Lost in an Endless Forest of Mediocrity

Ok, so I've done the reading and watched the YouTube video. I now know that Web 2.0 is all about blogging my little cotton socks off, linking, sharing and generally collaborating with every other online user of the  internet. Software is no longer a product to be bought and installed on your PC, it is a service that you subscribe to, and the more of us that use it and give feedback the more effective it becomes.
Web 2.0 applications operate by harnessing our collective intelligence and we advertise them for free by liking, sharing and linking on our other networks. I feel empowered and motivated to participate in building this grand new online landscape.

But wait! There are voices of dissent in this brave new world. Is 'web 2.0' just a buzzword? Are these definitions merely rehashed ideas that permeated the initial creation of the web?

Well, yes and no. These ideas of collaborative sharing were certainly part of the initial vision of the internet, but there can be no denying that the application of this vision has caught up with the idea. It is not a new web, but it is a more developed web. Where the next stage of that development goes will be interesting to see, if anywhere. Perhaps the web has already done the bulk of its evolution and anything that come from now on will be just window dressing?

Hopefully there will be more effective methods for filtering through the boggy mire of detritus. One of the major criticisms of web 2.0 seems to be that it has perpetrated a cult of amateurism, and that it is nigh on impossible to sort the quality from the vast amounts of junk. Still, on the positive side, therein lies an opening for your friendly local teacher librarian to step in with a highly developed set of search skills to light your way.

INF506 Social Networker.. Me?

My own definition of Social Networking is quite simply that it is the interaction between individuals and organisations via websites designed for that purpose. I think this phenomenon was founded in the desire to communicate more effectively with groups of friends in a public forum, but grew on the twin desires to show off our lives to others, and to know what other people are up to. Some people are prolific contributors while many will only ever look. However, these networks now also allow for communication by public and private organisations as we choose to include them in or personal networks, and they are increasingly more reflective of society as a whole.

I think my use of social networking sites is motivated by the desire to keep in touch with people I would not otherwise see often. I speak of course of Facebook, although my recent experience is that most people I know rarely/never post updates, while a small number of individuals with a lot of spare time post every mundane activity in their lives, and I tend to wonder why I am still checking it out. Beyond that I have dabbled in social bookmarking such as Delicious and Diigo for study and work, but tend to forget that they are there. While I have used blogs in study and at school, I would not use one in my private life. I think that, like many people, I do not have the time to use these networks often enough for them to feel useful.

I suppose I expect to learn new ways to use social networks/media from INF506, and to reprogram myself to be a more automatic/comfortable user of sites such as Twitter. I am particularly interested to see how we use Second Life. I have been aware of its use in education for some time, but have yet to see this in action.

Change a la mode

Ok, so there are a number of different leadership styles that can be employed. Some of them are a bit negative, like just telling people to get on with it and stop complaining (authoritative), but can be pretty useful in a tight situation. Over the long term you need to employ more positive strategies such as 'coaching','affiliative', or if you can manage it, 'inspirational'.

The advice is that we should be using a range of these strategies depending on the individuals involved and the situation of the organisation. I can't say I've seen many leaders who really manage to lead in this way however. Most seem to adopt one or two and stick with them regardless of the situation. It is interesting to watch the leadership styles in evidence around me having done the reading, but I feel like I know too much and have become more cynical as a result. Every time my Principal praises everybody I sit there thinking about how he always uses the affiliative style. I've only been at the school for a term but I've already become a bit immune to it. How can you know when praise is genuinely given if everyone and everything receives the same praise all the time?

The assignment asked us to describe practical ways in which we could work with leaders displaying these different styles. I found this difficult as all the reading was about being a leader, not dealing with leaders. I have done some reading about how to impress Principals as a TL, but I haven't seen anything about what to do if your Principal is an authoritative leader. To be honest, most of the reading that has been provided feels as though it is aimed at those training to be a Principal, not a TL.

However, it is quite interesting to reflect on my own leadership styles as a teacher. Occasionally (maybe more than that) I catch myself simply telling the children what to do. I can now reflect more successfully on whether I am offering them an inspirational vision or on whether I am helping them to see the path to success as a coaching leader.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

One of the reading this week was critical of the benefits of sporting metaphors in the discussion of teams, but after years of rowing I think that I can consolidate my own learning through a comparison of this sort.

The major message that I got from the various articles I've ploughed my way through this week is that teams need a clarity of purpose. Every member needs a thorough understanding of where the team is going, why and how they will get there. No rowing crew would succeed without that shared vision of what they want to achieve, and it is standard practice for a squad to gather at the beginning of the year to discuss exactly what they want to get out of the upcoming season. While the overall purpose of a school does not change from year to year, it is still beneficial to refresh that vision each year and focus on any areas that may need attention.

Once in the boat it is obviously important for a crew to work together. It is not simply enough to be in time with each other; We must apply pressure to the water equally and accelerate through the stroke at the same rate. It requires considerable physical effort, and even more of mind, but the benefits to boat speed are amplified through this togetherness and the sum of the whole really does become greater than that of the individual parts. Thus, it is not uncommon to see crews beat opponents who are considerably taller and stronger but lack cohesiveness. This same principle can apply equally in schools. If every member remains committed and focused to the vision, applying themselves in terms of time and effort, they can achieve great things.

However, neither boats nor schools will achieve this vision and commitment without some sort of leadership. In a boat crew leadership is assumed by the coach. It is his/her responsibility to keep the crew on track, and it is be the quality of this leadership  that truly determines the success or failure of the crew. The ability to assign roles to the most suitable individuals, to keep training interesting/fun, to push hard at the right moments and ease back with some social bonding when needed. Perhaps the hardest task of all, and rarely achieved by coaches in my experience is to motivate through praise. Comments during an outing will inevitably focus on areas that need improvement and rowers can quickly become quite negative in their thinking. The same is true in any environment, and especially in schools, where we are all very aware of the need for positivity with the children. We need to remember that that same attitude will also work wonders with our fellow staff.

Leadership is also about being able to delegate responsibilities and stand back a little to see what happens. Kevin Rudd's failing as leader of the ALP was apparently his constant micromanagement of those around him. In rowing a good coach trains up a cox to lead the crew on the water, but will also have leaders in key positions throughout the boat, although this obviously varies according to the size of the crew. Schools need to do the same, as this trust and shared responsibility is essential for making individuals feel they have a real stake in the quality performance of the team.

Another great parallel here, and the one I will finish with, is the ability to recognise internal and external variation. In rowing, a good crew will look as solid as a rock regardless of the conditions of the wind and water. Those beginning in the sport, and many that may have been at it for a number of years, look at these crews and wonder how they manage to maintain this apparent ease while they roll around on every stroke and are in a constant battle to find any kind of balance. The leaders of those great crews have worked hard to achieve this appearance of ease by recognising what difficulties are caused by internal faults and what are caused by the external conditions. they know that the majority of problems are external, and will not waste time reacting to these. Those crews rolling around and making hard work of it are reacting to variations they cannot control instead of fixing what really needs to be fixed. In schools we must do the same, recognise what is natural variation beyond our control and focus on streamlining our efforts to improve what can be improved.

I Have the Power!

Thank you He-Man.

Apparently organisations are all about power negotiations and it's all about who has control of finances/resources. Sounds rather cynical, but ultimately I guess that's true, even in schools.

The real question is about how that power is spread throughout the organisation, and how the organisation responds to the possibility of change. Here in Australia we would assume that most schools adopt an open/organic approach to change, and with the overwhelming number of roles and responsibilities in an average school there are not going to be too many arguments about sharing the power around a little. I think that we've all come across some schools, however, that have stagnated in their ways and are resistant to any form of change.

What I find most interesting here, though, is the terminology and the inherent power of language. We naturally incline towards those options of organic and open organisational structures, assuming they must be the best way forward. Would we be so inclined were they termed 'chaotic', 'random or 'unstructured'? Our society and educational system wants to see itself as promoting freedom to take on new responsibilities, with staff growing and evolving from one role to another. I don't have a problem with this, and it's a system I enjoy working in myself, but I wonder whether other countries would see these values in the same way. Is the democratic system of school organisation the optimum way forward? I have to admit that some of the best run schools I've come across (not all) have quite dictatorial Principals that staff live in fear of. That is not the same as saying that those schools got the best results, but it does beg the question as to the ideal balance of power within the school organisation.

I'm not entirely sure that there is an answer however. Schools differ drastically in size and population, both students and staff. What will work well in one place may be an abject failure elsewhere. I think that it is a good thing to share the responsibilities around, but ultimately teachers simply want the time to serve the needs of their students and are less concerned about power struggles than just getting the job done. Most will respond well to change if it is introduced in a planned out manner that will demonstrably make their job easier or more effective.

Gossip

Sorry, not anything to do with Beth Ditto, although I'm sure she's a lovely young lady. Instead, this is more of a return to blogging as I attempt to add ETL 504, 'TL as Leader' to my collection. I have not as yet done any of the reading, so am not going to attempt any critical analysis of the articles or my learning here today.

However, I suspect that, as on good old ETL 401 there will be some discussion of the value of Principal support and the duty of TLs to foster such support. As it happens, I was chatting with the parent of one of my year 2 children yesterday morn and she happened to be a TL in a state school on the Gold Coast. Apparently there is a distinct lack of support for TLs on the Gold Coast because a senior individual with responsibility for the area is decidedly TList. As a result many of the Principals have decided to remove their TLs altogether, and many of those lovely BER libraries are currently being run by Aides. My source had kept her position because her own Principal actually values having a TL and had bucked the trend by keeping her in place.

I personally find this information to be quite appalling. Perhaps some of those TLs could have held their positions if they had been more proactive and demonstrated their worth, but in the face of pressure from above and the opportunity to cut costs with an official sanction many Principals seem all too willing to wield the axe. This is particularly scary in that The Gold Coast is now Australia's 6th largest city and has probably the fastest growing population. A lot of children will be affected by the pressure applied by one individual with views that are destructive to our profession. No wonder that Australia continues to be overtaken in educational outcomes by other countries and is rapidly sliding down the international rankings.

Copyright, aaaah!

I actually did the reading on this some time ago now, or at least I think it was. I've been rushing through everything so much that I've no idea where I'm supposed to be, and the forums seem to be discussing topics I ploughed through weeks ago. Nevertheless, I thought I might revisit this one, mainly as I had a copyright run in with Facebook yesterday that highlighted the tricky nature of this area. I had actually attempted to find copyright free music to use in a little video I was putting together, but only after Facebook rejected my upload did I read the fine print. I was allowed to use it but not to publish it.. oops! After a bit more hunting I eventually found something I could use.

So, what about copyright issues in school? If it's so hard to stick to the law even when you take the time and effort, what hope is there that teachers and students will make that same effort? The answer is that they probably won't, but we can at least impress on them the importance of doing so. The good news is, however, that schools have so many exemptions for educational purposes you can pretty much use whatever you like, so long as it isn't pirated of course.

I think the main area to be careful in is the mass reproduction of material. Many teachers have been guilty of  photocopying chunks of books for their classes, but this needs to be kept to a minimum. To be honest, most teachers avoid this kind of breach simply because their photocopying budget is limited. The greater danger is perhaps that they may scan and email it to their students, in high school anyway.

To be honest I don't think copyright is something many people think about ever. I knew a Prep teacher recently who produced a DVD for her class with photos taken throughout the year, accompanied by a musical track she'd copied from a Disney CD. She proposed to hand these out to all the parents of her children and proudly showed this off to the rest of the staff. No-one, including the senior members of staff, had any problem with this flagrant breach of the law because it didn't occur to them to consider the copyright issue. If we want to educate the students about this I think we need to run a few sessions with staff first.