

Let's look next at the third point: clear, concise, fact-based oral communication. The alum were unified in their message on this point. College professors fully expect students to be able to articulate their thoughts, ideas, arguments, beliefs, etc., orally.

This third point certainly flows from the second point. Just as college professors expect students to communicate well through the written word, they also expect students to communicate well via the spoken word. The alum cited numerous examples from their classes in a wide variety of disciplines in which the professors would call on students and expect them to articulate or explain the solution to a problem, an hypothesis based on a reading or observation, an interpretation or analysis of a piece of literature, or something else along those lines. Often the professors would needle the student who had been called upon until the professor was satisfied with the response; the poorer the communication skills, the longer the student would remain on the hot-seat.

The alum in the liberal arts and humanities, in particular, noted that professors often required students to demonstrate mastery and/or comprehension of a particular passage by taking a position and defending it. Furthermore, as with the expectation that students cite specific lines or quotes in writing assignments, professors frequently expect students to refer back to texts when speaking.

Several alum noted that when they were required to collaborate on problems or projects, they frequently had to give oral presentations in lieu of written presentations. These presentations, they explained, couldn't be canned, rote orations because the professors and other students often interrupted them to ask questions or present opposing viewpoints. The presenters were expected to then get right back on track.

The alum added an interesting footnote to this topic. Almost to a person, they agreed that students who argued and spoke with confidence and authority usually got off the hook sooner than those who floundered.

What does this mean for today's high schools? Well, for starters, the Speech class in your school that's been assigned to the offensive line coach because "it's just Speech class" needs to be taken seriously. Also, teachers in every content area should require students to participate in meaningful discussion in class. The best teachers already do this and they often use a rubric to assess the caliber of students' contributions to the class. Finally, as often as possible, students should be afforded every opportunity to speak in front of large groups of their peers; chapels, pep rallies, town hall meetings, school assemblies and other community meetings are terrific opportunities for this to happen.

Cover Art Released for CIG to European History 2e

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:30:00 +0000

The brand new, redesigned cover art for my forthcoming second edition of Complete Idiot's Guide to European History has just been released so I thought I'd share it here. The release date has been set for October 4. If you're interested, here are the links to the book at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Defining College Prep - part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:48:00 +0000

Collaboration for the purpose of solving a problem
Reading, writing, discussion
Clear, concise, fact-based oral communication

Let's look next at the second point: reading, writing, discussion. The alum were unified on this point. College professors are expecting today's college students to read deeply and come away from a text with a working knowledge of what they read. Often the college professors hold the students accountable upon their return to class in one of two two ways.

First, college professors often hold students accountable with writing assignments that require students to demonstrate, on a high level, their understanding of a text or excerpt from a text. These writing assignments vary in length from a few paragraphs to a few pages. However, one thing all the alum said was that professors expect the students to refer back to the text and cite examples or specific passages to support the point made in their writing. Without these references, the alum said, arguments presented are invalid and worthless to the professors. In grading these assignments, professors look for clear, concise, organized thoughts free of "BS and fluff." Writing is a way that humans unpack their thoughts and ideas and make sense of the jumble of information swirling around in their heads. Thankfully, college professors understand this and they expect their students to practice this often.

Second, college professors often require students to answer questions and take a position based on a specific reading. In college (and this would probably differ greatly from a high school classroom), the professors often do not grade each response or even each day's participation. How do they get students to do the work? They expect the students to be intimidated into being prepared for class. The professors rely on students' fears of being singled out, called on repeatedly and even being tossed out of class to ensure students come to class prepared. Professors also rely on peer pressure to make sure students are prepared. Once students are prepared for participation, professors expect students to be able to clearly articulate their thoughts, ideas and positions using references to the text. As with the writing assignments, the arguments are considered invalid and worthless without these references. Professors often require students to drill down into their own arguments; professors often ask questions such as "Why did you use this or that word?" or "How is this similar or how does this differ from other texts we've read by the same author?" Interestingly, the professors often allow other students in the class to put on the spot the student answering a question.

Is this "reading, writing, discussion" concept revolutionary? Hardly. In fact, it is timeless. I think it's worth noting that with the advent of 1-t0-1 laptop programs, interactive whiteboards, blogs, wikis, blended learning classrooms, and whatever else is just over the horizon, some things in education are and will continue to be timeless and still hold great value in the 21st-century school. Reading, writing, and discussion, done in a rigorous way with high expectations of the students (as described above) must be a significant part of every class, regardless of the discipline.

Defining College Prep - part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 21:25:00 +0000

In my last post, I explained that I've been exploring what "college prep" actually means, both in 2011 and in the years to come. After all, I believe its entirely possible we're doing "college prep" in schools across the country based on what college looked like for us years ago rather than based on what college actually looks like now and may look like in the near future. To get a current, accurate snapshot of what's happening on college campuses, my school organized an Alumni Summit, a round-table discussion with current college and university students. In a nut shell, they said the three things most frequently expected by their college professors are:

Collaboration for the purpose of solving a problem
Reading, writing, discussion
Clear, concise, fact-based oral communication

Let's begin with the first bullet point: collaboration for the purpose of solving problems. The vast majority of our alum in attendance agreed that the group project model, or collaboration, is used in more classes than not (again, in their collective experience). Here's the important thing to note, though, for those of you who see group projects all the time in your school: in college, collaboration is required for solving a problem. In other words, collaboration is not for creating a poster project or even a flashy presentation. Collaboration is for the purpose of problem solving. There is a huge difference.

An alum attending an excellent business school gave examples of groups that were required to create a business from scratch: brainstorm the idea, make a pitch for the startup capital, create a business plan, create a marketing strategy and and ad campaign, create accounting ledgers with profits and losses, etc. An alum attending an excellent engineering school described a group project in which his group was given the blueprints, schematics, energy consumption data, and other data for the university's cooling plant. Their task was to identify the weak links and inefficiencies in the system based on the data then design a solution for the problems. These should be textbook examples of collaboration for the purpose of solving a problem.

What did they learn in the process of collaborating? To name just a few things, these college kids learned to coordinate several busy schedules, to lock in deadlines and checkpoints on their calendars, to assign tasks and work based on group members' strengths, to light a fire under those who weren't meeting and exceeding expectations, to look into the future to predict possible conflicts or problems, and the list goes on. If that doesn't sound to you like a list of real-world, practical skills these kids will use in the workplace very, then I can't imagine what you do every day in your job.

Defining College Prep - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:33:00 +0000

Over the last several months I've been giving considerable thought to the term "college prep." Those of us in this particular area of education often throw the phrase around without really thinking about what "college prep" even means. As I pondered this phrase, I realized that perhaps the college experience for which we (collective "we," not just my school "we") have been prepping our kids may be the experience we had in college and not actually what our students will facing in the next few years. You can see the conundrum already... How do we prepare our students for a college experience which has not yet arrived, especially considering the speed at which the world is changing? After all, how can we be "college prep" if we don't have a clear understanding of what "college" looks like now (as opposed to what it looked like five, ten, fifteen years ago)? Rather than try only to predict the future of college education, I decided to gather some data about the current college experience.

When trying to look ahead to what the college experience would be like in the next several years, I figured the best place to start would be to look at what's happening right now in college classrooms. Therefore, I summoned our alumni coordinator and set out to organize our first-ever Alumni Summit. The goal of the Alumni Summit would be to get an accurate snapshot of some college classrooms in 2011. As she sent out invitations I went to work on questions. Fast forward several weeks to the week after most colleges and universities dismissed for the summer and we were ready for the Summit.

For the Summit two dozen alum came to campus to join me for a round table discussion of what college looks like right now based on their experiences in the 2010-11 school year. The group represented colleges and universities from across the nation including Baylor University, West Point, Wheaton College, the University of Virginia, the University of Texas, Texas A&M University, Stanford, Middlebury College, and more. The alum represented disciplines including business, marketing, chemistry, engineering, philosophy, education, journalism and economics, to name a few.

After almost two hours of round-table Q&A with plenty of back and forth conversation, something became very clear. Regardless of the school, regardless of the course of study, the alum presented three themes, three points of emphasis, three common threads that seemed to run through all institutions and disciplines represented. What are they seeing right now, over and over, in college classrooms? Professors and instructors are expecting and requiring:

Collaboration for the purpose of solving problems
Reading, writing, discussion
Clear, concise, fact-based oral communication

In my next few posts I'll break each of these down and share the details, based on the testimonials of our alum, that support these points.

Teaching When You're not "Teaching"

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:05:00 +0000

I recently came across a neat quote by famed author Umberto Eco. He says, "I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom." This has special meaning to dads everywhere in light of Father's Day over the weekend. However, I believe educators can apply this to their lives as well. Teachers often have the greatest impact on kids not through the skill of delivering a masterpiece lesson on derivatives or five paragraph essay structure but through small conversations, kind gestures, smiles and words of wisdom imparted at opportune moments. The same applies to educational leadership. Perhaps no greater influence can be wielded on a faculty (or on individual teachers) than through personal encounters and conversations, handwritten notes of feedback or encouragement, thoughts on recent lessons, etc. As a good father must model desired behavior at all times, so must a teacher model for her students and so must educational leaders model for those whom they lead and serve.

The Bee Eater: Love Rhee or Hate Rhee, but Read the Book

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 02:30:00 +0000

If you aren't familiar with Michelle Rhee, then you haven't been paying attention to national education issues over the past four or five years. Rhee rose to national prominence several years ago when she accepted the position of Washington, D.C., Schools Chancellor, and then went to work closing mostly-empty and underperforming schools, firing ineffective teachers and sacking principals in D.C. Often portrayed as a cold-hearted bully, Rhee (pictured here on the cover of Time) did some good but made plenty of enemies along the way. In particular she alienated many D.C. residents as virtually every teachers union in the nation. Some of Rhee's struggles were featured in the documentary Waiting for "Superman," a powerful must-see documentary about the state of public education in America.

Although I am not a fan of teachers unions, I am not going to defend or attack either Rhee or the unions here. Rather, I am going to recommend that educators see Waiting for "Superman" (available now on DVD) and read The Bee Eater, a new book about Rhee and her time in D.C. I'll let you make up your mind about the polarizing message of the documentary as well as about the polarizing personality and methods of Rhee (How polarizing is Rhee? Check out this Washington Post blog.), but I do recommend the book; it's a fascinating, well-done book and a tremendously complex case study in education reform, the politics of education, HR and more. I believe the book will be of particular interest for educators in urban areas, for superintendents and HR personnel, and for those who are familiar with Rhee's work before, during and after D.C. I also recommend seeing the documentary before you read the book so you'll have some context for the story presented in the book.

I will say this: I love this message Rhee has been spreading since she burst onto the scene (and, not coincidentally, a message prevalent in the book) - school quality and student learning comes down to teacher quality and teacher effectiveness. In D.C., Rhee made her share of gutsy decisions and mistakes, all of which are presented in the book. Regardless of your thoughts on unions and educational politics, or your idea of public school reform, Rhee is an intriguing figure who is making waves on the American educational and political landscapes. Love her or hate her, though, you should read The Bee Eater.

Creativity: No Basis for Judgment

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 22:26:00 +0000

I read one of the saddest, yet most infuriating, comments last week and I feel compelled to share it here. As my Director of Admissions and I were reviewing a stack of admissions applications, she came across a most telling comment by a teacher on a teacher recommendation form for one of our candidates. She nearly dropped the file. "Oh! My! Gosh! You must read this!"

Like most teacher recommendation forms used by admissions offices across the country, our teacher recs include a table on which a recommending teacher evaluates a candidate based on a variety of categories and scores him/her as "exceptional," "above average," "average," and so on. One of the categories on the teacher rec is "Creativity." Sadly, this particular teacher's recommendation form did not score this particular candidate for "Creativity" at all. Instead, this teacher wrote off to the side of the "Creativity" row "No basis for judgment."

Let that sink in for a moment. A high school teacher from an above-average high school in Houston, Texas, in the year 2011, actually wrote, actually admitted, that she had "no basis for judgment" of a student's creativity. What subject did she teach (and, at this point, I use the term "teach" loosely)? Drum roll please... English. Seriously?

What a tragedy.

Friendship: An Unhealthy Relationship in the Workplace?

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:01:00 +0000

In my last post, I presented a dilemma in the form of a question: how far can a boss take a relationship with a subordinate before the relationship becomes unhealthy? This almost certainly is a challenging question for any person in a management/leadership position who banks on relational skills as his primary means of influencing those around him, and especially for an educator.

In Being the Boss, by Linda Hill and Kent Linebeck, the authors make no bones about this dilemma: a boss must not and cannot be friends with subordinates. Why not? A friendship can cloud a manager's judgment when it's time to make a tough decision. A friendship can allow both the manager and the subordinate too become too comfortable, too at ease and too relaxed, thus leading to poorer performance as well as an inability to be honest with one another about performance and/or expectations.

As much as it pains me to agree with the authors, I have to agree with them on this point. Interestingly, the authors provide no advice on how to accomplish this. The trick is to build relationships in which subordinates feel the manager cares for their personal and professional well-being without getting wrapped up in their lives and personal affairs. I'm not sure there is a manual for this. Based on my experience, I believe this requires judgment and discernment on the part of the manager. I believe it is the manager's responsibility to know where the line is with each individual and to gauge the appropriate depth of the relationship with each. One of the most tempting pitfalls managers must avoid is sharing confidential information with, venting to (about work) and confiding in subordinates. This can be especially tough for educators in leadership positions.

The bottom line is this: no matter how much an educational leader depends on relationships to be an effective manager/leader, the line between him and subordinates must remain intact, and he must work constantly to build strong relationships that don't morph into friendships.

Leading or Bossing?

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Sun, 22 May 2011 12:27:00 +0000

I have heard and read numerous times that rules without relationship leads to rebellion. I certainly agree with that whether the context is the workplace, the school building or the classroom. The area of specific concern for us is the school building which also happens to be the workplace. I came across a quote recently by Mary Parker Follett that lends some credence to this mindset. Follett once said, "The test of a [manager] is not how good he is at bossing but how little bossing he has to do."

That's a pretty powerful statement. Also powerful is what Follett doesn't say but rather implies: without some level of established relationship between boss and subordinates (for lack of better terms), bossing becomes the default mode of management and/or leadership. However, this presents an interesting dilemma for managers, supervisors, division heads and heads of school: how far can one take a relationship with those who work with him and for him before the relationship becomes unhealthy? I'll explore this a little in my next post.

The New Cool meets Reality is Broken

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Fri, 20 May 2011 18:27:00 +0000

In my last post, I raved about the book as well as the individuals featured in The New Cool. At the end of the post, I offered a glimpse ahead at this post. My goal here is to shed some light on the motivation behind the insanely long hours and the back-breaking, brain-bending work exhibited by the kids (and teacher) in The New Cool. I must point out, though, that the same level of intense work can be found on fields and on stages across the country, if you know where to look and when. You see, kids will work ridiculously hard for the right people at the right times. The trick is knowing what makes kids tick. And when you have kids involved in a major project like building a FIRST robot, chasing a state championship in athletics or putting on an amazing Broadway-style performance, knowing why kids would be willing to subject themselves to rigorous and demanding situations makes all the difference.

Video game designer and author Jane McGonigal has it figured out. Her speaking and writing addresses why gaming is so important and how it could change the world. However, she has articulated something pretty special that educators must understand. In explaining why gaming is such a phenomenon, she isolates four main ideas. These ideas are listed below; they are taken initially from her presentation at TED but then explained using her words from Reality is Broken:

Satisfying Work or Blissful Productivity

“Blissful productivity is the sense of being deeply immersed in work that produces immediate and obvious results. (p. 49) Satisfying work always starts with two things: a clear goal and actionable next steps. (p. 55) But to truly be satisfied, we have to be able to finish our work as clearly as we started it. To finish work in a satisfying way, we must be able to see the results of our efforts as directly, immediately, and as vividly as possible.”

The Experience (or at least the hope) of Being Successful or Urgent Optimism

“We want to feel powerful in our own lives and show off to others what we’re good at. We want to be optimistic about our own chances for success, to aspire to something, and to feel like we’re getting better over time.” (p. 49)

Social Connection or Social Fabric

“We want to share experiences and build bonds, and we most often accomplish that by doing things that matter together.” (p. 49)

Meaning or Epic Meaning

“We want to feel curiosity, awe, and wonder about things that unfold on epic scales. And most importantly, we want to belong to and contribute to something that has lasting beyond our own individual lives.”

If you get what McGonigal is saying, it no longer should be difficult to understand why the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy team spent so much time and energy working to create a robot. Imagine if all our classroom teachers applied these concepts not only to projects but also to daily work/homework in their classrooms. Coaches and directors know these concepts and use them every year in order to be successful. The best teachers know these concepts and apply them often to keep their kids engaged. If only more teachers knew these ideas and applied them in their classrooms.

Though McGonigal doesn't address education and the classroom, I would encourage you to take twenty minutes to watch her presentation at TED and see how you might incorporate some of her ideas in your classroom or school. Additionally, I recommend you read Reality is Broken and visit the Reality is Broken website.

Images above taken from TED.com.

The New Cool - A Must Read for Science Teachers This Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Mon, 16 May 2011 00:40:00 +0000

Let me jump straight to the point: this is the best educational book I've read in a long time. Interesting, then, that this book is not even an educational book. The New Cool: A Visionary Teacher, His FIRST Robotics Team, and The Ultimate Battle of Smarts, by Neal Bascomb, tells the story of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics team from Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy. The book chronicles the 2009 Dos Pueblos Engineering academy robotics team, Team 1717, and its leader, Amir Abo-Shaeer, as they work crazy hours, under sometimes crazy conditions and against all odds to compete in the annual FIRST Robotics Competition.

If you are a science teacher, you must read this book this summer. If you're an administrator, order this book today and make it available (if not mandatory) for your science teachers this summer. Why? The answer is simple. This book proves the lengths kids will go to in order to pursue something that sparks an interest for them. More importantly, this books validates the position that real learning takes place when kids are allowed (encouraged, compelled) to be creative, collaborative problem-solvers.

Not every science class can tackle a monstrous project like the FIRST Robotics Competition but every science classroom can take a proverbial page or two from this book and transform what happens in the classroom. Let me restate: every science classroom, regardless of how many standards are imposed by the powers that be, can adopt some Amir Abo-Shaeer's approach to teaching science.

Congratulations to the Team 1717 D'Penguineers for the incredible run in 2009! Congrats on the book and the exposure for you and your alma mater!

In my next post, I will apply Jane McGonigal's thesis of Reality Is Broken to show you exactly why Team 1717, as featured in , worked as long and as hard as they did for a school activity.

Final Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Wed, 11 May 2011 02:27:00 +0000

final (n) - An ugly thing college and high school students must deal with at the end of a semester/quarter/trimester. Very unpleasant to deal with. When dealing with a "final," one usually drinks excess amounts of coffee and sleeps very little. As defined by Urban Dictionary.

As we approach the end of another school year and enter the season of final exams, I want to throw some things out for consideration:

Are our students taking tests that allow them to demonstrate what they know or tests that measure what they don't know?

Are our students taking tests that best assess what has been taught and what they have learned or tests that are most convenient for our teachers to grade?

Are our students taking tests that are longer and more rigorous than the AP exams they took less than a few weeks ago?

Are our students taking two-hour-long tests only because administration requires students to remain in the testing location for two hours?

Are our students taking tests that have been reviewed by other teachers or administrators or tests that have never been reviewed?

Are our students taking tests that have been used every year for the past twenty years or tests that have been evaluated and re-evaluated regularly?

Just a few final thoughts...

Request for Excused Absence

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Thu, 05 May 2011 22:25:00 +0000

I apologize for the hiatus but I've been swamped trying to balance being the Head of Upper School and working on my writing in my free time. The good news is we're just about to put the finishing touches on The Complete Idiot's Guide to European History, 2e (that's 2nd edition, in case you're wondering what 2e means). It looks like we'll be all set to roll out the 2nd edition in October of this year. A few sites have already added links for the updated edition (in case you want to check it out or pre-order a copy):
Goodreads
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

While this is partly a shameless plug for the new book, it is also an explanation for why the posts dried up suddenly and without notice. I'd been working on this for a while, dating back to the fall; then I got the dreaded email (with attachments) from the editors saying, "We need this back by X date..." And, thus, my free time suddenly became my publisher's time. Thankfully things are all but wrapped up and on schedule.

I'm looking forward to waxing poetic about educational issues again very soon...

Advertising to Attract Teacher Applicants: Part 4 - Recon Missions

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:30:00 +0000

One of the best ways to advertise teaching positions actually involves no traditional advertisement at all. I call this method of seeking to fill faculty openings "recon missions." How does it work? Simple.

Recon Missions - Let's say you have a need for an experienced tuba instructor for the following year. Now let's imagine the State Tuba Instructor Convention is being held in a city to which you could travel without a huge expense or inconvenience. If you or someone trustworthy from within your tuba department (ideally your tuba department chair) could register for and attend the tuba convention, the recon mission becomes realistic... if you choose to accept it.

Such conventions, conferences, state clinics, and the like, often are abuzz with news of which tuba instructors are leaving which school for which other opportunities, which tuba instructors are looking for a change of scenery, which tuba instructors are looking for new challenges, etc. The goal of the recon mission is to find out which instructors are the best and which might be the right fit for your department and/or school. If said tuba instructor is available and attractive (as a candidate of course), you should make contact. After making contact, the rest is up to you.

Often at such gatherings there are job boards placed in a central location. These job boards usually have a space designated for job openings and for job seekers. These job boards may be a great way for you to publicly post your position or to find candidates looking to change jobs.

The upside to recon missions is your ability to work quietly, to operate in stealth mode, if necessary. You can mix and mingle, network, meet new people and reconnect with old colleagues while keeping an eye open for possible candidates to fill your vacancy. Also, you have a better chance of landing a real tuba instructor rather than having to wade through applications from unemployed percussionists and strings players who simply need a job.

The downside to recon missions is that if you don't score some business cards or resumes at the convention, you may need to advertise in a different way, thus incurring additional expense. Additionally, the timing may not always be right. Some conventions are held in the fall or winter. In that case, though, you still would do well to attend in order to put your feelers out in anticipation of future openings.

It's worth noting that many of the best districts and best independent schools have people on staff whose responsibility it is to attend as many of these conventions and conferences as possible for the purpose of recruitment and recon.