Challenge

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/s_mestdagh/

I've been thinking a lot about challenge lately.  The Common Core Standards place a premium on students struggling with challenging content.  Some of the Common Core Apostles have disparaging things to say about scaffolding and providing background knowledge for close reading of texts because students need to struggle through unfamiliar territory and persevere.

While I agree that struggle and perseverance are important, there is a danger of trying to create struggle and instead creating abject failure, frustration and surrender.  This got me thinking about some things I've said in the past in praise of failure.  You can see those here, here, and here. In reality, failure has its pitfalls.  What would be better than failure would be success - even if that means temporarily lowering standards for Not Yet Proficient  (NYP) students so they can reap the benefits of learning at their instructional level and moving up the food chain to greater successes.

This thought was confirmed when watching a video of Phil Daro of America's Choice one of the architects, of the Common Core math standards.  He stated that the standards in Singapore are not higher than those of the United States.  What is different is that there is a smaller gap between what Singapore students achieve and their standards than we have her in the US.  Therefore, our high standards, in the name of high expectations, are actually leading to lower levels of achievement.

True and lasting learning and growth in our students is best achieved by finding out where our students are currently performing, providing them instruction at that level and pushing just a little forward - indeed challenging them - a challenge that is attainable with sustained effort, practice, and expert support.

Teaching and learning will thrive in a setting where every student is facing "just right" challenges and enjoying the added motivation of meeting those challenges and moving on to the next one with enthusiasm and increased confidence.

Presentations - Begin with the end in Mind

Since Steven Covey began writing about leadership and personal success back in the 80's, that phrase "Begin with the end in mind" has seeped into our culture. It is critically important when teaching or leading both adults and children. Here's what he says about your ultimate purpose.

If your ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step you take gets you to the wrong place faster.

Purpose must be explicit, clear, and meaningful to your audience. Here are some reflective questions that I consider when beginning my plans for presentations.

1. What does my audience need to know or be able to do by the end of our meeting?
2. Is the goal for them to have a discussion and brainstorm possibilities, or come to a decision?
3. Will the audience embrace the goal I've chosen or am I imposing an artificial goal that the audience will resist?
4. What are the audience's current strengths and areas of weakness related to the topic?

So, clearly you must be an expert on two subjects: 1) your content and 2) your audience, though I would argue that it's more important to be an expert on the audience than the subject. After all, you may have members of the audience with greater knowledge and expertise than yourself and, knowing that, you can tap into their experiences to craft the presentation.

Once I've reflected on the needs and perspective of my audience, I decide what I want to be accomplished. For example, in some recent staff development meetings we completed the following activities for the purposes indicated in parentheses.

1. Brainstormed a list of strengths and needs of our English Learners and our staff's expertise related to instruction of English Learners. (Building an asset based approach to English Learners and discovering the wealth of human resources available to enhance our instruction)

2. Decided on our instructional focus for the year, which is writing. (Develop consensus around the primary PD that we will pursue as a staff)

3. Made a collaborative timeline of the school from it's inception to present day. (Validate all the people and programs that have contributed to our current success and build momentum for our future work) - btw This idea came from my awesome and inspirational Assistant Principal, Ms. Sylvia Echeverria!

The success of these activities is due to the careful thought about connecting the needs of the audience and the course of action we are seeking to pursue. When these two themes align, there is energy, engagement, and productive creativity. When these two paths are disconnected, there is impassable resistance, passive acceptance and superficial implementation.

Let me close by saying a little about the tools I use at this stage. Often, I start with a blank piece of paper and pencil or pen. Despite many digital tools for mind mapping and brainstorming, I've found that the best way for me to dump out my ideas is to write them out and begin the process of re-reading, revising, questioning, and discussing with my leadership team until we reach a clear consensus on our goals and purpose.

In the next post, I'll discuss the best ways to deliver content and the processes for grappling with that content as a group.

Gentle Encouragement and Uncompromising Demands

Doug Reeves describes his goal as a classroom teacher to create...

...but I knew that my tasks was a difficult balance between gentle encouragement and uncompromising demands.

He tells the story of a young man who met him in a book store years later and thanked him for what he taught him. Reeves concludes that...

I am fairly certain, however, that the thanks Marcus offered would not have been merited if I had created a classroom characterized by false reassurance and the absence of challenge.

-Doug Reeves The Daily Disciplines of Leadership