Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Educational Leaders in the 21st Century
From Pearson Education, a thought-provoking video expounding on the concepts of not simply 21st century learners, but 21st century educational leaders.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Change Isn't Coming to Iowa; It's HERE
Listening to the Governor, the Lt. Governor, and State Director of Education Dr. Jason Glass last week, I became fully convinced that the state of Iowa is in the midst of significant changes.
From his arrival in the state last December until last week, Dr. Glass has been contacting innumerable organizations, individuals, and groups to gather input on the state of education in Iowa. He is a modern professional, maintaining a blog and an active presence on Twitter.
And he means business. He organized, hosted, and facilitated the Iowa Education Summit in July, and when it was done, he began immediately developing a coherent series of steps and strategies for improving education in Iowa.
These ideas will be rolled out for public input this fall and mid-winter, and my guess is that come January, our lawmakers will have some long-reaching and earth-moving decisions to make regarding principal and teacher evaluation, the role of technology in education, and teaching and learning in the 21st century.
But the reason I say that change is already here is based on some events you may have noticed, as well:
* Openness from the teachers' unions regarding value-added teacher evaluations
* A grassroots effort among a rapidly growing number of districts to provide a laptop for every student
* Teacher preparation schools at Iowa's universities seeking ways to better prepare students for the career of education
* A shift in mindset from the state Department of Education from a compliance-organization to a service-organization
The conditions are ripe for an explosion of innovation in education in our state. Even more exciting, districts like Northwood-Kensett that are in the forefront of innovative practices for education in the 21st century are finally being heard by some of those making decisions in Des Moines.
From his arrival in the state last December until last week, Dr. Glass has been contacting innumerable organizations, individuals, and groups to gather input on the state of education in Iowa. He is a modern professional, maintaining a blog and an active presence on Twitter.
And he means business. He organized, hosted, and facilitated the Iowa Education Summit in July, and when it was done, he began immediately developing a coherent series of steps and strategies for improving education in Iowa.
These ideas will be rolled out for public input this fall and mid-winter, and my guess is that come January, our lawmakers will have some long-reaching and earth-moving decisions to make regarding principal and teacher evaluation, the role of technology in education, and teaching and learning in the 21st century.
But the reason I say that change is already here is based on some events you may have noticed, as well:
* Openness from the teachers' unions regarding value-added teacher evaluations
* A grassroots effort among a rapidly growing number of districts to provide a laptop for every student
* Teacher preparation schools at Iowa's universities seeking ways to better prepare students for the career of education
* A shift in mindset from the state Department of Education from a compliance-organization to a service-organization
The conditions are ripe for an explosion of innovation in education in our state. Even more exciting, districts like Northwood-Kensett that are in the forefront of innovative practices for education in the 21st century are finally being heard by some of those making decisions in Des Moines.
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