In the 2009 economy in the USA, much time on the internet is invested in trying to get noticed by "the right people." Who are the "right people?" That depends on the goal. If I want a job, I want to be noticed by people who are hiring. If I am looking for contract work, I want to be noticed by the people who are looking for someone to fill the contract. If I want to find consulting work, I want to be noticed by organizations who would like to use me as a consultant. Sologig.com and Fulcrum Network both focus on identifying opportunities for contract or consulting work.
How do we go about getting noticed in this age of social networking? We post resumes to job boards, fill-out profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other locations. We create web sites, blogs, create podcasts, put out promotional pieces on YouTube--and hope for the best
Many people are in the business of helping people get noticed. In fact, there are almost more people trying to help others improve their resumes than there are people hiring for jobs.
We do need to get noticed by the right people--for the right reasons--and for the right "investment" of our time and energy.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
"Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow"
"Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow
" Following this link on http://www.amazon.com/ will lead to a list of books related to the idea of passion and Spirit as a focus of life. When I am engaging in something I find to be worthwhile, I am aware of a sense of joy that I share with the people around me--family, clients, friends, coworkers.
This sense of joy is more important to me that the monetary reward I receive for my efforts--not that I have anything against money. I have found joy in doing work that I was highly rewarded for and joy in work that had little or no money connected to it.
I'm looking for more joy in my life--and if there's good money involved as well . . ., so much the better. :-)
" Following this link on http://www.amazon.com/ will lead to a list of books related to the idea of passion and Spirit as a focus of life. When I am engaging in something I find to be worthwhile, I am aware of a sense of joy that I share with the people around me--family, clients, friends, coworkers.This sense of joy is more important to me that the monetary reward I receive for my efforts--not that I have anything against money. I have found joy in doing work that I was highly rewarded for and joy in work that had little or no money connected to it.
I'm looking for more joy in my life--and if there's good money involved as well . . ., so much the better. :-)
Saturday, August 29, 2009
What do I really want to be doing now and five years from now?
What do I really want to be doing now and five years from now? For the last 40+ years I have been doing the same thing--though for different people and organizations and in ways that have continued to evolve and change and improve. (See the stories pages on the title link.)
I make a difference in the world by helping people and organizations learn to change to improve their quality of (business) life now and for the future.
I did that while working in the U.S. Army for ten years, then as a management consultant, then as a college professor and teacher, and as an organizational change consultant in my own businesses and while working for consulting firms. Along the way I learned to reflect on what I am doing and to capture it in writing so that I can share best practice and research.
I enjoy doing that for businesses and for individuals, for adults and for children, for entire communities and for school systems and colleges and universities. After 40+ years, I am very, very good at it.
Along the way I have earned a doctorate and two masters degrees and have worked with more than 100 organizations in more than 16 separate industries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
I have worked with thousands of individuals ranging in age from 6 months (babies learning to swim) to more than 90 years (adult learners learning to do new things for themselves). I have done this work in English, Spanish, Italian, and French. In some cases English was the only common language the students had in my sessions.
I have done this in one-on-one settings as a performance coach, in small group workships, in large group workshops, and in classes ranging in size from six or eight students to more than 300.
I like what I do and am always looking for more opportunities to do it with new people. I plan to be doing this five years from now as well.
I make a difference in the world by helping people and organizations learn to change to improve their quality of (business) life now and for the future.
I did that while working in the U.S. Army for ten years, then as a management consultant, then as a college professor and teacher, and as an organizational change consultant in my own businesses and while working for consulting firms. Along the way I learned to reflect on what I am doing and to capture it in writing so that I can share best practice and research.
I enjoy doing that for businesses and for individuals, for adults and for children, for entire communities and for school systems and colleges and universities. After 40+ years, I am very, very good at it.
Along the way I have earned a doctorate and two masters degrees and have worked with more than 100 organizations in more than 16 separate industries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
I have worked with thousands of individuals ranging in age from 6 months (babies learning to swim) to more than 90 years (adult learners learning to do new things for themselves). I have done this work in English, Spanish, Italian, and French. In some cases English was the only common language the students had in my sessions.
I have done this in one-on-one settings as a performance coach, in small group workships, in large group workshops, and in classes ranging in size from six or eight students to more than 300.
I like what I do and am always looking for more opportunities to do it with new people. I plan to be doing this five years from now as well.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Representing Yourself to Businesses--in the AGR Age (After the Great Recession)
AGR--After the great recession--Perhaps resumes no longer had the value they had in earlier times in representing ourselves to businesses. (See my profiles on the Title link.)
Resumes today seem to be an awkward way to represent ourselves in and to businesses. More and more people have the job of filtering resumes--unless the job can be turned-over to a computer. One of the more creative ways to produce a resume or a profile is to have a multimedia Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. The challenge becomes more difficult as we add education, wisdom, and experience to our careers.
Who needs to see our background? Potential clients or customers, potential employers, potential mentors, colleagues, coaches, business partners, . . . . The list continues to grow. Some of the people who may want to see it will have different expectations from others who need the same information. How do we cover the bases in ways that are most effective?
For some, a functional resume may serve--Microsoft Word 2007 has a template for a functional resume. Many job search services offer professional advice and, for a fee, rewrites of resumes. These may not result in the kinds of resumes or background you want to share with clients or colleagues.
Social Networking sites like LinkedIn ask for a "profile" that includes former employers and educational institutions.
Some job boards available online and employer websites want information provided in a certain way they can use to filter and sort the data for multiple candidates for positions. Few of these sites can deal effectively with a functional resume.
I'm working on my multimedia resume for clients, customers, colleagues, mentors, and anyone else to use. I'll let you know when I have it available.
Resumes today seem to be an awkward way to represent ourselves in and to businesses. More and more people have the job of filtering resumes--unless the job can be turned-over to a computer. One of the more creative ways to produce a resume or a profile is to have a multimedia Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. The challenge becomes more difficult as we add education, wisdom, and experience to our careers.
Who needs to see our background? Potential clients or customers, potential employers, potential mentors, colleagues, coaches, business partners, . . . . The list continues to grow. Some of the people who may want to see it will have different expectations from others who need the same information. How do we cover the bases in ways that are most effective?
For some, a functional resume may serve--Microsoft Word 2007 has a template for a functional resume. Many job search services offer professional advice and, for a fee, rewrites of resumes. These may not result in the kinds of resumes or background you want to share with clients or colleagues.
Social Networking sites like LinkedIn ask for a "profile" that includes former employers and educational institutions.
Some job boards available online and employer websites want information provided in a certain way they can use to filter and sort the data for multiple candidates for positions. Few of these sites can deal effectively with a functional resume.
I'm working on my multimedia resume for clients, customers, colleagues, mentors, and anyone else to use. I'll let you know when I have it available.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
When do we look for a mentor or guide? Why invest in mentorship?
Shortly after graduating from college I had the opportunity to travel for a few weeks in Europe--I was a graduate counsellor at Florida State University's Study Center in Florence, Italy, and had a couple of weeks off in the summer. I went to Switzerland, and did some labor in return for room and board at an inn in Zermatt, on the side of the Matterhorn. In my spare time, I hiked up the Matterhorn as far as someone could go without a guide and climbing gear. Should I have wanted to go to the top, I would have needed a guide--someone who had been there many times and knew what I needed to do--and wear--to achieve the goal. At the time I didn't have that kind of money, so I got as far as the climbers hut that is the starting-off place for a real ascent of the mountain.
In the U.S. Army, on my way to Vietnam, I became a paratrooper. In three weeks at Fort Benning, GA (at the age of 22), I went through lots of hands-on-practice guided by experienced instructors. As an officer, when we made our first five jumps at the culmination of the training, I was the first to leave the plane. A colonel had spoken to us before our first jump, reminding us that, after we opened our parachutes, if we saw anything other than a circle of white above us, use our reserve parachutes. When I jumped, a panel melted in my parachute and I had a circle of white above me with a big patch of blue (a blown gore). I used my reserve parachute and remembered what my mother taught me about putting sheets on a bed--that's what I had to do to get the air under the reserve parachute. I landed just a little faster than normal with both parachutes fully open. (I later learned that experts use parachutes designed to be the way mine was.) At the time I was very thankful to have had a mentor whose advice I followed less than 30 minutes after receiving it. (I only had 10 jumps in my career and loved them. After I left the Army I found it hard to justify the risk, though it is fun!!)
When I have sought to engage in other work that I perceived as challenging, I have sought mentors. I invested $4,000 as a discount price to be a protege of a mentor who I believed had some real insights that would help me in book publishing and in building net worth.
School districts frequently have mentoring programs for new teachers--someone who is an experienced teacher who can guide new teachers through the challenges of the first few years of teaching.
Three years ago I registered on the Federal government database to be a contractor and recipient of grants. As a full-time teacher, I didn't have the time to follow-through with any. This summer I renewed my registration and also registered with the ORCA (word for Shark) database--another government-required registration site. President Barack Obama, in his Recovery Act program, has improved two federal websites to help people and small businesses find government contracts and grants. These websites are FBO.gov and Grants.gov. By following the instructions and registering on the federal CCR database--first obtaining a DUNS number individuals and organizations can be ready to do business with the Federal Government. ORCA registration is another step to take after the CCR registration is complete. The Business Partners Network is designed to be a "single source for vender data for the Federal Government.
To be successful with Federal Grants, all the "i's" need to be "dotted" and the "t's" need to be "crossed." I applied for a Federal Education Grant this summer and had only a few hours to complete the Letter of Intent (LOI). The Grant Administrator called to my attention that the project I proposed (or the way I had proposed it) didn't match the Grant Application Requirements.
For contracts, the Federal Government relies on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) as its guide. If a bid for a contract does not meet all the requirements for that contract as listed in the FAR, it will not be considered.
Needless to say, working with the Federal Government either looking for grants or bidding for contracts seems to be as complex as climbing a mountain. Of course a mentor would be helpful. The challenge is to find a mentor who will add value and who will not require an "up front" payment. By this I mean that someone working with me to secure a grant is entitled to some of the moneys secured by his or her efforts to secure the grant. It would be built into the grant proposal. The same concept applies to a mentor for federal contracts. It's much better if the mentor can share the risks and rewards with the mentee.
In the U.S. Army, on my way to Vietnam, I became a paratrooper. In three weeks at Fort Benning, GA (at the age of 22), I went through lots of hands-on-practice guided by experienced instructors. As an officer, when we made our first five jumps at the culmination of the training, I was the first to leave the plane. A colonel had spoken to us before our first jump, reminding us that, after we opened our parachutes, if we saw anything other than a circle of white above us, use our reserve parachutes. When I jumped, a panel melted in my parachute and I had a circle of white above me with a big patch of blue (a blown gore). I used my reserve parachute and remembered what my mother taught me about putting sheets on a bed--that's what I had to do to get the air under the reserve parachute. I landed just a little faster than normal with both parachutes fully open. (I later learned that experts use parachutes designed to be the way mine was.) At the time I was very thankful to have had a mentor whose advice I followed less than 30 minutes after receiving it. (I only had 10 jumps in my career and loved them. After I left the Army I found it hard to justify the risk, though it is fun!!)
When I have sought to engage in other work that I perceived as challenging, I have sought mentors. I invested $4,000 as a discount price to be a protege of a mentor who I believed had some real insights that would help me in book publishing and in building net worth.
School districts frequently have mentoring programs for new teachers--someone who is an experienced teacher who can guide new teachers through the challenges of the first few years of teaching.
Three years ago I registered on the Federal government database to be a contractor and recipient of grants. As a full-time teacher, I didn't have the time to follow-through with any. This summer I renewed my registration and also registered with the ORCA (word for Shark) database--another government-required registration site. President Barack Obama, in his Recovery Act program, has improved two federal websites to help people and small businesses find government contracts and grants. These websites are FBO.gov and Grants.gov. By following the instructions and registering on the federal CCR database--first obtaining a DUNS number individuals and organizations can be ready to do business with the Federal Government. ORCA registration is another step to take after the CCR registration is complete. The Business Partners Network is designed to be a "single source for vender data for the Federal Government.
To be successful with Federal Grants, all the "i's" need to be "dotted" and the "t's" need to be "crossed." I applied for a Federal Education Grant this summer and had only a few hours to complete the Letter of Intent (LOI). The Grant Administrator called to my attention that the project I proposed (or the way I had proposed it) didn't match the Grant Application Requirements.
For contracts, the Federal Government relies on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) as its guide. If a bid for a contract does not meet all the requirements for that contract as listed in the FAR, it will not be considered.
Needless to say, working with the Federal Government either looking for grants or bidding for contracts seems to be as complex as climbing a mountain. Of course a mentor would be helpful. The challenge is to find a mentor who will add value and who will not require an "up front" payment. By this I mean that someone working with me to secure a grant is entitled to some of the moneys secured by his or her efforts to secure the grant. It would be built into the grant proposal. The same concept applies to a mentor for federal contracts. It's much better if the mentor can share the risks and rewards with the mentee.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Walking the Talk--Preventive Medicine and Vaccinations
I believe that it is important to "walk my talk" (to put into practice what I advocate). (See my blog post about "What if everything were perfect, just the way it is?").
My health care plan would only pay for the normal seasonal flu shot for 2009-2010 if my doctor administered the shot. My doctor's office is not planning to get the vaccine until late in September, 2009.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have released the seasonal flu vaccine and pharmacies are already stocked. Guidelines from the CDC advise administering the flu shots as soon as the supplies become available.
I went to my local Dominick's (Safeway) pharmacy and the pharmacist administered the flu shot. Because insurance wouldn't cover the flu shot administered by a pharmacist, I paid $28 for the shot--well worth it to get it while I'm well and before flu season starts. The vaccine should "stay in my system" for one year--through this year's flu season.
In October or November, if all goes well, the H1N1 (Swine Flu) vaccine will be available and distributed. I plan to be in line for that vaccination as soon as I can qualify for it.
I had a Shingles vaccination last year. I had chicken pox as a child and my cousin--at the age of 60--contracted shingles. The one-time vaccination is supposed to protect me from shingles for the rest of my life.
My 10-year pneumonia vaccination expires this year and I'll be getting another one of those as well. When I had an annual physical with my doctor earlier this month, he advised me that I'm nearing the end of protection of my tetanus vaccination. I'll be OK for another two or three years as long as I don't have a "dirty" wound. If I have one they'll give a booster shot.
Preventive medicine--which, for me, includes vaccinations--is important. As with an automobile, it's better to catch or prevent problems rather than trying to fix them. Part of my preventive medicine routine is to have an annual physical and to have an annual eye exam--both of which I had in August. I also go to specialists as needed.
In 2008 I almost waited too long to have my appendix out--it hurt in my back rather than in my right side. I was fooled by the placement and, when the emergency room took a CT-Scan, it showed that my appendix had "flipped over" somehow and was at my back rather than at my side. I had felt pain a month before I went to the emergency room and then it passed. It turns out that my appendix was already dead and was about to burst. (It didn't.) The surgeon saw me about 7:00AM (I had come to the emergency room at 5:00AM) and said that he was going to "warm up" by removing a gall bladder, then I was second on his "dance" (surgery) card. He did a laparoscopic appendectomy and I was out of the hospital within 36 hours of going to the emergency room.
I do water aerobics almost daily and the day before I had my appendix removed I had done 400 sit-ups in the water (thank heaven they were in the water). I usually am in the water between 5:00 and 7:00AM and the next day, rather than going to the wellness center on the hospital grounds, I drove myself to the emergency room.
I'm pretty healthy and plan to stay that way. How about you?
My health care plan would only pay for the normal seasonal flu shot for 2009-2010 if my doctor administered the shot. My doctor's office is not planning to get the vaccine until late in September, 2009.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have released the seasonal flu vaccine and pharmacies are already stocked. Guidelines from the CDC advise administering the flu shots as soon as the supplies become available.
I went to my local Dominick's (Safeway) pharmacy and the pharmacist administered the flu shot. Because insurance wouldn't cover the flu shot administered by a pharmacist, I paid $28 for the shot--well worth it to get it while I'm well and before flu season starts. The vaccine should "stay in my system" for one year--through this year's flu season.
In October or November, if all goes well, the H1N1 (Swine Flu) vaccine will be available and distributed. I plan to be in line for that vaccination as soon as I can qualify for it.
I had a Shingles vaccination last year. I had chicken pox as a child and my cousin--at the age of 60--contracted shingles. The one-time vaccination is supposed to protect me from shingles for the rest of my life.
My 10-year pneumonia vaccination expires this year and I'll be getting another one of those as well. When I had an annual physical with my doctor earlier this month, he advised me that I'm nearing the end of protection of my tetanus vaccination. I'll be OK for another two or three years as long as I don't have a "dirty" wound. If I have one they'll give a booster shot.
Preventive medicine--which, for me, includes vaccinations--is important. As with an automobile, it's better to catch or prevent problems rather than trying to fix them. Part of my preventive medicine routine is to have an annual physical and to have an annual eye exam--both of which I had in August. I also go to specialists as needed.
In 2008 I almost waited too long to have my appendix out--it hurt in my back rather than in my right side. I was fooled by the placement and, when the emergency room took a CT-Scan, it showed that my appendix had "flipped over" somehow and was at my back rather than at my side. I had felt pain a month before I went to the emergency room and then it passed. It turns out that my appendix was already dead and was about to burst. (It didn't.) The surgeon saw me about 7:00AM (I had come to the emergency room at 5:00AM) and said that he was going to "warm up" by removing a gall bladder, then I was second on his "dance" (surgery) card. He did a laparoscopic appendectomy and I was out of the hospital within 36 hours of going to the emergency room.
I do water aerobics almost daily and the day before I had my appendix removed I had done 400 sit-ups in the water (thank heaven they were in the water). I usually am in the water between 5:00 and 7:00AM and the next day, rather than going to the wellness center on the hospital grounds, I drove myself to the emergency room.
I'm pretty healthy and plan to stay that way. How about you?
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Social Networking--Contact Lists--Memory Loss--Communication and Pictures
Social Networking--Now the focus of multiple apps (iPhone/iPod Touch applications) and websites, used to be the exchange of business cards and numbers at a variety of informal "networking" meetings.
I have been involved in professional and volunteer organizations for more than 30 years. Between 1998 and 2002, I was very active in such networking organizations as the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and several professional organizations. I look at old resumes and remember the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD), the International Foundation of Action Learning (USA Chapter) (IFAL-USA), the American Red Cross (ARC), the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the Organizational Development Network-Chicago (ODNC) and local chapters of the national associations.
In 2002 I became active in teaching K-12 (after 9-11-2001) and joined several professional education associations. Depending on what I am doing, I am active in several and some drop out due to a change of focus in my activities. (I'll give you a list of newer organizations later in this post.) I also earned a post-doctoral Master of Arts in Teaching degree in 2008 and networked with colleagues and professors at several universities and colleges.
"In the old days" (2002) I would exchange business cards, e-mails, write down names and addresses and enter everything into my Yahoo Contact List--yes, I had fancy contact software and everything seemed to collect in the easy to use Yahoo Contact List. Unfortunately I didn't have photos of the people I was entering in the list and I didn't make notes on where I knew everyone from. I just tried to keep the contact information of name, telephone number, and e-mail.
Now we come to the "new days" (or today) with the Social Networking Sites. I stayed clear of many for a variety of reasons. I had been invited to LinkedIn a long time ago and had registered without doing anything more. This summer I was invited to LinkedIn again and decided to create a profile. One of the first things LinkedIn asked me to do was to import my contact lists to see who I knew already. I had my trusty Yahoo Contact List (which I had also used to create my G-Mail contact list). I imported the contact list, then checked-off to invite anyone on my Yahoo Contact List who was already a member of LinkedIn to join my network. The first day I reconnected with several friends I had not seen in years and was very happy about the LinkedIn connection. There are some good discussion groups there and I added a couple of my own. The focus of LinkedIn seems to be professional and I enjoy having those connections and reconnecting with people I haven't touched base with in years.
As with many contact lists, some of my e-mails were outdated and some people had changed their names. Some of my invitations "bounced" and others didn't remember that we had been connected.
When I'm faced with someone trying to connect with me, I can honestly say, "I don't remember our connection. Please remind me or tell me why you think we should connect now."
If people would do that with me on these social networking sites, I would really appreciate it. It would allow me to connect "in the present" and to find even more value in the connection.
Some of the other organizations I have belonged to recently (some of which I still belong to) are the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), the National Middle School Association (NMSA), the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), the American Library Association (ALA) and several divisions and sections of the ALA--including the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) who have a group on LinkedIn.
The economy has an impact on the disposable income available for membership in professional associations. Some of the contacts and friends made endure much longer than memberships.
I've posted a picture on this blog, so you can see who is writing. You can also find pictures on my profiles at all of my Social Networking sites and on my own sites such as http://www.joelmonty.net, http://drm-resources.wikispaces.com, http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com. I want people to know who they are connecting with.
I believe in social networking--and have for years. "All of us are greater than some of us"--That's on the poster picture of a school of fish forming the image of a shark in the water. It's probably copyrighted or I'd post a picture here.
I have been involved in professional and volunteer organizations for more than 30 years. Between 1998 and 2002, I was very active in such networking organizations as the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and several professional organizations. I look at old resumes and remember the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD), the International Foundation of Action Learning (USA Chapter) (IFAL-USA), the American Red Cross (ARC), the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the Organizational Development Network-Chicago (ODNC) and local chapters of the national associations.
In 2002 I became active in teaching K-12 (after 9-11-2001) and joined several professional education associations. Depending on what I am doing, I am active in several and some drop out due to a change of focus in my activities. (I'll give you a list of newer organizations later in this post.) I also earned a post-doctoral Master of Arts in Teaching degree in 2008 and networked with colleagues and professors at several universities and colleges.
"In the old days" (2002) I would exchange business cards, e-mails, write down names and addresses and enter everything into my Yahoo Contact List--yes, I had fancy contact software and everything seemed to collect in the easy to use Yahoo Contact List. Unfortunately I didn't have photos of the people I was entering in the list and I didn't make notes on where I knew everyone from. I just tried to keep the contact information of name, telephone number, and e-mail.
Now we come to the "new days" (or today) with the Social Networking Sites. I stayed clear of many for a variety of reasons. I had been invited to LinkedIn a long time ago and had registered without doing anything more. This summer I was invited to LinkedIn again and decided to create a profile. One of the first things LinkedIn asked me to do was to import my contact lists to see who I knew already. I had my trusty Yahoo Contact List (which I had also used to create my G-Mail contact list). I imported the contact list, then checked-off to invite anyone on my Yahoo Contact List who was already a member of LinkedIn to join my network. The first day I reconnected with several friends I had not seen in years and was very happy about the LinkedIn connection. There are some good discussion groups there and I added a couple of my own. The focus of LinkedIn seems to be professional and I enjoy having those connections and reconnecting with people I haven't touched base with in years.
As with many contact lists, some of my e-mails were outdated and some people had changed their names. Some of my invitations "bounced" and others didn't remember that we had been connected.
When I'm faced with someone trying to connect with me, I can honestly say, "I don't remember our connection. Please remind me or tell me why you think we should connect now."
If people would do that with me on these social networking sites, I would really appreciate it. It would allow me to connect "in the present" and to find even more value in the connection.
Some of the other organizations I have belonged to recently (some of which I still belong to) are the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), the National Middle School Association (NMSA), the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), the American Library Association (ALA) and several divisions and sections of the ALA--including the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) who have a group on LinkedIn.
The economy has an impact on the disposable income available for membership in professional associations. Some of the contacts and friends made endure much longer than memberships.
I've posted a picture on this blog, so you can see who is writing. You can also find pictures on my profiles at all of my Social Networking sites and on my own sites such as http://www.joelmonty.net, http://drm-resources.wikispaces.com, http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com. I want people to know who they are connecting with.
I believe in social networking--and have for years. "All of us are greater than some of us"--That's on the poster picture of a school of fish forming the image of a shark in the water. It's probably copyrighted or I'd post a picture here.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Aging, Quality of Care, Quality of Life--Healthcare Oversight of Continuous Care Retirement Communities
Healthcare for the aging--a worry for baby boomers with aging parents and for young adults with aging baby boomers for parents--and a huge and growing worry for Medicare.
Hospitals, Rehabilitation Facilities, Nursing Homes, and Continuous Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) are all part of the health care system for the aging in the USA.
Much of my day today has been invested in reviewing information available on the World Wide Web comparing nursing homes, and hospitals. Medicare has made some additions to its http://www.medicare.gov website where you can choose to compare hospitals and nursing homes. The government data for nursing homes associated with CCRCs appears to be inadequate--sometimes focused on only Medicare-related services rather than including the entire range of service provided by the CCRC to include skilled nursing care.
Continuous care retirement communities (CCRCs) today include independent living units, assisted living units, memory care units, and skilled nursing care units. So far the government surveys do not focus on the overall community. Instead they focus on sub-elements of one unit. For example, they may look at the Medicare wing (19 beds) of a Skilled Nursing Facility (with 70 beds).
CRCC Oversight
CCRCs are accredited today by the Continuing Care Accreditation Commission (CCAC) which is wholly owned by the Commission for Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). In many states, this is wholly voluntary and there is no mandate for accreditation by any organization. In the accreditation process, the service provider pays the Commission to conduct an in depth survey of the facility and what it offers. The Commission treats service providers in much the same way a university treats its students. Providers pay for the surveys as students pay tuition to the university for a course. Service providers may or not pass the standards to be accredited just as students may not pass the standards set for course or degree completion by the university.
This accreditation is at least a step in the right direction of allowing the public to make more informed decisions about healthcare. CCRCs are not inexpensive and a major concern about any such place is ongoing quality of care and quality of life. That's not easy to measure, especially on surveys where not enough residents may be willing or able to complete the survey. At the same time, even if they had a mandate, governmental oversight agencies may not look at (or even for) a clear picture of the quality of care and quality of life afforded at a CCRC.
We are still in a "buyer beware" situation. The information available over the world wide web (Internet) is at least helpful in making more informed decisions. The information needed may not be readily available, however, and may require some depth of research (and time investment) to uncover information crucial to making the informed decisions.
CCRC Decision-making
One thing that CCRCs seem to be doing--in the footsteps of lots of other organizations--is trying to consider themselves as either unique (one of a kind) or too similar (much like) another organization. The CCRC my mother lives in has decided to move to 12-hour shifts for its employees dealing with residents in assisted living and the skilled nursing facility.
In my personal experience of working 12-hour shifts, it is not a healthy option for anyone involved. While on duty at the Pentagon many years ago, my group decided to go on 12-hour shifts. We would start either at Noon or at Midnight and work that shift for several days (four, I think). This meannt that we would work from Midnight to Noon for four days, have two days off, then work from Noon to Midnight for four days and have three days off. While we had time off, I remember sleeping the first two days after the Midnight to Noon shift and not being able to sleep for awhile when we switched to the Noon to Midnight shift. (There were military reasons for the starting times, by the way.) Nursing homes and hospitals usually like a 7AM to 7PM shift and a 7PM to 7AM shift.
At the end of a twelve-hour shift, and even more so at the end of several days of that shift, we were not at our best. The constant switch of our internal clocks really messed people up--we react to lightness and darkness and it takes time to recover. A 34-year-old major working with me had a stroke and died after we were on the new schedule for a few months. He left a wife and two children. No one functioned at his or her best and decisions made when we were not at our best could (in an emergency situation) not have been the best ones to take. (We didn't have that problem during the time I am referring to.)
Many hospitals and now CCRCs are advocating the 12-hour day shift schedule, talking about how much time-off people will have in the course of 14 days and the continuity of care patients or residents will receive by seeing the same people on the same shifts. The CCRCs say that it has been successful in hospitals so they want to implement it. In my experience, what this shift schedule does is insure continuity of worse care for the people being cared for and continuity of a feeling of jet-lag and frustration on the part of the care-givers. It is good for schedulers and may help in financing plans. In hospitals I have seen diminished quality of care from caregivers toward the end of their 12-hour days. CCRC's usually do not have the same intensity of responsibility seen by nursing staff in hospitals and they have their own concerns at the CCRC.
At the end of my day I am aware that I have touched the "tip of the iceberg" and have lots more to learn about ensuring the quality of care and quality of life offered by CCRCs to my family. It's also something I have to think about in my own future as well.
Hospitals, Rehabilitation Facilities, Nursing Homes, and Continuous Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) are all part of the health care system for the aging in the USA.
Much of my day today has been invested in reviewing information available on the World Wide Web comparing nursing homes, and hospitals. Medicare has made some additions to its http://www.medicare.gov website where you can choose to compare hospitals and nursing homes. The government data for nursing homes associated with CCRCs appears to be inadequate--sometimes focused on only Medicare-related services rather than including the entire range of service provided by the CCRC to include skilled nursing care.
Continuous care retirement communities (CCRCs) today include independent living units, assisted living units, memory care units, and skilled nursing care units. So far the government surveys do not focus on the overall community. Instead they focus on sub-elements of one unit. For example, they may look at the Medicare wing (19 beds) of a Skilled Nursing Facility (with 70 beds).
CRCC Oversight
CCRCs are accredited today by the Continuing Care Accreditation Commission (CCAC) which is wholly owned by the Commission for Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). In many states, this is wholly voluntary and there is no mandate for accreditation by any organization. In the accreditation process, the service provider pays the Commission to conduct an in depth survey of the facility and what it offers. The Commission treats service providers in much the same way a university treats its students. Providers pay for the surveys as students pay tuition to the university for a course. Service providers may or not pass the standards to be accredited just as students may not pass the standards set for course or degree completion by the university.
The CCAC was acquired by the CARF in 2003 and is the nation's only accrediting body for CCRCs and other types of continuums of care referred to by the commissions as "aging services networks." (You can see more detail on the CCAC website listed above.)
This accreditation is at least a step in the right direction of allowing the public to make more informed decisions about healthcare. CCRCs are not inexpensive and a major concern about any such place is ongoing quality of care and quality of life. That's not easy to measure, especially on surveys where not enough residents may be willing or able to complete the survey. At the same time, even if they had a mandate, governmental oversight agencies may not look at (or even for) a clear picture of the quality of care and quality of life afforded at a CCRC.
We are still in a "buyer beware" situation. The information available over the world wide web (Internet) is at least helpful in making more informed decisions. The information needed may not be readily available, however, and may require some depth of research (and time investment) to uncover information crucial to making the informed decisions.
CCRC Decision-making
One thing that CCRCs seem to be doing--in the footsteps of lots of other organizations--is trying to consider themselves as either unique (one of a kind) or too similar (much like) another organization. The CCRC my mother lives in has decided to move to 12-hour shifts for its employees dealing with residents in assisted living and the skilled nursing facility.
In my personal experience of working 12-hour shifts, it is not a healthy option for anyone involved. While on duty at the Pentagon many years ago, my group decided to go on 12-hour shifts. We would start either at Noon or at Midnight and work that shift for several days (four, I think). This meannt that we would work from Midnight to Noon for four days, have two days off, then work from Noon to Midnight for four days and have three days off. While we had time off, I remember sleeping the first two days after the Midnight to Noon shift and not being able to sleep for awhile when we switched to the Noon to Midnight shift. (There were military reasons for the starting times, by the way.) Nursing homes and hospitals usually like a 7AM to 7PM shift and a 7PM to 7AM shift.
At the end of a twelve-hour shift, and even more so at the end of several days of that shift, we were not at our best. The constant switch of our internal clocks really messed people up--we react to lightness and darkness and it takes time to recover. A 34-year-old major working with me had a stroke and died after we were on the new schedule for a few months. He left a wife and two children. No one functioned at his or her best and decisions made when we were not at our best could (in an emergency situation) not have been the best ones to take. (We didn't have that problem during the time I am referring to.)
Many hospitals and now CCRCs are advocating the 12-hour day shift schedule, talking about how much time-off people will have in the course of 14 days and the continuity of care patients or residents will receive by seeing the same people on the same shifts. The CCRCs say that it has been successful in hospitals so they want to implement it. In my experience, what this shift schedule does is insure continuity of worse care for the people being cared for and continuity of a feeling of jet-lag and frustration on the part of the care-givers. It is good for schedulers and may help in financing plans. In hospitals I have seen diminished quality of care from caregivers toward the end of their 12-hour days. CCRC's usually do not have the same intensity of responsibility seen by nursing staff in hospitals and they have their own concerns at the CCRC.
At the end of my day I am aware that I have touched the "tip of the iceberg" and have lots more to learn about ensuring the quality of care and quality of life offered by CCRCs to my family. It's also something I have to think about in my own future as well.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Getting Read--RSS Feeds--Why Promote a Blog?
Why would I want anyone else to read this blog? What difference could it make? What is an RSS (Real Simple Syndication) link and service. Why should I promote this blog?
Those were questions I answered for myself before starting this blog. I do want others to read the blog posts. I write things I think are important memory joggers or insights that I want to share with others who may want to read them. One way to make that an easy process--for people to get the updates--is to have people subscribe to and RSS feed--Real Simple Syndication. I've just added the "gadget" to this blog to make it easy for people to subscribe to posts, comments, or both. http://www.bloglines.com is a good source for managing subscriptions. This allows readers or "followers" of the blog to be notified automatically when something changes on the blog.
So, why should I promote the blog? One of my goals is to make a positive difference in the world--for everyone I contact and touch. This is another way to reach out and touch someone. These reflections, ideas, and insights I have found to be valuable in my own life and I want to share them with others who may want to read them. Could it help for my business? Perhaps, if someone who needs the kinds of things I offer and begins to trust me by reading my blog posts, they can find ways to contact me and we can do business.
I have had the same goal for 40+ years as a professional, to make a positive difference in the world by helping people and organizations learn to change in order to improve their quality of (business) life now and for the future. Want to help me do this? Subscribe to my blog via an RSS feed and share it with others.
I don't have many comments to my blog posts yet, though some friends care enough to read my blogs and to give me feedback--including finding some typographical errors I can come back and correct. Thanks for the feedback and corrections, by the way. Part of delivering value is to have the blogs spelled correctly and make sense.
While I am fluent in more languages than English, I write better in English, so the blog posts are in my native language. My apologies and congratulations to English language learners (ELLs) who have learned to read English as a second (or additional) language.
Those were questions I answered for myself before starting this blog. I do want others to read the blog posts. I write things I think are important memory joggers or insights that I want to share with others who may want to read them. One way to make that an easy process--for people to get the updates--is to have people subscribe to and RSS feed--Real Simple Syndication. I've just added the "gadget" to this blog to make it easy for people to subscribe to posts, comments, or both. http://www.bloglines.com is a good source for managing subscriptions. This allows readers or "followers" of the blog to be notified automatically when something changes on the blog.
So, why should I promote the blog? One of my goals is to make a positive difference in the world--for everyone I contact and touch. This is another way to reach out and touch someone. These reflections, ideas, and insights I have found to be valuable in my own life and I want to share them with others who may want to read them. Could it help for my business? Perhaps, if someone who needs the kinds of things I offer and begins to trust me by reading my blog posts, they can find ways to contact me and we can do business.
I have had the same goal for 40+ years as a professional, to make a positive difference in the world by helping people and organizations learn to change in order to improve their quality of (business) life now and for the future. Want to help me do this? Subscribe to my blog via an RSS feed and share it with others.
I don't have many comments to my blog posts yet, though some friends care enough to read my blogs and to give me feedback--including finding some typographical errors I can come back and correct. Thanks for the feedback and corrections, by the way. Part of delivering value is to have the blogs spelled correctly and make sense.
While I am fluent in more languages than English, I write better in English, so the blog posts are in my native language. My apologies and congratulations to English language learners (ELLs) who have learned to read English as a second (or additional) language.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Weighing Choices--Making Decisions--Assessing Results
We take these actions from earliest memory. Even babies are weighing choices--"do I do this or do that?"--making decisions--"I'll cry now because ..."--and assessing results--"I cried when I was uncomfortable (wet or hungry) and now I'm dry and full."
As we get older the weighing process becomes more complex as do the decisions and our assessment of results. Sometimes there are delays between our actions and the results we see. Have you ever decided to order something, then been disappointed in it when it arrived?
When we get much older, many of our choices and decisions and results have to do with health. My 94-year-old mother went to the eye doctor today who told her that a shot in her left eye would control the accumulation of blood caused by age-related wet macular degeneration. Mom loves to read and to use her eyes. While she knew the shot is painful (this was the sixth shot she's had over several years) she has already decided that, if something will help her preserve her sight, she'll go through the pain. She had the shot. Age-related macular degeneration doesn't get better. Treatments can at least slow down the vision loss and that was the choice she made today.
How do we weigh our daily choices. There are 168 hours in a week (24 x 7) and we get to choose how we'll use them. Most of us want to sleep some of them away. Some of us know the value of exercise in our lives and devote some of the hours to exercise. All of us want to eat some of the time, so we take time for that as well. Many of us work several hours a day. We want time for recreation--perhaps with our families. Whatever the choices, those are the hours we have to work with in any given week.
We make decisions, then assess the results--are we getting what we want? In some of my eating choices, I have chosen to eat (what or when or how much I eat) that caused me to gain three pounds this week. If I want to get that off, I have to change my eating and exercise choices this week and can check on the results a week from now.
Yesterday I read a newsletter article that talked about looking for work AGR ("after the great recession in 2007"). The author (at http://www.higheredjobs.com) said that we have to have a different approach to looking for work AGR. What we used to do no longer produces the same results that it did before AGR. (See the post about Spenser Johnson's Who Moved My Cheese.)
If you go to http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning-Affect+Models.PDF and go to slide 2, Shame-Affect-Decisions Model. It will give you a picture of some of what I am talking about here.
Social networking sites abound with the hope that people will connect with the right jobs (or dates or spouses or . . .) through their social networks. Some do and some don't.
All of us need to rethink our choices and decisions, the results I am assessing tell me that times have, indeed, changed and I (along with millions of others) need to change to keep up with the change.
As we get older the weighing process becomes more complex as do the decisions and our assessment of results. Sometimes there are delays between our actions and the results we see. Have you ever decided to order something, then been disappointed in it when it arrived?
When we get much older, many of our choices and decisions and results have to do with health. My 94-year-old mother went to the eye doctor today who told her that a shot in her left eye would control the accumulation of blood caused by age-related wet macular degeneration. Mom loves to read and to use her eyes. While she knew the shot is painful (this was the sixth shot she's had over several years) she has already decided that, if something will help her preserve her sight, she'll go through the pain. She had the shot. Age-related macular degeneration doesn't get better. Treatments can at least slow down the vision loss and that was the choice she made today.
How do we weigh our daily choices. There are 168 hours in a week (24 x 7) and we get to choose how we'll use them. Most of us want to sleep some of them away. Some of us know the value of exercise in our lives and devote some of the hours to exercise. All of us want to eat some of the time, so we take time for that as well. Many of us work several hours a day. We want time for recreation--perhaps with our families. Whatever the choices, those are the hours we have to work with in any given week.
We make decisions, then assess the results--are we getting what we want? In some of my eating choices, I have chosen to eat (what or when or how much I eat) that caused me to gain three pounds this week. If I want to get that off, I have to change my eating and exercise choices this week and can check on the results a week from now.
Yesterday I read a newsletter article that talked about looking for work AGR ("after the great recession in 2007"). The author (at http://www.higheredjobs.com) said that we have to have a different approach to looking for work AGR. What we used to do no longer produces the same results that it did before AGR. (See the post about Spenser Johnson's Who Moved My Cheese.)
If you go to http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning-Affect+Models.PDF and go to slide 2, Shame-Affect-Decisions Model. It will give you a picture of some of what I am talking about here.
Social networking sites abound with the hope that people will connect with the right jobs (or dates or spouses or . . .) through their social networks. Some do and some don't.
All of us need to rethink our choices and decisions, the results I am assessing tell me that times have, indeed, changed and I (along with millions of others) need to change to keep up with the change.
Friday, August 21, 2009
". . . There's an 'app' for that."
I downloaded the free application (app) called "Bump" from the Apple iTunes Store this morning. Apple iTunes has been open for a little more than a year and "Bump" (as I remember) said that it was proud to be the billionth application available for download.
I have the iPod Touch (2nd Generation) running the 3.0 operating system. It can work with almost all of the apps available. I just purchased an external microphone for the iPod Touch, so now I can work with all of the apps that call for recording. I just can't take photos or work with the telephone features. To run on the Internet I need to be at a WiFi location.
Enough "tecky" stuff. Apple has done a great job and I can see more and more people getting great value from these products and apps. It was good timing, too, for the introduction of these things.
After downloading "Bump" to my PC and then synchronizing it to my iPod Touch, I downloaded a few more free apps and tested them out--along with their PC-based versions. There are some phenomenonal apps and I found myself investing most of the day in learning how to work the new apps and more expansive PC-based software. One of the best things I found was a new software for making movies of what you do on the PC. The name of the product is "Jing" and it is produced by TechSmith software (http://www.techsmith.com)--makers of SnagIt and several other terrific products I have used for years. I downloaded the free version of Jing and it will allow me to make a free, five-minute movie that I can post to websites, etc. This is just what I need for some presentations and webinars and podcasts I hope to be producing in the near future.
So, did I waste my time "playing" with some apps today? I probably did, though I also added to my personal creativity and found some new tools I needed to get my work done--when I get "down to work."
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Getting Past "You can't get there from here."
It is amazing how many ways this concept is communicated on a daily basis. "You can't get there from here" seems to be a theme song of today's economy in the United States.
One thing is certain, we need help to navigate how to achieve our goals and "get there from here." I love the Global Positioning System (GPS). I have a GPS on my iPod Touch (2nd Generation) (which works when I am on a WiFi network) and another portable one I use for my car. One of the things I like best about a truly portable GPS is that, when you don't follow its directions, it recalculates a new set of directions from where it finds your car and tells you how to get where you told it you're going even when you go your own way.
Now, if we could get more people to do with the "thinking" GPS gadgets do, we could really accomplish our goals!!
In my work with English language learners (ELLs) in the K-12 school systems in Illinois, I have discovered that introducing students to unabridged eAudiobooks with their companion books in print is a great way to motivate reading and to improve academic performance. I have published a research paper on this idea and am working to turn it into a pilot project for use in schools. Along the way I would like to receive some grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education to test the concept and to assure that the innovations we develop will be available throughout the USA.
Unfortunately, the way these grants seem to work, to gain funding to develop an idea, the "proof of concept" seems to need to be already tested. Grant funding is not for the first stage in development--putting the idea into practice. Instead it seems to be for a second stage--improving on the idea and developing materials to clone it.
At this stage in our development as a nation, we need to step "out of the box" and find out how to get there (helping ELLs learn to read and improve their academic performance by working with unabridged eAudio books and companion books) from where we are today--with or without federal grant funding.
Anyone want to help? Contact me via my Wiki project page.
One thing is certain, we need help to navigate how to achieve our goals and "get there from here." I love the Global Positioning System (GPS). I have a GPS on my iPod Touch (2nd Generation) (which works when I am on a WiFi network) and another portable one I use for my car. One of the things I like best about a truly portable GPS is that, when you don't follow its directions, it recalculates a new set of directions from where it finds your car and tells you how to get where you told it you're going even when you go your own way.
Now, if we could get more people to do with the "thinking" GPS gadgets do, we could really accomplish our goals!!
In my work with English language learners (ELLs) in the K-12 school systems in Illinois, I have discovered that introducing students to unabridged eAudiobooks with their companion books in print is a great way to motivate reading and to improve academic performance. I have published a research paper on this idea and am working to turn it into a pilot project for use in schools. Along the way I would like to receive some grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education to test the concept and to assure that the innovations we develop will be available throughout the USA.
Unfortunately, the way these grants seem to work, to gain funding to develop an idea, the "proof of concept" seems to need to be already tested. Grant funding is not for the first stage in development--putting the idea into practice. Instead it seems to be for a second stage--improving on the idea and developing materials to clone it.
At this stage in our development as a nation, we need to step "out of the box" and find out how to get there (helping ELLs learn to read and improve their academic performance by working with unabridged eAudio books and companion books) from where we are today--with or without federal grant funding.
Anyone want to help? Contact me via my Wiki project page.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Awareness-Acceptance-Action and Evidence for Action
In an earlier post I described the aspects of learning and change. There are three components that must be in place for change to take place at an individual or organizational level. These are: Awareness, Acceptance, and Action (view slides 8 and 9). In the last 24 hours I have had conversations in multiple contexts that show how these steps have to be personalized before action can be even considered.
Yesterday I wrote about the need for flu vaccinations early this year--the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have already approved the release and distribution of "regular, seasonal" flu vaccines that we usually see in October. Because we need three shots this year, the CDC is encouraging everyone to take the seasonal shot early. Several people I spoke with had not personalized that information. They had "lumped" the seasonal flu shot and the H1N1 (Swine flu) shot--not projected to be available until October or November--together and were avoiding thinking about any flu shots until later in the year.
Today I was having a conversation about the challenge that some association managers have in trusting in and personalizing information they may receive from research reports, news letters, and well known speakers regarding the needs of the members of their associations. At the same time few of these association managers actually ask questions of their members to take authentic input regarding unmet needs.
This reminds me, again, of some classic action learning concepts. Reg Revans, one of the founders of action learning, was a researcher in the United Kingdom and was involved in the follow-up to the sinking of the Titanic.
As I recall the history, he went to leaders of the different engineering groups who built the Titanic and received the same kind of message from several of the most distinguished engineers working on the project. (This is a paraphrase, of course.) "I thought that the "xyz" (pick an engineering problem) was a problem and then I realized that "Dr. ABC" (another leading expert in the field) was in charge of that department and I knew that what I was wondering about must have been handled by the experts. Enough of the "xyz" problems existed when the Titanic went to sea that it sank after colliding with an iceberg.
Association managers and everyone else make decisions every day--some of which are based on evidence and others on emotions or other factors. A major question remains, what evidence is required to be accepted and trusted on a personal level to allow a decision-maker to move through the phases of awareness (there is a need to change); acceptance (I must take--or approve--action to make a change); and action (actually moving through the learning and change and investment required to accomplish the change)?
The earlier post mentioned the concept of denial. What evidence of decay (lack of positive growth) or dis-ease is needed before a decision-maker recognizes that there is a new need to change. What used to work is no longer working. What do I (we) need to do now?
Sometimes membership groups need to ask questions of their members. At other times the information resources of newsletters, magazines, reviews, media, and informed speakers can provide the necessary information to allow the decision-maker to take action--even if the initial action is to ask questions of the membership. In fact, sometimes the act of asking questions actually informs the people being asked.
What evidence for change are you looking for? How will you recognize it when you see it? What will it take for you to move through the three phases--awareness-acceptance-action--and do something about it?
Yesterday I wrote about the need for flu vaccinations early this year--the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have already approved the release and distribution of "regular, seasonal" flu vaccines that we usually see in October. Because we need three shots this year, the CDC is encouraging everyone to take the seasonal shot early. Several people I spoke with had not personalized that information. They had "lumped" the seasonal flu shot and the H1N1 (Swine flu) shot--not projected to be available until October or November--together and were avoiding thinking about any flu shots until later in the year.
Today I was having a conversation about the challenge that some association managers have in trusting in and personalizing information they may receive from research reports, news letters, and well known speakers regarding the needs of the members of their associations. At the same time few of these association managers actually ask questions of their members to take authentic input regarding unmet needs.
This reminds me, again, of some classic action learning concepts. Reg Revans, one of the founders of action learning, was a researcher in the United Kingdom and was involved in the follow-up to the sinking of the Titanic.
As I recall the history, he went to leaders of the different engineering groups who built the Titanic and received the same kind of message from several of the most distinguished engineers working on the project. (This is a paraphrase, of course.) "I thought that the "xyz" (pick an engineering problem) was a problem and then I realized that "Dr. ABC" (another leading expert in the field) was in charge of that department and I knew that what I was wondering about must have been handled by the experts. Enough of the "xyz" problems existed when the Titanic went to sea that it sank after colliding with an iceberg.
Association managers and everyone else make decisions every day--some of which are based on evidence and others on emotions or other factors. A major question remains, what evidence is required to be accepted and trusted on a personal level to allow a decision-maker to move through the phases of awareness (there is a need to change); acceptance (I must take--or approve--action to make a change); and action (actually moving through the learning and change and investment required to accomplish the change)?
The earlier post mentioned the concept of denial. What evidence of decay (lack of positive growth) or dis-ease is needed before a decision-maker recognizes that there is a new need to change. What used to work is no longer working. What do I (we) need to do now?
Sometimes membership groups need to ask questions of their members. At other times the information resources of newsletters, magazines, reviews, media, and informed speakers can provide the necessary information to allow the decision-maker to take action--even if the initial action is to ask questions of the membership. In fact, sometimes the act of asking questions actually informs the people being asked.
What evidence for change are you looking for? How will you recognize it when you see it? What will it take for you to move through the three phases--awareness-acceptance-action--and do something about it?
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Three Aspects of Learning: Building Skills, Applying Knowledge, Transferring Knowledge
Each of these three activities requires a different skill set. I began my professional teaching career at the age of 17 as a volunteer water safety instructor with the American Red Cross. Their training gave me some insight into these three aspects of learning.
My first exposure to the American Red Cross water safety program was when I graduated from high school and had to pass the American Red Cross test to be certified as a life guard. I could swim and took the American Red Cross lifesaving course and passed the test. One of the instructors spoke to me at the end of the course and invited me to become a water safety instructor—then I would be teaching the course and be one of the testers rather than someone trying to pass the test. I thought that was a great idea and became a water safety instructor, building my own swimming skills in the nine styles of swimming as well as skills in all aspects of life saving.
Once I had developed my own skills and had completed the training to be an instructor, I could apply my knowledge as a coach and a trainer. I knew what to look for when someone was learning to swim or to be a lifeguard and could coach them to improve. I knew to break down the swimming strokes to their components, improve the components, then put the entire stroke back together again in an improved swimming style. This was an entirely new set of skills beyond those of the person learning how to swim well.
After I had been an instructor for some time, I was invited to become an Instructor Trainer. This, too, involved developing an entirely new set of skills. I could perform and coach and now I had to learn how to assist someone else to develop the instructor (coaching) ability and to make sure that their performance as an instructor matched the standards established by the American Red Cross. Water Safety Instructors teach children and adults and need to know how to work well with both groups. I repeated this entire learning process when I also became an American Red Cross First Aid, then CPR instructor and instructor-trainer. I was a volunteer instructor for the Red Cross for 33 years and what I learned as a volunteer led me to pursue a doctorate degree in education and has helped me in my consulting and teaching careers.
The “Learning Target Matrix” and the “Personal Performance Change Curve” (see http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning+Models.PDF [pages 7 and 8) describe some of what goes on in the skill and knowledge building process. It is important to remember that, depending on the target outcomes—skill building, applying knowledge, or transferring knowledge--these will need to be repeated tree times, each time focused on one of the three levels.
The American Red Cross makes a distinction for each of these three levels and I believe that, in most cases, that distinction needs to be followed to avoid confusion and a desire to “oversimplify” or to skip something that is really an essential piece of skill or knowledge.
Another aspect of this understanding of learning (and included on the “Personal Performance Change Curve”) is the concept of conscious and unconscious competence. We may become skilled swimmers, not thinking about what we are doing in the water, just swimming wonderfully well. We may be wonderful coaches to help others develop swimming skills, not realizing what we are doing and intervening at just the right time and in just the right way to make a difference. We may be wonderful facilitators and instructor-trainers, intervening in just the right times and ways to bring out the coaching skills of the people coming to us to learn. To achieve the unconscious competence in each level at some point we had to be conscious and to think about what we were doing. We need to break things down and to slow down again as we learn to step what we are doing up to a new level. Knowledge transfer is considered one of the highest levels of learning support for a reason. It requires lots of scaffolding and experience to do it well.
My first exposure to the American Red Cross water safety program was when I graduated from high school and had to pass the American Red Cross test to be certified as a life guard. I could swim and took the American Red Cross lifesaving course and passed the test. One of the instructors spoke to me at the end of the course and invited me to become a water safety instructor—then I would be teaching the course and be one of the testers rather than someone trying to pass the test. I thought that was a great idea and became a water safety instructor, building my own swimming skills in the nine styles of swimming as well as skills in all aspects of life saving.
Once I had developed my own skills and had completed the training to be an instructor, I could apply my knowledge as a coach and a trainer. I knew what to look for when someone was learning to swim or to be a lifeguard and could coach them to improve. I knew to break down the swimming strokes to their components, improve the components, then put the entire stroke back together again in an improved swimming style. This was an entirely new set of skills beyond those of the person learning how to swim well.
After I had been an instructor for some time, I was invited to become an Instructor Trainer. This, too, involved developing an entirely new set of skills. I could perform and coach and now I had to learn how to assist someone else to develop the instructor (coaching) ability and to make sure that their performance as an instructor matched the standards established by the American Red Cross. Water Safety Instructors teach children and adults and need to know how to work well with both groups. I repeated this entire learning process when I also became an American Red Cross First Aid, then CPR instructor and instructor-trainer. I was a volunteer instructor for the Red Cross for 33 years and what I learned as a volunteer led me to pursue a doctorate degree in education and has helped me in my consulting and teaching careers.
The “Learning Target Matrix” and the “Personal Performance Change Curve” (see http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning+Models.PDF [pages 7 and 8) describe some of what goes on in the skill and knowledge building process. It is important to remember that, depending on the target outcomes—skill building, applying knowledge, or transferring knowledge--these will need to be repeated tree times, each time focused on one of the three levels.
The American Red Cross makes a distinction for each of these three levels and I believe that, in most cases, that distinction needs to be followed to avoid confusion and a desire to “oversimplify” or to skip something that is really an essential piece of skill or knowledge.
Another aspect of this understanding of learning (and included on the “Personal Performance Change Curve”) is the concept of conscious and unconscious competence. We may become skilled swimmers, not thinking about what we are doing in the water, just swimming wonderfully well. We may be wonderful coaches to help others develop swimming skills, not realizing what we are doing and intervening at just the right time and in just the right way to make a difference. We may be wonderful facilitators and instructor-trainers, intervening in just the right times and ways to bring out the coaching skills of the people coming to us to learn. To achieve the unconscious competence in each level at some point we had to be conscious and to think about what we were doing. We need to break things down and to slow down again as we learn to step what we are doing up to a new level. Knowledge transfer is considered one of the highest levels of learning support for a reason. It requires lots of scaffolding and experience to do it well.
What if—everything were perfect—just the way it is?-- Unemployed teachers vs. a National Reserve of Qualified (and Vaccinated) SubstituteTeachers
Many teachers find themselves without teaching positions at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year. School districts released teachers at the end of the 2008-2009 school year and have fewer positions to offer in this school year.
While frustrating to many, this situation may lead to a greater quantity of qualified substitute teachers available this year—a time when the nation is gearing up to confront the H1N1 (Swine flu) virus. The Centers for Disease Control want schools to stay open and infected students and staff to stay home. There may be a greater need for qualified substitute teachers than in many previous years.
Of course, those substitute teachers need to get their flu vaccines (starting today), to register as substitutes, and to stay healthy. Imagine, rather than being an unemployed teacher, these unemployed teachers may be part of a national reserve of healthy, certified, substitute teachers available to help meet a potential crisis in our nations’ schools.
Thanks, teachers, for being part of this national reserve. Now make sure you are registered as substitute teachers and get your vaccinations as soon as you can.
While frustrating to many, this situation may lead to a greater quantity of qualified substitute teachers available this year—a time when the nation is gearing up to confront the H1N1 (Swine flu) virus. The Centers for Disease Control want schools to stay open and infected students and staff to stay home. There may be a greater need for qualified substitute teachers than in many previous years.
Of course, those substitute teachers need to get their flu vaccines (starting today), to register as substitutes, and to stay healthy. Imagine, rather than being an unemployed teacher, these unemployed teachers may be part of a national reserve of healthy, certified, substitute teachers available to help meet a potential crisis in our nations’ schools.
Thanks, teachers, for being part of this national reserve. Now make sure you are registered as substitute teachers and get your vaccinations as soon as you can.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Denial, Head-in-the-Sand, Mistrust, Distrust--Reactions to the Need for Change
"My mind is made up. Don't confuse me with the facts."
Spencer Johnson wrote Who Moved My Cheese?
The book (available in multiple forms with editions for teenagers and kids) provides a clear story of how much we become addicted to the "status quo" and resist change, even when it is "forced" upon us.
The news today talks about how much money is being saved when employees take unpaid days off from work--billions of dollars around the country that would otherwise be part of employee salaries.
While that may be the way to save jobs, even if employes don't earn as much as they are supposed to, it still hurts--the employees and the others the employees would normally be serving in one capacity or another.
Many of the posts on this blog deal with how to navigate, facilitate, manage change--from the inside and from the outside. A real challenge--and, indeed, a challenge for me as someone who helps others navigate change--is the fact captured by Spencer Johnson. Most of us really don't want to experience profound chain. It is uncomfortable. We have to give up much of our comfort zone and invest in learning something new and difference, maybe even trusting someone we don't know well with the knowledge that we don't know what we're trying to learn. That is miserable--for owners of businesses and for entry-level employees. K-12 students aren't keen on it either, though it is supposed to be part of their daily learning experience in school. (See "The Comfort Curve Mapped to Performance Change" [page 10] at http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning+Models.PDF and "Shame-Affect-and-Decision Making" [page 2] at http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning-Affect+Models.PDF.)
The ostrich is supposed to bury his head in the sand when danger approaches. While he may not see it coming, the danger can usually see him. (Visit http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/80800.html to expose the myth.) Denying or refusing to confront the problems do not make them go away. Another author who has lots to say about denial and resistance to change is Dr. Eli Goldratt--see The Goal (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_1_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+goal+goldratt&sprefix=The+Goal).
In my 40+ years of working with individuals and organizations confronted with the need to learn and change, I have been amazed at the creativity of denial of people at advanced levels of responsibility in all kinds of organizations. Sometimes I have been called in when it is too late so that someone can point to the consultant intervention and blame failure on the last-minute intervention. Others refuse to use the best practice approaches (see yesterday's post) to navigate learning and change and are looking for ways to "return to normal" and to get rid of anyone trying to bring up uncomfortable ideas (or realities).
Another place this occurs is when people have decided that they want something to happen, regardless of whether or not what they want is in the best interest of the organization--or even in their own best interest. These people, too, are very experienced in working with denial and have a wealth of tools at their disposal to eliminate any opposition to what they want, regardless of the consequences.
I do not mean to paint a bleak picture. As Spencer Johnson shares in Who Moved My Cheese?,
we have to learn to get past the denial and discomfort and move into dealing with the change that is needed.
Michael Gerber in his The E-Myth Revisited makes some clear points about the challenges of business start-ups. (See http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_6?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=e-myth+revisited&sprefix=e-myth.)
Here's the challenge for this post: Is there a change that is urgently needed that you are still in the process of denying and ignoring? What could happen if you opened yourself to collaborate with an outsider (me, for example) to help you understand and navigate the change in a positive way? What would you need to do to make that happen? Who else would you need to involve? When would you do it? Why would you do it? Why not?
If you're still in denial, read one of the books mentioned in this post and ask yourself the questions again. When you are ready to respond positively and to work actively for continuous, ongoing improvement, please contact me and let's get started together.
Spencer Johnson wrote Who Moved My Cheese?
The book (available in multiple forms with editions for teenagers and kids) provides a clear story of how much we become addicted to the "status quo" and resist change, even when it is "forced" upon us.The news today talks about how much money is being saved when employees take unpaid days off from work--billions of dollars around the country that would otherwise be part of employee salaries.
While that may be the way to save jobs, even if employes don't earn as much as they are supposed to, it still hurts--the employees and the others the employees would normally be serving in one capacity or another.
Many of the posts on this blog deal with how to navigate, facilitate, manage change--from the inside and from the outside. A real challenge--and, indeed, a challenge for me as someone who helps others navigate change--is the fact captured by Spencer Johnson. Most of us really don't want to experience profound chain. It is uncomfortable. We have to give up much of our comfort zone and invest in learning something new and difference, maybe even trusting someone we don't know well with the knowledge that we don't know what we're trying to learn. That is miserable--for owners of businesses and for entry-level employees. K-12 students aren't keen on it either, though it is supposed to be part of their daily learning experience in school. (See "The Comfort Curve Mapped to Performance Change" [page 10] at http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning+Models.PDF and "Shame-Affect-and-Decision Making" [page 2] at http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning-Affect+Models.PDF.)
The ostrich is supposed to bury his head in the sand when danger approaches. While he may not see it coming, the danger can usually see him. (Visit http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/80800.html to expose the myth.) Denying or refusing to confront the problems do not make them go away. Another author who has lots to say about denial and resistance to change is Dr. Eli Goldratt--see The Goal (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_1_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+goal+goldratt&sprefix=The+Goal).
In my 40+ years of working with individuals and organizations confronted with the need to learn and change, I have been amazed at the creativity of denial of people at advanced levels of responsibility in all kinds of organizations. Sometimes I have been called in when it is too late so that someone can point to the consultant intervention and blame failure on the last-minute intervention. Others refuse to use the best practice approaches (see yesterday's post) to navigate learning and change and are looking for ways to "return to normal" and to get rid of anyone trying to bring up uncomfortable ideas (or realities).
Another place this occurs is when people have decided that they want something to happen, regardless of whether or not what they want is in the best interest of the organization--or even in their own best interest. These people, too, are very experienced in working with denial and have a wealth of tools at their disposal to eliminate any opposition to what they want, regardless of the consequences.
I do not mean to paint a bleak picture. As Spencer Johnson shares in Who Moved My Cheese?,
we have to learn to get past the denial and discomfort and move into dealing with the change that is needed.
Michael Gerber in his The E-Myth Revisited makes some clear points about the challenges of business start-ups. (See http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_6?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=e-myth+revisited&sprefix=e-myth.)
Here's the challenge for this post: Is there a change that is urgently needed that you are still in the process of denying and ignoring? What could happen if you opened yourself to collaborate with an outsider (me, for example) to help you understand and navigate the change in a positive way? What would you need to do to make that happen? Who else would you need to involve? When would you do it? Why would you do it? Why not?
If you're still in denial, read one of the books mentioned in this post and ask yourself the questions again. When you are ready to respond positively and to work actively for continuous, ongoing improvement, please contact me and let's get started together.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Key Processes in Facilitating Change and Learning
In a conversation today about facilitating change and learning for an organization, I was reflecting on some key processes that I have found over the years to be especially helpful and wanted to use this post to keep them "top of mind" and to share them with others. The ideas came from multiple sources have have become a part of my organizational change toolkit that I bring with me when consulting, advising, or otherwise working on projects dealing with learning and change. (See the link at the title of this post and explore some of the stories on that website.)
1. "Begin with the End in Mind" (from Steven Covey's work)--what is the total process involved and what are the final results being produced? This can begin at a high level and may have to come down to a more detailed level when dealing with identifying changes that need to happen.
2. "What are the bottlenecks in the process?" (from Eli Goldratt's work)--What slows down or stops the process flow? What would happen "downstream" if the bottleneck were removed? Most organizations have multiple bottlenecks which are only discovered when one early in the process is removed and it slows down again at the next bottleneck.
3. "Is there a critical chain?" (from Eli Goldratt's work)--Do certain things have to be ready before other things? Does that happen? What can interfere? Do resources have to be mobilized or staged so that the process can pick-up what is needed when it is needed to carry on to the desired results?
4. "Follow the trail of the money" (from Jerry Maguire)--Where does the money come from? Where does it go? Where does the organization place its value--on customers, on suppliers, on employees? Where is the balance and/or the priority of the owners of the business?
5. "Are we trying to force solutions or to ask the right questions?" (from Action Learning)--Do we have a facilitator to help us keep on track asking the right questions? Do we have a group committed to following the action learning process to work through the process of changing the organization? Who composes the group? What questions are being asked?
6. "Do we know what we want or need to change and what we want or need to change to?"--(from Organizational Change literature)--How do we know that? Have we thought it through and tested our beliefs?
7. "Do we share a common vision of the change goal?" (from Jack Gibb's work with Trust)--(see http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning+Models.PDF and look for the Meta-Model on "Trust Dimensions in Team Performance")--Everyone working for the change needs to move through some dimensions of trust and get to a shared (collaborative) vision for the change. Then the group can develop a strategy and then tactics for how to achieve the change. Learning will be part of the strategy and tactics to develop or achieve the vision.
8. "Have we moved through the states of 'awareness--acceptance--action' with regard to the goal?" (from http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning+Models.PDF --see the "Personal Performance Change Curve" and the "Organizational Performance Change Curve")--Individuals and groups need to move through these stages to bring the change about. If a sufficient number of people have not progressed to the appropriate stage, the change will probably be rejected.
9. "What levels of trust and potentials for synergy exist with the change team?"-- (see the meta-models listed earlier in this blog)--Trust is, indeed, the glue that allows change to happen. If it is missing, the group has to work to re-establish it at a sufficiently high level to allow progress to the next step in the trust building and performance change processes.
10. "Are all stakeholders involved and invested?" -- (from organizational change literature)-- If a stakeholder has been missed or is not in agreement, the change can be blocked or sidetracked quickly.
11. "Is everyone communicating clearly with shared definitions of relevant ideas and terms?"--(from organizational change literature)--Regardless of languages spoken, are members of the team talking about the same things when they discuss the change--goal, strategies, tactics, results, learning.
1. "Begin with the End in Mind" (from Steven Covey's work)--what is the total process involved and what are the final results being produced? This can begin at a high level and may have to come down to a more detailed level when dealing with identifying changes that need to happen.
2. "What are the bottlenecks in the process?" (from Eli Goldratt's work)--What slows down or stops the process flow? What would happen "downstream" if the bottleneck were removed? Most organizations have multiple bottlenecks which are only discovered when one early in the process is removed and it slows down again at the next bottleneck.
3. "Is there a critical chain?" (from Eli Goldratt's work)--Do certain things have to be ready before other things? Does that happen? What can interfere? Do resources have to be mobilized or staged so that the process can pick-up what is needed when it is needed to carry on to the desired results?
4. "Follow the trail of the money" (from Jerry Maguire)--Where does the money come from? Where does it go? Where does the organization place its value--on customers, on suppliers, on employees? Where is the balance and/or the priority of the owners of the business?
5. "Are we trying to force solutions or to ask the right questions?" (from Action Learning)--Do we have a facilitator to help us keep on track asking the right questions? Do we have a group committed to following the action learning process to work through the process of changing the organization? Who composes the group? What questions are being asked?
6. "Do we know what we want or need to change and what we want or need to change to?"--(from Organizational Change literature)--How do we know that? Have we thought it through and tested our beliefs?
7. "Do we share a common vision of the change goal?" (from Jack Gibb's work with Trust)--(see http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning+Models.PDF and look for the Meta-Model on "Trust Dimensions in Team Performance")--Everyone working for the change needs to move through some dimensions of trust and get to a shared (collaborative) vision for the change. Then the group can develop a strategy and then tactics for how to achieve the change. Learning will be part of the strategy and tactics to develop or achieve the vision.
8. "Have we moved through the states of 'awareness--acceptance--action' with regard to the goal?" (from http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning+Models.PDF --see the "Personal Performance Change Curve" and the "Organizational Performance Change Curve")--Individuals and groups need to move through these stages to bring the change about. If a sufficient number of people have not progressed to the appropriate stage, the change will probably be rejected.
9. "What levels of trust and potentials for synergy exist with the change team?"-- (see the meta-models listed earlier in this blog)--Trust is, indeed, the glue that allows change to happen. If it is missing, the group has to work to re-establish it at a sufficiently high level to allow progress to the next step in the trust building and performance change processes.
10. "Are all stakeholders involved and invested?" -- (from organizational change literature)-- If a stakeholder has been missed or is not in agreement, the change can be blocked or sidetracked quickly.
11. "Is everyone communicating clearly with shared definitions of relevant ideas and terms?"--(from organizational change literature)--Regardless of languages spoken, are members of the team talking about the same things when they discuss the change--goal, strategies, tactics, results, learning.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Reading Challenge--Step "Outside the Box" and Make a Difference with Me in K-12 Education
"The Economy in 2009"‐‐at a time when students are graduating from high school reading at a third or fourth grade level, when employees need symbols on keys to enter sales at fast‐food restaurants, when beginning employees and students entering community colleges cannot read the textbooks, manuals, or follow written instructions well enough to be successful at their jobs, teachers are laid off in droves.
Many teachers who are not yet tenured and who chose to come to teaching as a second (or later career) to make a difference for students often command higher salaries due to education and, in districts already operating "in the red" are let go by some school districts and not hired by other school districts.
Beyond that challenge, many interventions designed to help struggling readers improve reading skills are not proving successful enough to produce a quality change in students' abilities to read. Research indicates that many students who have problems reading often engage in off‐task behavior and bring others off‐task with them so not to have to compete in academics. Schools invest money in "positive behavior intervention and support" (variations of discipline and rewards) rather than in helping students build solid social‐emotional skills appropriate to their grade levels and use "off the shelf" interventions to build reading scores (not necessarily skills or habits). (See http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/research
for several research articles which support these claims.)
For the last six years I have been one of those multiple‐career teachers, working with English language learners (ELLs) in K‐12 school districts in Kane County Illinois. I have gone back to school to meet state requirements for teaching and completed a post‐doctoral Master of Arts in Teaching in May, 2008, then
took 15 graduate hours during the summer of 2008 to obtain state approval as a bilingual (Spanish) teacher and as a Teacher of English as a Second Language. I earned my doctorate degree in 1992 in adult education and human resources development. Before stepping into the K‐12 classroom, I had been a teacher of adults since 1968 (starting as a volunteer with the American Red Cross). I had designed innovative programs provided to employees of businesses and corporations in North and South America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. I had also been an organizational change consultant for organizations around the world for more than 40 years.
Most recently I have been focusing on the ongoing problem of below‐grade –level reading among middle school students and beyond. While prevalent among ELLs and students whose families are in the lower economic categories (receiving free or reduced lunches), it is more widespread than that. My research and practice have led me to explore a technology‐enhanced approach which had established a good track record in the 1990s and has even greater application today, leveraging the new technology. I am referring to the use of audiobooks and eAudiobooks (which can be downloaded to iPods and MP3 players) to encourage reading and improved academic performance. (See http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/research for an article and a presentation on this subject.)
Today, at the beginning of the 2009‐2010 school year, I am looking for school districts who would like to partner with me to introduce this approach with small groups of students, teachers, and librarians at the middle school level and above.
This is a time to step “outside the box” and to find a way to support something new that has the potential to make a real difference for K‐12 students and employers and future families in this country.
If you are ready "step outside of the box" to work with me to meet this challenge, please let me know. The website linked to the title of this blog entry takes you to the project page for DrM‐Resources and this is the “Providing Access to eAudiobooks and Audiobooks to Improve Reading and Academic Performance” project.
Many teachers who are not yet tenured and who chose to come to teaching as a second (or later career) to make a difference for students often command higher salaries due to education and, in districts already operating "in the red" are let go by some school districts and not hired by other school districts.
Beyond that challenge, many interventions designed to help struggling readers improve reading skills are not proving successful enough to produce a quality change in students' abilities to read. Research indicates that many students who have problems reading often engage in off‐task behavior and bring others off‐task with them so not to have to compete in academics. Schools invest money in "positive behavior intervention and support" (variations of discipline and rewards) rather than in helping students build solid social‐emotional skills appropriate to their grade levels and use "off the shelf" interventions to build reading scores (not necessarily skills or habits). (See http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/research
for several research articles which support these claims.)
For the last six years I have been one of those multiple‐career teachers, working with English language learners (ELLs) in K‐12 school districts in Kane County Illinois. I have gone back to school to meet state requirements for teaching and completed a post‐doctoral Master of Arts in Teaching in May, 2008, then
took 15 graduate hours during the summer of 2008 to obtain state approval as a bilingual (Spanish) teacher and as a Teacher of English as a Second Language. I earned my doctorate degree in 1992 in adult education and human resources development. Before stepping into the K‐12 classroom, I had been a teacher of adults since 1968 (starting as a volunteer with the American Red Cross). I had designed innovative programs provided to employees of businesses and corporations in North and South America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. I had also been an organizational change consultant for organizations around the world for more than 40 years.
Most recently I have been focusing on the ongoing problem of below‐grade –level reading among middle school students and beyond. While prevalent among ELLs and students whose families are in the lower economic categories (receiving free or reduced lunches), it is more widespread than that. My research and practice have led me to explore a technology‐enhanced approach which had established a good track record in the 1990s and has even greater application today, leveraging the new technology. I am referring to the use of audiobooks and eAudiobooks (which can be downloaded to iPods and MP3 players) to encourage reading and improved academic performance. (See http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/research for an article and a presentation on this subject.)
Today, at the beginning of the 2009‐2010 school year, I am looking for school districts who would like to partner with me to introduce this approach with small groups of students, teachers, and librarians at the middle school level and above.
This is a time to step “outside the box” and to find a way to support something new that has the potential to make a real difference for K‐12 students and employers and future families in this country.
If you are ready "step outside of the box" to work with me to meet this challenge, please let me know. The website linked to the title of this blog entry takes you to the project page for DrM‐Resources and this is the “Providing Access to eAudiobooks and Audiobooks to Improve Reading and Academic Performance” project.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Trust vs. "There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch"
Trust forms the essential "glue" that allows synergy and innovation to take place between people--in business and personal relationships. Without it we have isolation and maintenance of the "status quo" (and, in a growing organizm, the beginning of decay and death.
For a graphic that will help explain this concept, go to the link tied to the title of this post and to
http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/meta-models and open the Learning Models.pdf file. Look for the "Trust Dimension in Team Performance" model.
People develop habits of trust and distrust--often with good reason. Just like learning to walk, we have to stand up and move (trust) one more time than we fall down (distrust). This is another case of common sense vs. common practice--see my earlier blog. Trust is absolutely essential for learning and change.
We are vulnerable when we learn. (Visit http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/meta-models and open the Learning Affect Model Collection.pdf file. Look for the "Shame Affect Decision" model. (Small copies of both of these models are also on this web site: http://www.joelmonty.net/innovations. )
Because we are vulnerable we become concerned about the people we may be learning from. The common practice warning has merit--"There is no such thing as a free lunch." In most cases, when something is "free" there are strings attached. This is not always something negative and it doesn't always cost money. On the other hand, in e-mails, I have often found that the strings attached to many "free" offers cost more than whatever was being offered.
When we become jaded and start from a position of distrust, we can have a negative impact on real possibilities for learning and change.
What was in it for me? Is it really "free?"
Recently I had started a project with a group of member associations with the goal of helping their members identify the learning needs of their workforces. I estimated the value of my contribution to this project to be in the neighborhood of $10,000 which I was offering for free to this group. Because I didn't know everyone who should be involved, I began by contacting people I knew were stakeholders and asked them to recommend others who should be included in the project. I would then contact the people I had been referred to and would mention who had suggested that I contact them about the project. To save lenghy e-mails, I provided copies of the e-mails on the web site used for the project and asked everyone to read the e-mails.
I never asked for money for my services in pulling the project together or for the expertise I was offering. The purpose of this project was to benefit their members and their community and to be a pilot project for my firm which could be duplicated in other places. I never intentially said that I was affiliated with anyone else on this project.
Everyone I contacted at the beginning of this project was interested in participating. The focus and goal seemed to be well timed and was of perceived value to everyone invited to participate. One or two people were away from their office and could not readily be contacted, yet they were included in all the correspondence so that they would not be missing out on anything when they returned.
About three weeks into the project, someone who had been away read part of the correspondence and decided that, in some correspondence, I had misrepresented him. While I had not done so, he made the assumption and proceeded to "poison the pool" of member associations and other stakeholders.
"My mind's made up. Don't confuse me with the facts."
Even though I cleared up his misconception and that of one of the stakeholders, the brakes were on. Instead of 10 organizations participating, two followed-through on our next meeting and we were left with half of the needed questions for the organizations.
While the project could still be completed and still add value, the early momentum and trust had been lost--merely by someone making a false assumption and acting on it.
The project is dormant at present. While it could be resurrected, at this point I can offer the same process to another group of stakeholders (remember, my free services for this project were valued at about $10,000) with as much ease as starting over with the previous group.
I appreciate the continued trust of the two professionals who continued to work on the project with me. The community and their members lose out on the opportunities for learning and changes that could have been uncovered by the project. Perhaps they will find the resources to do it on their own in the future.
Trust is worthwhile. It is important to start group work with trust and to bring questions into the open without acting on assumptions based on previous experiences. A lack of trust brings lots of consequences--including isolation and maintenance of the "status quo." Check out the graphic on the link connected to the title of this post. It is designed to tell a story without words. What does it tell you?
By the way, if you check out the http://drm-resources.wikispaces.com/projects page and know of another group who would like to work on a needs analysis, feel free to let me know.
For a graphic that will help explain this concept, go to the link tied to the title of this post and to
http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/meta-models and open the Learning Models.pdf file. Look for the "Trust Dimension in Team Performance" model.
People develop habits of trust and distrust--often with good reason. Just like learning to walk, we have to stand up and move (trust) one more time than we fall down (distrust). This is another case of common sense vs. common practice--see my earlier blog. Trust is absolutely essential for learning and change.
We are vulnerable when we learn. (Visit http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/meta-models and open the Learning Affect Model Collection.pdf file. Look for the "Shame Affect Decision" model. (Small copies of both of these models are also on this web site: http://www.joelmonty.net/innovations. )
Because we are vulnerable we become concerned about the people we may be learning from. The common practice warning has merit--"There is no such thing as a free lunch." In most cases, when something is "free" there are strings attached. This is not always something negative and it doesn't always cost money. On the other hand, in e-mails, I have often found that the strings attached to many "free" offers cost more than whatever was being offered.
When we become jaded and start from a position of distrust, we can have a negative impact on real possibilities for learning and change.
What was in it for me? Is it really "free?"
Recently I had started a project with a group of member associations with the goal of helping their members identify the learning needs of their workforces. I estimated the value of my contribution to this project to be in the neighborhood of $10,000 which I was offering for free to this group. Because I didn't know everyone who should be involved, I began by contacting people I knew were stakeholders and asked them to recommend others who should be included in the project. I would then contact the people I had been referred to and would mention who had suggested that I contact them about the project. To save lenghy e-mails, I provided copies of the e-mails on the web site used for the project and asked everyone to read the e-mails.
I never asked for money for my services in pulling the project together or for the expertise I was offering. The purpose of this project was to benefit their members and their community and to be a pilot project for my firm which could be duplicated in other places. I never intentially said that I was affiliated with anyone else on this project.
Everyone I contacted at the beginning of this project was interested in participating. The focus and goal seemed to be well timed and was of perceived value to everyone invited to participate. One or two people were away from their office and could not readily be contacted, yet they were included in all the correspondence so that they would not be missing out on anything when they returned.
About three weeks into the project, someone who had been away read part of the correspondence and decided that, in some correspondence, I had misrepresented him. While I had not done so, he made the assumption and proceeded to "poison the pool" of member associations and other stakeholders.
"My mind's made up. Don't confuse me with the facts."
Even though I cleared up his misconception and that of one of the stakeholders, the brakes were on. Instead of 10 organizations participating, two followed-through on our next meeting and we were left with half of the needed questions for the organizations.
While the project could still be completed and still add value, the early momentum and trust had been lost--merely by someone making a false assumption and acting on it.
The project is dormant at present. While it could be resurrected, at this point I can offer the same process to another group of stakeholders (remember, my free services for this project were valued at about $10,000) with as much ease as starting over with the previous group.
I appreciate the continued trust of the two professionals who continued to work on the project with me. The community and their members lose out on the opportunities for learning and changes that could have been uncovered by the project. Perhaps they will find the resources to do it on their own in the future.
Trust is worthwhile. It is important to start group work with trust and to bring questions into the open without acting on assumptions based on previous experiences. A lack of trust brings lots of consequences--including isolation and maintenance of the "status quo." Check out the graphic on the link connected to the title of this post. It is designed to tell a story without words. What does it tell you?
By the way, if you check out the http://drm-resources.wikispaces.com/projects page and know of another group who would like to work on a needs analysis, feel free to let me know.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Learning, Change, and Education--A dynamic relationship
Change requires learning and learning generates change. Education is a tool that makes the process flow more smoothly.
(Now aren't you glad you looked at this blog today?)
A common definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
The relationship between change, learning, and education is dynamic and synergistic. Each influences the other. There are similar steps and stages for individuals and organizations and the details of what happens in those steps and stages are different. Visit http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/meta-models and look at two Meta-models—the Personal Performance Change Curve and the Organizational Performance Change Curve for details.
Change is not easy. Even when we know that something is good for us, it's hard to do it. I've lost weight using Jenny Craig's meals and I know they work. Over the summer I have "supplemented" the meals too much and have gained back a few pounds. I know better and know that I can trim the supplements and get back on my weight loss program. I'll do that "tomorrow." For me, at least I know what to do and what to change to. Jenny's meals have worked for me in the past and I'm still on the program.
In business and in K-12 education change is difficult as well. It is often difficult to decide what to change and what to change to. To make matters worse, people keep coming up with new technologies or fads or "sure fire techniques" that will "make it happen now." (Only these innovations fail to produce the results intended--at least for the people working to implement them. Why do they fail?
Many times the innovation or intervention could be successful if the people putting them into practice learned what they really need to know to make the innovation or intervention successful. That learning requires an investment of time and energy and a willingness to accept that there is something more to be learned. While some people who are committed to the change are willing to do the learning required, many others are not and that is often the cause of failure to change.
In education, research I've worked with this summer shows that many high school graduates in the USA read at a third to sixth grade level (instead of a 12th grade level or higher). I've found that statistic from research 13 years ago and found that to be true in my 7th and 8th grade classrooms this Spring. There have been lots of interventions and innovations over the past 13 years--yet the results of the research indicate much the same condition. What hasn't worked?
Education (in terms of the larger sense of the process of education rather than the sense of education as a business) can help individuals and organizations move through the steps and stages of the Change Process to achieve the change goals. In most cases—in business and in the education industry—education for the shared vision of change has not taken place. Most education being provided today is more tactical than strategic and the people receiving the training often do not find much value—in the proposed change or in the training they received to implement it. (This was feedback I found both in business and in education all over the world.)
Part of what needs to happen is to have an enlarged vision of the change—beyond just the intervention being proposed. People and organizations need to be prepared for the change, to learn what they need to in order to move through the stages of awareness, acceptance, and action.
A facilitator with a rich background in education and learning—(of course this is a plug: it’s my blog, after all)—can help guide the process so that more holistic learning and change can take place.
Another rich resource for helping organizations learn and change is the process of Action Learning initiated by Reg Revans out of the United Kingdom. Visit http://www.ifal-usa.org/ for more information.) I use both Action Learning and Action Research (pioneered by Kurt Lewin in the 1940s) as part of the tools in my toolkit—along with some of the work of Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt (author of The Goal and Critical Chain, among other works).
(Now aren't you glad you looked at this blog today?)
A common definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
The relationship between change, learning, and education is dynamic and synergistic. Each influences the other. There are similar steps and stages for individuals and organizations and the details of what happens in those steps and stages are different. Visit http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/meta-models and look at two Meta-models—the Personal Performance Change Curve and the Organizational Performance Change Curve for details.
Change is not easy. Even when we know that something is good for us, it's hard to do it. I've lost weight using Jenny Craig's meals and I know they work. Over the summer I have "supplemented" the meals too much and have gained back a few pounds. I know better and know that I can trim the supplements and get back on my weight loss program. I'll do that "tomorrow." For me, at least I know what to do and what to change to. Jenny's meals have worked for me in the past and I'm still on the program.
In business and in K-12 education change is difficult as well. It is often difficult to decide what to change and what to change to. To make matters worse, people keep coming up with new technologies or fads or "sure fire techniques" that will "make it happen now." (Only these innovations fail to produce the results intended--at least for the people working to implement them. Why do they fail?
Many times the innovation or intervention could be successful if the people putting them into practice learned what they really need to know to make the innovation or intervention successful. That learning requires an investment of time and energy and a willingness to accept that there is something more to be learned. While some people who are committed to the change are willing to do the learning required, many others are not and that is often the cause of failure to change.
In education, research I've worked with this summer shows that many high school graduates in the USA read at a third to sixth grade level (instead of a 12th grade level or higher). I've found that statistic from research 13 years ago and found that to be true in my 7th and 8th grade classrooms this Spring. There have been lots of interventions and innovations over the past 13 years--yet the results of the research indicate much the same condition. What hasn't worked?
Education (in terms of the larger sense of the process of education rather than the sense of education as a business) can help individuals and organizations move through the steps and stages of the Change Process to achieve the change goals. In most cases—in business and in the education industry—education for the shared vision of change has not taken place. Most education being provided today is more tactical than strategic and the people receiving the training often do not find much value—in the proposed change or in the training they received to implement it. (This was feedback I found both in business and in education all over the world.)
Part of what needs to happen is to have an enlarged vision of the change—beyond just the intervention being proposed. People and organizations need to be prepared for the change, to learn what they need to in order to move through the stages of awareness, acceptance, and action.
A facilitator with a rich background in education and learning—(of course this is a plug: it’s my blog, after all)—can help guide the process so that more holistic learning and change can take place.
Another rich resource for helping organizations learn and change is the process of Action Learning initiated by Reg Revans out of the United Kingdom. Visit http://www.ifal-usa.org/ for more information.) I use both Action Learning and Action Research (pioneered by Kurt Lewin in the 1940s) as part of the tools in my toolkit—along with some of the work of Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt (author of The Goal and Critical Chain, among other works).
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
What have you done lately?--Common Practice vs. Common Sense
“What have you done lately?” --a question asked of me on Wednesday, August 12th. 2009.
Lately I've done what I have been doing throughout my 40+ year career, helping people and organizations learn to change to improve their quality of (business) life now and for the future. I incorporate research-based best practices, years of wisdom and experience with more than 100 organizations and thousands of individuals around the world, what I have learned over the years--including earning a doctorate and two masters degrees--and applying all of that in practical, step-by-step approaches that can be learned by children and adults.
A better question could be--who have you done this for lately? In the summer of 2009, my answer would be based on the different roles I have played.
As an educator--Since 9-11-2001, I have been working with English language learners (ELLs) in K-12 school systems in Illinois, helping them learn both academic skills and how to work and learn using English. In that time I have developed innovative techniques in helping students and adults to learn to read better by using audiobooks.
As a consultant--I have begun working on a project to do community needs analyses for chambers of commerce dealing with the workplace learning needs for their members. The process involves developing a survey, sharing it with the membership, and analyzing the results--offering the results to local school systems who can help fill the learning gaps identified in the surveys. The Chambers of Commerce take the credit for the survey with their members. The outcomes help build community resources and economic development.
As a researcher and author--I have recently published 13 research-based working papers in the Education Research Information Clearinghouse (ERIC) focused on various intervention strategies to improve learning for English language learners.
As a reflective practitioner--I have engaged in the process of reflecting on what I do so that I can reach more people who need to learn how to change and have been implementing a variety of communication vehicles on the Internet that will allow more people to work with what I offer to help the people and organizations they work with.
(By the way, to see what I'm doing currently, visit my Projects Wiki space using the link above. I have a well-started pilot project and may need more participants, if you are interested.)
Lately I've done what I have been doing throughout my 40+ year career, helping people and organizations learn to change to improve their quality of (business) life now and for the future. I incorporate research-based best practices, years of wisdom and experience with more than 100 organizations and thousands of individuals around the world, what I have learned over the years--including earning a doctorate and two masters degrees--and applying all of that in practical, step-by-step approaches that can be learned by children and adults.
A better question could be--who have you done this for lately? In the summer of 2009, my answer would be based on the different roles I have played.
As an educator--Since 9-11-2001, I have been working with English language learners (ELLs) in K-12 school systems in Illinois, helping them learn both academic skills and how to work and learn using English. In that time I have developed innovative techniques in helping students and adults to learn to read better by using audiobooks.
As a consultant--I have begun working on a project to do community needs analyses for chambers of commerce dealing with the workplace learning needs for their members. The process involves developing a survey, sharing it with the membership, and analyzing the results--offering the results to local school systems who can help fill the learning gaps identified in the surveys. The Chambers of Commerce take the credit for the survey with their members. The outcomes help build community resources and economic development.
As a researcher and author--I have recently published 13 research-based working papers in the Education Research Information Clearinghouse (ERIC) focused on various intervention strategies to improve learning for English language learners.
As a reflective practitioner--I have engaged in the process of reflecting on what I do so that I can reach more people who need to learn how to change and have been implementing a variety of communication vehicles on the Internet that will allow more people to work with what I offer to help the people and organizations they work with.
(By the way, to see what I'm doing currently, visit my Projects Wiki space using the link above. I have a well-started pilot project and may need more participants, if you are interested.)
Workplace Training in a Challenged Economy--Community Needs Analysis
Many organizations cut their investment in workplace learning when their budgets shrink. This is especially hard when employees entering the workforce after high school may be reading several grades below grade-level.
Some organizations use technology to compensate for low employee skills--pictures on keys so that employees can enter orders in fast food restaurants, for example.
I've begun working this summer on some questionnaires to be used to explore current trends and needs in workforce training and continuing education--based on targeting geographic areas based on community college districts set by states. I have proposed a pilot project --see http://drm-resources.wikispaces.com/projects .
The idea is to work with local Chambers of Commerce and other stakeholders to gather a true "community needs assessment" that can then be shared with providers of training based on documented needs of employees and their employers.
The follow-up steps and who would be involved are in another stage of the process. Informal observation says that this is an idea coming at a good time. Who will pay for the needs assessment and/or the training--that is still something to be developed.
Some of the issues identified may well fall into the arena of public education and others into areas for community development. It is critical to realize that the responsibility for assisting the employees to have the needed skills are not exclusively the responsibility of any one stakeholder--the employee, the employer, government agencies, or private trainers.
I see a community needs assessment as having several phases--data collection will include surveys, then, based on the surveys, focus groups or (even better if people are committed to follow-up action, action-learning groups). This will allow the data to be organized and processed so that recommendations for action (including training, collaboration, mentoring, community college, K-12 education, etc.) can be proposed. There is a need for phases--and there is a tie-in with community development and economic development departments in city and county governments--and even states.
In my work with organizations, I talk about three components that are required for change--Awareness, Acceptance, and Action. The Community Needs Assessment is part of the awareness component--acceptance is often a problem--people are "in denial" about reading levels. Recent research I have been doing and reading about confirms Jean's comment about high school graduates reading at a 3rd to 6th grade level in English. Because newer jobs will require more understanding on the part of many workers--even at entry level--we need more self-develop opportunities for high school graduates so that they can bring their own reading abilities up to a level that will allow them to contribute more in the workplace.
I have observed clearly--since 2000--that human resource development (a more generic term for training and professional development) takes a hit when the economy slows. Many companies regard this as a luxury. Others try to out-source areas of competence that they do not have--and do not want to build or pay for--in house. I have also observed that some organizations and leaders have habits of mistrust that can slow or stop efforts to collect information that could lead to positive change.
Trust is a significant factor required from the onset--even to do an accurate, reality-based community needs analysis. That issue has been seen to scrap many good projects and ideas in their infancy.
In the limited work I have had with MBA classes I have not seen a clear focus on building trust--it's critical for success and is hard to measure. Often people make decisions regarding cash flow that have little to do with human-to-human trust and more to do with trusting the balance sheet.
Dialogue is part of building awareness. Change is more possible when organizations accept that they need to change and what they need to change to. Action comes after acceptance when the change is planned and well organized.
Another road-block to organizational change and learning is when executive decisions are made to "scrap the project" or to change directions mid-stream--making everyone think that the training is "just another fad." This ties to my blog post on Organizational DNA.
Some organizations use technology to compensate for low employee skills--pictures on keys so that employees can enter orders in fast food restaurants, for example.
I've begun working this summer on some questionnaires to be used to explore current trends and needs in workforce training and continuing education--based on targeting geographic areas based on community college districts set by states. I have proposed a pilot project --see http://drm-resources.wikispaces.com/projects .
The idea is to work with local Chambers of Commerce and other stakeholders to gather a true "community needs assessment" that can then be shared with providers of training based on documented needs of employees and their employers.
The follow-up steps and who would be involved are in another stage of the process. Informal observation says that this is an idea coming at a good time. Who will pay for the needs assessment and/or the training--that is still something to be developed.
Some of the issues identified may well fall into the arena of public education and others into areas for community development. It is critical to realize that the responsibility for assisting the employees to have the needed skills are not exclusively the responsibility of any one stakeholder--the employee, the employer, government agencies, or private trainers.
I see a community needs assessment as having several phases--data collection will include surveys, then, based on the surveys, focus groups or (even better if people are committed to follow-up action, action-learning groups). This will allow the data to be organized and processed so that recommendations for action (including training, collaboration, mentoring, community college, K-12 education, etc.) can be proposed. There is a need for phases--and there is a tie-in with community development and economic development departments in city and county governments--and even states.
In my work with organizations, I talk about three components that are required for change--Awareness, Acceptance, and Action. The Community Needs Assessment is part of the awareness component--acceptance is often a problem--people are "in denial" about reading levels. Recent research I have been doing and reading about confirms Jean's comment about high school graduates reading at a 3rd to 6th grade level in English. Because newer jobs will require more understanding on the part of many workers--even at entry level--we need more self-develop opportunities for high school graduates so that they can bring their own reading abilities up to a level that will allow them to contribute more in the workplace.
I have observed clearly--since 2000--that human resource development (a more generic term for training and professional development) takes a hit when the economy slows. Many companies regard this as a luxury. Others try to out-source areas of competence that they do not have--and do not want to build or pay for--in house. I have also observed that some organizations and leaders have habits of mistrust that can slow or stop efforts to collect information that could lead to positive change.
Trust is a significant factor required from the onset--even to do an accurate, reality-based community needs analysis. That issue has been seen to scrap many good projects and ideas in their infancy.
In the limited work I have had with MBA classes I have not seen a clear focus on building trust--it's critical for success and is hard to measure. Often people make decisions regarding cash flow that have little to do with human-to-human trust and more to do with trusting the balance sheet.
Dialogue is part of building awareness. Change is more possible when organizations accept that they need to change and what they need to change to. Action comes after acceptance when the change is planned and well organized.
Another road-block to organizational change and learning is when executive decisions are made to "scrap the project" or to change directions mid-stream--making everyone think that the training is "just another fad." This ties to my blog post on Organizational DNA.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
iPods and MP3 players for Education
This post came as part of a LinkedIn dialog in the "Faculty Room" group. Go to the link to view the group and all of the dialogs.
"iPods as Reading Tools" by Linda Bomar, L. (2006, May-June). iPods as reading tools. Principal, NAESP.org, pp. 52-53
Don't Turn 'Em Off, Tune 'Em In! (2007, September). NEA Today, 26(1), 17. Retrieved July 28, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1360186081).
I work with technology with both adults and school children. A literacy coach worked with the school district I was in last year and actually got the students to use text messages to improve their writing skills--and to get them totally hooked into his class.
Students love to explore the technology and, at various ages, many love to find porn or anything off-task--true in school and at work. Let's look at a "begin with the end in mind" perspective. If students don't learn to use technology appropriately in school, what do you think they'll do on the job after they finish school?
In the schools I worked in most recently, we did not have enough computers for all students. I had a variety of tasks for students to do on computers (see http://drm-ms-resources.wikispaces.com/). The school had firewalls and monitoring programs so that, for the most part, students had access to what they needed to work on.
While iPods and MP3 players were not used in school, I had students who read at a 3rd grade level able to quote the lyrics of some favorite songs. At the end of the year I was working with eAudiobooks--downloadable books that they could have on their iPods or MP3 players next to their music. The next task is to get them to listen to the books.
Technology is a part of our lives--whether or not we actually own the technology. MP3 players are becoming more and more widespread at lower and lower cost. When we can use the technology as a learning tool, it becomes much more powerful--and even becomes perceived by students as more relevant to their lives.
We do need to educate students and parents about how to be "safe" using technology. (See my "Learning Passport" wiki site--a link on the site I referred to earlier.)
Some observers report that our students have dwindling attendion spans. Our key as educators is to create engaging activities that students want to focus their attention on--and then make the engagement something they value and want to continue. Technology can help--if educators take the time to find out how to use it as a support tool rather than a distraction.
"iPods as Reading Tools" by Linda Bomar, L. (2006, May-June). iPods as reading tools. Principal, NAESP.org, pp. 52-53
Don't Turn 'Em Off, Tune 'Em In! (2007, September). NEA Today, 26(1), 17. Retrieved July 28, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1360186081).
I work with technology with both adults and school children. A literacy coach worked with the school district I was in last year and actually got the students to use text messages to improve their writing skills--and to get them totally hooked into his class.
Students love to explore the technology and, at various ages, many love to find porn or anything off-task--true in school and at work. Let's look at a "begin with the end in mind" perspective. If students don't learn to use technology appropriately in school, what do you think they'll do on the job after they finish school?
In the schools I worked in most recently, we did not have enough computers for all students. I had a variety of tasks for students to do on computers (see http://drm-ms-resources.wikispaces.com/). The school had firewalls and monitoring programs so that, for the most part, students had access to what they needed to work on.
While iPods and MP3 players were not used in school, I had students who read at a 3rd grade level able to quote the lyrics of some favorite songs. At the end of the year I was working with eAudiobooks--downloadable books that they could have on their iPods or MP3 players next to their music. The next task is to get them to listen to the books.
Technology is a part of our lives--whether or not we actually own the technology. MP3 players are becoming more and more widespread at lower and lower cost. When we can use the technology as a learning tool, it becomes much more powerful--and even becomes perceived by students as more relevant to their lives.
We do need to educate students and parents about how to be "safe" using technology. (See my "Learning Passport" wiki site--a link on the site I referred to earlier.)
Some observers report that our students have dwindling attendion spans. Our key as educators is to create engaging activities that students want to focus their attention on--and then make the engagement something they value and want to continue. Technology can help--if educators take the time to find out how to use it as a support tool rather than a distraction.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Organization DNA?
Organizations have a DNA. It's sometimes hard to see and it can be identified when you know what you are looking for. One of the clearest examples from my memory was in a global manufacturer who was a consulting client several years ago. My team was conducting a change management survey for the client and we quickly saw that the DNA of the organization included a true valuing of the entrepreneural ("cowboy") spirit. The organization grew by finding successful entrepreneural smaller companies and adding them to their corporate structure. Each of the parts of the now large organization still had a recognizable culture and values and ways to manage power and information. The company's executive team had decided to implement a new computer system that would centralize all of the information and would keep many of the entrepreneural employees away from the information that had been their power base. What that could mean is that the computer system intended to help the organization make more timely and effective decisions and to communicate with all of its components would actually be destroying the trust of its leaders and be undermining the effectiveness of the subordinate units.
What is the DNA of your organization? How can you find it?
You can begin by tracking what you see in electronic folders. If you see a problem, put it in an electronic folder and keep on with your day. After a while, look at the problems you have captured and look for any common elements. Those common elements may point you toward your Organizational DNA.
Why is it important to recognize Organizational DNA?
If you want to keep your organization healthy, dynamic, and growing, you need to understand its DNA and to work with it. If you decide to do a "transplant" of something opposed to your DNA, the organization will "reject it" (the way tissue transplants are sometimes rejected by the human body). You need to work with your Organizationial DNA and your proposed changes to make sure that there is a good fit and blend if you intend to remain healthy and dynamic.
Let me know when you begin to look for your Organization's DNA.
What is the DNA of your organization? How can you find it?
You can begin by tracking what you see in electronic folders. If you see a problem, put it in an electronic folder and keep on with your day. After a while, look at the problems you have captured and look for any common elements. Those common elements may point you toward your Organizational DNA.
Why is it important to recognize Organizational DNA?
If you want to keep your organization healthy, dynamic, and growing, you need to understand its DNA and to work with it. If you decide to do a "transplant" of something opposed to your DNA, the organization will "reject it" (the way tissue transplants are sometimes rejected by the human body). You need to work with your Organizationial DNA and your proposed changes to make sure that there is a good fit and blend if you intend to remain healthy and dynamic.
Let me know when you begin to look for your Organization's DNA.
Welcome to the Drm-Resources-Blog
Welcome to the Drm-Resources-Blog. This is the place where you'll find snippets of conversations, ideas, thought for new articles and books, and extracts from work that Drm-Resources has been doing. The blog is cross-linked (that is, there is a link on the blog to the Drm-Resources web site and a link on the web site to the blog).
Feel free to add your comments.
Joel Montgomery
Copyright 2009-2010 by Joelmonty.net.
Feel free to add your comments.
Joel Montgomery
Copyright 2009-2010 by Joelmonty.net.
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