This morning, Jordan Tinney graciously shared his time with Ontario educators. TELT Contacts, DeLCs, TELO EOs and Provincial Leads were treated to an hour of learning live with Jordan, who was sitting in the dark in his office at 5:15 a.m. BC time. Now that is dedication!
And we are ever so grateful.
Here are some of the key points Jordan shared with Ontario educators. You can also check out the #LTELT hashtag, or the storify here.
TELT Contacts and DeLCs can access the recording through their eCommunities.
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Everyone is a leader in their own way, and how do you exercise that leadership from where you stand in the organization?
The work we are doing is the most important work in the world.
We have beliefs that guide our work, and those beliefs are rooted in our experiences with people.
Every interaction shapes your beliefs. Some reaffirm, some challenge what you believe.
Teachers learn well in groups – socially, together. They learn more from each other than they do about the content. This collaborative work is critically important.
Who do you become online? Who are you online as opposed to who you are offline in the physical world? What do we know about the social construction of self?
Ursula Franklin: The Real World of Technology
This is a book worth reading, because of her thinking about technology as social practice as opposed to stuff.
Schools are ORGANISMS not mechanisms.
You can feel when schools are working instead of struggling.
Kids have a natural light – let them shine.
My job is to do myself out of a job – it should run without me.
Everyone is supported in what they do. My role is to shine a light on the great work, to allow it to shine.
When we engage kids, we have to consider if we are engaging them in a richer learning experience? Is it that way just because it is a screen? Consider the quality of the learning instead of the wow factor.
Be careful about how we label technology and how we think about structure of learning.
It is good to reaffirm the skills and competencies that matter, but let’s not package them as “new”.
Let’s go deeper with what we know, rather than saying we are doing something new.
The era of change we are in is just another manifestation of life moving on in the world that we have.
We do the work we are doing not because of change, but because we love children and they deserve the best we can give. This fuels us every day.
We want to use technology because at the moment, this is the best thing we can do. If there is something better, we will take that on instead.
There has always been monstrous change. But we need to change because this is what is best for kids, and we know a few things about this current change.
Technology use has many challenges – we know this. Access, costs, bandwidth, attention, distraction, learning curves, etc.
What have we done?
We have tackled report cards.
“Sign up if you want to, and we will provide you with the time.”
Time, for teachers, is currency.
We have classes using ePortfolios now – by providing teachers with the tools and the time to do what they need to do.
Teachers want to do well. Give them the time and the tools and get out of the way.
[note: This is simple and reliable as well]
Imposed change is the issue. With the time and the tools that work, teachers will
Create the conditions that make change safe.
I “am out on a limb with you, supporting you in your work”.
Rules for engagement:
You are the Sherpa. The students are trying to summit life.
You are the pack horse, supporting others in their journeys.
You have power that they don’t. You can take the time to navigate, to be on the balcony, to look around.
Your job is to be the critical friend, adjust the stage and support the dancers.
How do we support these people doing this work? We need a relationship with these people. We need to take the time to build the relationship.
When support is not working, we need to have have the ability to address this.
People are smart. Leverage the smartness through health – healthy relationships.
Clarity of purpose. Put tough questions on the table. Talk about things. Come to a common sense of understanding.
What have we noticed?
You will never be finished. You will never going to get 100%
We know stuff! If the horse you are riding is dead, it is time to dismount. Let’s let things go. We accept too many initiatives. It was good in its time but its time is over.
Working with parents is essential. How do we harness parent voice?
We need to tap into this.
Across Canada, the constant is the teachers. We always need the human connection.
Thank you so much for your generosity, Jordan. We have much to consider after our time learning with you!
Further Questions:
How will we know our impact?
Is there common sets of evidence?
Resources:
Beyond PD: Teacher Professional Learning in High-Performing Systems.
