Teacher Training and Parent Awareness ... using Six Conversations with Enrique Gonzalez

Visit this article about the Academy

I recently toured East Side High School in Newark, NJ and I met an innovative principal (who has coordinated an academy inside the larger high school).  
I recommended the following training materials (based on videos made by Erik Friedl, a documentary filmmaker in Los Angeles).  

The key points:
a) the videos give tours of two schools (middle and high).
b) the principal, Enrique Gonzalez, gives his perspectives about how to personalize the experience of school.
c) viewers can use these videos to guide discussions about "where can we take our school." 

NIGHTINGALE PROJECT  http://media.newlearninginstitute.org/downloads/NightingaleInitiative.pdf

The 23 Megabyte download

How can a community (neighborhoods) be invited into a school?  Workshops provided input to make this interesting report (phase 1).

For more information, contact Enrique Gonzalez 

Address: 928 N Avenue 53, Los Angeles, CA 90042
Phone:(323) 254-3421
http://theindependenteducator.blogspot.com/2012/04/nightingale-middle-school-d3-lab-new.html

exg068@lausd.net    I recommend the documentary interviews that Enrique did with Erik Friedl ... located at the following links on Youtube

Night 1  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GArYtX4aGtM

"Most young people don't believe that school belongs to them.
We want the community to join us. The classroom is the extension of their living room."

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Night 2  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuYB07E7nIA

A tour with Nancy Chou in the D3 Lab: "Dream it, Design it, Do it."
Interview with Aaron Brest, a musician who graduated from Frida Kahlo High School.

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Night 3  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU95FjymhCs

"The students will put a smile on people's faces. They're preparing to visit a local convalescent home." 
The Night Hawk's Nest, made with discarded materials: "The children have taken ownership of this area."

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Night 4  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNW_XaC6DBY

"Kids learn about safety and they can apply the skills that they learn from other subjects. The kids are engaged here--we're preparing them to be citizens of the world."

"Around us there is poverty and hunger but the answer is in the schools where students can develop their thinking and analytical tools. Thanks to Elliot Washer, Nancy Chou and the staff at Nightingale middle School, who want us to become the best school in the nation. Let's be a model. Here's an alternative--please consider it."

Highland Park "Love of Learning"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A34AR57A1Eo

"Our principal is not a suit.  He is a man."  (student)

Phase One under way at Highland Park High School in Los Angeles, California. School principal Enrique Gonzalez offers an insider's look at a school-in-the-remaking and explores programs and innovation aimed at engaging and igniting the imagination of every student passing through Highland Park's portal. Emphasis is on the teachers' personal approach to understanding the needs, aptitude and aspirations of the individual student.

Enrique Gonzalez: exg0368@lausd.net or 323-254-3421

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Highland Park "Remaking"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7htFyO57ljU

These interviews can support a discussion for teacher training and parent awareness of what is possible when a community invests in a school and when a school invites the community to come in.    Enrique has several insights about how to build connections with the local community.  His mobile phone contact is 909 456 9152

OTHER PROJECTS
How about a digital yearbook?  http://theindependenteducator.blogspot.com/2013/05/school-in-california-creates-pdf.html

What should teachers study (and prepare to present in class)? Paul Tough and James Heckman (a low-cost training program: "read articles by Paul Tough about James Heckman"

So, if you wanted to create a low-cost or no-cost training program for teachers, what would you ask the teachers to read and how would you structure the professional development?

a)  read some articles
b)  talk with a coach about the articles
c)  start applying the tips in your classes.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/474/transcript

SO, go ahead, learn more about Paul Tough.

Articles by Paul Tough

New York Times Magazine

“What If the Secret to Success Is Failure?” September 18, 2011
“What is good character? Is it something that can be taught in a formal way, in the classroom, or is it the responsibility of the family, something that is inculcated gradually over years of experience?”

“Education Reform’s Two-Month Warning” July 8, 2011
“Do we really want to accept that the best that the United States can do for those 1 million 5-year-olds, with 13 years and vast resources at our disposal, is to get 90,000 of them to proficiency in math, while we let the other 910,000 fail?”

“No, Seriously: No Excuses” July 7, 2011
“Why are some reformers resorting to excuses? Most likely for the same reason that urban educators from an earlier generation made excuses: successfully educating large numbers of low-income kids is very, very hard.

“Can Play Teach Self-Control?” September 25, 2009
“Over the last few years, a new buzz phrase has emerged among scholars and scientists who study early-childhood development, a phrase that sounds more as if it belongs in the boardroom than the classroom: executive function.”

“24/7 School Reform,” September 7, 2008
“In an election season when Democrats find themselves unusually unified on everything from tax policy to foreign affairs, one issue still divides them: education.”

“A Teachable Moment,” August 17, 2008
“While it is true that for decades the children of New Orleans toiled in a substandard school system, they have also continually faced countless other obstacles to success — inadequate health care, poorly educated parents, exposure to high rates of violent crime and a popular culture that often denigrates mainstream achievement.”

“What It Takes to Make a Student,” November 26, 2006
“The evidence is now overwhelming that if you take an average low-income child and put him into an average American public school, he will almost certainly come out poorly educated. What the small but growing number of successful schools demonstrate is that the public-school system accomplishes that result because we have built it that way.”

“The Harlem Project,” June 20, 2004
“Geoffrey Canada knew there were success stories out there. There were always reports in the newspapers about ‘special’ kids who ‘overcame the odds.’ Some brilliant teacher or charity or millionaire went into the ghetto and found 100 kids and educated them and turned their lives around. But those stories seemed counterproductive to Canada. Instead of helping some kids beat the odds, he thought, why don’t we just change the odds?”

Back to School
(How Children Succeed and the research that went into it)
September 14, 2012



Here is the THIS AMERICAN LIFE radio segment

A new model for Teacher Training: (1) short videos, (2) telephone call between the teacher and the trainer One-to-One, then (3) the teacher records the changes in the classroom.

A PROPOSAL TO A PRINCIPAL

I was thinking about the challenge of "how to train teachers."

You said, "Being a principal is a lot like being a parent.  Your teachers are your kids.  Your kids don't listen to you but they will listen to other people who say the same thing that you've been telling your kids."

I put this post on my blog

http://theindependenteducator.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-30-second-video-for-professional.html

These topics are on your website.

• Cooperative Teaching & Learning

• Integration of the Arts

• Advisories

• Personal Learning Plans

•  Portfolios & Portfolio 

• Interviews

• Multiple Domain Assessments

• End-of Year Exhibitions

• Eighth Grade Internships

• Capstone Projects

I'll create short training videos (no more than 3 minutes each) to start the conversation with your teachers about each of these topics.   Tell me if you have any other topics that you want available for Prof Development 

1. teacher looks at the short video

2.  teacher reads a short article

3.  teacher thinks about "how could I change my procedures in my class to apply this information?"

"what will students do differently if I apply this new information?"

4.  teacher calls me and tells me what was learned and discusses how to apply the information.

5.  I listen and ask some questions and we agree on a time when the teacher will take photos ro videos before and after (showing with and without the new procedure).

6.  I follow up with the teacher 2 7 14 30 90 to make sure the new procedure is being used.

=========  

see the extract from page 165 of the Big Picture book.

Sixth, exhibitions encourage students to go deeper with their learning by requiring them to create and present a portfolio of their work.  -- Big Picture by Dennis Littky

For professional development, why not use the same standard for teacher training?  The core of the training should be exhibitions by the teacher (not lectures by the trainer).

The trainer listens and tweaks.  The trainer asks questions to test how deeply the understanding goes.

EXAMPLE:  Here is "how to use portfolios?" from a phone call.  The graphics are terrible.  This is just a discussion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJzLQiWmRwQ

Teacher Training

Professional Development 

One-Person-At-A-Time

The "Guide on the Side" model

I can prepare short videos for each of these topics.   I'm working with Dennis Yuzenas to refine the training so that the basic info is covered in under 3 minutes and then it's up to the teacher to answer some questions -- making an exhibition.

Here is the Yuzenas style  (Mr. Y) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnR_nCakIKk

Nine minute tour of Yuzenas classroom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3-Ge1o1MFM

how to do a history project with students

For "Three-Minute Training, One-To-One" for Professional Development, call (954) 646 8246.

The 30-second video for professional development: Match the training to a teacher's attention span

This is a sample for "Professional Development, One Teacher at a Time."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJzLQiWmRwQ
Don't watch this video.  It's too long.
This post is a training for "how to use a portfolio"

This video is TOO LONG.  However, here's what we can do...
Step (1) a short video can introduce the training (30 seconds) or we can give a series of screen shots (below)

Step (2) then there's an article (the teacher can choose one of these links)

1. Five Ways to Use Online Portfolios in the Classroom | Edutopia

   www.edutopia.org/blog/use-online-portfolios-in-classroom-heather-hiles‎

   Jan 22, 2013 – Education leader and entrepreneur Heather Hiles makes a case for the organizational power of online portfolios for student work.

2. Digital Portfolios Pull Double Duty | Edutopia

   www.edutopia.org/digital-portfolio-assessment‎

   May 20, 2009 – Teacher Doug Martin helps students decide what to put in theirportfolios and which Web sites to use for the online presentations.

3. Using E-Portfolios in the Classroom | Edutopia

   www.edutopia.org/blog/e-portfolios-in-the-classroom-mary-beth-hertz‎

   May 30, 2013 – Edutopia on Twitter ... Many teachers kept portfolios of student work for report card ... Students can use the "file locker" option to upload files.

4. Portfolio assessment | Edutopia

   www.edutopia.org/groups/assessment/78688‎

   Oct 12, 2011 – I am curious is anyone using electronic portfolios with your students? If so, how do you use them and how much work are they? farida abdallah ...

5. The Power of Portfolios: A Positive Practice | Edutopia

   www.edutopia.org/power-portfolios‎

   Jul 1, 1997 – The work collected in the portfolios is used as a source of instruction. Teachers used samples of student work to develop models of excellence ...

Step (3) there is a phone call -- the teacher calls the presenter and gives a mini-exhibition

a) this is what I learned
b) this is how I'm going to apply the information.

Step (4)  the presenter visits the teacher or asks for a video
"before and after" recording showing how the new information has changed procedures in the classroom.

So, teacher, please call (954) 646 8246 (or email me at HappyMathTeacher@gmail.com) and tell me 

a)  how will you use this procedure in your classroom?

b) How will you measure what happens?

Key features

a) some teachers will just look at this blog.

b) other teachers will listen to the youtube link and read this blog.

c)  Highly motivated teachers will call me and then I'll give them additional readings and videos.

How to spread an idea: Find an article, send the weblink, and paste the article in the email, too.

Here's how I spread an idea:
I collect three interesting articles, then read the 10 books that are the references in those articles, then I create an ebook and six months later the product is ready for me to send to my friends.  it's 73 pages long and nobody writes back.


Here's how my wife spreads an idea:
She emails the link to 43 friends and gets messages like:

Cooool!! 

I am so thankful you sent this to me!!!  Soooo happy to know this had you thinking of me. 

xo 

=========

Huh?  She spends 30 seconds sending an article and she gets people to read.
I spend six months carefully crafting my words to inspire pople to look at an interesting and helpful article by creating a youtube and a poster to explain the article.

Who is the more-effective teacher trainer?   My wife, of course.

========

So, what can we conclude?

a) Teachers have short attention spans.

b)  People in general have short attention spans.

c)  John Green uses rapid changing graphics, trick video, audio enhancements, and he keeps his history lectures shorter than 10 minutes.   "I see the eyes of my students wandering, even after three minutes," says Dennis Yuzenas, a high school teacher in West Palm Beach, Fla.  See his website WhatDoYaKnow.com.

d) I need to develop teacher training that is interactive.   The ultimate in interactive is "Call me when you have finished this video and let's talk."

I call this method Visual and Active Teacher Training
Professional Development
One-Person-At-A-Time
The "Guide on the Side" model

Here are some topics

• Cooperative Teaching and Learning

• Integration of the Arts

• Advisories

• Personal Learning Plans

• Portfolios and Portfolios 

• Interviews

• Multiple Domain Assessments

• End-of-Year Exhibitions

• Eighth Grade Internships

• Capstone Projects

See a future post to see how we have addressed these topics in short 3-minute (or less) training videos.

So, have I changed my behavior?  My usual approach to sharing infomration is to make an ebook and a video.  So I changed what I do now.  I grab a link, take a screen shot of one page in the link, and email the link and the screen shot.   Here's what one of my readers wrote to me:

Subject: RE: a nice story about Danielle the realtor 

I loved the story!  Thank you!  It sounds like a really good book!  Amazing!

Victory!   Here is an example of the 30-second model

Name one magazine that would be worth reading ten years from now? Here are my choices: Psychology Today, Smithsonian, Discover...

A professor asked me to find some articles about economics.  How about using the archives of a magazine that covers a topics that most students are interested in?   


Click here
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201204/blogs-life-lessons

Here are my choices:  
Psychology Today, http://www.psychologytoday.com/magazine/archive/2012/03

Smithsonian, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/

Discover... http://discovermagazine.com/

Men's Health (and it has good general articles about health...)  http://www.menshealth.com/

Why not invade the archives of Psychology Today and find something interesting?

Does your school or organization need a free training program?

Does your organization host a conference, convention or series of workshops at least once a year?

If so, have you considered adding a workshops related to education?   Here are some topics

How to Use Portfolios to Get Into a Great University

(a workshop for students and their parents)

Visual and Active Study Methods

The Power of E-Books:  Free Digital Resources

Tips for Better Scores on the SAT, FCAT and other Standardized Tests

Very Cool Sites:   Educational Information on the Internet

I Saw It On Youtube:  The Educational Use of Videos

"Edu-taining":  How to Introduce Visual and Active Methods into Your Classroom

(for teachers and principals)

Visual and Active Learning

How you can help your children and their teachers do better in school

Skype for Business:  Building International Bridges for commerce 

Using Youtube in New Ways

Learning Through Internships

How to create interactive lessons that turn into careers

Alternatives to Grades and Tests:

The Power of "Narratives," Portfolios and "Exhibitions"

New Uses for Social Media 

People want to have other people to relate to

people flock together

People need a flock to belong to, they used to hang out in bars ... now they hang out on the Internet

See the range of workshops available from Transform-Education.com and EdutechFoundation.net.

--
Steve McCrea
Consultant
Founder, BIBPenpals.com

Visual and Active Teacher Training
VisualAndActive.com    visualandactive@gmail.com
Mobile  954 646 8246
here are links to some of my work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEgTB1tuKkM   Dennis Littky Big Picture Education Met Center Small School Providence

24 page booklet (for parents)  http://www.scribd.com/doc/15636953/In-Praise-of-Small-Schools-in-24-pages

I compiled some quotes from Littky's book   THE BIG PICTURE.

If you go to http://www.scribd.com/doc/15636702/A-Small-School-in-Florida-FindASmallSchoolcom  and scroll down to page 65, you will see the quotes that I pulled from Littky's book.