Delaware Schools Go Flat:

Redesigning Schools for 21st

Century Learning

Tom Welch

April 10

The upfronts . . .

1. Where’s Pat?

2. All of my Ppts will be left with WendyThey will also be on my website

3. Cell Phone instructions

4. The 3 column Graphic OrganizerOh.

Aha!

OMG!!!!%^&*(

5. The Squirm factor

The alternative 3 Column Graphic organizer…

Uh huh

Yeah Right!

OMDB!

My goals for the session

1. That everyone knows the answer to the Essential Question

--by heart!

And everyone has 3 concrete ideas about what the answer means for them.

The Question you might have thought I was going to ask . . .

What’s Delaware being flat got to do with anything?

Time for today’s Essential Question . . .

(No fair calling a friend or trying to Google it!)

What Year Is It?

Most of you KNOW it’s 2008,

That wasn’t the essential question

It was only the lead up to it.

How many of you BELIEVE it’s 2008??

Many of you believe it’s still 1996 . . .

with a different set of “toys”

I’ve decided the modern world can best be described by . . .

Haircuts and Hairdo’sAnd don’ts

According to Friedman . . .

Some people say the world is still . . .

Spiky

Scary to think but maybe the best exemplar is that classic American icon . . .

Because maybe the world really is . . .

beehived

Friedman’s Brief History of the 21st century

Globalization 1.0

1492 – 1800

Shrank world from a size Large to a Medium

Was about countries and muscle

The “Old” World

Globalization 2.0

1800 – 2000

Shrank the world from medium to small

Multinational companies

The “New” World

Globalization 3.0

2000 –

Size small to a size tiny

individuals collaborating and

competing globally

The “Next” World

What will a changing world mean in your school and your district?

Will you continue as if your responsibility for student learning is continuous improvement for a 2.0 world?

OR

Will you see that your responsibility is for each student in your school to be successful in a 3.0 world?

So what’s holding us back?

Cai Guo-Qiang

One of the greatest difficulty is that we don’t really see the difference between 2.0 and 3.0

And glass walls are the hardest to cross.

The 3.0 learning world is . . .

Beehived!

Raise your hand if, in the last 3 months, your students have been learning directly . . .

With students from another country!

With students from another state.

With students from another Delaware school.

With students from another school in your district.

With students in another class in YOUR school

Uhhhh . . .

May I ask the obvious?

Why not?

The ability of the individual students in your school to collaborate and compete will directly affect the quality of your schools, as well as the very life and health of your individual communities.

Sooooo…

How’s your 2.0 world working for you?

If you’re a teacher the answer is . . .

Pretty darn well

(Cause for you it’s still 1982!)

Just a quick “sober-upper”

What’s the US High School graduation rate?

Three aspects to consider

Low educational attainment = lost personal opportunities in life

Lost earnings = lost tax revenue

Loss of opportunity is a problem that not only threatens the welfare of the individual, it threatens the welfare of the entire country.

So let me ask again

Delaware . . .

How’s it workin for you?

If you’re a student or a community member

It’s “stuck”

Cause it hasn’t changed since 1982

Make that ’62

Make that ’32!

While education attainment levels are crucial to Delaware communities,

Globalization 3.0 is bringing other shifts to our schools and communities . . .

So I ask . . .

As Ed Tech leaders, how are you preparing for, and handling the shift?

(Apologies to Lisa Mims and Scott Richardson . . .)

This is a challenging shift for everyone in education

My Hero . . .Lilian

As if all this weren’t enough . . .

Larger changes are on the horizon and

headed our way. . .

Teachers in Delaware must come to understand that they are part of a world economy, and the world is changing faster than ever before.

Huge shifts are taking place now that will be felt for many decades.

“The only sustainable competitive advantage is the ability to be able to learn faster than your competition.”

--Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline

How might you anticipate and support coming changes?

What about policy issues for Delaware educators?

“Oh! We already have our AUP policies

And our “No No” policies!

No, Not “No No”

“No Know”

“No Know” Policies?

NO accessing unapproved sitesNO cell phonesNO iPodsNO YouTubeNo TeacherTubeAnd above all . . .NO unapproved learning

The beatings will continue

Until morale improves!

Students and Teachers shall

Know Nothing . . . But approved instructional technologies

No, not “instructional technology” issues

Shouldn’t you only be talking about

Learning technology?

Why I hate “instructional Technology”

By Tommy Welch

OK, what policies?

A sensible “ET” policy

(Emerging Technology)

Implement Performance-based credit policy

And raise your hand if you think

All technology has been invented?

No?

Then

Implement policies leading to the responsible use of emerging technologies

After all . . .

If you aren’t taking a leadership role here . . .

Who will?

Besides,

Don’t you want your students prepared at the highest levels being targeted for students in other states and countries?

Start thinking about the future of education in your districts . . .

The coming tsunami in public education

The three factors that will change the future of education . . .

The identification of standards

-- agreement on the “product”

The use of Common End of Course Assessments

--the first ever introduction of a quality guarantee

Technology

Even the education world is going to go “flat”

Is your school making plans or forming policies for the learning opportunities available with $100 laptops??

Technology will continue to drive outsourcing in public education.

Why would we think that public education will forever remain immune to outsourcing?

Talk about the reallocation of resources . . .

2.0

3.0

Think of the decisions for allocating resources when the goal is individual student achievement at high levels, and outsourcing is possible.

Are you anticipating change “at the speed of blur” by thinking of policy changes today?

What will

Rigor

Relevance

and Relationships

look like in your schools in the 21st century?

“When the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is in sight.”

-- Jack Welch, CEO General Electric

What are the implications for you?

How do you go from facilitating powerful teaching, (the 20th century option . . .)

to focusing on great learning, the 21st century need?

Changing the Essential Questions

You used to ask – “How do we change our school to make it better?”

Now you must ask – “How can I provide the best learning opportunities for each individual student?”

Remember my goals for the session?

1. That everyone knows the answer to the Essential Question

--by heart!

And everyone has 3 concrete ideas about what the answer means for them.

1.

2.

3.

1. Talk to your administrator about the school cell phone use policy

2.

3.

Remember Rex?

If you don’t know how to do something . . .

START!

We can do it!