Journey

Our (this is my wife's journey as much as mine) recovery from heart disease has been as dramatic and in some ways as shocking as my initial diagnosis. 174 days ago my doctor offered me hospital admittance, uncertain of my stability, and the adventure began. Six months off work so far for treatment, monitoring, lifestyle changes, appointments, an ICU admittance and management of a whole lot of medications was ordered. Our lives have revolved around heart disease. Recently different medical professionals have contacted us expressing their genuine relief and surprise that we have reversed the once labelled “severe heart failure.” My heart, they said, has healed itself. Yesterday one of our specialists shared that we had far exceeded expectations and although we still had some work and careful monitoring to do, I was basically as fit as I was a year ago when I was participating in five and ten hour endurance events. I have shared that this has been the best thing to ever happen to me (I know that sounds crazy), but I have learned so many things during this experience and my greatest fear now is that in time I will forget. We have learned the power of a positive mindset. We know meditation and mindfulness played a role in recovery, as did connecting with nature. We know that each day is a gift, there is only this moment and what the mind believes the body can achieve.  We believe in the power of gratitude and humility.

I will forever be indebted to a team of medical personnel from Medicine Hat and Calgary who followed me closely and became more like really smart friends than distant professionals. I thank family and friends who believed, prayed, sent positive thoughts and vibes and messages of encouragement. Mostly, though,  I am grateful for my wife, Lisa,  who is my rock, my greatest supporter, believer and best friend who put her life on hold for ½ a year so that I could regain mine.

Be well my friends, seize the day.

Welcome George

Tomorrow morning I will be introducing George Couros at the Southern Alberta Teachers’ Convention. For me, this has meant spending time reflecting on who George is, how he has influenced me and why I so eagerly embraced the idea of welcoming George to my city and to some of the most amazing teachers in the province. What I quickly came to realize, however, is that I’ll only have about 90 seconds to introduce him and the audience isn’t there to listen to me ramble. My role is to simply set him up by sharing with the audience some of his background and accomplishments, not to deliver a tribute or share how connecting with George has helped me grow.

Even though I have never met George in person, I feel like I know him well enough that I could deliver a keynote session on him.  I’d like to tell the audience that his ability to connect with people and make them feel valued is most certainly a trait he acquired from his parents who as George describes made everybody not just feel special, but know that they are special. George has the ability to challenge your thinking and make you question your own practices all the while still making you feel very respected, accomplished and trusted. It is perhaps his greatest strength and his father’s legacy certainly lives on.

I emailed George over Christmas  thanking him for writing the Innovator’s Mindset. I shared that It gave my motivation to learn a rejuvenation that was needed. As an educator and administrator I’m not sure if anything is more important than fostering that love of learning and trying to get someone to do their best and for that I am grateful. That is what I strive to accomplish in my career.

I am Todd Samuelson and I’m an administrator for school division 76. I am very excited to be with you this morning and to have the opportunity to introduce our keynote speaker, George Couros.  George is the division principle for Parkland School Division and an innovative teaching, learning and leadership consultant. He is the author of the recently published book entitled The Innovator’s Mindset, has a powerful Twitter presence with over 107 000 followers, is author of the influential blog Principle of Change, and is the founder and creator of the blog Connected Principles.

I first heard George speak on the radio as he was being interviewed by a couple of local Calgary radio hosts and was immediately struck by how effective he was at pushing my thinking, challenging traditional educational practices and at the same time making the audience feel like they could stop in for a visit at any time. About a month later I followed up with that feeling and reached out and connected with George and we’ve been communicating back and forth ever since. George has made me a better educator and continues to challenge, influence and inspire me today and although I have never physically met him feel comfortable and confident in saying,  “I’d like to introduce you…to my friend…Mr George Couros.

All or Nothing?

I'm considering making a change. With change often comes the traditional interview process and the preparation that comes along with that ritual. I suppose there is a benefit to this process in that it forces one to reflect. One of the interview questions is sure to involve my thoughts on what I think is the most important quality of an effective leader. After role playing this question in my head a dozen times, I have come to the conclusion that this is an impossible question to answer with any real depth. I compare it to what is the most important ingredient in a really delicious recipe? Without all the ingredients you don't get the really delicious food. The vanilla is no less important than the sugar or the flour.

                        
I feel the same with my top list of ingredients of a truly fine leader. What good is a clear vision without communication or relationship abilities? Is being responsive or supporting teachers meaningful if a leader doesn't have current knowledge around pedagogy? Does enthusiasm and innovation make an impact when organizational skills or the ability to really listen are weak?

Maybe I'm wrong, I'd like to hear others thoughts, but for me it seems to be all or nothing when discussing the qualities of a truly effective leader. 

a culture of learning

“... and now you're a wacko like me.” I'm not sure if I've ever had a greater compliment regarding my philosophies on education (assessment in this particular case) then hearing these words from Rick Wormeli on my shift in thinking over the past seventeen years in education. I haven’t always been the type of thinker I am today regarding education. Mainly, I think, because once I became a teacher, for a few years,  I stopped learning.

I think my beliefs first significantly began to move when I began my masters degree many years ago. I don't remember the title of the book, but in the first paragraph, there was a statement about how education is modeled after the industrial age and in many cases has never looked back. It went on to compare schools to prisons and hospitals as being highly institutionalized organizations. This message made me pause and reflect not only on educational practices in general, but what was going on in my own classroom. I took the balcony view and imagined the school that has its students sitting in rows, being taught one discipline for 60 minutes, the bell rings, students stand up, move to another room, sit in their assigned seat where another teacher lectures another subject in isolation for 60 minutes, the bell rings, repeat …

Today I work with some pretty amazing educators who help “push my thinking.” Conversations involving inquiry-based learning, relevant projects, Genius Hour, makerspace, flex time, interdisciplinary challenges, dismantling of computer labs, breaking down classroom walls, questioning why we need bells, deeper learning, community classrooms...all in an effort to make learning fluid, relevant, engaging and purposeful. None of this would be possible without having a culture that supports learning. A place where teachers are reading, talking, researching, forming learning communities. One of my most important roles as an administrator is to support that culture of learning and help it permeate throughout the school. Leaders, I feel, need be strategic and creative to motivate and support a school to continually have its professionals engage in learning.  George Couros recently posted the question  How do you make the great learning go “viral” in your school, to move from “pockets” to a “culture of innovation?” which he addresses in his new book (which I’ve ordered, but yet to read) The Innovator’s Mindset.. It's a great question and one I look forward to exploring further.

Finding The Balance

I believe technology is a wonderful thing. I rely heavily on it every day and it is one of my passions. I facilitate my school’s technology advisory  committee and am involved with tech at a district level as well. I provide release time to teachers so that they can plan ways to integrate technology into their lessons in a meaningful way. My teachers know the fastest way to get ahold of me is by first text, second email and then a distant third my office landline. Every teacher has my cellphone number. I Google Hangout with the secretaries when they need to get ahold of me.

In my house of four we have ipads, a mini ipad, android, iphones, a Mac, PC, Chromebook, laptops and tech toys (some of them mine). I tweet, email, instagram, blog, text.

I share this with the intent of laying the foundation to those who choose to read this that I am a tech guy and support it greatly, but….another one of my passions is wellness. I have always been pretty good at taking care of my physical well being, but up until a couple of years ago did not pay a lot of attention  to working out my mental health. Because I, like so many of us, are continually being bombarded with information through technology I have found it important to make a concerted effort to take time to let my brain rest.  For a couple of years now I have been practising “mindfulness” in an attempt to be more in the present, be more productive, less reactive and be more focused on particular tasks when I am working on them. At work our school created a mindfulness group for teachers and another for students. We are introducing mindfulness to all of our students to help reduce anxiety.

Recently the teacher-librarian handed me a copy of The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere by Pico Iyer and I found the book really resonated with me. The book is small (it can be read in one sitting) and has (at least for the past week) helped me “slow down” and appreciate things more. A good portion of the book talks about technology and its impact on our society. It in no way “bashes” tech, but rather provides some interesting insights on how we can ensure we don’t become too consumed with always being “plugged in.” The book provides plenty of examples from Google and Intel on how tech leaders like this who are often “leading the charge” also recognize the importance of slowing things down. The book states that according to “interruption science” it takes 25 min to recover from something like a cell phone call and yet on average we are being interrupted every 11 minutes so we never fully recover unless we train ourselves to.

I certainly have a ways to go to strike the right balance (whatever that is), but lately I have been feeling calmer, more content, appreciative and more productive. So as I sit in a little coffee shop with my Chromebook and Android looking out the window on a nice fall day, I know that later, when I head out for a walk, I won’t be using that time to make phone calls, answer emails while I clumsily maneuver the sidewalks, think of work projects that I should be working on and instead I will (at least try) to appreciate my surroundings so that when I do return will be rested and more capable to tackle what may be left on my list of things to do.

Journey towards inquiry-based learning through P.B.L.

I have always known that inquiry-based learning is a very effective method for structuring learning. It also aligns very well as a process that meets many of the requirement of Alberta’s Ministerial Order on Student Learning. I just wasn’t sure how to go about implementing...inquiry can be easier said than done.

Our journey going deeper with inquiry based learning began last May when a fellow administrator told me he was arranging to bring in a Project Based Learning (PBL) facilitator, Charity Allen from www.pblconsulting.net, to put on a two-day workshop for his middle school teachers. He had 18 available spots he was going to open up to the district. I asked him to hold all 18 openings for two days until I had an opportunity to talk to the middle school teachers at my school. The following days I spoke with the teachers and by the end of the second day the middle school team had committed to doing the training and pursuing PBL implementation this school year. Only one of the teachers had already received the training and was using PBL in her classroom. She was excited to take the training again and support teachers new to the process.

Knowing ongoing support would help the chances of follow through, I asked our Teacher Librarian to participate in the training so that she could offer her expertise throughout the year. Having already received the training and already using PBL with other classes, she knew the benefits of providing support to teachers. She could use her flexible timetable in order to offer this vital ongoing support.

For two days, Charity facilitated an Intro to PBL workshop for our two schools. As president of PBL Consulting, she was extremely gifted in managing the workshop. She guided us through the why of PBL, the what of PBL and then moved us into how to design high quality, inquiry-based projects.  By the end of the workshop, participants reached near completion of their projects. She explained that inquiry was basically attempting to resolve the unresolved using a process. She shared multiple processes and methods of inquiry upon which projects could be modeled. She further instructed us that projects need to be in a context that is connected to the real world in a way that is relevant to students. Teachers developed projects such as: how to revitalize a vacant city lot, input into our district’s new school design, school renovations, the impact on environment from invasive aquatic species in provincial water bodies, how to sustain society on another planet (MarsOne) and more.

After two days, teachers were very impressed with the workshop and eager to develop and implement their projects in their classrooms. The priority now will be offering support and encouragement so that our middle school continues with this approach.

Start up

This year began with a change in my role as an administrator. I find myself working with an exceptional group of middle school teachers. The past three days of school have been what I can only call inspiring as this teacher cohort has dedicated itself to welcoming new students and welcoming back returning students.

The first day began with teachers volunteering their prep time to facilitate activities planned by the counsellor. The purpose of these activities was to build relationships with one another and their teachers as well as to get familiar with a large new school. Activities included a “fashion infraction” where teachers modeled clothing deemed unacceptable to a school setting (I wore a beer shirt with sunglasses), how to open up your lock, an amazing race to explore the school and much more. The grade sevens were the only students in the school and had free reign to explore and get comfortable for the entire morning before the first day of school started two days later.

Another teacher organized “activation.” A series of stations where each grade level (seven through 12) came in at different times and within an hour had their picture taken and received school ID, text books signed out, lockers assigned, timetables handed out.

I visited every middle school classroom the following day and watched how teachers had planned activites around getting to know one another and building relationships. Another noticeable characteristic of most of the classrooms was how their rooms were set up. All rooms had desks or tables set up for cooperative learning (not group work). Most classrooms had “soft seated” areas in the  classrooms and many had light filters or lamps to adjust the lighting. Words of welcome and encouragement were displayed throughout.  

I am confident all of this preparation and dedication in the beginning will pay huge dividends throughout the year. I am very proud to be a part of this team and look forward to supporting them however I can.