Creativity and the Fundamentals

One of the criticisms I've come across about accountability measures based on standardized tests goes something like this: If we assess students based on standardized tests, teaches will "teach to the test", which when translated, means drill and kill, followed by rote memorization and robotic hypnosis and all creativity is thrown out the window. Here's another one of those false dichotomies that is propagated throughout the educational kingdom.

When I think of creativity and flair on the basketball court, one of the first players that comes to mind is Pete Maravich. He was one of the most creative and flamboyant players of his day and age. No one would accuse him of being boring or stale in his approach to the game. You can check out some of his wizadry here:

However, the funny thing is, when reading his biography, I noted that his dad, a high school and college basketball coach, instilled in Pete the necessity of learning and practicing the fundamentals until they were second nature. He performed session after session of ball handling drills that helped him master the basics. Indeed he was fanatical about practice, repetition, and drill. The end result is that he was able to create and ad-lib because he had mastered the fundamentals of the game.

Bringing this back to education, I value students who can think critically and reason with complexity and synthesize information in order to create, and produce new products, but this can only be accomplished by students who are masters of the fundamentals of language, math, and subject matter content. I think the debate would be furthered by a "both/and" mentality as opposed to an "either/or" mentality.

Finally, I'm thinking of classrooms with teachers who get the most remarkable results on standardized tests and those classrooms are lively places with rich interaction and student enjoyment. It's just that those teachers are also attuned to the building blocks of academic success and don't allow their students to miss out on these critical components of learning. Our standardized measures are not the ends that we seek, but I contend that they are a requisite means toward those ends and we are justified in pursuing those goals, measuring them, and expecting all students to achieve them.

21st Century Skills of Abraham Lincoln

I'm reading Dorothy Kearns Goodwin's outstanding book, Team of Rivals and I was struck how Lincoln had a handle on so many 21st Century Learning Skills. How did he do that without an iPhone and a virtual social network?

Here is a list from The Partnership for 21st Century Skills , so let's see how Abe measures up.

Accountability and Adaptability—Exercising personal responsibility and flexibility in personal, workplace, and community contexts; setting and meeting high standards and goals for one's self and others; tolerating ambiguity

It seems that everyone who observed Lincoln, from his time as a lawyer on the circuit, to his early political endeavors, right up to the Presidency, came away with similar reactions. He was a man of high character, immense skill, and shrewd maneuvering. In terms of ambiguity, his handling of the slavery/union issue on the verge of the 1860 election is a classic example of taking a nuanced approach to leadership, somehow bringing a coalition of Northern Republicans and Democrats to his side without overwhelming the border states who were constantly on the brink of secession.

Communication Skills—Understanding, managing, and creating effective oral, written, and multimedia communication in a variety of forms and contexts

I hear Abe was a pretty good public speaker. Some of you might have heard of the Second Inaugural Address and the Gettysburg Address or maybe the debates with Stephen Douglas. Now, granted he did not use an LCD projector to throw up some PowerPoint, but he gets high marks for hitting that word effective on the rubric, no matter what the medium. His folksy methods belied his careful research and deep insights. I think it's the greatest compliment of a speaker that he is able to make the complex simple and Lincoln did so with good humor and clear thinking.

Creativity and Intellectual Curiosity—Developing, implementing, and communicating new ideas to others; staying open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives

Lincoln was faced with the challenge of preserving the union while the specter of slavery was being debated on many fronts. Somehow, he was able to craft a direction that was forward thinking, yet continuously revised as events changed. He was careful to integrate the intent of the Founding Fathers within the political and social upheaval of his day.

Critical Thinking and Systems Thinking—Exercising sound reasoning in understanding and making complex choices; understanding the interconnections among systems

At the outset of conflict, the South was sending overtures to England for support. Secretary of State Seward was incensed and drafted a threatening and menacing letter to Great Britain to cease and desist. Lincoln was able to see the repercussions of such a harsh tone and softened the language of the letter, then encouraged the ambassador to make sure it was read to no one, but only shared the general ideas with the English. The result was that England remained neutral, and the French followed suit, avoiding an early imbalance of power that would have weakened the North's chances for success.

Information and Media Literacy Skills—Analyzing, accessing, managing, integrating, evaluating, and creating information in a variety of forms and media

Lincoln was able to take in the information from various fronts and sources, evaluate those items that merited the highest priority and craft a coherent policy, then getting that information out to the people in a timely fashion. Now, granted he relied on horse drawn couriers (as the telegraph lines around Washington D.C. were sabotaged by the South), but he used the technology of his day with great effect. The substance of his message won the hearts and minds of his constituents.

Interpersonal and Collaborative Skills—Demonstrating teamwork and leadership; adapting to varied roles and responsibilities; working productively with others; exercising empathy; respecting diverse perspectives

Off the charts. The whole premise of this books is that Lincoln wisely sought to include his presidential rivals on his team so that the best and brightest were part of the cabinet. The manner in which he wooed these men, then skillfully kept everyone placated while melding diverse opinions was what made him truly remarkable. His greatest quality was his magnanimity and humility. He never took offense, even though he was surrounded by some ultra ambitious politicians who felt they were more worthy of the office that he was. You never heard him say something like, "I won, so you need to do what I say".

Problem Identification, Formulation, and Solution—Ability to frame, analyze, and solve problems

Abe faced problems unlike any of us have ever seen. No sooner had he entered the White House, but he was faced with the decision to fortify Form Sumter in South Carolina or allow the Confederates to take it over. He finally decided to send in fortifications, delicately balancing the concerns of the border states, who were sitting on the fence of secession.

Self-Direction—Monitoring one's own understanding and learning needs; locating appropriate resources; transferring learning from one domain to another

Lincolns was self taught, with a formal education that didn't amount to more than a year of school and he never set foot in a college or university. However he was an avid reader who constantly sought to acquire books to feed his fertile mind. His lack of formal support probably spurred him on to devour learning any way he could get it. I think he had one of those Personal Learning Networks (PLN) all these tweeters are talking about.

Social Responsibility—Acting responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind; demonstrating ethical behavior in personal, workplace, and community contexts

I'm sure there are not many 21st century politicians who can lay claim to this skill. Mr. Lincoln was dedicated to the preservation of the Union and felt that his generation was given a sacred task of furthering the initial intentions of the Founding Fathers by doing whatever was necessary to prove that this grand experiment in democracy would not fail.

Now, don't get me wrong. I want our students to be skillful in the use of 21st century technology. I want them to learn to use social networking and digital story telling to its greatest effect, however I still see way too many horrendous PowerPoint slide decks that teachers think is cutting edge, when it's just full of shabby research and shallow thinking. The habits of mind that Mr. Lincoln had were obviously pretty good for both the 19th and 21st century and they will serve as excellent standards for our little learners of today.

Struggles

Infrequent posting can only be explained by one thing. This year has been tough. We have been implementing a new math program (Singapore), new processes (Standards-based planning), and trying to replace our benchmark assessment system because of rising costs. There have definitely been many more frustrations than successes thus far.

The thing that pains me most is the sense that some of our staff are losing their confidence in our direction. However, a few things have given me encouragement as of late. We have finally fond a replacement (even if it may be temporary) for our benchmark assessment system and we have come to some agreement about our instructional focus for the remainder of the year.

Furthermore, I have a greater sense of urgency to support teachers as they intervene with all of our borderline and below students for the remainder of the year. I think can truly make huge strides as we tailor our instruction and interventions to each individual student.

I was reminded of this by a post from Dan Meyer recently where he shared his enjoyment playing some Guitar Hero and how his enjoyment was increased when the difficulty increased and the success rate dropped.

I don't think the happiest students in my class, the happiest teachers at my school, are the most successful. I suppose it goes without saying that failure and satisfaction go hand-in-hand, to a certain extent.

So, I should content myself to stop looking for the smooth and easy route and realize that these bumpy roads are the ones that we indeed ought to be traveling. We just need to keep falling forward and all will be well.

One Very Large Bummer

Who’s the dullest? People born between 1961 and 1965 posted the lowest NAEP and SAT scores, writes Robert Pondiscio on Core Knowledge Blog.

And I'm smack dab in the middle of this little demographic. That explains a lot.


hat tip to Joanne Jacobs

Enthusiasm is the only option

This speech by the late Jimmy Valvano at the 1993 ESPYs is a reminder that life should be filled with laughter, enthusiasm, thought, and genuine emotion.



Our schools deserve people with the spirit and determination of Jimmy Valvano showing kids all the great things that can be accomplished with a life well lived.

Designing your Legacy

I was listening to a recent Podcast from the Stanford University series of Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders and William McDonough was discussing the tombstone of Thomas Jefferson which was designed by Jefferson himself and included the following:

Author of the Declaration of Independence

of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom

and Father of the University of Virginia

So, what exactly is missing here? McDonough pointed out that there is no mention of the fact that he held down a day job as a two-term President of the United States and didn't even mention it. His point is that Jefferson's legacy had to do with the products that he left behind that were the fruit of his best thinking and designing talents and not the title that he held, important as that was.

So, I got to thinking about my career tombstone (not that I'm hoping to write it real quick). Will I be satisfied with something like, "Principal of Halecrest Elementary"? I'm thinking that I ought to be shooting for something along the lines of Thomas Jefferson...

Designer of a ground breaking school where learning by students and adults is celebrated daily, where expert literacy instructors and students of high character work together to expand their knowledge and become thoughtful members of their local community.

Author of a one-posting-a-month blog read by dozens (OK, it's actually only read by about 4, but why not dream big?)

The first one has some promise. I know I'll be thinking a lot this week about the school that I'm helping design and whether it's worthy of the students that come across our doors and the students that will be coming through our doors for generations to come. And you, what kind of lasting structure are you helping design today?

This I believe

I recently caught a This I believe segment from NPR and heard the story of William Wissemman, a young man who shared all the life lessons he had learned from solving the Rubiks cube. This got me thinking about all the things I believe about teaching, learning, and education. And with this school year shaping up to be the toughest of my current assignment, I really need the inspiration of my core beliefs to sustain me to do the work well with these teachers and these students at this time. So this I believe.

I believe that whatever you think about learning (learning is fun - learning is a bore) your students will come to believe the same thing.

I believe that many factors affect student's academic growth, but one trumps them all by a landslide: teacher quality.

I believe that high school drop outs are born and bred in elementary school.

I believe that some kids fail because of poor family support, lack of background knowledge and skills, etc, ad nauseum, but I'm going to focus all my energy on what I can control.

I believe that intervention must begin the first day of kindergarten if we want all students to succeed.

I believe some teachers are hungry for the kind of adult learning that will allow them grow, risk, change, and my job is to help create an environment for them to do just that.

I believe that I'm an accomplice to poor teaching every time I fail to confront an ineffective practice.

I believe that the professional teachers deserve my respect, admiration, encouragement, and gratitude and I need to go out of my way to give them everything that they need.

I believe that reading and writing are joyful, creative activities that are motivating in themselves.

I believe that reading and writing sometimes can be drudgery and hard work and we have to show kids how to persevere through those times as well.

I believe that every class and every teacher should be good enough for my own children or I need to do something to make that so.

Just writing these out has encouraged me to stay the course. I highly recommend some others join the fray and share their thoughts as well. So, what do you believe?

The Language of Science

Here's an excellent article on a study of the teaching of science by simplifying the language before approaching the content.

Urgency Alert

After seeing CST and API scores drop for the first time in four years, I've been doing a lot of soul searching. Although, some would say it's not all about the test scores, when the percentage of students who are proficient in math drops at every grade level, then I don't see how anyone could characterize that year as a total success even if the kids left for summer vacation with smiles on their faces.

Today, we kicked off the year with a Principal training led by Andy Platt, co-author of Skillful Leader II. One item in his book that caught my attention above everything else was a descriptor for urgency. Here's a paraphrase, "If you have a teacher at your school, that you would consciously avoid putting your child into her class, you need to take action". Ouch! Hey, my kids attend my school and the above statement is true for me. This thought has jolted me into being resolved to confront any performance that is less than excellent in myself, our teachers, staff, and students.

My goal is to help build a school that is worthy of my own children... right now! How's that for urgency?

Book Talks Hit the Mark

I've recently discovered another great teacher blog called The Reading Zone. Stop by for great book reviews on children's books and other fine writing. This fired-up teacher makes a great point about the best way to encourage joyful summer reading. Here's my favorite line.

I do find it interesting that the newest book on the list seems to be the most-read. Yet it is also the longest book! It just shows what a great book talk can do for a book. Kids who would never choose a long book on their own chose it based on the summary I gave. Summer reading lists need to be booktalked!

We have found the same thing to be true. Students will jump all over books with a simple and engaging introduction by an enthusiastic reader.

Time for Clarifying

The long stretch of summer is now coming to a sudden halt on Monday. It's time to winnow down the many ideas floating around in my head to focus on the few Mission Critical initiatives that need to be the theme for my work this year. At this time, my overarching goal is to improve the professional dialogue of teachers and staff with the aim of improving practice. There are some other large content changes (introducing Singapore math across campus and moving from Tungsten Benchmark Assessments to MAPS assessments to name two large elephants), however I can't shake the sense that changing the way teachers think and learn together will have the most dramatic and long term benefit for our school.

This is my favorite time of the year as it affords the rarity of large chunks of uninterrupted time to drink, think, and plan.

That's what I meant to say

Jay Matthews of the Washington Post has some clear thoughts on the Achievement Gap discussion that just plain make a lot of sense. Citing a study by the Fordham Institute about the impact of NCLB on high-achievers, Matthews thinks the achievement gap focus leads to some strange outcomes.

Here are some ways the gap could narrow: Low-income scores improve but high-incomes scores don't; low-income scores don't change but high-income scores drop; low-income scores drop but high-income scores drop even more. In each of those cases of gap-narrowing, something bad is happening.

Exactly! Narrowing the gap while improving all levels of performance is the obvious preference, but very difficult to attain. He has a better suggestion:

While we are at it, why not curtail all this achievement-gap talk? Let's focus instead on the progress of every child, no matter if she or he starts the year two grades behind classmates or two grades ahead. All children deserve a chance to climb as high as they can.

This is a much healthier approach to school improvement than closing the gap. The only aspect that really ticks me off about this is that my friend and I will need to scrap our idea to publish a breakthrough tome on the subject:

Drop the Top
Closing the Achievement Gap by bringing the high achievers down to size so we can all be in the same boat together (Then we'll have more people to bail the water out of that boat)

Student ownership of learning

In this excellent article by Joe Paterno (yes, the football coach) he expresses the joy of learning to read Virgil in Latin during his high school days and has this insight from his instructor that describes the gradual release of responsibility of learning to the student:

Starting from his first day as a teacher, Father Bermingham always kept an eye out for kids who had begun what he calls the most important task in education: their “self-education.” He meant kids who showed signs of taking responsibility for their own expansion instead of waiting for teachers to do it for them. Even the most talented teacher can try what he or she thinks is “teaching,” but it won’t really take unless the student takes charge of the more important job: learning.

What an excellent goal for every teacher to focus on as the new year gets underway.

(HT to kitchen table math, the sequel)

Isolation should be a thing of the past

Reading David Mccullough's fine book The Great Bridge I've come to learn about some amazing feats of engineering of the late 19th century. Washington Roebling, the chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge needed to bury two mammoth towers on each side of the East River and to do this, he used pneumatic caissons. This technology was in its infancy at that time, but there was another engineer, James Eads who was using the same strategy while building a bridge over the Mississippi at St. Louis. The caissons, pictured above were a hollow structure that was lowered to the bottom of the river, then filled with compressed air to drive the water out and allow the laborers to dig deeper into the waterway's floor. The problem that was soon found out on Eads' project is that workers began to get sick from their exposure to the compressed air. Some even died. They were suffering from what later would be termed "The Bends". What's interesting is that Roebling visited Eads' site before starting on his project and was aware of the problems he was facing, but because of fierce competition, pride, and distances not easily overcome, the men did not share notes and details about their experiences. This isolation exacerbated the problem and led to far more suffering than necessary. When I picture these workers far below the surface, working in isolation in these stuffy enclosures, I think about teachers and schools. Traditionally, teachers and schools have been just as isolated as these laborers, but in today's environment, that isolation is no longer necessary. Because of modern tools (video tape, Internet to name just two) we can learn about each others' successes and failures and all improve because of it. The problem is that too many of us are satisfied to wallow in our lonely state for a host of reasons. When we struggle with students who aren't learning, we should eagerly seek out teachers and schools who have had breakthroughs with similar students. Or, we can learn the hard way and the slow way and lose a few more kids in the process.

It's our fault! I tried to tell you.

A recent study from the Public Policy Institute of California demonstrates that failing the California high school exit exam can be predicted by 4th grade. Here is one of their pearls.

The study suggests that shifting resources to struggling students in early grades will be a more effective way to improve achievement than the state’s current approach of focusing on students in the last year of high school.

My educational response to this brilliant finding would be, "DUH"! And here's another nugget we've been talking about for a couple years now.

Help with reading in early grades would benefit students in all other subjects, a particularly important benefit for English learners.

Of course, I'm convinced starting in 4th grade is way too late. Schools should start in kindergarten, and give parents plenty of resources to do the one thing that makes a difference before school: read to their child 20 minutes a day. Maybe we also ought to get out the CAHSEE blueprints for math and language arts and make sure our kids have mastered all the prerequisite skills embedded in that test before leaving our doors.

A year worthy of our gifts

Seth Godin makes me consider whether our efforts are worthy of the privileges that we enjoy.

I take so much for granted. Perhaps you do as well. To be here, in this moment, with these resources. To have not just our health but the knowledge and the tools and the infrastructure. What a waste.

If I hadn’t had those breaks, if there weren’t all those people who had sacrificed or helped or just stayed out of my way... what then? Would I even have had a shot at this?

What if this were my last post? Would this post be worthy?

So, what if 2008-09 is our last chance to lead Halecrest. Will we give our best to show our appreciation for all the benefits and opportunities that we enjoy at this school? Let it not be said at the end of the next school year that we wasted the opportunity. Many new and exciting ideas are being considered and I think the time to make some bold moves is upon us.

After the fact treatment

Patterson, et al in Influencer The Power to Change Anything begin their book by describing the typical response to a difficult problem. They describe it as "after-the-fact" treatment. Like the scourge of AIDS where treatment of the disease's effects gets much wider attention than treatment of its causes, we often attack problems by trying to clean up something after the damage is done.

In education, I see this as the attempt to shrink the learning gaps in middle school and high school. We must start in kindergarten, when we still have a chance to stem the tide. Indeed, the more effective we are at getting parents and preschools to do a few simple behaviors (most notably - Read to their children 20 minutes a day) will allow us to eradicate the number of students reading below grade level to zero!

Summer Reading

Since I have at least one more loooooong summer before our district goes to a common calendar, I'm breathlessly awaiting the chance to hang out with the family and explore our usual vacation spots as well as curl up with a few good reads. Here are some selections that I'm planning on digging into, and in some cases, have already started.

This book gives you the criteria by which ideas have been made memorable and has application as a school leader and classroom instructor. I mean, I know I sure would like the staff to remember what I said once in a while. Hopefully I can learn to present well thought out, compelling initiatives that actually get implemented for a change.

This book is a tip from Scott McLeod who invited folks to a summer chat on its implications. I browsed through the first few pages at the bookstore and couldn't resist the purchase. This will help me exert profound influence over everyone in my sphere, ideally with some of the sticky ideas I came up with because of the first book. It's all part of my master plan...

This gem is a gift from one of my outstanding teachers. Having already perused the first few pages, the subject is obviously sobering and humbling. It is needful to often get out of the small confines of one's immediate circumstances and understand the profound suffering that so many are facing because of this deadly disease.

Stay tuned for a few more selections coming up. Does anyone have any suggestions for more enlightening reading this summer?

My best day ever...well pretty close

Despite a frantic work day that included lots of preparation for end of the year activities, I had a great day because it was Twin Day at our school and my twin was a cute little 1st grader named Emily who was tickled pink to be my twin; she also just happens to be my daughter. Now, I had way too many people remind me that I should cherish this moment since she'll soon avoid me like the plague any day now. So, although I refuse to buy into their cynicism, I have fully enjoyed being her favorite twin for this day at least and I've got the photos to blackmail her if she starts getting nasty around Middle School.

Literacy in the content areas

Two of my favorite teacher bloggers are crying foul about the literacy first, last, and only folks. Go read their posts here and here and let them know you feel their pain and love their content, which is one of the greatest keys for developing fully mature literacy skills, beginning... in the womb!