Month: December 2018

2019, another new year

It is that time again to write my new years resolutions, my pledges for the year ahead and once again I face the same challenge.   I could select SMART targets such as to read 12 books but in picking something so easily measurable there is a danger that I focus on the target, and select 12 books which are shorter and easier to read rather than picking more challenging reads, which may take more time to read however in the long term will be more useful.    There is also danger that I pick a target that I then quickly achieve early in the year, leaving me to look back at the end of 2019 having achieved everything in the first couple of months.    The other option is I pick bigger goals such as to develop my understanding of learning and how individuals learn.    This is a much bigger goal however is difficult to measure in terms of my success in achieving it.

For 2019 my plan is to set some over arching strategic targets, which are big goals, but within each to also indicate some initial shorter SMART targets.   My hope is this should give me a balance of micro and macro level goals.

And so onto the new years resolutions, pledges or goals for the year ahead:

Family                                 

A key target for the year ahead is to have a family holiday together.    This is something we haven’t done for a while, other than last summer.   As such I think this should now become an annual event as it gives the opportunity to spend some uninterrupted family time together, to decompress and to relax.

A wider target would be to make more family time together.   This needs to involve actually sitting down to dinner together, to playing football with my youngest, to going out as a family on the occasional weekend.   Myself and my wife will also need to seek to make more time for each other, with “date night” a clear possibility however given our working patterns we will need to work on resolving the logistical issues.

Exercise, Wellbeing and Reading

This year rather than having separate targets for exercise and readings I have decided to roll them all up into a single area for focus.

In terms of SMART targets, my key targets will be to complete the 9 weeks of Couch to 5K before the end of the calendar year and to read my usual 12 books, one book per month.

Looking towards a wider target, I want to feel happier in myself at the end of the year.   This will mean trying to strike a balance between work and personal life.    In with work I include my efforts in blogging and posting on social media.   My work doesn’t just include my job but includes other tasks and activities which I do as part of my wider professional contribution to education and to IT.  I would also like to start podcasting during 2019 however I need to be conscious that I need to achieve a better work/life balance and to be more comfortable taking time out to relax.

Professional Development

Having achieved certifications in each of the last three years, and conscious of the fact that I will need to re-certify which will require me to repeat my exams, I am not going to set myself a target of a specific certification in 2019.   Instead I am going to focus on some specific areas of interest with these being cyber security and data analytics in particular.   I hope to be able to use Udemy courses and various books as my method of study with a view to being knowledgeable and experienced in relation to these topics by the time 2019 draws to a close.

Work

I have found thinking about work targets a little difficult as I have a number of projects currently underway which therefore could all make for good, SMART, targets.   It is therefore key for me to think about what is most important and for this I think the development of a key statement of the schools IT strategy, to be shared with all staff and pupils, is most important.   Linked to this will be our approach to staff training on EdTech and also our device strategy for the next couple of years.    As it stands we are using 1:1 iPads however with these devices up for review in the next couple of years, now is the time to consider alternatives and make a decision as to the devices we will be using for the next 4 or 5 years.

As a more strategic goal I think my key area to work on in 2019 will be empowering my team such that they can lead on various projects across the school.    I think this year I need to make more use of my middle leaders and their skills, experience and knowledge and support them to be more proactive.

Overall

I have noted on social media a number of people identifying a single word to symbolise their plans for 2019.    I have given this some thought to try and identify what word I would most identify with and in my case it would be:

Balance

I need to reach balance as I seek to engage in social media, contributing to both the education and IT sectors, deliver as a Director of IT, be successful as a family member, father and husband and continue to develop as a professional and a person.    Balance therefore seems like the most important word.    My hope would be that next year when I get to the end of the year I can be more positive on what has been achieved having actually built in time to sit and reflect throughout the year, rather than rushing to cram everything in and finding the year has sped past in the blink of an eye.

And so 2018 draws to a close and 2019 begins.   I look forward to the year ahead which would be my 21st year working within education.    I have worked in international schools, further education, higher education, state schools and now independent schools.    I wonder what new opportunities and challenges I can find or create in the year ahead.

Summary: My 2018

And so another year comes to an end.    2018 has flown by although as I think back I realise how much has been accomplished during the year.   That said the year hasn’t been without its challenges.

In reviewing the year I am going to use the same headings I used when I created my new years resolutions and pledges a year ago.   These seem to make for a sensible framework for writing this review.

Family

During the summer of 2018 was the first time in around 10 years that myself, my wife and our youngest went on a family holiday abroad.    We have each been abroad separately for various reasons, including school trips or returning to the UK while we were living out in the UAE, however we never did these together.     Our week away in Tenerife was both enjoyable and relaxing and something which hopefully we will repeat either this year or next.   The weather was very warm and we went for daily walks, plus had a few beers as well.   The fact that the world cup was on at the same time was also a benefit as we went and watched a few games in a pub on the seafront.   It was all an opportunity to decompress, relax and reorient towards what is important.

During the year I have also spent time out on the football park with my youngest.    This has been nice in spending time together as opposed to both of us sitting on our respective computers either gaming or watching TV or doing work.    It is something I need to do more of.

Looking back on the year though, other than the holiday I don’t think we made enough time for each other as a family and this is something we will all need to consider and work to resolve in 2019.

Fitness

Fitness has long been something I have wanted to improve albeit with very little improvement being made.   I have acknowledged this lack of progress in my review of the year over the last couple of years.   This year I finally made some progress engaging in Couch to 5k.    I managed to get quite a few weeks of running in, running every 3 times per week.    I only managed to get to week 5, however managed to get to this point on multiple occasions before the winter weather and dark mornings kicked in.    In the grand scheme of things only getting to week 5 isn’t a massive achievement but considering my lack of progress over multiple years means it is a major improvement and major progress on my previous level of fitness.   Week 5 means running 3 times per week, for over a month, a level of consistency I have never previously got close to.   I hope to restart my couch to 5k efforts early in the new year as soon as the dark morning cease.

Reading

I continue to enjoy reading and 2018 was no different with me once again working my way through more than 12 books throughout the course of the year.   As before I have tried to pick books across a number of different topic areas, however continue to focus on non-fiction as opposed to fiction.    I think reading across different topics makes the experience of reading more interesting plus is more useful in that it allows me to see different viewpoints on various topics and concepts.   This year neurobiology, digital citizenship and psychology have been just a small number of topics which I have read about.   I have, as I did last year, already started filling my book shelve with my books for 2019.   Christmas marks a great opportunity to get some titles lined up for the year ahead.

Professional Development

2018 saw me complete my CRISC exam and receive certification.   This means I have now achieved CISA, CISSP and CRISC in consecutive years.    On considering my next steps I am conscious that each of these certifications will require me to redo the exam and therefore I am reluctant to take on CISM or CGEIT which are the other two certifications I might otherwise consider.

During 2018 I also started some non-certificated PD in a couple of areas including cyber security and also data analytics.   Sadly in both cases I didn’t make much progress which I suspect was largely due to the lack of a fixed exam date or something to help me maintain my motivation.    This is something I need to bear into consideration in future.

Throughout the year I also engaged in a number of smaller professional development activities relating to specific work areas or areas of personal focus.   This included spending time learning how to better use PowerBI plus learning about GDPR in preparation for the May 2018 implementation date.

Work

GDPR was a significant area of focus during 2018 and I think largely this went well.   There are obviously ongoing requirements in relation to GDPR but I think this is in hand.

It has been a very challenging year for me as Director of IT and I think these challenges will continue into 2019.   That said, if things were easy I would suggest that maybe I am not being innovative enough or seeking new solutions with sufficient vigour.     I need to try to remain more positive and focus on the fact that time often solves issues in a way that simple effort cannot, or at least cannot as easily achieve.

I also need to accept that frustrations will occur especially when dealing with the views and perspectives of others.   I need to be conscious that my “truth” may not necessarily be the truth of others and therefore I need to more appreciative of their views and their truth, and use this to help me in bringing them around to my view or to reaching a negotiated viewpoint.

From a teaching point of view I continue to work with Lower 6 students.   I need to acknowledge that my role and therefore the significant reduction in the time I spend in a classroom has meant I don’t feel things go as well as I would like.    This is something I need to work on in the year ahead, redesigning the way I approach the sessions I deliver.

Conclusion

2018 draws to a close and 2019 is almost upon us.   2018 has been a busy year and in this it has flown by.   I find myself a little bit depressed at the moment and I think that is simply the result of realising I have reached the end of the year, and realising that maybe despite being busy I haven’t achieved as much as I would have liked in the areas I would consider to have been important.   This focus on that which is important is something I will need to be more cognizant of in 2019.    It may also be related to a deflated feeling having reached the end of the year and not being quite so busy, having spent the whole year being very busy.   A lack of a to do list, lessons to do, meetings to attend, etc, leaves me feeling as if something is missing, leading me to feel a little depressed.   I need to be wary of this as life is more than just work, blogging, etc, and sometimes you need to stop and simply enjoy the scenery.

I also think I need to be more conscious of my own feelings and of how to manage these.   The cold wet winter combined with the dark days seem to have made me feel down during the opening months of 2018 when looking back on my journal, and as we again are in winter the same appears to be occurring now, and therefore is likely to continue into the start of 2019.   I need to find a way to manage this in myself possibly through treating myself or finding another way to lift my spirits.

So 2018 is almost finished.   Bring on 2019.   Let me wish you all the very best for 2019.

My 2018 reading list

2018 saw me once again complete my target of reading one book per month, a total of twelve books during the course of the year.

My books this year were:

  • The fourth education revolution, Anthony Seldon
  • Make it stick, Peter C Brown, Henry L Roediger and Mark A McDaniel
  • SUMO (Shut up and move on), Paul McGee
  • The upside of rationality, Dan Ariely
  • Open, David Price
  • The gift of failure, Jessica Lahey
  • Change, Richard Gerver
  • The Cyber Effect, Mary Aiken
  • The $100 Startup, Chris Guillebeau
  • The marshmallow effect, Walker Mischel
  • Mindfulness, Gill Hasson
  • The Art of balance, David J Bookbinder
  • Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, Kathryn Schulz
  • It’s complicated, Danah Boyd

I am also currently part way through Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst by Robert Sapolsky.   Am hoping to have it finished before the year is out but acknowledge that is quite a heavy text which thus far has included plenty of technical discussion of neurobiology.   As such I am not sure if I will manage to complete it this year.

Looking back the book list is a bit of a mix covering various topics including neuroscience, educational technology, the impact of social media and the internet, and mindfulness.

On reflection I think my favourite books from this years reading have to be Make It Stick, Being Wrong and the Cyber Effect.   Make It Stick covers so much about how learning takes place and how a lot of what goes on in the traditional classroom doesn’t align with what research tells us about how we learn.   There are lots of suggestions as to how we might redesign learning or at least experiment in classrooms with different approaches more in line with research findings as to successful learning.   The Cyber Effect presents an interesting exploration of cyberpsychology, exploring how our behaviours online and offline differ.    From the point of view of an educator this has interesting implications for the students within our schools where they are spending more and more time online however personally I believe it has even wider implications for society at large given changing normative behaviour.  And finally, Being Wrong was a book I found very interesting in its coverage of the difficult topic of “being wrong”.    That we as human beings can progress through life in such assuredness as to our correctness, when we are so often wrong, through differing perspective, through inaccurate recollection or memory and through a variety of other errors.  That we can, upon realising our error, change our stance and in the future forget that any such change in position ever occurred.   We are almost hardwired for ease over accuracy.

I am already in the process of building my initial booklist for 2019 with nine books on the list, albeit one of the books is something I have read before.

  • Hamlets Blackberry, William Power
  • Declutter your life, Gill Hasson
  • Twitter Power 2.0, Joel Comm and Anthony Robbins
  • Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman
  • Dare to Lead, Brené Brown
  • The power of meaning, Emily Esfahani Smith
  • The chimp paradox, Steve Peters
  • Mistakes were made (but not by me), Carol Tavris
  • 10 mindframes for visible learning, John Hattie and Klaus Zierer

Here’s to 2019 being another successful and enjoyable year of reading.   As always I am open to suggestions and recommendations so please feel free to share.

Some thoughts on educational research

We want our educational efforts to be informed by research as research will be able to show us what works and what does not.   Hattie’s longitudinal study for example indicated the effect size of various educational interventions, drawn from a large number of studies conducted over a significant period of time.   From this research we can identify the activities that we need to do more of and the activities which have little effect and therefore we shouldn’t spend as much time on.   This all seems simple.    Taking a research informed approach seems logical so why wouldn’t you take this approach?

As is normally the case the world isn’t as tidy and simple as we would like it.    Hattie’s study is a good example of research in that it gathered data from across a number of different studies and contexts, plus over a period of time.   It therefore presented findings which could be more easily generalised across educational settings and contexts.   The issue here is the generalisable nature of the findings.    It means that the findings “generally” hold true.   In specific contexts or situations it is therefore possible that the findings may not hold true.   Looking at education in general this is all well in good but teachers are dealing with individual students in their classrooms and therefore should be seeking to find what works for each child.    Holding too strong a view in relation to research findings may lead to practices that don’t work with certain students being applied because the research shows they “generally” work.   Worse still it could lead to practices that do work in a given situation and/or context being labelled as “generally” inappropriate and not being tried.     We need to see educational research as a guide but be careful to understand that in some situations, doing the opposite may equally be effective.

Hattie’s study is based on a thorough and large data set meaning its statistical reliability is reasonable high.   One problem with educational research is that most studies are not based on such a large data set.   They are often based on a very small sample of schools and students.   Studies are often conducted within a specific context such as a certain geographical area, national or region culture, certain age range or curriculum subject.    The validity of the findings when generalised outside the context of the study is often questionable.   I remember my own masters level study when we were guided on the need to state that the findings “suggested” or “pointed towards” as opposed to “demonstrating” or “showing” something to be true.   You will find in most good education research a similar language in the conclusions.    Without a large amount of data gathered from different contexts across a period of time it is highly unlikely any research findings can be generally applied across all or even most educational contexts.    Even where findings are generalizable this doesn’t mean they are replicable in an individual context.

I need to be clear, I am not saying we shouldn’t use educational research in directing practice in individual schools and classrooms.   What I am saying is we should do so with an awareness of the limitations, and bear these in mind.

Working with a Surface Go: Week 2

Have now reached the end of my 2nd week using a MS Surface device as my main device.   Must admit the Go continues to grow on me as a device, however there are a few compromises or issues.

During the week I managed to get a Microsoft wireless display adapter.    This is a very simply little device which just plugs into a display or data projector via HDMI and then gets its power from the USB connection on the display device.   As such it was very simple to setup.   Following setup my first concern was the unit we had appeared to have very limited range, and therefore my Go didn’t pick it up despite being only a couple meters away.   I suspect if deploying to classrooms across school we would need to consider an Enterprise grade solution as opposed to these adapters, so that connection could be via the school Wi-Fi, given our Wi-Fi coverage is very good.   Once connected managing the settings of the adapter was easy.  It was simply a case of downloading the appropriate app, connecting to the adapter and then controlling it from there, including setting a password so that pupils cant simply change the setup plus also setting a pin code to stop pupils connecting across classrooms.   All very easy to do such that the adapters could be quickly and easily deployed however the range would be a concern.   Once going I really liked that while presenting via my Go device, it hid my email pop ups.   As such no GDPR issues with email details showing in pop ups which appear on displays for all pupils to see.

This week I started making greater use of inking to take notes and annotate documents.   I don’t particularly like Edge as a browser, preferring Chrome however liked I liked the ability to use Edge to display a web page then to use inking for highlighting and annotating the page before saving this to OneNote for later review or to share with pupils.   I could see real potential in the use of this functionality in lessons.

OneNote in particular has came into its own this week in being able to drop documents into a page for reference, or to drop them in as a print, for annotation.  I have also spent more time taking notes on screen using the stylus, having decided to force myself to do this.   Normally I carry a blue book around with me to write my notes, thoughts, etc, in so this week to force myself to use the Go I locked my blue book away.   It tool a little bit of time to get used to drawing on the screen and the different sensation provided when compared with writing on paper.  In addition it also took time to get used to the smaller writing surface of the Go when compared to an A4 book.  I know that a Surface Pro would provide me a bigger surface than the Go however it would also result in surfacing some of the portability and weight benefits presented by the Go, not to mention the additional cost.   Once I got use to the smaller screen size I quickly started scrolling around in OneNote to take my notes, and then zooming in and out to review or edit.    It didn’t take me long before this was working well and I could quickly take my notes as before.

I did during the week have one issue with my Go when it seemed to get stuck logging me in while I was chairing a meeting.   This was a little annoying as I needed to rely on others to remind me of the agenda given I couldn’t access it on my device while it logged in.    This continues to be a concern, in the little glitches that occur in using a windows device versus the more reliable nature of an iPad.   The flip side though to this is that the Go and Windows provide me a full desktop experience and allow me to do much more than the apps on an iPad.    This therefore is a decision of accepting which trade offs you are willing to make.   For now my trial with the Surface Go will continue, and I will make a decision further down the line once I have more time with the device under my belt.   The dreaded Windows Update also made an appearance during the week, however thankfully not at a critical point in my day.

One of my concerns with the Go has always been the overall processing power of the device so this week I decided to put some of that to the test.   I opened a couple of large spreadsheets in addition to my email, plus also tried working in PowerBI.   All in all the Go was a little slow however not significantly slow.   It actually pleasantly surprised me in its ability to handle this processing work.  I will note that a larger spreadsheet with pivot tables, etc, is likely to cause to Go to pause as it processes the data, however for the normal kind of data I would expect to see teachers using, including tracking sheets, the Go should be up to the task.

And so my second week with the Surface Go had a few issues, but it hasn’t had me reaching back for my laptop and A4 book.   I am even using the Go to type this post, sat on my couch, with the Go perched on my lap.    Onwards to week 3.

 

 

 

 

 

Teacher5aday calendar: Dec 1st

 

Taking up the #Teacher5aday Calendar challenge see below for my “3 things you are most looking forward to over the festive period”

One of the things I am looking forward to doing over the Christmas break is reading.   I currently have just started reading Behave by Robert Sapolsky however haven’t made much progress in the last week or so.   I note that it is quite a substantial book running at 675 pages excluding the appendices.   I also have a book on Data Science which has been sat on my bedside table for a while now.

I am also looking forward to doing my annual reflection and pledge.    Actually setting time aside to look back on 2018 and the successes and challenges is very useful.  In the day to day it is often difficult to see what has been accomplished so to put time aside to actually sit down an reflect is very useful   It is also useful to consider those things which haven’t been done and those things I want to tackle in the year ahead, and to put some initial prioritization into these, identifying what is really important and what is less so.

And my final item is family time.   My wife will be largely busy during Christmas so I will be stealing whatever time she has free, and outside this plan to spend some time with my son working on our new PC and also having a kick around on the football park.      We are hopefully going to explore podcasting and video/audio editing which is something we both have an interest in.