And now for something completely different…

I realize British humor can be an acquired taste, but I love this clip. It says a lot about leadership to me. It only takes about three minutes, so go ahead and watch it and come back to read. If it doesn’t play after you click on the triangle, try here.

Ok, so what did you think?  I giggle every time when the peasant says, “You could call me Dennis” and when the “woman” says “I thought we were an autonomous collective.” And the part where the peasant says, “Look, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is not basis for a system of government… You can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just because some [inaudible] tart threw a sword at you.” Like I said, it’s an acquired taste.

Seriously though, I do think it says something about leadership. Have you ever had a leader who was only interested in his/her mission and not really interested in his/her followers and their mission  — a leader who held positional power, but lacked personal and expert power? How did you respond? Did you carry on as though the leader’s mission wasn’t relevant to your day-to-day work? Did the leader ever get frustrated because he didn’t feel like he was being taken seriously? What happens when the leader isn’t viewed as a leader at all?

Before you ask if I have anyone specific in mind while I write this, let me be clear that no one I currently work with fits this description in any way, shape or form. And while I have worked with someone who did, I also have to be honest and say there have been times when I’ve been closer to that leader than not. Leaders need to understand the culture of their organization, including all the various constituencies. They need to understand who they’re leading and the purpose for their leadership. They need to develop relationships with those constituencies built on mutual trust and a common vision and to value what followers bring to the table. Only when they understand the organization, its mission, and its people, can leaders expect to use their power. When they do, it should be exercised under people not over them. To lift them up, not keep them down.

Otherwise, they’ll simply end up telling their followers to “Shut up!” and their followers will feel “oppressed.” And it won’t be as funny as this.

 

 

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Leading Out of Necessity or Strategy

I read an excellent blogpost tonight in EdWeek by Megan Allen, the director of the Master of Arts in Teacher Leadership at Mount Holyoke. Not only was it engaging, its message about working in your passion areas was spot on.  In the beginning of piece she urged readers to grab a pen and a piece of paper for a two minute exercise.

So in case you can’t access the article, here’s the gist of the exercise:

Take 2 minutes and write down all the leadership positions you’ve held, either formal or informal. They could be anything from coaching a soccer team to chairing a committee to leading a company.  Ok, start.

Next, circle all the positions that came to you as a result of

  • Appointment (Somebody asked you)
  • Necessity or Urgency (If you didn’t do it, who would?)
  • Opportunity (It came along and you thought, why not?)

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Now take a look at the circles. What percentage of the positions you wrote down are circled? Ms. Allen reported hers as 80%. Here’s what she had to say after she made that discovery:

It made me think deeply about my path as a leader. Was it more strategic and goal-oriented, or is it more random and up to the universe?

I don’t think that one answer is better than another, but I am thinking deeply about this. And I think there might be a piece that is making me think about my next steps in the future.

She goes on to say that the times in which she was strategic about the leadership positions she assumed, she took them out of a passion for the work — not because of the three sources she calls the “Universe.”  While she doesn’t regret or denigrate any of those opportunities and says she’s learned a great deal from them, she urges teacher leaders to be strategic and look for opportunities to work in their sweet spots.

So my percentage was about 80%, as well.  When I look at the list, I see Cub Scout den mom, Vacation Bible School director, elementary school principal, teacher, high school reunion organizer, kindergarten soccer coach, curriculum director, teacher trainer. I do agree that when we’re strategic about the leadership roles we assume and take up the ones in our areas of passion, we’re less likely to experience burn out and more likely to experience the joy of using our gifts. And in some of these roles, I wasn’t exactly in the zone (soccer coach, reunion organizer, the list goes on…)

But here’s where I depart a little from Megan’s great line of thought: While most of these did come from the “Universe,” the longer I look at the list, the more I realize I really did get joy from them even if I took them out of necessity, especially when they involved being with my kids. Who doesn’t love a rainy Saturday morning watching a dozen 5- year olds run after a ball, then pack up and head for hot cocoa and pie? Last month I came across the Mother’s Day pictures I took of the scouts under the big tree in our front yard. The frames they made? Well, let’s just say I’m not an art teacher. But the pics are still there and they remind me of how much their moms loved them and how quickly childhood flies.

While I get Megan’s point, after pondering this for a couple of hours, I have to say I’m thinking about it a little differently. Perhaps it’s not so much how you came to take the position that determines your joy, but the joy you bring to the position when you take it that matters most.

At any rate, here’s the link, if you’d like to check out this great piece. http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/edugeek_guide/2017/05/what_drives_your_leadership_th.html

Take care,

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Confirmation Bias and Learning

One of my favorite authors is Dr. Gregory Boyd. I’ve read several of his roughly 15 books. A quote from one of them (I wish I’d thought to note the title) hangs on a whiteboard in my home office: “So everyone experiences pleasure when important beliefs are confirmed, anger when they are threatened, and pain when they are doubted. This what makes learning, as well as teaching, a challenging endeavor.”

I have that posted for several reasons. The first is that I completely agree with it (which means every time I read it, I experience pleasure). The second (rather obvious one) is that it reminds me that when people’s currently held beliefs are not confirmed they may very well exhibit behaviors that indicate they feel threatened. That may include things like withdrawing from conversation, only engaging with like-minded folks, and perhaps even judging others who don’t agree. Confirmation bias is one of the reasons Facebook is so popular. The social media platform makes it very easy to curate what comes across my digital doorstop. So if I just want to get a quick shot of endorphins, I just click on the friends I know are saying what I want to hear, and I get an instant smile and maybe even a little (self-)righteous indignation on the side.

Even though the term arises from the discipline of journalism, a study by Souchal, et. al, (2014) asserts that confirmation bias doesn’t result in just higher revenue for social media outlets, it can also lead to reduced information exchange and lower achievement among students who feel pressure to think and act in a certain way. THIS is critical because learning is a social endeavor and promotes social goals. If we’re unable to share what we know with one another, students won’t be successful learners and innovations like the first Macintosh computer, the Salk vaccine and the light bulb that emerged from groups of brilliant collaborators won’t happen.

Which leads me to another reason I have that quote on my board. It serves as a good reminder that if I want to engage in healthy dialog and debate with my peers and collaborate with them to create new ideas, strategies, and outcomes, I’d better be able to let go of anger when my beliefs are threatened and value ideas different from mine.

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My summer reading list

As we near the end of the semester, I am looking forward to reading some good “personal choice” books this summer. In case you’re looking for a few good reads, here’s my list with a quick comment on each:

  • The second part of Madeleine L’Engle’s Genesis Trilogy entitled A Stone for a Pillow. I read the first one, And It Was Good, over Christmas, and I can’t wait to see what she has to say about the butterfly effect and Abraham’s search for a wife for Isaac. L’Engle has a marvelously analytical and intuitive mind. It’s wonderful to see how she puts vast scientific knowledge together with her deeply held faith.
  • Visible Learning for Literacy by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey and John Hattie. My copy of Hattie’s first book, Visible Learning for Teachers, has so many pages tabbed, I forget where to start when I pick it up again. There really is some great new connection to be made on every page. His key message in the first book is that almost everything works in increasing achievement. The key is to find and use strategies that work best. Looking forward to seeing how this applies specifically to reading instruction.
  • Jon Saphier’s High Expectations Teaching. While I love Carol Dweck’s work on growth mindset, I must admit her book is a little tough for me to get through. I’m looking forward to seeing how we can convince students they really do have the potential to learn and can set high expectations for themselves and their success.
  • The Cosmic Dance: What Science Can Tech Us about the Nature of Time, Life, God & Humpty Dumpty. It’s a non-fiction book written in a graphic novel format. I started it, but had to leave it for coursework. It too, combines science and theology and faith. I’m in the middle of the Chaos-Complexity chapter and I can see how he’s building to his view on open theism. Very fun and challenging all at the same time.

Of course, 3/4 of these will have to wait until after prelims in June. Delayed gratification is better than none at all. 🙂 Hope you can pick one up sooner!

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Why I feel strongly about grading

The evaluation of student progress toward achievement of academic content is a critical matter for students, families, and society at large. School systems are most Americans’ first experience with a societal institution outside of perhaps, their family’s place of worship. Grading and reporting are most often, students’ first experiences with feedback from people outside their families. It is essential that these systems be valid and reliable sources of information about how students are doing and how they can continue to grow. Our sense of trust in societal traditions and institutions is impacted by the veracity of feedback they provide to individuals who practice and are part of them.

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Retirement is only a word: Why start a doctorate now? Part IV

So the last time we got together, I brought up the idea of grading. Over the past three years of this major district reform, even though we’ve quoted the likes of Hattie, Guskey, Wormeli and O’Connor, one question continues to come up: “What research says this really helps student achievement?” To be honest, there isn’t a great deal of quantitative data out there to answer that question. That’s why I’m doing this study.

To be even more honest, I want to be able to point to data that says, here’s how SBG helps kids, all kids. Here’s how we can integrate two worlds into one, more inclusive, world. Here’s how we can make instruction in that world more rigorous, relevant, and effective. Here’s how teachers can get greater job satisfaction because positive student-teacher relationships make us happy, increase student achievement, and are facilitated by rich, descriptive feedback loops.

Clearly, values and emotions aren’t the sole province of teachers engaged in this change process. I can see, hear and feel them in the words I’m typing now. I believe they’ll be a valuable resource as I engage in/endure this inquiry process, sustaining my drive as I move back and forth from desk to standing table in my home office, analyzing, reflecting and writing.

But they’ll also make it difficult to be objective in that same process. So while I will use my own district’s data in a quantitative analysis, I don’t think I’ll pursue qualitative data from there at this point. I do think a qualitative study of how specific SBG practices increase student achievement will provide invaluable information to both practitioners and the field, as a whole. But I think it’s a study better left for later, after practices have been given time to solidify, practitioners have had time to reflect, and the researcher has had time to recover from the slings and arrows of outrageous change.

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Retirement is only a word: Why start a doctorate now? Part III

To quickly recap: Part I was all about teaching in the age of Madonna. In Part II, it was all about special ed. In this third installment, we introduce the idea of grading and how changing it might help close the achievement gap between students with and those without disabilities.

One of the several barriers to success SWD face is they don’t know how to play the game. Most of the time, they don’t know specifically what’s expected of them, they only know they’re failing at whatever it is. They don’t know how to fix what they’re failing because grades are based on teacher-specific, Kentucky Fried Chicken secret recipes of percentages of right answers on homework, tests, and quizzes combined with effort judgments and attendance rates (Boy! I’m really rolling now, aren’t I?). Students who don’t turn in homework, but perform well on tests and quizzes get poorer grades because they don’t demonstrate “responsibility.” Students who work really hard but don’t demonstrate mastery of skills on tests and quizzes are helped out by homework grades and extra credit. They do not know the material, but their grades don’t reflect that.

Grades are based on standards when teachers use formative assessment practices such as articulating clear learning targets and providing descriptive feedback students can use and act on. If they know where they’re heading and how to get there, they can get there. Standards-based grading is one way to ensure students know the expectations, are supported with feedback, and given the opportunity to show their learning. I firmly believe the achievement gap between SWD and their typical peers will shrink if we set appropriately rigorous expectations for them; articulate these expectations in clear, unambiguous, student-friendly language; provide clear, unambiguous, and actionable feedback on their performance; give them multiple opportunities to demonstrate their learning AND report their progress based only on learning they demonstrate.

During the last two years of my tenure as curriculum director, a great team of teacher-coaches and I helped establish the foundation for implementing district-wide SBG practices. In 2015-16, K-2 teachers began to report standards-based grades. It’s been a very rocky road. As I’ve learned both through research and experience, change is hard. Very hard. Particularly systemic change.

Research also says teachers give grades based on their personal values and emotions. Try changing those. One of the reasons I decided to pursue a doctorate at this stage of my life is that during this transition, teachers have confronted me with questions I haven’t had answers for. We’re not the first district to make this change, in fact, we’re one of the last. But when values and emotions are involved, rhetoric flows, focus is lost, and more effort is expended finding reasons not to change than is spent making it happen. When I explain it to teachers one-on-one, they get it. When they get into groups of five or more, they forget the rationale and focus on the pain of change. I believe having hard, objective data will help the district refocus and move forward. I also think I need to get rid of my naivete and better understand why the leap I’m asking folks to make is so huge.

Stay tuned for the wrap up…

 

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Retirement is only a word: Why start a doctorate now? Part II

In Part I, I talked about teaching students with disabilities in the early 80’s. In Part II: transitioning to administrative work, an introduction to formative assessment and the possibility of two worlds coming together.

While the operating standards had changed the definition of students with this type of a disability to include students with IQ’s of 70 and below and nearly all students were included in elementary general ed classrooms for content areas such as science and social studies, when I became a special ed supervisor in a larger district in 2003, I began to see the broader effects of continued segregation. Chief among them were general education instructional practices that focused on the middle, identification of SWD at phenomenally high rates (therefore, high rates of separate educational placements), continued expectations of lower performance for SWD, and a consequent ever-widening achievement gap. I remember telling my student services director in 2006 that having parallel educational worlds didn’t make sense – that kids are kids and education is education. Having two separate curriculums, two separate administrative systems, and having students divided into two different worlds wasn’t working and was wrong. He suggested I apply for the curriculum director’s position opening that year. Despite his gracious and generous support, I didn’t get it. In retrospect, I wasn’t ready anyway.

Several years later, though, I did take over his position as special ed director and became more familiar with the work the curriculum director was doing at the time. Working together, we facilitated the integration of sped teachers into general education professional development activities and incorporated universal screening in all K-8 classrooms. We began a more rigorous response-to-intervention approach that helped remediate kids early and avoid placement. When the curriculum director position came open again, the superintendent asked if I’d like to take it. So I did.

While I was in that position, both general and sped teachers from every building received intensive, ongoing, job-embedded PD in formative assessment practices. A small team of teacher leader curriculum coaches was hired and together we planned and delivered PD with the goal of strengthening general education instruction so that more students were successful in that environment. Through its PD research, the coaching team began to see the power and need for making learning expectations clear to students and providing better descriptive feedback. As PD continued, it became clear that changes in assessment practices would require changes in grading. It also became clearer to me that changes in grading might just help better integrate the parallel worlds of general and special education.

 

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Retirement is only a word: Why start a doctorate now? Part I

I began teaching in 1982 just seven years after PL 94-142 opened the doors of public schools to students with disabilities (SWD). My teaching and administrative experiences since then have incrementally and irreversibly changed my philosophy of education. It is that philosophy that motivates me to address the topic of standards-based grading.

My first job as a special education teacher was in a self-contained classroom for students with, what was then called, “developmental handicaps.” According to Ohio’s operating standards, that meant students had IQ’s of 80 and below and an adaptive behavior deficit. As a 21 year old fresh out of BGSU, I had 16 K-1 students with developmental handicaps in a self-contained classroom all day with no aide. I cried every night the entire month of September. While I changed grade levels and school districts in the interim, I taught in this same segregated scenario until 1997 (thankfully, with a wonderful paraprofessional), when my co-teacher (we had to share a room with two classes of sped students because of overcrowding) along with our special ed supervisor and I went to see the Ed Smith School in Syracuse, NY, where students with autism were being educated in the same classrooms as their typical peers. Both philosophical and practical considerations supported the success of that program. Based on the belief that students with disabilities were a) entitled to the least restrictive environment, b) could learn much from their typical peers, and c) could teach much to their typical peers, autistic students were integrated into every facet of the general education culture. Practical realities such as the need for individual instruction and personal assistance were addressed through the use of small class sizes, co-teaching strategies, and personal aides. A particularly crystallizing moment came for us when we sat down with the building’s school psychologist, Micky Schecter, who asked us what we taught. We described our students using the operating standards description and he responded, “That’s a handicap where you come from?” I remember feeling my stomach turn and my face redden with shame. Should my students really be in a general ed classroom? Were they hindered by the (my) automatically lowered expectations of them when they were identified? Was I completely missing the point when I responded to their questions with “DH-4 means Dawn Henry’s 4th grade class?”

When we came back from that trip, we invited our general ed counterparts to lunch and sold ourselves to get our kids integrated into science and social studies. We offered to grade papers, write lesson plans, modify tests, teach, wash desks, whatever, to get our kids into classrooms where they could hear their peers’ questions, be part of discussions with more than five people and contribute to their peers’ understanding of people different from themselves. That was the last time I was ever in a self-contained setting.

 

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Walk with Me, Talk with Me

Welcome to my blogspot. I confess I’m not an experienced blogger, but am willing to learn. And the only way to learn is to do.

So I’m doing. 🙂

The title of this opening post comes from Neal, a good family friend, former Ohio University Student Senate President, and now an executive with the national YMCA. When he and my husband were at OU and Neal wanted to discuss some political goings on in the world of higher education, he would say to Dean, “Walk with me, talk with me. Tell me a story, make it short and sweet and give it a moral.”

I’ve always loved that. It makes me think of good friends, great conversation and solving problems together.

So now that you’re here, walk with me, talk with me. Let’s share some short, sweet stories and give them a moral.

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