Evernote Journal App for iPad: Excellent Way to Take Meeting Notes and Keep Logs

There are quite a few Evernote apps that extend the note taking program’s functionality, and I have used quite a few of them. Recently, I  found  Evernote's Journal iPad app. This app makes it possible to keep a journal right in my Evernote application. Being able to do this makes keeping a log or meeting notes even simpler because this app allows you to create those notes with automatic dates right within an Evernote note.

Journal for Evernote has the following features of capabilities:

• Creates a stack in your Evernote account called “My Journal” and stores your notes by date within yearly notebooks.
• Notes can be saved and uploaded automatically.
• Date and time is automatically added to the top of your note.
• Each entry in the Journal app is recorded as a separate note.
• Easy to use interface makes entering notes quite simple.

Evernote users looking for a simple way to take meeting notes or keep logs may want to add Journal for Evernote to their iOS device immediately. 

Journal's iPad App Interface

Call for Skepticism and Caution When Using Test Scores in Teacher Evaluations

“We need to be careful that the tests we use in a properly designed teacher-appraisal system do, in fact, contribute to a valid (that is accurate) inference about a teacher’s quality.” W. James Popham, Evaluating America’s Teachers: Mission Possible?

North Carolina took the plunge this year and started using test scores as part of teacher and principal evaluations. The state has even invented a "new" kind of test, called a "Measure of Student Learning" in order to make sure there is plenty of test data to go around. What is particularly telling is how "carefully" the state crafted the term "Measures of Student Learning." It's as if somehow, not calling it a test, makes it not a test. State level educational logic never ceases to amaze me. Of course, the state then started calling these "Measures of Student Learning" something else. They started calling them "Common Exams." Notice again, the careful use of the word "exam" rather than "test." It's almost as if you don't call it a test, it isn't a test, but apparently state level policymakers haven't heard the old saw about a rose still being a rose even if it has another name.

Besides North Carolina's struggle with what to call their newly implemented tests, there's still the question of what the unintended consequences of having thousands of teachers "teaching to the test" is going to do for students in our state. Ultimately, being able brag that your students "Have the best scores in the world" is most likely what politicians and state level education officials are after. That's why they see salvation through test scores as the means to the "Educational Promised Land." Ultimately, there's a flawed logic driving this whole accountability and testing movement: it's the whole idea that learning can be entirely reduced to bubble sheet answer sheets and taken in a single sitting. And, that teachers can't be trusted to tell when a student has demonstrated that they have learned or not.

In my years as an educator, I have been amazed how trusting and accepting educators in North Carolina are when it comes to the latest policy flowing down from on high. It's as if they accept that those at the state level know more than they do, or somehow have access to magical information they do not have. So, when they implement something like the use of test scores in evaluations, many educators accept that the powers that be at the state level know what they are doing, so they trust them. Given the history of reform ideas and educational policy that travels down from on high, this "trust" is highly misplaced. I like to think that state level education officials mean well, but what often has happened during my career, these ideas when implemented locally have sometimes been a disaster and have been sometimes downright bad for kids. Instead of being so trusting, I submit that all educators in the schools and districts need to become skeptics and ask tough questions of our state-level, and federal level policymakers. We should never accept the "trust me, this will work" answer.

It is in this spirit of skepticism, I turn to Popham's book, Evaluating America's Teachers: Mission Possible? and our state's venture into making high stakes testing even more high stakes. In spite of what our state-level policymakers say,  I am not fully satisfied that North Carolina's tests are adequate measures of educator effectiveness, and  a healthy skepticism is still in order. This whole push to add test scores to teacher and principal evaluations has been a rush from the start. Depending on when you asked questions, how the tests were to be implemented has changed multiple times throughout the last two years. Never mind the fact that not a single teacher in North Carolina even saw the test before they were implemented. In their rush to have "test data" it's as if our state level policymakers think "any old data will do." They have failed to take the time to establish whether any of these tests really tell us anything about teaching quality.

In light of our state's push into "higher stakes testing", I think Popham reminds us of some important key issues and ideas about tests and teacher evaluations that state politicians and policymakers seem to forget.

• “Tests are not valid or invalid. Instead, it is a test-based inference whose validity is at issue.” In other words, it isn't the test that’s valid or invalid, it is the inferences drawn from those tests that have these qualities. It boils down to whether you can actually make an inference based on the test or not. The question is whether North Carolina's tests, which have been implemented haphazardly and a thrown-together-manner, actually tell us anything at all about the quality of teaching in our classrooms. Can I honestly say Teacher A is a good teacher because she added "this much" value to her students Measures of Student Learning? Seems to me that it puts a great deal of faith in a single test.
• “Tests allow us to make inferences about a test taker. This inference, depending on the appropriateness of the test as a support for the inference being made, may be valid or invalid.” As Popham points out, the inference we make about the learner may be valid or invalid depending on the “appropriateness of the test” in its role to support the inference being made. As we know, the word validity is the extent to which that inference, or conclusion, is well-founded or corresponds to the real world. This boils down to whether the inference we draw about a student is valid or not. For example, should we infer, based on a student’s test scores that he is not proficient in the subject, we must be satisfied that the test we are using is the “appropriate measure,” and we must also make sure the conclusion we draw considers all real world facts. Ignoring a student’s socio-economic status, or even whether he experienced  a death in the family, can make our inference about he student’s proficiency invalid. Then there's the whole issue about making an inference about a teacher or principal's effectiveness using this same test. Has North Carolina sufficiently established the appropriateness of their Measures of Student Learning, End of Grade Tests, End of Course Tests, as instruments that allow for making inferences about teacher and principal quality? I'm not sure they have.

As North Carolina moves forward with a teacher and principal appraisal instrument that uses test scores to determine effectiveness, all educators need to educate themselves and scrupulously ask questions of policymakers.

As Popham suggests, “If heavy importance is being given to students’ performances on state tests for which there is no evidence supporting such an evaluative usage, then teachers (I would add principals too) might wish to engage in further study of this issue so that, armed with pertinent arguments, they can attempt to persuade educational decision makers that more appropriate evidence should be sought.” In other words, all educators, administrators, and teachers need to study how North Carolina or any state is using test scores to determine educator effectiveness.

Administrators owe it to their teachers, and themselves, to understand that some of these tests were never designed to determine educator effectiveness, so that data needs to be viewed with skepticism. Test scores in North Carolina currently are only 1/6th of the teacher evaluation, and effective administrators are going to keep this in mind and not let the allure of numbers numb them to the other 5 standards.

Taking Time to Reflect as a School Leader: Courageously and Respectfully

“The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” Pema Chodron

One, sometimes ignored, fundamental practice of leadership is “self-reflection” or “introspection.” In our busyness of the day, we forget, or fail, to take time to reflect and look within, which is where the core of who we are as leaders comes from. As Pema Chodron, author and Buddhist teacher, suggests, this failure to look at ourselves is a both a “fundamental aggression” and “fundamental harm” to ourselves. I would add that failing to have to courage  and respect, for ourselves and others, to examine ourselves a little bit each day causes so many of our own leadership problems. Perhaps what we should call this is “Leadership for the Ignorant 101.”

We remain ignorant of ourselves as leaders when we do not take time throughout the day to reflect with courage about ourselves. In this self-examination, we demonstrate a much-needed respect for ourselves as leaders. Today, take some time to reflect on yourself, your leadership.

5 Words Educators Need to Forget

You can tell a great deal about education by the words and phrases educational policymakers and educators are using currently. Not too long ago, I remember educators, administrators and policymakers throwing around the words “total quality management,” “outcome-based education,.” and "Site-Based Management." You don't hear those words as often for a variety of reasons. The ideas are no longer popular, or someone decided to repackage it and call it something else, but the words and language in vogue say a great deal about the values of those determining education policy and reform. It is with this thought in mind, with a bit of sincerity and lighthearted fun, I give you my personal list of “Most Currently Mis-Used Words in Education.” 

1. Value-Added: This word, obviously commandeered from business and industry, is my personal number one Worst Word in Education for a reason. As it's used in education, it seems to imply that our students, our kids, are things to which we make more valuable in some way by the processes and “education” we subject them to. By its nature, it implies that the object to which the value is being added, has no say or part in creating that value. At the worst, it is demeaning because it reduces the kids in our classrooms to objects or raw materials. This term has no place in education, unless of course, you are educating widgets.

2. Technology Integration: The definition of integrate is “to form, coordinate, or blend into a functioning or unified whole.” Educators have been talking for years about “technology integration” as if that’s somehow going to change things and students will suddenly learn more. The problem is, if we are trying to blend technology into a classroom that is already dysfunctional, or we’re trying to unite technology into an education system that already fails too many students, we get  a classroom where students use technology but still don't learn. We also get an education system that uses technology to perhaps simply streamline the process of failing too many students. The word “integration” when used with technology, implies that we can successfully blend all these wonderful devices into the classrooms we have and "Presto," we have successful teaching and learning. This naive view of technology and education has outlived its usefulness. This term should no longer have a place in our discussions about technology's role in education.

3. Technology Infusion: I’m not sure this word is any better than the word "integration." Infuse means “to cause to be permeated with something (as a principle of quality) that alters usually for the better.” Some in education have talked about “infusing technology in the classroom” but the problem with this word, like “integration” is that it is simply taking what exists and adding technology to it. What if the existing pedagogy or educational practice is bad? Will giving it an “infusion” of technology somehow make it better? Perhaps, but only if that “tech infusion” addresses the underlying problems to begin with. Tech infusion and tech integration are words that educators need to jettison. Both impart “salvation” abilities to technology that it simply doesn't have by itself.

4. Achievement: No, I do not advocate doing away with student achievement, after all, we're in the student achievement business. What I do advocate is that we drop the use of the word “achievement” when everybody knows what we’re talking about are test scores. Why not just say “test scores?" We know that that’s what is meant when policymakers and politicians start talking about achievement. Let’s keep in mind though, achievement and test scores are not entirely interchangeable terms, because whether or a single test score represents what a student has achieved is open for discussion and debate.

5. School Executive: What's wrong with "principal" or "administrator?" Does calling oneself an "executive" fundamentally change what we do and who we are? This trend to start calling school administrators an "executive" betrays thinking that executives somehow have more power or prestige. The truth is, you can change the name all you want, but unless some changes about the role or job, it is still what it's always been.

There's a great lesson in the current verbiage used in education. If you really want to assess the current feeling of educational reform and policymaking, pay attention to the language. It always betrays what the people who are making the rules are really thinking and what their real agendas are.

Empathetic Leadership: Sign of Being a Mature Leader

Are you facing the prospect of making a tough decision today or in the near future? Perhaps, you are having to deliver bad news to a staff member, or a parent, or student? There are certainly what we perceive to be easier ways to deliver that news. We could write a letter, send an email, or maybe call, but each of these seems to be perhaps a bit to heartless and cowardly in some ways.  Inside, we think, "I would not want to hear this news in that manner." If we choose the wrong means of delivering that news, the price we often pay is diminished trust and feelings of goodwill, which are no doubt important to our leadership and our organizations. 

Making tough decisions the wrong way can breed harsh feelings and a total lack of good will in an organization. What is needed in these kinds of situations is leadership with a heavy dose of empathy. When we deliver bad news to people, whether it’s that one of our employees failed to get a promotion or that their job is being cut, the news is going to be quite painful.  We can simply deliver the news in our “Tough SOB” persona, or we can do so with empathy. Even in the toughest of circumstances, it is possible to create trust and goodwill, if we exercise “leadership with empathy.”

As you make tough decisions, you might use “Just Like Me” thoughts suggested by Chade-Meng Tan in his book Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (And World Peace). As you face the prospect of delivering bad news, you might reflect on the following from Chade-Meng Tan's book:

Just Like Me
This person has a body and a mind, just
like me.
 
This person has feelings, emotions, and
thoughts, just like me.
 
This person has, at some point in his or
her life, been sad, disappointed, angry,
hurt, or confused, just like me.
 
This person has, in his or her life,
experienced physical and emotional
pain and suffering, just like me.
 
This person wishes to be healthy and 
loved, and to have fulfilling
relationships, just like me.
 
This person wishes to be happy, just like
me.

 
By reflecting on the reality that the person you are talking to is "Just Like Me" it becomes easier to be empathetic and understanding. Exercising empathy in the face to tough decision-making is definitely a sign of mature leadership. We can be tough, and not be an SOB.

The 21st Century Principal’s 20 Applications for Everyday Use

For those of you who have a bit of time on your hands this summer, and want to explore some applications, here’s my “Apps-I-Use-Everyday List.” Let me know what you think, or if you have an alternative app that you think is better.

Evernote: Evernote is one of those applications I access at the start of every single day. I use it for so many activities during the course of the day---from logging events to drafting quick notes to meeting notes. It’s ability to sync across all  devices still makes it one of the most versatile working environments for me as an administrator. Add my favorite Evernote mobile apps---vJournal, Penultimate, Skitch---and this application's functionality expands enormously. With this application, you are constantly surprised with what you can do. For more information on Evernote and all its apps: https://evernote.com/.

Evernote Desktop Interface

Google Docs: Google Docs, perhaps now known  as Google Drive, is another one of those extremely versatile tools with access across devices. I use so many aspects of these tools now, that I couldn’t possibly list them all. Throw in the ability to collaborate and Google Drive usability expands even more. With the ability to access and edit your documents through the mobile app,  I can’t possibly see any reason to have a paper copy of anything any longer. For more information on Google Docs: https://www.google.com

Gmail: Since our district chose to move to Gmail a few years ago, it has become my primary email service. I have both personal and professional email accounts. In addition, the ability to easily integrate with Google Drive and Google Calendar, make using Gmail even easier and more functional. For more information on Gmail: https://www.google.com

Google Calendar: Google Calendar has been a part of my life now for about five or six years. There are certainly all kinds of calendar apps, but the ability to set up multiple calendars, share, and collaborate through those calendars makes Google Calendar one of my personal favorite applications. For more information on Google Calendar: https://www.google.com

Windows Live Writer: Blogging is a important part of my life, and Windows Live Writer is a desktop application that allows me to draft blog posts on my desktop before posting the draft to Blogger. I like to save a draft on my desktop, which Live Writer gives me the ability to do. The interface in Live Writer allows me access to all the things I could want to do in a blog post: add links, pictures, video, etc. I can set up multiple blog accounts too. To download Windows Live Writer (It’s Free!) http://www.microsoft.com

Wunderlist: Wunderlist is my task management tool of choice. Personally, I like its ease-of-use more than anything else. It also helps that it has a mobile version, desktop version, and web version of its app too, which gives me access to my To-Do List across devices. For more information about Wunderlist: http://www.6wunderkinder.com/wunderlist

Wunderlist Desktop App

Kindle: Kindle is still my e-reader of choice, and as a voracious reader, I constantly access this application. My entire current working library, as I call it, is located there. I also use the Send to Kindle Chrome app to send web articles for later reading too, and with the ability to send any document to my Kindle account, I can send lengthy PDF files to review using my Kindle apps too. For more information about the Kindle apps: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

Kindle App on iPad

Dropbox: While some have become a bit disenchanted with Dropbox for a variety of reasons, I still use it for a great deal of my cloud storage needs. I have a “Working Docs” folder on my desktops that syncs through Dropbox, so that I have across-device-access to any projects I am working on. I also have photos that I use often stored in my Dropbox account. For more information about Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com

KeePass: As an administrator, trying to keep up with all those passwords is quite a task. Every time the state or district subscribes to a new online service, I get another password to keep up with. KeePass calls itself the “password safe” because it allows users to store all of their passwords in one location with a single password. To get more information about KeePass and download it (It’s free too!) http://keepass.info/

Chrome: Chrome is still my own primary web browser of choice. This is mainly due to all the Chrome extensions and apps that the browser offers and interacts with. It still loads faster than some. Having the ability to access and use fixed tabs is an excellent feature too. For more information about Google Chrome: www.google.com/chrome

Skype: Because our school does not have an intercom system, Skype is the primary tool my teachers use to make announcements and interact with each other. Skype is also useful for interviews and interactions with remote locations as well. To download Skype: http://www.skype.com/en/

Tweetbot: Tweetbot is an iPad app. I am not sure whether there is an Android app or not. I use Tweetbot primarily because it gives me access to both my professional and school Twitter accounts. It also has exactly the features I want. Perhaps in the end, Tweetbot is just one of those apps that fit how I like to access Twitter. For information about Tweetbot: http://tapbots.com/software/tweetbot/

Twitter’s Tweetdeck: Twitter’s Tweetdeck desktop app is also one of those apps I start each day. For those of us who have been using Twitter long enough to remember Tweetdeck before Twitter took it over, using Twitter’s version has been a compromise of sorts. There just wasn’t much of an alternative that provided real-time access to tweets. Tweetdeck under Twitter has improved though in recent times, and has become more functional. For information and to download Tweetdeck: http://tweetdeck.com/

Facebook: Facebook is also one of those social media applications I access often. Now that I have a school Facebook page set up, I use it quite often to interact with our school community. I also have a personal-professional Facebook page as well, though I have found I mostly use it to connect with old friends and acquaintances.  Check out Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/

LinkedIn: LinkedIn has continued to improve over time as well. I have found it to be an excellent way to connect with others professionally and share professionally too. To set up an LinkedIn account: http://www.linkedin.com/

Google+: When I originally created this list of  apps, I omitted Google+. I am not sure why that is, other than I have not yet explored completely the power this social media application offers. Still, it is one application I use daily for sharing resources. I am aware though that Google+ has a great deal of connectivity features I must learn how to use myself. For  more information about Google+: https://www.google.com

Flipboard: Flipboard is a mobile app that allows users to basically customize how they get the news. I use Flipboard to pull together my favorite news sources, and with the ability to share through social media and save to my Pocket account, I find myself using this app every day too. For more information about Flipboard: http://flipboard.com/

Flipboard for iPad

Pocket: Pocket is also a mobile app and a web app. Basically I use pocket to collect articles or blog posts I find interesting and might either want to read later or otherwise use at a later time. It is an excellent app to collect web content. To set up a Pocket account: http://getpocket.com

Entertainment Apps: 

I just couldn’t leave out my two favorite entertainment apps.

Pandora: I use Pandora because once again it gives me access across devices to my personally selected music, with a web version, mobile app, and now even a desktop app. I can even listen to my favorite music channels on my new Samsung Smart TV. Check out Pandora: http://www.pandora.com

Netflix: Where else am I going to have access to all those old Star Trek episodes I love to revisit from time-to-time. Check out Netflix: http://www.netflix.com


Each of these applications have enough features and capabilities to keep anyone exploring and experimenting for an entire summer. Happy explorations!

Becoming a Competent 21st Century Leader of Innovation in Your School or District

“If a company is not nimble enough to rethink its strategy while it still has the assets and strength to change and adapt, it is doomed to wither or die.”  Working with Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman

Blockbuster, Borders, and Circuit City are examples of companies that failed to be “nimble enough” to rethink how they do business in the face of change around them. Each of these companies withered and died because they did not change and adapt while they still had the resources and strength to do so. Now public schools are in similar circumstances, and they might not have what it takes to survive.

In the end, Blockbuster did not see and react fast enough to streaming video. It failed to see the revolution in a new way to deliver video to customers because its leaders were perhaps not open to new ideas and new approaches to video delivery. Borders failed to respond in a timely manner to the reality of e-readers and e-books brought on by Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Perhaps their leaders still saw a bookstore in a physical location as the primary way people can and will purchase books. Circuit City failed to see, first of all, the "electronics superstore” model brought forth by Best Buy, and secondly, the inroads of online electronic retailers such as Amazon in their retail business. Perhaps their leadership failed to be open to new ideas on how to sell electronics to customers. Each of these businesses failed, not because they couldn't do what they had been doing well, but because leadership was shortsighted. Their leaders were not open to new ideas and novel approaches to do business until it was too late. 

Today, I fear that too many school leaders and their schools are following the path these business leaders and their companies trod. These school leaders are not open to new ideas and new approaches to teaching and learning. They still see standardization, testing, textbooks, and traditional schooling as the only means to educate all students, so they spend inordinate amounts of time and effort perfecting and trying to make these work. They are not open to entirely new ideas and novel approaches to teaching and learning, unless those new ideas of teaching and learning only allow their schools to continue operate as they always have. Then, they scratch their heads because too many of our kids still fail, drop out, or graduate unable to be productive. What they need is a mind that is open to the new and novel that will allow them see the things that could revolutionize teaching and learning.

What can school leaders do right now to demonstrate what Goleman calls the competence of "innovation" or the ability to be open to the novel and new? How can they demonstrate they are open and actively seeking new ideas and novel approaches to education? Borrowing from Goleman, here's 4 things school leaders can do to open up to innovation.

• “Seek out fresh ideas from a wide variety of sources.” In the information age this should not be a problem for school leaders. Fresh ideas and new sources of information are just a “Tweet” away for those school leaders willing to wade into social media. RSS feeds and RSS readers can help with the gathering of potential resources and ideas, and web tools like Diigo, Evernote, and Pocket can help with archiving and sharing. Finally, there are explosions of print materials available too. Personally, for me, the Kindle and Nook apps on my iPad make it possible for me to carry around 20 to 50 books and resources at one time, so that I can engage in a quick read at a moment's notice. If 21st century school leaders want to be open to innovation, they must seek out new ideas and resources wherever they can find them.
• “Entertain original solutions to problems.” In public schools, there’s still too much of “We've gotta do it this way because we've always done it this way.” Try to change something radically, and you are immediately put in your place with, "You can't do that." As 21st century school leaders we need to look for original, out-of-the-box solutions to our problems, instead of doing the same old kinds of things and hoping things turn out different. We see so little innovation in schools or districts often because no one looks for original solutions; they revamp and tweak old solutions. They either do what they always have done, or they do what everyone else is doing, both of which do not work. If 21st century school leaders want to be open to innovation, they must be alert and willing to engage in original solutions to the problems their schools or districts face.
• “Generate new ideas.” Twenty-first century school leaders need to purposefully find ways to generate new ideas. They can turn their schools into incubators of innovation by engaging staff, and themselves, in techniques and tools that foster original thinking and ideas. They can create a culture where “no-idea-is-too-dumb" and original thinking is welcomed. If 21st century school leaders want to foster original thinking and new ideas, they need to demand and accept originality, unconventionality, and non-conformity as a rule.
• “Take fresh perspectives and risks in their thinking.” School leaders who want to be open to innovation have to stop seeing education through the eyes of bureaucrats and policymakers and see education through the eyes of teachers, students and their parents. They need to do whatever is necessary to see teaching, learning, and schooling with the eyes of those engaged in those activities. And to take risks in thinking, they need to be willing to try things that no one else is trying and need to stop being risk-averse. If 21st century school leaders want to be open to innovation, they must view teaching and learning through new perspectives and be willing to take risks, and encourage others to do so as well.

If our public schools are ever going to be nimble enough to survive the massive changes occurring around them, they are going to need both school leaders and teachers willing to be open to “novel ideas and approaches” instead of simply trying to preserve things the way they are.