Ready to Stretch Your Thinking?

Summer is made for days at the beach, hiking spectacular trails, and reading a good book in a hammock.  It is also the one time during the year when educators have the leisure to pause, reflect, and review their beliefs about teaching and learning. New learning in courses and institutes help stretch, clarify, and reshape the way we think about our classrooms.  For over 25 years the Middle Level Education Institute (MLEI) has provided Maine educators and those from away with ideas that are innovative and effective.  This year will be no different.

I have learned many important aspects of instructional strategies.  Of most importance is the fact that it is not about the teacher, but rather it is about the student learning that takes place.

2012 MLEI Attendee

Join us July 29-August 1 on Bowdoin College’s beautiful campus in Brunswick, Maine to continue the journey toward more powerful learning for our students. We invite you to join the quest to re-envision schooling in a bold way that systematically models as well as promotes the essential capacities students need to successfully confront the challenges of their futures and the future of our world.

In many ways it is indeed a hero or heroine’s journey to pursue powerful teaching in today’s social, political, and economic climate. We believe, however, that spirited middle level educators want to explore…

• Empowerment and engagement
• Community and collaboration
• Content with meaningful context
• Assessment for reflection and growth

Are you ready to pursue this bold vision that…

• Cultivates learning that is engaging, challenging and meaningful?
• Shifts the classroom environment from teacher-centered to learner-centered?
• Incorporates student voice and choice in a substantive way?
• May rock your vision of teaching and learning?

This Institute has given me hope and the courage to take the full journey.

2012 MLEI Attendee

The journey continues July 29 – August 1 at MLEI on the Bowdoin campus.  All of the details and registration information can be found at http://mleimaine.net/home

THERE’S STILL TIME . . . to attend the NELMS Annual Conference

It’s a sure sign that Spring is right around the corner.  “Meeting the Multi-Faceted Needs of the Middle Level Learner” convenes next week, April 4 & 5, in Providence, Rhode Island, where there will be green grass and blooming flowers(I hope!).  Don’t miss two days of inspiring, invigorating, relevant professional development.  If you need help or ideas on how to fund this incredible opportunity, contact the NELMS office, and check out the full Annual Conference program.

Inspiring Keynote speakers:

Tom Burton on “Magic, Motivation & Our ‘Sparkling’ Middle Level Students”

Carol Ann Tomlinson on “The Demographics, Research & Ethics Of Differentiation”.

Engaging ticketed luncheons and targeted full and half day sessions (a sampling includes):

“It’s More Than A Name” – Tom Burton

“Listen To What The Students Say: Student Profiles That Invite Differentiation”  – Carol Ann Tomlinson

Student Success Plans + “Cutting Edge, New” Advisory = Student Success – Earle Bidwell

Digital Tools for Project Based Learning – Jill Spencer

How Can We Use Strategies and Assessments to Prepare for the Transition to Common Core State Standards? – Deb Scarpelli

Exploring and Applying Web 2.0 Tools and Resources in the Middle – Chris Toy

Courageous and Collaborative Leadership in the Middle – Lyn Ward Healy

Differentiation and the Brain: How Neuroscience Supports the Learner Friendly Classroom – Carol Ann Tomlinson

Timely and relevant concurrent workshop sessions based on the concepts contained in Turning Points 2000 and This We Believe

“I Pity The Fool!” Leadership Advice From Mr. T

 An opening workshop conversation I often have with school leaders around the world is to share three words of wisdom from a well-known figure—Mr. T. Even people outside the United States recognize the scowling muscular character from “The A Team,” and his signature commentary about his adversaries, “I pity the fool!” delivered in a menacing, rumbling growl. Of course, it’s not this four-word phrase I’m referring to. “Mr. T” is an acronym I use to remind us how to effectively advocate for, support, and sustain the integration of technology and learning in our schools (or any aspect of school effectiveness for that matter).

The “M” in Mr. T represents the need for school leaders to model what they want faculty, staff, and students to be doing in their classrooms. The importance of modeling is echoed in the famous quote “We must become the change we want to see in the world” by Mahatma Gandhi. Leadership must be seen as leading by example. Albert Einstein stated that “Modeling isn’t another way to teach, it is the only way.” As the lead teachers in a school, administrators must use and integrate today’s tools and resources in their work with colleagues, staff, and students on a regular basis if they want this to happen in their schools. School leaders should learn about and use both online and offline digital tools and resources in daily work and routines. Using hardware such as laptops, interactive whiteboards, smartphones, and document projectors to share and communicate ideas should be business as usual. Principals who use software tools for presenting ideas, facilitating and archiving conversations, and collaborating are modeling what teachers and students should be doing in their classrooms. “Walking the talk” matters!

The “R” in Mr. T represents the importance of taking time in our busy schedules to pause and reflect. Our days, and often nights, are filled with meetings, deadlines, data, and emergencies. We seldom take the time to stop and reflect on the meaning and significance of our activities. Yet, we regularly pay lip service to the importance of being reflective learners and practitioners as we rush from one agenda item to the next. Or we admonish students to stop and think about the consequences of their decisions. We fall into bed each night then get up in a handful of hours and begin again.

Here again, if we want to implement learning technology in meaningful ways we must periodically stop, or at least slow down, and make time to consider what we are doing, why we are doing it, and its significance in light of our overall vision. The great Chinese philosopher, Confucius, advised us to keep in mind that “Learning without reflection is to become lost.” As educational leaders we must model reflection, and we must create space and the expectation that reflection will be a key aspect of the learning process. This can be accomplished as simply as pausing after an activity and doing a simple “think, pair, share” around the question, “What implications does this activity have for our vision as a school?” This can be accomplished in under five minutes, and can be extended using online tools such as a wiki.

Finally, the “T” in Mr. T represents the critical process of transfer. Transfer happens when we take an experience in one setting and actually apply it in a meaningful way in another situation. If we do not figure out a way to transfer and apply an experience in our own lives or work, that experience is soon forgotten. We can all complete the oft quoted aphorism, “If you don’t use it, you…” It is the responsibility to the leader, whether it’s the school leader or the leader of the classroom, to plan for, build in, and facilitate this transfer. Transfer is critical when it comes to integrating learning and technology where the interest is often focused on the novelty of the latest application or tool. The leader must take advantage of the interest and move the work forward by asking and requiring the staff to grapple with and answer the question, “How can we use this in our own work?”

So, take 30 seconds and ask yourself, “Am I like Mr. T when it comes to modeling, reflecting, and transferring what I want to see in my school?” If not, you know what Mr. T would have to say!

This entry is reposted from NASSP at http://tinyurl.com/NASSP-Mr-T

Okay or Not Okay? Your Thoughts Please!

In September we asked Bright Futures readers whether they had read three documents with major implications for middle level education in Maine and beyond. We’re interested in hearing your thoughts about the results. To paraphrase our colleague Jill Spencer, What in the data confirmed your thoughts?  What was interesting? What was surprising? What was disturbing?

Question #1 – “How recently have you read This We Believe?  This is the most widely read description and prescription of what constitutes effective middle programs and practices based on over 3000 research studies over 30 years published by AMLE. Thoughts?

Question #2 –  ”How recently have you read “Bright Futures”, the report of Maine’s Commission on Middle Level Education? The Commission. This report lays out the state of middle level education in Maine along with recommendations to the Maine Department of Education and the field for educating all of Maine’s 10 to 15 year olds. Thoughts?

Question #3 – Have you read “Education Evolving: Maine’s Plan for Putting Learners First” released in 2012.  It sets out objectives and action steps for building an education system in Maine that meets the needs of all learners. At its core is the middle level belief in developmentally appropriate, student centered teaching and learning. For more information and a PDF of the Key Document visit the MDOE website. Thoughts?

So what are your thoughts???

Let’s Do It! Teaching Young Adolescents–Statewide Learning Network

Courageous educators and students

Members of the Medomak Pantastics Teach Sugarloaf Participants to Play the Steel Drums

Sixty Maine educators and students shared their work at MAMLE’s Annual Conference at Sugarloaf.  They were willing to step out of their comfort zones and talk about their ideas, practices, and products with colleagues from across the state.  Presenting takes tremendous courage because the classroom door is flung open and all is subject to both praise and critique.  Participants left the conference with many new ideas and models with which to compare to their own practice.  Both presenters and attendees grew professionally as a result of this event.   For two days we were an active learning community focused on successful educational practices for young adolescents.

Erik Wade Shares Ideas on Integrating Technology and Outdoor Education

The need for a statewide learning community focused on young adolescents and their learning needs

At the Bright Futures World Cafe event in Belgrade last June, a young teacher said to some of us more veteran educators. “It sounds like you had a network of middle level teachers–we don’t have that.”  He was right; when Maine schools were making the transition to middle level philosophy, we had the MAMLE conference, the Middle Level Education Institute, Ed Brazee’s master’s program at Orono, the NELMS conference, MAMLE newsletters and journals, and small regional after-school drive-in conferences. As a teacher I knew who or what school to contact if I wanted to know more about a particular program or practice because I was continually meeting folks who were elbow deep in work. They remain friends to this day–in fact, many are my friends on…Facebook.  I still know what they are doing!

But wait!  All of these things except for Ed’s courses still exist, and Chris Toy teaches similar ones at USM in the summer.   Yet they are not providing the networking that builds a state-wide vision of what our young adolescents need to experience in school.  I am not going to expend negative energy examining why these activities are not attended as widely as they used to be.  Instead, I would like to suggest some ideas to rejuvenate a statewide learning community or professional  learning network dedicated to the education of Maine’s young adolescents.

Principal Sherry Levesque from Gray-New Gloucester MS Shares Her School’s Work With Customized Learning

Let’s Build Our Professional Network of Educators Dedicated to Providing Our Young Adolescents the Educational Experiences They Need to Thrive!

I learned to be a better teacher from my colleagues.  Today I would add that I also learn from my students and young relatives who are so savvy about technology.  In this day of social networking we have the means to share ideas, ask questions, and participate in action research projects statewide. As Ed Brazee said in every class I took with him–we have a professional responsibility to share our work so the profession can grow and improve practice. Let’s Do It!

Some ideas to consider:

• Be willing to share your work in a public forum open to all.   Maine educators are exploring exciting practices like customized learning, expeditionary learning,  proficiency-based learning,  STEM, and STEAM–we all need to hear how your work is going and what you have learned.  Middle level education is bigger than any one school, district, or cohort. As a state we need to grow and nurture successful practices. Think about MLTI–how much we have learned from one another across the state about integrating technology.
• “Like” the Maine Association for Middle Level Education page on Facebook and post comments to share ideas, resources or pose questions. You’ll get ideas back that you can use.
• Ask your principal if the school has an institutional membership in MAMLE, NELMS, and/or AMLE.  If you do and are not receiving digital newsletters and other updates, ask your principal to please forward to the staff everything that comes in via email. Here are the topics in a recent AMLE Middle Level Insider:

1. Creating Online Galleries of Student Work
2. Make Environmental Education Exciting
3. The Family Connection

• Host a Google Hangout video conference (they are free — http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/) with colleagues across the state on a specific topic.  Be brave, ask people to participate via MAMLE’s Facebook page–there are people following from all over the country!
• Follow Maine Middle Level Educators on Twitter–Lisa Hogan, Chris Toy, Barbara Greenstone, Mike Muir to name a few.
• Forward this blog and others of interest to your colleagues.  Encourage them to join the conversation.
• Write about your work.  It doesn’t have to be long.

1.  MAMLE:  send articles to Wally Alexander (wallace_alexander@umit.maine.edu)
2. Start a blog (you and/or your students) and publicize it on MAMLE’s Facebook page.
3. Write a guest post for this blog.
4. Consider doing a Pinterest on strategies that work for you.  Here’s an example of one on math apps: http://pinterest.com/mikefisher821/math-apps-for-the-ipad/

Geographically we are spread out from Ft. Kent to Kittery, but we are only a keystroke away from building a powerful and energizing statewide learning network.  I know readers have many more ideas than I do—please make suggestions in the comment box. Let’s do it!

Leave Your Mark

Morning session at Sugarloaf

Patti Kinney

Patti Kinney’s keynote kicked off the MAMLE conference with her presentation called Leave Your Mark. What legacy do you want to leave as a middle level educator? What educators do everyday in the lives of students makes an impression and has the potential to make an impact.

• It takes courage – courage derived from French word coeur which means “heart”. Risk takers and living a life of courage

What does it take to leave a legacy?

• Shared vision – Yogi Berra said “If you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.”
• Serving each student – look at the individual student and have high expectations and work to help them succeed
• Communicating effectively – George Bernard Shaw said “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” C.A.R.E.S. – Communication, Appreciation, Respect, Encouragement, Student-centered “Crustaceans are at their most vulnerable when they are between shells.”

At one point Patti asked middle school leaders what we have learned from middle lessons from the past and the consensus was that we need to focus on both – academic and personal growth.

• Modeling personal growth/learning
• Advocating for middle level education – what are you doing to get the word out about middle level education for all students

The parable of the pencil -

• Capable of many great things but only if you allow yours to be held by someone. (Whose are you holding and who do you let hold yours?)
• Pencils have the ability to let the mistakes made be erased. (Do you acknowledge the mistakes that you make with your students?)
• The most important part of you is inside. (Kids are like a box of Cracker Jax – they all have a prize inside.)
• You will experience a painful sharpening once in a while but it is needed to become a better person. (The only thing that we have control over is how we respond.)
• On every surface where used, it leaves a mark. (What mark will you leave?)

If the world would end in December, what type of legacy are you leaving behind?

Patti is the Associate Director of Middle Level services for NASSP. Formerly she served as a music teacher, middle level classroom teacher, assistant principal and principal.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know…Have you Read These Three Key Documents?

How about a monthly poll of Bright Futures readers? While we’re at it let’s share some online resources, three key documents and a free online quiz/polling tool, socrative.com.

To what degree are  brightfutures4me readers familiar with these three key documents relating to our work with young adolescents?

Here’s how to access the poll. It’s short, only four quick questions.

Start by going to m.socrative.com You can access this online tool on any laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

The room number is “chris”

Respond to the questions as they appear.

The poll will be open for the next 2 weeks and then we’ll share the results on the Bright Futures blog.

Here’s the links to these three key documents.

The most recent edition of AMLE’s “This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents” was published in 2010. Research and cumulative, empirical evidence have confirmed that implementing the practices described in This We Believe leads to higher levels of student achievement. For more information about this key document visit AMLE’s website.

Another important document released in 2012 is “Education Evolving: Maine’s Plan for Putting Learners First”. It sets out objectives and action steps for building an education system in Maine that meets the needs of all learners. At its core is something middle level educators have always advocated, developmentally appropriate, student centered teaching and learning! There’s a lot in Education Evolving that reflects what is best for our students. For more information and a PDF of the Key Document visit the MDOE website.

And of course, we can’t forget Maine’s own Bright Futures! The Commission on Middle Level Education, under the leadership of Mary Callan and Ed Brazee, created the report on the current state of middle level education. IT contains recommendations to the Maine Department of Education about what’s best for educating all of Maine’s 10 to 15 year olds. To download a PDF of the 2009 report and a descriptive poster visit the MDOE website.

Personal Learning Networks for Middle Level Leaders and Middle Level Students

Personal Learning Networks for Middle Level Leaders and Middle Level Students

I have one, we all have one and we may not have thought about it in just this way.  We need to and here’s why.  It is already a part and will be increasingly a part of our students’ learning lives…not to mention our own professional lives.

PLE= Personal Learning Environments

VLE =Virtual Learning Environments

PLE + VLE = PLN = Personal Learning Network

Here is what Wikipedia says:

One aspect is that the learner contributes and derives knowledge in a PLE through various nodes.^[3] In this way, the learner chooses which PLEs, VLEs, and social mediums to build a PLN. Specifically, the learner chooses who to interact with in these mediums and how much to participate. The learner enters the PLE with certain goals, needs, interests, motivations and problems that are often presented to the people they include in their PLN.^[5] Moreover, the learner will collaborate and connect differently with various members. The learner will establish stronger relationships with some members and have a low level of connection with others. Not all nodes will be equal.^[3] Some of the member roles include searcher, assemblator, designer of data, innovator of subject matter, and researcher.^[5]

PLNs are becoming an important part of professional development in several fields with some businesses creating their own e-learning content and PLEs for their employees. In addition, PLNs have become prevalent in the field of education and are rapidly becoming adopted as centers for the diaspora of field related information (in this regard, they are also often referred to as PROFESSIONAL Learning Networks).^[6][7][8][9]

Here is a slideshow about PLNs

http://www.slideshare.net/GrahamAttwell/personal-learning-enviroments-the-future-of-education-presentation

So what does this mean to us as middle level leaders?

It means we need to be consciously developing our own PLNs. It means we need to consciously be identifying how, where, and from whom we are learning…and this goes way beyond college courses and conferences for us and way beyond classrooms and classroom teachers for our students. It means staying actively connected with smart and capable people inside and outside of education who have knowledge we need and possible solutions to our current challenges.

It means staying actively connected virtually and “on the grid” continuing to develop our own virtual learning environments.

And, lest we forget, we may be part of the PLN of someone else.  What have we got to offer and are we willing to share it?

What about our students?  They’re watching.  How can we best assist them to develop safe, productive, rich, and flourishing PLNs?  By modeling it, for a start.

For me personally?  This can’t be an add-on to my professional life. I have no extra time.  None of us do.  It needs to be entwined, enmeshed, embedded and a natural part of my work life.  This means I need to replace some old and less efficient practices with some new more efficient practices.

This is a LOT to think about.

It’s TIME…To register and join us at MLEI 2012!

There’s still time for you to register and join middle level colleagues from across the state, New England, and beyond at the Middle level Institute being held July 30-August 2 at Bowdoin College. If you are working on developing new forms of teaching and learning for the 2012-13 school year MLEI is the perfect opportunity to collaborate intensively with other middle level educators. Imagine being able to engage in “what if”  and “how to” conversations with local and regional colleagues as well as nationally recognized experts Nancy Doda and Mark Springer! For more about MLEI and its faculty check out the links below.

Jill Spencer is a lifelong middle level educator, best selling author of books for AMLE, graduate instructor in curriculum, and a nationally recognized expert in literacy, middle level teaming, and school improvement. Learn more about Jill at http://teamingrocks.wordpress.com/ and at http://jillspencer.net/

Nancy Doda has been an award winning classroom teacher and team leader, a tenured professor in the Graduate School of Education at National-Louis University’s Washington, DC campus; a Board member for the National Middle School Association; and a Charter member of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform. She is an internationally recognized expert in all things middle level! You can learn more about Nancy at http://www.teacher-to-teacher.com/

Mark Springer is an internationally recognized middle level teacher, expert on project-based integrative curriculum, and bestselling author. His two books, Watershed and Soundings are considered the definitive resources for how to vision, plan, and implement democratic, student-centered classrooms. Mark has received AMLE’s Distinguished Educator Award for his work in the classroom. You can learn more about Mark at http://tinyurl.com/MarkSpringer.

Chris Toy has been a middle school principal here in Maine. He has been recognized by NELMS as an A+ Middle Level Administrator and received MAMLE’s Dr. Ed Brazee Award for lifetime service to middle level education. Chris wears a variety of hats these days including consulting with AppleProfessional Development around the world, teaching graduate courses at USM, Thomas College, and Antioch New ENgland Graduate School, and teaching cooking classes in several venues around midcoast and southern Maine. You can learn more at christoy.net.

So come join us! We know you have lots to offer, and we know you’ll come away with lots of ideas for next year. To register just click on this link http://mleimaine.net/register

In Today’s News

Dirigo Middle School teacher going to space camp

David Buck is excited that he has been selected to go to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama on June 16th for a week. He will have the opportunity to take part in many space-related tasks including simulations and interactive flight dynamics. You can read about David’s opportunity in the Sun Journal by clicking here.