#growimagination: 2015

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Standing HW assignment

Teach an adult what you learned today, then bring their questions to class tomorrow. You know you know it when you can teach it. If you cannot answer the questions, you're not there yet.

A key resource for Algebra vocabulary, properties, and fundamentals; useful for self-study

A1:

Algebra 1 scholars should go to this link from the VDOE. Each vocabulary card provides good basic information that needs to be internalized by each scholar. These cards would be excellent tools for home study with supportive adults.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/mathematics/resources/vocab_cards/math_vocab_cards_algebra1.pdf

A2:

Algebra 2 scholars should go to this link from the VDOE. Each vocabulary card provides good basic information that needs to be internalized by each scholar. These cards would be excellent tools for home study with supportive adults.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/mathematics/resources/vocab_cards/math_vocab_cards_algebra2.pdf

Link to Pacing Guides and note taking recommendations

The Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 (full year course) monthly pacing guides can be found at the following link:
https://sites.google.com/a/wps.k12.va.us/wpsmathematics/math-courses

These monthly pacing guides provide a recommended road map through the courses insuring that all VDOE standards and essential questions/skills are met. We will not follow the guides precisely day by day as they are meant to be used in that manner. Student needs for differentiation, re-teaching, spiraling of content, and state documented results from previous years indicating common problematic areas all need to be considered when designing weekly and daily plans.

As we have done in recent weeks, daily updates on what topics are being introduced and practiced will be available here for scholars and parents. Whenever possible, pages and items from the text meant to extend independent practice will be noted. Scholars are encouraged daily to take notes not only on the line by line solutions in guided practice, but also the process steps involved and narrative notes regarding what is going on in the solution. A good practice we have discussed in class is to crease the note page vertically, keeping the solutions steps to the left of the crease and the narrative of what is happening or what is key to each line of the solution steps written to the right of the crease. Useful note taking is a life-learner skill that takes practice and grit. We will continue to encourage note taking and note use throughout the year. These notes should form the foundation of scholar to adult discussions at home nightly. When scholars make their thinking and learning visible to themselves and supportive adults they are more likely to ask for clarification in class and embed their learning more deeply.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Where are you a week before the assessment?

At this point, Friday, September 18, scholars have been provided instruction, guided practice, and independent practice on all elements of the assessment. Each element has been reviewed in class, with recommended note taking for each question. Independent and small group practice will continue until the assessment on September 29.

The assessment is rigorous and comprehensive. It will be open book and open notes this quarter. Students should be preparing the notes carefully and thoroughly so that they are not only useful for the assessment, but also reinforcing good habits and learning.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

The power of good habits and routines

This link provides great information on developing good habits as a scholar and why they are a key to learning.

http://ajjuliani.com/habit-stacking-in-the-classroom-10-smart-ways-to-boost-learning/

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

The smartest people ask for help

http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/5569

A good video on contemporary math instruction

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_makeover?language=en

Creativity

http://www.creativitypost.com/psychology/9_ways_to_help_your_child_thrive

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Consider watching this short video on sharing information

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jRkACywckE

A video on sharing information that has application to peer to peer scholarship.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Student Note Taking and Adult teaching process - - Suggestions for both student and adult as student at home

A key expectation of Grade 8 Algebra students is student note taking and teaching an adult what is learned daily. This cycle of note taking, student class room practice and student as teacher for an adult is designed to make learning visible and also make learning gaps visible. When the student knows what he or she knows or doesn't know, the student can take steps toward mastery. Visible learning gaps are the foundation blocks of building mastery.

In our first month, we have discovered that note taking and student as teacher can both improve. The objective of this post is to provide some constructive suggestions for note taking that can in turn help to structure the student-adult teaching interaction. We will continue to highlight and reinforce good note taking in class, mirroring the steps here.

1. Each classroom lesson has at least one big idea, or key point. A good example is the two day lesson in Algebra 1 on polynomial division. The first big idea was that the divisor determines the process we use in division. If the divisor is a monomial, looks like (3x), we use a fraction method. If the divisor is a binomial, looks like (x - 3), we use long division.

2. Beneath the big idea of the lesson there are process steps to follow in an orderly, methodical way. The process steps often have a key first step and also pitfalls to avoid. In the case of the fraction method noted above, we simplify the integers first, then the variables. A pitfall to avoid is forgetting to use the integer 1 when simplifying or canceling variables. In the case of long division, terms in the dividend must appear in order from greatest power to least and all powers must be represented. If a power is missing in the stated problem, we insert zero times that power when we set up the long division. For example, if the x term is missing, we include (+0x) in the dividend. A key step in long division is duplicating the first term on the subtraction line. Another key step is remembering to subtract, or distribute the negative, over both terms on the subtraction line.

3. Adults can help students with note taking by beginning the at home student as teacher lesson by asking the student to show the adult the notes and where the big idea and process steps appear in the notes.

A typical student as teacher lesson at home might begin this way:
a) Here are my notes from today.
b) We worked on polynomial division. The big idea is that the divisor determines the method. Let me show you the kinds of divisors we see. They look like (3x) or like (x - 3) for example. We use a fraction method for (3x) and a long division method for (x -3).
c) The fraction method was easier since we just simplify the fractions we create by making the divisor the denominator of fractions with the terms of the polynomial as the numerators.

The class lessons follow this general pattern of big idea, process steps, common pitfalls to avoid and guided practice that allows students to use their notes with sample problems. As the first few students complete their work on the guided practice problems, we begin doing the problem on the board to prompt the rest of the class through the problem. These prompting steps help students stay on track, overcome bumps that have them stuck, confirm good processes, and allow for additional note taking.

Another area where adults can help at home is showing the student where their gaps have become visible. For example, if the student is solid on the fraction method above, but is struggling to set up the long division process that specific topic needs to be a question posed by the student in class the next day. A good suggestion would be to say to your student, "Here is a long division problem I am unable to complete as the adult student. Please take this problem to Mr. Hawkins tomorrow so he can help everyone with it. If I am stuck, someone else probably is, too."

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Scholars are Leaders. Stanley McCrystal: Listen. learn...then lead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmpIMt95ndU

We are in this world together. Daily, we have opportunities to lead; regardless of our age or experience.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Here is great wisdom for DMMS Scholars. Please share it and talk it over with the adults in your life.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kari-kubiszyn-kampakis/10-truths-middle-schoolers-should-know_b_7945386.html

Here is a good article to share with your family on oral reading and the brain.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/science-proves-reading-to-kids-changes-their-brains_55c26bf4e4b0f1cbf1e38740

We are promoting an alternative to traditional homework. Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose #AMP

http://www.brilliant-insane.com/2014/02/5-reasons-homework-destroys-learning.html?utm_content=bufferc9be8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

This is a great article for scholars and parents! We are making sense out of math.

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/08/04/seeing-struggling-math-learners-as-sense-makers-not-mistake-makers/

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Algebra 1 YouTube Links

Algebra 2 YouTube links

Powers of i and complex numbers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTAsbx5wBaI

August Greeting to Algebra Scholars

Mr. Hawkins hawkins@wps.k12.va.us ; @DanHawkins11

Respectful, Responsible Relationships

Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose

Greetings, Scholars!

No doubt you have many questions about our class. I hope to answer many of them now with basic elements of our plan. As you read, please imagine what each looks like in relation to respectful, responsible relationships.

Attendance is a key to success in any subject, but especially Algebra. We will work together on new topics and skills each day. There are no substitutes for attendance, attentiveness, engagement, and the assistance of other scholars.
Reading is a lifetime skill that is developed with practice. We will promote reading daily, expecting scholars to read silently ten minutes in class. Bring your own reading material, at or above your reading level, each day. A dictionary will be available to assist us with vocabulary building. Please post comments about your reading on twitter #dmmsread4fun.
Being a responsible scholar includes appropriate use of mobile devices. Unless specific use is explicitly directed by the teacher, mobile devices will be off and stowed in lockers or backpacks bell to bell in our class.
There is a standing homework assignment: “Teach an adult at home what you learned in class each day. Come to class the next day with questions or comments that will enable us to improve our learning.” This is a serious daily task. To hold scholars accountable for the re-teaching at home, we will test the adults’ understanding periodically with take home tests. Scholars who teach others what they have learned reinforce their own learning, improving achievement.
Each scholar is responsible for coming to class fully prepared to learn. This requires not only supplies (pencils, paper, three-ring binder), but also the energy and clarity of mind that comes from a good night’s sleep.
Scholars can anticipate both shared or group learning activities as well as individual assignments in class each day. Whatever the activity or assignment, scholars will be attentive and engaged in learning with purpose. A scholar builds mastery by taking personal responsibility for successful skill building.
Assessments are tools to improve understanding and extend learning for both scholar and teacher. We will discuss assessments and grading as we move through the course.

Believe in your capacity to learn. I do. I will be supporting you each step along the way.

#growimagination danhawkins11.blogspot.com

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Student Conduct: What are we training?

Student Conduct

I've been doing some thInking about student conduct. Here are some thoughts and issues that come to mind.

How and when are students taught models of acceptable, appropriate, good behavior in the various situations they will encounter? For example, waiting in line for lunch, listening attentively at an assembly, arriving in class ready to learn, self-control when they want to go off task.
How do staff members buy-in to consistent reinforcement of good behavior and consistent correction of poor behavior?
What we accept is what we promote. Are our rules consistently enforced, reinforced, or ignored? Do we have the will and means to develop norms and culture that will sustain itself over time?
Are our discipline practices building student connections and training students how to behave well; or are they more about consequences that do not train, but rather make celebrities out of those who stand out with their unacceptable behavior?
In our haste to remove offending students from a class or our urgency to "put a lid on it, get back on track," are we missing teachable moments? Are we in fact, giving up power to the offenders? Perhaps stopping to analyze, achieve common understanding, and re-train would be a better use of ten minutes today, than pushing the issue out of class or into the background.

In a positive middle school culture I saw a simple pattern work well for students and staff. First of all, there were few written rules and no posters "selling" or "admonishing" students. However, every adult followed a simple practical procedure. When student behavior was inappropriate in any way a simple series of steps was taken.

The adult stopped whatever was going on. If class was in session, everything stopped as the adult took control. If the student was in the hall or other public location, he or she was addressed on the spot as if time had stopped until the matter was resolved.
Once the adult achieved the attention of those in the situation, class or hall or where ever; a very practical, methodical, adult conversation was conducted.
The student was asked, "What are you doing?" He or she was expected to tell the whole truth, describing in detail their actions. At this step, reinforcing truth-telling was the priority, no matter how long it took. Without this essential step any discipline process falls apart. When the adult was satisfied that the student had told the whole truth, the truth was repeated by the adult to demonstrate that they were aligned on the same page.
Once the truth had been established, the adult then asked, "What are you supposed to be doing?" This step was to reinforce not only the appropriate behavior, but also establish that the student had known what was appropriate and had willfully engaged in inappropriate behavior. It was my observation that this was usually the tipping point of the process. At this stage, it is about retraining and connection building, not who is right and who is wrong.
The adult may choose to restate the "what are you doing" and "what are you supposed to be doing" for clarity and impact. Or, he or she may embellish or personalize, citing previous examples of the student performing well. The priority is behavior modification. In any case, the process cannot stop here, it must continue. Consistency matters.
The next adult question in the practice was, "If this inappropriate behavior continues or you choose not to behave appropriately, what will be the consequence?" The universal answer to this question is key to the practice. In our case, the answer was, "I will meet with the Assistant Principal who will take further disciplinary action as needed."
Once the student articulated the follow up that would take place if he or she did not modify the behavior, the teacher would ask, "Are you prepared to behave appropriately now?" If the answer was affirmative, the student was sincerely thanked by the adult for being honest and taking responsibility. If the answer was not affirmative, the student was escorted to the office, either by an adult who was called, or by another student chosen by the teacher as escort, depending upon the disposition of the offending student at that point in the process.
In the majority of cases, the student did not go to the AP. In fact, in my class room experience, the climate and productivity of the entire class was lifted whenever this process took place. It had a positive impact on everyone. Once in awhile, with sixth graders, it was necessary to deal with another student who couldn't control his or her desire to wag a finger, or call out the initial offender. However, the process simply was used on that inappropriate behavior too, and it tended not to happen again. I cannot over-emphasize the need to consistent application. The first few times it may feel robotic or unnatural, especially for long service teachers who like to do what they've always done; but the students need the consistency. For the sake of the students, consistency is required. The adults need to see that what's best for the at-risk, most fragile students in the long run, is more important than the teacher's sense of autonomy or creative will.

A solid culture of self-discipline evolved at this school. Yes, it was only 6-8th grade and only about 400 students, with little demographic diversity; but the culture of self-discipline allowed us to operate without some of the awkward, inefficient structures many building employ. For example, hall passes were unnecessary. If a student was out of a class room, not. was it rare, but they were on their way to another location walking with purpose and could articulate to anyone what they were doing. It was incumbent on the adults to expect that and walk the student back to class if something seemed amiss, but the students learned how to conduct themselves without passes because they were trained and it was reinforced. Compare that with students who shuffle along aimlessly carrying a passbook. Is the passbook system moving the student toward self-discipline or away? Is it in fact, crutch that breeds mistrust and creates minor disruption where it need not be? Passbooks and arcane rules are only the tip of the iceberg. Maybe we need to look closely at ways that the building culture is built by adult actions that actually create more problems than they solve and encourage misbehavior by creative students who "work" the system.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Emphasize the autonomy, mastery, and purpose of the student.

WHAT IF STUDENTS HAD A FIVE LEGGED STOOL?

Let's pick a place to begin: the student's twelfth birthday. What if each student was met on his or her twelfth birthday by a support team of five people? Why five? It's a place to start the thinking. One of the objectives of the meeting is to get the student and the support team all on the same page. A key process barrier to avoid is the temptation to make these meetings "cookie-cutter," no offense, but much like mandated IEP meetings have become over the years. The point is to see the student as an individual, needing and receiving individual attention.

Let's acknowledge that the student may have become jaded by the age of twelve. Year after year, adults in his or her life may have been saying one thing and doing another. For example, even in the most consistent and supportive environments, children learn that adults do not always follow through on what they claim to expect. Adults can not only be manipulated by children, but systematically, children move to the next grade each year as they age. Consider the proposition that in the mind of a twelve year old, adults are phony and the system they represent is a fraud. No, we are not suggesting a system of retention, but rather, a support system that guides and reinforces achievement. Not just achievement defined by "standards," achievement defined by the autonomy, mastery, and purpose of the student.

Let's consider the birthday meeting as a kind of rite of passage, an official guidepost in the student's path to adulthood. Recognizing the student as unique and the system now flexible, not rigid, we have a "whole child" conversation. Through coaching and counseling language and actions, the team of six, including the student, revisits the path to this point and the path ahead. Again, emphasizing the autonomy, mastery, and purpose of the student.

Great meetings do not just happen and meetings with twelve year olds take preparation. Let's begin with how to prepare the student. First, none of the participants can be strangers. The student must have had some prior interaction with each adult, even if it was only a conversation about hobbies. Preferably, all or most of the adults in the meeting, on the team, will be readily seen as mentors in the life of the student.

In a future post, meeting possibilities. Think about the power of a five legged stool.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

The goal is a student who feels respected, valued, and honored as an individual.

I have been reading tweets and posts recently that encourage teachers to concentrate on what is within their control. While it may be popular, and necessary, to push back against the tyranny of high stakes tests and phony evaluation systems; teachers need to bring their best to work daily for the benefit of the students. What they can control is how they work bell to bell with students when the door is closed. Surely, Professional Learning Communities, peer mentoring, and horizontal or vertical teaming promote doing what is in our control for the benefit of our students. How do building administrators best serve teachers in this mission? How do building leaders encourage teachers to reach outside "comfort zones" to try new techniques, especially when the building leaders might have last taught ten years ago and have no experience with the idea they are promoting?
A common combination of issues in many middle schools and high schools is student apathy, disengagement, oppositional behavior, frequent absences, and simply failure to earn credits toward graduation. Teachers struggle to differentiate instruction, maintain order, re-orient students returning from absences and suspensions, introduce new lessons, provide second chance summative assessments, contact parents, and keep pace with the curriculum guide and common formative assessments. Knowing these challenges exist, administrative teams develop school improvement plans meant to help teachers and improve student performance. Bear with me; in this scenario the administrators really do care and want to help. How? Seriously, what advice would teachers offer administrators about how to improve student performance?
In my experience with both groups of teachers and groups of administrators, the likely first topic raised would be, "we need to provide consistent consequences when students break rules." Teachers want the bad apples gone from the barrel and administrators look for the consequence that will modify the behavior, or at the very least, give the teacher the impression of support. Teachers reason that they can get back on top of the situation if they only have compliant students in the room. Administrators reason that students will become compliant with the right combination of consequences. Herein lies the problem; compliance is not a solution. In fact, making compliance the goal is the problem.
First, children know that in a negotiation they have the upper hand. If compliance is the goal, the adult has already lost and the child knows it. Second, compliance does not equal learning, nor does it equal engagement in the process of learning. Compliance is not the goal.
The goal is a student who feels respected, valued, and honored as an individual. The students who have years of experience being respected, valued, and honored by the adults in their lives are the ones who naturally engage; they are the ones we all find so easy to teach. It is not that they necessarily are naturally brighter or more talented, they have a different set of experiences and therefore a different mindset. The goal is changing the mindset of the students who we believe need their behavior modified. Addressing that goal begins with the adult behaviors, not the student behaviors. What adult behaviors will students trust that can authentically respect, value, and honor them as individuals? More on how teachers and building leaders can do this in a future post. What are you doing?

Monday, April 6, 2015

Students need help seeing the world beyond their current circumstances.

In several posts I have described how Tom, now in sixth grade, has developed a fixed mindset. Tom feels he is on a conveyor belt moving him from grade to grade on his way to eighteen. He has given up trying to achieve much of anything in school. He is along for the ride. Tom's mom has tried to encourage him and has met periodically with his teachers and principal. Tom just seems to always be behind his classmates academically; scoring poorly on the annual standardized tests, even after extended remediation sessions. Tom's mom is despondent. Tom is disengaged. What can be done?
Tom has developed a victim's view of the world. Adults have been making all of the decisions and he feels helpless. They will continue to make the decisions. He may as well enjoy the ride; putting in time until he can leave school at eighteen, with or without a diploma. Tom is fortunate, his sixth grade teachers do not see Tom as a victim. They see him as a student who needs some help seeing the world beyond his current circumstances. In fact, that is how they see all students.
Tom enters sixth grade thinking he has school figured out. He will do poorly on tests, go to remediation sessions, then go to seventh grade for more of the same. However, his teachers do not see it that way. By the end of the first week, Tom realizes that this school experience will be something different.
Mrs. Brown and Mr. Dean are Tom's sixth grade teachers. Mrs. Brown teaches language arts and science. Mr. Dean teaches math and social studies. The two teachers are responsible for two groups of students with twenty-five in each group. School begins at 7:30 am and all of the students in sixth grade go to lunch at 11:30 am. After lunch, the students have a rotation of classes with other teachers: music, health, physical education, applied technology, and careers. It takes a day or two for Tom to get the pattern of the sixth grade school day. He readily understands the afternoon. It is like "specials" in the other grades. Tom thinks those will disappear for him by the middle of the year.
The mornings take him a few days to understand. Mrs. Brown and Mr. Dean rotate which group of twenty-five begins in each room each day. Each morning they help the students sort it out; it is just different. Another thing that is different is that they don't seem too concerned with always starting with the same subject or giving each subject equal time. In fact, during the first week neither teacher does much with any of the subjects they are supposed to teach. They seem to spend most of the morning talking about themselves, their families, the students in the class, sports, movies, TV shows, summer vacation, and the afternoon subjects taught by the other teachers. They even have those teachers and the principal come in to talk about how different sixth grade will be compared to other years.
At the end of the first week of school, Tom and his mom go out for dinner together on Friday night. It is a tradition for them each new school year; nothing fancy, just a local place run by a family Tom's mom has known forever. Tom's mom asks a few predictable questions about his day, then mentions that Mr. Dean called to set up an appointment to see her next week. Tom remembers that the teachers mentioned something about conferences. He didn't give it much thought. Hoping sixth grade is a chance for a fresh start, Tom's mom is upbeat about school and the appointment. Tom is a bit suspicious, but as they talk more about how things have gone the first week he begins to see that this might actually be something different.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Are we better off with slow, or not at all? Conversations rather than meetings.

In an earlier post I criticized the common top-down, event style of professional development meant to trigger change in a faculty. Here we will consider a multi-layer approach. Success can be designed. Some will consider this painstakingly slow. I would counter by noting that in many faculties, nothing really changes after years of professional development events. Are we better off with slow, or not at all?
To give a mental picture of the multi-layered approach, one might think of a teacher with an overhead projector (please bear with me). The teacher is presenting a lesson, perhaps a geography lesson. One by one individual transparencies are layered on the projector as the teacher adds more detail, checking for understanding as she goes. The teacher had a final picture in mind, but led the class through a process of layering to achieve common, complete understanding.
The building leader whose goal is moving the faculty to a new approach must recognize not only the layering or scaffolding path to teaching a new approach, but also the emotional and social needs of the team members. Team members seldom adopt new approaches just because they learn them, they need to connect with them emotionally as well. Giving up a time-worn, comfortable approach for a new one requires more than the knowledge of how to do the new one. It also requires more than the endorsement of a visiting consultant-expert.
Is the goal compliance or change? I submit that a building leader will achieve neither with event based professional development. If the goal is change, consider a multi-layered approach designed to take advantage of the natural rhythm of the faculty.
Success can be designed through this simple framework: (1) develop a common vision by reaching out to all for authentic input, (2) develop details as you develop believers, (3) reinforce teacher voice and agency by encouraging alternative ideas in a transparent, fluid process, and (4) empower the team to not only deliver the process, but also the on-going reflection, accountability, and reinforcement.
A building leader may have a clear vision of change. The leader may even have a well researched program to implement. However, the team needs to connect emotionally to the change. Step one is critical to long term success. Leaders with a Driver's approach to change must work to be authentic themselves when reaching out to others for authentic input. A leader with a reputation for forcing his or her agenda on others has a deficit to overcome. If one's reputation is top-down, the team is likely to become impatient with the leader faking it, appearing to go through the motions of consensus building. In this model the leader is not selling a pre-determined program, the leader is honestly seeking input about a building-wide issue, establishing teacher agency in the process.
Step one is best done over weeks of individual conversations. With a faculty of say one hundred, a leader will need to give each teacher voice by meeting with each person at least once, often twice or more. The building leader needs to set out to have a series of three or four conversations with at least half of the faculty. Each faculty member will have had one or two conversations with the leader; approximately half the faculty will have three or more. Who gets one or two, and who gets more will reveal itself as the conversations proceed. As the conversations happen, the alert leader will see a network or web of input develop. This network will gain depth of meaning as the follow up conversations proceed. In a sense, the leader is a researcher conducting experiments (conversations) to explore options, gain perspective, and develop the final vision. Additionally, these conversations will be rich with input on not only the vision, but also the pathways to achievement.
Steps two and three are truly not additional steps, but rather guides to the leader's behavior in step one. Genuine, frequent adult-to-adult, open-minded conversations will keep the process fluid, demonstrate teacher agency, hone the details, and develop believers. The leader will know the process is healthy when one conversation leads to others across the network or web of ideas. It will be tempting to replace individual conversations with meetings of groups. Avoid the temptation. Team members need individual voice and an intimate connection to the process and leader. Group meetings and steering committees look efficient and may give the appearance of buy-in; but they often marginalize many group members and sow seeds of discontent. If the leader works tirelessly at individual conversations the common vision developed will become an organic way of life for the faculty rather than a program with limited impact.
As the process moves forward, the leader will begin to see individuals begin to take on the characteristics of the developing vision. As this happens, the leader may suggest that the faculty members share their fresh experiences with one another. Let the new vision and processes develop organically as the web of input developed with the leaders one-on-one conversations. As the faculty members begin to fuel the process of change, the leader promotes greater and greater teacher voice and agency. The development of teacher agency allows the conversations to move to step four. Rather than imposing accountability procedures or systems in the organization, the leader moves the conversations to a level of synthesis. "How do we continue to improve?" "How can we keep the ball rolling?" "How can you share that success with others?" "What advice will you share with others about your experience with your new approach?"
Success can be designed, but it need not be through a pre-determined program. Let the conversations be the fuel for building a web of input and natural performance initiatives.
Develop a common vision by reaching out to all for authentic input.
Develop details as you develop believers with frequent, sincere conversations.
Develop teacher voice and agency by encouraging alternative ideas in a transparent, fluid process of conversations, avoiding meetings.
Empower the team to not only deliver the process organically, but also the on-going reflection, accountability, and reinforcement.

Friday, April 3, 2015

School has the moment to moment responsibility to help children see a world beyond their current circumstances.

If growing imagination of children is the central mission of public education, how are we doing? How will we improve? The first question is a trap. If we get into a debate about how we are doing, we are liable to find ourselves discussing standardized testing, literacy, STEM, college readiness, or any number of other topics. Let's look at growing imagination from wherever it is to something greater. Why? Because when a child can imagine opportunity beyond his or her current circumstances, the child can apply intrinsic motivation to removing obstacles and engage in a healthy process of personal growth and achievement.
I have the privilege of leading a strategic planning team for my school division; one of six teams working to set a course for the future. One of our members provided a spark for our work as he shared a memory from his childhood. His story gave us a central theme. His dream in fourth grade was to work with computers. As with most fourth graders then and now, his school did not offer him a way to engage in his special interest. The school was built around curriculum and structures that had no room for individual dreams. We saw the connection between pathways to the future and individual student interests. Pathways leading to workforce and college readiness must provide students authentic opportunities to explore their interests. They must stimulate student imagination; showing them a world beyond their current circumstances. A fundamental difference between the high flier and the disengaged student is the degree to which they can imagine themselves beyond today. School and all the adults in it have the moment to moment responsibility to help children see a world beyond their current circumstances.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Many faculties have suffered from "flavor of the year" professional development in recent years.

I have suggested here that school leaders can shift the paradigm by supporting horizontal and vertical teams along with designing a plan for success. School leaders do not always need to move the whole faculty at once. In fact, they may be well advised to find and develop believers who provide models for others to follow. Many faculties have suffered from "flavor of the year" professional development in recent years. Experienced teachers often fatigue of the "here today, gone tomorrow" pattern of building or district initiatives. Massive, school wide initiatives look great at summer administrative planning retreats. They also satisfy that burning sense of urgency leaders feel when the data suggest that a turnaround strategy is required. Unfortunately, without faculty believers and a well designed plan, what gets trumpeted in pre-service week, fades by Thanksgiving, and the cycle repeats the following summer.
Let me give you an example from my own experience. Four years ago our building worked through a book study. The goal was to improve student engagement by focusing on proven classroom management and instructional techniques. The year long program featured monthly faculty workshops. The workshops were well organized and well executed by a steering committee of faculty members. The program was especially successful at reinforcing what teachers already felt they were doing. Red flag. The program did not feature any form of teacher observation, specific feedback, or ongoing reinforcement. At the end of the year, the principal was promoted and a new administrative team began the next year.
The new principal was advised by the director of instruction that the building had a problem with student engagement. The director suggested that a consultant be hired to conduct quarterly, building-wide professional development. When the "new" initiative was announced, 100 sets of eyes rolled. The faculty felt misunderstood at best and disrespected at worst. Four years after the first "engaging instruction initiative" little has changed and a new director of instruction is planning a fresh strategy. So we've spent four years, tens of thousands of dollars in consultant fees and thousands of staff professional development hours to little effect; or negative effect, since the faculty is now deaf to talk of "student engagement." If four years ago, that steering committee had been working side by side with a few teachers on building their skills and more importantly, beliefs, how might things have changed?
In a future post, we will consider a multi-layer approach to strategic planned and execution. Success can be designed!

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

He cannot get off the conveyor belt; he may as well enjoy the ride.

As sixth grade begins Tom understands the routine. Every year he gets a year older, every year he moves up with the class. Every year the classes get harder and his grades never improve. He gets remediation time with the other kids who are behind. Tom realizes that nothing seems to change, so why bother trying harder. Tom is on a conveyor belt designed and controlled by adults. He might as well ride along. What happens is up to them.
Sixth grade is different. Tom now knows what to expect. He also knows that despite his efforts every fall to improve his grades in order to avoid removal from specials in the middle of the year, his efforts will fall short. "Why try," he thinks to himself. Tom makes the obvious choice; one might even say, the logical choice. Since this is all out of his control, he may as well forget about trying so hard. A year from now he will enter seventh grade, followed by eighth and then high school. The conveyor belt will keep moving him along.
Tom has not kept the required academic pace over the years set by the state standards, but he has learned how the system works. Each year he is another year closer to eighteen. History has shown Tom that he will not keep up with the academic pace set at school. The additional hours of remediation stolen from the "specials" only served to narrow Tom's experiences at school. School is not fun, but Tom concludes he has no choice but to survive it. At eighteen he will leave; his mind is made up. He has no idea what he will do when he leaves school and that's fine with him. All that matters is that his time on the conveyor belt will be over.
As sixth grade begins, Tom has concluded that he's just not smart enough to keep up in school. It's a relief. Tom can accept his reality. As other kids work to keep up and do as they are told, Tom can relax and do what he likes. The future is clear to Tom. He will be done when he is eighteen; from now until then, he just needs to get through each day. He cannot make time move faster or slower. He cannot get off the conveyor belt; he may as well enjoy the ride.

Monday, March 30, 2015

It didn't matter who you were or what your last grade was; you had a voice in Mrs. Ravert's world.

My fourth grade experience followed my third grade very nicely. While Mrs. Bensen must have been a tough act to follow, Mrs. Ravert, a young teacher, was wise beyond her years. She took full advantage of working beside her experienced mentor. She made no attempt to copy her. Instead, she shared the same goals and beliefs; being every bit as authentic. She was the best Mrs. Ravert she could be, continuing the momentum established by Mrs. Bensen. They were teammates, playing different positions perhaps, but shepherding us forward nonetheless.
Where Mrs. Bensen was always on her feet, moving purposefully about the room, setting a fast pace; Mrs. Ravert was visibly more relaxed, expecting her fourth graders to be deeper thinkers. Mrs. Ravert transitioned us from the teacher driven expectations of Mrs. Bensen to a student-centered environment, expecting us to engage in projects and activities with fewer rules and more synthesis. While Mrs. Bensen was buzzing around keeping everyone moving forward on their personal path, meeting students were they were; Mrs. Ravert did more problem based learning.
Looking back now, I would say that Mrs. Ravert was inverting Bloom's taxonomy. She would calmly sit at her desk, or lean over her podium, then ask a vague, open-ended question. After asking the question, she would go to the board and calmly write the question on the board without saying another word. This was her way of managing "wait time." She had trained us in the process. The question was never beyond our reach. Everyone could have an answer and no answer was necessarily right or wrong. These were not recall questions. These were grow your imagination questions. Every day began this way and every transition from subject to subject worked this way. No one could possibly be unprepared or embarrassed because she formed the question in a way that made it safe.
Imagine a teacher looking out over the class, making eye contact with each student as she asks a question. She writes the question on the board in silence, turning to make eye contact with a student or two as she writes. She puts down the chalk, signaling that it is time for us to have a response. More eye contact as she slowly leaves the board to enter our space, no longer a Sage on the Stage, but now a Guide on the Side. "What do we think?" "How do we feel?" "What are we imagining?" Remember, the question is not recall. It might not even be a question. It might be a sentence that introduces a setting or character, followed by the question, "What do you think is happening in this story?"
Think about it. Nearly thirty fourth graders on the edge of their seats, waiting for the teacher to ask a question that would stimulate thought, discussion, imagination, visualization, creativity, and self-directed learning. It didn't matter who you were or what your last grade was; you had a voice in Mrs. Ravert's world. She didn't need to call attention to the rules or behavior issues as the day began or we moved to a new subject. We were looking forward to the question as if it were a reward for us. We were growing our imagination again and again as we thought and discussed a wide variety of topics each day as Mrs. Ravert's questions gave us voice.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Tom has a bad case of conveyor belt blues; what's a Mom to do?

In earlier posts I described life for Tom, now a fourth grade student who has done poorly on annual high stakes tests and been put into remediation. Unfortunately, Tom is feeling the impact of a conveyor belt that has one speed. He has not been able to catch up. He and his Mom have met with the principal, but both are showing the strain of his circumstances. Rather than feeling energized, excited about the future, Tom feels his world is full of limitations. Rather than imagining possibilities, dreaming about what life holds for him, Tom just goes through the motions.
Every few days Tom's Mom asked if she could help him with his homework or talk about how things were going with arithmetic and reading. She began reading more at home herself, hoping to be a good model. Tom showed little interest in extra effort. When he felt pushed by her, he reminded her that he was already missing the afternoon "specials" and working harder than ever at school. Tom's Mom could see that his grades on unit tests and his report card were changing very little. Maybe Tom just wasn't ever going to get good grades.
The end of fourth grade came and summer began. Tom and his Mom were thankful for the break. Tom had that familiar sinking feeling about the year end tests, but summer was finally here. Fifth grade brought a fresh start, including afternoon "specials" for all once again. Tom seemed to feel better about school. His grades did not improve, but that didn't seem to trouble him. Mom was thankful that he was pretty much back to his old self, but she worried about the first report card and where he might be headed in January. In her mind, Tom was almost too relaxed about things. Surely, he must see that he was not making sufficient progress? She met with the Principal again before Thanksgiving.
The Principal agreed that Tom seemed happy. He also agreed that Tom needed to get more serious about grades. They reviewed the data from the third and fourth grade year end tests. The remediation efforts after January had shown little improvement in the trend of Tom's scores. He was as much below grade level at the end of fourth grade as he was after third. There was little doubt that the January assessments would put Tom back into remediation for arithmetic and reading once again.
By the end of fifth grade the pattern and mindset were well established. Tom's report card and year end state tests told the same story. He was not "proficient" in math or reading. Tom and his Mom began to verbalize what they had suspected for a year, Tom just wasn't going to do as well as some of the other kids in his grade. Some kids have it, some don't. Or, maybe some just catch up one year, others catch up some other year.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

School leaders will go a long way to building believers on the faculty if they take two steps to change the existing paradigm.

Both Steven and Tom are developing fixed mindsets. Steven, because good test scores are coming easily; Tom, because they seem out of reach. In my last post, I described my hall of fame third grade teacher, Mrs. Bensen. I would argue that if these students had been with Mrs. Bensen forty years ago, things would have been far different.
One key question leaders face today in education is how do we encourage teachers to be more like Mrs. Bensen? With testing pressure and so-called accountability standards pushing teachers toward test preparation, away from engaging, problem based learning; is it even possible to emulate Mrs. Bensen? Yes, it is, but it takes authentic leaders who provide great communication, supportive teams, frequent positive reinforcement, and a well designed plan. It simply will not happen with half measures, top-down edicts, and mixed messages. The talk is easy, walking the talk, persuasively, is difficult for school leaders.
In our state, and most states, we now have teacher evaluation systems putting heavy weight on student test score improvement. In this environment, asking a teacher to set aside this fact of life comes across as duplicitous. It will take more than an occasional pep talk to move a teacher out of the relative comfort of the teaching style they are in, whatever it may be. The fact is, the school leader is, in all likelihood, asking the teacher do something he or she never had to do as a teacher. They both know it; and they may both have their doubts. At a minimum, it is uncomfortable for both.
School leaders will go a long way to building believers on the faculty if they take two steps to change the existing paradigm. First create horizontal and vertical teams whose mission it is to build and support the process. When teachers see the peers with whom they work on board with them, they see that they are not alone on the journey, not being singled out, and perhaps emboldened, sensing that "they cannot afford to lose all of us." Horizontal teams put teachers of the same grade level or course together. Vertical teams put teachers together who will share student cohorts longitudinally over time and are in the same general discipline. Vertical teams benefit greatly by working out plans for prerequisite skills and sharing data and experiences with specific students. Horizontal teams are actively engaged in real time with the same children across or within disciplines, providing flexibility for differentiation and just-in-time remediation. Some schools think they have teaming, when what they have is tribes. There is a difference.
The second step in changing the paradigm is planning success. Success can be designed. We need the will to create and execute the plan; but success can be designed. Plan design in this case will require a clear definition of process. Leaders must include the teachers in the plan from the beginning. In fact, the plan must be the teachers' plan. The role of the leader is to keep the team focused on student-centered learning for engagement and problem solving. The leader does this by asking process questions that challenge the team to create an innovative plan that everyone truly shares and cares to implement. A key question for the leader to ask is, "What roles do you want me to play?" Another is, "How will we know our process is on track in the first week, second week, and beyond?" By asking these questions, the leader is visibly transferring ownership of the process and its oversight to the team of teachers.
This is about changing habits and building new ones. Even the most committed teachers will struggle with the change of habits. Outcomes follow process. The process is the focus. Early, consistent implementation of the agreed process steps is essential. Everyone on the team must own both implementation and oversight. The leaders role is not oversight of the process, it is support. Oversight must be truly owned by the teachers as a self-managing team. The team needs to hear questions from the leader that asks them to reflect on their plan and process implementation. The team needs to see and feel the leader supporting them, not telling them. Teachers in this scenario will be skeptical in the early weeks, expecting the leader to be the first to cave in. In a future post, I will suggest an alternative to teaming as the first step. Perhaps a slower path with the same ends in mind.

Friday, March 27, 2015

The high stakes test environment does not encourage student achievement nor does it encourage authentic teacher creativity.

What do I remember from third grade? Mrs. Bensen, high expectations, authentic feedback on my work, and baseball; that is what I remember. I entered third grade in the fall of 1961. Living just sixty miles north of Yankee Stadium, my summer was spent following Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle chase Babe Ruth's home run record. My dad had seen Ruth and Gehrig play often when he was a boy; taking the train to games with his grandfather. We shared a love of baseball like only a father and son can.
Mrs. Bensen, my third grade teacher, was nothing less than a hall of fame teacher. Close to retirement, but with the energy of a speeding train, Mrs. Bensen had a way of getting all of us to stretch to new heights every day. Good was never good enough and we all loved it. We loved her for believing in us before we believed in ourselves. Not only would she do anything to help us each improve in all of the subjects, but she also expected to turn us all into polite, productive citizens. Mrs. Bensen took responsibility for our academic growth as well as our development of what we now call social and soft skills.
We had twenty-eight in our class and Mrs. Bensen had a capacity to know how each of us was doing in every subject all of the time. She naturally differentiated her lessons and our activities, getting the most from everyone. Her two greatest tools were specific, actionable feedback on our work and her relentless, demanding energy level. She was able to set a pace that worked for the brightest among us as well as those who struggled.
By the time we entered third grade some of us were reading Robert Louis Stevenson, but others had fallen behind grade level in second grade. Mrs. Bensen understood that this was normal, she'd seen it for years. She took it in stride. Her mission was helping us each grow. She knew we could. She knew we would. She created the environment that allowed it to happen. She didn't need summative assessments or unit tests to tell her how we were doing. She always knew because she lived it with us. She knew when to push and when to ease up. It was the most demanding year in school one can imagine and we wouldn't have missed it for anything!
I would argue in any era, more teachers should be like Mrs. Bensen. What makes today different is the message sent by the high stakes tests. In the third grade of today, the student reading Robert Louis Stevenson scores high on the test, while the student who fell behind grade level in second grade scores poorly. Without the high stakes test, Mrs. Bensen's students all felt pride in their personal growth; their individual achievement promoted a growth mindset. With a growth mindset, the student who fell behind is more likely to catch up before seventh grade; albeit maybe not all in one year.
In the high stakes test era, the student who fell behind grade level in reading goes on to the next grade with the stigma of the poor test grade and the fixed mindset despair it promotes. Additionally, the high scoring student may also adopt a fixed mindset, thinking high achievement is fixed so why bother trying to grow. Moreover, the pressure on teachers and administrators for immediate test score improvement leads to a stifling cycle of pre-tests, remediation, post-tests, more remediation, grouping, re-grouping, and all the rest of the latest fads and fixes.
No question, the Mrs. Bensens are hard to find, but they can be developed. It is more likely, though, when the environment supports energy, creativity, low stakes failure, personal growth, and student achievement. Paradoxical as it may sound, the high stakes test environment does not encourage student achievement nor does it encourage authentic teacher creativity.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Meet Steven; he's learning that some have it, some don't.

Steven was born within a few months of Tom in the same year; this placed him in the same grade at school. At twelve, Steven is in the sixth grade, too. Steven has also learned through experience that how he performs in school has no impact on his grade level. Each year Steven gets older and each year Steven moves to the next grade. Yet, Steven's school experiences have been very different from Tom's.
When the year end tests came along in third grade, Steven also noticed how important they were to his teacher; but when they were over and summer came, he gave them little thought. Steven never felt pressure at school or at home. He enjoyed school; neither tests nor grades ever gave him any stress. As fourth grade eased into fifth grade, and fifth into sixth, Steven never gave grades much conscious thought. He was comfortable with how things seemed to proceed at school. He never noticed much beyond the fact that he enjoyed his friends and teachers were friendly. At home, Steven's Mom and Dad praised him and often told him that he was bright and would be able to do whatever he liked when he grew up.
Steven did notice that during the year some students, like Tom, missed some of the fun stuff and stayed behind with the teacher. Once or twice, Steven can remember one of the kids asking the teacher about that, but since Steven never stayed behind like Tom, he never gave it much thought. Steven knew that school was easy for some and hard for others. That's just the way things were. Either way, he, Tom, and the rest of their classmates were still in the same grade together year after year. They all arrived together in the morning and left together in the afternoon. Some kids, like Steven, got grades like A or B, some didn't; that's just the way things are, right? Some adults are bankers, some are barbers. Some kids are into sports, some aren't. Some kids go to college, some go to work at the supermarket. To both Steven and Tom, it looked like it didn't seem to matter if they tried hard, or slacked off at school; one year looked pretty much like every other year.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Imagination is what inspires a child to become an adult beyond their current circumstances.

Why grow imagination? What's the big deal? Children already have plenty of imagination. Look at all the imaginative ways they find to get out of chores and avoid homework! We need to hold their feet to the fire. We need annual tests in reading and math to make sure they are keeping up. If they can't keep up in elementary school, things only get harder in high school.
We need to grow children's imagination because that is how they grow as healthy human beings. Imagination is what inspires a child to become an adult beyond their current circumstances.

Imagination is what inspires a child to become an adult beyond their current circumstances.

Imagination is what inspires a child to become an adult beyond their current circumstances.

Yes, I meant to repeat that line again and again. A member of our community recently shared a key story from his childhood. We are on a planning team together dedicated to "pathways to career readiness." As our team worked through the meaning of "pathways," Stephan shared this observation. "When I was in fourth grade I wanted to do something with computers. Computers fascinated me. I needed school to give me a pathway in fourth grade, that would have allowed me to follow my interest in computers."
Stephan, with this one story, ignited our team's work and helped us see "pathways" as not just road maps to a career, but "authentic experiences that to enable a child to grow imagination." We can become what we can imagine. The central purpose of public education is to grow the imagination of children; enable them to see a world beyond their present circumstances.
It was not important to Stephan as a fourth grader that he have a career in computers. What was important was that his desire for knowledge and experience be met by the adults and school available to him. If his interest had shifted to forestry, or carpentry, or astronomy public education needed to shift with him. In fact, public education should be providing students frequent, authentic experiences in a wide variety of fields before children ask for them, before they even know that they exist. Oh yes, and not just children of privilege, children who score well on tests, children who are polite, children who sit still, children who do their homework, children who eat their breakfast, or children who earn good grades; all children need to grow imagination beyond their current circumstances!
Children live in a world created by adults, particularly in elementary school. Is school growing imagination in a dedicated, purposeful way? Is school narrowing the world into a tunnel of despair or a vast expanse of pathways to new and exciting adventures? Tom, the struggling elementary school student is learning to hate school, as it methodically narrows his world. In the next post we will consider another student's situation as he also develops a fixed mindset thanks to his breezing through the same tests that have sorted Tom out of "specials" into "remediation."

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

The frequent sorting and messaging of the test administrations that is driving the fixed mindset culture.

How does my fourth grade experience compare with Tom's from the last blog post? How does yours compare? Were your formative years in elementary school a narrow path of test prep, followed by test, followed by remediation; repeat? In an earlier post I mentioned the conveyor belt our students are on today in relation to retention and social promotion. Forty years ago my classmates and I went from year to year as a group. Despite the perception that being "flunked" or "held back" was an option, it was not reality. We all moved on together. So what was different?
We had six flexible years to grow into readiness for seventh grade. Yes, some students routinely seemed to grow at a slower pace, but not in all areas and not all of the time. We were given time and space to try new things. We were not expected to march together through a pacing guide toward a standardized test. I learned to read quickly and moved on to challenging books before many in my class, but their reading skills were nurtured along, too. Our teachers naturally provided differentiated instruction without the specter of annual standardized tests. Without recognizing it at the time, we were all working from a growth mindset. Teachers and students celebrated the steps of the journey. It never felt like a one speed conveyor belt, though we all were headed in the same general direction toward the same goals.
Before annual high stakes tests, some would argue that students and teachers dealt with a narrower curriculum versus the widening curriculum of today. For a moment, let's put aside the cliches and subjective judgement of one or the other. Instead, let's consider the impact of annual testing, whatever the depth and breadth of the curriculum. Annual high stakes testing forces a one speed fits all conveyor belt on everyone and sorts students with every test administration. Everyone is sorted, but everyone moves up a grade level with age, regardless of the academic achievement. Contrast this with an era when no one was sorted, everyone moved up a grade level with age, and teachers had the time and flexibility to meet the needs of all students across a six year span of time as their brains developed and their social skills matured.
It is the frequent sorting and messaging of the test administrations that is driving the fixed mindset culture. Students look around and decide that they are in a smart group or a dumb group generally or specifically by subject. This sorting and student decision-making begins early with devastating impact. All students suffer, not just those seeing themselves in the slower groups. When a student who does well on high stakes tests in early years develops their own fixed mindset he may begin to assume that achievement will be automatic in the future, missing out on skill development and learning.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Tom begins remediation; his Mom feels helpless.

In January, Tom's fourth grade teacher began to change his routine. One Tuesday, after the pledge of allegiance, the teacher explained that they had reached the point in the year where it was time to see where everyone stood compared to the end of year expectations. They took a long arithmetic test, followed by a reading test after lunch. By the end of the day Tom was tired and pretty depressed. The tests were hard, but at lunch some of his friends had said the arithmetic was pretty easy. In the afternoon he noticed that some of them finished the reading test much faster than he did. In fact, when the teacher gave them the ten minute warning, he had to guess at some questions that he hadn't been able to even read about just to finish on time. All of a sudden fourth grade was looking much harder than third.
The next day began like Tuesday had never happened. Just like those third grade report cards and test scores, Tuesday's long day of testing was in the past. No one needed to tell Tom that he had not done well on the tests. He knew that the arithmetic was a blur after the first few questions. On the reading test he recognized some words as vocabulary words from class, but he still didn't know their meaning. He didn't even understand some of the questions asked in the reading test. Of course Tom saw his grades on the class tests his teacher gave during the year. He knew that most of his friends had better grades and probably did better in the Tuesday test. Like his Mom said, "It will be okay." It was okay until after lunch.
Afternoons in fourth grade was the time for recess and what the adults called "specials," things like chorus, computers, library, gym, and art. Wednesday afternoon, the day after those Tuesday tests, "specials" took on a new meaning for Tom and some of his classmates. Two afternoons a week the students who did poorly on the arithmetic test stayed behind for extra help. Two afternoons a week the students who did poorly on the reading test stayed behind for extra help. Tom found himself in both groups. He went home Wednesday and told his Mom he hated school. Thursday his Mom made an appointment to see the Principal.
At the meeting the Principal showed Tom's Mom the data from the third grade tests and the Tuesday arithmetic and reading tests, explaining that Tom was not showing sufficient progress. The afternoon interventions were part of a statewide plan to keep students on track for what the Principal called "on time graduation." Tom's Mom was struck with fear. "Would Tom be held back in fourth grade if the scores did not improve?" The Principal assured her that students were not held back, but adjustments had to be made to get Tom and some of his classmates "up to speed" with the state standards.
As Tom's Mom left school that day she felt disabled and lost. Tom was a good boy, well behaved, healthy, energetic. What had gone wrong? How would he cope with this setback? What could she do to help? She understood the Principal, but wasn't there another way?

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Growth Mindset: Alternative to the Binary Choice

In my observation, today's student is learning from experience that achievement, particularly individual achievement, may not matter for them. They get a year older, take more tests and move to the next grade with their age group. Pressure is on teachers to produce good, consistently good results on the high stakes tests of their students. Administrators know that funding and jobs depend upon test results. Students see a world around them where those who achieve due to hard work are invisible; while the visible holders of wealth are famous due to their celebrity, audacity, or physical prowess.
I'm not supporting retention over social promotion. I am saying it is not a simple binary choice as some would suggest. There must be another option? Educational research is rich and deep on both sides of the retention debate. It is also rich and deep with regard to the mistaken assumption that all children should be placed on a conveyor belt that has one speed and lasts twelve mind-numbing years. So why do we continue to use the conveyor belt? It is all we know. It worked for us (depending upon how one defines "worked"). To do something else would mean accepting far too many variables, questioning too many time-honored practices, raise questions of equality versus equity; and, perish the thought, possibly cost more in the short term regardless of long term gain.
Or, perhaps the something else means embracing a growth mindset. In future posts I will reflect on my experience as a student. Not only do I support growth mindset theory, but I suggest that it has deep roots in the 20th century and even the earliest days of public education. In my next post, we return to Tom's situation in the fourth grade of the present, the high stakes testing era, where regardless of test performance, children learn a fixed mindset.

Annual High Stakes Tests and The Fixed Mindset

In my first post I suggested that I would blend my experiences and observations. In the second I asserted that the central mission of education is to grow imagination. In this post and a few that follow, I will to describe the situation a twelve year old might find himself or herself in today. I think you will agree that it is far different from mine forty years ago. For ease, let's call the student of today, Tom. At twelve, Tom is in the sixth grade. Tom has learned through his experience and his observation of other, older students, that how he performs in school has no impact on his grade level. Each year Tom gets older and each year Tom moves to the next grade.
In third grade, Tom and his classmates began taking long, difficult, year end tests. Tom has noticed that these tests seem important to his teachers because they make a big deal about getting plenty of sleep and eating breakfast before the "big test days." Tom and his classmates never heard much about the results of the first tests at the end of third grade. He does remember that many of the questions were confusing and he knew he was guessing on some questions. His teacher had said not to leave any blank and to try to pick the best choice. "If you don't find a best choice, pick C."
At the beginning of fourth grade Tom was happy to see many of his old friends in his class. The new teacher was more demanding and the teacher's tests became harder and harder as the year went on, but Tom enjoyed his classmates. Fourth grade was pretty much an extension of third grade in Tom's mind. He had learned in third grade that report cards or test grades didn't mean much after a day or two, so Tom paid little attention to them. In fact, when he brought home a note from his teacher about needing extra help at home from his Mom in arithmetic, she just said, "It will all work out, just do your best."

Saturday, March 21, 2015

The central mission of education: grow imagination

Why is growing the imagination of children my interest? Doesn't every child have an active, growing imagination? If they don't, what can someone else do about it? As I type, I'm thinking that there may be dozens of questions like these. I suppose that is my point. Let's think and write about why growing children's imagination matters.
As I reflect on my own early imagination, it is clear that it often sprang from my childhood experiences. My dad and grandfathers were all volunteer firefighters in small towns. I readily imagined myself as one, too. My dad introduced me to a pathologist who let me shadow him for a day. For about four years I was convinced that I would be one, too. One of my grandmothers was a teacher. I easily saw that as an occupational option for myself. One of my grandfathers was a retail marketing representative for a major wholesaler. My first career was in retail management.
My second career is in education. I was a scoring supervisor and project manager for one of the "assessment" companies before earning my license to teach. (Yes, that does sound backwards to me, too.) I taught middle and high school math and social studies for seven years. For the past three years I have been Lead Teacher at our high school. I'll leave that job description to your imagination.
Growing the imagination of children is the central mission of not only educators, but also the community at large. When we succeed in that mission society advances. When we fail in that mission, children and society decline into ill health and worse. Think about it.
Accepting growing the imagination of children as education's central mission puts many other issues into perspective. I'd like to hear from you as I continue to share my ideas. Please comment.

A little about my reasons for this blog.

What are your fond memories from your childhood? Do they include playmates, schoolmates, siblings, cousins, parents, teachers, other adults? Did you dream of being a famous athlete, astronaut, entertainer, doctor, lawyer, firefighter, or farmer? How active was your imagination?
I was fortunate to have a comfortable childhood; some would say, "idyllic." I was surrounded by loving, nurturing adults who encouraged me to dream. My parents and grandparents always had time for me. They encouraged me to give my best effort, treat others fairly, try anything that interested me, and achieve goals I set for myself.
My teachers were creative thinkers who saw each child as a gift to the world. They felt a calling to serve our needs; but through the mission of helping us develop life skills that would serve us, whatever the future held. My goal with this blog is to blend my memories and experiences with my observations and suggestions in a way that promotes an authentic dialogue with you; a dialogue centered on today's children and growing their capacity to imagine.