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Even When You’re Lost, You’re Someplace (The Importance of Building Situational Awareness with At-Risk Students)

[This is a copy of an article I wrote for Silhouettes, the e-journal of NAREN...the National At-Risk Education Network.  It was published in this month's edition.]

 

 

 

Here at the Shannon Learning Center, every student who seeks to enroll is required to fill out an application, sign a contract, and have a personal interview.  After eleven years of holding these interviews, I have noticed a very significant and consistent trend in the characteristics of highly at-risk students.

I believe there are four characteristics which highly at-risk students manifest. I refer to these characteristics as:

·         Unresolved Security Issues;

·         Feelings of Insignificance;

·         Academic Frustrations; and

·         Situational Unawareness.

My observation is that at-risk students have difficulties in at least one, and more often, a combination of these characteristics.  Most traditional At-Risk Programs are familiar with, and have interventions that help students address issues of security, significance, and competence.  The first three of these characteristics are the most common and are components of almost all at-risk programs.

1.      Security.  These are students who may be homeless, victims of some type of abuse, or any number of other circumstances that create issues of insecurity in their lives.  Of course they have a hard time focusing on school work when they don’t know where their next meal is coming from or if they will have a place to sleep tonight.

2.      Significance.  Everyone needs to feel accepted, loved, or important to someone.  We all know at-risk students who lack feelings of significance.

3.      Competence.  These are the at-risk students who are academically frustrated.  They have fallen behind academically for any number of reasons ranging from absences to intellectual ability.  If they perceive themselves as academically inferior, they are at-risk.

But it has also been my observation that there is another characteristic which is common to all at-risk students and yet is often over-looked.  This final characteristic can be referred to as Situational Unawareness.

My argument is that most At-Risk students cannot identify their starting point or enough mile markers to adequately track their journey toward a degree.

When someone calls you and asks for directions to your office, what's the first thing you typically need to know? 

"Where will you be coming from?"

Before anyone can be given meaningful directions to any destination, it is important to know where their starting point is.  I define and apply the term Situational Unawareness to students who are unable to answer basic questions about their current status in school. I am convinced that the starting point for recovering at-risk stop-outs is for them to develop an awareness of where they are at any point on their journey toward their diploma.

You begin to grasp the significance of this when talking to at-risk students who typically classify themselves in whatever grade their age or number of years in school equals. That is, I ask Sue or John what grade level they think they're in.  John's been in high school three years, so he says he's a junior.  Sue's been in high school two years, so she answers that she's a sophomore.  Of course it comes as a shock when I explain that since they both have only 5 credits, they are both still freshmen.  I have had both students and parents sit and argue with me when I explain this. 

"My son cannot still be a freshman, he's 17 years old and has been in high school 3 years!"

Within the first few minutes of the interview, the student's unawareness of his/her status as far as credits and class standing become apparent.  However, it is the next level of questions and what they reveal that is also of significance.  At-Risk students consistently lack awareness of past and current testing status.  In Texas, all students must pass EXIT exams in order to receive their diplomas. If they fail any one or more of the tests on the first administration, there are numerous re-test opportunities.  As critical as these tests are, virtually every at-risk student I interview for initial entrance into Shannon does not know which, if any, of the tests they have passed or failed. And even if they acknowledge they have failed any test, they most certainly cannot identify the areas in which they need remediation.

They lack any real sense of where to start in their renewed efforts to obtain their diploma. 

In more practical matters, as the interview progresses and I discuss other issues with the students, it quickly becomes apparent that at-risk students are equally unaware of how many times they were absent or tardy to school and classes.  Likewise, they tend to "forget" if they had many referrals to the office for discipline.

And it is not just credits and test results that students are unaware of.  There are the day to day details that can hurt you the most if you lose track of them.  Namely: grades, absences, assignment due dates, and deadlines for make-up work.

We began years ago the process of calling students in and discussing their attendance. They were genuinely surprised by the numbers – and consistently unable to accurately state how many days they had missed. When asked if they knew how many days they missed, they consistently “guessed” low.

As I sat and visited with students in the lunchroom, or in the hallways, or just out and about in the school or community I would consistently find myself asking basic questions which I would expect any junior or senior in high school to be able to answer.  Here are the TOP FIVE QUESTION GROUPS that every high school student should be able to answer in order to establish and maintain Situational Awareness:

1)      GRADUATION: When will you graduate? What month and year?

2)      CREDITS: Which graduation plan are you on? How many credits do you need to graduate?  How many do you have now and how many more do you need to graduate?

3)      TESTING: Have you passed all sections of the TAKS Exit [Appropriate State-Required] exams?  If not, what sections do you still need to pass?

4)      ATTENDANCE: How many days can you miss and still earn credit in a term? How many days have you missed this term?  How much time do you have to make-up?

5)      GRADES: Are you passing your classes? Do you owe any teachers any assignments? 

So here’s our situation: the most common of the four observed characteristics of at-risk students who apply to Shannon is what I refer to a Situational Unawareness.  Highly At-Risk students, for whatever reasons, truly lack awareness of where they are in the system.  They typically cannot tell you what grade level they are in, how many credits they have, what critical (i.e. required) tests they have passed/failed, or what type of attendance or discipline records they have.  Aside from programs which address the other three characteristics, a critical need within any drop-out prevention program must be a mechanism that helps highly at-risk students remain current and aware of their status in school at all times.

We have a program here at Shannon called the Personal Improvement Process (PIP) Period. PIP is held during a 15 minutes period just before lunch every day.  Over time, students track their grades, absences, discipline referrals, test results, and graduation plans.  Students keep folders which contain copies of critical information, graphs of their attendance and Action Plans to address areas of concern. We encourage our students to become situationally aware – that is, able to tell - when asked - what their current status is.  We help them track their status on a daily basis.  This tracking process inevitably builds competence that strengthens their view of significance in a secure environment.

In a recent survey taken on-campus, students were asked to rate the statement:

“PIP period has been very helpful in keeping me informed and up-to-date with my progress at school.”  65% of the students agreed.  22.5% of the students disagreed.

Keeping a calendar, tracking absences and grades, writing action plans, monitoring their graduation plans, and tracking test results are not activities that at-risk students necessarily enjoy.  However, anecdotal observations and personal interviews convince me that the majority do participate and over time eventually understand the purpose and appreciate the results.

I believe the most successful programs for at-risk students are those that deliberately address the basic needs of security, significance, and competence of each individual.  I am increasingly convinced that the eventual success of any program will also be affected by how well it helps students remain aware of where they stand regarding their progress.

Re-Starting the Stop-Outs

[cross-posted on The Faculty Room]

I am principal of an Alternative High School with several programs that focus on Stop-Out prevention and recovery. Since every student must apply and be interviewed for acceptance, I have been in a position to talk with literally thousands of students over the past decade-plus. To give you an idea of the level of intervention and assistance that has been reached, the folks who track these types of numbers for our district tell me that 30% of the combined graduates from our three high schools have needed some type of help from this school in order to graduate. That is a staggering number of seniors who needed help, incentive, and/or motivation to finish high school.

When I break down the numbers, as I do for every quarter, every year, I consistently find the following: the point at which students stop-out is at an average of 15 credits. (This is on a 24 credit plan. Fifteen credits equates to a point in their first semester of their Junior year.) The age at which students apply to the alternative program averages out as 17.5 years of age. It is consistently the last two years of high school when students who have been hanging on as best they can suddenly hit the brick wall.

Without meaning to over-simplify a very complicated picture, I consistently hear four typical stories when I interview students:

1. They have fallen behind because of poor attendance or failing classes. Regardless of the cause, be it lack of motivation, poor health, frustration with the way material is being taught, academic ability, or a mismatch of learning style with typical lesson delivery; these students miss too much school and/or fail classes. Their friends are moving ahead. For many of them, most of their peer group graduates on time, leaving those who have fallen behind feeling frustrated, alone, and inadequate.
2. This is also the time when many start to work part-time jobs. Many of the students I interview have no choice. Their family's economic situation requires them to work. (And when I say part-time, that is really inaccurate - I have students working 35 hours a week, often with outrageous hours that allows them to finally get home and in bed by 1 or 2 am.)
3. Add to this that many students are getting their first driver's license, and you have a set-up for a spiraling disintegration from skipping a class, to failing the class, to skipping longer periods, to not turning in work, to skipping whole days, to eventually falling behind to the point that the student sees no point in finishing the semester … then the year …then high school altogether.
4. Another issue that I encounter (increasingly) is that the students have become frustrated with the testing and State law that requires passing all four sections (math, lang arts, science, and social studies) of the TAKS test before they can receive their diploma. Over 85% of the students enrolled each quarter for the past few quarters have failed at least one part of the test. There is absolutely no question that the high stakes testing required by the State and NCLB is pushing students out of school. Frankly, I have never seen one act of the Federal government leave as many kids behind as does No Child Left Behind!

The good news is that virtually all of the students who have stopped-out and come in for a second chance are successful. For many students the time away from school has actually been good for them. Most students who stop-out do not turn to drugs and crime or a life of complete hopelessness. The students who have stopped out are for the most part working, taking care of family, or simply searching alternatives such as GED or jobs with apprenticeships. Invariably, they discover many things about themselves, the economy, and how no one ever said life was fair.

When they come in to re-start their education, there is generally a new maturity and new inner-motivation to complete school. So why not somehow formalize this process and eliminate the stigma of stopping-out of school for a year or two?

Eliminate compulsory attendance after the 10th grade (age 15). In its place offer programming with flexible hours. Expand work-based opportunities. Expand the entire concept of independent studies to encourage and accept traveling, working, performing forms of Community Service. Develop a two-year program in which students can volunteer in various social services for credit. Work with colleges to allow an entirely new block of studies for ages 15-19 in which high school and college requirements are merged.

Eliminate the terms CREDIT, GRADUATION and DIPLOMA. Eliminate high stakes testing which have no options other than a "educational death penalty" if a student fails them. Implement programs which are not restricted by age or time constraints. Virtual schools. We are there now, the many options available to the traditional k-12 block just needs to be more widely available and promoted.

As this is a blog and not a book, I cannot possibly develop sufficiently many of the ideas that are out there and should be given serious consideration. The good news is that enough of us are talking about it and there IS a slow shift taking place toward more innovative educational programs. I know we offer several of them on this campus and that I have learned that students who drop out of school have really stopped out. With just a little time-off to find their priorities and rearrange their perspectives, they are anxious to return and usually come back as much stronger, highly motivated students.

Was I Born with It?

Are teachers "born with it"?  Is teaching an "art" or "gift" that some are just naturally blessed with, or are good teachers the result of hard work, study and developed skills?

My parents have a grand piano in their living room. I grew up listening to my father play the piano. My father has been the pianist/organist at church for as long as I can remember. In fact, I cannot recall a Sunday in my whole life when my dad was not at the keyboard for every church service.

But he was not Van Cliburn.

Van Cliburn has “IT”, my father, God love him, does not.

                                                                 *****

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth has some works of Jackson Pollock on display. One day as I toured the museum, I saw a child and his mother looking at the painting. I overheard the child (maybe 6 or 7 years old) tell his mother, “I could do that.”

I am sure the kid could throw some paint at a canvas and create an interesting work of art.

But it would not be a Pollock. Jackson Pollock had “IT”.

                                                                 *****

I heard a great sermon last Sunday.

But it was not as inspirational as Billy Graham. Dr. Graham has “IT”.

                                                                *****

I heard a Keynote Speaker talk about relationships at a conference. Boring.

It was not nearly as inspiring as Leo Buscaglia. Leo had “IT”.

                                                                *****

I had a Chemistry teacher in high school who nearly destroyed my love of Science.

Fortunately, I later had Herman Aizawa for Biology. He restored my love for Science.

Dr. Aizawa has “IT”.

                                                               *****

You often hear people talk about the “It Factor”. The “it” is an intangible, esoteric, unidentified “something” that lifts a performance above others. It is the search to identify this “something” that causes us to wonder if certain abilities are natural or learned. Whether we speak of this intangible IT as the “art”, or the “spirit” of a performance, I submit true mastery of anything requires a combination of talent and skill, and it is the peculiar mixture of these two things that leads to “IT”.

I believe you can be born with a certain predisposition or aptitude for something (art, music, sports, teaching). Call it TALENT. I believe we are born with talents. However, I also believe that except for prodigies and savants, talent leads to nothing until combined with practiced, purposely-developed SKILLS. I believe skills are learned.

So we discuss whether certain abilities - such as teaching - are natural or learned. Is it an inherent talent or a learned skill? This is not an academic argument, because as Dan and Grant point out, we are probably losing good teachers who are put off with those who argue too strongly one side or the other and we will never recruit enough teachers to meet demand. Of course, the issue will not be settled here, but the more discourse held among the ranks the better the issue might become defined. Answers to this debate can affect teacher recruitment and teacher preparation programs. Not to mention all the staff training we offer throughout a teacher’s career.

If it comes down to teachers being “born with it”, we are going to run short of qualified staff and we might as well stop all staff development. Afterall, if you either have it or you do not, what the purpose of trying to teach it?

And if it is merely a skill set, then why do some teachers seem to have a natural ability to motivate and inspire students while others leave them bored and unchallenged?

“Beuller? Beuller? Ferris Bueller?”

My opinion? There IS an “IT” in the teaching ranks that is probably natural, but only comes to fruition when developed as a skill.

[This entry is cross-posted on a new blog begun by Authentic Education. The blog is referred to as The Faculty Room (Exploring the Essential Questions of Education). Topical questions are posted and discussed.  You're encouraged to visit the site, there is an on-line publication called Big Ideas, the blog, and a host of other areas of interest.  Check it out.]

My Origami Learning Curve

I was looking for a guinea pig.  But of course, there's never one around when you really need one.

I am in the middle of researching and writing my monthly post for Leadertalk and my column in The Big Idea.  I am writing about lesson designs, learning styles, and time.  It's still a mish-mash of random thoughts, post-it notes on the laptop screen, and comments written in the margins of my reference books.  But I was boxed in.  It wasn't writer's block exactly.  It was a case of needing some real world reference points to give my examples flight while my theories remained well-grounded.

Which brings me back to the guinea pig.  I needed to interview some students, observe a well-designed lesson, or somehow obtain first hand input about some of the issues I was writing about.  But it was Saturday afternoon and my wife (who teaches college and kindergarten) was at a baby shower.  My son (who teaches 5th grade) was hanging Christmas lights at his house, his wife (also a 5th grade teacher) was at the baby shower (a good thing, too, since it was for her), and basically everyone I could think of was tied up.  My choice came down to postponing everything, writing about something else, or volunteering myself as the guinea pig.

After some further thought, I decided that if I volunteered myself, it might give me a totally different slant.  Sounded like fun.  So I chose to find something new that I could learn.  I would write about the process as I was actually engaged in it.  The more the idea developed, the more certain I was that I would experience first hand several "Personal Affirmations" of a variety of the lesson design attributes, standards, and concepts we've been discussing lately.

The immediate problem was identifying something I wanted to learn.  It had to be fairly simple (while Chaos Theory sounds like fun - CHAOS! - I'm pretty sure it's complicated...what with all that science and math...).  It couldn't take that long (if I had that much time, I'd be working on another degree).  And it had to be something for which I had all the skills (as much as I'd love to master Debussy's Clair de Lune, there's that pesky pre-requisite of being able to play the piano).

So, I headed over to my Personal Thinking Spot - the one place I go when I need to relax, take a break, be inspired, or shake off the cobb webs.  My kinda "get-away" and just three miles west of my house: Barnes and Nobel with an in-store Starbucks (a fine example of marketing genius if ever there was one!).  I bought a venti Gingerbread latte with whipped cream and extra cinnamon sprinkled on top and then just strolled around in my Not-Really-Looking-But-Receiving-Input-Mode.  You know that mode of shopping, don't you?  I let the store displays, end racks, book covers, and assorted merchandise speak to me. I knew from years of experience that if I cruised around in this fashion long enough, I'd eventually run aground on some island of interest.

I passed just such an "island" somewhere between the Romance and Science Fiction sections - a large table stacked with discounted items.  Sure enough, there it was...just like it had been waiting for me:  a six-sided brightly colored box of Origami lessons.  I picked up the box and realized this met my needs perfectly.  It was a pre-packaged set of lessons. It included Origami paper... and best of all: an actual completed Origami piece.  It dawned on me I was actually holding FOUR STANDARDS of Schlechty's WOW.  Content and Substance, Organization of Knowledge, Product Focus, and Clear and Compelling Product standards were all packed into the box.  Elegant.  Talk about Wiggin's understanding by design, this was it.  Marketing a complete learning experience had clear indications of a well-thought out design.  From the attractive (inviting) box to the contents and words of encouragement on the outside of the box...I hadn't even paid for it yet and it had me hooked.  [Hmmm, make a note: strong anticipatory set established.]  No doubt about it, I was going to learn the basics of Origami, master the art form, and write about the experience all at the same time.

Now, I did notice the lesson was made in China.  Let's take a moment for a real quick Corrective Re-Teach here: Origami is a Japanese art form.  I decided that if I was careful and washed my hands before and after the lessons, the likelihood of lead poisoning was small.  So I bought the box of Origami lessons for $9.95 and headed home.

Personal Affirmation #1: The Need for an Objective. Clearly, there is a need to establish a starting point and define what the whole point is. Obviously there is a need to develop a clear objective, if nothing else, to at least get the learning experience started.  Now, this may seem like a "No Duh!" kind of affirmation...but I still encounter teachers who don't seem to grasp this most basic of lesson design components.  It was critical to establish what I wanted to accomplish. 

After some thought and looking through the instruction book, I decided that my objective for the weekend would be to produce three final products - each one more difficult than the other.  I defined "more difficult" as taking more steps and folds to create.

Personal Affirmation #2: Relevance Must be Present.  Why did Origami catch my attention?  Why was I actually excited about tackling this project?  It held relevance for me.  Growing up in Hawaii I was exposed to a wide variety of cultural experiences - food, dress, religion, art.  Origami was a respected art form.  I remember a restaurant where the meals came with a small piece of Origami served as a decoration on the side of the main course plate.  I remember a friend of the family with a real talent for the art.  Whenever he visited my family, I would ask him to make something.  He once made me a small bird that would flap its wings when you pulled on a leg.  I had childhood memories of Origami frogs, turtles, birds, and even a beating heart.

Personal Affirmation #3: Engagement is Critical.  At this point in the process I was HIGHLY engaged.  However, knowing my learning style, frustration level, and attention span, I anticipated that my engagement level was going to move all over the map.  Because of this, I decided to keep a graph that would reflect my levels of engagement along with a time line and activity notations.

With everything in place, I began the lesson.

Wisely, I had chosen to start with an EASY object - a three-sided hexagonal prism which the instruction book said could be used as a picture frame or pencil holder.  (Now that is product versatility!)  I started at 4pm Saturday afternoon.  This object took one piece of paper and 5 steps.

I completed the object within minutes.

My initial learning data was off the charts.  Success within minutes, frustration level at 0 and satisfaction with work product was very high. 

   

See why I said "wisely" at the start of this section?  If I started anywhere else - knowing what I know now - I would have shredded the instruction book and set fire to the Origami paper.  But for the moment, I was in a "safe place" with the learning.

Personal Affirmation #4: Accommodations are Often Necessary.  For the next lesson activity I chose The Box.  This is where things began to get harder.  The folds became tighter and the smaller.  Can you spot the problem?

The paper that came with the lessons measured 6" x 6".  There was clearly a discrepancy between the size of the paper and the size of my hands and fingers.  I was ripping the paper.  I just could not reach under flaps to refold corners when required. 

My Big Hands + Small Origami Paper = Bull in a Glass House.

It was decided that a modification to the learning process was clearly called for.  Fortunately, being over 18 years old and working in the privacy of my own home, I was able to waive the ARD meeting and just make the needed modifications without my parent's permission.  I took out a pad of large art paper and cut out several squares which were larger and easier for my big hands to handle.

But even then there was a section in the process that I just could not figure out.  There was a fold that I could see plain as day, but just could not translate into reality.

Are you familiar with those diagrams on the SAT tests of figures disassembled and you have to picture what they will look like?  I never could get those.  But hey, if you were good at them, you really should take up Origami for fun...

Personal Affirmation #5: Live Aid is Invaluable.  By around 7pm I was close to exploding. 

This was without a doubt the STUPIDEST idea I'd had in years!  What can I possibly learn by folding paper?  The damn paper rips, the stupid illustrations were drawn by an idiot and cannot possibly be right...why the heck am I not sitting on my porch with a good book and a cold beverage?  All my efforts at building The Box had been doomed to the trash heap growing in the corner.

And then my wife came home from the baby shower.  She glanced at the growing trash heap in the corner.  She saw that the closest I had come was a box that resembled a crushed Chinese food take home carton:

My frustration was at the About-Ready-To-Throw-The-Book-Out-The-Window-Phase. 

For all my Schlechty colleagues - you know that engagement phase of rebellion?  I was so there!

Well, maybe it's the 31 years as a kindergarten teacher or perhaps it's her abilities as a seamstress (have you ever seen a dress pattern??), whatever it was, my wife looked at the instruction book, looked at my attempts, took a piece of paper and SHOWED me how to make the folds.

Personal Affirmation #6: The Huge Difference Between Visual and Hands-On Learning.  Once I saw my wife master the complicated fold, I practiced it under her supervision and guidance and soon had it down pat.  Still using the Big Paper for Big Hands, I finally produced a Box which I was proud of, but not terribly excited about:

Personal Affirmation #7: Some Level of Success and Positive Feedback Is Essential.  It was 9pm.  I was 5 hours into my learning experience, and now that I had two very simple items built, I was feeling pretty good again.  I knew I was making progress.  If I hadn't felt that way, I would have quit by now.

But my positive feelings were dampened somewhat by the honest admission that I had really only accomplished two Origami designs that any 6 year old could probably have mastered in half the time.  It was time to have dinner, read some fluff material, and get some sleep.

Sunday would be my 2nd day of activities.

Sunday Morning - 6am.  I've been up long enough to feed the cat, make coffee, play with the cat, read the paper, and play with the cat some more (he discovered the pile of trash and each piece became a new toy). 

I'm ready to start the day's lessons.  I have two goals for the day.  If I can reach these goals, I will have had a meaningful learning experience and added a small and totally frivolous talent to My Bag o'Skills.

Objective One is to reduce the paper size.  Most Origami figures are small, delicate pieces of art - not huge balls of paper that resemble mutated creatures or moving and storage crates.  I will attempt to make The Box with the smaller, real Origami paper.  Objective Two will be to make one "artistic" design in the intermediate difficulty range.

I start with The Box.  To my surprise I find that after a night of rest, and untold initial failures at folding a box, something has changed.  I am able to produce a box withing a fairly short period of time.  Not including time out to make another pot of coffee and getting cleaned up and dressed, by 8am I had produced a down-right wonderful l'il ol' Origami Box.

Check it out:

Personal Affirmation #8: True Mastery Requires Performance at a Higher Level.  I decided to pick an object design that would be more complicated.  Thinking it made sense to solicit additional help, I went to YouTube and searched through Origami lessons.  The object that caught my attention was a cat.  I'm thinking this will be a breeze - afterall, on-line help to walk me through it.

Personal Affirmation #9: Yes, the Quality of Teacher Prep and Presentation Does Matter.  Uh Oh!  A problem.  If you've visited The Sticking Point (Shannon's Lesson Design Wiki), you might have read the information about The Curse of Knowledge.  The on-line instructor was cursed with prior knowledge and made too many assumptions that the students were at her level of understanding and craftsmanship.  Besides that, the camera angle and the instructor's hands often blocked the specific fold I needed to see.  When I could no longer tell if we were working on the cat's ears or eyes, I felt my frustration level growing.  In the learning curve I had reached that point at which I knew just enough to be dangerous and over-confident.  I was now judging the quality of the teaching and would have probably withdrawn or confronted the instructor had she been "live".

Maybe it was too much coffee, but if I didn't turn off the YouTube teacher, it was just a matter of time before the Origami Cat and my laptop would be flying out the window.

Luckily for all parties involved, around 9am The Voice of Calm enters the room.  My wife is up and dressed and ready to join me for her first cup of coffee.  "Take a break and try a different item...maybe this six-pointed star since it's so Christmasy."  How does my wife always know just what to say?  Am I REALLY that much still like a kindergartner?  Don't answer that...

I agree that the star will meet my requirement as a more difficult item and will be "artsy".  It doesn't hurt that according to my wife, it's also "Christmasy".

Remembering the previous day's experience, and knowing this star has lots of itsy-bitsy folds, I decided to begin with my Big Paper for Big Hands.

My engagement level is all over the chart on this lesson.  I get close and then the paper rips, I think it looks right, but a left fold-over somewhere should have been a right fold-under...it's too deep to get to now.  My Christmas Star keeps morphing into a Christmas trash ball.  But the attempts continue, my anger mounts, my head aches, and the trash pile grows...

After two hours my best star still looks like it has imploded...pulling all my work, energy, and motivation into a huge Black Hole.  It was NOT supposed to look like this...not at any stage...

I take a break, eat some breakfast, turn on some Christmas music (Bette Midler's Cool Yule), sing along with the songs and refuse to give up.  In the Learning Curve I'm seeing just enough improvement / progress within a time frame that remains borderline acceptable.

Finally, at 10am a break through.  I produce a Big Paper Big Hand version of the six point star that looks pretty good.

It's time for the Final Exam.  Can I produce a six-point star with the smaller Origami paper?

10:30am.  I missed an internal series of folds and the star looks like a sand dollar.  Not a bad looking little thing, but again, it was not supposed to look anything close to this:

11:30 - At last.  The Final Work Product:

If it were being graded, it's probably a good B or B-.  The creases could be sharper, and overall it could be a tad more symmetrical.  But considering I never had Origami'd 24 hours ago, I feel pretty good about this final work product.

I met my learning objective.  I have learned a new skill.  And in the process I have affirmed for myself nine design components, standards, call them what you wish.  Overall, it's been a very revealing bit of self-discovery.  I cannot remember ever really focusing so closely on my reactions to learning.  Here's what I gained: A) I answered some questions I had about the Learning Curve, Levels of Engagement, and the importance that TIME plays in the educational process; B) I learned that although I became frustrated, with the right interventions, I remained on task (and never threw anything out the window; and C) I ended up with three kewl Origami thing-a-ma-bobs:

All this just to gather a little grist for the mill.  It was worth it, and now I'm off to work on my "real" articles.

[You're invited to follow my more serious academic meanderings at both Leadertalk and Big Ideas.  This blog posting will eventually end up on the Shannon Design Team Wiki, it's called The Sticking Point. You're invited to drop in and visit it anytime - leave comments, post articles, and be a part of the collaborative effort as we continue our quest for well-designed meaningful learning experiences.]

...and if you ever need a small hand-made paper box, call me.

Perfect Reading for Halloween

During a recent staff training session, Dr. John Horn mentioned a new book, Tested by Linda Perlstein.   

Prior to reading the book, I took a few minutes and looked up my district's testing calendar for this year.  I simply counted the days on which some type of testing is noted on the calendar.  From "left-over" TAAS tests, to TAKS, to TEKS Checks, to TELPAS and ASVAB...and all the others...

Out of 175 days of instruction, my district has some form of testing scheduled on 132 of those days.  That's means there are only 43 days when no student anywhere in our district is being tested.

So, of course a book about testing is going to be relevant...but will it be worth the time to read?

In the case of TESTED, absolutely!

Be warned: it will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you so mad you'll want to throw the book across the room, it will make you want to hug Tina McKnight (the principal featured in the book), and it might just wake some folks up about what really happens in the Real World of High Stakes Testing.  For the uninitiated, this will be an informative read.  For anyone working in a public school, Stephen King hasn't come close in writing a book that will remind you of what a terrifying environment our politicians and bureaucrats have created.  The author quotes one business tycoon as stating, "schools are...constantly mauled by a howling horde of disparate, competing customer groups that would send the best CEO screaming into the night."

As the book opens, it's June, 2005, and Principal Tina McKnight of Tyler Heights Elementary School in Annapolis, Maryland is waiting for her school's test results from the states high stakes Maryland School Assessment (MSA).

When McKnight first started at Tyler Elementary, 17% of the mostly poor, mostly minority students were performing satisfactorily on the MSA.  By June 2005 their scores were exceptional (ie 90% of third grade passed reading).  The staff holds a celebration in the library.  They are reminded of the $1500 bonus each will receive.  But for many, the excitement of that day's celebration is tainted with thought of what happens next. Perlstein ends Chapter One with:

"No amount of relief could erase the fact that the clock had restarted that day.  The staff of Tyler Heights felt the pressure. They had exactly one year to prove that this was not a fluke."

...and this says so much about the current state of affairs in our schools.  Celebrations of successful learning are tenuous at best.  Doubts about the validity of it all continue to haunt the staff.  What would possess professional educators to even think for a minute that student success might be a "fluke"?

If the system is intact, if the lesson designs are properly structured, if student engagement is consistently taken to authentic and meaningful levels, if expectations are maintained, if higher level thinking skills are demanded by the teachers and the lesson content...WHY IS IT A FLUKE THAT SUCCESSFULL LEARNING HAPPENS?

As you continue to read Perlstein's book, you are taken through the next year at Tyler.  Do the teachers really believe the scores can be duplicated?  Can the previous year's success be continued?  Did the success happen accidentally or was it true that purposeful goal setting and deliberate lesson designs really worked? 

Who really needs to be convinced that higher expectations work and that scores will continue to rise...the students...or the staff?

The book is actually fun to read because it is so real without being overly slanted toward one opinion or another.

And it's human. 

Every principal will relate to Tina McKnight as she struggles with issue that only another principal can appreciate...unused vacation time, late hours, missed meals, school uniforms not delivered in time for the start of school, and beer bottles left on the playground after weekend ballgames.

Teachers will certainly appreciate the inner dilemma of Alia who wants to be nice again but can't seem to stop feeling like a bitch.  Anyone who's sat through a student assembly will cringe along with the staff as the kids dance to music with "questionable" lyrics.

And how can you not chuckle and roll your eyes when in the midst of everything else going on in her school, McKnight is told she needs to be sure and answer her phone before the third ring and return messages within 24 hours.  Afterall, we have to feed the bureaucrats something along the way.

Oh, but wait...like any good story, all of the above are merely sub-plots that run through the book.  What every educator reading this book is going to understand is that the real story is gradually developing around the mysterious character lurking  in the shadows - AYP.

Annual Yearly Progress - that fly-in-the-ointment-devil-in-the-details-potential-spoiler becomes the on-going mystery.  It isn't the gains made in a single year that matters.  It's gains made from one year to the next.  So now that Tyler has had a successful year, they have also raised their own bar and must now show progress even beyond that.

Picture the pole vaulter who jumps 12 feet his first year.  The next year he jumps 14.  That 2 foot gain is remarkable. The next year he jumps 14'3".  While he's maintained and improved, it's only a 3" gain for the year versus a 2'3" compared to two years ago.  But you can't compare to two years ago.  Does that diminish the accomplishment?

That's the quandary - the mystery of the story, if you'll allow me to put it that way.  The jump Tyler Elementary makes from 17% to 90% at the start of the book cannot be matched.  So the plot of the book can only go one of two ways: the scores drop and the story ends as a tragedy.  Or the scores rise to, say...92%.  Does a 2 point rise meet AYP? Is it cause for the same level of celebration as last year?

Sorry, no Spoiler Alerts here.  You'll have to read the book.

Parents, teachers, administrators, even students will find the book interesting from whatever perspective and political influences you bring to the table.  There's something for everyone here.  It would make a great discussion starter for a faculty book study.  It's a great eye-opener for potential teachers.  It's a peek behind the closed doors of classrooms full of very real teachers trying their best to help very real children.  This is no whitewash or softball toss...this is an honest book.

To my colleagues, read this book.  You will find it to be either an affirmation to hang in there or a challenge try something new. 

It's the perfect book for Halloween.  High Stakes Testing is scary!  For some the book will be a challenging trick, for others it will be a real treat.

 

Pilgrims and Refugees

For the sake of simplicity let's say that REFUGEES are those who are walking away from or out of an older, negative, and known situation.  PILGRIMS are individuals to are walking toward or into a newer, more promising, but unknown situation.

With that simplistic idea - ask yourself, are you a Web 2.0 refugee or pilgrim?

Has the Web grown to the point and reached an age wherein it has begun to repel refugees or attract pilgrims?

In my own efforts to understand and try to promote and implement Web2.0 concepts, I find that there are an increasing number of days in which I feel like a refugee.  I just want to get away from it all.  My inner-Luddite begs to be let loose.  Give me a real football to play with, not John Madden's All Star Line Up. Give me a real book to read and earmark, not a sterile laptop with a wiki entry.  Books and libraries are safe to me.  They are familiar to me.  I know my way around the aisles of books and the card catalog.

And yet, many days still challenge me enough that I want to continue this Pilgrim's voyage into new collaborations, social networks, and learning via sites with input that may or may not be properly vetted or adequately edited. Learning is still an adventure on the web.  But it takes a different type of intellectual energy and emotional wariness.  You must take care and safeguard your mind from spurious or misleading posts and entries that may have been written by a PhD at Stanford or a 12 year old in Poughkeepsie.  The web can be a dangerous place to play and learn.

This is where I am now...I'll come back to this.  It's all about INTELLECTUAL ENERGY, Educational Maturity, Inner-Filters, and a new level of a yet to be defined Learning Theory that is floating somewhere in Bloom's Universe.

Stay tuned, I'll be back...

Is the Word of God Research Based?

Briefly,

I'm working on my Oct 10th post for Leadertalk.  It's about how to adequately praise staff.  According to the Gallup Q12 criteria - which we are using district-wide, and about which teachers are surveyed annually, one of the criteria is "In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work".  Another specific criteria is "I have a best-friend at work".

Assuming this is research-based, we are taking pro-active measures here at school to address the issue of feeling significant, receiving praise, and having friends at work.

But, according to Bishop T.D. Jakes, who TIME magazine refers to as the next Billy Graham, it is wrong to look to the workplace for feelings of significance.   An analogy I personally heard him use is that we should consider ourselves to be "ships" and the work environment is the "ocean".  "The ship must stay on top of the water, separate and apart from it."  And, as he pointed out, if the "ocean gets into the ship, we all know what happens."

If Gallup says an effective environment provides employees with praise and feelings of significance, and God [assuming Jakes represents Him/Her] says not to look to the work place for those feelings...which one should I apply?

Assuming Bishop Jakes is preaching the "word of God"...does that trump "research- based"?

Can I legally refer to the Bible in a Site-Based Committee Meeting??

I am soooo gonna be struck by lightening!!

 

Technorati Tags: Religion_in_School God TD_Jakes Gallup Strengths_Finder

Less is More

Imagine my surprise - and honor - when I was contacted by a representative of Dr. Grant Wiggins, the founder of Authentic Education, and told that he had stumbled across one of my postings on Leadertalk.org while looking for something else.  He liked it enough that we established contact and his editor asked if they could edit the post and re-publish it in a new on-line magazine titled BIG IDEAS.

I decided to learn a little more about Dr. Wiggins. I quickly discovered he founded Authentic Education, 3 points for initiative. He has a Ed.D. from Harvard, full 5 points for academic creds.  I threw in a couple of Bonus Points for a great beard...So by now, I'm thinking, Dr. Wiggins sounds ok.

But then I learn the name of his column in BIG IDEAS is The Contrarian.  Kindred spirit? Another full 5 points and now I'm a budding fan. And THEN I discover he plays the guitar in a rock band called The Hazbins.  Ding Ding Ding!! We have a winner...in my self-designed-slightly-off-center system of choosing people who I'd want to get to know better, being a self-proclaimed contrarian in a rock band scores way higher than even a doctorate from an Iconic Ivy League Institution (with sincere apologies to the very Reverend John Harvard). 

And that's how - even though we've never met - Dr. Wiggins became Grant.

I'm still waiting to see how the edited article turns out (the edition hasn't been published on-line yet).

In the meantime, the editor, a delightful lady named Meg, asked if I'd consider writing as a "regular contributor".  Like I would say no!  Besides, they hooked me with a free copy of Schooling by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe.  (Hey guys, you COULD have at least signed it...)

Of course I read the book.  I immediately ordered the pre-quel and foundational book, Understanding by Design and studied it.  I'll write much more about this later, believe me.

So - just like that, I was invited to start writing for BIG IDEAS.  With a real live editor, no less!

Here's what I quickly learned: you wanna write for a real publisher, you better grow some thick skin and have An Emergency Ego Repair Triage standing by! (See, Meg! I was paying attention LOL)

I wrote the first draft of my first "real" article - not counting the one Meg is rewriting from the original post.  Now, in her defense, Meg had been very clear and told me to stay "between 800 - 1000 words".   I didn't count while writing.  My thinking was: I'll just express what's important and guesstimate about when to stop.  When I finished, I ran a Word Count and discovered I'm a lousy guesstimator...the first draft was slightly over 3400 words.

One week later I had it down to 2100 words...three days later I hit 1067 words...damn proud I tell ya!

Like a proud parent, I sent it off to Meg. SURELY those extra 67 words were just added brilliance she would overlook. And of course she would respond that it was the greatest piece of educational writing ever produced. Why, I was Hemingway and Dewey combined...

Nuh uh...not even close, baby!

Her email came back gently reassuring and still encouraging...

...along with her final edit...

...my "baby" had regressed from 3400 to 2100 to 1067 to a final version of just over 600 words!  Or put another way, about 18% of my original article survived being edited.

Meg shared with me that her first professionally published article came back so heavily edited that all she recognized as her writing was the title.

Honestly...it's the best thing that could happen to me.  I plan to take full advantage of Meg's input and advice and - hopefully - grow as a writer. 

Thank you Meg for your honest "tough love".  Also thank Grant for the opportunity to be involved.  (And tell Grant's wife that I hear she's the real "Less Is More" advocate, so I thank her also!)

And for those who gradually discover this new blog...head over to

http://www.authenticeducation.org/

or

http://www.authenticeducation.org/bigideas/

to learn more about Authentic Education and Understanding by Design.

Technorati Tags: Authentic_Education Big_Ideas Understanding_by_Design Grant_Wiggins Jay_McTighe