Lessons learned from week two

I think there are several things I have learned after working on my week two material.  I understand that research and data are important, but I like that we learned that the right data is actually what is important.  There is a ton of data out there, and there is a ton of information out there, but if you are not finding the right data that can best help your organization, it is really not worth the time. 

I think too many times we have the latest thing that we are interested in as educators, and if you are not on board, you are a bad educator.  This idea of bad data makes me happy because it basically says that this latest thing has some flaws in it.  There are always negatives to anything we do, and looking at the wrong data is exactly the flaw here.  Cheers!

Interviews with scolars

Dr. Kirk Lewis was the first interview I selected mostly because of my personal interest in the Gates Foundation and all the great things they are doing.  He mentioned that the Gates Foundation was the funding mechanism for their research based Expectation Graduation.  The idea of the program is designed to help 9^th grades students to get them ready for graduation by teaching them techniques to understand more in-depth questions and information.  With E.O.C.’s on the way, learning at a deeper level is becoming ever so more important, and going deeper into the core curriculum is what Expectation Graduation is supposed to do by using data to better understand exactly what students need to be successful at the deeper level type of questions. 

He is interested in having a highly educated staff that they themselves can make the research themselves.  A high level of Masters degrees are part of his district, so he wants them to use that data experience they have learned to better improve their particular campus.  It is important to look at what others have done, and take that technical writing and understand it.  Likewise, practicality is important when looking at research.  This will make the researcher more interested, and thus create a better product. 

Reflection for Dr. Lewis - I like Dr. Lewis.  He has taught me that it is okay to pick and choose when it comes to research.  This is not to say that you should ignore data that you don’t like.  That is downright bad, but you need to find data that can help your district and your campus.  Data must be usable.  He mentions that you can create all kinds of important sounding data and look impressive, but that is silly unless you can actually use it on your campus. 

Dr. Timothy Chargois was the second interview I selected because of his candid take on going beyond pedagogy.  Pedagogy has been the sacred cow, if you will, in education for the past few years.  We have been told that following certain pedagogy strategies will yield high results.  Dr. Chargois has approached the situation, with the aid of the Dell Foundation, to look at data as a tool to better teach our kids.  It seems that technology is the reason we can have immediate results and better results when applying them to education.  If indeed pedagogy is working, the data will give us positive results, but if it is not, the results will be negative.  Perhaps some students don’t need the whole gambit of pedagogy to be successful, and this data driven approach will let us know if that is so. 

There is a look into effective vs. ineffective teachers with this research.  Dr. Chargois makes the point that if you should never stop learning, no matter how young or seasoned an educator is.  I agree with this.  In this world of performance based results, looking at data can help us to know where and what we need to do, and what direction we need to take.  Along with this, he discusses the ethical responsibilities a teacher has when looking at data and the ethical responsibilities in helping students. 

Reflection for Dr. Chargois - I liked how he made the point about ethics.  What is our moral / ethical responsibility to kids as a whole?  Are we to be mindless robots following the data, or caring individuals who care for kids?  We are to do both equally.  I know I don’t want to be a mindless robot, but I also don’t want to be an ineffective teacher or administrator. 

Reflection for Johnny Briseno – He reminded me that reinventing the wheel is a silly thing.  There are so many great minds out there that have done so much great work.  I’ve learned to continually look outside of myself and outside of my district to learn about the best way to educate kids. 

How might educational leaders use blogs?

Educational leaders can use blogs for all kinds of great things.  Far too many times, educational leaders have a plethora of great ideas, but they are kept private.  Educators sometimes just figure that it may not really be a good idea, or they don't want fellow teachers to knock down what they have created.  With a blog, people have the choice to follow or not, so the educational leader now has the courage to type whatever they feel is important, because they know that their followers value their opinion.  Score!  What a great concept.  So really, just as a resource to spread great ideas.  Along with this is reading other great ideas from other great leaders and teachers. 

I think another great place that educational leaders can utilize blogs is by having open dialogue with people like themselves.  I for example am a Social Studied Department Chair at a 5A high school in Texas.  There is only one other person like me in the town I live in, and what if I don't like that person? (I have never met the wonderful person at Bryan High School, and I am sure they are awesome)  It's good to talk to like minded, but also like jobbed people.  It gets the creative juices going, as well as helps us discover the best approach to solving the many problems that educational leaders must endeavor on a daily basis. 

Pratt signing off this blog...

What have I learned about action research?

What have I learned about action research?  Being that I haven't heard of the term before grad school, and my post collegiate experience consists of about 5 weeks, I've learned quite a lot.  Action research is the ongoing process of improvement, or improvement of oneself.  Taking the time to look at what you do, and use data, readings, research, reflection, or whatever to continue to improve doing whatever it is what you do.  As a hopeful administrator at a high school, action research lends itself to being quite helpful.  Far too many times, administrators fall into the trap of "my way or the highway" mentality.  While this type of mentality does have its place, it really should be a rare occurrence.  Action research is about meaningful change that occurs from deep investigation of oneself.  Taking the time, to ask the important questions about yourself such as:  is this the correct way?  is there a better way?  do I have all the needed information?  has someone else done this before, and what did they do?  Just asking questions isn't everything in action research.  It is then important to make a fundamental change, indeed on-going change.  Always asking questions, and always attempting to improve is fundamental to action research.  At the core of any good leader should be a leader who knows how to lead themselves as well, and action research helps accomplish this goal.