Laurie Norton: Refreshing, Inspiring, and Essential

This morning during my brief walk to the campus I had a moment where it hit me, "I'm in Boston walking to the Graduate School of Education building at HARVARD!" The day began with 168 principals from as far away as South Africa meeting together to hear Dr. Chris Dede, who is on the cutting edge of inventive technology that is revolutionizing the way we connect to how students learn! He is creating MUVE's (multi-user virtual environments) so that students become a part of "real-world" scenarios requiring them to apply scientific knowledge as participants in the environment! He is piloting a project in middle schools where students use their cell phones to solve problems requiring critical reasoning and collaborative problem-solving utilizing math and literacy skills. These programs will track student progress so that teachers can diagnose and analyze individual student learning needs and successes. He made a strong case for redefining the foundational skills that students need for the 21st century. While students must learn foundational skills that lead to further learning, we cannot stop there if we are going to adequately prepare students for the future. I found his presentation refreshing, inspiring, and essential!

Dr. Earl Sasser, a professor in the Graduate School of Business, then presented a fascinating lecture on the leadership of former Police Commissioner of New York City, William Bratton. Bratton significantly reduced the crime rate in NYC through his exceptional leadership skills. Utilizing a case study approach, we examined his style and how he achieved such impressive results through his compelling vision, communication skills, courage, strong relationships, and accountability measures. We discussed what we learned from his experience that we can apply to our roles such as examining our goals to focus on critical tasks, making sure we have the right people in place, a sound strategy, a means to measure our progress, and a systematic way to monitor that progress. We learned that the multiplier effect of having a few highly productive people over more moderately productive people was 1200% per person for a job requiring significantly less complexity than teaching!

After our sessions, we were treated to dinner at the Harvard Faculty Club. We learned that women were not allowed in the Faculty Club until 1965! During dinner, I sat between two principals who did not know each other but were both from Australia. They compared stories about their roles in Australia, and we all talked about the differences between Australia and the U.S. I had to work hard to help them learn to say "dubya" the Texas way!

Everyone I've talked to is in awe that "Raise Your Hand Texas" has made such an incredible investment in Texas educators. I am truly so honored to be here.

Laurie Norton