WA Mash…Preparing for a new trimester

Lately, most of my time has been spent working with my creative writing students on the development of a new online magazine called “WA Mash” (Worcester Academy Mashup) and in short, it has re-energized my teaching practice. In 1996 I began my first year of teaching and was given as part of my teaching load, taught senior level creative writing. As an English major at Union my focus was on creative writing and in many ways, I was taught in a traditional, “old humanities” paradigm that truly served me well. My focus was and continues to be on the creative process. But back then, the reality was that the ability for my students to publish beyond the structure of our class or even school community was limited. We were tethered to the world of old media. Print publications.

Enter the fall of 2008. After being inspired by a presentation on YouTube by Richard E. Miller, Chair of Rutgers English, The Future is Now: Presentation to the RU Board of Governors challenged the comfortable, and somewhat traditional notion of why and how we should teach students writing. The birth of the “New Humanities” where the focus is on creative non-fiction prose fit nicely with the work I had been exploring in the past few years with blogging and journaling. And so, WA Mash was born. I gave each student an account on our Wordpress blog, they were given contributor access and were set off to find interesting ideas that would culminate in original content.

Almost 9 weeks later, the hits on our blog are reaching between 100 to 300 hits daily. Close to 50% of our users are returning visitors, we have over 85 followers on Twitter and several student articles have received thought provoking comments from our readers. What is most important, is that students are serving as content creators, they are writers and critical consumers of information. We read magazines like Slate.com, Salon.com, the New York Times Opinions & Editori

als section and the latest, The Daily Beast. The experiment is still ongoing, and as the end of this first trimester begins to reach its climax, I find myself reflecting on what has worked and what has not, adapting and modifying so that Mash can continue to grow. But what brings me the most joy and satisfaction is that 19 juniors and seniors have left their mark on the digital world. They have shared their thoughts, their ideas and they have engendered conversations. That is truly the power behind the new humanities, social media and teaching and learning.

Photo Credit: b_d_solis

My Summer Reading List

If you are anything like me, the end of the school year is marked by key moments and regular rituals intended to assist in the ushering in of summer. So my box of summer books arrived from Amazon today. Most of these books I have not read yet. I hope to write thoughts and reflections throughout the summer as I work my way through the list. Has anyone read any of the titles? Other suggestions worth adding to the list?

The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time By: David Vise & Mark Malseed

• A colleague of mine David Bill suggested this title to me last week during lunch. Looks like a great beach read.

The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures By: Dan Roam

• An Amazon generated suggestion that looked good. I will let you know what I think.

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need By: Daniel H. Pink & Rob Ten Pas (Illustrator)

• Daniel Pink was one of the keynote speakers at NAIS in NYC this year. I read “A Whole New Mind” last summer and loved it, in fact my entire middle school faculty will be getting a copy of AWNM on Wednesday. During his keynote, he mentioned that he was in the process of finishing “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko” and that it was geared to students. Can’t wait for this one to come in.

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything By: Don Tapscott & Anthony D. Williams

• Another Amazon generated suggestion.

The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect, Completely Updated and Revised By: Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel

• This is one of the texts I will be using next year in my Journalism class, kudos to my English Department colleague Christina!

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success By: Carol Dweck

• Carol Dweck is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at NAIS in Chicago in 2009. I was fortunate enough to hear Pat Bassett, President of NAIS at The Principals’ Center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education this past November. The book sounds fascinating and worth reading.

Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter) By: Garr Reynolds

• I am big fan of Garr Reynolds work. I have had a copy of this and poked through it periodically before I give a major presentation. A must have for anyone who communicates in front of groups and is looking for a way to declutter and simply the power of your message. Garr has written some in depth posts on both “The Back of the Napkin” and “Brain Rules” you should check them out.

A Short History of Nearly Everything By: Bill Bryson

• Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors. I have heard good things about this book and I think it will be one of the first books I read.

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School (Book & DVD) By: John Medina

• Again, my colleague Dave Bill suggested this one to me. Kudos Dave.

Photo Credit: chotda

What Makes a Leader?

Leadership in American schools is becoming an increasingly difficult concept to define. Many educational scholars and policy makers agree that the current role of a school leader, both in the building and district or school wide, insufficiently meets the needs of American education for the 21st century. In an article by Lynn Olson, New Thinking on What Makes a Leader, she clearly argues that schools across the nation are facing a shortage of qualified and talented administrators. The article also points out that it could quite possibly be the current structure of our schools that may be contributing to the problem as well. There is consensus among educators, governmental and philanthropic groups that not addressing this problem will not only not make problem go away, but instead lead to an even smaller, insufficiently trained applicant pool to choose from.

Olson states, there are very different schools of thought when addressing this issue. It raises some interesting questions regarding the definition of educational administration, the inability for many to perform the demanding tasks needed to fulfill the requirements of the job and seeks to find a dialogue which might lead to possible solutions. This argument provides educators an opportunity to critically analyze school administration and leadership from a variety of perspectives. One argument is that key administrators are coming under increasing fire to provide adequate results in student performance and achievement. This pressure is driven in large part, as it is in the state of Massachusetts and across many states nationwide, by academic standards and accountability. Many would argue that this form of top-down reform would require administrators and school leaders to become “instructional leaders” rather than simply building managers. Building management must therefore take a back seat, if schools are to become successful in training and educating today’s modern student. However, it is unclear how to precisely define the term “instructional leader”. There are those currently involved in education reform who believe that many of the problems faced by American schools will require solutions by the next generation of administrators.

Does the future of American education require that these leaders be educators in order to successfully do the job? Are we placing unreasonable expectations of administrators? Does the solution require that schools place a larger emphasis on business management? One thing is certain, public and private schools across the United States are seeking and actively recruiting candidates which can fulfill all these responsibilities. The modern day administrator needs to have the business and management knowledge of a corporate CEO, the savvy of a seasoned fund raiser and the experience of being a veteran educator. It is difficult to imagine effective leadership in our schools coming from someone who has never stepped foot in a classroom. Olson also places part of the blame on the preparation and leadership – training programs currently training administrators for the job. There are a portion of leading educators and policy makers that believe senior level administrators being “pumped out” of these training programs are lacking on-the-job experience as well as a deep knowledge and understanding of instruction. These leaders are not only going to be expected to do the job of “instructional leader”, but are going to face the reality of management. In my humble opinion, one this is for certain, the future success of American education will demand effective, innovative and visionary leadership in order to fully embrace and address the challenges of education in the 21st century