The Great, The Good, The Sad - ISTE Weekend

ISTE 2015 weekend was an absolute whirlwind!  I had the opportunity to attend Tomorrow's Classrooms Today, an invite only pre-ISTE party, and ISTE2015.  To attend all of these events, I am beyond fortunate to work for a district that strongly believes in investing in our students, teachers and our community. Yet, more importantly, I am blessed to have an amazing wife and son who understand my passion to better their lives and the lives of others.

However, I must admit that this post will not be completely positive, as I have done in the past. Don't get me wrong, there were SO MANY outstanding ideas and conversations that took place this weekend, however, I was disappointed as well. 

My thoughts from ISTE weekend:

The Great: Tomorrow's Classrooms Today was a big success for the great guys, Evolving Educators, who put it together. I was greeted at the registration table by Jerry Blumengarten, aka @Cybraryman, who quite honestly said the most humbling words that I have heard in a while: "Glenn, why can't their be more principals like you." Honestly, it completely caught me off guard and I was at a loss of words. I still am, but I do know that I am only as good as the people around me. Then I had the opportunity to meet so many passionate educators for the first time face to face as I had known them for over a year or two thanks to Twitter. The conversations were AMAZING, as they were real, authentic, and focused, as if nothing else mattered in the world at that time. What's not to love when passionate people come together to share ideas/stories to improve the lives of students, teachers, and community stakeholders. 

The Good: With only one day to fully "conquer" ISTE, I walked the entire expo floor, sat in on a few sessions, and had some great face to face conversations with PLN members. Yes, I would have loved to have had more than one day, but I didn't. However, when I left, I had an incredible, positive headache. On the expo floor some vendors provided  interesting ideas/products to take back to my staff, while others were mediocre. 

Personally, my main focus was updating learning environment furniture (trying to not say classroom), yet there was very limited furniture there to sample. 

The Sad: Without mentioning names, I was disappointed by the actions of some "edustars".  This is by no means a gripe session, or pity me, but a hopeful wake up call to them. When I tried to speak with these individuals, I couldn't help to feel judged, deemed unworthy, and looked down upon. Perhaps they were having a bad day, were tired, or just didn't care. Yet, I couldn't help to think, has this "connected celebrity status" gone to their heads? I found it sad that the mindset of "look at me" overruled "we practice what we preach, and make a positive difference in all lives." Are we not educators who preach to our students to be respectful, don't judge a book by a cover, and don't forget where you came from? 

Yes, being "connected" is creating "edu-celebrities." Yet, I can't stress it enough: remember back to your college days when you wanted to be an educator. You wanted to make a difference in the lives of others, instead of seeking personal glory. 

Just my thoughts... 

A true champion of education and remarkable scholar, Jerry Blumengarten aka @cybraryman1 

A true gentleman, passionate educator, and outstanding father/blogger, Jon Harper aka @jonharper70bd 

Jeff Bradbury aka @teachercast setting up for his intensive ISTE2015 podcasting schedule. Thanks for allowing me to be a part of it. 

Outstanding session lead by the amazing Matt Miller aka @jmattmiller

My great friend and tech wizard, Aleng Phommathep aka @alengman being interviewed by ISTE TV.

True Leaders Are Everywhere In Our Schools

"To lead people, walk beside them. As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence ... When the best leader's work is done, the people say, 'We did it ourselves!'" – Lao Tsu, Chinese philosopher 

As the sun sets on another school year, promotion exercises and graduation ceremonies are upon us. It's the time of the year when principals, superintendents, distinguished guest, and student speakers are placed in front of large crowds to offer a message for others to hopefully remember.  They are the ones that are remembered for their powerful speeches and all that they do for the school. Yet, the ones that truly deserve the recognition, are often the ones hidden in the crowd.

Think for a moment of who sent out all the invitations, ordered the diplomas/cap and gowns, organized the website for live streaming, set up the student seating charts/walking procedures, and placed the chairs/tables on the floor. Who labored through an entire year dealing with various questions, and specifications for that one special night? Was it just the superintendent or principal? No, it is the numerous other leaders in the building that make these magical nights happen.  Yes, I am talking about the teachers, secretaries, custodians, and IT department!

Each year, I am blessed to work in a school that is clearly, OUR school.  These individuals put their blood, sweat, and team pride into their projects to make US have one of the best ceremonies around.  They do it, because the students deserve nothing but the best. And at the completion of it all, they all look around and say, "Wow, that was great, but how can we make it better next year?" This is true staff leadership/voice at its finest, as they have such a strong desire to imagine new innovative ways to better each other.

I am very grateful for those that I work with, and appreciate how we all have respected voices in the process.  We all make each other better, which in turn creates an incredible place to work.

THANK YOU TO ALL THAT MADE OUR YEAR COME TO A FANTASTIC END! I am beyond proud of all of you! #NCSPRIDE

If you are interested in watching an HD 1080p broadcasting of an 8th grade promotion ceremony, please watch the following.  Thanks @Alengman 

Streamed Live and Recorded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tT_U_NjlAk&feature=youtu.be 

My Speech for 2015:

Good Evening 

I would like to a take a moment to thank our mayor, Erland Chau, Assemblyman Mazzeo, our distinguished guests, our amazing parents, Mrs. Vaccaro, Mrs. Dye, Board of Education members, and our outstanding staff who make our school one of the finest in the state. 

I would also like to take a moment to thank my mentor, and our interim superintendent, Mr. Robert Garguilo for his relentless dedication, support and leadership to our great community.

Tonight, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my distinct pleasure to present to you the class of 2015.

For the majority of you, the past nine years, our school, has been your second home. I am sure that it probably felt like it was just yesterday, when you walked into your kindergarten classroom for the first time. Through good times and rough times, our staff and your classmates became part your family.  Yet, little did you realize, that as you grew, the staff in the school grew with you. Their desire, and passion to see that you received nothing but a top notch education became stronger, because of who you were becoming: young future leaders who want to make a positive difference in our world.  

Albert Einstein once stated,  “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.”  I ask that you never stop embracing the notion of Wonder. It is your curiosity, imagination and willingness to challenge status quo that will truly change the world.  In your days ahead, I promise that you will be asked numerous times, what do you want to do for a living? Yes, this a question that will not escape your future. Even as you sit here tonight, I am sure that some of you are probably wondering this very question right now.  However, the question that I wish to instil upon you is, What problem in the world do you want to solve? Think for a moment of all the times you watched the news, read about your social media pages, and wondered why does that happen.  Yet, it continues to happen over and over again.  With wonder, curiosity and imagination, you all have an opportunity to make a difference, and leave a mark on this world that could always be remembered.  Yet, as you grow older, these traits begin to shrink, because of tradition and status quo. I urge you to never surrender these traits as they may be the key to unlocking some of the world’s biggest mysteries.  

No matter where you are in the future, you will be faced with many challenges, and I encourage you to look into your years of education at NCS and remember how much you have grown and who you truly are. Ignore negative people, and lean on your true friends who stand by you through trying times. Even when you are questioned as to why you are challenging the notion of status quo, do not forget that in order to solve our problems, you cannot use the same thinking that created them.  

Continue to make us proud, and always remember that you are ready for any situation that presents itself to you.  

Yes, the speech my be short, but as my mentor, Robert Garguilo always says, "Be brief, be bold, be gone." 

Congratulations to the Class of 2015!

Who Do You Appreciate...Fake Assembly

Have you ever been to an assembly that didn't turn out the way you thought it would go? Sure, we all have! Yet, let's take that question a step further where the Lead Learner lied to the entire staff about the presentation? I'm sure many of you are now questioning why would such a thing ever happen, and what type of person would do such a thing? 

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I lied to my entire staff and did it to them on the first day of Teacher Appreciation Week! 

Ok, seriously, what kind of a leader does that to such a valuable group of individuals whose sole purpose in life is to improve the lives of young children? 

This Lead Learner did, with the help of the entire student body! Yes, we faked an assembly and it was AWESOME!

Two weeks ago, I called our student council officers into my office and asked if they would be willing to help me pull off a crazy idea.  I explained to the five officers that I needed them to interview students through the school day, before or after school without being caught. They were instructed to ask each student if they'd be willing to share a "Thank You" to a teacher that made a difference in their lives this year or in the past. Then they had the toughest job in the world to do: telling their own classmates (grades 5-8) that they couldn't say a word to any of their teachers. YES, A MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT HOLDING A SECRET IS TOUGH. THE THOUGHT OF ASKING SO MANY OF THEM TO DO IT WAS SCARY, BUT EXTREMLY TRUSTWORTHY. 

After much stealth work by our officers, they reconvened in my office where they downloaded each video clip and created a short video that would be shown at the assembly. They even called in one of their tech squad friends instead of our IT department to help finalize the video. Yet, we still needed a way to make the assembly seem so real that no one would know that it was fake. As a big believer in student voice, I asked the officers for their ideas, and wow, they were great!  

They came to an agreement that the beginning of the video should have an two anti-bullying slides, followed by static. Then after 30 seconds of static, the video transitioned to: THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR TEACHERS, followed by each student's thank you. BUT...

We still needed to add some dramatics. We planned that I would lead the assembly by explaining that I was able to bring in a top anti-bullying speaker last minute. Then, while explaining what the assembly was about, I was to take a fake phone call at the podium. I was to walk out in frustration and say I'm so sorry but I need to take this. I would then say that maybe our student council officers could assist me while I was talking to the missing speaker. The officers then would walk in as I walked out of the gym and take over. They would pretend to lead the assembly and try to fix/play the video. After 30 seconds of faking it, they would sit down and I would come back in. When the video made its way to the static, I was to act frustrated again to them. Then the magic would begin!

Yes, the student body and I lied to the staff, but it was worth every second of it! As the video played, the emotions that I felt from seeing their facial expressions were priceless. At the conclusion of the video, I took the mic and asked that each teacher stand. Then the entire student body gave them a huge round of applause which they so deserved. 

Thank you to all of my staff as they constantly strive to enhance the lives of our students! Thank you to all the great educators that I had in my life!

Here is a link to their video: http://youtu.be/86BuXG_dryo 

Grateful To Be A Connected Educator

This past Sunday, I was contacted by a good friend, colleague, and member of my PLN, stating that he was nominating me for the Middle School Principal #bammyawards http://www.bammyawards.org/nominations/index.php/component/content/article/57-middle-school-leader/1668-glenn-robbins.html  The person who went out of his way on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to nominate me was none other than Steve Santilli (@SPSantilli). 

I am very much humbled and honored by his nomination as he a remarkable Lead Learner and Bammy award recipient that I am proud to call him my friend. 

Being a connected educator has opened my eyes to innovative ways to improve my school that I never knew were possible. It allowed me to connect with outstanding educators who were willing to share their success stories as well as their failures, all in hopes that someone would build off of it to make their school communities better. 

You would think that in our highly competitive society, individuals would not be willing to "share their secrets" to success without compensation in return. Yet, I believe I speak for many of us that it's about bettering each other, our teachers, our schools, and most importantly our students! No egos are needed if you want to make an impact in a student's life. 

There are so many amazing educators in our country and they all deserve to be nominated. All you need to do is simply go to www.bammyawards.org and provide a voice for someone who deserves it. If you're still unsure as to who to nominate, you can still vote for others. Stand up and let someone know what they mean to you. 

Personally, my "award" is seeing the dramatic transformation that my school has gone through in my three years there. To have staff and students smiling each day as they enter the building means everything to me. As with any new position this was a challenge at first, but the hard work was certainly worth it.  The process of placing people before programs through trust, respect, empathy, encouragement of autonomy, and transparency has been an "award" for all at our school. Students and staff are given a voice, which resulted in outstanding ideas. They are trusted and respected to utilize a BYOD program when many schools in our area still collect electronics from students and staff are written up for having their devices out. The cultural transformation, while developing a 21st century learning environment that strives on teacher pedagogy of risk taking, and not being micromanaged or yelled at has been an "award." Everyone is as good as those around us. I am grateful for the team of teachers, students, families, and all community stakeholders who make OUR school better. 

Nothing makes me more proud than having our ambassadors (staff and students) bragging to their familes and friends about how incredible their school is. No piece of hardware could ever triumph the joy of teachers and students learning in an educational environment that strives to be better each day. 

Lastly, I am whole heartedly grateful for the votes being submitted to me. The words being shared about me to the Bammy community has been one of the most powerful, emotional forces to ever "hit me." The words, thank you, cannot be said enough! Those votes/statements are the best "award" that I could ever receive. As I mentioned earlier, everything that I do, is to enhance the lives of all of those around me. 

I can certainly promise everyone that I will work harder than ever to ensure that I will not let anyone of your words go to waste. 

My vision and goals each day are to provide an educational environment that truly prepares our students for their future and not ours. 

Are We There Yet?

After having a half day scheduled, I waited for all my students to leave the school yard and then proceeded to head home to begin Spring Break. When I quickly arrived home, I switched my outfit, double checked the house, and then began our drive to Florida. My amazing wife, my son Henry (just turned 3 years old), and I could not have been in the car for more than 30 minutes when he asked us the dreaded question. "Are we there yet?"  I quickly looked at my wife as she did to me and instantly we asked at the same time, "did you teach him that?"  Turns out, neither of us had ever stated it before, so he must had picked it from somewhere. As we continued our 16 hour ride down to Florida, Henry must had asked that question at least seven more times. Yet, as I drove through the night, "are we there yet" stuck in my head.

As we continued to drive, I recalled an outstanding opportunity that I was invited to: Digital Learning Day, in Washington DC, thanks to Tom Murray (@thomasmurray). During my short time there, I had dinner with some of the finest minds in education today: Eric Sheninger, Tom Murray, Rich Kiker, Erin Klein, Tony Sinanis, Joe Sanfelippo, Kyle Pace, Amber Teamann, Angela Watsen, and Steven Anderson. I even used Uber for the first time with Rich Kiker, Eric Sheninger and Joe Sanfelippo. That as you could imagine was a hilarious ride. The following day was filled with workshops focused on celebrating Digital Learning Day, which featured speeches by Governor Bob Wise, Secretary of Edcuation Arne Duncan, and CEO of the National Board, Ronald Thorpe. The day also consisted of "#FutureReady" workshops lead by my dinner companions. 

When we crossed into South Carolina, I began to think of the Common Core State Standards and its push to make schools/students to be leaders in "college and career readiness." 

I thought of my time at the Executive Summit at FETC this past December where professionals shared stories about their schools, and my new superintendent looking over at me saying, "you already do all of this. We are ahead of the game." Yet, my response was "Thank you as we worked hard to get where we are, but my new challenge is finding new innovative ways for our students to stay ahead."

I love the idea of moving our students, staff, and school communities forward to be Future Ready and College and Career Readiness. My vision and goals since arriving at my amazing school have been to prepare the students for their future and not ours. 

We increased instructional time, created/implementation of BYOD, revamped classroom furniture, created a culture that focuses on PBL, genius hour, e-portfolios, created a hallway makerspace during passing, flipped lessons/faculty meetings, provided educational learning advancements for staff by sharing resources, and 20% time to name just a few reforms. 

The main focus was to create an educational setting where students and staff know that they are trusted, respected, allowed to take risk, becoming more empathetic and increasing autonomy. 

As one of my newly hired teacher's stated to me during a reflective discussion about our time at #EdcampSoJersey, "you know I feel like you are leading us as if we are all participating in a school genius hour project. We follow a curriculum and have the freedom to choose how to teach it with your support to take risk, be innovative, and not being micromanaged." 

Yet, as I thought about all of this and more driving through the night, I could help to wonder if "are we there yet?"

With all the mandated reforms, laws, and policies that have been occurring in our educational profession, the question shouldn't be "are we there yet," as I wonder if "will we ever be there?" 

We have an outstanding school that is constantly trying to push staff and students to be Future Ready and College and Career ready, but will we ever get there? After attending several conferences in the last few months, I wondered how many schools are still trying to "get there" by continuing with traditional methods?

When Henry asked one last time before falling asleep for the night, I responded, "not yet buddy, but Daddy is working hard to get us there!"

So I ask you- Are we there yet, and will we ever be there? When we get there is it enough, or will we want/need to go further? 

Driving break 

After driving 16 straight hours we had to catch a lizard at 6:30am. 

Abby and Henry enjoying the beautiful weather at the inlet.

Is That In Your Job Description?

We must become the change we want to see in the world.— Mahatma Gandhi

This past week, while I was shoveling snow at our middle school entrance I had several parents and staff walk by me and ask, "is that in your job description?"

Of course, without losing a step in my shoveling duty, I replied, "Yes, I'm responsible for the safety and well being of all the students and staff." (Little did they know at the time that our dedicated superintendent was doing the same thing on the other side of the building.)

Yet, to my unbeknownst, when I asked one of our well known veterans why everyone reacted that way, she stated that they had never seen an administrator get their hands dirty, let alone shovel snow. 

As the week concluded, that question, "is that in your job description" was still lingering in my head.  I also could not help to wonder why is it that some parts of our society still has a fixed mindset as to what a principal (Lead Learners) does during the day?

Below is just a small sample of this past week:

-Privileged and honored to speak to Dr. Michael Curran's class of pre-service student teachers at Rider University. Being that the course title was Social Media in Education, I couldn't resist the urge to share how being a connected educator has helped my staff, students and I to create an amazing passionate learning culture in our building. It was also an opportunity to discuss methods and ideas with an passionate professor and a group of future educational minds. (Follow them at @mgcjusa and  #tec207)

-Attended a board of education meeting for 3 1/2 hours and developed ideas as to district and school goals to become more rigorous in our academics. Many thanks to a presentation by a representative from the NJ School Boards Association. 

-Sent out numerous email blasts with an abundance of resources to not only improve teachers' daily lessons to strengthen our students skills, but also to create a growth mindset that we are role models of life long learners. These resources ranged from curriculum improvement, technology apps/websites to improve their instructional lessons, and blog post from various educators from across the globe who were willing to share their stories.  Those who work in my school know that these are all suggestions as I empower them with trust, respect, and empathy to create a future ready school. 

-Improving my craft as a Lead Learner by going for my doctorate degree.  Each night I take time to read or produce required assignment per class.  I also take the time to utilize Twitter to share and grow with my PLN.  As a Lead Learner in my building, it is my responsibility to improve my personal craft so that I can be a role model while assisting my staff and students. 

-Setting up (yes, manual labor) for standardized testing and working with an outstanding team of individuals (testing coordinator, school coordinator, IT, secretary, and custodial) to be ready for day one of testing.  

-Oh yea, don't forget about: staff observations, student/parent communications, curriculum revisions, lunch duty, school security meetings, celebrating a 90th birthday of a beloved cafeteria lady, overseeing our spelling bee, meeting with vendors, announcing students of the month, union leadership collaborative meetings, counseling/cheerleading students/staff, setting up a class trip, and questioning students about what they were working on each day.  

Yes,  I know I left out so many more details as to what takes place in a day/week, but I wanted to reinforce the point of this post. 

When it comes to being a Lead Learner - EVERYTHING IS IN OUR JOB DESCRIPTION BECAUSE WE CARE AND WANT TO MAKE A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE! 

What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.— Nelson Mandela

The Ones Who See Things Differently (NCMS Makerspace)

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… The ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Steve Jobs

In the field of education, so many of our brightest students fit the very definition provided by Steve Jobs. We are not asking that students break the rules and cause total chaos, but we are asking them to use their creativity and imagination that they have within them to provide us with something that makes a difference for others.  

A Night at the Roxbury, is definitely not one of my favorite movies, and some of you may be laughing that I even considered listing this movie, but it had one line that forever stuck with me, "What if the outside of the club looked like the inside?" 

Take a moment to think of a school hallway and the actions that take place while students switch classes at passing time. (Yes, I know some of you at this very moment are smiling and reliving old high school glory days.) Besides students stopping at their lockers and chatting with friends, it's also a time where various activities occur, ranging from leaning on walls or tapping on lockers to bigger discipline issues. 

As I researched many articles, partook in social media chats and had various discussions with other educators about Makerspaces, it always seemed to promote the same idea, makerspace areas need to be in a classroom or media center. 

Once again, I decided that my students deserved the best, but why should it be limited to a select classroom area. 

Our makerspace was placed in the hallway! 

Yes, we placed robotic Legos and had Aleng, our IT Coordinator (@Alengman) place a disassembled computer with a monitor on a table for our students to utilize during passing.

Computer Assembled

Yes it's in a hallway for students to use during passing! 

A sign was placed on the monitor and stated that whoever could fix the computer to work would recieve a prize. What took place the following morning brought joy to many of the teachers who observed an amazing situation occurring, which was students wasted little time at their locker and went directly to the table. Some designed the Lego robotics while others tried to assist each other in trying to assemble a computer to work again. Instead of talking about the football game the day before or leaning against their locker, they worked collaboratively in a positive manner that had not been witnessed before. 

By the following morning, a sign was placed on the computer by a student who claimed he fixed it. Upon calling the student down to demonstrate to Aleng, Andrew (our other IT specialist) and I, we couldn't help to think of Good Will Hunting, as this student took it upon himself to fix the computer after school hours. When he arrived, he demonstrated what he did, and then powered it up with a huge smile on his face. He was so proud as to what he had done, that he didn't even ask for the prize.  (Yes, I did remind him that he was getting a prize when I called his parents to tell them how proud we were of him).

Later on in the morning, other students started to line up and noticed a sign announcing that someone assembled the computer correctly. Then to my delighted surprise, I was hit with numerous questions:

-Could we have a software challenge next time?

-Could we have a section for just girls, as we want to show the boys up?

-Could we have another chance at that computer? 

-Could we create our own computer from scratch?

Their passionate questions continued for several minutes and all I could respond was, YES!

The best part of it all was that the students understood that they are given responsibility, trust and respect from us and in return they are rewarding us with trust and respect back. They didn't need to be watched over and told what to do. They just needed a chance to use their creative imaginations to make something.