Reflection

Passion Projects

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

It’s been awhile since I posted, but time has completely flown by this year! And, I am FINALLY getting a chance to enjoy this new chapter in my professional career as a learning consultant.

Finally.

Although the start of 2022 was a continuation of challenges from 2020 and 2021, it also afforded me the opportunity to make some rather large changes professionally. This was not a bad thing.

Leaving the classroom (and my kids) behind at the end of the semester in January was hard. And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I missed being with them. Because my good friends are still holding down the fort at my old school, I was privy to the activities and other things that were happening on campus. And I was also able to see some of the end-of-the-year pictures which brought tears to my eyes as I saw my 8th graders (some of whom I taught as 7th graders, too) smiling as they enjoyed the last dance of the school year and wearing the biggest grins as they walked across the stage at Commencement. It made my heart happy to know that they (that we) survived the last two years with a shifting school schedule and policy/mandates. And, I loved the sweet messages from my 7th and 8th graders in the send-off video my dear friend and Journalism advisor put together for me. =)

After I made the decision to leave the classroom, it gave me time to really think about what it is that I wanted to do . . . next. I was fortunate find two different companies who offered me projects that kept me busy. I’ve done a bit of curriculum writing, research, and tons of professional development workshops. (And I’ve had the chance to work with people from a variety of organizations whose goal is to make learning fun, engaging, and meaningful for students. Yay!) Most of these projects were within my comfort zone–with a few that were solidly at the edge of my zone of proximal development. Luckily for me, I have mentors who provided guidance and encouragement throughout this journey thus far.

Surround yourself with a village. You will not regret it. =)

Now, as the summer draws to a close and the new school year gets underway . . . I have had to readjust my mindset because for the past 27 years, I’ve only known the rush, the craziness, and the exhaustion of the start of the school year. But to be honest, I don’t miss that part at all.

One of the benefits of consulting is that I get to choose my schedule. The projects to some extent dictate deadlines, but I love that I can sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, and walk the puppy before settling in to work. This new adventure has been a bit scary because there are so many unknowns, but I have to say that having a supportive husband and an awesome circle of friends has made this transition easier to manage.

I am truly blessed.

The start of a new school year still feels like the start of something new to me. And, I am really looking forward to finding more passion projects. =)

Easing Back Into Things

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

For the past two years, I have been inconsistent at best in maintaining my professional blog and social media accounts. The reason for my hiatus and intermittent social media presence is simply because I was overwhelmed. The pandemic not only threw me for a loop but I was also having to watch my mom’s health deteriorate before my very eyes. Everything was simply too much for me, and I had to restructure and reprioritize what was most important.

The biggest personal change was losing my mom.

The biggest professional change was making the decision to leave the classroom.

It’s been 8 months since I’ve lost my mom, and 4 months since I left the classroom. During that time, I’ve leaned on my faith, embraced the security found in marrying a good man, and reflected on the next chapter of my professional career

When one door closes, another one opens.

Several new opportunities have presented itself since I retired from classroom teaching. My newest endeavor is working for @EdTechTeacher21 first as a micro-credential assessor and now as an instructor for their summer workshops. From June to August, I’ll be sharing best practices and research-based strategies in the areas of:

  • Inquiry & Reflection
  • Social Emotional Learning
  • Creativity in the Social Science Classroom
  • Leading with Empathy

I’m excited to finally be able to move on from what has been one of the hardest challenges I’ve ever faced both personally and professionally. And, I’m really grateful that I have a supportive husband who encouraged me to let go of the familiar in order to experience something new and fresh. 

I’m finally ready to ease back into things.

Change Begins with People

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-01-27-secretary-of-education-envisions-solutions-that-are-low-tech-high-touch?utm_campaign=site&utm_content=share-128 #edtech via @EdSurge

This article from the U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona highlights his view that changes in education are not connected to “technology, virtual learning, internet access or any of the digital tools” (Koenig, January 2022). And he’s not wrong. The issues that have plagued and continue to plague education are deeply rooted in the system itself. As Tyack and Cuban wrote “the grammar of school is a product of history . . . it results from the efforts of groups that mobilize to win support for their definitions of problems and their proposed solutions” (Tyack & Cuban, 1995, Loc 1123). Notice the date of that statement: 1995.

Now, I recently retired from teaching after 27 years in the classroom so I’ve been privy to the many changes, solutions, and pendulums of initiatives over the years. Most of the changes I’ve seen have been little more than a band-aid to a much larger problem. Take mobile devices in the classroom as an example. Yes, it’s nice (and very convenient) to have access to technology to provide students resources not readily available in the classroom but also as a venue for them to share their learning with a wider audience than just their teacher (me). But adding mobile devices doesn’t change the learning. In fact, research has shown that the adoption of technology in the classroom has not been the catalyst of change as some would have hoped (Kale & Goh, 2014; Shapley, Sheehan, Maloney, & Caranikas-Walker, 2011; Stefl-Mabry, Radlick, & Doane, 2010; Voogt, Erstad, Dede, & Mishra, 2013). According to Cuban, for technology integration to have a positive effect on student learning, the tasks behind its use need to be grounded in pedagogical changes (Cuban, 2013). And, as a classroom teacher and researcher, I completely agree.

I also firmly believe that learning changes with thoughtful planning, flexibility, and an open-mind on the part of everyone involved: teachers, students, administrators, and parents. So, it’s not just pedagogical decisions by teachers, and change certainly does not hinge on whether technology is used (or not ).

The changes needed in education have to be more than just a band-aid…and it’s beyond simply providing more money to schools. I worked at two Title I schools during my entire tenure. We were provided money from the state and federal government. But that didn’t necessarily translate into a revolutionary change for any of the stakeholders. From my experience, that just meant we had money to purchase more devices, licenses/subscriptions, add more after school tutoring session, and maybe add a few more professional development workshops for teachers.

Band-aids.

For significant change to occur in education, the whole educational system needs to change. The grammar of schooling needs to change. (Now that’s a blog post for another time.)

But how about this?

Instead of leaders and legislators telling schools and the general public what needs to change, why not ask the ones in the trenches what changes they believe are needed? One of the things that I found very alarming (and sad) were reports from certain entities/organizations who claimed that parental voice was not important in the educational decisions that impacted their own children.

Now, I’m not going to get into a political debate here. I just want to point out that leaving out a huge stakeholder group (parents…aka tax-payers) is not (and should not be) an option. This pandemic seems to have brought out the ugly side of people as I see a large number of finger-pointing going on–playing the blame game, if you will. And shutting out parents from educational decisions? Not good.

But what about the other silent voices out there? Teachers and students?

The solutions to the various educational problems will not be found in more legislation or funding. What I would like to see is a concerted effort to find out:

  • What do teachers need?
  • What do students need?
  • What do parents need?
  • What do administrators at the school site need?

Because I tell you what they don’t need: solutions from people far removed from the classroom.

I applaud U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona for realizing that changes in education do not rest with technology devices and connectivity to the Internet. Because change doesn’t happen with things. Change happens with people.

How about talking to students, teachers, and parents about what they need? And I don’t mean a small sample size. I mean HUGE…from a variety of demographics and locales.

One of my goals now that I’ve retired from teaching is to figure out a way to amplify the voices in education. I don’t have access to a huge demographic, but change starts with small steps.

I have a project in mind.

Stay tuned.

References

Cuban, L. (2013). Inside the black box of classroom practice: Change without reform in American education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Kale, U., & Goh, D. (2014). Teaching style, ICT experience and teachers’ attitudes toward teaching with Web 2.0. Education and Information Technologies, 19, 41–60. doi:10.1007/s10639-012-9210-3

Shapley, K., Sheehan, D., Maloney, C., & Caranikas-Walker, F. (2011). Effects of technology immersion on middle school students’ learning opportunities and achievement. The Journal of Educational Research, 104, 299–315. doi:10.1080/00220671003767615

Stefl-Mabry, J., Radlick, M., & Doane, W. (2010). Can you hear me now? Student voice: High school & middle school students’ perceptions of teachers, ICT and learning. International Journal of Education and Development Using Information and Communication Technology, 6(4), 64-82. Retrieved from http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu

Tyack, D., & Cuban, L. (1995). Tinkering toward utopia: A century of public school reform. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Voogt, J., Erstad, O., Dede, C., & Mishra, P. (2013). Challenges to learning and schooling in the digital networked world of the 21st century. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 29, 403–413. doi:10.1111/jcal.12029