Sage or Guide?

There has been a great deal of rhetoric criticizing the “Sage on the Stage” mindset of some educators in favour of a “Guide on the Side” approach. Rote learning, Socratic, traditional, old school all have become derogatory in pedagogy. However, the sage must continue to play a vital role in education.

     

My daughter is currently in grade 8. In her history block, she was directly taught 5 reasons for Canadian Confederation. She was then guided to rank the reasons  according to their importance and identify who was left out of the process, This led to expanded research to support conclusions. All of the real, demonstrable learning was built on the initial step of explicit teaching. According to her, “If we had been told to find 5 reasons for confederation we might have found 2 and not really understood even those. Even if I had been told to do the other 2 parts of the lessons, they would have been pointless - I wouldn’t have learned anything.”

My daughter is generally a self-motivated learner - a perfect candidate for all the recent trends in education: Genius Hour, PBL, Inquiry Projects. But what she desperately craves is to trust the knowledge and skills she is receiving. She craves a teacher to start her learning on a clear path with the believable illusion of an objective measure and achievement of standards that move her forward in her knowledge and skills. She talks about being prepared for high school. At this difficult age, she wants to have some confidence in her education, which comes from having confidence in her teacher, her trainer, her sage. When a teacher provides her with a variety of paper and digital resources to explore and learn the content and skills on her own, she becomes frustrated and disappointed. Why go to school then, if I have to teach myself? Yes, the world is in a state of constant change and the most important skill we can teach youth is “how to learn” effectively and efficiently. But part of that learning is the necessity of automaticity and internalized knowledge that doesn’t require Google. It means that new skills and knowledge need to be built on a solid foundation and one of the responsibilities of teachers is to provide the materials for the foundation and train young people how to assemble them.

There are times when learners are ready to assume the reins and work with the support of guides and mentors. But not until they have the foundational knowledge skills.

The following foundational skills need to be explicitly taught and assessed in schools:

• Behave appropriately for the classroom (follow instructions, listening without interrupting, raising your hand, sitting down and working quietly)
• Grade-appropriate vocabulary
• Read & comprehend grade-appropriate texts
• Write with correct grammar
• Write legibly (penmanship & spelling)
• Speaking clearly to express ideas, ask questions
• Writing in grade-appropriate forms to express ideas
• Use grade-appropriate research tools (dictionary, textbook, online, library, citing sources)
• Age appropriate math facts
• Algorithms for solving age-appropriate math problems
• Basic knowledge of national and world geography and history
• Apply the Scientific method
• Understanding of ecosystems

I am a Secondary School English teacher, so I am aware that my list is weighted heavily on communication skills. But these skills align with the Conference Board of Canada Employability Skills. There are many other skills and knowledge areas that are also important, engaging, inspiring, and empowering to learners. I am not trying to limit our role as teachers to drill sergeants, to the exclusion of all else. I am, however, saying that we have a professional and ethical responsibility to make sure that all students can succeed at these skills and, if they cannot, they need more instruction, directed practice, and remediation, not more free time. And, yes, that means less time for independent learning, project-based learning, play-based learning, inquiry projects, and genius hour projects.

As a parent, I want my children to have the opportunities to explore their strengths and interests - it makes them feel good. Yet, when they can’t print legibly or speak clearly or divide numbers or read accurately, this is what they need most.

Introduction to Genius Hour: Purolator "One-Hour Delivery" Project

We are starting a novel study next week on the book Shattered. I am planning to also try out the Genius Hour concept with a baby step.

On Saturday, I spent 3-hours learning about Genius Hour with Elementary and Secondary School colleagues.  We watched Daniel Pink's TedTalk about Motivation and explored a multitude of resources available on-line and off that support teachers' who want to incorporate Genius Hour into their learning environment. Several colleagues shared their early experiences with Genius Hour in their classrooms.  They shared some of their students' projects and definitely expressed enthusiasm.

I also heard about the ROWE business model (Results-Only Work Environment) and Fed-Ex Days (give people 24 hours to work on whatever they want — so long as it’s not part of their regular jobs and provided that they show what they’ve created to their colleagues when the 24 hours elapse).

I loved the ideas in theory, in principle. But I doubted their efficacy with most of my high school students.

My students are honest.

Me: If you had time to learn about anything, what would you do with it?
Student 1: Sleep.
Me: What are you interested in?
Student 1: Nothing.
Me: Anyone else?
Student 2: ...

So I try to assign meaningful work hoping to engage all students and excite them about learning.

I think I am a coward. I am afraid to relinquish control... I am afraid that it will fail... that it will be a huge waste of learning time... that students will do nothing... that I won't be able to keep up... that it will be disappointing... that Genius Hour is just another fad.

So this week I want to confront my fear and try a baby-step.  I want my students to build their background knowledge before beginning the novel Shattered. Last semester, I gave the students a chart of topics related to the novel and asked them to find out something about each of them.  We then presented these and students added to their own charts.

This week, I am going to give them a book, have some computers and tablets available, and challenge students to build their background in preparation for reading the novel. Students will be allowed to choose their time, task, team, and techniques. They can use anything to show their learning (i.e. chart paper, whiteboards, paper, video, photos, etc.), but they only have an hour to "deliver."

I have no idea about what the outcome will be. I expect my students will take longer to get on task because they are not used to the autonomy, but when they do eventually find their way, they will learn more.

Baby Steps for all of us...

Why do we have to do English in Math class?

I agree: high school math teachers, science teachers, geography teachers DO have their hands full in covering their own curriculum and trying to engage learners with subject materials. I also agree that students visibly cringe when "literacy" is mentioned. "Why do we have to do English in ___________ class?"

Nonetheless, students must be explicitly taught literacy strategies and practice these in all curriculum areas. As literacy leader, I wave the flag, offer to support, co-teach, co-plan, model, and assess with my colleagues in geography, history, math, science, art, tech, business, music, etc. But it is not often they take me up on my offers. I end up feeling like I am a nuisance and an imposition.

I am not sure why. There is likely a combination of factors: time constraints, fixed plans, and discomfort.  Maybe on some level there is still a notion that the teaching of communication skills is the domain of English Language Arts classes.  Largely, I think my colleagues are not convinced of any tangible benefits of teaching literacy within their subject area.  Theoretically they nod their heads that "of course course literacy is important."  But concretely will students be able to better learn each subject if we devote precious time to practicing reading and writing?

So often, in Literacy PD, I end up answering questions about "what's on the standardized test?" so that subject teachers can feel like they are doing their part and spending "extra" time on these discrete skills or ideas.

So  "what's on the standardized test"? Here is are examples of questions from the Released Items of the 2014 OSSLT that many students simply guess on:

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Now do these questions fall under the domain of geography or math or English?  All the questions require students to interpret graphical data and draw conclusions based on that data.  I have watch students stare at these graphs and questions and ultimately just guess.  Eenie, meenie, miney, mo...

Me: Why did you guess?

Student 1: I didn't know where to start.
Student 2: They all look right.
Student 3: It's confusing.
Student 4: I didn't want to leave it blank.

The issue here is not subject specific.  What we need to talk about is the elephant in the room: What are the challenges that students encounter when learning and how can we support them?  When I do work with colleagues in various subject areas, I am more focused on thinking skills and learning strategies than on reading and writing.  Students need all of us to teach them how to learn. Information literacy is part of the skills set, but so are memory, mindset, determination, focus, organization, and creativity. This skill-set is much more important in the long-term than the details in our content areas.

What is a Mistake? Addressing a Disconnect

Exploring the ideas of a Growth Mindset, one of my colleagues asked her students to write a reflective journal:

"Take a few minutes and think about a time when you made a really bad mistake. Write down what happened: what was the mistake, why did you make it, how did you feel, what could you have done differently? Reflect a bit more and write down what you learned from making the mistake--maybe about what you were trying to accomplish or about yourself." 

She found this prompt online.

My Grade 9 Applied English students did similar thinking in our Growth Mindset Unit.  A few wrote about not studying for a test, telling someone a secret, and doing something and getting hurt. But most couldn't think of anything.

Is it really that hard? I can think of lots of mistakes I have made: big and small.

Small: I didn't exercise today.  I didn't make time to walk the dogs.  I yelled at one of my kids.  I had a typo on the cover page of a test. I snagged my sweater.  I wore uncomfortable shoes to work. I forgot to call my mom back last night.   I misplaced my keys (still looking for these).

Big: I loaned money to someone who betrayed me.  I lost contact with good friends.  I drove through a snow storm instead of staying where I was and got into an accident.  I stayed with a guy I should have left.  That house warming party. I didn't go to Ottawa when my best friend's baby was sick.

I learned from each of these mistakes: big and small.

According to the explanation of Growth Mindset by Dr. Maggie Wray.

Fixed mindset students... Dislike making mistakes
Growth mindset students... See mistakes as learning opportunities

I am clearly in the Growth Mindset camp.  This is our goal for students.  That they have the courage to make mistakes, and then learn from them.

But maybe we need to back up.  My colleague shared with me one student's response:

"I don't think I have ever made a bad mistake because everything I did that people said was a mistake was pretty awesome and I felt pretty good after it and I would do nothing to change it." 

We may need a common reference point to define "mistake"?  What does the student think it means "to make a mistake," and, in comparison, how does society define it. 

When I think of a mistake, I am thinking "bad decision."  I do not equate a mistake with "regret" or "feeling bad." According to one dictionary, a mistake is "An error or fault resulting from defective judgment, deficient knowledge, or carelessness."  That's my understanding.

But my sense is that many students have an entirely different notion of a mistake.  I have not yet talked to my students about this, but imagine if they believe a mistake to mean "something that makes me feel bad." By extension, they might believe that a success is "something that makes me feel good."  How did they acquire this paradigm?  It becomes very difficult to grow from mistakes with that mindset.  

If these students judge their lives by acquisition of thrills and pleasures and avoidance of pain or suffering,  they will not "dislike mistakes" nor will they see mistakes as learning opportunities.  They possess neither a Growth Mindset nor a Fixed Mindset. They possess an entirely different mindset altogether.  My colleague and I will need to back up and initiate a conversation to address this disconnect so that growth will eventually become possible.  

Students Experience Real-time Digital Collaboration

When I walked out of the computer lab after my class on Thursday, I was pumped. Not only did the technology work, and not only did the links get through the prohibitive filters, but my students were excited about creating a collaborative presentation.

It helps that we have a real live audience. It also helps that we have already made connections with our audience in Wisconsin via a Skype meet and greet. My class already had the opportunity to ask their counterparts some interview questions. We also are fully aware that they will be creating a presentation about us as we create a presentation about them.

We are part of a larger community of schools participating in the Global Read Aloud Project. But today was about learning how to collaborate in real time.

The Project: Collaborate as a class to create a online presentation about Monona, Wisconsin. Complete with researched information, pictures, music perhaps, and/or video.

I went into the computer lab first thing that morning to check that everything was working: the blog wasn't blocked by our school board filters, the embedded discussion board was functioning and not requiring students to login, and most importantly the link to the Google presentation worked and allowed students to edit in Chrome (thank you to our technician who installed Chrome on all the machines in the lab last week).

With little assistance from me, most students found their way to the joint Blog and the Google presentation. They help each other figure out how to insert photos using URLs. They became excited when they noticed one of their classmates' cursors and text appearing before their eyes. Photos appearing elicited comments of "Cool! " and "Whoa!" There was definitely stresses when somebody accidentally deleted someone else's contribution or when somebody deliberately changed the presentation theme and applied it to all the slides.

It was extremely difficult for me to hide my glee when one student corrected another's capitalization and spelling mistakes.  Some of my students have acquired a track record for apathy and lack of effort. Yet, on that day they cared about each other's learning, their own learning, the process, and the product. No wonder I felt so pumped.

1st Year Teacher, Take 2: Returning to the Classroom

During these past two years as an Acting Vice Principal have been an incredible learning experience. My awareness of macro educational concerns (mental health, barriers, parental involvement, attendance, student engagement, creating a community, etc.) have moved from abstract to concrete.  I worked with teachers, counsellors, agencies, district-wide colleagues, and my Principal to develop appropriate and individualized interventions to support students. I have also become energized as an educator about new directions in education and by the PLC that I have started to develop.

Now, I have returned to the classroom teaching Secondary Language Arts. I love teaching English.  I was the Program Leader of English and Literacy for years and was always inspired by the synergy in our department.  We developed a vision for our department a few years ago that hangs in every classroom:

"As English teachers, we love stories, language, ideas, and exploration. This is a love we want to impart to our students. Oral communication, reading, writing, and media are not ends in themselves, but rather are means of discovery. Through speaking and listening, students develop a voice and the courage to use it.  In literature, students encounter timeless beauty, shared human experiences, and universal themes that can inform and inspire their future. By writing, students embark on a journey of possibilities. Through media, students learn to be a self-aware and critical audience in the information age.  In our increasingly complex world, the English Department helps MSS students become engaged in life, exhibiting confidence, thinking critically, developing courage, and demonstrating compassion."

We were reacting to the pragmatism that made literacy synonymous with language arts, that expected us to teach students to apply writing formulas.  I was moved by one of our former graduates and bought her drawing to represent the complexity and passion that we strive to bring into our classrooms.

I completely rearranged my classroom from the way it had stood by default for years.  The change was important to me symbolically, but it was also quite disorienting.  Everything feels somewhat disorienting, yet also completely familiar.  It is like coming home after a long absence. You are changed by the voyage, but there is also enormous comfort.

I had to choose what to focus on this year as I planned my courses.  My list of ideas was too long, and it was a recipe for frustration for myself and my students.  For someone who is normally very decisive, I found it impossible to narrow by pedagogical focus.  I kept my course outlines deliberately vague. Instead, I chose flexibility and responsiveness. 

That means my lesson plans are works in progress. I am not sure how I will adjust to that.

Schools and Tech: Something New in the Abyss

It is acknowledged that each teacher is on an individual journey of technology integration. Some teachers use technology sparingly in their own lives. They may be impressed with what technology can do but do not believe that the investment in time to learn how to navigate and manipulate those technologies for education are worth the possible gains.  

There are those teachers who actually are quite resistant to technology in school. They are not convinced that any gains can be made through the use of computers.  They think it is a waste of time.  Some of these resistors have done their homework and know that there is no conclusive data that proves the claim that technology integration results in higher levels of learning.  

That being said, technology such as tablets laptops cell phones, and internet are not going anywhere. Technology is vastly changing our world.  So the question isn't whether not we should integrate technology into classrooms and schools. Technology gives us a way to change the paradigm around education.  

Never before in civilization have students been able to learn 24/7. Never before have the reins of knowledge been released to the masses. Never before has it been possible for amateurs to access reams of information by the world's greatest minds and discover something new in the abyss. Never before has collaboration been so meaningful. And global. Never before has the voice of one teenager, one child had so much power.

We must decide whether students will learn because of the opportunities we give them or despite them.