Maureen Cain: It looks like your peer coaches are focusing on technology in the classroom. Are you training technology coaches?

Les Foltos: We train the coaches to teach strong learning that integrates technology. The learning comes first, the technology second. The coaches help their peers identify ways that technology can strengthen classroom curriculum and enhance student academic achievement.

MC: How is coaching different than mentoring?

LF: Typically in the US the term mentor means a very senior teacher working with a brand new teacher. But this coaching program is open to all teachers, regardless of tenure, with a focus on increasing student achievement.

MC: What kind of person makes a good peer coach?

LF: Time after time, we find that a good coach is a leader respected by the colleagues in their building. He or she might be a junior teacher, but more often than not it’s a person who’s been in the field for years that other teachers naturally turn to for support.

MC: What are the benefits of being a coach?

LF: The majority of our coaches are in it for the personal professional growth opportunities. In most countries where we work coaches don’t get any extra pay. They want the communication and collaboration skills, and they want to be better at the craft of teaching. Some think about their careers after the classroom — they might want to go into professional development or administration.

MC: With facilitators training a coach and then that new coach training the next, and so on and so on, how can you ensure that the program doesn’t get too watered down? After a few years aren’t you getting a copy of a copy of a copy?

LF: There are some things that are core to the program and cannot change. Training coaches to be good communicators and good collaborators is a mandatory part of the program. Still, we have to be flexible and allow countries to make modifications to suit their needs. We’ve brought this program to forty-six countries outside of the US. This year there will be 100,000 coaches trained around the world. In Argentina alone there have been 22,000 coaches trained over the last two years.

MC: How do you know peer coaching works?

LF: Each country sets up its own program evaluation system. Most programs look for changed teacher behavior because they know that this is a precursor to improved student academic performance.

We can see in Washington State, for example, that after a teacher has worked with a coach for 20 hours, they integrate technology into their teaching. After 30 hours of time with the coach, the teacher begins to change his or her instruction in ways that increase problem solving, critical thinking and strategies to actively engage students.

In addition to answering my questions about peer coaching, Les invited me to observe a peer coach training and a coach-teacher session in person. Watch for my report on those events later in the fall.

Q: I’m in seventh grade and my science teacher teases me and my friends in class. He thinks he’s being funny, but he’s not. He’s mean and I can’t stand that class now. How can I get him to stop?

I’m sorry your teacher is teasing you. It’s never okay for a teacher to embarrass students in front of the class by making fun or calling names. My advice is to take a parent or a friend and talk to him after school.

Follow these simple communication steps:

1) Describe an example of something he said (just give the facts).
2) Tell him how you felt when he said what he said (start with “I felt…”).
3) Respectfully ask him if he would stop (avoid judgmental words – stick to the facts).
4) Don’t get too disappointed if he doesn’t (it’s out of your hands).

(Modified from “Nonviolent Communication ”)

Here’s how that might sound: “Mr. Waters, last week in front of the class, you said, “You’re so tall I’m going to have to order you a special desk.” I felt embarrassed and angry when you said that. Will you please stop making comments about my height in class?” Wait for his response and then thank him for talking with you.

I can’t promise it will work, but from that point on, every time he opens his mouth to tease you, he’ll remember that you had the guts to come speak to him in a way that many adults can’t handle.

Q: My son is in pre-school and cries not when I drop him off, but when I pick him up! He screams that he doesn’t want to come home and runs and hides from me. It’s embarrassing! All the other kids run to their parents, but mine runs away. Why is he doing this and how do I get him to stop?

Don’t be embarrassed. The other parents are too busy chasing around their own 4 year olds to be judging you. Kids at this age need help with transitions. Ask the teacher to give him 5 and 2 minute warning that you’ll be arriving soon. Pre-schoolers also need clear and firm expectations. When you drop him off, remind him that when you come to pick him up you expect him to say good-bye to the teacher and then get in the car. The great thing about four year olds is that they change at the speed of light. He’ll grow out of it any minute now.

Q: I’m preparing to teach my first semester of adult GED. I taught 5th graders for years, but I’ve never taught adults. I’ve always believed that learning is learning whether you’re an adult or a child. Isn’t that right?

When we study Adult Learning Theory, we find that adults learn best when the content is relevant to their lives, when the lessons are experiential and when they are shown respect from the teacher. Well, guess what? Kids learn best that way too. Good elementary school teachers have always known that.

There are, however, a handful of differences. As we learn more about how the human brain processes new information, we see that children’s brains are wired differently and that they organize information in a different way than adults do. Also, adults have more life experiences and more general knowledge they can build on to connect to the information and skills they’re learning. Adults tend to be self-motivated and goal-oriented compared to children.

Recent research is conflicting on this topic. Some reports conclude that it’s not so much that adults and children learn differently, but that individuals learn differently and teachers should adapt lessons for each learner.

So while I wouldn’t necessarily agree that “learning is learning,” I’m certain that good teaching is good teaching. Show your students respect, make the learning experiential and relevant, and adapt for the individual. You’ll do great with your new adult students!

Q: My daughter is going into sixth grade. What I should have her work on over the summer so she’ll be prepared for math when school starts again?

Let’s not make this “The Summer My Parents Taught Me to Hate Math.” Students typically slip backwards academically during long summer vacations, particularly in math. Does that mean you should make her do math every day? Only if she likes it. You should help her do educational things she’s interested in – museums, puzzles, art, music, writing a blog – but don’t push her too much.

Extended summer breaks are outdated, but while we still have them, I say let kids be kids for a few months. Let her sleep until noon, text her friends all day and stay up late watching movies. This might be the only time in her life she can get away with it.

You’ve found a potential client and they are ready to talk details about what they need and what you can offer.

Treat the call like a job interview. Chances are they are screening several consultants for this contract, so your job is to stand out. You know all the basics of how to conduct yourself professionally on a phone interview, so we don’t need to go over things like speaking slowly and sounding confident.

Here are eight things you can do to wow the soon-to-be client on the other end of the phone:

1. Give out a freebie on the phone. You’ve done your homework by researching the school district and reading their strategic plan. Be prepared to offer them a preliminary idea or two.

2. Ask smart questions. Focus your questions on the big picture and make them think a little by asking tough questions. The response you want to hear from your smart question is “Hmm…we didn’t even think of that.” Consider a question like “How will you sustain this work after I leave?”

3. Show. Don’t tell. Right before the call, e-mail samples of final products you’ve delivered for previous clients. Walk them through the documents while you discuss why each piece was a success. This is 100 times more effective than telling them about a project you completed.

4. You are The One. You have a niche and they need your services. Be clear and let them know that no one else can do the job as well as you can.

5. Oops, you’re not The One. Half way into the call you might realize, however, that they are looking for someone with a different set of skills. As soon as you identify this, speak up – your honesty will be appreciated and they’ll keep you in mind for a future project that does match your skills.

6. Be a therapist… Spend more time listening than talking. When you ask your smart questions (see above), listen to the response and dig a little deeper with a follow up question.

7 …and a cheerleader. They might be looking for a consultant because there’s something wrong, a problem that needs to be fixed. It’s easy to get sucked into worry and negativity with your potential client, but now is the time to be supportive and optimistic. Down the line you might find that they need tough love – put that in your back pocket for later.

8. Don’t promise the moon. Manage their expectations by clearly defining the project and your role in it. If you promise too much, only bad things can happen. You’ll either work way too many hours and end up not making any money or they will be disappointed because in their eyes you didn’t deliver what you promised.

Follow me on Twitter or subscribe to this blog for Part III where I’ll share specifics about how to set expectations by developing a clear Project Description.

Springfield, USA: Today Superintendent Gary Chalmers announced that Springfield Elementary was awarded an $800,000 grant from the US Department of Education.  

“These funds will help bring Springfield Elementary into the 21st century,” Chalmers said. “It’s almost as if Springfield has been standing still in time for 20 years.”

“With this grant money, we’ll pay smart kids from Shelbyville to take standardized tests for our Springfield students,” said school Principal Seymour Skinner. “The plan will cost a lot, but Springfield Elementary will come out looking really good.”

“Uh, I’d like to thank Moe for hosting the meetings in his bar,” said Homer Simpson, chair of the community oversight committee. “Also I’d also like to tell the other chumps on the committee to quit their whining about not getting any doughnuts – you snooze, you lose. Thank God my daughter Lisa was there. That kid really knows how to run a meeting.”

When asked why so much of the money was spent on slide rules and slate boards, Simpson replied, “How else are Springfield kids going to learn 20th century skills?”

D’oh!

One of the original visual frameworks of 21st century learning comes from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21). P21’s signature rainbow image represents student outcomes. The pools under the rainbow show the support systems necessary for those outcomes.

I spoke to Vice President Valerie Greenhill about the thinking behind the P21 rainbow.

“We wanted the image to illustrate the integrated way in which skills and content work together,” Valerie told me. “So we thought carefully about whether to blur the boundaries between colors of the rainbow, to show a smooth transition between the concepts. But the gradients looked awful, like a muddy watercolor painting.”

“In the name of good design we didn’t go that route,” Valerie said, “but still, it’s a shame we had to put those solid lines between the bands of color, because you can’t really talk about skills and content as if there’s a solid boundary between them. Their relationship is interdependent and fluid.”

Here’s my collection of visual representations of 21st century teaching and learning. When I look at these diagrams, I see a snapshot of each group’s vision for education in the 21st century, and I get a glimpse into the discussions, negotiations and compromises that must have been made in the process of their creation.

1. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills rainbow

2. Catalina Foothills School District’s 21st Century learning triangle

3. Jordon School District’s 21st Century Engaged Classroom image

4. Goochland County Public Schools flow chart of 21st century learning

5. SREB’s graphical representation of 21st Century Skills and Information and Communication Technologies Literacies

6. ISTE’s Student Educational Technology Skills diagram

7. Colorado’s Council on 21st Century Learning mind map

8. Metiri Group’s enGauge grid of 21st Century Skills

9. West Virginia Department of Education Teach 21 triangle

If you have additional charts or diagrams of 21st century skills, please leave a comment with a link.

Margaret Wheatley, who writes and speaks extensively on living systems and organizational change, says that “Living systems contain their own solutions,” and that “somewhere in the system are people already practicing a solution that others think impossible.”

Plug in “school” for “system” and you’ve got a message I share with educators across the US about 21st century education transformation. (“Schools contain their own solutions” and “somewhere in the school are teachers already practicing a solution that others think impossible.”) Chances are that a teacher or two in your school are already teaching and measuring 21st century skills , and that elements of this work are already lurking within your own lesson plans.

In her book Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time , Wheatley says that organizational shifts result because “every living system is free to choose whether it changes.” Education, as a living system, is now realizing that the meaning and purpose of education itself has changed. Now we need to choose whether to transform schools and teaching to fit this new meaning.

Full participation is the critical component of organizational change. “Involve every body who cares,” Wheatley says. “If we can discover something important to work on together, we figure out how to do the work, together.”

A healthy 21st century education system is supported by a coalition of all interested parties, including educators, students, parents, the community, political leaders and business. Individual schools and classrooms are complex, life-like systems that require involvement from everyone. As Wheatley says, “Participation is the only change process. We must invite in all who will be affected by the change.”

Photo credit: “tlindenbaum” http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindenbaum/317333175/