The Tempered Radical

Is High School Academic Purgatory? [SLIDE]

Blogger's Note: My thinking here is unpolished.  I'm wrestling with the time-honored notion that one of the primary purposes of high school is to prepare kids for college.  As a teacher, that's always rubbed me a little wrong.  Not sure I have the answers, but I wanted to have the conversation.  Looking forward to hearing what you think. 

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A comment from my buddy Patrick Larkin got me thinking tonight.  In response to my thoughts about the usefulness of grades as a form of feedback in schools, he wrote:

"My son is just completing his freshman year of high school and has been on high honors throughout the year. Unfortunately, he is focused solely on what he needs to do to get the A and not much more. For some classes that means putting in a lot of effort and for others…not so much.

I am more worried about what he is learning than just his grade. I would not even mind a C if I could see that he was being forced to challenge himself and think deeply. I see little passion for what he is learning about, so while the good grades are certainly a bonus, the grades certainly don’t mean a heck of a lot."

Sound's familiar, doesn't it?  In the eyes of kids like Patrick's son, high school isn't a place for learning.  Instead, high school is nothing more than academic purgatory -- a place to aimlessly toil until they've paid the price necessary for admission into "higher education."

(click image to enlarge)

Download Slide_PrepareforCollege

Are we okay with that?  Are we okay with the suggestion that preparing kids for college -- places that many students find to be nothing more than ANOTHER pointless academic grind -- should be one of the primary goals of our public schools.  More importantly, is preparing kids for college SO important that we're willing to let kids like Patrick's son lose any sense of the passion and purpose that drives learners?

Can we REALLY say that being "college ready" and "career ready" are one in the same?

I guess what I'm asking is just HOW important IS college?

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Related Radical Reads:

Are Grades Utterly Useless?

What DO We Want Kids to Know and Be Able to Do?

Stuffing Kids with Content [SLIDE]

 

 

Are Grades Utterly Useless?

One of my all-time favorite assertions about grading in schools comes from Grant Wiggins.  He writes:

"The most ubiquitous form of evaluation, grading, is so much a part of the school landscape that we easily overlook its utter uselessness as actionable feedback. Grades are here to stay, no doubt—but that doesn't mean we should rely on them as a major source of feedback."

I'm starting to think that Wiggins is right, y'all:  Maybe grades ARE utterly useless as a form of feedback.

Here's why:

 In the minds of many students, learning stops as soon as a grade is given. 

For too many students, grades are end points in the never-ending rhythm of traditional schooling.  Instead of encouraging continued study, they signal that it's time to move on to a new idea -- and that old ideas can be neatly boxed up and filed away and forgotten.  Learning in a graded classroom becomes an isolated act delivered in units that have clear starting and ending points instead of a fluid process of continual exploration and connection and growth and discovery.

Grades have created a world where students have forgotten that THEY can assess their OWN growth towards important academic goals.

Caught in learning spaces where the only feedback that anyone seems to value are scores given by adults, too many of today's students sit passively waiting for the judgment of others, stripped of the self-reflective and evaluative skills that literally define the most successful people.

The crazy part is that BEYOND schools, students assess their own progress all the time.  Need proof?  Then check out the self-reflection and evaluation being done by this boy -- who is determined to learn how to start a fire without using a match.

His behaviors look familiar, don't they?

Every day, the kids in our classrooms are polishing skills and measuring their progress without being graded. Our gymnasts are fighting through bruises to master new tumbling routines.  Our fishermen are learning which baits work in which waters.  Our gamers are experimenting with a dozen new strategies for taking on new levels in their favorite games.

But that kind of self-reflection and evaluation happens almost exclusively BEYOND school.  Once the bell rings, progress-monitoring becomes someone else's responsibility.

Grades mask the real and tangible progress that students -- particularly those who struggle -- ARE making.

Instead of highlighting areas of individual strength and weakness, traditional grades bundle the sum total of a student's academic self-worth into a tidy letter that fits neatly on a report card.  Imagine how hard it is for kids buried in Cs and Ds to maintain any kind of momentum in our schools.

Wouldn't YOU give up if the most important feedback that you ever received told you that you were below average in everything all the time?

Assessment experts Rick Stiggins and Jan Chappius go as far as to argue that teachers have a moral imperative to rethink the role that assessment plays in either encouraging our students from moving forward.  They write:

"Thus, the essential school improvement question from an assessment point of view is this: Are we skilled enough to use classroom assessment to either (1) keep all learners from losing hope to begin with, or (2) rebuild that hope once it has been destroyed?"

For Stiggins and Chappius, regular opportunities for student-involved assessment -- instead of grades given exclusively by adults -- can help students to see that they ARE making progress and growing as learners.  They can  begin to understand that they ARE capable and successful – a message that they may never have heard before from anyone in positions of power in traditional schools.

There's a lot to think about, right?  What role SHOULD grades play in our schools?  CAN they be something more than utterly useless forms of feedback for students?

Perhaps more importantly, what are YOU doing to make sure that classroom assessment is helping YOUR students to maintain their own intellectual hope?

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Related Radical Reads:

@shareski's Right: My Students CAN Assess Themselves

 Another Student-Involved Assessment Experiment

My Middle Schoolers LOVE Our Unit Overview Sheets

 

 

What Do You Want From Me?

Blogger's Note: I read a John T. Spencer bit a few weeks back that touched a bunch of emotions.  That's led to a bit of unvarnished truth that I wanted to process here in a post that is decidedly light on the smiles and candycorn.  Hope that doesn't shake you. 

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One of the most painful moments in my teaching career happened several years back when I was working in a language arts classroom.

The results of our state's standardized tests had just come back and I was called into my assistant principal's office to review my scores.  "What are we going to do about this, Bill?" he said, passing a paper covered with red ink across the desk.  "You've got the lowest scores on the hallway again."

I wasn't mad at the principal.  In fact, I considered him a friend and he was only doing his job.  But in that moment, I was definitely defeated by a system that defined the value that I add in such a narrow way.

I lost it.  Literally started to cry in front of him.  I was embarrassed and brokenhearted all at the same time.  I felt like a failure and a fool all wrapped into one.

I was ashamed -- both of my results and my emotions:

Download: Slide_TheProblemwithShame

 

In that moment, I couldn't think rationally.  I couldn't remind myself that the end of grade exams given in our state only measured 2 out of 6 objectives in the curriculum.  I couldn't remind myself that my students excelled at untestable skills like engaging in collaborative dialogue or building new knowledge together.

I wasn't thinking about the kids who left my room inspired each year -- motivated to study new topics or to tackle new tasks or to try new things that they'd never considered trying before.  The power of those connections were forgotten; blurred by the stream of red ink that my state's legislators intended to use as an indicator of the sum total of the contributions that I make in the lives of my kids and my community.

I stormed out of the principal's office, grabbed my things and headed home.

On the way out the door, a parent chased me down in the parking lot.  "Mr. Ferriter.  MR. FERRITER.  Can I talk to you for a minute?" she said.

"I just wanted you to know how thankful I am for you.  My son loves you.  He comes home every day so excited about school -- and your lessons about life are sinking in.  He's proud of himself and he's determined and he told me that you talk about those things in class all the time.

"He means everything to me -- and sending him away for 8 hours a day is hard.  But knowing he's with you makes it easier.  I just thought you needed to know how grateful I am for you."

Her words mattered.  They were a reminder that I wasn't completely useless -- that some people really DO care about something other than end of grade test scores.

The entire experience has left me bitter and angry, though. I haven't let it go -- and I definitely haven't recovered.  Years later, I catch myself thinking back on that day.  

Most of the time, I wonder just what people want from me.  Am I supposed to inspire and encourage -- or am I supposed to grind a collection of random facts into twelve-year old minds in a march to the end of grade test?

Am I accomplished when my kids can spit back facts on low level multiple choice exams, or am I accomplished when my kids care about themselves and each other and their communities?  Can I make a difference even if I have the lowest test scores on the hallway?

And to be honest, my bitterness and anger only grows stronger in a Race to the Top world where even progressive politicians seem determined to use test scores to reward and punish teachers while simultaneously stripping away our resources and publicly celebrating their quest to destroy our profession.

Some days, fighting such a dysfunctional, confused system seems incredibly pointless, y'all.  Things aren't getting better.  They're far worse than they've ever been -- and I don't see any light at the end of the professional tunnel.

#whybother

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Related Radical Reads:

The Monster You've Created

My Work Has Been Gutted

Breaking Public Education to Pieces

How Engaged ARE Your Students?

Let's start with a simple truth, y'all:  Student engagement matters. 

When kids care about the lessons that they are learning, they are WAY more likely to master the kinds of essential skills, content and behaviors that will help them to become productive, contributing members of our society.

But the uncomfortable reality -- drawn from this January 2013 Gallup survey of 500,ooo students in grades 5-12 -- is that the chances are REALLY good that the majority the kids in YOUR classes AREN'T engaged:

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How can we legitimately defend the work that we are doing in schools -- and our status as professionals -- when over half of the kids that we serve report not being engaged in our classrooms?

Something's got to change -- and from the looks of this survey, it's our teaching.

#enoughsaid

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Related Radical Reads:

Technology Gives Kids Power

Digital Immigrants Unite

Introducing Our Newest Cause: #SUGARKILLS

Sheriff Joe and His Segal-Posses

I've intentionally refrained from writing about the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary here on the Radical. Stories about teachers sharing their final moments cradling dying children are just too heartbreaking to really wrap my head around. 

But as the "arm-'em-all" attitudes continue to break loose in legislatures around the country, I'm finding it harder and harder to stay silent. 

And like so many other moments in the past two decades, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona -- the same guy that dressed convicts in pink underpants, forced them to live in tent cities in the middle of the desert and bragged about feeding them green bologna -- has elevated the lunacy to new levels.

You see, good ol' Joe is using Steven Segal -- yes THAT Steven Segal --  to train "armed posses" to protect Phoenix area schools:

"The self-proclaimed "America's Toughest Sheriff" joined forces this weekend with action movie star Steven Seagal to train volunteer armed posse members to defend Phoenix-area schools against gunmen.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced the controversial plan in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting that left 27 people dead, including the gunman and 20 first-graders.

The exercise took place Saturday at a closed school site in suburban Fountain Hills, outside Phoenix, where sheriff's SWAT members acted as shooters and teenagers played the part of students during mock scenarios involving up to three gunmen.

Makes you feel safer already, doesn't it? 

After all, what could POSSIBLY go wrong with a bunch of armed volunteers who trained with a washed-up movie star hanging around our buildings?

I think what bugs me the most about the trend in legislatures to find enough money to arm everyone even remotely connected to schools is that we've simultaneously spent the past two decades stripping our buildings of nurses, couselors, psychologists and social workers.

As Regan Mensch Brown explains in a recent letter to our local newspaper:

A nurse and counselor could have a far greater and more positive impact on children’s lives, identifying physical, mental and emotional problems that, if dealt with early in childhood, could change the future for the better of so many children.

These healthier children would become more successful adults, with less chance of mental and emotional illness – the real root of our mass shooting.

Regan is right, y'all: The simple truth is that we've GOT to protect our students -- but "protecting students" is going to depend on more than just our willingness to flood schools with pistol-toting practitioners or police officers. 

"Protecting students" means making just as many concerted efforts to address the social, mental and emotional health of both the kids in our classrooms and the people living in our communities.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/08/2664812/regan-mensch-brown-nurses-not.html#storylink=cp

Nate Silver on Using Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers [SLIDE]

One of the hottest statistical minds in the world right now is Nate Silver, the mind behind the FiveThirtyEight blog which is dedicated to helping readers to "cut through the clutter of this data-rich world." 

Silver rose to prominence initially by using algorithms to correctly predict the winner of 49 out of 50 states in the 2008 presidential election.  He's gone on to become one of the most respected voices on the use of data to drive decisions.

Yesterday, Silver participated in an online IAmA Blogger Q+A session over at Reddit -- and the first question that he was asked was whether or not he believed that using standardized test scores to determine a teacher's value was a responsible decision.

Silver's response was worth sharing with every parent and educational policymaker you know:

 

Download Slide_SilveronTesting

 

Now to be fair, Silver DOES say that he'd need to give the topic a much longer look before he'd be able to make any real decisions on using test scores to evaluate teachers. 

But his initial hunch that using test scores as the most important measure of a teacher's effectiveness is an example of using data badly aligns nicely with the thinking of other really bright minds working BEYOND education -- including Bill Gates (see here and here), Dan Pink (see here) and Chip and Dan Heath (see here).

And as Liz Dwyer points out on the Good Education blog, Silver's hunch on testing as a tool for holding teachers accountable also aligns nicely with REAMS of studies already completed by everyone from The National Research Council and the president of Math for America to respected senior scholars like Richard Rothstein.

Finally, Silver's initial hunch ALSO aligns nicely with the opinions of the very companies that make the standardized tests that are strangling education in our country, who have noted time-and-again that their products were never designed to be used to draw conclusions about individual teachers. 

So if there is a broad consensus starting to form that using test scores to evaluate teachers is a bad idea, then why do policymakers -- including President Obama and his Education Secretary, Arne Duncan -- keep pushing for these failed policies?

That's a question that every person you vote for should be forced to answer.

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Original Image Credit: American statistician Nate Silver at SXSW in Austin, Texas USA on March 15, 2009 by Randy Stewart -- Licensed Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike on January 10, 2012

Quote from: Data King Nate Silver Isn't Sold on Evaluating Teachers With Test Scores

 

 

 

Should Teachers Be Ashamed When They Promote Their Work?

Blogger's Note:  This has the potential to be an uncomfortable conversation, y'all, and I'm not sure that my thoughts are completely polished yet.  Hope you will respect this for what it is: Transparent first-draft reflection on a topic that I think has real implications for our profession. 

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A few weeks back, I wrote a bit here on the Radical promoting my newest book - Making Teamwork Meaningful -- that was cross-posted on the Center for Teaching Quality's TransformED blog. 

In it, I shared the reasons why I think Making Teamwork Meaningful is a worthwhile read, I pointed to the collection of free resources from the book that are posted online, and I posted a series of recommendations from peers who had reviewed it in advance. 

An anonymous reader of the TransformED post questioned my decision to advertize the release of MTM, writing:

Having read so many of your worthwhile posts, I am disappointed that this is merely a promotion of your new book.

I knew it was coming and would have been interested in a simple announcement that it is now available. You have, however, gone over the top here.

You have taken advantage of a great blog for self-prmotuion. For shame.

As a guy who is trying to build a bit of a career beyond the classroom -- something that I can turn to during the two months a year that I'm not working with students -- Anonymous's take has challenged me to think about who I am as a professional AND who where we are as a profession.

The simple truth is that -- like a lot of other classroom teachers -- I need a part time job in order to make ends meet around my house.  But instead of pumping gas or stocking shelves at the Piggly Wiggly, I've decided to try to sell what I know. 

And while I'm constantly giving away content for free (see here, here, here and here for starters), I'm also hoping that interested audiences might actually buy my books, come to my workshops or hire me for onsite professional development with their faculties. 

I won't hide it: I really DO want people who stumble across my content to see me as a potential expert worth investing in. 

But maybe that's a truth best left unsaid in our profession?

Has wanting to profit off of our expertise inadvertently become the ultimate betrayal in a service-driven field where sacrifice has long been the criteria used for identifying the heroes in our hallways?

And if so, what are the consequences for our standing as professionals?

Isn't it possible that one of the reasons people beyond the classroom don't respect the knowledge and skills of classroom teachers is because we so often refuse to publicly lay claim to the title of "educational expert?"

Maybe I'm over-reacting -- or maybe I'm just a paranoid curmudgeon -- but I really do see every post that I write and every bit of content that I create as a digital haymaker in my own personal fight to defend practicing teachers as professionals.

The way I see it, we can't afford to hide what we know anymore because every time we hide what we know, our critics feel justified in questioning just how valuable we really are. 

Almost 20 years ago, my mom and dad gave me a plaque that still hangs in my classroom.  It reads:

A hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of home I lived in, or the kind of car I drove; What will matter is that the world will be different because I was important in the life of a child.

Those words resonate with me simply because the handful of very human moments when I know without a doubt that I've made a meaningful and lasting difference in the life of one of my students really DO mean WAY more than the cash that I pull in on quarterly royalty checks from my publisher.

But I guess I'm just worried that the "sacrifice-with-a-smile" attitude we've built into a professional mythology over the past 100 years is simultaneously cheapening our field in the eyes of our critics AND chasing our most talented practitioners out of our classrooms. 

Any of this make sense?

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Related Radical Reads:

The Self-Promoting Teacher

Shameless Self-Promotion in Social Media Spaces

Twitter Snobs or Efficient Learners

Read This: McDonalds Enters The Age of Transparency

Let’s start with a simple truth: The waistlines of the average American are spreading at an alarming rate.  As things currently stand, 1 out of every 3 US adults are obese -- and at the rate we're going, fully half of all American adults will be overweight by the year 2030. 

That's simply horrifying news. 

It means more Americans will suffer from diabetes and die of heart disease -- and that more Americans will be saddled with the crippling medical costs associated with the long-term care of those illnesses.

So who should we hold accountable for this national nightmare?

If your neighbors are anything like mine, they've probably spent the better part of the past decade pointing their collectively fat fingers at the menus of fast-food joints.  "If THEY were more responsible about the food THEY sell," the thinking goes, "WE wouldn't weigh a thousand pounds."

The narrative just feels right, doesn't it? 

And it's a narrative that fast-food companies have done little to refute, no matter how damaging it is to their corporate reputations. 

After all, when you can "Biggie Size" your already ridiculously large portion of fries or order your very own "Angus Thickburger" -- which is essentially a small cow slapped on a Kaiser roll -- it's hard to see fast-food companies as anything BUT a part of the problem.

Which is why McDonald's recent decision to post the calorie count for EVERY SINGLE item on their menu boards -- detailed in this Larry Popelka Bloomberg Businessweek bit --  is so incredibly interesting. 

With that one decision, McDonald's -- a company that health advocates love to hate -- has become a part of the obesity solution simply because they've given individuals the information that they need to make healthier decisions. 

But more importantly, with that one decision, McDonalds has started to change the narrative around their own company. 

No longer are they the corporate punching bag serving food that no one should be eating. Instead, they're the company that's open and honest -- even when honest is ugly -- about the best and the worst of what they offer.  That openness and honesty matters more to consumers today than ever before. 

As Popelka explains:

Most consumers want and expect corporations to be more like people. Those that demonstrate through their actions that they have a human side by being honest and open—but not perfect—are loved. Cold, secretive corporations are not trusted.

Better yet, my guess is that the transparency that McDonald's has brought to their own menu will result in even greater changes down the road. 

The undeniable truth is that the menu board isn't looking all that hot right now, with item after item of high calorie, high fat crap that everyone knows is killing us one bite at a time.

To further solidify the trust that they're building with consumers by being open about what they're selling, McDonald's is going to HAVE to add some healthier options to their menu. Over time, the transparency that they've brought to the conversation about their products will become a tool for holding themselves accountable for creating something better.

So what does this all have to do with schools? 

We live in a world where transparency has become a basic expectation that consumers have for the organizations in their lives -- and while transparency can be intimidating, to ignore that expectation is a risk that isn't worth taking. 

What's more, when you're completely open with the community that you serve, people will embrace you for what you are rather than criticize you for what you should be. 

We may be a fat nation, but we're also pretty darn forgiving -- kind of like the elastic waistbands in our stretchy pants -- especially when we're convinced that the organizations we support are doing their best to move in a positive direction.

Any of this make sense?

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Related Radical Reads:

Essentials for Principals: Communicating and Connecting with Social Media [Excerpt]

Essentials for Principals: Communicating and Connecting with Social Media  [Handouts]

What are YOU Saying about Social Media in Schools?

 

These Are OUR Kids [SLIDE]

Some of the most exciting work that I've ever done in my professional career was on the first professional learning team that I was ever a part of. 

What made it so different from most of the collaborative groups that I've worked on was our genuine belief that EVERY teacher on our sixth grade language arts team was responsible for the success of EVERY student on the sixth grade hallway. 

(click to enlarge)

Download Slide_TheseAreOURKids

When we looked at numbers -- test scores, attendance patterns, student surveys, students in need of remediation -- we didn't see MY numbers or THEIR numbers.  Instead, we only saw OUR numbers.

And OUR collective commitment drove us to help one another.  To ask and answer questions about practice together.  To spot trends in what was (and wasn't) working -- not because we were playing some game of professional gotcha where spotting successful practice meant spotting successful people, but because spotting successful practice meant spotting solutions for helping kids to succeed.

That shared work was incredibly important for our kids.  Whether they ever sat in different classrooms, they were learning from all of us -- which guaranteed them access to the best of what we knew as a learning team.

But just as importantly, that shared work was incredibly important to me.  Turns out that studying practice together in a safe environment where you can trust the intentions of your colleagues and where helping kids matters more than competing against the guy in the room across the hall can be a heck of a lot of fun.  

Now don't get me wrong:  Pulling off that "our kid" mentality on a learning team ISN'T easy.  It takes time, it takes the right kind of people, and it takes a bit of professional know-how about collaboration around student learning. 

But when you get it right -- when focusing on the OUR in YOUR becomes the norm instead of the exception to the professional rule -- there's nothing better.

#truth

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Related Radical Reads:

Lessons Learned from One Fat Ox

The Power of PLCs

Why Parents Should Care about PLCs and Poor #edpolicies

 

 

Original Image Credit: Nice Portrait of Tween Girl by pictureYouth

Licensed Creative Commons Attribution on September 26, 2012

 

Quote from Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work

Stuffing Kids with Content [SLIDE]

Not a ton of time to write tonight, y'all.  I spent it being a bit creative. 

Hope you dig this:

(click to enlarge)

Download Slide_StuffedWithContent

 

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Original Image Credit: Stuffed Beckty by Sayantan Mitra

Licensed Creative Commons Attribution on September 22, 2012