Lessons From a Freedom Fighter: In Honor of Nelson

Yesterday marked the death of an amazing human being and educator, yes, educator, prophet and beautiful soul, Nelson Mandela. We mark the end of his life on earth but the life he lived, people he touched, and nation and world that he changed will forever live on in our conversations and interactions that we have with each other. Perhaps, whats most remarkable about Mandela  was his dedication to his own personal development through education. "Education is the most powerful weapon to which you can change the world," Nelson stated and for over three decades imprisoned he spent he spent his time reading and learning about himself and his adversaries. He went onto say that "Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do." Its a love for what you do and seeing that you do have the power to change and overcome. 

Teach Less, Learn More: International Perspective on Teaching and Learning

Recent coverage on PISA scores has led many to draw attention to Singapore's most recent test data, ranking this small Asian country at the very top of international educational systems. I am always leery of making too big a deal of these scores because comparing countries is a bit like comparing night and day; there are just too many other factors such as history, demographics, economies, politics and geography that must be considered when exploring educational outcomes. What I feel like we miss is the simple fact that rather than discourage exploration and innovation, Singapore actually encourages this way of thinking. Instead of rote memorization and the typical stand and deliver method that groups like KIPP and other outdated systems of education tend to promote, the 522 school districts in Singapore believe that learning in depth is the reason for their success, not a hindrance to. In our test-driven American educational system, we tend to believe that this is exactly what contributes to success when in reality its quite the opposite. In fact Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong, in advocating for more in-depth learning launched a country wide campaign entitled, "Teach Less, Learn More" in a response to the narrowing of curriculum and teachers only focusing on skills out of concept. 

So perhaps, instead of us trying to copy exactly what another country is doing, lets get to the good work of allowing students to explore concepts, provide ample opportunities for student transfer of knowledge and skills, and plenty of real-world application. These are the cornerstones of excelling not only on standardized test scores such as PISA but in life in general. 

Design Thinking is a Mindset, Not a Research Paper

A few days ago I had the honor of facilitating a district wide workshop on Design Thinking in Grand Rapids, Michigan with about 30+ educators. The session began with teachers introducing themselves and I dove into describing the Design Thinking Framework that originated in Stanford, California by David Kelly.  As we went through describing concepts such as "developing empathy for your end user" and sharing a Back Pack Design Challenge by some savvy kids in Texas all seemed to be going relatively well with rich conversations taking place here and there. However, there is one question (usually always one) that caused me to stumble a bit in answering. Perhaps, because it has been a while since I have dedicated any real time to designing and crafting a workshop centered around Creative Confidence, or perhaps, it has more to do with that I was blessed with facilitating this workshop with only about 10 days to prepare. Nevertheless, it was one of those times where I wish I had responded a with a bit more eloquence but alas. I should have known the question would come from her as her body language and energy were not receiving the presentation up to this point. Its no wonder she raised her hand and said, "Well, this Design Thinking stuff, how is it different than action research?"  I noticed as a facilitator I must remain neutral as I felt a streak of being defensiveness rise up in me. I had to return to my heart center and remind myself that my role as a facilitator is to acknowledge great questions when they arise and place them in the proper context. It's also about helping the entire group move forward towards your desired results of the workshop. Both of these ideas seemed to be a bit lost however, upon reflection here are a few key points that I believe distinguishes Design Thinking and Action Research.

1. Design Thinking is a mindset whereas action research is a framework that follows a set script and procedure. 

2. Action Research produces just that a research paper; Design Thinking produces a product that is actually "tested" and receives proper feedback.
3. In action research, the researchers are the primary consumers of the data whereas in Design Thinking the end-user is the primary focus.
4. Action research requires one to begin analyzing data rather than encourage folks to begin to brainstorm on possible solutions.
5.  "Fail early and fail often" is the mantra of the Designer because the more one fails the closer one can get to being more in touch with what the user needs; there is no such mantra in this idea of action research until the conclusion of the process.

Thank you to those who challenge my thinking in honest attempts to discover new truths. Lets design our thinking to ensure that we are constantly growing growing learning and thriving as people and particularly as educators. It is in this spirit of innovation that we can build better places to learn.

Because I Know The Power of a Question!

Why is it so challenging to only ask questions and not answer? Why does it seem that most of us want to answer questions more than pose them? I had the priviledge of facilitating workshops in Toledo with teachers and with students in Detroit where we had both groups exercise the practice of only asking questions. The teachers in Toledo were instructed to read a brief article and at the conclusion of the reading were to only pose questions for the group. The students in Detroit stood and formed a circle in which they could only ask questions of one another. It was quite the exercise in both cases.

The results of how each group were as different as two sides of the same coin. The teachers began modestly asking questions but somewhere about half-way through the exercise a teacher asked a question which was followed by a 4-5 minute diatribe on his beliefs about education, parenthood, and why he didn't like the article (insert yawn, here). However, with our students their commitment and play within this area of questioning was completely different. Now, let me make a quick disclaimer. The activity that we did with the students was one in which we stood in a circle and asked each other arbitrary questions; however, nonetheless, our students were all about asking each other questions to the point where they were battling and posing great questions to each other right to the very end. By the conclusion of this activity (in which yours truly was truly outperformed by his students, insert smile here) we were all laughing and felt completely energized. I didn't quite have the same sense of energy when we finished with this exercise with our teachers. One may argue that the dynamics of each exercise were completely different and for this I completely concur. Nonetheless, I think there are some important distinctions to make here.

Our students were certainly more willing and able to pose questions almost in rapid succession without hesitation whereas our teachers were in someways very hesitant to only ask the questions. It was as if we had stumped our teachers ability to continue on with their very way of life - consistenly answering questions rather than posing them. If our adults are hesitant or are challenged by asking questions, then how open are these classrooms? How inclusive can a teacher be when much of what is given are simply the answers? I believe this idea is almost synomous with giving students technology in the classroom with hopes that it will magically result in student achievement. "Just giving people devices," says Bill Gates, "has a really horrible track record." Yup and so does just bombarding our students with facts with little or no opportunities to make connections, share their ideas, assess their own thinking (with a nod to professor and researcher John Hattie) and to listen to others.

I've written about this before in one of my prior posts; Grant Wiggins as usual has provided some powerful dialogue and methodology around asking and implementing questioning in the classroom. How can we design our classrooms, schools, communities and relationships to be places where we withhold our egos from answers and direct our energies to exercising thoughtful and curious questions? Questions that hold power. Questions that hold promise. Questions that pose hope and playfulness. Questions that genuinely are designed to spark creativity. Think about it. We are not usually rewarded for asking questions. Sometimes even as a parent I find myself answering questions more quickly than I would like. One part of our training that I appreciated was posing the a question during three different times throughout the day (i.e., How might we inspire growth in our students?) to see how participants thinking had changed throughout the day. 

Do you have any questions that you'd like to ask? Go for it and encourage others to do the same and try hard as you can to delay trying to answer your own or others questions. Watch, listen and observe.

Knowledge is Power Program Comes Under Fire

KIPP progams have shown results in raising acheivement for low-income students and closing the so-called achievement gap between white and their African American counterparts; but not so fast says the research. Although this research from Western Michigan University was released nearly two years ago, this idea about the failures of solely  preparing students for high-stakes testing is as relevant than as it is today. In what was perhaps the most comprehensive, third party evaluation of it's highly touted school model, the Knowledge is Power Program, also known as KIPP, was questioned on several key areas most notably: school attrition, school finance and long term effects of its programming. Perhaps, what is most startling is that nearly 40 percent of African American males leave KIPP schools within two years of enrolling and while competeting districts receive an average of $6500 per pupil KIPP programs receive nearly triple that amount. Is there power in only one kind of knowledge? Lets honor value for more than just filling in a bubble on a sheet and teach empathy, curiosity, and leadership and measure these factors. Lets consider the research of Dr. William Sedlacek who has conducted decades of research on the admission factors that determine college success. How might we align our teacher preparation programs to ensure that current and future educators build these competencies in our young people? 

Bigotry of Low Expectations

Quoting former President George W. Bush is usually reserved for late night comedy and his educational policies, particularly his infamous No Child Left Behind policies, did more harm than good in so many of our urban and inner city schools; however, if there is a silver lining in his work it's one particular quote that seems to resonate so deeply with me as I build with others exemplary schools in urbanized areas. In his run for the 2000 candidacy, President Bush published a 300+ page manifesto entitled, "Renewing America's Purpose: Policy Address of George W. Bush, July 1999 - July 2000" in which he spells out his vision for building on his so-called success in his home state of Texas where as Governor he claims to have raised student achievement across race and class. Rather than read the entire document let me share with you what is perhaps the most poignant excerpt from his manifesto. Justifying his push to develop rigorous standars, words that are far too overused in todays discourse, the former President states:

"Some say it is unfair to hold disadvantaged children to rigorous standards. I say it is discrimination to require anything less. The soft bigotry of low expectations. Some say that schools can't be expected to teach, because there are too many broken families, too many immigrants, too much diversity. I say that pigment and poverty need not determine performance. That myth is disproved by good schools every day. Excuse-making must end before learning can begin." (Bush, G. "Renewing America's Purpose, p. 205, July 1999).

What Bush fails to address is the stark reality that many folks living in urbanized areas homes do have REAL challenges that go well beyond this notion of low expectations. Many teachers simply dont believe that African American and Latino students can succeed. Many of those same students have never experienced success in school and neither have any of their family members. Education in many places is seen as being something that "white people do" and if one really wants to make real money that the street corner and serving crack cocaine and marijuana to their own people is a much more realistic endeavor to pursue rather than learning a subject as meaningless as Algebra (my apologies to all the math teachers out there).  Furthermore, our culture in American society is enamored with everyone believing that one can gain celebrity status in our instant gratification give it to me now world that we live in. What I do appreciate about this excerpt however, is that given these and so many other real-life obstacles (i.e., our school systems are completely outdated and not equipped to provide students the wrap around services) we can and believe in our students doing great things in our classroom, but how do we get to those space? Great teaching? Sure. Developing compassionate and caring relationships with our students? Even more essential. 

Teaching is Not Testing

In today's New York Times, in article entitled, "Dear Teacher, Johnny is Skipping the Test," parents are beginning to stand up to the test taking craze that has taken over this country and has undermined real teaching and learning in our schools. Parents from forty-seven middle and high schools throughout New York City have kept their children from taking the field tests which is administered to students in order to identify questions for future exams. Pearson, the company that designs these exams billed the state over $7 million dollars for testing services, of which 30 percent goes to field testing. So rather than let their children be turned into test-taking drones, parents organized themselves and launched, Parent Voices, New York, an advocacy group working to provide fair and just ways that both schools and teachers can be evaluated. While New York is not the only city that publicizes and ranks teacher performance to test scores, there is reason to believe that the use of tests to evaluate schools, students and teachers is creating an enormous sense of anxiety, pressure and stress on our already over-burden institutions. And the response to these pressures, while in New York parents have organized, in other places such as Georgia and Washington, districts have admittingly cheated on exams and in other places such as Detroit, schools are shut down, or in Chicago entire faculty are fired so that school staff can be reconstituted. No child in the history of standardized testing has ever said or believed that the perfect way for me to demonstrate what I've learned in school is through a state test.