The Role of Place in Personalization

The physical and virtual environments where learning takes place play a pivotal role in shaping the effectiveness and depth of personalized learning strategies. Consider for a moment the impact of the physical classroom. It is not merely a backdrop but an active participant in the learning journey. The arrangement of desks, the presence of collaborative spaces, and the infusion of technology all contribute to the atmosphere that shapes a student's educational experience. As you delve into personalized learning, the importance of tailoring these spaces to accommodate diverse learning needs becomes increasingly evident.

Research consistently underscores the profound impact of physical and virtual learning environments on educational outcomes. According to a study by Tanner and Lackney (2006), the design of physical spaces significantly influences student engagement and academic performance. Flexible seating arrangements, varied learning zones, and interactive elements have been found to correlate positively with increased student motivation and collaboration (Tanner & Lackney, 2006). Furthermore, research by Hattie (2012) emphasizes the importance of creating a positive classroom climate, asserting that the physical layout plays a crucial role in fostering a conducive atmosphere for learning. The influence of virtual learning environments cannot be ignored either. A Means et al. (2013) meta-analysis highlighted the importance of well-designed online platforms, emphasizing their impact on student achievement and satisfaction. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, understanding and optimizing physical and virtual learning spaces is paramount for educational success (Means et al., 2013; Hattie, 2012; Tanner & Lackney, 2006).

Physical Learning Spaces

The traditional classroom setup, with rows of desks facing forward, may not be the most conducive environment for personalized learning. Flexible seating arrangements, breakout spaces, and interactive learning corners empower students to take control of their learning. Recognizing that each student is unique, physical spaces can be designed to cater to various learning preferences, whether it be quiet individual study, collaborative group work, or hands-on experimentation.

Virtual Learning Environments

In our digital age, the concept of place extends beyond physical boundaries. Virtual learning environments, online platforms, and educational apps contribute to the personalized learning ecosystem. The design of these digital spaces, from user interface to interactive features, can significantly influence the engagement and success of personalized learning initiatives. Thoughtful consideration must be given to user experience and accessibility, ensuring the virtual place complements and enhances the learning process.

Outdoor Areas

The importance of outdoor spaces for learning cannot be overstated, as they offer a transformative and holistic dimension to education. Beyond the traditional confines of classrooms, the outdoors provides a dynamic setting that stimulates curiosity, creativity, and a sense of exploration. Nature becomes a powerful teacher, offering biology, ecology, and environmental science lessons in a living laboratory. Beyond academic subjects, outdoor spaces promote physical activity, contributing to students' overall well-being. The fresh air and natural light create an invigorating atmosphere, fostering focus and reducing stress. Moreover, outdoor environments encourage collaboration, teamwork, and social skills as students engage in activities that often require cooperation and communication. By integrating outdoor spaces into the learning experience, educators enrich the academic curriculum and cultivate a love for the environment and a deeper connection to the world around us.

Below are some specific strategies for crafting effective learning spaces:

• Individualized Learning Zones: Break down traditional classroom barriers by creating individualized learning zones. Each student can have a designated space that aligns with their preferred learning style, whether a quiet corner for reflection or an interactive area for hands-on exploration.
• Technology Integration: Leverage technology to bridge the physical and virtual learning spaces. Interactive whiteboards, digital collaboration tools, and online resources can seamlessly integrate into the classroom, providing a dynamic and personalized learning experience.
• Flexible Furniture: The days of static desks and chairs are behind us. Embrace flexible furniture that can be easily rearranged to accommodate different learning activities. This adaptability promotes a sense of ownership over the learning environment.
• Makerspaces: When I hired Laura Fleming in 2012, I asked her to transform the library into a place where kids not only wanted to read but could also serve as a catalyst for personalization. She did all that and more by creating a makerspace that became revered by our students and educators across the globe. It was a place for learners to collaborate, hack, invent, share, create, make, and do, which is the epitome of personalization. They were given all the tools needed to get started, but where it went was up to them. Learn more about makerspaces HERE.
• Student-Centric Design: Involve students in the design process. Solicit their input on the classroom layout, the choice of furniture, and technology integration. A student-centric approach ensures that the learning space truly resonates with its inhabitants.

As you embark on the personalized learning journey, consider the impact of place. The physical, outdoor, and virtual environments in which learning unfolds are not passive backdrops but active participants in the educational process. By strategically crafting these spaces to align with the diverse needs of learners, we can amplify the effectiveness of personalized learning initiatives. The power of place extends beyond the confines of walls and screens; it is a dynamic force shaping the essence of how we learn and grow.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. Routledge.

Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., & Baki, M. (2013). The effectiveness of online and blended learning: A meta-analysis of the empirical literature. Teachers College Record, 115(3), 1-47.

Tanner, C. K., & Lackney, J. A. (2006). Approaches to learning space design. Planning for Higher Education, 34(3), 35-50.

Making is a Process

“No two makerspaces should be exactly alike, because no two school communities are exactly alike. Properly planning your makerspace will ensure that you uncover themes that are unique and meaningful to your school.  It will ensure that your space is vibrant and relevant, as well as one that is sustainable into the future. “ – Laura Fleming, author of Worlds of Making

When we created our makerspace at New Milford High School many years ago we never fully realized the positive impact it would have on our learners. In a time where wood shop, metal shop, and agriculture were cut for the mere reason that the content was deemed non-essential or could not be tested something had to change. This was the reality for many schools in the Northeast. In our particular case not having trade-based courses was devastating as one third of our population was classified special needs. For all intensive purposes most of these students could care less about the curriculum, Common Core Standards, or standardized tests (i.e. PARCC).  The creation and evolution of our makerspace solved this problem.

The premise was simple; allow students to utilize guided inquiry in an informal learning environment that was facilitated by the use of real-world tools to do real-world work. Students were not only able to actively explore their passions, but also learn from failure as well as trial and error.  Our students thrived in an environment where the word “fail” really stood for first attempt in learning. There was no clearer evidence of this as when students were using old computer parts to design and create an entirely new operating system from scratch.

The makerspace was less about the latest technological gadget and more about the process of tinkering, inventing, creating, and making to learn. This is probably the single most important lesson I learned from Laura Fleming, the teacher librarian extraordinaire who was the original architect of our makerspace.  I say original architect as after the space was initially established she empowered the students to chart its course going forward. Success rested in her ability to focus on her role as a facilitator or coach as opposed to someone who knew who to use all the stuff.  She was the quintessential guide to possibilities who unlocked the learning potential of our students.  

In a time when we tend to focus on the next big thing in technology we learned that planning was key and that a focus on learning and pedagogy would help us to achieve better learning outcomes for our students. This was true for many of our change efforts including BYOD, blended learning, and virtual learning. The makerspace was no different. We meticulously planned with our students a vision for how the space would foster powerful learning experiences grounded in rigor, relevance, and relationships. Maker activities naturally align themselves to Quad D work as outlined by the Rigor Relevance Framework. It is through these hands-on activities that students employ a range of higher-order thinking skills to solve real-world, unpredictable problems that have more than one solution. Through this engaging process students also readily make connections to a range of other disciplines. 

Planning is key. Many people take the approach of ordering equipment and materials before taking time to plan out the space (same can be said with 1:1 initiatives). This should be the last step. Talk to your students, watch them, and understand their needs, wants, and interests first. Assess existing curricula, programs, and offerings within your school community Consider global trends and best practices, which will then help you to develop themes.  After considering these important steps a systematic approach to ordering technology and other items will help to create a makerspace that best meets the needs of your learners.

Process is everything. I try to emulate this when I conduct hands-on makersapce workshops.  The key takeaway that I want educators to leave with is a focus on open-ended exploration.  There is no better prompt than make something that does something. It is simple, yet so powerful in that educators (or in your case students) have to work collaboratively to come up with a creative solution to solve a problem. Take a look at this video from a workshop I recently conducted (also below). In addition to set materials that I provided, I encouraged attendees to utilize anything else they could find. The results were nothing less than spectacular.

The most important aspect of a makerspaces is that it can spark your student’s natural desire to learn.  I think we can all agree this should be the intended outcome when leading the maker movement. With a careful attention to planning and design thinking your makerspace can transform the learning culture of your school like ours did.

The Growing Potential of Micro-Credentials

There is a great deal of talk these days about micro-credentials and digital badging as a means to acknowledge professional learning of educators. While many organizations are trying to seize an opportunity to monetize this space for their own benefit, a pioneer in micro-credentials created a free platform for any educator to use over three years ago. In Uncommon Learning, I provide insight into Laura Fleming’s pioneering work in this area with the simple premise of acknowledging the informal learning that many educators now engage in on a daily basis. 

Micro-credentials can be used to guide, motivate, and validate informal learning. Check out what Mozilla has created with its Open Badges platform. Acknowledging the informal learning of educators had been a long-neglected area in schools, and Ms. Fleming felt she could make a big impact there. She felt that a digital badge-based system would allow participating educators to learn and earn badges anytime and anywhere. Educators could then use those badges to build and communicate their own reputations to their colleagues and to senior staff, capturing a complete picture of their own professional development for others to see. 

Worlds of Learning provides a framework that allows any educator to earn micro-credentials for free through learning about a range of technology tools and applications and then putting what they learn into practice in their own teaching. The platform developed by Laura Fleming in 2013 has been designed so that its resources will help to prepare educators to fully leverage the potential for mastering digital-age skills as embodied in the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Teachers as well as assisting them to achieve the seamless integration of technology as addressed by the Common Core State Standards. 

As technology convergence and integration continue to increase generally in our society, it is paramount that teachers possess the skills and behaviors of digital-age professionals. Educators should be comfortable teaching, working, and learning in an increasingly connected global digital society. The real aim of educational technology should be to modernize pedagogy and to shape the education of the future. Registered users on the Worlds of Learning site can take the tools presented on the platform and integrate them seamlessly into meaningful learning that addresses the standards in their respective content areas for free.

Laura has streamlined the user experience on the platform as much as possible. Teachers (or indeed anyone who wants to join) simply register on the platform. Members can then choose to learn about a tool from among the (growing) selection of badges she has on the site. Her badges include those for mastering tools like Buncee, Padlet, and ThingLink, as well as a variety of other web-based tools. 

To learn about each tool, Laura provides a deliberately brief description of what the tool is. She also includes a very short screencast that provides an overview of how to use each tool and a brief written description of how the tool can be used and how the tool can be integrated effectively into the curriculum through the Common Core. Educators can earn the badge by then assimilating what they’ve learned into their own instruction in some way. Users submit “proof” to her that they have done so. Their evidence might consist of a web link to a page or site that demonstrates what they have done, a lesson plan, a video of classroom practice, or even a text description of how they or their students have used the tool. Upon receiving documentation, she issues a digital badge for their learning. 

Educators want to create their own professional learning paths, they want to learn anytime and anywhere, and they want to receive appropriate and authoritative credit for their informal learning. Laura believes that the success of this platform rests on the fact that educators can take control of their own learning and that they can therefore learn what they want to learn when they want to learn it.  I, for one, could not be more proud of what Laura created and that this resource is free for anyone to use. Those organizations pirating her work for profit and claiming it to be their own should, at the very least, give her the proper credit that she deserves.

So what are your thoughts about using micro-credentials as a way to guide, motivate, and validate both the formal and informal learning of educators?

Free Resources to Support Your Makerspace

The embracement of the maker movement is being seen in K-12 schools and districts across the world. As a result, makerspaces are being instituted to allow students to tinker, invent, create, and make to learn.  A makerspace can best be defined as a physical place where students can create real-world products/projects using real-world tools in a shared work space. With natural connections and applications to STEAM areas as well as a focus on self-directed, inquiry-based, and hands on learning, it is difficult not to appreciate and admire the positive impact that makerspaces can have on all students. In times when many schools and districts have cut programs such as wood/metal shop and agriculture, makerspaces provide a 21st Century alternative to meet the learning needs of our most at-risk students.  

There is no need to reinvent the wheel here, as there are many resources available. For a curated list of online resources related to makerspaces check out this Pinterest board. To learn more in depth about the concepts associated with making be sure to purchase the book World’s of Making by Laura Fleming and check out her website. It has everything you need to get started, including suggested items to outfit the space. She also has generated a step-by-step flow chart that will assist you in your makerspace planning. 

Initially, planning will cost some money and that is unavoidable. However, once you have established your makerspace and outfitted it with key items and tools there are many free resources available for you to take advantage of.  Below I will briefly describe some of the key makerspace items to purchase and then free resources that will help you and your students maximize the expense.  The items include Raspberry Pi, littleBits, MaKey MaKey, Arduino, and MinecraftEdu. Descriptions have been pulled from the respective website of each product.

Raspberry Pi

This is a low cost, credit card sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV, and uses a standard keyboard and mouse. It is a capable little device that enables people of all ages to explore computing, and to learn how to program in languages like Scratch and Python.  Teach, learn, and make with Raspberry Pi’s free learning resources.

littleBits

This is a platform of easy-to-use electronic building blocks that empower you to invent anything from your own remote controlled car to a smart home device. The Bits snap together with magnets - no soldering, no wiring, no programming needed. These magnets are great for prototyping and learning. littleBits provides an array of free lessons (beginner, intermediate, advanced) for different grades and subject areas. 

MaKey MaKey

I love MaKey MaKey and so will your students!  It is an invention kit for the 21st century that allows you to turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the Internet.  The simple Invention Kit is perfect for Beginners and Experts doing art, engineering, and everything in between. Each kit comes with a MaKey MaKey, Alligator Clips, USB Cable. Be sure to check out these free lesson plans 

Arduino

This is an open-source prototyping platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. An arduino is commonly referred to as a microcontroller that can be used for building digital devices and interactive objects that can sense and control the physical world.  This has been the brain of thousands of projects, from everyday objects to complex scientific instruments. HERE is a fantastic tutorial that will assist you and your students create maker projects using arduino.  For even more information visit Arduino Classroom. 

MinecraftEdu

To put it bluntly, Minecraft is overtaking the world and the game is beloved by students of all ages.  I commonly refer to it as “Legos on steroids.” It is a sandbox independent video game where players dig (mine) and build (craft) different kinds of 3D blocks within a large world of varying terrains and habitats to explore. In schools it is being used to teach all kinds of skills and subjects from math to foreign languages to social justice to fair trade.  Getting a MinecraftEdu license and making it available on computers in the makerspace is a fantastic addition to the area.  The MinecraftEdu Wiki has tons of resources ranging from lesson examples, worksheets/handouts, alignment to curricula and standards, and many other nuggets of awesomeness.

I hope you enjoy these free resources and ideas as your makerspace evolves or if you are beginning the process of creating one. If you have any other free resources please provide them in the comments section below.

The Philosophy Behind Maker Success

For many students, school has become an irritating experience grounded in boring lessons and learning activities. A national focus on standardized testing and accountability has only made the experience worse for kids who only crave relevance, meaning, and value out of the hours of time spent in classrooms each school year.  To make matters worse, many states, districts, and schools made knee-jerk reactions when the budget ax came down a few years and cut traditional hands-on courses such as wood shop, agriculture, metal shop, and cooking. In many cases, elementary schools have even taken the fun out of school for kids by cutting recess.  

These courses represented a lifeline and a glimmer of hope in what has become a day fraught with relentless preparation for college and careers.  However, the powers that be found that they consumed precious time from the school day that could have been spent on more important curricular endeavors.  In the end, students, especially those most at-risk based on learning needs, have immensely suffered.  They desperately need an outlet during the long school day.  If not, their motivation to learn in all their other classes will wane, resulting in either a lack of effort or desire to even attend school.  The bottom line is that many schools have deprived students of real-world learning experiences that are needed now more than ever. 

This might seem like a bleak scenario that I describe above and it should.  Our students deserve activities that will not only prepare them for vital trade careers but also allow them to openly explore the solving of problems that are relevant to them. During my tenure as New Milford High School Principal, our district cut wood and metal shop.  Over the years, I have also seen recess time dwindle for my own kids and others who attend the New York City Public School System.  All hope is not lost, though, for any school looking to create a better learning environment that works for kids.  The solution for all schools comes in the form of makerspaces. 

A few years back, I heard of the concept when I was a principal.  When I hired Laura Fleming in 2013 to take over the traditional library, she was tasked with giving it a reboot and was given complete autonomy to do so. Her vision and subsequent plan resulted in a collaborative learning space open to all students where they could come to tinker, invent, create, and make to learn.  It was like having a 21st Century version of wood and metal shop back in school, with the main difference being the infusing of technologies for students to engage in informal, self-directed learning tasks.  Her Worlds of Making theme gave hope back to kids that had lost and needed it most. Don't just take my word for it. Read about what the makerspace did for Chris HERE.

There is a great deal of content out there about maker education. In addition to Laura’s website and book, I highly recommend you check out the work of Jackie Gerstein. Laura also collaborated with Steven and Debby Kurti from Tabletop Inventing to publish a series of articles featured in Teacher Librarian magazine that not only discuss the philosophy of makerspaces, but also provide practical implementation tips. Below are the three articles:

• The Philosophy of Educational Makerspaces: Part 1 of Making an Educational Makerspace
• The Environment and Tools of Great Educational Makerspaces: Part 2 of Making an Educational Makerspace
• Practical Implementation of an Educational Makerspace: Part 3 of Making an Educational Makerspace

Schools today have a golden opportunity in makerspaces to increase relevancy while providing powerful ways for students to engage in self-directed learning. When embarking on this initiative, don't discount the importance of leadership during the planning, implementation, and evaluation process.

Leading the Maker Movement

Over the past year more and more schools across the globe have embraced the concept of making to learn.  This phenomenon trickled into schools as the Maker Movement became more popular and natural connections to learning became quite evident.  To begin to understand the educational value of making we must look at the roots of this movement.  A recent article in Newsweek sums it up nicely: 

THE MAKER MOVEMENT is a global community of inventors, designers, engineers, artists, programmers, hackers, tinkerers, craftsmen and DIY’ers—the kind of people who share a quality that Larry Rosenstock says “leads to learning [and]…to innovation,” a perennial curiosity “about how they could do it better the next time.” The design cycle is all about reiteration, trying something again and again until it works, and then, once it works, making it better. As manufacturing tools continue to become better, cheaper and more accessible, the Maker Movement is gaining momentum at an unprecedented rate. Over the past few years, so-called “makerspaces” have cropped up in cities and small towns worldwide—often in affiliation with libraries, museums and other community centers, as well as in public and independent schools—giving more people of all ages access to mentorship, programs and tools like 3-D printers and scanners, laser cutters, microcontrollers and design software.

As the Maker Movement has gained steams schools and educators alike have begun to incorporate makerspaces as exploratory centers for students to invent, tinker, create, and make to learn.  A makerspace can best be defined as a physical place where students can create real-world products/projects using real-world tools.  In 2013 I was fortunate enough to hire media specialist/teacher librarian Laura Fleming, who took the initiative to create a makerspace in our school. Through her work I discovered some guiding principles that might just help you begin to create a makerspace in your school or integrate the process of making across the curriculum.  It is first important to understand three underlying qualities that essential in ensuring that students make to learn:

1. Making is a process – As with any process, making requires the ability for educators to give up control and trust students. It can be messy and unpredictable, but the products students create, problems they solve, and questions they answer become learning relevant learning experiences they value. Making is guided by a student’s natural inquiry and self-directed learning. Specific skills are require of students, the first of which is knowing what tool to use and how to use it safely. The second involves problem-solving and diagnostic skills that are required to figure out why something won’t work, come up with a creative solution, and not get frustrated. 
2. The right educator makes the difference – The process of making requires patience on behalf of an educator who will not have all the answers nor know how to help students out every time they experience a problem.  This is quite ok as it is near impossible for someone to have all of the required content knowledge to assist students as they make to learn. The right educator helps students diagnose a problem so that they can create a solution.  He or she guides students through the inevitable highs and lows of making something while tying the process and embedded concepts of various maker projects to different content areas.  This educator understands that there needs to be a fundamental shift from transmitting knowledge to enabling a student to create his/her own solution.  The right person is a coach, models when necessary, and has the mindset of a maker educator.                                                                                                                        
   
                                            Credit: http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/                                                     
3. Identify the perfect space – This can be a challenge as available areas to set up a makerspace in many schools are few and far between.  The perfect space must encourage creativity and support the idea that anything is possible. It should contain comfortable seating, have limited rules and control, be flexible, have ubiquitous access to WiFi and technology, and infuse prompts and guides to promote inquiry. Possibilities include the library/media center, classrooms, or a common area of the school. You can even develop a pop-up makerspace or a makerspace on a cart. The possibilities are only limited to your imagination. 

Once you understand the essential qualities to create the perfect makerspace or environment for your students it is time to begin planning.  There is no need to reinvent the wheel here are there are many resources available. For a curated list of online resources related to makerspaces check out this Pinterest board. To learn more in depth about the concepts associated with making be sure to purchase the book Invent to Learn by Gary Stager and Sylvia Martinez.  Laura Fleming's World's of Making website has everything you need to get started, including suggested items to outfit the space with. She also has generated a step-by-step flow chart pictured below that will assist you in your makerspace planning. 

For a maker culture to succeed and thrive in a school, leadership matters. I learned some of these lessons unbeknownst to me as they were only brought to my attention after making to learn became an embedded component of our school culture. Selecting the right person to lead the initiative is pivotal.  Once that is done give him or her the autonomy to make decisions related to the space and process.  Ensure that there is a mutual understanding of the freedom to execute on innovative ideas and create a space that is always in a state of controlled chaos.  Provide encouragement every step of the way, as there will be times when equipment does not work or fellow colleagues attempt to undermine the process due to their own insecurities.  Finally, make sure there is an allocated budget for the maker educator to establish a space that attracts students.  In simple terms, get out of the way.

Impact of a Makerspace

One of the best parts of my day is checking in on Media Specialist/Teacher Librarian Laura Fleming as she always shares the incredible work her students are doing in the makerspace she created at New Milford High School. Whether it is pictures or Vine videos, each day I witness high school students tinkering, inventing, creating, and making to learn. She has created a learning space and environment that students truly find value in as they are afforded the opportunity to explore their passions, be creative, and take ownership over their learning.  Lately I have been seeing many pictures from a specific group of students who have developed an interest in building their own computers. Last week I was utterly amazed when Laura asked me to check out the website (NMHS Computer Designs) that these students had created. After looking it over I asked if one of the students would consider writing a guest blog post for me. Luckily for us he said yes.  I hope you enjoy this guest post by NMHS freshman Chris Pavone as he explains the impact Laura and a makerspace have had on his high school learning experience. 

My name is Chris and I am a freshman at a New Jersey High School.  I always had an interest in computers, but that increased even more thanks to my library makerspace. When I started school this year, I found out that the makerspace had a Take-Apart Tech Station where students could visit and take apart computers.  Through this I learned the parts of a computer.  I enjoyed the experience so much that my friends and I then decided to challenge ourselves and began to think what we really could do with computers.  We decided to not only take a computer apart, but also to then put it back together.  We also decided to make a new computer case to put our computer in.  

The first thing we had to do was find a working computer to take apart.  Once we did that, we carefully took everything out of it.   There were a lot of screws and parts to disassemble.  It took us about three days of working on it to get everything out without breaking any of the parts.  After the computer was completely taken apart, we then began to think of ideas for making a new computer case.  We started looking around the library and in the back room we saw some empty boxes.  This is when we decided to turn a regular cardboard box into our new computer case!

We planned out how we would arrange the computer components in the box and drew lines where we wanted all of the parts to be.  Instead of screws, we used hot glue to attach the pieces to where we wanted them to be in the box.   We cut out pieces of the box to make cutouts for all of the plugs.  In order to do this, we measured the pieces and the size of the holes we needed to cut in the box.   After that we only had to put in the hard drive and the CD drive into our case and on day four our new computer was assembled!

At that point we attached a monitor and a power supply and turned our computer on to test it.  As amateur technicians, we were not surprised that we ran into a few problems. We spent some time researching the error messages we were receiving.  After a few hours, and with the help of Mr. Caronia, a member of our school IT department, we figured out the adjustments we needed to make. After successfully booting up our computer, Mr. Caronia created a user account for us to be able to login and gain full access to our computer.  We set it up so that other people in the library could use it and test it out too.  Right away students were logging on and using the computer to play games and do their work.   They were shocked that a computer in a cardboard box could work!  My school principal even came down to look.  After a few days, we moved our computer out into the showcase in our hallway.

If it weren’t for our librarian and Mr. Caronia, none of this would have been possible. Although this project was difficult at times, it was so fun and we were proud to have pulled it off.  A few days later, we wanted to try the same thing again and this time we decided to turn an old G5 Mac into a Windows-based PC. Once again, we really enjoyed it!

At this point we decided to create a website in order to share our creations with other schools around the world. Our hope is that students and teachers all over will learn from our work.  Not only do we hope they learn from it, but we hope that they participate in it. Visitors can register on our site to receive updates, they can post messages and questions in our forum, and they can participate in our challenge.  On our site we have a challenge for students to build their own computers and put them in a creative case. Students who do this can submit creations to us and we will post them in our gallery. We are proud that we have comments from teachers all over the country on our site already.  I am also proud that a student contacted me to tell me how much my website impacted her and a project she was working on.  I was even contacted by a librarian looking for my help in setting up a makerspace for her library!  

We know this is just the beginning for us and have plans to continuing taking apart computers, creating creative computer cases and sharing them on our site.  We hope our work inspires others to do the same!

Our schools are in desperate need of teacher librarians and media specialists like Laura Fleming. Had it not been for her growth mindset and innovative spirit, the learning environment that invokes relevancy and meaning in Chris's school day would not have become a reality. This is now the case for hundreds of students at NMHS. Informal learning is just as powerful, if not more, than formal learning.  Create a space that works for kids and let them make for the sake of making. 

A Tale of Two Libraries

The summer of 2013 was probably one of the most important hiring years during my seven-year tenure as a high school principal. Now don’t get me wrong, I hired so many amazing educators over the years and will forever be indebted to the incredible work they did for our students.  Upon leaving New Milford High School a few weeks ago, I was like a proud father who watched his children grow up, mature, and experience undeniable successes that forever changed the teaching and learning culture there.   The summer of 2013 will always stand out because that was the year that I was able to woo Laura Fleming back to not only her Alma Mater, but also where she was originally employed for years. 

In my opinion great leaders surround themselves by great people.  The hiring process can make or break a school culture.  This is one of the most important aspects of educational leadership as the nuts and bolts of the change process come from those doing the most direct work with our students.  It represents an opportunity to find the missing pieces to move an aggressive agenda of growth and innovation forward.  Finding the right people is often an arduous task and at times is fraught with mistakes.  

When the position of library media specialist became available she was the only person that I wanted for the position.  She was hired with one major objective and that was to transform the media center into a vibrant learning space. For years it was a place that students and staff alike avoided.  Outdated books filled the stacks, food and drink were not allowed, student devices were prohibited, and senseless rules were consistently enforced.  It needed a digital age and pedagogical reboot.  Without any specific guidance from me I bestowed upon her the autonomy over the budget and space that eventually laid the foundation for change.  However, it was her unrelenting desire to create a space that worked for kids that lead to a total transformation.  

Below is what the library looked like prior to her arrival.

This is what it looks like today. 

The learning atmosphere in the library is nothing less than amazing. Just take a look at this CBS New York video and you will see for yourself.  In September of 2013 Laura laid out her plans to create a makerspace. I offered whatever assistance I could give in terms of monetary support and then did the next best thing I could do – I GOT OUT OF HER WAY. Never once did I second-guess what she was doing or purchasing as I knew when I hired her that she was a doer, difference-maker, and spark plug for change.  The learning space that was once in the traditional library has now been taken over by the students. You see, Laura knew that once the space was up and running it would only continue to evolve.  She then got out of the way of the students.  By respecting their voice she empowered them to take ownership of the makerspace. Thus the baton has been passed and now the students are in charge.  

To learn more about Laura's amazing work visit Worlds of Learning. For specific information in regards to her philosophy of makerspaces check out Worlds of Making. 

Our Work Defines Our Legacy

This post is my contribution to Leadership Day 2014.

Legacy is such a deep and meaningful word in my opinion.  The term can best be described as how someone is remembered and the specific contributions he or she made while they were alive.  When I think of legacy, important thought leaders, activists, musicians, and athletes come to mind such as Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford, John Dewey, Princess Diana, Joe DiMaggio, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, Jr. The work and contributions of these individuals speaks for itself and their impact will continue to be felt for generations.  Then there are those people still alive today that are defining their legacy such as Derek Jeter and Madonna.  One’s legacy is not only defined by his or her contributions to society, but also by the perception and opinions of others who might have been impacted by their work. Below is an interesting take on legacy from George Mason University:

For perspective, each of us, through our lives, has encountered a wide variety of people.  We recall one or more teachers, a relative, a parent, a neighbor, a friend, a leader in the community, and others; we have countless encounters with others through our daily lives, as we share space and time together in stores, on our highways and walkways, in nature, at cultural or recreational events, in group discussions, and in virtually all walks of life.  While most of these encounters are brief, some are long-term and some are intense.   Some are more meaningful than others.  Many of these encounters, whether brief or long-term, have resulted in memories.  Further, some of these memories are more positive than others; however, each of the memories results in some impact upon us. Are the memories of these individuals – whether positive or less than positive – what the other person intended?   And, for those who made a lasting impression, this view may be shared by you and others, and can represent their legacy. 

Image credit: http://www.planyourlegacy.com/Portals/0/Skins/PYL/images/shadow.png

In education I don't think anyone sets out to establish a legacy. Just like the examples above, it is our work and commitment to making a difference in the life of a child that is our main motivational force.  If there was one profession where individual or group legacy is least prevalent it is education.  Educators are not in the limelight or in a position for their work to get noticed on a grand scale.  This is not to say that our work is not legacy worthy. In fact, I feel that every educator who is able to help a child learn and puts in countless hours to ensure the success of students with varying ability levels has left his or her legacy in that moment.  

As many people know I stepped down as Principal at New Milford High School this past July and my last day will be on September 3. During my tenure I not only worked to improve every facet of the school, but I also became a connected educator in 2009. When my behavior early on shifted from primarily a communicator to learner everything changed for me as a leader.  Initial lurking led to active engagement with people who I had never met.  This was the turning point for me.  My sole purpose for harnessing and leveraging social media was to engage in conversations with like-minded educators and leaders to improve professional practice.  The more I learned in digital spaces the more I began to take risks to improve the culture at NMHS.  My Personal Learning Network (PLN) became, and still is, my most valued professional resource.  It was here and from thousands of amazing educators that I received the knowledge, resources, ideas, strategies, feedback, and support I needed to initiate sustainable change over the past five years.  Never once did I think about whether or not I was creating a legacy.  To be honest this thought never crossed my mind and I still have trouble wrapping my head around it.  

Over the past few years my work has been aligned to digital leadership and has ultimately defined me as an educator, leader, and person.  My objective has been to improve communications, upgrade public relations, establish a brand presence, grow professionally like never before, enhance student learning, redefine learning spaces and environments, and discover opportunities for my school with the assistance of digital tools.  It wasn’t really until this past week that I truly realized how this work has impacted other educators with whom I am connected.  The posts by Laura Fleming, Spike Cook, and Jared Wastler all brought me to the verge of tears. Each spoke directly or indirectly to my legacy as they saw it. There really is no greater praise one can receive than those from peers who are doing the great work themselves.

As much as I appreciate the positive feedback from my colleagues, I do not feel that I deserve it.  My motivation and drive over the years has been my students and staff.  I just wanted to create a school that not only achieved, but one that the community and we could be proud of.  In the end I believe we have achieved that.  We decided to go down the path less traveled years ago in search of a better way.  This new direction embraced a shared vision where digital tools played a vital role in our transformation efforts.  If there is a lasting legacy resulting from my time as principal in New Milford High School and beyond, it is only because of the work, determination, and commitment to create a school that works for kids and better myself professionally. One does not go out and intentionally create a legacy. Others who see value and impact in our work define it over time. Be the change you wish to see in education, focus on solutions as opposed to excuses, take action, and follow your gut. In the age of social media all connected educators and the actions they take will ultimately carve out their legacy. 

Roadmap to a Job-Embedded Growth Model

I remember a few years back, during a meeting with teacher leaders, a tipping point that would ultimately change the direction of professional growth at my school. During this conversation, I was passionately sharing my experiences as a connected learner.  As social media embracement was not even a blip on the radar at this time, these teacher leaders were quite skeptical about the alleged benefits I described.  Undeterred, I continued to talk about the concept of a Personal Learning Network (PLN) and what it had done for my professional growth. I shared how its simplistic nature, built on conversations with educators all over the world, led to new knowledge development, resource acquisition, exposure to innovative ideas and strategies, support, feedback, friendships, and spirited discussion.  Best of all, at least in my mind, was the newfound ability to learn anytime, from anywhere, with anyone in the world for free.  Little did I know that this conversation set the stage for one of the most significant learning shifts we ever experienced at my school.

Once I got off my soapbox to catch a breath, one of my teachers said that this concept was great but questioned the amount of time that teachers had, in general, to engage in meaningful learning.  With all the many state mandates and district-directed professional development, as well as time after school devoted to grading and lesson planning, in her mind and many others, time was not readily available. Who was I to disagree, as her words were stark fact.  In concert, my teacher leaders said it would be great if we could have a job-embedded growth model as many organizations have in the real world.  Well, this is just fine and dandy in theory but much more difficult in practice.  

I wanted to try really hard to at least attempt to find a way to implement a consistent pathway to learning during the school day, as my teachers had requested.  Then it came to me, much to the chagrin of my Assistant Principal.  My inspiration came in the form of the Google 80/20 Innovation Model. The premise of this for a long time was that Google employees had to spend 80% of their time on their actual job duties, while the other 20% could be spent working on anything they were passionate about as long as it improved Google’s bottom line. When reflecting on this, the light bulb went on and I seized on an area of opportunity embedded in the eight-period day schedule.  In the end, we created our own Google 80/20 model at my school even though Google axed the program last year.

By contract, all teachers had to teach five periods. In addition, they each had a lunch, prep, and duty period, all 48 minutes in length.  It was at this time that I saw an area of opportunity in the form of non-instructional duties (cafeteria, hall, in-school suspension). Every teacher had one non-instructional duty period a day in their schedule.  By cutting the non-instructional duties in half, I was able to free up each of my teachers two to three periods a week, allowing them to engage in activities related to professional growth.  This was the birth of the Professional Growth Period (PGP).  In order to free up our teachers, my Administrative team and I assumed the duties that were cut to pick up the slack.  Now you see why my Assistant Principal was not happy with me at first.  Once we got rolling, though, we realized that our improving school culture did not warrant so much attention and supervision of duties, which eventually made it much easier for all of us.

PGP time for the past two years has been dedicated to my staff to become better educators and learners.  Depending on the semester, all teachers now have 2-3 duty periods off per week to engage in professional learning opportunities.  They have been encouraged to find their passion and work to define their purpose.  This time is spent learning, innovating, and pursuing ways to become a master educator.  Think of it as a differentiated learning opportunity that caters to each of my staff member’s specific needs and interests.  Sample activities include:

• becoming a connected educator by developing and engaging in a Personal Learning Network (PLN)
• researching best practices
• developing innovative learning activities
• creating interdisciplinary lessons
• engaging in face-to-face professional development
• learning to use new technologies
• earning a digital badge
• collaborating on projects with colleagues. 

This is the time that they desperately wanted and needed to improve their craft, build on innovative thoughts and ideas they always wanted to pursue and acquire new knowledge. It was stressed that this time was not to be used to make copies, leave the building to get coffee/food or socialize in the faculty room.  It becomes all about learning.  The expectation was and has been, that each staff member submits a learning portfolio at the end-of-year evaluation conference that demonstrates how PGP time was used to improve his/her professional practice.  The portfolio can be created in any way that fits the creative nature of the staff member, but should clearly identify what was done to:

• improve instruction
• effectively integrate technology
• engage students
• address the Common Core Standards
• increase student achievement  

The PGP Learning portfolio has been presented at the end-of-year evaluation conference for the past two years and is one of the major artifacts used in the McREL observation/evaluation tool.  It can be created in any way that my teachers see fit, but it must clearly articulate what they learned and how this knowledge and/or skills were integrated into professional practice to improve student learning.  Adding more depth to the PGP process and portfolio has been the digital badge platform created by media specialist Laura Fleming to acknowledge the informal learning of our teachers.  The end result has been a proliferation of innovative practices as teachers have been empowered to take ownership of their learning through autonomy.  Removing the time excuse didn't hurt either.  

Twitter as a Tool For Academic Discourse

New Milford High School teachers Jessica Groff and Joanna Westbrook created a Common Core aligned English Language Arts (ELA) task that incorporated Twitter into their unit on Julius Caesar and built on content  authentic to the Shakespeare's history play – i.e. social media re-purposed with and for academic discourse. To accomplish their goal, these teachers began with an informational text on the history of the Roman Forum to ground their use of social media in historical discourse and academic content. This step gave students a context and purpose for using Twitter with this particular play and in this particular way.  In addition, the teachers worked with students to reverse engineer the rhetoric of Twitter and generate a list of the type of tweets students see currently in their daily lives. As a result,  students had more than one reference point and more than one access point to literacy content, something of primary importance to the in-class support (ICS) teacher collaborating with this team, Lorraine Montecuollo. 

Image credit: http://edtechreview.in/images/Daily/E-Learning/twitter_learning_tool.jpg

Next, the team worked with the Digital Media Specialist, Laura Fleming, to find a way to help students use memes to improve the content of their tweets. They used Mozilla Webmaker tool called Mozilla Thimble to create memes that allowed both the tech-savvy and non-tech savvy to present their visuals in a more professional manner, while bringing visual clarity, some humor, and some creativity to their responses. Finally, the results of this project illustrate that the social aspect of this project is important. Students not only interacted with one another in class, but also with students in other classes, as Twitter opened up their ideas to a wider audience.

3D Virtual Learning a New Reality

It has been yet another exciting year at New Milford High School.  We have continued to sustain numerous innovative initiatives while looking for other opportunities to improve the learning experience for the school community.  This year alone Laura Fleming, our stellar media specialist, has successfully created a Makerspace for our students as well as a digital badge platform to acknowledge the informal learning of teachers.  Both of these initiatives have exceeded our expectations and have been met by rave reviews from staff and students alike.  However, a lesser known undertaking might possibly redefine learning in ways that we could never have imagined a few years ago.

At NMHS we focus on empowering students to take ownership of their learning. To that end each staff member is also given the autonomy to be catalysts for change.  When I hired Laura last September, I explained the type of autonomy she would have, including complete control over her budget.  I then gave her one task, which was to leverage her expertise to create unparalleled learning experiences for our students that would inspire a love for learning and prepare them for success after graduation.  Using her connections, she formed a partnership with a company called Proton Media that provides essentially an enterprise solution called Protosphere intended for corporations to explore the possibilities of 3D virtual learning and collaboration in the cloud. The goal of this partnership is to create a 3D virtual learning environment for our school. Check out our progress below.

Using the Protosphere platform we are exploring the unique pedagogy in a virtual environment and technology as the learning environment.  Laura’s inspiration for this idea came from Sugata Mitra’s TED talks on how students can teach themselves and building a school in the cloud.  The cloud allows for both synchronous and asynchronous learning, attributes that we hope to utilize.   In this environment the role of the teacher shifts to facilitator of knowledge acquisition. For our virtual NMHS campus we are exploring the possibilities of 3D virtual learning, collaboration, and technology as the learning environment.  Through a pilot group of teachers and students we are exploring how communicating and collaborating is different in a virtual environment through the integration of avatars. Virtual space is much more participatory than the regular classroom.  For example, one best practice is to design experiences for the avatars to get up and move as much as possible.  Collaborative learning spaces are becoming a virtual reality for us and the potential opportunities are exciting.

It is our hope to also broaden the concept of a ‘building’ as physical attributes and physical space to include a virtual space that contributes to learning success.  For example, Laura as the library media specialist, limited by a dated library, turned to online resources and a digital space as 21st century libraries should comprise fluid, flexible learning spaces.

ProtoSphere brings NMHS students and data together in an engaging and stimulating virtual world, in which users are represented by avatars. The partnership will allow us to utilize Protosphere as a tool for face-to-face interaction in the virtual space in order to raise student achievement and to improve student performance overall while enabling our teachers to deliver classes more efficiently and effectively.  Our learners will be able to talk, view, and interact with presentation and media content, record notes and access the Web, all at the same time, from anywhere.  We will be able to embed learning into collaborative processes to improve performance and extend the learning culture while using technology as the learning environment, as well as prepare students for a 21st century workforce in which many of them will have to communicate and collaborate virtually.  Other potential outcomes will be an ability to use this 3D virtual learning environment to offer home instruction, keep school open virtually during snow days, flip the classroom, tutoring, and enrichment activities.

Makerspaces Provide a World of Opportunities

As of late it seems that I have been blogging a great deal about our makerspace here at New Milford High School and with good reason. Not only is the space being overrun with students during their lunch periods, but teachers here have begun to explore how the process of making can enhance the learning experience for the students in their classes. Just last week I shared on my blog how physics classes were exploring concepts related to circuitry in a more hands-on, authentic fashion in our constantly evolving space through a collaboration between Mr. Fowler and Mrs. Fleming.  It seems that this might have been a catalyst for even more collaborations in order to fully take advantage of what a well-designed makerspace can provide.

While studying the unit on Promotion in Marketing class and addressing the chapter of Visual Merchandising and Display as a form of promotional strategies to sell products and services, Mrs. Vicari thought about a design project that was assigned last year.  In an effort to make this project more meaningful, she thought about our school store, which is currently being redesigned and reopened.  She then challenged the students to use all the elements of Visual merchandising and display to create a model of what our school store should look like.  

Their project was to consist of designing NMHS’s school store that included a storefront, sign, entrance, window display, selling space, storage space, personnel space, customer space, color, lighting, graphics, paint, fixtures, a point of purchase display and props. Collaborating with NMHS media specialist Laura Fleming, who introduced Mrs. Vicari to Tinkercad, she challenged the students to use this website to create a 3-D model of their school store, which could be printed out in plastic using the Makerbot 3-D printer that is a main component of our makerspace.  The students also elaborated on their design with a written explanation that included all the elements of visual merchandising.

You can check out the written portion of this project HERE. 

A Glimpse Into What's Possible

The following post was written by Bill Brennan and originally appeared on Peter DeWitt's Finding Common Ground blog found at Education Week. The post was titled Schools...the New Digital Age Learning Organization? In my case and that of New Milford HS anything now seems possible thanks to the unequivocal support from Central Office, a staff that has embraced meaningful change, and a student body yearning for a better way to learn.

We are truly on an exciting journey in Farmingdale Schools.  Our "Institution of Learning" is morphing into a digital age learning organization - one that is continuously learning and unlearning. Fueled by social media, collaboration, and other online/offline learning endeavors, teachers and principals have quickly become the ambassadors for technology, initiating and catalyzing conversations in their buildings. I'm inspired by how they are pushing the edges of learning and embracing new approaches in the classroom.

Image credit: ww.aditif.com

In fact, in an effort to celebrate much of this work and continue to build our collective learning capacity, we are hosting Long Island Connected Educators' Conference on April 5th - an event that has attracted over 160 participants ambitious to connect, share and learn together. Events like this are truly amazing.  Many describe it as empowering, liberating, life changing, and a new paradigm for professional learning. My own experiences at events like this have unleashed a boundless journey of professional learning.

Speaking of journeys, today I traveled to New Jersey with my middle school principal, Luis Pena (@principalpena) and high school principal, Glen Zakian. Under any other circumstance, embarking on a trip to New Jersey from Long Island is nothing short of dreadful as visions of bumper-to-bumper traffic float through my head. Today was different. We were headed to a place called New Milford High School. I couldn't wait to get in the car to talk about the future of our schools and how this visit might completely recalibrate our perspectives.  

When we arrived to New Milford High School, Laura Fleming (@NMHS_LMS) greeted us. Laura had returned to New Milford this past September and is literally constructing a modern day Library Media Center.  Within a few minutes of us arriving students flooded the Library, a space for conversation, research, learning and inventing.

In speaking with Laura, I was inspired by how she continuously shapes her vision for this space.  In describing this she said, "I spent my first few months here just talking to teachers and students about their interests."  This reminded me of a recent tweet of mine, and served as a reminder of the importance of asking teacher and students what they think.

Shortly after, Eric Sheninger, (@NMHS_Principal), greeted us in the library and took us on a tour of the building.  As we walked the hallways, entered classrooms and visited the cafeteria it occurred to us that there was something unique about New Milford High School.  We couldn't quite put our finger on it.

For those of you that may know me, you know that I love to study organizations. In fact, I've become deeply interested in understanding how we cultivate and accelerate organizational intelligence.  The essence of my experience can be best summarized through the lens of Albrecht's Law on Organizational Intelligence.  Albrecht (2003) borrows two terms from physics - Entropy and Syntropy. He states,

"In the field of thermodynamics entropy is defined as the amount of a system's energy that is unavailable for conversion to work." What we observed was the opposite of entropy. Albrecht states, "Syntropy denotes the gain made possible by the intelligent integration of resources, the coming together of people, ideas, resources, systems, and leadership in such a way as to fully capitalize on the possibilities of each."

In the midst of education reform efforts, many of us educators may feel as if we are stuck in the proverbial quicksand.  As we spoke with Eric, his students and teachers, it was strikingly apparent there is a common purpose and a feeling of joy and pride of being in New Milford High School.  On the ride home, we discussed a level of order, calmness, and flow that we've never quite observed in a school.

Where are we going and why?

Can you and your faculty answer this question in just one sentence? And is there synergy around the response?  Not to minimize it, but meaningful change starts with a willingness to change and a clear picture of where we are going. 

Interestingly, what emerged from our dialogue on the way home was the idea of being equipped for the journey.  As much as technology is ubiquitous in New Milford, it's not about technology. I applaud the educators of New Milford who recognize the "Holy Grail" is not a thing or a device, yet it's is the people of the organization.  Under Eric's stewardship, there are organizational conditions to support a culture of emergent leadership and at the heart of this is a significant level of autonomy.

Allow me to share one final thought as highlighted in my National Study I lead at Fordham University on Schools Principals, Social Learning and Leading Change. I think it captures the essence of digital leadership and constructing a digital age learning organization.  

Envisioning a Digital Age Learning Organization

I'm sure you have seen the pictures or video of the Tour de France. There are packs of riders all clumped together, appearing to pedal in unison. At some point, someone realized it's much easier, and requires a lot less energy, if you follow behind a rider rather than lead the pack all the time.  If you want another good example of drafting, just watch the start of a swim during a triathlon. Also known as drafting it involves the activity of swimming closely behind someone, allowing you to coast on their wake and expending less energy.  I believe this is a good metaphor as it relates to being a connected educator. As I also reflect on digital leadership, I think we have to ask ourselves - Are our schools institutions of learning or learning institutions? And, what does that look like in the Digital Age?

Although the bike race or swim race will eventually end, our journey as a learning organization won't.  As we envision a digital age learning organization, we see something more akin to the peloton.  Consider the following points and please add to the list.

1. While there is leadership in the peloton, there is not just one leader;
2. Leadership will and must constantly change throughout the peloton;
3. There is an on-going back and forth exchange of resources, but all towards a common goal;
4. The peloton resembles a flexible group prepared to co-create/respond with their environment;
5. There is great trust between athletes;
6. These groups are complex, often appearing to be in unison and maintaining homeostasis, but perhaps more close to the edges of chaos.

The time has come to reinvent schools, education and learning.  I'm thrilled to be living this journey right now at Farmingdale Schools, NY with the outstanding students and educators. Thank you Eric and Laura for opening your doors and expanding our perspectives. Lets do this!

Reference

Albrecht, Karl. The Power of minds at work: Organizational intelligence in  action. New York: Amacon, 2003.