8 mindless ways to undermine teaching and learning

Educational mindlessness can take many forms.

Here are 8 ways in which it can harm both the students and adults in our schools:

1. Mindless views of teaching and learning that reduce them  to formulas and scripts, robbing the teaching-learning process of its complexity and nuance.

2. Mindless teaching that says that one method is as good as another and that it is acceptable to continue to do the same things over and over again no matter what the outcome.

3. Mindless programs and practices which are not aligned with expressed values and goals.

4. Mindless development of and adherence to bureaucratic rules and regulations that do not serve the best interests of students.

5. Mindless lack of concern about the effects of one’s words and actions on others.

6. Mindless references to research, such as “research says…,” with little understanding of the implications and limitations of that research.

7. Mindless meetings that discuss the obvious and debate the trivial.

8. Mindless professional development that does little to strengthen professional judgment, deepen understanding, and create new habits of mind and practice that benefit students.

What would you add to my list?

6 ways you can influence others

The most common question I’m asked by system administrators, principals, and teacher leaders is some variation of, “The people I work with are unwilling to change, and I don’t know what to do to get them to open their minds.”

Put another way, these leaders are interested in being more influential.

I respond that while countless articles and books have been written on that subject, and that there are no formulas, I can offer a few suggestions for their consideration.

1. Leaders can make demands. While demands are occasionally necessary, they only work in a very narrow set of circumstances, and their long-term effects are usually limited. Demands won’t work, of course, unless there are meaningful negative consequences that will be invoked for noncompliance.

2. Leaders can make requests. Motivation is increased when individuals feel that are choosing a course of action rather than being required to do it. That means that often the most direct and effective way to motivate others is simply to ask them to do something. The key is to invite, not to require. The energy created can be astounding, although it may take a while for members of demand-oriented cultures to believe that there will be no negative consequences for declining the request.

3. Leaders can delegate meaningful responsibilities and provide the necessary developmental experiences and support to enable success. Tapping the strengths and resources of others is a multiplier of leaders’ direct influence, particularly when distributing leadership improves the performance of teams within schools.

4. Leaders can engage in dialogue. Dialogue is most effective when participants listen carefully to one another as assumptions are surfaced and examined in the spirit of inquiry, not judgment. When those conditions are met, conversations move to deeper levels and participants slowly open their minds to new perspectives. In this way, leaders can initiate “crucial conversations” that respectfully perturb the status quo.

5. Leaders can share stories that illuminate important values, ideas, and practices. Because human beings are hardwired to listen to and be affected by stories, storytelling is often a way around emotional and cognitive resistance to new ideas and practices.

6. Leaders can provide novel experiences to promote breakthrough thinking in which everything about a subject is viewed in a fresh and more empowering way. Such experiences – like well-designed field trips for students – are only useful, however, when participants are appropriately prepared for them through dialogue and background reading and when extended opportunities are provided to reflect on the meaning and significance of the experience.

What would you add to my “starter list” of ideas to increase leaders’ influence?

How changing just one belief can help create schools in which everyone thrives

“You haven’t taught it until they’ve learned it.” – John Wooden

It seems like such a simple idea – that the teaching isn’t over until students have learned it.

And yet decade after decade we continue to hear some variation of the phrase, “I taught it, but they didn’t learn it.”

The professional development version of that statement is: “We inserviced them, but nothing’s changed.”

So, let me officially declare with the full weight and authority bestowed by a WordPress blog that:

• Teaching isn’t over until the students have learned it, and

• Professional learning hasn’t occurred until educators have changed their hearts, minds, and/or practices in ways that support the success of all students. 

Or, put another way, professional learning hasn’t occurred until all teachers and administrators believe what they haven’t believed, understand what they haven’t understood, say what they haven’t said, and do what they haven’t done, all with the intention of high levels of learning for all students in all classrooms.

Changing just that one belief will go a long way toward creating schools in which all young people and adults thrive and in which teaching, learning, and relationships are continuously improving.

Why it’s important for leaders to believe in teachers’ capacity for growth

Many school leaders believe that virtually all students can learn at higher levels given skillful teaching, time, and persistent effort.

But I’m not sure, however, that all leaders believe that virtually all teachers can learn to teach in ways that enable high levels of student learning.

Let me tell you a story:

Some years ago I was working with a group of 50 or so teacher leaders in a large U.S. city. I asked them a question I often asked in such settings: “How many of you believe that virtually all students can learn more than was previously expected of them and that it is their teachers’ responsibility to teach them?” Every hand in the room immediately went up.

My next question was one I had never asked before: “How many of you believe that virtually all teachers can learn how to teach in ways that enable higher levels of student learning?”

An unanticipated pandemonium broke out in the room as some participants vociferously expressed their confidence that they could prepare teachers to be more successful with all students while others complained loudly that my questions had unfairly lead them into a trap.

One teacher leader said, “How can we expect teachers to teach at high levels if we don’t believe we can successfully prepare them to do so?”

Another said, looking at me, “You don’t understand the teachers we have here. They are often poorly prepared and unmotivated.”

A provocative and soul-searching conversation ensued as it shifted back and forth between those two broad perspective — “of course we can” and “it is unfair to expect us to be successful with these teachers” — in the same way that it might occur among teachers discussing their responsibility for the learning of all their students.

A year or so later one of the event’s organizers told me that discussion related to the issue of teacher leaders’ expectations for their colleagues arose in one form or another at many of their meetings that school year.

I was pleased to hear that because it is a critically important issue.

Just as it’s essential for principals and teacher leaders to believe that student learning can be improved by skillful teaching, it’s essential that principals and teacher leaders believe that through well-designed professional development and teamwork virtually all teachers can become effective, if not masterful.

Believing in the capacity of students to learn at higher levels without a parallel belief in the capacity of teachers to successfully teach them — given appropriate support — can only lead to frustration and failure.

Put another way: Leaders’ belief in teachers’ capacity to perform at higher levels + appropriate support = student success.

Do you agree with my assessment, or not?

Can I give you hope?

On some days I have mixed feelings about myself.

But on most days I appreciate that by nature and nurture I am a bit of a contrarian, meaning that I tend to see things a bit differently than most people. That certainly is true regarding a lot of what is considered “conventional wisdom.”

Recently as a hospice volunteer in a healthcare facility I saw a sign that said, “Give hope.”

The contrarian part of me immediately wondered if it is possible for one human being to give hope to another, and if so, under what conditions.

For instance, can I say to you, “You should be more hopeful,” or more simply, “Be hopeful,” and as a result you will think about the future in a new way?

Or, can I expect new attitudes by saying “Believe in the potential of all the students to learn more,” or “All of us can continuously improve what we do”?

In my experience, such expressions seldom produce the desired result.

But there are three things that I think can make a difference:

1. Be the qualities you seek.

• Be authentically hopeful.
• Embody continuous improvement in all aspects of your work and life and do so publicly, revealing both your successes and frustrations.
• Affirm through your words and actions your belief that all students can achieve at higher levels and that all teachers can develop the necessary skills to produce that learning.

2. Design structures that enable staff members to experience first hand the validity of a growth-oriented point of view in their daily work. 

• Organize all teachers into teams to increase the likelihood that they will be successful with all students.
• Have high expectations for team performance and provide the training necessary to ensure that performance.
• Provide time for regularly-scheduled team meetings.
• Establish processes for reporting team activities and accomplishments to other teams and to school leaders.

3. Celebrate “small wins” at every opportunity—one-to-one conversations, team and faculty meetings, and school-community events. When teachers and others are frequently reminded of the progress they have made that is often invisible to them on a day-to-day basis they become more energized and focused.

Can I give hope to you? I don’t think so, at least not in the way it is often meant.

But I can create an environment that increases the likelihood that you will experience possibility where previously you experienced none.

Creating those conditions, first in ourselves and then in the culture and structures of the school, is, I believe, a primary and fundamental responsibility of all school leaders.

Do you agree or disagree?

The amazing things you can accomplish in just 15 minutes a day

 A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules. —Anthony Trollope

“Frenetic activity” is an apt description of the lives of many educators. With some, it is even a badge of honor that demonstrates their commitment and work ethic.

For others, it is a commonly-offered explanation for why they aren’t doing the things they know are most important, things like talking with teachers or colleagues about instruction, thoroughly preparing for upcoming conversations and meetings, exercising, and so on.

Here a some things that can be done in 15 minutes or less than can make a substantial difference in the quality of your work and life:

• Make a brief, focused visit to a classroom followed by a short note to the teacher.

• Write in a journal to gain clarity about a problem or determine a course of action.

• Prepare a thank-you note for someone whose efforts you wish to recognize or a note of encouragement for someone whose spirits you would like to lift.

• Write a weekly blog for colleagues or the school community.

• Write a book a year. (Fifteen minutes a day could easily produce a couple of hundred pages of text in a year. You wouldn’t even have to know what it was about at the beginning; it’s direction would reveal itself after a few weeks.)

• Determine your intentions for a meeting or conversation and sketch out a back-of-the-envelope plan. The clarity produced in even a few minutes of focused attention can change the direction and outcome of an event.

• Cease outward activity to be mindful of your breathing, feelings, and surroundings. Even a minute or two of such focused attention can make a substantial difference in your mood and stress level.

• Exercise. In 15 minutes you can walk a mile.

• Have a conversation with a colleague, family member, or friend. Spend a good share of that time listening deeply to the words and meaning of those with whom you are interacting.

• Develop an important and perhaps even life-changing new habit. Any of the above, for example, could become a valuable habit in just a few weeks.

I encourage you to identify one or two activities appropriate to you and your setting that in just a few minutes a day can make a difference for you and others.

And, in truth, we all have 15 minutes a day that could be spared to improve the quality of our work and lives.

What suggestions do you have for other worthwhile “15-minute activities”?

How bad things can happen to good people who lack emotional intelligence

School and school system leaders are far more likely to get into difficulty because of low social and emotional intelligence than because of deficiencies in their technical knowledge. At least that’s my observation.

Here’s why they get into trouble:

• Because these leaders often have a high need to control people and situations, they are unlikely to trust others or to delegate.

• Because of a lack of trust and poor interpersonal skills, these leaders seldom have supportive relationships with others and therefore are unlikely to value the development of such relationships within the school community.

• Because these leaders don’t know how to manage or express their feelings in appropriate and proportionate ways, they are likely to be angry, anxious, and/or cynical. Those feelings, in turn, are amplified across the school community and create what some experts call a “slow-death spiral,” which depletes energy and diminishes hope for a better future.

• Because these leaders are unable to accurately sense and respond to the feelings of others, their relationships are likely to be tumultuous and superficial and viewed as means to an end rather than as worthy ends in themselves to be nurtured and valued.

• And because leaders with low social and emotional intelligence have limited self awareness, they are unlikely to see any of the above in themselves.

Do you agree, or not?

 

How understanding the “knowing-doing continuum” can improve the quality of professional learning

I have divided professional learning outcomes into these five levels of the “knowing-doing continuum”:

1. Learning about: This is the adult version of “covering the content.” It is often expressed by the phrase “I had…” [During the 1980s I so often heard "I had Madeline Hunter" that I almost (but not quite) felt honor bound to tell Mr. Hunter about the rumors regarding his wife.]

2. Shallow understanding: The best example I can think of was a participant in a cooperative learning workshop who wrote on an evaluation: “I think this is a good idea, but you made us work in groups too much.”

3. Deep understanding: Learners can explain the idea or practice in some detail. They can also explain its benefits and limitations.

4. Experimenting with new behaviors/practices: The learner tries it out in the classroom or other setting to determine its effectiveness, sometimes with the guidance of an instructional coach or more experienced peer.

5. Developing new habits: Repetition over many weeks and perhaps months make the new practice routine and under teachers executive control, enabling them to determine when and how to use it.

I am sad to say…

…that based on my observations the vast majority of professional learning for teachers and administrators remains at levels 1 and 2. There are exceptions, of course, but they remain exceptions rather than the rule. (Please see my previous post to better understand the distinction between professional development and professional learning.)

The reason is fairly simple: Those who plan and finance professional learning continue to vastly underestimate the amount of time, energy, and resources that are required for a substantial number of educators to acquire the new habits of mind and behavior necessary to meaningfully improve teaching and learning for all students.

The solution requires planners of professional learning to take their responsibilities seriously:

• They study professional literature, particularly Learning Forward’s Standards for Professional Learning.
• They vow to do it right.
• They have hard conversations about current reality.
• They have hard conversations about what will be required to get to deep understanding and the development of new professional habits of mind and practice.
• They assess their progress in changing instructional practice and improving student learning.

Our students—particularly those in our most challenged communities and schools—deserve no less.

Do you agree with my observation and with the solution I propose to the perennial problem of low-quality professional learning?

Why the distinction between “professional learning” and “professional development” is important

Professional development in schools refers to the processes used in promoting professional learning and the context and other resources that support it .

Professional learning refers to the outcomes – what is learned, how deeply it is learned, and how well it is applied in classrooms. It is about changes in what teachers and leaders think, say, and do on a consistent basis.

Discussing professional development without discussing professional learning goals and outcomes is like talking about teaching separate from student learning.

Put another way, professional development is to professional learning as teaching is to student learning.

Just as ineffective teaching strategies produce little student learning, ineffective professional development produces little professional learning.

And just as ineffective teachers say, “I taught it, but they didn’t learn it,” ineffective planners of professional development say, “I developed them, but they didn’t learn it.”

Unless teachers and leaders professional development is sufficiently robust to improve professional learning — that is, to change what educators think, say, and do — student learning won’t improve.

I’ll have more to say about that tomorrow.

Why it’s essential to begin professional relationships with integrity

In Flawless Consulting, Peter Block wrote, “…when we bend over in the beginning [of a consulting relationship], we are seen by the client as someone who works in a bent-over position. When we avoid issues in the beginning, we are seen as someone who avoids issues.”

In a 1992 JSD interview I did with Block, he added: “We teach clients by our own actions how to work with us. It’s more difficult to renegotiate a relationship than to start it standing up in the first place.”

Block was cautioning consultants not to compromise their standards and/or integrity in the early phases of a relationship because of the likely long-term negative consequences of doing so to both the relationship and to the quality of their work.

That advice has lost none of its validity over the past 20 years and continues to have value for educators in various roles and settings.

Walking bent over has implications for:

• Teachers as they begin the school year or semester with a new group of students. (Teachers have long been told that it’s easier to ease rules and routines than it is to tighten up.)

• Novice principals as they begin their first leadership assignments.

• Experienced principals as they begin in new schools.

• Instructional coaches as they begin their work with teachers.

• Internal and external consultants as they begin their work with teams, schools, or school systems.

There are many reasons for becoming bent over in new relationships:

• A reluctance to make demands early in a relationship before an emotional bank account has been established.

• Anxiety about possible conflict;

• A lack of confidence in one’s point of view and/or skills;

• The desire to be perceived as a good team player;

• The importance of going along to get along; and

• The belief that initial problems can be easily remedied later.

What’s required to stand up straight…

It is essential that teachers, administrators, coaches, and consultants begin long-term relationships with crystal clarity about the desired outcomes of the work, the responsibilities of all parties to the “contract,” and the aspects of the work that are non-negotiable if it is to be successful.

In addition, courage may be required to suspend the work if agreements are not kept and integrity is compromised.

Standing up is difficult once we begin a relationship bent over. Walking away from work once begun that doesn’t ultimately serve the “clients” (which, in schools, almost always ultimately means students) is never easy.

That’s why it is critically important to begin new relationships with clarity, authenticity, and integrity.

As is true with almost everything in schools, students will be the ultimate beneficiary of our upright posture.