Of Snow, Spring Fever, and Diligence

I was talking to a student at lunch last Tuesday, and he was complaining about the overnight snow.  I said to him, “At least it’s not snowing now” and then looked out into the courtyard to see I was wrong.  The weather may not have caught up with us, but spring is supposed to be here, and with it comes spring fever.  It’s the time of year when we struggle to keep focus—both our own and of our students.

I recently read an article by Atul Gawande about this tendency of ours to lose focus.  Gawande is a surgeon, Harvard professor, and journalist and has been widely published and referenced in a variety of ways.  In one of his books, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, he argues that creating checklists and sticking to them with diligence makes a difference.

His words: “Better is possible. It does not take genius. It takes diligence. It takes moral clarity. It takes ingenuity. And above all, it takes a willingness to try.”  He agrees that diligence seems mundane, but it is the daily effort that makes the difference over the long haul in all areas: “Understood, however, as the prerequisite of great accomplishment, diligence stands as one of the most difficult challenges facing any group of people who take on tasks of risk and consequence.”

That is us, by the way.  Educators “take on tasks of risk and consequence” on a daily basis.

Based on Gawande’s suggestion, Bryan Goodwin and Elizabeth Ross Hubbell, educational writers and consultants, created the following checklist for educators.  This is what they think should happen every day in your classes:

• Create an oasis of safety and respect in the classroom.
• Use standards to guide every learning opportunity.
• Make performance expectations clear.
• Have students set personal learning objectives.
• Engage students’ interest.
• Interact meaningfully with every student.
• Make the most of every minute.
• Use feedback to encourage effort.
• Coach students to mastery.
• Help students develop deep knowledge.
• Help students apply their learning.
• Measure understanding against high expectations.

That’s a pretty tough list for every day in every class!  I wonder about narrowing the scope, at least to start.  If you had to pick a few of these, which would you pick and stick to with diligence until the end of the year?  If you had to create a checklist of your own, what items would make your list?

These are interesting questions think about at any time of year, but they may be essential questions to ask in April.

Have a great week, HSE.  I hope no metaphorical or tangible snow falls in your courtyard this week.  Keep fighting the good fight all the way to the end of the year.

Phil