millennials
The Value of The Young Educator and ISTE
Tuesday I read a post by Mary Beth Hertz, Is ISTE Still Relevant for Young Educators? I quickly sent the post of to a few of my colleagues and told them to read this post- because Mary Beth hit the nail dead on. There has been a lot of talk about the Young Educator and the ISTE conference, including Julie LaChance‘s Post Young Educators Rock Denver. And I started to think about my own experiences with ISTE.
My first conference was NECC 2006 in San Diego. When my boss and I had learned about the conference, it was abundantly clear that this conference was cost prohibitive for our small Catholic school. However at that time I was a full-time student, my conference fee was $90 and we decided to ‘try it out’.
And in the years since my first conference The Bank of Sjogren has had to pay for parts of the conference. However, each year I come back with learning that was valued well over the cost of the registration, plane ride, and hotel stay. So in our books, it is worth it.
But as always after each conference my mind is swirling and after reading those two posts, I thought up this question:
What is the value of the Young Educator?
I heard once, “I am not going to do anything because I am young and no one cares what I have to say.” In fact, that is about as far away from the truth as you can get. Last year, I was nominated to SIGilt’s Board as their Communications Chair. Sure I had to prove myself… first by winning the election, publishing a newsletter to meet the masses and getting time-sensitive information out. That when I arrived on Saturday morning to the SIG Leadership meeting, I saw:
Lisa Sjogren
SIGilt and SIG Board Committee
Sure, I have gone beyond my initial role on SIGilt, but I knew that my contributions were worth it. That what I had done proved to some one on the ISTE Board of Directors, that my ideas were good. However, sitting in the meeting on Saturday it was apparent that the SIG’s need more young leaders- Katie Christo, Bryan O’Black, Jayme Johnson, and I’m sure I have forgotten a few others, cannot carry forth new ideas for ISTE’s special interest groups.
And nor can Julie LaChance (ISTE’s first Outstanding Young Educator), Adam Bellow, Christopher Craft, Andy Crozier, Mary Beth Hertz and myself (Class of 2010 Emerging Leaders). Why?
Even if we are young, our ideas are worth it.
And if you are scared to step up and share your ideas- take this one take away:
While backstage awaiting to be announced as part of the first class of ISTE Emerging Leaders, I readily admitted that I was nervous… yes me the speedskater who has skated at US Nationals- was nervous to go on the stage. I was not afraid to be in front of the entire crowd, I was afraid of the word ‘emerging‘. After a few minutes of playing positive mental games with myself, I realized that ‘emerging’ meant that someone saw that I am committed to this charge of promoting leadership with ISTE’s youngest members and showing that my our ideas are worth it. And you know what? I bet every person I stood with on that stage plus the youngest members of the SIG Leadership Teams, would say the same thing.
Either You Get It or You Don’t
I just returned from NECC yesterday, the long flight coupled with the intensity of the conference sent me straight to bed for several hours to recoup sleep. So today I thought to return to my computer and participate in Leadership Day 2008.
I am convinced that I drove St. Raphael’s Chief Learner nuts (and I mean NUTS) by saying, “Either you get it or you don’t.” I always put her in the ‘get it’ category. That particular statement started two years ago when I took a group of teachers and the principal to Oak-Land Junior High to look at integrated technology instruction. The view of teaching and learning changed instantly, as that evening in my voice mailbox the principal left me a message that effectively launched SRS from a 20th century school to a 21st century school.
The post could get lengthy if I decided to write out the entire story, but in short there are 10 things that explains how after two years I figured out what I really meant when I said, “you get it.”
- Try the tools as well.
- Allow time for sharing.
- Celebrate the success and recognize the times it doesn’t work.
- Be innovative.
- Share excitement and enthusiasm with others.
- Research, read, and blog too.
- Take risks.
- Encourage creativity and collaboration.
- Enjoy the moment.
- Mold the teacher’s wings and let fly.
Like a good leader, my wings were molded and I was released to fly to begin the next stage in life. So thank you to the Chief Learner and all innovative leaders who ‘get it’.
The Idea of Global Contribution
In February, St. Raphael’s Catholic School hosted their annual State of the School. As I was assisting the teachers on their presentations and talking about various topics regarding educational technology, a nagging thought kept coming into my mind, “What is Global Contribution?” We talk as educators that we want our students to contribute to the community, but is today’s community larger than our local neighborhood? In fact, it truly is a global community, here are a few examples:
- I studied abroad at Oxford University and on my Facebook page, I am able to connect with friends from my time there.
- I joined a Ning and am networked with individuals around the world who have the same vision.
- My blog has been visited from every continent except South America
and a multitude of other things showing me that the world is much bigger than when I was a child.
Whether we know it or not little things have the potential to be contributed globally.
How did I ever come to this conclusion? What very few people know is that I speed skate. I picked up the sport during college, it was due to the fact that Bemidji was literally the “Ice Sports Capital of America”. I also tried playing hockey, curling, figure skating, but speed skating stuck. Over the past few years I have been so busy with other things: student teaching, writing my thesis, buying a house, getting married, that I reluctantly put my skating on hold.
This year I made a promise to myself to take my speed skating seriously and devote as much time as I could. However, the speed skating world changed in the past few years. With changes like: boots that are interchangeable from ice blades to inline blades, the Nike swift suit, and the fact that world record times are dropping. I felt like I had literally been moved to another planet, bad crossovers and all.
As a true millennial all of my answers to life should be found online, right? However, speed skating is not as popular here as it is in the Netherlands but rest assured this is the 21st century and I could connect to someone, somewhere that had a connection to speed skating even if it was in Danish.
Then I found a blog, Zen and the Art of Speed Skating (www.andrewlove.org/blog). Who? What? An American a speed skater who decided to keep track of his preparations for the 2006 Olympic Trials and just posted his 500th post on February 29th. I learned that over 1,000 visitors come to his site daily, has had close to 3,300 comments, and will crack 500,000 visitors this year alone. He writes in his blog:
“I never intended to create something like this. I just wrote and photographed what interested me, and the world showed up.”
I could only think about how it is such a profound statement. Connecting to something I once saw in a picture, “From personal knowledge, to global contribution.” This is so true.
Finally, I just want to send out a thank you Andrew for helping me come to the conclusion about global contribution.
I am a WINNER!
Okay, so I admit. I am a bit weird at times and I tend to do some really crazy things. However, this year I thought I would challenge myself and write a novel in the month of November in my limited spare time. I cannot believe how rewarded I felt when it was all over, what a challenge.
To answer a few of the frequently asked questions.
Will you let anyone read it? Sadly, no.
How long did it take you to write? About an hour each day. Weekends I spent more time writing.
What do you plan to do now that you are done? I won’t publish it, I just wanted the thrill of doing something difficult.
I Have not Fallen off Earth’s Face!
I find myself incredibly busy throughout the month of November. The past two months, I have found them to be a blur, with reflection time but little time to write the reflections into thoughts.
I have been working in my spare time to write my novel for NaNoWriMo, I only have about 2,000 of the challenge 50,000 words, but like any true German/Irish/Spanish/Swiss mutt, I find myself incredibly determined to finish this task. Even if I find myself pulling a college all nighter, okay probably not that dramatic but being the determined me, I want to finish the task at hand. So you might be asking yourself… what are you writing about? What exactly, can you find something that you can talk about in 50,000 words. Well, I decided to write a fiction piece about my time when I studied at Oxford University. Maybe someday I will write a real novel, the topic has yet to be determined.
The Techtober-Fest
Last spring we hosted the Spring Fling- we had close to 30 participants from various schools around the archdiocese. This year we decided with the energy that the Spring Fling we could not keep our energy bottled up- so we decided that we would host a day in the fall. We affectionately called the day, “Techtober-Fest”. The morning started off with Dorothy presenting (Dorothy’s Presentation) about how learning is the most important, technology comes second. After a bit of a discussion with our participants, I presented on the Tools We Use (My Presentation). The presentation was to be a starting point to share the resources we use- I learned about several new tools, including backflip- which looks much cleaner and nicer than del.icio.us.
I am hoping that these days will be able to further generate a discussion about the importance of 21st century learning.
Part 5: Looking Forward
Today was the last article in the series- it talked about looking forward. As I read the subtitle it said that the school would move forward with whatever tools they had. Looking at SRS, I find it interesting that we move forward with the tools we have everyday.
When I first started I learned that every teacher was 1 entire operating system behind. The students had newer tools. I started simply by introducing some of the new laptops to our middle school teachers and then buying each of our other classroom teachers a new computer. The changes were immense. Student computer upgrades followed. However, I am reminded about an interesting incident.
Our first visit to the Stillwater Area Schools was a real eye-opener- they said to all of us, “Before doing a large scale intiative, take about 3 years to plan.” So year 1 would be 2006-2007 and we would be ready for our initiative by 2009-2010. Then one of our teachers said, “3 years… look how far we are!” She was so right, even though we did not have the cutting edge tools- we were moving forward with what we had. Each day we continue to look forward and plan.
Day 4: Political Ramifications
Well, as I read about the political ramifications. I thought back to the election in 2003. I remember the write-in candidates winning that election. I was so proud of their accomplishments the fact that they had ousted individuals that had supported a measure that at that time I still thought was ridiculous.
How things have changed! As I was looking back from what I have learned, I should have been supporting the decision of giving every kid a laptop. Students rise to the occasion every single time! Even if I carry my laptop incorrectly the students let me know quickly and demonstrate how I should be holding my laptop.
So I thought about the workplace, what happens if politics took away the tool that gave me a tool? I know I would be finding and supporting someone that believed that I needed that tool to work.
Part Three: Computing the Costs
I found it interesting that in Part 3: Computing the Cost of this 5 part series in the Stillwater Gazette they began talking about numbers- the “true cost of ownership”. Since costs are the pinnacle of most technology enhancements- usually it is the first thing that is brought up in a discussion, I found it interesting that . As I began to reflect on this article I began to think about the “Total Cost of Ownership” or TOC. During NECC 2007, I went to a session given by Richard Kastner of CoSN- this session talked about his new model that helped schools determine the T.O.C. I have been working on using this model in my own professional practices as we develop the St. Raphael’s School Technology Plan
As I was thinking about this more, I thought about how it is nearly impossible to measure the cost savings in opportunities. Sure it costs roughly $300 a year for a student to use a laptop but thinking of it in more long-term investment. How much money could be saved if a student went to college better prepared? If we gave students the necessary tools and taught them real-world applications, so that when they left high school and middle school these students would know how to present publicly, they knew how to write a paper and collaborate with others, and they were able to effectively evaluate resources. Each of those things, are what professors in college spend hours teaching students how to do. I know with the education that I walked away with after high school, I was able to teach others about PowerPoint and was able to go in my first year of college without having to take a basic research methods class and accelerating me to the upper level research lab class. The cost savings, I have yet to find the exact number.
Measuring Benefits
I am really enjoying this series in the Stillwater Gazette. Yesterday’s article talked about the Intangible Benefits. The article prompted me to think about critical thinking and Bloom’s taxonomy- things I learned about during my psychology training and my pre-service teacher days. I was wondering how exactly do we measure critical thinking? There is no easy answer, seeing if kids think critically is just like seeing if they can understand abstract and concrete topics. As I was working on my senior project in college, I was introduced to the idea of proverbs and how they could be either abstract or concrete.
So I have to ask, do you know what it means to say, “There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip”? It means that there is room to make error as you move from one point to the other, as the cup moves from the table to your lip- you have the chance to spill. Measuring benefits of a technology program can be looked at in two different ways, calculated with certainty or done irrationally. The decision to have the 1:1 program at Oak-Land Junior High was not done irrationally, many decisions were calculated to make the best decision for those students. Each educator is obligated to make these types of decisions- none of these decisions are made quickly without thought.
So what about decision making at SRS, about choosing to move the cup from the table. The decision to move from PK-8 Technology classes to only PK-4 Technology classes. As this decision was made, a lot of time was spent thinking about the students. Each year the students were entering the school smarter in the technology field and the focus of the technology program was to teach the students basic computer skills. Now every teacher integrates technology, it is part of the curriculum. Technology is not an add-on. In our PK-4 program it is simply a way to begin giving students the necessary skill set to move into middle school. The decisions and many others were made were to expand the student’s toolbox.
Thinking about the Future
I got a great email yesterday telling me to check out my hometown’s newspaper. They were going to be having a five-part series about Technology in the Classroom. Today, I will reflect on yesterday’s article: Inside the High-Tech Classroom.
The article talked about Oak-Land Junior High- the first school in Minnesota to ever try 1 laptop per child. Over the past four years these students have been at the cutting edge- these kids use technology in many different ways, and it is a tool in their ever expanding toolbox.
When the program was first introduced to the Stillwater residents many people were against the idea, myself included. I, like a good friend of mine, where so against the idea that I ended up emailing Stillwater Junior High’s Tech. Coordinator telling him that it was a ridiculous idea, that teenagers were no where mature enough to handle a laptop. I was SO wrong! My friend ended up becoming one of the Spanish teachers at Oak-Land, her response now- just like me “I was SO wrong!” This is about expanding their toolbox, giving them skills that will help them now and skills that will also help them in the future. Students will and can rise to the occasion.
So what does this have to do with SRS? Well, over the past two years we have had a wonderful relationship with Stillwater Schools. Our Middle School teachers have spent a day visiting with students and teachers at Stillwater Junior High and Oak-Land Junior High. As I was writing my master’s thesis about developing a technology vision for SRS, I asked Stillwater Junior High’s Tech Coordinator to serve as one of my thesis advisor’s.
So looking at SRS today, what have we learned with our two year relationship with Stillwater Schools? First, integration does not mean creating a spectacular project. It means giving skills that not only will help the students right now, but in the future. One of the best projects in our two years of integration, was that of a teacher who asked the students to create a presentation, but she took it a step further. Each student placed their presentation on the projector screen and then stood in the back of the room to see if even in the back could they see the slides as clearly as they could on the computer screen. A lot of students went back to the drawing board to adjust their presentation.
The New School Year
Over the past few weeks I have been working on getting ready for the first two weeks. These first two weeks are jammed pack with many projects, programs, and upstarts.So what is up in Room 11? We started NWEA testing, yes even though it was hot in the computer lab we were able to begin collecting the data necessary to provide an excellent direction for the school year. We are also issuing the STAR reading test- this will help students in direction to find materials in the library. The data is archived so this should help us make the best decisions for the most amazing students.
Students will get their mobile lab assignments on Friday. To make sure that I can assign the laptop to our 5-8 grade students make sure all the annual technology forms are submitted. The forms are found here.
And my professional development? Well, I have to finish testing first. Then I will start looking at my direction.
Where’s Lisa?
I get a few questions about how to find me, so I thought I would let you know how this works.
Phone or Email: I suggest email
You may email me at lisa.sjogren@srsmn.org but be advised I get between 70-100 emails in a day so responses do take a while. I do have “rules” that help sort my email so this does help with speeding up replies.
You may call my office 763-504-9450 ext. 311, I usually am not in there and check voice mails usually at the beginning or the end of the day- depending on my schedule.
Creating My Focus
Each year teachers at SRS are asked to create a focus for their professional development. My first year, I was observed three times by the principal, as I was getting my feet wet and learning how to be a better teacher. My second year, my focus was educating others. I was presenting to the Parish Finance Council, at our State of the School, and our first Technology Spring Fling, I was according to my mentor, “very busy.”
So what is my focus this year? Well, over the summer I have been trying to learn more about my generation (yes, I am a millennial) and how I can effectively work with the other generations. I was talking informally with the principal today and she brought up a good point, I do not know how to not be busy yet I rebel when I am given a schedule. As I reflected on my teenage years, I had a daily schedule that included getting up, going to school, going to practice, riding the bus for an hour home, doing my homework and heading to bed. I called my mum this evening and said, “I did have the supermom of the 90s.” So I guess my focus will be how can I use this new found data and direct it towards projects such as marketing.
So as I was writing this blog posting, I was being my true millennial self- multitasking. I was chatting with friends over AOL IM, watching a little TV, and posting links to del.icio.us. I guess it does pose questions for people who do not understand how these millennials work.
Why or Why Not MySpace?
I admit, I do have a MySpace. I am a member of the “8th largest country in the world.” You can visit it my page at http://www.myspace.com/skiskatenerd. Being the private me, I have it set to “private”, my profile only viewable to my 4 friends. My 4 friends include: my birthday buddy, my sister, my cousin, and an exchange student from a few years ago, each of them I only see on rare occasions, usually requiring a plane ticket and a hotel room. Although, the fact that you can see a picture of me, my age, the state I live in, and the fact that I consider myself “64 inches of pure power,” is still too much information for me.
I was asked today, “Should my soon to be 7th grader get a MySpace?” I almost fell over. I thought to myself, what exactly is a MySpace? I don’t want to appear as the MySpace nay-sayer, as that would be hypocritical on my part. I just want the honesty. I have seen the MySpace page of a student who I know is not “21 years old and living in Rome, Italy”. The other part is the writing in their so called “blog” and when read, it gives you the uneasy feeling because that person they are talking/complaining about is your friend.
So maybe this is what I would say to the soon to be 7th grader. If you really want to become part of the “MySpace Country” please be honest and be yourself. Use it to communicate with your friends that maybe you don’t get to see often enough but don’t let it replace the phone calls, videoconferencing, or the trips you would take to visit them. You only get to be a kid once, enjoy it now.
Presenting the Generations
As the team of teachers sent by SRS left the 2007 NECC, we talked about how we could next year contribute to the energy of the presentations. There is an interesting dynamic at SRS in regards to the teachers. There is a few of the mature generation, large number of baby boomers, a few gen-xers, and a one millennial teacher. However, we are educating the millennial population (our students) and understanding how the millennial operates will continue to help SRS move forward.
So, this past summer we have been looking in depth to the idea of the generations. Born in 1980 to baby boomer parents, I identify myself to be a millennial. Even though I am part of the earliest wave of this generation. However, I see the defining characteristic of the millennial generation is the need for “communication and connectedness”. As I was enjoying an afternoon with my friends from school, we all sat around with our cell phones most of them were the “smart phones” with non-stop access to our email and the internet. Our cars are equipped differently than our parents, they include iPods and GPS with real-time traffic updates. The need for cigarette lighter adapters is at it is greatest.
Today my principal and I prepared our submission to the NCEA 2008 conference in Indianapolis. We talked about a more simple dynamic: digital immigrants and digital natives. As a digital native do I present an interesting dynamic to the workplace, I find technology as the most integral part of student learning. How can I help the digital immigrant become comfortable with technology? How can an administrator prepare their school to hire the digital native? I will be interested to see if our presentation is selected as one of the programs because I truly believe that this dynamic will begin “rearing its head” in the coming years.
Renewed Excitement
I called my boss this morning to talk to her about the ideas for SRS 2.0 and in true millennial and digital native fashion, I multi-tasked. On the cell phone while at my house I finished my small chores, then entered my car switched to my bluetooth headset and talked on my hour drive. By the time I got to my destination, our conversation was still going strong. Took care of the small business at my location and finally hung up. Yes, the digital native who is now in the workforce is still a social butterfly.
So what did we discuss?
- Using a blog to communicate assignments (all teachers have a wordpress account ready)
- Journalism Club
- 1st Annual SRS Film Festival
- Spring Fling/Fall Ball- after the great success last year …why not?
- Setting up the calendar for better communication
- Google Apps
- Using Moodle/ATutor
- Workshop Week Training
- Technology Refresher/Handbook
- Preparing Grading Program
This weekend I will be working on my action plan to detail the professional development for our teachers. It will be a time consuming process but in the end even better for our students.
The Changing Tide
I am looking at preparing a presentation for this next year called, “The Coming of the Millennials” or “When a Immigrant hires a Native” With my age and birth date, I am considered a millennial and a digital native.I work under a Gen-Xer and a Baby Boomer and how each of sees the world is amazing, each of us have our unique perspective and the way we approach things is much different then I would approach with a group of my same-aged peers.
I have decided to call my blog SRS 2.0 because after attending the NECC conference in Atlanta, I have this renewed effort to look at my teaching in a totally different way. How do I take the millennial student and make their learning ready to establish global citizenship? I have a degree in International Studies this should be easy but in fact, I am finding it difficult to take care of it on my own.
Hopefully this blog will inspire a conversation with other millennial, or maybe that Gen-Xer who just hired their first millennial. What fun we will have this coming school year.