gregdavis's Blog
Greg D, Male
Member For: 5 months, 1 week
Posts: 18
Posts: 18
Member of: 2008 CASTLE Book Club - Group 5.
Top Post By gregdavis (1 thumbs up):
From time to time when reading about characteristics of "successful" schools I see mention of the idea that graduates in those schools are able to identify adult advocates that helped them along the way in their education. I'm thinking that the advocates are a successful way to mitigate the effects of the code of silence that probably even exists to some extent in the successful schools. The advocates help get the truth, good and bad, out about learners in the system.
- from the topic: Educational Code of Silence??
Recent Posts by gregdavis:
Re: Now what?
August 11, 2008 by gregdavis
I'd definitely be interested in doing this again next summer with another title, and recruiting others that I work with to be part of it. I didn't push it this time because I wanted to try it out for myself first.
Re: Now what?
August 8, 2008 by gregdavis
I'm considering using the Influencer worksheet from the web site to help design a simple influencing project that I can use to gain some influencing practice. Nothing that's going to change the world, but something worthwhile. I'm hoping the worksheet will give me enough structure to develop a plan that incorporates the fundamental Influencer concepts.
Re: Educational Code of Silence??
July 16, 2008 by gregdavis
From time to time when reading about characteristics of "successful" schools I see mention of the idea that graduates in those schools are able to identify adult advocates that helped them along the way in their education. I'm thinking that the advocates are a successful way to mitigate the effects of the code of silence that probably even exists to some extent in the successful schools. The advocates help get the truth, good and bad, out about learners in the system.
Re: Professional Social Capital
July 16, 2008 by gregdavis
I think if you reign in the social capital in a school setting to only the professional social capital, you're un-necessarily limiting your ability to generate social capital. Other constituent groups, for example parents, can be strong sources of social capital for a school. And technology tools, such as student information system portals, offer new ways to engage parents and build social capital. 7 years ago we ran a parent portal pilot project in one of our middle schools. We ran with due to the support of a core group of leading edge technologists in the school. It crashed and burned miserably because we could generate a core mass of social capital at the time. Now, seven years later, we are turning a parent portal on in our district this fall, district wide. It is being demanded by our parents. Teachers that may have chosen to resist the portal seven years ago aren't going to have a choice this time. It's going to happen. I'm not saying that this is good or bad, but simply an example of the power of social capital when the population grows beyond the professional staff.
Re: Can We Change Staff Development?
July 10, 2008 by gregdavis
Hi Dan,
It will be interesting to hear back in a couple months that in the 08-09 PD plan you end up with, if the key behaviors identified end up being mostly student behaviors or staff behaviors that need modification.
Greg
Re: Can Professional Learning Communities (PLC) provide a basis for changing personal ability?
July 10, 2008 by gregdavis
I'm thinking the answers you're seeking lie in the peer pressure power that we'll be discussing more in the upcoming chapters....
Re: Can We Change Staff Development?
July 6, 2008 by gregdavis
Rob,You provide three great examples of PD that worked well. You learned new skills in a way that they stuck. But looking back do you think these types of opportunities to practice what you learn also has created any changes in the way you approach learning... i.e. in your learning behavior? I'm wondering if there are three layers to PD... the first layer is disseminating new information, the next layer is to have the learning "stick", and the third layer deals with behavior changes in the learners that plays into future learning.
Greg
Can Professional Learning Communities (PLC) provide a basis for changing personal ability?
July 1, 2008 by gregdavis
One of the buzz words heard often today in K-12 education, especially related to the topic of professional development, is Professional Learning Communities. Richard Dufour is considered one of the leading proponents of PLCs, and he says that PLCs (when done correctly) focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively, and hold the members accountable for results (sounds like Delancey). Here's a link to an article that discusses some of the fundamental elements of PLCs according to Dufour. I'm wondering, if a goal of a PLC was to not just learn but also modify behavior, does the self directed structure of a PLC allow for members to change their ability? From a learning perspective, there seems to be a lot of power in learning collaboratively with your peers. This book club is a case in point. But what is going to drive PLCs to also produce behavior change in their members. Has anyone in the club been involved in a PLC that resulted in not just new learning, but change in behavior?
Re: Power Of Relationships
June 25, 2008 by gregdavis
I'd suggest this observation supports the authors' premise that social pressure can exert influence towards target behavior. Employees in a school apparently are going to come under the influence of social influence regardless if it's organized or not. In this example when the events were planned, the social influence was harnessed in some part towards organizational objectives. When the organized events stopped, the social networking didn't necessarily stop with it... it just became more unfocused. The employees exposed to both environments probably felt a loss, even if they weren't 100% on board with the planned events at the start. With nothing to fill the void, it would seem easy to become disgruntled, which could lead to school culture problems.
Re: Teacher Change: Can they Do It? Is it worth it?
June 21, 2008 by gregdavis
I know the work you're doing is required and pre-requisite, and adds value. When it comes to technology integration, teachers do have to gain that sense of "I can do this." But there is so much more potential for learning than I previously recognized. Getting teachers to the point of "I can do this" is not the end point... it's the starting point. It gets them in the game. I wonder how many of them will actually use their new found confidence to influence the learning behaviors of their students at some point down the road? I wonder if they will recognize they have a new and powerful tool (technology) with which to do this.
Re: Step 2
June 21, 2008 by gregdavis
Hi David... you hit on something I've been wondering about. Kotter's writing on transformational change talks a lot about needing to build the case for change, and how great leaders are able to expound on their case for change. I often go into my own staff meetings armed with data that supports my arguments for things we need to change and do better. But I haven't seen that so much in the Influencer work. The Influencer authors focus more about using stories to influence the masses as opposed to using a case for change rah-rah approach. Any thoughts back about this???
Re: Teacher Change: Can they Do It? Is it worth it?
June 20, 2008 by gregdavis
You may already do this, but after reflecting on the discussion so far in our book study, as your class does their report outs, I'd be listening to see how many of the observations of student engagement get to student behaviors as opposed to student outcomes. Are the teachers you're working with talking about how students demonstrated targeted behaviors, or talking about how they demonstrated curriculum objectives. For example, do they talk about how a student developed a nice Powerpoint presentation about their project that included an embedded video clip, or do they talk about how the student spent an extra hour researching online help to determine how to embed the video clip in their work instead of just blowing it off.
Re: Teacher Change: Can they Do It? Is it worth it?
June 19, 2008 by gregdavis
In the summer credit courses you work with, do the teachers share stories (good and bad) of their own technology integration efforts?
Re: NCLB as an outcome...
June 18, 2008 by gregdavis
I'm a fan of McRel's work, but I'm not sure that instructional strategies are the same as "Influencer" behaviors. The key behavior is for teachers to be working to engage students by differentiating their instruction to meet the needs of the student. Teaching the Marzano instructional strategy framework is a start, but it will fall flat if the behaviors required to implement the framework with fidelity don't come along for the ride.
Re: Do you think of yourself as an influencer? Do educators?
June 15, 2008 by gregdavis
Do you normally think of yourself as an influencer? Is your answer different for either your professional or personal life?I've thought of myself for a long time as a consensus builder. I believe that, especially related to transformational change, work is going to be more sustainable when the whole team is engaged and "buy-in" to the goals. I avoid at least the appearance of being an influencer, at least as far as forcing the work of the team. But once the team is set and has the objective in mind, then I'm able to participate in the role of influencer or change agent, in both my personal and professional existence.Do you think educators see themselves as influencers? If so, how does this manifest itself in their behavior? If not, why not?
Educators see themselves as teachers. I believe we work as much as time permits to individualize instruction to maximize its effectiveness. We employee many methods, both research based and/or intuitive, to help our students learn. Everyday we assume the role of influencer. But it's very easy for our effort as influencer to become unfocused. The demands are great and the time is limited. The concept of identifying a few key behaviors to target is attractive, but does such an influencer target list exist for the groups of 25-30 diverse students found in our classrooms today?
Re: Kathy Perret
June 10, 2008 by gregdavis
Nice to meet you. I get a chance to collaborate with people in the Sioux City Schools through the Urban Education Network. I talk with John Pritchard up there from time to time.
Greg Davis
June 9, 2008 by gregdavis
Hello all. I'm the Executive Director for Technology in the Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS). I've worked in that capacity at DMPS for the last 12 years. I'm also a school board member in a neighboring school district where I live. I recently completed my PhD work at Iowa State University where Scott was my major professor. My dissertation research was tied to the subject of education technology leadership. My wife Amy is a CFO, my son Calvin will be a senior in college and my daughter Haley will be a high school senior.
