If THEY build it, Learning will come.

As the Indians are set to open their Spring Training schedule today against the Reds, I couldn’t resist the reference to the movie  Field of Dreams’ , “If you build it, he will come”, when thinking about the importance of having students build their own understanding of math (or any other subject for that matter) rather than being shown how to understand math.

This is only my second year as Curriculum Director of our district, but in that short time even I was able to see the power of allowing students to build on their understanding through examples taking place in our elementary math classes.  Here is an example of what I mean:  A fifth grader, early in the year, was given this problem 16/.25 = ?

-As an adult who has gone through a traditional way of learning math and taken classes up through Calculus, I was stuck on this myself when it was presented to me until I resisted the urge to use my calculator on my iPhone and reached back in my memory to figure out .25 is really ¼ and if I remember the “trick” to flip a fraction when it is being used to divide and then multiply the fraction,  I can then come up with 16x4 = 64 by pure luck of remembering the algorithm.  However, because the fifth grader had been given the opportunity earlier in his learning of math to look for the patterns and relationships of math rather than just the answers he had a completely different way of looking at the problem.  

-The fifth grader looked at the problem and recognized .25 is equal to ¼ and that it takes four ¼ to make a whole, so if he had to take four groups of the ¼ all he would need to do is do the same and take 4 groups (times) the 16 to get his answer that 64 groups of .25 goes into 16.  No tricks, calculator, or really need to struggle to remember a long buried algorithm.  Instead, he applied his understanding of the patterns and relationships to which he was previously exposed. By the way, it took me 10 minutes to figure out how he solved this because I couldn’t get my mind to go there at first (in fact, I am not sure I am even explaining it right) and this particular fifth grader wasn’t the “top math kid” in the class.

The point to all this is to emphasize the power of allowing students to build their own understanding of math (or anything else for that matter) upon what they already know rather than believing they need to be shown a method  or told a  “trick” (algorithm) before they can apply it to a new concept.  As adults, we need to resist the urge to “tell” and nurture the inclination to listen by providing the opportunities for the students to develop their conceptual understanding.  Mathematician Conrad Wolfram emphasizes this in this TED Talk Teaching Kids Real Math with Computers.  

Wolfram points out that about 80% of what kids do in math education is calculating, yet calculating is only one part of understanding math.  He states math education should be about:

1. Posing the right question
2. Connecting a real world problem to a mathematical formulation
3. Calculations
4. Reconnecting the formulation to the real world for verification

The “calculation” part, Wolfram argues, is the least necessary to learn because computers can do that for us (remember my urge to reach for the iPhone) and that math education should be about the other three parts.

I believe Stanford Professor and “Math Guru”, Jo Boaler (@joboaler), would agree with Wolfram because in her book Mathematical Mindsets, she emphasizes the importance of dispelling the widespread myth that math is about speed and answers and instead nurturing the students mathematical mindset by allowing them to make connections, think logically, and use space, data, and numbers creatively.  She talks of mathematics as a cultural phenomenon; a set of  ideas, connections, and relationships that we can use to make sense of the world and emphasizes that mathematics is about patterns (not answers).

In order for students to discover these patterns and relationships, we need to be sure to ask the right questions and put them in the right situations, but most of all we need to resist the urge to be too quick to “tell” them.  Our math coach, Mike Lipnos (@mlipnos) always says, “Every time I give a student something, I am taking an opportunity away.”, it is not that you don’t support the students, but rather how and when you support them. (I also mentioned this in an earlier post: They do not understand shallowness because they do not experience depth). I believe Boaler would argue that the best time for “telling” a student about a mathematical concept is after they have had time to explore the problem because their brains are then primed to learn and are more motivated to learn due to being allowed the opportunity to build on what they know.  So,  I encourage you to slow down the next time you find yourself running around giving answers like a chicken with his head cut off, and instead think about what is the next best question we can ask students and what situations we can put them in that allows them to build on their own thinking.  

We interrupt this educational blog post…

Why does it seem like that every February, when Governor John Kasich’s budget proposal is announced, that  educators in Ohio have to stop and drop what they are doing to write their local legislator?   This year is no different as Governor Kasich’s budget proposal included requirements for educators to shadow businessmen as part of their teacher license renewal and require every local School Board of Education to add three local business leaders on to the school board as non-voting members.  Both are touted as “helping” schools to connect to the community, but are presumably part of Kasich’s plan for schools to be run more like a business.

I have already commented on how I think schools should be run (see Adopting a Greenhouse Philosophy for Schools if you are interested), but I am not sure why Gov. Kasich is so adamant about looking at schools as a business.  Schools can’t be run as a business as schools are not in the “business” of educating children.  Schools are not a profit seeking organization with the ability to bring in more revenue if individual students learn more or if more individuals learn.  As a matter of fact the way schools are funded in Ohio has been ruled unconstitutional since the 1997 DeRolph v. State of Ohio court case found the current system (using local property taxes) of funding schools is unsustainable and unconstitutional.   The current funding system for education puts the burden on the local property owners and creates a divide between the “haves and have not's”.  Let me share a quick “real life” example of this gap.

During the mid 1990’s I was teaching in a “upper-middle class”suburban school in Ohio when the opportunity to return to my alma-mater in a blue-collar community fifteen minutes down the road arose.  Excited for the chance to return “home” my enthusiasm was quickly quelled when the job offer included a 6,000 dollar pay cut even after adding coaching duties.  I was astonished at the difference in salary schedules for teachers just fifteen minutes away and was “forced” to decline the invitation to return home as my salary was the only income for our five family member household.  This dumbfounded discrepancy between teacher salaries in relatively adjacent communities was amplified even more for me the next year when I was offered a position in a “white-collar” community seven miles north of my alma-mater.  Instead of taking a pay cut of 6,000 dollars I was being offered a salary increase of $2000 dollars.  Three districts within a 10 mile radius in Ohio and three distinctly different opportunities for teachers based on the economic make-up of the communities.  Unfortunately, this discrepancy is not unusual in Ohio because each of these districts’ source of funding is based on property taxes.  This is the basis of the DeRolph vs. the State of Ohio case which, in 1997,  led to show the current funding system of schools violated the Ohio Constitution.  This is a concern because research has shown that the single most important measurable cause of increase student learning was teacher experience and knowledge and between the two, the most productive investment for schools is spending on teacher education (Darling-Hammond, 2010).

I haven’t even touched upon the oddness of requiring that three business leaders be added to each local Board of Education as non-voting members.  Many Boards of Education members are business leaders or at least have a good understanding of the needs of the community.  I can't comment on the concern of this part of Gov. Kasich’s proposal any better than Bruce Sucher @Vandillabutler who is a local school board president from Vandalia, Ohio.

Our local School Board consists of one retired public administrator, one retired teacher, one retired BUSINESS person, and two active BUSINESSMEN, elected by the local voters of our local school district. It seems this community already has this non-issue covered.

In lieu of three more business folks, I'd like to see just ONE OHIO GOVERNOR who funded public education so as to abide by our State Constitution; and having secured adequate funding for each district, ONE OHIO GOVERNOR who did not usurp local control over such diverse items as curriculum and staff evaluations; ONE OHIO GOVERNOR who did not balance his budget on the backs of local governments; ONE OHIO GOVERNOR who did not spend almost a full year running for higher office rather than working to stop the misuse of Ohio public school tax dollars by FOR PROFIT (NON-) EDUCATIONAL COMPANIES; ONE OHIO GOVERNOR who thought that the children of our quality school district are of equal monetary investment as, oh let's say, the same "student" enrolled in ECOT; and ONE OHIO GOVERNOR who did not hold out the false hope to Ohio children and their parents that charter schools in Ohio have to meet the same standards as public schools, the real "Community Schools".

This OHIO GOVERNOR is trying to kill public education, a major component of a free and democratic society. This does not bode well for the future of Ohio or Ohio children.

This post is already too long and I haven’t even  mentioned the push for charter schools or the College Credit Plus by Gov. Kasich.  Long story short, please consider, once again, “dropping what you are doing” to contact your local legislator to share your concerns about the Governor’s most recent budget and its potential impact on public education in Ohio.

References

Darling-Hammond, Linda (2010).  The Flat World and Education.  New York, NY: Teachers College

   Press.

The Power of Dispositional Leadership

A few days ago I “retweeted” an article titled When School Leaders Empower Teachers, Better Ideas Emerge and it got me thinking more about the power of dispositional leadership.  Dispositional leadership, rather than positional leadership,  provides the pathway for all teachers to contribute to the vision of a school.  It must be supported through shared leadership by the administration and nurtured through a growth or even innovative mindset by the staff.  

In my mind, one of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of teacher leadership is the misconstrued idea of leadership only being positional rather than dispositional.  It is not uncommon for teachers to be hesitant or even unwilling to step forward to take the lead or contribute in an area of personal strength because they are not the department or grade level chair.  This hesitation does not take place because the teacher is unable to help, but instead because the system is often designed in such a way that the department level chair is the de facto leader and any ideas coming from “other” members of the department are either unsponsored rogue ideas or are evidence of overstepping the teacher’s authority.  The fact that department chairs exist is not the glitch in the system, but rather the role of department chair as the sole voice of the department.  Systems which support shared leadership, such as a Professional Learning Communities (PLC), promote collaboration between teachers which lead to an elevated comfort level to share pedagogical practices, thoughts through reflections, and even counter-points to an idea.  Administrators can also play an important role in breaking down barriers within the system.

Administrators that utilize a shared leadership philosophy promote a culture which leads to leadership opportunities that are more dispositional in nature.  There is a biological connection to this idea that Simon Sinek eloquently points out in his book Leaders Eat Last, which is a great quick read, but if you want the shortened version you can check it out in his video Why Leaders Eat Last.    In summary, Sinek points out there are four main chemicals that impact human survival as individuals and populations: endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.  The first two drive more individual survival while the last two focus on our connections to a population and therefore play a role in dispositional leadership.  Sinek states serotonin is “responsible for the pride we feel when those we care for achieve great things or when we make proud the people who took care of us and do right by those who lead us.”  Oxytocin helps us form bonds of love and trust which lead to “relationships so strong we can make decisions with complete confidence that those who care about us will stand by our side.”  He also mentions the negative impact the chemical cortisol (the “stress chemical”) has on our brain.  In the book he points out that “we cannot motivate peers, per se. Our motivation is determined by the chemical incentives inside every one of us.” Administrators, as positional leaders, must therefore create environments in which the right chemicals are released for the right reasons.   These positional leaders should seek out teacher input based on the teacher’s strengths and therefor model how to nurture a collaborative culture.  A system which promotes such a culture will allow more avenues for teachers leadership based on the skills and knowledge rather than by assignment.  Examples of nurturing such a culture include having teachers: share best practices at a faculty meeting, facilitate professional development opportunities, or even participate in a committee to study the impact of homework or grades on student learning.  These administrators create opportunities and take advantage of  teachers’ strengths to contribute to the system.  Once the teachers understand the administrator’s philosophy of leadership they will be more open to becoming more of a leader in the building.  However, there also needs to be a mindset in place for the teachers to consistently be able to keep their eye out for those opportunities.

          Systems which encourage reflection, continuous improvement, and shared leadership as a way of doing business is one of the best ways to nurture a culture of dispositional leadership.  The counter to this is “if good people are asked to work in a bad culture, one in which leaders do not relinquish control, then the odds of something bad happening go up” (Sinek, 2014, p. 75). The idea of continuous improvement or growth mindset emphasizes that none of us are a finished product and all have the ability to learn.  If that is the case, then all members of the school community will be more open and willing to share and accept information from others because all should be learners.  This mindset  flows up and down the chain of command and blurs the lines of positional leadership, to one more of dispositional leadership, where all members of the school community are willing and able to positively contribute to the school culture.

Update!  

No sooner did I post this then I thought of a great piece of evidence for the power of dispositional leadership that just took place last night (2/10/17).  Two former Aurora High students, Yohann Samarasinghe @Variable_Y and Pavel Galchenko @Airpavelg  won the Midwest Cleantech UP 2017 Award on an idea that got its genesis in the AHS Independent Learning Experience (class) at Aurora High School..  

The Independent Learning Experience is an opportunity that was generated by teachers through the power of dispositional leadership.  We wanted to give our students the opportunity to pursue a passion or deeply explore a curiosity and the best support we could think to give the students was the gift of time.  Instead of going to study hall, students meet in our MAC Lab and instead of having an established curriculum, students dictate what they are going to learn, the conditions they are going to learn under, and how they will demonstrate what they learn.  Our goal is to provide an experience that allows students to define and pursue learning according to their own interests and passion. When a student pursues a passion and truly dives into his own learning we say the student has taken a “plunge”.  The independent learning experience is not for all students.  The outliers in a school could relate to this experience just as much as the traditional self-motivated learners.  This experience is not for the student who needs to know “What they need to study for the test”, “If this homework counts”, and “How many points is this worth?” However, this experience could be for those students who ask questions, seem curious, have self-direction, are frustrated with the limitations of traditional school, or are interested in learning about a topic that is not in a traditional high school curriculum. During the week students will pursue independent topics, but sharing (communication) and collaboration are key to success of this group.  As students get “stuck” or reach a plateau in learning they can bounce ideas off of each other.  The group typically comes together at a “Board Meeting” once a week to discuss their projects, give updates, ask for help, question and even challenge each other.   However, a Board Meeting can also be called at any point if a student needs to share an idea or is stuck in their plunge.  Board Meetings are one way students are held accountable for their own learning, however, a Mentorship Team consisting of teaching staff that are dedicated to the development of personal learning skills and processes in those students that participate will also help.  The Mentorship Team, composed of teachers/adult learners,  model techniques, skills, and habits of thought that facilitate the design and execution of self-defined pathways of learning. This Mentorship Team ensures a quality standard to the experience, challenging students to hone their learning goals and pursue their interests in meaningful ways.

The Red Queen Effect & the Importance of Professional Development in Education

We are getting ready for an upcoming district wide Professional Development Day (PD), but it reminded me of the importance of continuous PD throughout the year and its connection to the Red Queen Effect.

“Just at this moment, somehow or other, they began to run. Alice never could quite make out, in thinking it over afterwards, how it was that they began: all she remembers is, that they were running hand in hand, and the Queen went so fast that it was all she could do to keep up with her: and still the Queen kept crying " Faster! Faster! ", but Alice felt she could not go faster, though she had no breath left to say so. The most curious part of the thing was that the trees and other things round them never changed their places at all: however fast they went, they never seemed to pass anything." I wonder if all the things move along with us?" thought poor puzzled Alice. And the Queen seemed to guess her thoughts, for she cried, "Faster! Don't try to talk!" (Carroll, 1872, p. 48)

The Red Queen Effect was developed by biologist Leigh Van Valen (1973) who based his argument on the Red Queen character in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. In Carroll’s story, the Red Queen runs hard but never gets anywhere because everything else in the landscape is also moving. As she tells Alice, “It takes all the running you can do to keep in place!” (Carroll, 1872, p. 50).  Van Valen used the Red Queen as a metaphor for his evolutionary principle which theorizes regardless of how well a species adapts to its current environment, it must continue evolving to keep up with its competitors and enemies who are also evolving. In short, the Red Queen Effect states: Do nothing and fall behind or run hard to stay where you are.  Van Valen’s Red Queen metaphor can also be extended to teaching.  

Excellent teachers are constantly evolving their practice.  They recognize that as soon as they stop progressing to rest on “good” teaching they fall behind in best practice and their students are then at a disadvantage.  This is the Red Queen Effect applied to education.  Recognizing the importance of continuous improvement, as specified in the Red Queen Effect, is analogous to recognizing the importance of professional development (PD) with the best form of PD being continuous and job embedded.  Unfortunately, ongoing PD opportunities which nurture teachers throughout their career are not easily implemented.  As a result, educators must be resilient in order to turn this problem into an opportunity.  

Alex Hargreaves and Dennis Shirley, authors of The Fourth Way, specify “two of the key predictors of resilience are a strong sense of purpose and a supportive partnership”(2010, p. 74 ).   Additionally, Professional Learning Community (PLC) champion, Rick Dufour, states that a “culture of collaboration” (2005, p.36) is one of the big ideas of a PLC and key for teacher growth. Together, the Red Queen Effect, which provides a strong sense of purpose, and PLCs, which provide a supportive partnership through collaboration, constitute the two key ingredients for resilience needed for teacher growth.  PLCs can therefore provide instructional leaders a means to implement the Red Queen Effect.   These PLCs, if embedded within the school day, can be utilized to promote effective PD on a daily basis rather than sporadic PD often associated with one-day workshops.  

Job embedded professional development gives teachers the time to collaborate and focus more on assessments for learning (formative assessments).  It also promotes peer-driven networks focused on student learning which help teachers shift the prime motivator of success from the fear factor of standardized tests to the peer factor of collaboration with a focus on student learning as a measure of success (Hargreaves & Shirley, 2010).  Linda Darling-Hammond has  supported this idea stating, “Effective professional development is sustained, ongoing, content-focused, and embedded in professional learning communities where teachers work over time on problems of practice with other teachers in their subject area or school” (Darling-Hamond, 2010, p. 266).  

PLCs do provide more time for teachers to work together which has the potential to lead to an increase in student learning.  However, “For [teachers] to learn from one another, they must readily share information about their success and failures, as medical professionals do, rather than act as rivals in a struggle for survival” (Ravitch, 2010, p. 228).  Therefore, if teachers are to be most effective they must not work in competition or in isolation, but instead work together to diagnose why a student is struggling much like doctors diagnose a patient when making rounds.  These teachers should also use data to inform instruction rather than drive instruction.  Instructional leaders can help teachers focus on student learning as a measure of success through first sharing the philosophy of the Red Queen Effect and then supporting teacher growth via embedded PD within Professional Learning Communities.  

The evolution of education must continue and the best place to start is in the classroom with the classroom teacher.  Teachers should not only begin their careers competent in their content area but also continue to stay on top of their profession through PD.  Over the years, it is not uncommon for individual educators, experiencing relative success, to believe that this overall philosophy does not apply to them because they have reached the pinnacle of teaching.   Instructional leaders facing this contradiction must help those individual educators understand the dangers of resting on “good” teaching or run the risk of negatively impacting student learning.  As the Red Queen urged Alice in Through the Looking Glass, instructional leaders must urge these teachers to “keep moving” and continue to evolve their pedagogy lest they fall behind.  In order to accomplish this goal, teachers need to first recognize the Red Queen Effect is in play and then must be supported by both their colleagues and instructional leaders through continuous job embedded professional development.  

References

Carrol, L. 1872. Through the looking glass and what Alice found there. Macmillan, London.

Darling-Hammond, Linda (2010).  The Flat World and Education.  New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

DuFour, Richard, Eaker, Robert & DuFour, Rebecca (2005).  On Common Ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Hargreaves, Andy & Shirley, Dennis (2010).  The Fourth Way: The Inspiring Future for Educational Change.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Ravitch, Diane (2010). The Death and Life of the Great American School System:  How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education.  New York, NY: Basic Books.

Van Valen, L. 1973. A new evolutionary law. Evol. Theory 1: 1-30.