Welcome during Recruitment

Yesterday Leasha, Lynne and I went as representatives of the TQP Team to Turkey Valley Schools. We were promoting the TQP project and "recruiting" or "courting" the faculty to consider joining as one of our ten partner districts.

When we entered the building we found this sign welcoming us and directing us to where the meeting was being held. This impressed me so much that I got out my iPad and snapped a photo.

TQP Team Retreat

Our TQP Team met recently to look at our goals in light of the changes on the horizon at our state level. We chose to revise our goals with actionable terms in essence allowing us to proceed with our work in a more guided way.

Here are the goals of the UNI TQP project:

• systematize a culture of effective teaching through continuous professional growth
• integrate the qualities of effecting teaching into pre-service programs
• utilize reciprocal networds to support effective teaching (the relationship piece)

The discussion was rich, the food was good and the setting peaceful as we got ourselves off campus and out of the hectic routine where we could work undisturbed by phone, email and the casual visitor. Although our work necessitates having phone, email and visitors, the moments when we can remove ourselves from these distractions and reflect on the meaning of our tasks are to be treasured.

Here is anticipating the next one!

Keys for Successful Project Leadership

Today I read a blog by Mike Figliuolo of ThoughtLeaders. I really liked how he suggested that project management is really not the matter at hand, rather project leadership. It made me wonder if I had been giving the leadership demanded for the TQP project. Sometimes it is good to touch base on progress.
He shared four key ideas for successful project management.

• Define Success
• leaders set the direction and set the bar as well as determine the metrics for success
• Procure Resources
• listen to what the team needs
• negotiate to get everything they need to be successful
• Dress like a Fire Fighter
• leaders manage change
• leaders advocate
• leaders fight fires should to shoulder with team members
• Sing Their Praises
• be there when team members are successful and make sure people know about it
• team members see their hard work is recognized, valued and rewarded

From these four points I can see that I have growth to attain in my leadership of the UNI TQP project. My strengths are not goal setting and measuring success but I will work to change this. The other three areas I feel I do quite well. Fortunately, as a grant project we have many of the resources necessary already. Listening and advocating come naturally to me as does encouraging and celebrating successes.

A new development created by team members is that of a recruitment video. This piece was created to get the message out about student perspective about our experiences of Level 3 students including reflective conversations with cooperating teachers & immersive field experience that may include community home stays. If you have 5 minutes, please take a look at the video. You will learn quite a bit about our approach this Fall 2011 semester.   TQP Promo Video

Happy Holidays, 2011

Greeting card made with Smilebox

End of November

Where has November gone?

For those of you that follow me on Facebook you know that 11!11!11! had significance to me . . . the day came and proved to be spectacular! I had the day off and I was able to share with many friends and family members as well as was able to make new friends.

Some highlights from this month (some professional, some personal~how does one separate this anyway?)

• celebrated my eldest child's birthday 11/1/11
• attended Tripoli High School's Musical and assisted with the dinner theater, November 4&5
• attended my children's school conferences with many of their teachers (they are in 9th & 10th grade)
• attended the National Association for Interpretation national conference for one day in St. Paul~preparing for my adjunct course next semester (Intro to Natural History Interpretation) and connecting with friends
• on my return from St. Paul, 8 miles from home, deer meets Prius ($3800 damage; in shop November 11-28)
• 11!11!11! celebration
• Tripoli state VB Champions!! (attended November 10 & 12)
• Welcome baby shower to TQP family member Nora Mourlam (born 10/4/11)
• attended Benchmark training for the Teacher Performance Assessment Consortium (TPAC) in San Antonio~met new friends and thought deeply about what good teaching of science looks like
• attended movie "Breaking Dawn" with my daughters (not that good)
• watched my daughter, Megan, play her first JV BB game, November 22 (victory)
• my son, Austin, 15 get pneumonia and so in the hospital with him November 23-27~most unusual Thanksgiving ever
• completed my philosophy of educational leadership for my course (check my prezi: http://prezi.com/oo-xuyth6uzx/model-the-way-encourage-the-heart/
• attended first Tripoli varsity games at CAL, November 29 (victory)
• approval of the TQP IRB for UNI student clinical experiences! November 30

Life is a special occasion . . . celebrate!

Motherly Instincts and Education

 "In the final analysis, civilization itself will be measured by the way in which children live and by what chances they have in the world."  
                                                     Mary Heaton Vorse


This quote was used in a presentation by Dr. Marilyn Cochran-Smith while attending the TPAC Implementation Conference in San Diego. This thought has been turning around in my mind over the past several days and I caught myself mulling over it again today as I contemplated my "mothers" day. On this day nineteen years ago I became a mother . . . perhaps the most uniquely profound identifying experience I have had in my lifetime. The lens of a mother is like no other. The perspective of balancing holding on and letting go with the knowledge that providing the roots that will allow wings to grow is a huge measure of parenting success and one that allows me to fall back and regain focus when needed. The fierce fury of a mother moose or bear protecting their young alongside the nurturing notions that prods the progeny on to greatness is an image that I cling to and moves me on to fulfill my vision of leaving a message on Earth that "I was here".

As proud as I am of the three blessings that I am raising and sharing life's journey, I also find my mind turning to those that I have been fortunate to have taught in school. Last night while trick-or-treating, two siblings that have since begun raising their families, came by my house. The spark in their eyes upon recognition and the warm embrace and fond memories certainly filled my heart just as the recent time when driving through a local fast food window and greeted by a former student who exclaimed, "you were the best I ever knew!" allows my smile to shine stronger. The stories may go on and on until I stop to contemplate: what about those I didn't reach? What could I have done differently? 


So how might the entire profession of educators go about making certain that EACH child has extraordinary chances for success? This should be toward what we endeavor rather than belittling ourselves into the politics of which standards and which and how many test scores will matter. We need to move beyond the assembly line production thought to the individual creative process that is uniquely human for EACH child that exists. This will not necessarily be more work if we open our hearts and minds to view this as a labor of love. . . the type of love that mothers know best.





 

Happy Halloween

TQP Super Heroes!

Happy Halloween to each of you~

Here in our office we are celebrating both Halloween and our first successful Field Test with the TQP grant.

In the past few weeks 35 UNI Level 3 students were placed with 28 educators in our five rural partner districts: CAL, HLV, Midland, Springville, and West Fork. Nineteen of these students also stayed in the community with a staff or community member to further experience the life in a rural community.

Some of the highlights of this initial field test include:

•  district administrators praising the merits of the program
• UNI students participating in evening school activities with students
• elementary students wanting their new teachers to return
• home stay hosting families indicating that UNI students were well-mannered and gracious
• news reporters wanting to do stories about the new experience in the rural area
• married UNI students giving up family life for a week to truly experience the rural area as opposed to their life in Waterloo

There is much more information to gather from this field test but thanks to our Super Heroes we have the first round completed and ready for study to improve for the spring.

Leasha Henriksen: Field Placement Coordinator (recruited UNI students, matched them with cooperating teachers and coordinated home stay visits)
Leanne Lewis: coordinated all the travel arrangements, created the copies of consent forms, and in charge of storing and managing all financial and technical grant information
Daniel Mourlam: Technology Specialist (researched the appropriate equipment to record the lessons of our students, purchased the equipment, inventoried it and created manuals for the use of the recording and uploading tools)
Stacey Snyder: that's me . . . I surround myself with capable people and get out of their way! We actually work together well to get all pieces of the system to be in place to be able to gather data to inform the education profession.

Initiatives

This week the Governor's Office ushered out two initiatives.

The first, on Monday, October 3, consisted of a new plan for education transformation. You can read more about it here; or if you are on Twitter, check out the hashtag #IAedfuture for intriguing dialogue among educational leaders. This initiative seems so complex and so debatable on the merits of the plan.

The second came today, Friday, October 7. This was the Start Somewhere Walk initiative to make Iowa the Healthiest State. This initiative seems so simple and embraceable in its roots. Start somewhere and begin to get healthy. What a great message for our young learners.

Can the same be said for the blueprint? Is it a true original? Is the state of Iowa education as bleak as the measures used to describe it? Is the "solution" too prescriptive? Are we being allowed to grow through innovation, creativity and collaboration?

Let me know your thoughts~

In the meantime, here is a picture of some of our UNI TQP members after the walk today.

Have a glorious weekend!

One Year In The Life of TQP

It has been a year since I began my new position at UNI. As I reflect on what brought me here and the hopes of where we might take this program I am both bolstered and bewildered.

This takes some explanation. The opportunity to bring pK-12 and IHE to the same table is what brought me here in the first place. Some might say that would be "pie in the sky" thinking but what can I say? I am an optimistic idealist. So to that end, I can say we have made progress toward that. We have created partnerships between UNI faculty and staff and five rural, Iowa districts (CAL, HLV, Midland, Springville and West Fork). Having the chance to collaborate and talk about what each needs from one another may be a beginning of transforming teacher preparation at UNI.

I am also bewildered at the same prospect. Although our scale is small, if we get it right, there are implications for all Iowa districts and teacher prep programs. This is one aspect of the bewilderment. The other aspect is that of the newly-released (October 3) blueprint for educational transformation "One Unshakable Vision". Where is the opportunity to innovate? To create new connections without the evaluative ties of previous programs. Where is the student-centeredness that our youth so deserve? Much has been tweeted, chatted, and dialogued over the past few days and I feel the sense that more of us are not willing to sit and let it just happen to us.

Truly, the bolstering is stronger than the bewilderment. Here is a list of the UNI TQP Accomplishments in our first year:

• Hiring of staff (Program Manager, Project Coordinator, Technology Specialist, and Field Placement Coordinator)
• Completion of a research document outlining suggestions for transformative change
• Securing of 5 rural districts to serve with us as partners
• Recruitment of 12 UNI Faculty to have their Level 3 Methods students placed in the 5 partner districts
• Familiarization with the TPAC teacher performance assessment handbooks and development of a pre- student teaching document to use in the Fall 2011 Field Test
• Determination of how the video component of the field experience will be captured and uploaded
• Placement of 35 UNI Level 3 students in our 5 partner districts (ready for the field test to run October 17-November 4)

It has been an interesting year full of new people with which to interact, collaborate and grow. There have been moments when dealing with the ambiguity of the situation was nearly overwhelming. And yet now having come through those moments to see the opportunity to learn and create is truly powerful. Here is to year two!

Rural schools seeking

Rural schools seeking

Midland Community Schools is highlighted in this Iowa Public Radio segment on rural school challenges. Leasha Henriksen of the UNI TQP Team is included promoting our project to potential field experience students as well as Brian Rodenberg, Superintendent, and Kelli Kelck, Midland teacher.

Bugs

Bugs . . . bugs are on my mind.

Partly because today we had a praying mantis on the window of our fifth floor office in the Schindler Education Center on UNI's campus. As a biology teacher and naturalist I was instantly enamored.

The other reason is that something has been bugging me. The type of thing that has not necessarily been definable but just out there troubling me. Yesterday Leasha Henriksen and I were able to have a great discussion about the future of education in and the opportunities for change in Iowa. We were able to articulate two great questions that sprung for our talk. Amazingly today we read an article by Steve Denning http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/09/01/the-single-best-idea-for-reforming-k-12-education/ that touched on many of the points we had covered! (Thank you, Steve Denning, for helping me articulate some of my frustration.)

At issue is the "factory model of management" that has become the norm in our schools. This system is not necessarily healthy, effective or efficient. It can also be disheartening to the people within it. Denning suggests that one way to make the system more effective is by inspiring lifelong learning in our schools. Seems simple enough. Why do we need to block the way for this to happen with things like evaluation systems and tighter controls that inhibit creativity? As Denning puts it, lets stop our focus on things and shift our focus to people.