The Clacking Sound of Success

I find that I have a penchant for using the physical objects of my childhood as metaphors for my thoughts on education, society, and social change. When it comes down to it, both are about finding joy in small things.

Do you remember when children of the 70s and 80s would add beads to the spokes of their bicycle tires? These beads would employ gravity and centrifugal force and fall alternately toward the axle then toward the wheel rim as the tire rotated, making a series of loud, clacking sounds. A similar effect could be created by sticking a playing card or baseball card in the tire.  

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Why would these simple yet noisy items have been used by kids? The noise announced to others, “Here I am!”, “Here I come!”, and especially when a group of kids came down the street, “Hey, look at us!” These were never dangerous items, nor did they imply any kind of social structure (unlike basketball shoes, electronics, etc.). Any kid, from any family, on any bike, could have this simple joy.

How does this relate to education, you might ask?

Competition in the realm of education is unavoidable.

Competition is acknowledged and indeed encouraged at every, single level. Building-level decisions, district mandates, state monitoring, and international rankings try to get us to look at the competitive picture.  Consider each of the following data fields, which encourage competition:

• High school graduation rates, retention rates, ACT/SAT average scores, higher-ed acceptance percentages, drop-out rates, yearly scholarship offer totals, athletics records
• Middle school advanced program populations, state test scores, success numbers by demographics, discipline rates
• Elementary faculty-to-student ratios, reading scores, gifted/talented programs, PTO fundraising totals

Every piece of data can be (and is) used to divide our educational communities. State legislation which allows student/family choice has given parents the opportunity to pit schools against one another, for competition of state dollars. In Indiana, the per-student funding to schools follows the student to whatever public (and, in the case of vouchers, private) school they like.

Although created with good intention, the ability to pick-up and move students at-will/at-whim is damaging our schools, public and private alike. Uncomfortable situations are seldom worked through when a family can just transfer to another local school. Student mobility has caused socio-economic segregation to run rampant in our public schools, giving struggling districts and schools very few options for great improvement, and alternately creating elite schools and struggling schools within the same district.  (More on this next time…)

Competition is innate in humans and nature, and can have some good effects (positive self-esteem, student empowerment, and community pride). Some might argue that without competition, our schools would be less.

What would happen if the competition for tax dollars was removed from education?  How would our school systems, at every level, change, if data was used for informational and guiding purposes, rather than punitive ones? How would the guiding practices of administrators and the teaching practices of educators change if they were afforded enough trust (through long-term contracts or tenure) to try new things, fail, and have enough time to adjust and grow into success?  What would children DO, BE, or LEARN, if they took a test once a year, or (GASP) once every 2-3 years to mark progress?

These are bold ideas, indeed. Yet if you listen closely, you can almost hear the “clacking” of bike wheels, and the long-distance shouts of children yelling, “Hey! Look at US!”.

Until the next bell…

~K

Stop telling me that it's ok to fail

In my world, failure is not an option.

Within the educational realm, the currently hyped idea is "to allow yourself to fail." Proponents of this mindset tout the idea that failure as a professional is fantastic. By failing, teachers will be more successful. We will be better teachers, because we can show students shining examples of people who once failed, or who failed over and over again, but succeeded. Edison and his lightbulb, Graham Bell's telephone, and the oft repeated lore that Einstein was a failure at school before he was a recognized genius come to mind. By allowing ourselves to fail, according to this philosophy, we are bettering ourselves as educators.

I am here to take a stand. In my world, failure is not the option. 

Stop telling me to fail because it's good for me and for my students. Why? Because many of my students ALREADY FAIL. They don't need to be taught this or to see teachers fail to know that they can succeed out of it. My students do not know who invented the light bulb, and know very little about Einstein. Why? Those geniuses are dead, white men, far removed from today's reality, and thus from the mind of my students.

If you want to be successful, FOCUS ON SUCCEEDING. 

One of my favorite Ted talks is entitled, "Every child needs a champion" and was given by Rita Pierson. Pierson gave an example of a student who got 3/20 questions on a test correct. She wrote "+3" and a smily face on the paper. When the student asked why she wrote these things on a failing test, Pierson replied, "+3 says you aren't all bad. You are on the road." That is celebrating student success.

Look around your room. Celebrate the successes that are occurring, even with just a word. Leave the sarcasm at home, be upfront, honest and sincere. Students learn from the teachers they care about, and who care about them, regardless of the content. Look for the students who:

--did nearly nothing yesterday, and has a couple of items answered today.
--has been down/depressed all week, but is smiling today.
-- never turns in his/her homework but did so today.
--has been in ISS for 2 days for poor behavior, but who brought all of the work you assigned yesterday to class today.

Be tenaciously successful in your school.

Teaching is a profession of fluid success and fluid disappointment. Every, single day we lose and win. Don't be satisfied with losing. Is there a great lesson in failure? Of course. But until students get consistent, heaping helpings of supported success, they won't begin to win. Do not allow failure to be the norm. I am here to say, take back the championing of classrooms and schools. Stand up for yourself, your students, and your school.

Focus on winning.

Digital Bathwater: A Plan for Bridging Tradition and Technology

"Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater". 

It was Christmas, 1990, and my brothers, sister and I received our first digital gaming console from Santa Claus—an original Nintendo gaming system. Although we were several years behind the original release of NES, we were ridiculously excited to have one of our own, and many hours were spent mastering the flying tail feature in Super Mario Bros. 3 and learning the ins and outs of digital football (back when the Buffalo Bills were led by Jim Kelly).

We were a family that spent far more hours outside than indoors, yet this addition to our family sparked an interest in digital systems that was far reaching into the future, and at some level, is likely responsible for my continued interest in computing/digital work, now through the focused lens of digital education.

Every new teaching technique results in both praise and criticism, and technology integration is no different. As in every facet of education, there is a whole set of technology acronyms to be learned and mastered, or at least defined, in order for one to seem knowledgeable at the next leadership meeting! And yet the speed of novelty in educational technology is so rapid, that teachers and administrators might be willing to throw GAFE, SAMR, and even IT out the window, ASAP!

Critics of educational gaming and digital learning often fall back on their own ability to learn without “those things,” claiming that the use of technology hinders the hard work of learning and thinking that were required of students 20-40 years ago.

As teacher-leaders, it is our responsibility to validate the tried-and-true teaching methods of the past. After all, the “traditional” ways many of us were taught were once novel as well. The seasoned teachers among us who struggle with technology are no less teachers than the tech-savvy, who are coming to their own in this digital civilization. As one former principal I worked for stated to me, “I don’t think we need to throw the ‘baby out with the bathwater’.” There is room for progression and tradition in teaching.

There is room for progression and tradition in teaching.

In a recent district committee meeting which I attended, the needs for validation of traditional teaching as well as bridge-building into technology were both discussed. The constant creation of new technologies must go hand-in-hand with tradition, not simply replace it, for in doing that, the wealth of educational pedagogy is cheapened.

In the end, schools and districts need to talk with teacher-leaders, and develop progression plans for professional development in technology. At each level (elementary, middle, high, and even post-secondary), leaders should develop a table of applications or programs that they would like teachers to explore or learn for a finite amount of time. Keeping this limited to something like 3-5 would be manageable. At the semester or year break, reflect upon these, keeping what works, letting go of the rest, and giving a new set to teachers at that time. Using the teachers as the source for these suggestions will allow every content and need area to be addressed as well.

Time and manageability are the keys to continuing to bridge tradition and technology.

This kind of scaffolding technology development would allow for sharing in buildings or districts, keeping teachers on similar pages, while offering a concise and manageable amount of technology immersion to already busy teachers. By giving several months for teachers to learn each set, there is no rush and teachers are able to try one or two at a time, finding what works for their classrooms. Consequently, time and manageability are the keys to continuing to bridge tradition and technology.