The Next Generation of Educational Leadership

Cruise Control or Sense of Urgency

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Sun, 20 May 2012 19:36:00 +0000

As you approach the final week or weeks of the school year, your year will wind down in one of two ways.

First, you and those around you can set your cruise control to a convenient, easy setting that will allow everyone to coast into summertime. When a school runs on cruise control at the end of the year, classrooms center on videos, parties, study halls and free-for-alls. Kids get out of classrooms as often as possible and wander the halls. Teachers and administrators directly and indirectly communicate to students and to one another, "Whew! We made it to the end of the year! Thank God summer is here." What a waste of valuable time!

Second, you and those around you can take the classroom experience up a notch and teach with a sense of urgency. After all, you are running out of time. When a school operates with a sense of urgency at the end of the year, classrooms remain focused on the tasks at hand: teaching and learning. Teachers fully engage students right up until the last bell rings. Everyone feels as though they have run out of time when class dismisses. Teachers, administrators and even the students covet the final days of the year because the opportunity to learn has an end that's drawing near.

If the second approach to the end of school seems far-fetched, idealistic and unrealistic, perhaps you need to rethink your expectations of students, teachers and/or administrators. I have been in schools where learning ended a week or two before the arrival of summer. I also have been in schools where the last day of classes seemed no different than a day in September, January or March. The way the end of the year goes depends both on how the year has gone up to that point and on the expectations that are set for all in the school building regarding how the year will wind down.

I wish each of you a final week or two filled with a sense of urgency to learn, to teach and to lead.

Profound Objectivity Through One Simple Question

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:39:00 +0000

Last week I spent the better part of a day at the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast, watching and listening to people like Tim Tebow, John Maxwell and Andy Stanley speak about leadership. Specifically, the speakers addressed making choices in positions of leadership.

Perhaps the most significant nugget (no pun intended) I took away from the whole experience came about five minutes into the morning. Andy Stanley presented a simple question to the audience for us to use when we're facing a choice or decision that requires clarity and objectivity. My colleagues and I have been returning to this question for more than a week, talking about its gravity and its brilliance. Here's the question, from Andy Stanley, to ask yourself: If I were no longer in my current position, what would my replacement do?

Just chew on that a moment.

This question brings instant objectivity and should make tough choices not so tough. This question can be applied to myriad situations in the lives of all educators - administrators, coaches, department chairs and classroom teachers alike. What should I do with that coach or teacher who isn't getting the job done? What should I do with next year's reading list? Should I keep using the same yellowed notes and mimeographed worksheets I created in 1983? If I avoid the issue and the uncomfortable conversation, will the problem go away?

If I were no longer in my current position, what would my replacement do?

If I had heard nothing else all day long, this one thought would have made the whole day worth the time I spent away from school. I challenge you to begin to examine things in your world through this lens.

Us vs. The World

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Mon, 07 May 2012 01:46:00 +0000

I have heard for years (and have believed, too) that American high school graduates and American college graduates are now and will be competing in a global market. I knew this. I believed this. However, I perhaps didn't fully comprehend this... until very recently. Let me explain.

A few weeks ago I chaperoned a Model U.N. group on the Model U.N. trip of a lifetime. After cutting our Model U.N. teeth first in Houston (we were named Best Delegation at the 2012 conference, which drew over 900 students from around Houston), then in Chicago, the sponsors and I decided to take our show on the road. After some research, we discovered an international Model U.N. competition held annually in St. Petersburg Russia. Each year, SPIMUN draws delegations from around the world to compete and participate in a truly international Model U.N. conference. That sounded like the kind of experience we wanted for our Model U.N. kids. We booked the trip, boarded a plane, and set out for the frozen expanse of Russia.

Our delegates performed extremely well at the conference, especially considering the rules of procedure turned out to be slightly different than our kids had become accustomed to in their other conferences. Despite the cultural and procedural differences, our delegation earned a Best Delegate nod, a Special Recognition nod, and a committee chair position for one of our delegates. We were one of only a handful of schools who received any recognition, much less multiple awards. We felt pretty good about what we accomplished there (and still do).

Here's the catch, though: the rules of the conference dictate that all proceedings are to be conducted in English. Considering the conference drew delegation from Russia, India, Italy, Germany, Belarus, Qatar, Turkey and other countries, the accomplishments of our English-speaking kids seem somehow slightly less impressive. The other delegates competed in their second language (and, in some case, their third language). Who dominated? The school from Mumbai. The school from Mumbai where English is studied as a second language. Could my students have competed in Spanish or French? Not likely. Could yours? Also not likely. Are we way behind the curve globally? Way, way behind and I've witnessed it firsthand.

Now more than ever, I fully grasp the competition our students will be up against in the coming months and years. Suddenly I feel an incredible sense of urgency to double my efforts to equip our students to be successful in an increasingly global community and marketplace.

By the way, kudos to Gymnasium 157 in St. Petersburg for the incredible conference! What a phenomenal experience.

Off to Russia for SPIMUN 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:30:00 +0000

I leave tomorrow for Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia, for the St. Petersburg International Model UN (SPIMUN) with some of my Model UN students. This may be truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the students. Therefore, we're thrilled to be headed to Russia (remember, I'm a European history guy) and to be participating and competing with schools and students from all over the world. We'll blog from Russia HERE if you're interested.

Khan Academy Announces App for the iPad

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:01:00 +0000

Khan Academy, a treasure trove of educational video tutorials, recently released an app for the iPad. Now you can have access to more than 2700 videos not only from your computer but also your iPad. If you are not familiar with Khan Academy, you must check it out. If you already know about Khan Academy, you must get this app. As if Sal Khan and his team had not yet established Khan Academy as a legitimate force in 21st-century education, they certainly have done so now.

A Finnish Education Field Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 00:09:00 +0000

If you're intrigued by what's been happening in schools in Finland over the last several years, you now have an outstanding opportunity to get an intimate look into one of the world's best education systems. (If you don't know what's been happening in Finland, check my last post and look for my next post.) Now, let's take a field trip to Finland...

OK, as much as I'm sure you'd like to empty your professional development coffers for a ticket to Finland, I have a much more affordable plan. I have some great resources for you to really see what's happening in Finland's schools. First, I recommend you watch The Finland Phenomenon on DVD. You'll recognize your tour guide through Finland to be Tony Wagner, author of The Global Achievement Gap (highly recommended) and Harvard education guru. The Finland Phenomenon takes you inside Finnish schools and presents a firsthand account of what has made Finnish schools so successful in recent years. I guarantee you'll find the documentary fascinating and inspiring. Hopefully, after you watch the DVD, you'll be asking, "If I can't move my school to Finland, how can I bring some of Finland to my school?" I did.

After you watch the DVD, pick up a copy of Finnish Lessons by Pasi Sahlberg. This book provides much more detail than the DVD on the nuts and bolts of the Finnish education system. Furthermore, the book explains the history of the education reform movement in Finland. Sahlberg paints a very clear picture of why education matters in Finland, why Finland made the move toward a new educational paradigm, how teacher training changed and what makes the educational process in Finland markedly different from the rest of the world. Get a pen, some paper and several highlighters because this book contains a wealth of information, facts, data and educational philosophy that should get your mind racing about the possibilities of reforming teaching and learning in your school or district.

Below are a few articles about education in Finland for those of you who want extra resources or who can't wait for the book and DVD to come in the mail:

Have fun on your field trip to Finland!

In my next post, I'll present some of the key strategies Finland used to catapult themselves into the world educational spotlight, some characteristics of Finnish schools and some Finnish educational philosophy.

Fascinated With Finnish Education

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:04:00 +0000

If you've been paying attention at all to education news over the last several years, you surely will have noticed that Finland keeps coming up in discussions about education reform. Finland first caught my attention some time ago because its educational system drew rave reviews from a few articles in a number or publications. The more I read, the more fascinated I became.

How is it that this nation with a population not much larger than the city in which I live has propelled itself to the top of OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations whose students sit for the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) exam every three years? How is it that this seemingly random nation consistently has outperformed students in Korea, Japan, Singapore and other places well-known for intensely rigorous educational systems?

All the articles I read touted teacher recruitment and teacher training (teacher programs at universities are very competitive and all teachers must have a master's degree, for example). While I realized that was a step in the right direction, I knew that couldn't be the only variable that set Finland apart. I scoured the internet for more articles and read them voraciously. Then I discovered two more items that really filled in the gaps for me and, quite frankly, inspired me.

What are those two items? I've recently finished (I so wanted to type "Finnished" but I figured that would be too corny) an excellent, recently published book and I've watched (multiple times) an inspiring video, both of which are intimate looks at the Finnish educational system. What happens in Finland is markedly different from what we do in the United States. In my next post, I'll share the info about the book and the DVD, and I'll give some bullet points about what Finland does that has landed Finnish schools in the international spotlight.

One of the Coolest Community-Building Projects Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 04:12:00 +0000

If only there were a way to build community at your high school, to show your high school to the world in a positive light, to advertise all the cool things happening at your high school, and to mix in some major creativity at the same time...

Stratford High School in Houston, Texas, has done just that with this incredible Lip Dub video. I could write pages about all the reasons this project is priceless. Instead, I'll ask you to take five minutes and watch this video. I love this video for so many reasons. What Stratford did here isn't original (YouTube and Vimeo are full of high school one-take Lip Dub projects) but it's the best I've ever seen. Kudos to Stratford for pulling this off!

In a word: awesome.

Is your mind racing with ideas yet? It should be.

Online Conference Announcement: Eye On School Success

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:02:00 +0000

Eye on Education has just announced an exciting online conference featuring speakers including Barbara Blackburn, Larry Ferlazzo, Pam Salazar, Nancy Sulla, Todd Whitaker and Sally Zepeda, some of whom I've written about here in the past. The conference, called Eye On School Success, will be held March 20 – March 21, 2012. The conference program is divided into three tracks: The Leadership Institute, Student Motivation, and Common Core Made Easy. Participants can personalize their Online Conference experience by attending any of the 11 sessions. Below please find details about the online conference. The complete schedule can be found here and the presenter list can be found here.

Eye on Education consistently provides top-notch educational resources, so I highly recommend this conference for educational leaders from schools of any size, any level, public or private. You can bet this conference will be time well spent.

Conference Name: Eye On School Success

Date: March 20 – 21, 2012

Live Times: 3:00 PM EST

On Demand Availability: Until June 30, 2012

Brief description: Eye On School Success offers ready-to-go, field-tested strategies, presented in engaging style by noted experts. During the conference you and your colleagues will gain solutions to common challenges and learn about best practices affecting a broad range of topics shared by educators across the spectrum of schools.

Registration: www.eyeoneducation/register

https://www.eyeoneducation.com/Online-Resources/Online-Conferences/Eye-On-School-Success

Preach it! Teach it!

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:14:00 +0000

One of my brightest young teachers shared a powerful quote with me this morning that seems to me pretty germane to educational leadership. "When we make a declarative statement, we can only do four things with it: we can restate it, explain it, prove it, or apply it." This quote, from Haddon W. Robinson's Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages, got him thinking and it's had me thinking all morning. I believe this statement has tremendous value not only for teachers but also for administrators and other educational leaders. I challenge you to approach the upcoming week with this idea framing each and every one of your declarative statements in the classroom, in the halls, in your office, in the workroom, or wherever you make a difference in the field of education.

Take Harvard Business Review With You Every Day

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:41:00 +0000

One of the tools I have found invaluable and inspiring during the time I've spent as an administrator is the Harvard Business Review. Though not written for educators, the high-quality articles about management, leadership, innovation and more, have been regular reading of mine for some time. I recently discovered a few new ways to enjoy and benefit from HBR - HBR apps for my iPhone.

The first app is a somewhat random app called HBR Stats. This cool little app provides "facts and figures offering a quick, sometimes quirky perspective on our world and the business that happens in it."

The second app is HBR Tips. This app "offers quick, practical management tips and ideas."

These nifty apps provide countless anecdotes and useful bits of information. I highly recommend them. Additionally, if you are in educational leadership, I recommend adding the Harvard Business Review to your weekly or monthly reading regimen. You might also want to browse the list of HBR book titles for additional reading.

A New Must-Have for Every Principal's Bookshelf

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:25:00 +0000

The Principal's Guide to the First 100 Days of the School Year by Shawn Joseph

Shawn Joseph has penned a must-have addition for every principal’s toolkit. Though intended for a principal to use moving into and through the first 100 days of a school year, Joseph’s work will have relevance for any principal at any stage of a school year and at any school, public or private.

Joseph includes many sample letters and forms, along with helpful timelines and organizational tips, to help the reader develop a plan of action for beginning the school year in such a way as to communicate his vision for the school year and to execute a plan that will result in the realization of that vision. Throughout each section of the book (Vision, Instructional Leadership, Politics, Data, and Planning), Joseph provides authentic insight into what will be necessary for a principal to be successful along with thought-provoking and challenging review questions to help the reader apply the concepts to his or her own scenario.

Joseph’s work does what no other book in recent memory has done: it clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of the principal. Joseph removes the kid gloves when he lays out for the reader the many and varied challenges of being a principal as well as the responsibilities and burdens that fall solely on the shoulders of a principal. Simply said, Joseph gets what being a principal is all about and he puts it out there with no sugar-coating: from casting a vision to setting expectations to communicating with stakeholders to navigating the political waters to ensuring quality in every classroom, the buck stops with the principal and the principal alone.

As an experienced principal, I recommend this book to future and aspiring principals as a road map for how to begin your first journey as the leader of a school. I also recommend this book to other experienced principals as a great reminder of the awesome, non-negotiable responsibilities that come with the position. When it comes to being a principal, Shawn Joseph simply gets it.

Back to Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Barber) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:48:00 +0000

After taking a brief hiatus to complete the manuscript for my second novel, Resurrecting Lazarus, Texas, I will be back to blogging. It's difficult for me to have the time or the mental energy to devote to multiple projects and I found I simply couldn't do both. Though I'm in the early stages of my next big writing project, I have a number of things bouncing around in my head that I'm looking forward to sharing here in the coming days and weeks. Thanks to each of you who follow what I do here.

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.