Of Spring, Wisdom, and Perspective

It's spring break.  You shouldn't be reading this.  If you can't help yourself, I will keep it short and sweet. 

We made it to April.  That means those long dreary and often cold months of January, February, and March are behind us.  The days of coming to school and going home in the dark are past, and we are gearing up for the home stretch.

Spring break usually comes just in time.  Steven Wright, the off-beat comedian who often looks at the world from a slightly skewed perspective, once joked, “I think God’s going to come down and pull civilization over for speeding.”  It’s true that we tend to go like crazy during the school year.  Spring break gives us a time to slow down and regain our own perspective on life. 

My advice: Get some rest.  Take it easy.  Turn your brain off for a bit.  Your brain, like the rest of your body, needs rest and relaxation—and a good laugh doesn’t hurt.

So here to help you ease into the break are a few words of wisdom about relaxation and a several wise and not-so-wise points to ponder about laughter.

•  Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.  --John Lennon
• There are times when we stop, we sit still.  We listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper.  --James Carroll
• Rest and peace should not be left until you’re deceased.  They are two vital life ingredients everybody needs and seeks.  --Rasheed Ogunlaru
• A day without laughter is a day wasted.  --Charlie Chaplin
•  Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion.  I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up afterward.  --Kurt Vonnegut
• Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.  --Victor Hugo
• I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out my nose.  --Woody Allen

Enjoy your time away from school.  Find time to rest, to relax, to laugh.  Come back in April ready to crank it up and bring it down the home stretch.

Phil

One last quote from Steven Wright for those of you going to the beach this break:

I have the world’s largest collection of seashells.  I keep it on all the beaches of the world….Perhaps you’ve seen it. 

From the Mouths of Babes....

When we graduated from college, my wife and I married and soon after moved to Puerto Rico.  We taught in a small school up above San Juan for a year and then moved back stateside, where we took jobs teaching in my home town of Hesston, Kansas.  At Hesston Middle School, my sixth grade teacher taught across the hall from me, and my fifth grade teacher was right next door.  The transition from student to colleague was an interesting experience for all three of us working in that wing of the school.

Those memories from my first years in the classroom came to mind several weeks ago as I was speaking to the cadet teachers in Liz Trinkle’s class.  These cadets, perhaps future teachers, have spent this year going out into classrooms across the district to work with students in a wide variety of settings, from early childhood to grade eight.  In a little over four short years, these young men and women could be teaching across the hall from you.  It’s an interesting thought and one that is even more exciting after I received an email last week from Liz.

In her classroom, Liz had her students complete an exercise about Rock Solid Teaching, similar to ours at the beginning of this school year.  She divided the students into groups, gave them chart paper and markers, and walked them through a Placemat Consensus activity.  Students wrote on their own for a few minutes about what makes a Rock Solid Lesson and then came to consensus in the middle of the chart, recording the key characteristics.

Late last week Liz forwarded their results.  I have taken the consensus statements from each of the groups and combined them into a full list.  See if this looks familiar:

Rock Solid Teaching According to HSHS Cadet Teachers

Spring 2013

At the Beginning of Class

• The teacher grabs the attention of the student

During the Lesson

• Students are engaged and actively involved, not just listening
• The lesson is relevant and meaningful to the students
• Students feel free to ask questions
• Students have opportunities for collaboration
• Parts of the lesson push students to higher level thinking
• The lesson is varied and has opportunities for different kinds of learners

At the End of the Lesson

• The teacher checks for student understanding
• Follow-up activities reinforce the learning

Other Factors

• The teacher has a solid knowledge of the content 
• The teacher is positive and upbeat
• The lesson is well organized

I took a writer’s license to combine similar statements from the different groups, but this list summarizes the cadets' views on Rock Solid teaching.  Without a doubt, if a lesson followed this pattern, it would engage students in learning, and it would score very well on the Teacher Effectiveness Rubric.  Since Liz’s students are experiencing education from both sides of the desk right now, they have a unique perspective, and it is fascinating to see how they reinforce what we know about good teaching practice. 

Liz told me that one of her favorite sayings with her cadets comes from Cris Tovani, an authority on teaching secondary students to improve their reading skills: “School should not be a place where young people go to watch old people work.”

The cadets certainly didn't sit and watch during this lesson.  Their insight is worth noting.

Rock on, HSE!  Keep them going right up to the break.

Phil

The Productive Struggle

Our Current Reality: The Frustrating Learning Cycle

“Just tell me what you want.” 

Does that sound familiar with our teacher evaluation process?  When learning something new, everyone cycles through a variety of stages.  You are living this reality with TEDS and the Teacher Effectiveness Rubric.  You look it over, think you understand it, and then become confused by one or more of the indicators and start doubting your understanding.  Eventually, something makes sense or you find a “handle” to grab onto, and the cycle starts again.

No doubt you will feel better after finishing a full year of TEDS.  Hindsight is often a more comfortable vantage point.  From there you will be able to see the big picture.  In the meantime, eventually and inevitably, you will go through times when you reach your limit, throw up your hands, and say, “Just show me what you want.” 

Our goal is to provide you with the information you need and the tools you can use to complete this process, but we are still in the learning cycle with you.  Together we will get this thing figured out, but the first time through includes lots of new learning for all of us.

In the meantime, let’s acknowledge the reality: It is part of human nature to become frustrated during the learning process.  The unknown is stressful, and we don’t much like being beginners.

Spoiler Alert: In the coming weeks and months, you may find yourself frustrated with Domains 1 and 3 and with the Finalization Process.

For Students: The Productive Struggle and Modeling

Since it is human nature to become frustrated during the learning cycle, it is probably good to remember that students are humans (of sort) as well.  They also become frustrated with the unknown in the learning process.  Most high school students don’t like being beginners any more than we do.  Without question, there is a time for what has been called the “productive struggle.”  (I really like this term and think it is something we need to talk about.  The Common Core will force some of this discussion.) 

Just as there is a time and place for the productive struggle, there is also a time and place for clarification.  This is where modeling comes in, especially when dealing with difficult concepts, a thinking strategy, or with almost any kind of writing.  (A good way to think about writing is this: Writing is thinking put down on paper.)

One of the only ways I know to teach thinking skills is through modeling.  Effective Modeling is very different than telling.  Effective modeling takes careful planning and includes a “think-aloud” so students can “hear” the thinking involved.  The two steps to Effective Modeling are listed below.  In this example I am using the teaching of a thinking strategy:

• Show It: The first step is likely familiar to all of you.  It is looking at the learning from the student’s perspective, breaking it down into parts, and showing students the thinking strategy.  It is easy to forget what it is like to be a beginner, so thinking like a student is essential as you show them the target strategy.
• The Think-Aloud: The next step is to share the actual thought process.  This is metacognition or thinking about the thinking.  In this step, the teacher lets the students “hear” the thinking going on with the use of the new strategy.  It might start like this: “If I am a student and I run into this kind of issue, I know I have to do some specialized thinking.  The conversation in my mind would sound something like this….”  From here, the teacher uses first person, speaking from the student’s point of view.  The goal is to say out loud the internal monologue, the thinking going on inside the mind.  The teacher walks students through the important steps, the critical questions, and the problem-solving techniques needed to be successful and learn the material.  “First, I know I have to….  Since I know that…I ask myself….”

Modeling is the way to teach higher order thinking skills to students, but there are many, many variations.  For example, exemplar papers are actually models of thinking written down, students can be taught to model effectively to each other, and you can find video clips of experts in your field modeling their thinking to solve problems, complete tasks, or analyze information.  (Ted Talks and Kahn Academy come to mind immediately as possible resources for effective modeling.)

Balancing Act

In the coming weeks and months, we are going to try as best we can to show you what is needed to complete the TER.  We will try to give you the tools to help you through the process.  The difficulty is that we don’t have as much time together as we would like, and more importantly, we are all beginners in this process.  In other words, teachers and administrators are learning TEDS together.  We are learning how to model right along with you.  I have no doubt we will figure it all out, and this time next year will feel very different.  We remain, however, in the “productive struggle.”

While we continue to fight this good fight with TEDS, take what you are experiencing as a learner and see if it has application in your classrooms.  Where is productive struggle appropriate, and where can you provide both steps of the modeling process to help clarify the thinking students need to successfully accomplish tasks and reach learning targets?  Experiment with taking on the student’s perspective and using a think-aloud to deepen student understanding.  Teach students how our brains work and the importance of metacognition.  Teach them how to think about their own thinking.

When students are given the “thinking” tools, they will learn more and perform at higher levels.

Keep fighting the good fight, HSE.  Continue the beautiful struggle.

Phil

From Kay Merseth, a senior fellow with Carnegie working on a project named “Advancing Teaching”:

The focus of productive struggle is on the learning goals embedded in the problem or situation—it is not about guessing what the teacher wants to hear or about finding a particular answer.  It is about the process of thinking, making sense, and persevering in the face of not knowing exactly how to proceed or whether a particular approach will work.  Exploring, investigating one or multiple approaches, and articulating a chain of reasoning behind the approaches also characterizes productive struggle.

One More Thing...

Steve Jobs: Quirks

I was reading recently about Steve Jobs, the brilliant co-founder of Apple.  Jobs had a quirky personality, which allowed him to look at the world differently than most of us and undoubtedly contributed to his incredible success. One of his quirks, which may reflect his sense of humor and showmanship as well, is he would often end his annual product introduction speeches by saying, “Oh yeah, there’s one more thing….”  At this point he would proceed to introduce something spectacular: the iPod, the Mac Book Pro, the iPad, or the iPhone.

The “one more thing” was actually “the thing.”  Over time, people identified this pattern and would wait in anticipation for the “end” knowing something big was still coming along.

HSE: Not Again

Unfortunately, in education “one more thing” doesn’t generate nearly as much excitement.  In fact, the usual response is a groan followed by protestations that we are still trying to figure out the last “one more thing.”  This is certainly understandable.

Look at the list of “one more things” we have going right now: Common Core State Standards; Curriculum Mapping, including Scope and Sequence; Teacher Evaluation and Development System; adding new Dual Credit Courses; School Expansion; and now we are moving forward on the 1:1 initiative.  This last initiative means you will be getting iPads and Apple TV next year.  As great as that is, it is also “one more thing.”  (See why I was thinking about Steve Jobs?)

Steve Jobs: A Unified Philosophy

The following is what Cliff Kuang, who works for NBC News, says about Steve Jobs:

Jobs was both lucky and smart in that all of the lessons he got were additive — that is, you could fit them all together in a single, coherent design philosophy. Compare that to what happens when you engage with someone who has definite opinions about design, but no real philosophy behind it: It's a maddening experience because the definition of what works and what doesn't, what's good and what's not, can change so often in different circumstances. I'd argue that this has been the chief failing of most consumer electronics makers: There's no deep-seated ideology behind their designs, so the products themselves never feel linked by what Jobs liked to call "soul."

If you are an avid Apple fan, you may have experience this intangible thing that links Apple products.  All of the products have different designs and purposes, but they are bound together by the “coherent design philosophy,” the soul that Jobs referenced.

HSE: Our Soul is Student Learning

In education, we do not always feel the soul, the thing that links all the new “one more things” together in a unified whole.  Maybe that is because we don’t have the time or take the time to intentionally make the connections and see the links.  Perhaps we miss the coherent design philosophy of where we are going.  Let me try to make a few connections with the list of “one more things” from above:

If everything we do is about improving student learning….

• Common Core State Standards, the new dual credit classes, and the Curriculum Maps clarify for us the content of our instruction: the What.

• The Scope and Sequence documents clarify the When.

• The school expansion project gives us the Where.

• The 1:1 initiative and the Teacher Evaluation and Development System give us tools and help with How and ensures continual growth.

Without a doubt, these individual initiatives feel like one more thing.  In no way am I trying to dismiss how overwhelming this can feel.  I am, however, making the argument that these “things” are linked.  Each one can be seen as a step of the same journey toward improved student learning.

Steve Jobs when asked about his approach to life said:

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.  So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in the future.  You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.  This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

I think we can connect the dots.  We can get a glimpse of how these things do connect and will connect in the future.  If our soul is improved student learning, we are on the right path.

Have a great week, Southeastern.

Phil

One more thing from Steve Jobs….

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.  And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.  

Unexpected Music

This week I was reminded once again of the power of a good story.

Grace, our freshman attending Indiana School for the Deaf, came home excited about watching Mr. Holland's Opus as part of a class activity.  Since our other children have not seen the movie, which some of you might remember from its release in 1995, we opted for a family movie night last Sunday.  Lisa popped the corn while I made a quick run to Kroger for ice cream, and we made an event of the viewing.

If you haven't seen this film, it's worth watching—or watching again—for a variety of reasons.  It traces the teaching career of the lead character, Glenn Holland, played by Richard Dreyfuss, from when he reluctantly enters education in 1964 up until his forced retirement from teaching because of budget cuts in 1995.  Glenn’s goal when he enters the teaching profession is to have "free time" to compose music.  He quickly realizes that time is seldom free in education, but it is too late.  He is hooked.  Days lead to weeks, to months, to years, to decades, and Glenn Holland discovers he is “composing” something very different than what he anticipated.

The viewing audience is treated to a history lesson through the music and video footage that provided the soundtrack and most memorable images of those four decades.  Like my wife and me, many of you would recognize the lyrics to most of the songs, including those from Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Jackson Browne, and the Kingsmen (although it might be a stretch to call the words in “Louie Louie” lyrics).   The iconic video clips included images of the Vietnam War, John F. Kennedy, Jimi Hendricks, Richard Nixon, and even John Travolta in his white suit on the disco floor.

One subplot deals with the Holland family, which consists of two hearing parents and their son who is deaf. Our family can relate to the issues of communication—or lack thereof.  At one point the mother cries in anguish, "I just want to talk to my son."  We certainly recognize the feeling.

The main story line  however, follows the daily teaching career of Mr. Holland and makes the point that one teacher can make a real difference.  The film reminds us that every interaction and every class has significance.  More importantly, it reminds us that over the course of a teaching career, we impact the lives of thousands of people in ways we may never know or understand.

Near the end of the movie, one character returns to the school as an adult and tells of the impact Glenn Holland had on her life.  She ends her speech saying, “There is not a life in this room that you have not touched, and each of us is a better person because of you.  We are your symphony Mr. Holland.  We are the melodies and the notes of your opus.  We are the music of your life.”  At another point, Glenn Holland simultaneously sings and signs to his son John Lennon’s song “Beautiful Boy.”  This song includes a line that may be familiar: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

You may be able to relate.  Like Glenn Holland, we get caught up in the day-to-day business of teaching.   Days turn to weeks which turn to months and years.  Students come and students go.  They leave our classrooms, our halls, and our schools, but a film like this reminds us that these students also take part of us with them out the door.

We need to hear this message.  We need to be reminded of the lasting impact we have on our students.  Continue to write your opus, HSE.  Be assured that it is music that will be played out in unexpected ways and in venues you may never see or hear, but it is music well worth composing.

Have a great week.  I hope it is one filled with notes of hope, lyrics of joy, and songs of laughter.

Phil

Principal Jacobs to the young Glenn Holland: “A teacher has two jobs; fill young minds with knowledge, yes, but more important, give those minds a compass so that knowledge doesn’t go to waste.”