Alberta’s “It” Principal–Interview with George Couros

There are a few people in the world of educational blogging whom I follow almost religiously.  These people, through short tweets and/or long blog posts, captivate my imagination, challenge my way of thinking, and inspire me to continue my own journey. One of them is George Couros. George is the principal at a K-12 program in Stony Plain, Alberta – and he makes his job seem like a cross between a rock-star and rocket scientist. George has an approach to his profession that is challenging convention and creating the future of education.

Aside from being inspired by his curiosity about how schools can use emerging technologies to bridge the communication gap between teachers, students, and parents, I am most intrigued by the genuine and captivating character that George exhibits every step of the way. I hope you will enjoy this interview as much as I did.
(pictures curtesy of George Couros)

Both you and your bother, Alec, are both involved in the field of education, why do you think that is?

Probably a part of the reason that we are both in education is that I have always looked up to my brother and just decided to follow in his footsteps as I knew he loved what he did.

I am sure that we would both agree that a major reason that we both went into education was because of the influence of our parents.  My mom went to school until Grade 6, and my dad only Grade 2.  They came from Greece during a time when there was civil war and education was not as important as survival.  They taught us from an early age that education was something that was important and that we should really respect the opportunities that we had, that they never did.  As we grew up, we saw the opportunities that education provided us in our lives (not only in academics, but through extracurricular activities and social interactions with others), we both knew that this was something we wanted to give back.  Although we know education is an evolving practice and can grow, we also know that being in schools is a blessing.  Our parents taught us that.

There seems to be a great divide, at least in the States, over whether or not schools and/or its staff should embrace social media (blogs, twitter, facebook etc,) Is this the case in Canada as well?

From my own experience in schools, it is different from division to division.  In the current division I am in, they encourage us to take risks and try new things to improve education.  They don’t only give me “permission” but they also give us support.  I know that I can go to any of my superintendents with an idea, and if it is well thought out, they will give me support.  They will also be honest with me in what they think the pitfalls are so that I can be successful.  I honestly believe that I am working in the best school division in the world because of the way I have been treated by others.  I am not sure if it is this open in other school divisions in Canada, but it should be.  Our school division is a great model of trust and openness and I am proud to work with them.

This year you asked your classroom teachers to keep a blog. What was the major contributing factor that lead you/your division to make this decision? Was there a general consensus to do this?

As a school, we decided that we were going to pursue eportfolios.  Through research and work, it was found that the best practice for this was through creating a blog type portfolio, that can have continuous reflection and show growth, while also highlighting strengths.  If we are expecting our students to do this, it is essential that we model the practice as educators.

Although our teachers each have a blog, and their own space, it is not without support.  We decided that we should all use the same platform so we can learn from each other, while also creating a position for a teacher on staff to work with teachers through this and other initiatives in our school.  They are giving continuous support as it is not right to have an expectation to do this , without providing time and guidance.  The other benefits of this is that we can easily communicate with our parents about what is going on in the classroom, while also having a very clear visual of we are lifelong learners.  Teachers have always been continuous learners, but this is just a public way to show our growth.  The staff has done a fantastic job with this while also giving me another venue to peer into their classroom.

How is the blogging project going so far?

It is going great with our staff, but we have not implemented it with our students yet.  We have a clear vision of where we want this to go with students but we must ensure that there are certain bases that are covered before we do a full implementation (creating an Acceptable Use Policy, having a vision of what we want to do, sessions on Web 2.0, technology, and cyberbullying) .  We want to be thoughtful in this process and if we are doing this as a possible 6 year project, we do have time.  Full student implementation is expected by December 2010, but it can happen sooner or later.  When dealing with meeting the needs of children, we have to do our best to ensure that we are thoughtful of their learning.  True learning does not happen on a “date”.

What is the biggest challenge facing the blogging project now and what do you see the future challenges being?

If we are to fully implement these “blogfolios”, the biggest challenge is going to be having access to the technology.  Although we have about a 1-3 student to computer ratio in our school, if we want to make this as second nature, we will have to provide even a lower ratio.  The plan is to have a mobile device for all grade 3-6 students in our school within a year.

It is also important that we work with parents as this is new to the majority of them as well.  We work as partners with our parents and it is important they have a full understanding of what their children are doing, while also ensuring their safety.  Part of our plan is working with parents so they can work with their kids.  Working together with parents, our kids will do amazing things.

Assuming that one of your goals of having classroom blogs is to connect with parents, how do you manage parents who either don’t have or don’t use computers? How do you help them feel included?

One of the things that we are doing this year is having a “community” computer in our front foyer for parents to login if they want to connect to what we are doing and do not have access at home.  This is right beside the office and we hope that we can help parents understand what we are doing.

Although parents do not have access at home, this is ultimately about their kids.  To not connect their kids at school, is not preparing them for THEIR future.  We will still have newsletters and other information going home in paper form, but we hope that we can cut this down significantly, not only because we are wanting to connect in a way where parents can communicate back (hard to do with a paper newsletter), but also as an environmental measure.  If we do not need to print paper, why would we?

How will you measure the success of your blogging project?

The thing about this project is that it is not about a grade but it is about learning.  This is just another venue for students to show their learning and understanding.  Not all students are going to “take off” with their blogging because this is not the forum for them.  That is okay.  What is not okay is for the students that want to communicate in this fashion and we do not give them the opportunity.  As a teacher, you can give a kid a multitude of options on how they show their learning, but if there is not one that suits the child, then it doesn’t matter.

If we are really successful with this, students will enjoy what they are doing and be able to share what they love with others, while also learning to collaborate with others.  If we as a school can watch our students use digital technologies later on in life in a safe, responsible, and ethical way, while sharing their growth and pursuing passion, then we will be successful.

Your digital foot print is huge! On your blog, you list 11+ different services you use to connect with others and share your ideas. If you could only choose two services to continue using, which would it be and why?

This is easy.  Twitter would be number one because it connects me to other educators and ideas.  The majority of us learn better from people than we do from books.  Conversations are essential to growth and books can’t talk back to me.  Although my school is full of great people with great ideas, I want to be tap in to the best practices of the world.  We sometimes get stuck in our own schools and it is hard to see outside of “what we have always done”.  Twitter provides me with connections and inspiration.

The other technology I would use is my blog.  Here I get to reflect on what we do as a school, while sharing my ideas and our school best practices with the world.  Through the comments and conversation, I have the opportunity to grow even more.  I am believing more and more that it is not something that we “should” do when sharing our schools, but it is something that we have to do.  I want all kids to succeed and do well.  If one of my ideas sparks an idea in another school for the betterment of their students, I have helped education and most importantly, kids.

I work with new and aspiring teachers. What advice would you give to them about creating a digitalfootprint. As an administrator, are there certain “digital” qualities that you find attractive in teaching candidates?

To be honest, the last two people I have hired have circumvented our division hiring practice, and have also sent me a digital portfolio to look at their work.  Although they still use the website to apply, their use of technology has really impressed me.  The misconception here is that I am excited about their use of technology, which is only partially true.  What I have learned about people that use technology is that they have proof of how they continuously work to improve their learning.  The use of technology supports independent problem solving.  It is rare that most technologies are easy for people at the beginning, especially if you want to get a high utilisation rate.  People will have to take time, explore, and think critically about how they use technology to improve student learning.  This aspect of critical thinking and problem solving is something that I expect from our teachers.  Although technology is not the only way this is done, it is a visual way for me to learn more about a person and what their skills and attributes are.  This is important where I may be looking at 300-500 applicants for one position.

What kind of help could you use from tweeters and bloggers to help you meet your personal and/or principal goals?

I believe that they have helped my growth a ton already.  I really do hope people just keep sharing and talking about ideas.  What I think would be really helpful to education as a whole though is sharing stuff that we have done, as opposed to only our dreams and aspirations of school.  If we can share how we already have impacted students and give proof of this to others, it will be easier to deal with the naysayers of social media.  We all need to share more practices that have worked!  This will help us to push education forward.

You strike me as a bit of an energizer bunny. Aside from being a principal you are bit of a fitness and basketball nut. How do you make time for and balance all these pursuits?

My rule is this: If I do not love, I do not do it.  Everything I do, I enjoy which makes it so much easier in my life.  The best teachers, are those that can connect with kids.  People that are passionate are contagious, and if I do not bring my passions to my school, then I am not showing the type of person that I am.

People always say, “I don’t have time for those things.”  For me, you make time.  I am more likely to get on a teacher’s case for staying at school too long, as opposed to not long enough.  We have to take time to do what we love, if we are expect our students to pursue their passions as well.

If you would like to learn more about George Couros visit his blog The Principal of Change. He can also be found on Twitter as @gcouros.