Pat Basset and Google

I heard Pat speak four times last week in Philadelphia, and he was, as usual, a rock star every time.  These are my two favorite stories:

At the Lamplighter School in Texas, the grade three class runs an Egg Business. They use their own money to create an investment fund, and then they buy chickens. They create a marketing plan, and then sell the eggs.  At the end of the year, there is a big debate: what to do with the profit?  As you can imagine, the class is divided – to give away money to charity (the girls!) or to split the profits (the boys!)…. The classic capitalism vs. socialism debate… in grade three…

Another school’s signature event was the Grade Six Bake Sale.  The students all agree on the product – in this case, it was cupcakes – and then they all agree on the marketing and business plans, including the price.  On the day of the Bake Sale, one student (yes, it was a boy!) bought all of the cupcakes for the agreed upon price, and then he resold them for a higher price.  This created a huge campus-wide debate.  He asked our group:  what side are you on?  And how would you create similar big debates in your school?

Pat challenged all school leaders:  What is your signature event at each grade level?  The one that makes kids excited to get in to the next grade?

His challenge reminded me of a story I heard about Google.  One of my association colleagues told me that Google staff have complained to their children’s school about homework.  Their challenge?

Homework should include working on unsolvable problems.  So Google would probably like seeing kids engaged in the big projects and debates that Pat described.

I know some of our CAIS schools have signature projects at each grade.  (My daughter’s grade six class at Ridley is engaged in one now!  Her teacher, Mrs. Beatty, told me this morning that the younger students are already excited to get into her grade six class so they can do “the bean market”.)  But I’m not sure how many schools have a homework policy that includes unsolvable problems.

Anyone care to share their signature projects or unsolvable problems homework policies?  I’m sure that Pat and Google would like to hear from us…

A lesson from real estate

My daughter came home from her first week of school and reported that, “Mr. Kidd said ‘Hello Kathleen.’”

Of all the things that she could report to me – from birthday party invitations to cross-country running – she reported that the Headmaster said hello.  She must not have been satisfied that I was suitably impressed for she emphasized one point to me as if I hadn’t understood, “By NAME.”

We know from research that ‘personal attention to students’ is the number one reason that parents choose to send their children to independent schools and I see CAIS schools working hard to know all students.  Last week alone, I saw Heads in action in Toronto, Bermuda, Mill Bay and Duncan and there was a common theme.

• Jim Power (UCC) let me run a CAIS Finance meeting in his office – time spent out and about is time well spent.

• Ted Staunton (Saltus) not only greeted students by name; in many cases, he exchanged quick conversations about co-curricular involvement, siblings, and holidays.

• Peter Harding (Somersfield) says he drops whatever he is doing and greets families during drop off every morning.  He said that it may seem superficial, but it is a way to get to know the community, the families appreciate the greeting and he likes helping out with backpacks and car doors.

• Bud Patel (Brentwood) said he interviewed staff, parents and students in his first month at the school and heard over and over – however you spend the rest of your day, be with the students during morning cookie break.  So he’s there.

• Wilma Jamieson (Queen Margaret’s) ended the leadership team meeting – almost mid sentence – so we could all head out to the pool to watch the cardboard box boat races.

I am proud to report that in our CAIS schools, leaders value time with students and they know them.

We can take a lesson from real estate:  A friend wrote to tell us that the house that we bought in Montreal for $179,000 in 2000 and sold for $379,000 in 2005 is now on the market for $700,000.  Ouch.  Meanwhile, our St Catharines home has stayed about the same.  The lesson?  Location. Location. Location.

I asked Ted Staunton, who is running his fourth CAIS school successfully, about some of the secrets of his success.  The lesson?  Visibility. Visibility. Visibility.

Asking Good Questions

CAIS piloted a commitment this year to address all of the CAIS Partnership Conferences. So in the past few weeks, I have been on the road to Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal, addressing five groups: Junior and Middle School Heads, Admissions Directors, Assistant Heads, University Counsellors, and Business Officers). At each gathering, I focused on questions. I often say that I am in the business of asking good questions – be it accreditation, professional development or research questions. (In fact, the Board Chair at West Island College in Calgary told his Board that in his years with CAIS, he felt that asking good questions was one of the main roles of the national office.)

I asked Junior, Middle and Senior School Directors to consider this question: what is special about your program? As all schools are increasingly competitive, everyone talks about the challenges of admissions. But the challenge of admissions is partly a challenge of program. All of our CAIS schools offer the provincial curriculum. But what ties our CAIS schools together nationally is an ongoing commitment to improvement and an ongoing commitment to focus on what is above and beyond the minimum requirements in each province. I call it the CAIS school stretch. (Incidentally, in my CAIS school visits, I see the best Division Leaders focusing like a laser beam on program, specifically, on differentiating their program from their competition.)

Our Governance Research project is also asking important questions. Our CAIS schools depend on Boards who recognize that their focus must be on today’s children’s children. In order to ensure that agendas include time for rich conversations, our National Standards include a focus on Generative Discussions. So, as part of our research, we asked, ‘What are the Generative Questions that Boards have discussed and should discuss?’ Here are some of the questions that CAIS Boards have told us they are discussing:

1. What are useful KPIs for a school?
2. What makes an effective board?
3. What skills and characteristics does a grad need to be effective in today’s and tomorrow’s world?
4. Is there an upper limit to tuition levels?
5. What is the relationship between tuition levels and accessibility in our community and what are the implications for schools?
6. What will the supply of really good educators look like over the next 20 years and what are the implications for schools?
7. What can a board do for a school that no one else can?
8. What is the desirable balance between institutional memory and fresh blood?
9. What will the best schools look like in ten years and why?
10. What will the big themes in education be over the next ten to twenty years?

I was able to ask questions of students last week while touring three Montreal schools. At Yechiva Yavne, a K to 11 school founded in 1992 by the Sephardic community of Montreal where they offer both Orthodox Jewish and general studies, I was once again reminded of the value of questions. I asked students, ‘What is special about your school?’ Two classes stood out for me.

A grade one class of boys came to life. Every hand shot up to answer my question. First answer? The Torah. Next? Writing class…Our Rabbi…prayer time… Are you as surprised as I was? It was only after five or six more answers that I heard ‘Recess’ and the class erupted with laughter. Now I have never taught this age group, so I can only reference my son at that age who once told me, “You don’t understand boys – we like recess and gym.” The energy in this class was infectious.

It was in a small grade ten English class that the girls answered my question with two words: our teachers. I asked a follow-up question, naturally, to better understand what made their teachers unique. One girl quietly spoke, “Our teachers speak with the heart. And when anyone speaks from the heart, you listen, and you learn more.”

I’m glad I asked the question.

And I will end with another: What other questions should we ask of our Directors, Boards and Students?

Apples and apples – Part One: People

As many of you know, last Thursday Apple launched iBooks 2, its new digital textbook software, amidst a lot of marketing hype. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, described the new ebooks as “interactive, gorgeous, fun, and engaging.” According to Schiller, Apple is going to change the world of learning. Of course, digital textbooks have been around for a while. But think back to mp3 players and digital music files – these had been around before Apple made them easy to use and ubiquitous, with the iPod and iTunes, and transformed the way we listen to music. Will Apple take the iPad and iBooks and transform learning?

We know that kids can figure things out on the Internet faster than most adults – much faster. And they have access not only to information, but information delivered in ways that are engaging. If they have their own hand-held devices, and can learn at their own pace, on their own time, and anywhere they want, we might be tempted to just let them do their own thing!

But I think we’ll do better, because the best educators are going to take Apple’s new technology and test its potential impact. They’re going to ask:

• What will teaching look like when every student has a hand-held device?
• Will teachers still need to be experts in content when kids can access appropriate information instantaneously?
• Will teachers require technology training?
• What enhanced value will teachers bring to the classroom?

As educators plan for a class where every kid has a personal device, the revolution begins. In contrast to the ATM that replaced the teller, the iPad will not replace the teacher. The real change in education won’t come thanks to Apple’s tools; it will come from the work of inspired teachers.

I believe there will be two profound shifts in education. First, there will be a greater emphasis on the quality of relationships. Teachers must ensure that kids are shutting down, relating to one another and developing interpersonal skills. If you think about it, most of the forces that shape a student’s capacity to learn are relationship-based – parents, teachers, peers and school culture. The best teachers will balance the use of the technology with meaningful engagement to build authentic relationships. So technology may, in fact, deepen classroom relationships.

Second, the best teachers will harness the technology to customize learning. Most teachers strive to avoid whole class teaching; they are no longer the sage on the stage. But being the guide on the side, and facilitating learning that is active and engaging, is incredibly time consuming. With iBooks, the time to find resources that are appropriate will be quicker, which could then liberate the teacher to focus more on developing individual learning.

My hope is that Apple’s new technology will unleash educators to enhance some old-fashioned values….the teacher’s desk of the future will have an Apple and an apple.

The value of pink erasers

When I was in school, and we were bored in class, we sometimes passed around scrunched up pieces of paper.  We tossed them whenever the teacher turned her back or we maintained eyes front, in a studious pose, and passed them surreptitiously palm-to-palm. This amused us and connected us.

Or we wrote on pink erasers.  They were smallish, so you couldn’t fit much on them, maybe fewer than 50 characters.  But you could quickly delete any comments if necessary.  So you’d focus on the most important stuff, like:

“Hi”

“I’m bored”

“Question #25?”

“Do you like Kevin? Circle yes or no.”

Back in the 70s and 80s, pink erasers had a negative impact on classroom behaviour – they supported student distraction and cheating.

The pink eraser only served one educational purpose. It didn’t provide access to a limitless world of information, or connect you to students and learning around the world; and you couldn’t toss one to your Mom to ask if you could stay late to work on an assignment. No, the pink eraser only functioned to ensure that work was neat.  It is debatable if Marshall McLuhan would have even considered it to be an extension of a student.

I wonder.  Did educators debate the value of pink erasers and whether or not their potential for negative classroom behaviour outweighed their ability to improve work?  Did they discuss how to manage classrooms with pink erasers?  Did teachers sit in staff meetings discussing how to ban them or how long to keep them once confiscated?

Pink erasers have been a part of our classrooms for a long time (since 1770 – and that is no exaggeration!) and although students may still need the odd reminder of when it is appropriate and polite to use them, they know.

How long before cell phones are the same?