Thursday, April 30, 2020

Growth Rings: Post COVID-19 Ecosystem of Learning, the Starting Point

Growth Rings:
Post COVID-19 Ecosystem of Learning, the Starting Point

“We cannot look at the remote teaching and learning that is going on during this crisis as the model for online learning. Most of the teachers and students that were thrown into this were not prepared for, or equipped for any of this to happen, much like our medical community in handling this virus.” 
Tom Whitby, Visionary education thought leader. My Island Blog Post, April 10, 2020, https://tomwhitby.com/

COVID-19 triggered stay at home and shelter in place globally disrupted every day normal living.  In the United States, almost overnight, public schools have scrambled to transition from traditional, synchronous teaching to asynchronous online learning.   The effort and actions of teachers and parents to adapt has been both courageous and inspiring.  They are doing the best they know to do.

With no previous plan in place, teachers have demonstrated creativity, initiative, and a commitment to their students.  Right now, it is “just don’t stand there, do something” teaching; even though that something may not be right or effectively reaching all kids.  During this time of change, we must decide where we want public education to be before going too far. Today calls for an inclusive conversation of all stakeholders to envision the mission of the public schools.  

The discussion needs to reach a consensus definition of family in the Third Wave Digital Age, including society, school, and parent responsibilities. How will social and emotional needs be addressed? Reading, writing, and arithmetic are crucial, but are they enough?  How do we move from one-size-fits-all teaching to personalized, differentiated instruction based on a child’s learning style?

Foundationally, it all goes to author Tony Wagner's three basic questions: “What is it we want kids to know and be able to do?”, “How do we know they know it?”, and “What do we do if they don’t.”  I would add discerning a learner’s passions, skills, and abilities, linking this to a profession, and realizing that a passion may not always link to a profession. You may have to have a ‘day job’ that allows you to pursue your passion.

We need to redesign the system first, with clear objectives and outcomes, discern the skill sets necessary for learning, and then provide professional learning experiences to build teacher efficacy.  It is the application of Simon Sinek's thinking of starting with the ‘why’, and then following with the ‘what’, that then drives ‘how’ it is to be done.  So, the starting point is ‘why’ for schools and public education.  In business-management parlance, this is referred to as “starting with the endpoint in mind.”

The ‘Why’ of Schools?
Punya Mishra's blog post, "The Value of School" states that Schools historically have been:
  • A place to keep kids safe so that adults can go about their business running the economy.
  • A safe environment for emotional, civic, and social development.
  • A hub for social welfare programs, often for individuals with the greatest need.
  • A place to bring communities together.
  • A place to address the unique and specific needs of all learners.  

Are these the ‘why’ for schools as we consider the future of learning?
  • Free child-day care enabling parents to work (fueling the consumer economy).
  • Emotional, civic, and social development to instill a person’s moral compass and civic responsibility.
  • A hub for social welfare programs.
  • Community identity.
  • A place to address the unique and specific needs of all learners and to fit them into the system with a focus on human development; not on content, creativity, imagination, or learning how to think.  
If these are to remain the ‘why’ of public schools going forward, then reflection on past successes and challenges is warranted.  



School: a place to keep kids safe so that adults can go about their business running the economy.
Preschools, before and after school programs, and extracurricular activities in middle and high school have provided supervised childcare.  From early morning drop-offs at the preschool to after school athletic practices, kids spend considerably more time in the care of others than in the care or company of their own parents.  Because of COVID-19, for more than four weeks children and their parents have stayed at home and had to reconnect. With no vaccine in sight, and future stay at home orders a real possibility, working from home and ‘homeschooling’ have the potential to impact the need to provide that safe place.


School: provide a safe environment for emotional, civic, and social development.
Even before the COVID-19 shutdown, Public Education was dealing with children suffering from trauma and bullying.  Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Zones of Regulation initiatives were becoming part of the school day.  Districts were struggling to provide programs and funding to address student mental health.  School counselors were being pulled in many directions, expected to provide everything from human growth and development to building schedules to overseeing state tests to career counseling and college scholarship coordination.  School psychologists were joining school counselors to problem solve and serve children.  Educators realized that basic human needs must be met before optimum learning could happenHow this is prioritized, funded, and whose responsibility it is will need to be addressed in the post-COVID-19 new normal.

Schools: a hub for social welfare programs, often for those with the greatest need.
Schools have been the physical place and neighborhood point of service for social welfare programs prior to COVID-19.  Bringing help and support to those who need it, especially children, will continue to be a priority.  The question is, “Will this continue to be a responsibility of schools?”  Providing a physical space for programs, because of the school’s facilities and location, might be a consideration, but post COVID-19 learning may have different physical requirements.  Something to consider.

School: a place to bring communities together.
Pre COVID-19, schools were an outward sign of a community’s prosperity and commitment to their children.  Athletic complexes were bragging points, requiring funding for a maintenance operation, and upkeep. In small rural towns, the closure of the school was believed to be the death knell for the community.  In the post-COVID-19 normal, online digital learning will greatly redefine the school's place in the community.  Just as online shopping and telecommuting are reimagining commerce, virtual learning will redefine schools.  No longer will students’ Zip Codes determine who their teachers are or limit their learning.



School: a place to address the unique and specific needs of all learners. 
Ideally, this has been the desired goal of pre-COVID-19 schools.  However, in truth, schools have had varying levels of success.  The 20th-century industrial assembly-line system thinking applied to schools does not naturally accommodate individualized, personalized learning.  Only students who have been ‘identified’ through testing as being disparate from their peers are entitled to Individual Education Plans (IEP) designed especially for them.  It is important to note that the IEP purpose is to assist the student with the school system, not adjust the system to the student. 

Growth Ring: An Ecosystem of Learning
For the first 20 years into the Digital Information Age, schools (public education) resisted change, clinging to the 20th century assemble line, standardization, time on task, linear thinking.  High stakes standardized state testing to measure academic growth, evaluate schools and teachers, along with being that safe place for kids so parents can work, address student’s emotional needs, being the hub for welfare programs, being the community symbol, and being tasked to teach all kids, overloaded the system. COVID-19 showed that teachers can be courageous and innovative, but the school system’s flaws and inability to be flexible inhibit the teachers’ opportunity to innovate.  

In the wake of COVID-19 school closures, school districts have spent cash reserves to purchase computers and secure internet access for their students, even though many teachers had no training, background for digital online teaching or understanding of what was grade/subject appropriate.  In many instances, despite the availability of a device, internet access was not possible. With the economy shut down and the government not collecting tax revenues, a cataclysmic funding crisis for schools could be on the horizon for the fall.

Again, during this time of change, it is crucial stakeholders decide what we want public education to be. There must be an inclusive conversation of all stakeholders to envision the ‘why’ for the public schools and with that, the strategic allocations of taxpayer funds to support.    




Thursday, April 16, 2020

Growth Rings: Moving from an Education System to an Ecosystem of Learning

Growth Rings: Moving from an Education System to an Ecosystem of Learning.

"Whether it is acknowledged or not, public education is directly influenced by the social, economic, and political events of the times in which we live.”  
JC Bowman, Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee 

The Public Education System
The COVID-19 pandemic has globally awakened mankind to realities that were once important and believed to be true in public education. Issues range from standardized state testing; a school calendar based on the agriculture growing cycle; Carnegie Units for credit based on seat time; and the application of 20th Century Industrial Systems thinking to learn, are among the topics being discussed. COVID-19 has exposed the inability of public education to adapt and be flexible in times of change. 

Public education for the last 20+ years has resisted change in part because parents, students, educators, and policymakers had not wanted it. PreK-12 public education and legacy education institutions, colleges, and universities have downplayed and discouraged community colleges and career and technical education. The linear focus of public education was to prepare students for college and for a happy, successful and fulfilling life. 

Fearless Teachers and Administrators
It is inspiring to see the courage and innovation of teachers and administrators trying to navigate through this crisis of school closures and social distancing.  From teachers embracing Zoom for video conferencing to administrators parking WIFI enabled school busses in neighborhoods with no internet access, to teachers connecting, sharing, and collaborating via Twitter, there is an emerging energy of discovery and learning.  Teachers concerned about their students’ well-being are reframing relationships. Administrators are planning virtual graduations for the class of 2020. All are acts of love and care. 

Jumping Forward Without a Plan.
The heated debate on the use of technology, “Screen Time”, and distance learning has been replaced with districts reallocating funds to acquire laptop computers for students and teachers and then scrambling to roll out online learning. However, moving to E-learning as an option for students only works if you have internet access. Additionally, if teachers are not prepared or knowledgeable to educate students on a digital platform, these efforts are doomed to fail.

For students who do not have access during this time of school closure, districts have prepared and made available “worksheet packets”. All these actions are reactionary with no guarantee of success, assurance of deep learning, or mastery of content. Our system of education is transforming right before our eyes. 

Post COVID-19 - A (Potential) Glance into the Future
Social, economic, and political events are now aligned and accelerating change from the 20th Century to the 21st Century. Although we did not realize it at the time, advances in technology prior to COVID-19 created digital tools, coupled with the internet and social media, prepared mankind for the crisis.  Though we are now being told, for our safety, to “shelter in place” so as to “flatten the curve” of the spread of COVID-19, mankind may be physically isolated, but we are digitally connected.

This shut down of the economy and schools in the United States has caused families to have meals together again and reflect on what is truly important.  Financially, folks are reviewing their expenses and discerning needs from wants and how that is reflected in their spending and purchases. This, along with the growing dependence on the online marketplace, remote working, and ELearning are transforming the American culture and economy.  The COVID-19 crisis has caused the need to let go of old thinking, unlearn and learn new, to be creative, collaborative, and imaginative so as to adapt and survive.  


An Ecosystem of Learning - New Growth Rings
The COVID-19 crisis, its aftershocks and how we deal with them, will define and bring into focus the “New Normal’.   Foundational to everything will be mankind’s ability to learn, unlearn and up-learn. Now, more than ever, teachers are needed. However, not to teach content, but to teach how to think, problem-solve, be creative, collaborate, learn, and adapt. We have not reached the other side yet, and until we do, all is in flux. This is a “Printing Press Moment in History,” and the Growth Rings that will be created through the COVID-19 crisis experience is reshaping all of mankind.



"As educators, we need to get out of the education business and into the learning business. If not we will make the same mistake as the railroad industry. Early on they should have transitioned into the transportation business….instead, they stayed focused on the railroad business. As a result, they are losing money, greatly minimized and government-subsidized. Today there are more people that need to learn than children in our schools….the opportunity and need is upon us"   
John Phillipo, Founder and Executive Director, Center for Educational Leadership and Technology (CELT)

One thing is now for sure: Learning is the New Normal.




Thursday, April 2, 2020

Growth Rings: The world will never be the same.

Growth Rings: The world will never be the same.
With the President’s declaration to continue social distancing through April 30, 2020, so as to slow the spread of COVID-19, the United States enters into another 30 days of pause. It is important to realize that COVID-19 has impacted not only citizens of the United States, but all of mankind.  As difficult as this may be, it is an amazing time to be alive.  

This event has brought to the forefront, mankind’s strengths, flaws, and opportunities for potential growth. History will record how well we responded to these Growth Rings.

Random Acts of Empathy and Kindness
During this crisis, each day acts of human kindness are being recorded and shared via Social Media. Just do a search on YouTube for “acts of kindness during COVID -19” and hundreds of stories pop up. From a teenager in Ohio setting up a ZOOM grocery delivery service, to a New Jersey family buying groceries for neighbors in need, to folks in Italy having nightly sing-a-longs, COVID-19 has not yet broken the human spirit. This video is a must-see:


Internet Access: Redefining Relationships
It is interesting that as we face the COVID-19 crisis, one of the strategies for slowing the spread of the disease include social distancing and staying home.  This is hard for human beings as we are social creatures and it is in our DNA to be in communion with one another. It is a blessing at this time though that we have the internet and social media.  Physically we may be isolated, but for many who have internet access, we can be digitally and virtually connected globally. 


Once the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the pandemic on March 11th, those who have internet access have been able to work from home, connect, participate in webinars and Twitter chats.  I am one of the fortunate ones. Tullahoma Utilities Authority provides fiber to the home, giving patrons excellent high-speed internet access. 

From my porch in Tennessee, I have kept in contact with family, friends and even started new relationships through Facebook, cell phone, Zoom, and Twitter Chats. Technology has allowed me to have conversations and video chats with family back in Iowa. Including my parents in Des Moines, my two-year-old grandson and his parents in Cedar Rapids, my nephew who is a teacher in Carlisle, and my brothers in Grimes and Davenport. We have all stayed connected.

Through a #Twitter chat last week I met Nearpod representative, Michelle Moore, from Tampa, Florida.  Nearpod is a fantastic online digital tool for learning. After an exchange of Twitter Direct Messages, she sent me a ZOOM invitation that resulted in a meaningful video conference.  

This opportunity to learn and to communicate was spontaneous, and my learning happened in real-time. This was amazing, and an excellent example of a 21st century “teachable moments.”  The question is how do we provide this type of real-time, on-demand learning experience for our children?

The Mission of Schools: Childcare, Feeding, or Academics?
When schools in Tennessee and across the United States closed, the first alarm bell to ring was, “Who was going to take care of the children during the day because of parents working?” The second alarm bell was “How are the kids going to be fed?” The third alarm bell to ring was, “What about student learning?”


These alarm bells in and of themselves are telling. It acknowledges that in addition to educating our nation’s children, many schools are the 8 to 10 hours of daycare for parents because of their work schedule. It also recognized schools have the responsibility for feeding the nation’s children.  This illustrates how child-raising for many in the United States has been institutionalized. 

Teaching digitally online.
When schools closed, the assumption (and the hope) was that schools could operate virtually. After all, for years now districts have been purchasing digital devices. The reality is that teachers have been using technology to support learning in the classroom.  Even with schools that are 1:1 schools, instruction and learning were designed to happen in the classroom, facilitated by the teacher using the technology. Little, if any, professional development has been provided to teachers on how to “teach online.”  Internet access at home, off-campus device security to keep kids safe online, assessments, as well as differentiated instruction to meet the learning styles of all children, especially entitled special education students, was not part of many school district conversations, until now.  Teachers are reaching out on Social Media such as Facebook or on Twitter, sharing ideas, comforting one another, and sharing concerns for their students. Administrators are scrambling. 


Closing schools for a long period of time because of a Pandemic caught everyone off-guard. Many Districts are now flying by the “seat of their pants.”  It is interesting that traditional school conditions, specifically but not limited to state exam tests, Carnegie Seat Time for credit, grades, and the school calendar have become irrelevant. Maybe for the 21st Century, they never were?  In that, perhaps this crisis is spotlighting many good things; however, it is also spotlighting many flaws. 

Emerging Themes and Questions to be Addressed:
As we look forward, innovation, creativity, and imagination are needed.  The world is now forever changed. With every challenge, comes opportunity.  We must step away from the old, seek new ideas, new thinking and embrace 21st-century realities.

      Relationships will remain foundational, though, with technology, they will look different. 
      Will the current mission of PreK-12 education, childcare, feeding, and academics continue? 
      How then does Social and Emotional learning factor into the conversation?  
      What will school and classrooms look like? 
      Will virtual learning for some become a preference? 
      How does this reframe school districts, teachers, and communities?
      Access to affordable, robust, and reliable broadband internet is a challenge. Currently, there are the “Haves and Have Nots”.


This is not the end of the world. It is the beginning of the new beginning. Have courage, be patient and together we will find the way forward.  Embrace the adventure and excitement of creating and learning.

The tree of mankind is adding yet another Growth Ring