2017 LFKS Annual Holiday Letter

By Vicki Bechard,
LFKS Secretary

School is almost over for this semester…winter break is upon us.  As you leave the kiddos, colleagues, bustling halls, and familiar classrooms for homes and celebrations both near and far, we at Learning Forward Kansas wish for you the gift of time so that you may relax and appreciate all that matters, enjoy the closeness of family and friends, and rejuvenate your soul.   But we know that learning never really takes a break, so we imagine that you will also steal a few minutes to reflect on the past year and consider ways to improve instruction, implement new ideas, or spark new interest in the coming year just as we do here in our LFKS Annual Holiday Letter. 

Learning Forward Kansas has been right there with Kansas educators who are knee deep in navigating and implementing the KESA process, finding ways to examine current practices, and rethinking how we do school.  The State Board has asked schools to prepare students for success in the world after high school.  To accomplish this, the idea of redesign is at the forefront of our conversations.  What does that really mean?  Why is it important?  How will it help students succeed?  How will we know we got there?   LFKS is asking the same questions and uncovering possibilities for educators and schools to consider.

LFKS spent the last few years redesigning our organization from how we support schools, promote effective professional learning, and share information, to how we conduct business.  We didn’t really call it redesign when we started this journey, but we definitely did a lot of rethinking of our purpose and what we wanted to accomplish, and how that might look differently from previous efforts.  We took a hard look at our data, at our impact, and sought feedback and ideas from other educators and organizations.   Feedback was one strategy that provided us with valuable input and helped guide us as we focused our vision and mission and aligned our actions accordingly.  We listened.  We brainstormed.  We tried ideas.  We succeeded and failed, but most importantly, we kept moving forward.  We are working with and for Kansas educators to make professional learning matter as we transform our schools to better prepare our students.  Just as parents are proud of their children’s accomplishments, we are proud of the direction LFKS is headed today.

This past fall LFKS hosted the Fall Institute, a learning opportunity featuring Joellen Killion (Learning Forward) sharing her expertise on Learning Focused Feedback.  By rethinking how we might use feedback for growth, eliminate the mindset of “giving or receiving” feedback, and focus on the idea of feedback as a process for people to construct understanding, it takes on a new meaning, thereby increasing trust and effectiveness.  As schools consider redesign, how might implementing a feedback process that engages learners in conversations designed to change practice help create a culture of growth and change?  

The LFKS Annual Leadership Conference (January 31-February 1, 2018 in Wichita) totally focuses on redesign for student success.  All of the keynote speakers (Ron Berger, EL Education; Commissioner Randy Watson; and KTOY 2015, Shannon Ralph) and breakout session facilitators will focus on elements of redesign in the way we teach, how students learn, how we incorporate technology, how we organize schools, and how we plan and conduct professional learning.   The first day is an immersion in how we teach to engage and empower students through authentic learning. The second day is filled with multiple perspectives, ideas, and experiences coming from all over the state and a variety of school sizes.   We invite you to make plans to attend and join the conversation on redesign. 

LFKS has been doing our homework too which has resulted in resources that can be found on our website for all educators to use as they work through the process of school improvement and redesign.  Protocol guides, videos, and learning opportunities are just some of the ways LFKS supports individual educators and schools in their professional learning.  We have new opportunities and resources ready to roll out in 2018 as well – so stay tuned!

When you look to 2018 and beyond, consider what results you’ve had and what results you’d like to have.  Once that “why” has been determined, the redesign of current practices, or the creation of new practices can begin to take place.  Change happens one conversation at a time.  LFKS would love to see every educator and every student in every school thrive in a responsive learning environment that encourages inquiry and growth.  We wish for each of you the courage to step outside your comfort zone and realize that learning new ways of teaching doesn’t mean what you did before was wrong…. It just reflects that you are growing right along with your students. 

So as we close this latest Holiday Letter, we are thankful for the high quality educators that dedicate their lives to Kansas students.  We hope that you have a wonderful winter break, and before you head back in January, you will set new learning goals for yourself and your students.  What would you like to see in your school or classroom if resources were not an issue?  What’s on your bucket list for teaching and learning?  Who would you like to meet that would inspire your practice?  We want to hear from you as your redesign efforts transform teaching and learning.  Imagine the possibilities!  What a year it will be! 

Happy Holidays from all of us at Learning Forward Kansas!  

Growing Pains: “Are We There Yet?”

By Vicki Bechard,
LFKS Secretary

This fall it will be the 25^th anniversary of when we started to remodel my grandma’s house, the one we were living in then and the one we still live in today.  It was a functional house, made into a home by the love and memories that came to life through those who lived there as well as all that went into its care and upkeep.  But it was time for change.  Our growing family had too much stuff, different needs, and we wanted more room to spread our wings.  The changes we implemented required a lot of thought, dreams of what we wanted, plans to make it happen, and reality checks of what we could afford.  Oh yes, then there was the hard work on top of our “real” jobs, and the mess we lived in for far too long.  But the pride and joy we felt as it took shape more than made up for the sacrifices we made.  We couldn’t wait until it was finished and we could just live in our new home.  But 25 years later, I can tell you we probably will never get “finished,” because we are always finding new and better ways to address the space, color, and functionality of our home.  Change is what we do.  It’s called living.

Parallel to the time frame I referenced with our personal remodeling experience is the life of the organization we now call Learning Forward Kansas.  Originally established as the Kansas Staff Development Council, it served to support and promote staff development for Kansas educators and schools.  We had leaders who were passionate about what we now refer to as professional learning, lots of educators who participated in the conferences we hosted, and many members that bought into the purpose and work of this educational organization.  Over time, schools across the nation began to change and look at different ways to “do school.”  As a result, our parent organization changed their name to reflect the need to look to the future, so we became Learning Forward Kansas, as we are known today. 

But during the changes that were overspreading education in general, we, like many schools and people often do, let the changes happen to us without proactively considering and acting on the change in vision and practice that the organizational name change implied and evolving educator needs required.  We still had good people working with us and we were comfortable in what we were doing.  But soon we found schools were changing because their clientele and the political landscapes were changing.  Money got tighter and staff development, or the preferred term, professional learning, became a casualty of those budget cuts and the lack of understanding of its importance to teaching and learning.  Membership and attendance at our events waned.   What were we to do?   It became clear that Learning Forward Kansas needed to change our way of doing things too.  A remodel or transformation was in order if we were once again to be the professional learning organization that today’s Kansas schools and educators relied on to help them achieve excellent teaching and learning.

In the last few months, Learning Forward Kansas has been under construction.  The transition is much like the remodeling job described of my grandmother’s house.  We have been overhauling a comfortable, familiar organization that served previous generations of Kansas educators with great pride and acceptance.  But in order for us to serve this generation of 21^st century educators, we had to identify the needs Kansas educators have today, look for new possibilities, and do that within the financial limitations in which we all find ourselves.  We are blessed with leaders in our organization that have vision, are organizers and doers, and have the desire to sacrifice both time and financially to see these dreams become reality. 

Transition is messy. It’s where kids get in the most trouble at school.  It’s your house as you clean closets and take some of your old stuff to the nearest donation location and rearrange for the new fall arrivals.  It requires vision, management of time and resources, perseverance and patience.  Someone needs to make decisions. Everyone has a job to do and we rely on each other to work in tandem to turn our goals into reality.  We seek fresh perspectives and synthesize the old with the new.  We occasionally stop to catch our breath to celebrate progress and so we can regain some strength as we continue to move forward.  We often are asked (and even ask ourselves), “When will we be done?  Are we there yet?”  The answer might be, “Who knows?” or maybe, “Never” because it will be on-going.

So look for some changes in the coming weeks and months.  A new website will roll out before school starts featuring the beliefs and goals for the transitioning Learning Forward Kansas (LFKS) and filled with resources for all educators seeking excellent teaching and learning.  New learning opportunities will be available for teachers, administrators, and school teams starting in the fall and continuing all year.  Some of the things that you have relied upon LFKS to provide will still be around, but how we deliver them to you might look differently.  Look for LFKS in your email, on social media, at meetings or conferences, and out in the schools.  This kind of transformational change will not happen overnight, nor will it occur without a glitch to two.  But it is happening as we speak. 

Learning Forward Kansas wants to be your professional learning partner.  Let our transformation as an organization become your opportunity to get to know us again.  LFKS wants to help every educator, and all schools achieve excellent teaching and learning every day.  Join us on this journey of change and new beginnings that will benefit the educators and students of Kansas.  Together we will work to implement the many changes facing schools today so that we can determine “are we there yet?”