First Steps: Teach Equity and Justice In School

I intended to write about teenage mental health this week. Recent events and several conversations about teaching white students about oppression and white supremacy have altered those plans. 

“...the approach has been to help outsiders develop characteristics that will make them more acceptable to the insiders. I am suggesting something different:  The group must change its attitudes and expectations towards those who, for whatever reason, are not yet part of the system.”  (Paley, 1992)

In my dreams last night, I wrote a powerful article on the topic. Unfortunately I remember little about the details of my imaginary genius.  The only thing I do remember is that my dream involved the book We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know (Howard, 1999). From that book I paraphrase a question that I often ask my classes before we begin discussing power and privilege, “Do fish consider the water they’re swimming in.”  No doubt some of you made the same WTF face as my students do when I ask the question. This text examines the fears white teachers have when asked to work with students of color or address issues within multicultural education. Too often those fears prevent these teachers from meeting the needs of students of color or facilitating changes in their classroom or school communities. Reluctance and uncertainty among teachers often perpetuates emerging systems of oppression and white supremacy in schools.  There are, however,  ways to make teaching against these poisons more accessible for teachers and students. 

Oppression and white supremacy are intertwined with racism in this country. At the core of oppression and white supremacy lies power, exclusion and dominance. These practices emerge early in schooling. If the seeds of oppression germinate in kindergarten classrooms, by high school such practices become standard operating procedure. Students and teachers tend to ignore the subtle sprinkling of power and exclusion that emerges when innocuous social domination takes root in everyday interactions.  Like the fish in the question above, those who have power and privilege rarely consider let alone question the power they swim in everyday.  In order to change, white teachers and students have to examine their role in maintaining and supporting the systems of exclusion and dominance at the core of oppression, racism, and white supremacy. 

Until the events of the last two weeks addressing systemic racism and oppression within the fabric of our communities have often been marginalized in our schools and in our country. Since most institutions benefit from white supremacy, those who question the hand that feeds them are kept in their lane until they can be ushered to the nearest off ramp. Hopefully, in the near future, meaningful and dramatic changes will replace hashtags and hope so we can transform the dynamics of power and privilege in our country. To do this, schools will have to assume a more effective role in dismantling systems of oppression and confront the inherent bias within their curricula and community.  However, many individuals struggle with where to begin or how to effectively handle the inevitable pushback from those resisting their perceived loss of privilege.

Schools can no longer ignore the cancerous impact of white supremacy and oppression in the curricula, their teaching practices, or the hallways.. Teachers will have to confront these and many other interconnected issues. White teachers and students will have to get comfortable being uncomfortable. While students of color have been ready and waiting for these conversations and changes, many of their white peers don’t know what they don’t know. Many teachers discuss racism and the institutions that reinforce power and privilege in a theoretical manner. Unfortunately, that aligns these problems with a disconnected ‘other’ and fails to address issues in their classroom, school and community. To effectively dismantle these systems each of us has to look inward first and then begin by addressing the world just beyond our shoes.

In her text White Fragility (2018) Dr. DiAngelo eloquently explores and describes the experience of having conversations that confront white supremacy in various institutions. The defensiveness, outrage, and tears from the white members of these communities she explains reflects a power play that stymies change by taking the focus off of racism and oppression. If you have ever had such discussions in a classroom of predominantly white students the reactions she describes also ring true. Unfortunately, as the song says, most people are more concerned about being called racist than they are with ending racism.  So how do we get beyond the defense mechanisms of white students and teachers to change things?

Getting started usually trips people up. Others rush to solve the problem and create a solution to a problem they don’t fully understand.  If you are game, here are three possible ways to begin as you move into the conversation:

1. Change the teacher/student dynamic.

2. Map power in the community. 

3. Don’t start off mentioning racism, oppression, etc.

Wait what?!?  I will try to explain my reasoning.  We have to change our mindset and approach to ensure that meaningful change happens. These suggestions propose more of a ground up approach to transforming schools into equitable and supportive learning environments. Mistakes will be made. We will learn and grow. Listen for the little it is worth, I am a white man with a PhD in Multicultural Education. My preference when addressing topics such as these is to jump in and speak truth to power. Yet, that is not always the most effective strategy. The conversation often gets bogged down by the defensive outbursts of some of my white students. While I deal with those tantrums, my students of color just feel like they’re better off banging their heads against their tables. Little progress is made and the status quo remains unchanged. So instead, perhaps we can sow the seeds of change by addressing the underlying issues of oppression and white supremacy (such as exclusion and dominance) before examining the issue in a more direct and lengthy manner.

Many teachers are reluctant to teach subjects in which they are not experts.  Others do not want to open themselves up to getting called racist or having to deal with the considerable pushback. All valid concerns. Consider reframing the relationship between individuals and the information. Remove yourself from a position of expertise or even take a ‘one down’ approach. Allow students to explore ideas with you. If you are a white teacher, recasting this as a shared learning experience in which teacher and students move towards a new understanding together can soothe, if not remove, much of the anxiety.  Repositioning yourself can help diffuse power struggles that can emerge. When you reframe your relationship with students and these topics, you diminish your role as an agent of the oppressive system for students of color. Doing this also decreases the criticism you get from white students who might think you are forcing your ideas on them. Reframing the teacher/student dynamic sets this up as a shared journey to understanding and not a top down mandate.

Oppression represents an expression of power. At the core of power sits exclusion and dominance.  Thus, oppression impacts almost every interaction in school. Since schools stand as a microcosm of society, if we address and change the hierarchy of power in schools, this will set the stage for change in how power shapes society at large. In schools power takes numerous forms: who controls resources, whose voices dominate conversations, popular vs unpopular, etc. Understanding power and how it alters relationships and involvement in learning can help a community reshape the distribution of power and improve the learning experience for more students. Mapping out the distribution of power in class draws attention to what most students already know or feel, but students or adults rarely address it. Ask your students to create a visual representation of power (in their class, grade, or school.). One way is to draw this like the food pyramid of old. Those with power sit on top of those with less, little, or no real power.  However, if you ask them to position those with the most power in the center of the paper; those without power along the edges of the paper (the marginalized); and others in between they can represent the relationships or dynamics of power with greater specificity.  Doing this enables you to have conversations about intent versus impact and how power impedes access for some students to all the class has to offer. You can also create a goal for what the hierarchy could look like and revisit the mapping throughout the school year.

Another way to start these conversations without setting off defensive positioning or to establish a foundation for change involves emphasizing the components of oppression and white supremacy, but from the flip side. The concepts that follow provide a foundation and a jumping off point to address issues of oppression and white supremacy. Introduce students to these six topics:

• Democratic Interactions

• Equality and Equity

• Empowered Voices

• Diverse Perspectives

• Critical Thinking

• Collaboration

These six concepts (or practices) represent what is possible in a place of inclusion, diversity, and positive engagement. These concepts borrow from multicultural education and impact the quality of students’ learning experiences. Attention to these topics and how they operate in school can occur several ways. Explore with your students what these concepts are and examine how they play out in their day to day interactions. If your school uses experiential learning the facilitators can use these concepts as anchor points for the different activities. Other school activities (drama, dance, etc.) can create a framework of best practices around these terms. Finally, classroom work could also draw on these concepts to guide and foster success for more students. The key is for these concepts to serve as more than an idea. Use them as an objective, or an ongoing practice to measure against and always work towards.

These concepts represent skills that will set the foundation for students to understand oppression and white supremacy in future activities. What follows is a brief description of each concept. They are not presented in order of importance. Feel free to begin in whatever order is appropriate for the needs of your students.

• Critical Thinking encourages students and teachers to analyze information as well as their actions and attitudes in classroom interactions. Thinking critically can also focus on assessment of individual actions and of group interactions. One goal of Critical Thinking is for students to reflect and change to become more self aware and  to promote intellectual or social growth. 

• Collaboration enables teachers and students to build a safe and supportive environment in which each person could succeed. Collaboration emphasizes students working with a partner, in small groups, and as a whole class. This allows students to focus on the skills involved in completing activities instead of competing against one another. By emphasizing collaboration over competition teachers can highlight interactions during activities instead of focusing on the outcomes. Some themes to consider within Collaboration are how to work effectively and efficiently together, as well as group versus individual rewards or consequences. 

• Empowered Voices means that classrooms or groups move beyond being dominated by the ideas of high status individuals and towards including multiple voices. It involves instances when students feel or  do not feel comfortable in expressing their true feelings or speaking honestly with their peers. Ideally the community enables students to speak their minds and push back on the dominant narrative without  consequences. Creating a safe classroom  in which students developed can develop trust and compassion so that individuals can connect with one another and be valued for who they are not for what they are. 

• Diverse Perspectives focuses attention on understanding and using the diversity of skills and abilities of all students so the learning community could be more successful. Building off of Empowered Voices, students can explore a range of ideas or opinions to move their work towards specific inclusive goals. Students can also learn to merge multiple ideas into one strategy or find common ground between their perspectives. Students can be encouraged to explore the benefits of using diverse approaches to problem solving and decision-making in order to understand the strengths, opinions, and learning styles of their peers. 

• Democratic Interactions represents group decision making beyond a simple vote and the tyranny of the majority. Specifically, this examines  how students discuss problems, devised strategies, and made decisions as a group. Teachers can emphasize the development of student leadership, but perhaps focus more on shared decision making in the community while also linking back to Empowered Voices and Diverse Perspectives so that myriad students have a voice when devising strategies to solve problems and understand how all individuals benefit when groups benefit in the classroom. Teachers can also explore conflict resolution within a lens of Diverse Perspectives or Democrat Interactions, or Equality & Equity.  

• Equality & Equity represented both a starting place and a goal for all interactions during the school and classroom experiences of students. First students need to understand the difference between these two ideas as well as when to apply each. Teachers must also ensure that all members of the learning community have equal rights and equal status socially and academically.  This way they create a place where diversity is valued, and individual differences can be used to help everyone succeed. Like in several other concepts, if all students have equal status they are more likely to blend ideas and strategies. Equality & Equity should also involve reducing differences in status and power among classmates while providing opportunities for students to realize what they all had in common.

By engaging in practices antithetical to the invidious concepts within oppression and white supremacy, students will begin to understand how such constructs take root in seemingly innocuous ways.  When you move to address racism, oppression, and white supremacy, students (white students in particular perhaps) will have a foundation of experiences on which to connect and process these difficult topics.

For many these ideas neither go far enough nor fast enough.  I get it and agree on several levels. A big part of this work involves dismantling systems of exclusion and dominance while exposing white folks to the power they swim in but also putting new water in their tank. These ideas represent the first steps on a journey to undo 400 years of systematic oppression and white supremacy in America. The path will be long and frustrating. Let us operationalize inclusion and equity while using diversity and differences to power learning. If students learn what is possible when we remove layers of oppression, they can then move beyond schools to reshape their community and country so that our social, economic, and political system include and benefit every American.

It Is Not About You

“I won’t wear a mask because I live in a free country…” some idiocy paraphrased from Kevins and Karens

I went to pick up dog food the other day. The nice folks at Pet Food Express had a great system in place to maintain a safer experience for the customers and for themselves. Yet, they all looked frazzled. It turns out that a few shoppers freaked out on them about being required to wear a mask in the store.I know there’s a segment of folks who do this on purpose and video the interactions in hope of gaining notoriety and maybe some money. Insert eye rolling emoticon here. The anti-mask thing seems to be the latest faux flashpoint for some folks looking to tantrum. As noted, this is an issue of respect and selfishness. And, this connects to an issue that schools could do a better job addressing - balancing the Me and the We.

Today I saw a graph online that presents the Pros and Cons of mask wearing (https://twitter.com/bethrevis/status/1262375254938341376/photo/1).  I’m not a fan of mask wearing, but I do it to make sure I don’t inadvertently contribute to the problem.What got my attention was the phrase in the pro mask column that read - “SHOW RESPECT. It’s Not About You.” Finally someone else said it! Chapeau. 

My classic first day of school speech centered on reminding students that they were not the center of the universe and that the world did not revolve around them. That we were in this together. Throughout the year I reminded folks that not everything was about them. It was often an uphill battle.  Judging from the amount to tantrumming children I see dressed as grown ups on the news these days, a lot of teachers chose not to address this problem in school.

One way to examine the basics of democracy is to explore the tension between the individual and the community. Although I went into detail describing democracy in the classroom in an early post, let me quickly review. Democracy translates (in ancient Greek) to actions taken for the good of the community.  To the Greeks idiocy (actions taken for the benefit of the individual) represented the opposite of democracy. Fast forward to the founding of the American democratic republic. The central tension at the core of this little experiment balanced the needs/rights between federal, state, and individual entities. In the classroom, we often see similar tensions arise. For students and teachers this democracy versus idiocy presents as a Me versus We issue.  

Our country has been transformed by a zero sum mindset. I win. You lose. I will get mine and you will get what’s left.  Our country and our classroom should not resemble packs of wild dogs fighting over scraps.  Zero sum idiocy in the classroom is the student who dominates conversations or hoards resources. The student who makes sure everyone knows how smart they are or what grade they got. It could also be the student who cuts everyone down, bullies, or intimidates their peers.  Even the most jaded, or burnt out teacher knows on some level that classrooms don’t have to operate this way. 

The various pandemic problems have created a network of Me versus We issues. Initially we saw the Me Folks hoarding toilet paper, hand sanitizer, etc. The We Folks asked questions about flattening the curve and social distancing. More recently, we see the Me Folks protesting against stay at home orders and wearing masks. While We Folks continue to look for ways to support the community and contribute to solutions.  No matter how you view the current situation, what has happened should  fundamentally alter how we live and how our country operates moving forward.  In teacher talk, what we have is a giant teachable moment. We can do better to balance the Me and the We.  I think that we as educators could do more to adjust students’ mindsets to be more aware of the Me and the We issues.

It is possible for the community and individuals to benefit in the classroom. A parent once tried to admonish me for having students create portions for the group during a buffet dinner while camping. Beyond being a good way for students to analyze and divide their resources, I pointed out, we had to do this because some students at the front of the line tried to take most of the food and the cooks at the back of the line ended up with little food. I mentioned that students didn’t think this was fair so they created a solution and that the students who usually complained about the new system were the ones who tended to take most of the food.  Teachers can create similar solutions for class interactions. 

Listen, everyone has the right to protest. Few people enjoy being told what to do. The pandemic has disrupted everything. It sucks and most folks want to get out and do things. Some of the protest signs are funny (although I don’t think farting and a virus work the same). Others however make great examples of Greek idiocy. Please stop confusing your freedom and this the current inconveniences. Stop throwing a fit like a toddler who didn’t get their way if you have to wear a mask in a store. Side note - lay off the hypocrisy and faux history - when protesting stop misappropriating historical figures, using quotes out of context, etc. Don’t call stay at home orders fascist and then vote for an authoritarian president who corrodes democracy. Don’t use ‘my body, my choice’ signage now, but later support pro-life candidates. And for heaven's sake, don’t compare pandemic policies to Hitler’s Germany.  I mean you can, but you’d be wrong and just show how little you understand.

Wear a mask. Don’t wear a mask. Just know that none of this is about you.  The current predicament is about the community.  Freedom requires responsibility and accountability. Unfortunately too many people act like teenagers - they want all the freedom, none of the responsibility, and get pissed when they are held accountable.  Whenever we get back in the classroom, let’s do more to dismantle zero sum interactions and show students how to balance their needs with the needs of the community.  If we do this, we can all get what we need. 

Strange Days & Silver Linings

So Albus Dumbledore and Jim Morrison walk into a bar…

Things have gone sideways recently. The current pandemic has dragged folks to the cusp of the future.  New realities have emerged and the future will reflect what roads we walk in the coming days. We can choose to freak out or we can find the silver linings. We can return to business as usual or we can reshape how we do business. To paraphrase Dumbledore, we have a choice between what is right and what is easy.  Strange days have indeed tracked us down. 

Strange days have found us

Strange days have tracked us down

The Doors have provided some soundtrack to the current plague for me (I’ve also been listening to a lot of death metal but that’s for another post).  Word is that I was conceived to a Doors record but I don’t like to talk about that. More to the point, I keep thinking back to this girl in my junior high school graphic arts program who used to silk screen Doors t-shirts every week. One day I asked why she did that. After giving me a look of disdain, she told me, “because Jim knows the future…” Turns out she might have been right.

They're going to destroy

Our casual joys

A lot of people seem stuck between living in an alternate reality, negotiating new realities, and holding tightly to an outdated reality.  It is easy to become overwhelmed by the multitude of uncertainties, confusion, and stress. Lockdowns, shelter in place, essential versus nonessential, and distance learning oh my.  This crisis has demonstrated (in case it wasn’t already obvious) that many of our systems (education, health care, etc.) teeter on collapse at any sign of heightened pressure upon those systems. Some see this as a catastrophe. Yet if we can keep the shadows from crowding our thinking, we  can find silver linings - opportunities to change how we do things and the systems that guide everyday life.

We shall go on playing

Or find a new town

Sure teaching from home is less than ideal and it will have a negative impact on students’ intellectual and academic development. It could be worse. Public schools and independent schools have struggled to adapt to the Covid-19 realities. And, we have a chance to change schools for the future. Say what you will about schools and schooling, but our education systems are giant, lumbering beasts stumbling into the future. If you have ever shuddered at someone saying well that’s how we’ve always done it, don’t accept it for schools and schooling.

Strange eyes fill strange rooms

Voices will signal their tired end

The hostess is grinning

Her guests sleep from sinning

Hear me talk of sin

And you know this is it

Schools and schooling have an opportunity to change as a result of our current pandemic. Teachers and principles have been scrambling to switch gears.  Parents are freaking out as they try to deal with their kids, do school at home, and their various other grown up anxieties. Listen, a lot of things suck right now. Finding silver linings gives us a glimmer of hope.  Teachers can reflect on new ways to expand their bag of tricks or rethink how they teach. Schools that have been trapped by their history or traditions are momentarily freed of those constraints to redesign their programs.  Parents… well maybe they will appreciate teachers a bit more ...

Strange days have found us

And through their strange hours

We linger alone

Do.Think.Learn has it better than most schools. I designed the school to flex and shift as situations change or as the needs of students change.  Our shift to remote learning almost went seamlessly. As with any change you have to tighten things up and make adjustments as you go. Is it ideal? No. I have to use spring break to change how I deliver content, how I interact with students, and how I ensure students connect the dots and have opportunities to make meaning from content. Several years ago I created this school to better meet the needs of a growing number of students and to meet my professional needs. Schooling doesn’t have to be trapped by history and business as usual. The Do.Think.Learn web page features a lot of photos of bridges. I did that for two reasons. One reason is that adolescence bridges childhood and adulthood. Second, DTL stands as a bridge from how we used to do school to how we can do school in the future. In the future I want to create a team of micro-schools that can adapt and adjust to the world as it changes. Something akin to armies of guerrilla educators to reshape teaching and learning. 

Bodies confused

Memories misused

As we run from the day

To a strange night of stone

The present situation has not so subtly hinted that we need to change our ways in a few different areas.  The question is, we will listen and make those changes or do we make the easy choice and go back to business as usual?  My dissertation advisor used to always say, You make the road by walking it.  Some folks will want to go forward and some folks will want to go back.  Do.Think.Learn chooses to go forward.

History = Our Story: Reshaping How We Teach US History

1. “Because everyday is white kids’ day,” Kathy (age 6, White River Apache) in response to an older peer asking why there wasn’t a day to celebrate white kids

The other day in class I told my 8th graders that one of their culmination questions this term would be - How did slavery continue after the adoption of the 13th Amendment.  My announcement did not go over well. After a bit of stammering, a student asked me how slavery could continue if it was illegal.  I replied that some forms of slavery are visible and other forms of slavery take on new names. This washed over their heads a bit so I tried a metaphor that I thought might begin to ground their thinking.  I asked them what the difference is between a spelling test and a spellabration? They acknowledged that both test spelling and that calling it a spellabration probably makes some students relax more. This, I told them, was not unlike forms of slavery, oppression, and racism in America. In US History, some folks changed the names of specific systems of power so other people would relax and go along with a program that marginalizes specific individuals and groups.

This term we have begun our History of Slavery and Oppression project. My students this year only understand racism and slavery in an abstract, theoretical concept. The project aims to move them into a deeper understanding of these tough concepts by stripping away the whitewashing found in most history textbooks. We began with the aspirational and lofty words found in the founding documents (“all men are created equal...life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) and asked if those words ring true and if all citizens have had access to equality, or life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  This marks the forth or fifth time I’ve run this project and it always opens some eyes (mine included). As my culmination question suggests, one of the underlying goals of this project is for students to begin to understand that slavery and oppression by any other name is just called everyday living for People of Color.

Students examine  how Indigineous, Black, Latinx, and Asian Americans have experienced American history.  Before I go much further I should mention that I don’t hold much back and I work to make sure I measure out the doses of reality for each class.  Students (and grown ups) should feel uncomfortable studying this history - think of it as America - the good, the bad, and the ugly. We have to pull the curtain back and see America for all that she is and dismantle the myriad myths with US History. The traditional myths associated with teaching history can be lumped into a Great Men doing Great Deeds curricula. In addition, it is critical for the study of this history to look at how white supremacy shaped and transformed this country over time. Simplistic interpretations do no one any favors.  Our history is complex, contradictory, and uncomfortable at times - we have to create curricula that helps students understand this. Since three year olds understand racism (see Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Clark doll experiment) then we as teachers can teach students at all grade levels about these ideas as well. Students are more capable than we often give them credit for, so my guess is that the problem (as usual) is the adults. Amongst the grown ups, I’m guessing that many feel anxious or uncomfortable teaching slavery and genocide in America. While others get upset and defensive when the heroes and myths  they grew up with suddenly aren’t so heroic. Our country’s founding and path forward is complicated. Many issues have emerged from efforts to dismantle the various myths that have contributed to the American story. This project re-examines the American experience in hopes of creating a version of history that is more honest and accessible to more people.  

The project isn’t perfect but it is a start. I’ve run it a few different ways and it always moves according to the needs of the students towards a culmination that fits with those needs. One year with a large and diverse class we had difficult and rewarding conversations that culminated with a student designed music/dance performance called The History of Light & Dark. Other years with less diverse groups we’ve focused on negotiating  white guilt and white anger as well as supporting students of color who became frustrated and tired of the predictable range of responses from their white peers. I used to expect (and maybe hope) that my students of color would get pissed at their white peers ignorant of privilege who push meritocracy or color blindness. Mostly though these young women and men tend to look sad and tired as they, once again, have to deal with the subtle forms of white supremacy manifested by their peers. Over the years, many of these culminations have taken the form of Socratic Seminars. In these public conversations our big questions have included:

• How has our country lived up to the lofty words in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution?. 

• Was the Civil War really about slavery?

• How has slavery, racism, and oppression shaped our country?

• Describe instances in which the political, justice, or economic systems marginalized specific racial or ethnic groups.

Deconstructing myths and expanding the focus of our study of history does cause anxiety and confusion.  That’s ok. As teachers our job is to help students negotiate these feelings and the information involved.  If we do not have these uncomfortable conversations we will continue to maintain inequities and fail to understand how past experiences shape current conversations around race, justice, and power in our everyday lives. To continue to perpetuate the myth of America only adds to the vacuous acceptance of the past and ever growing reach of “Ignorance is Strength”.

2.12.2020: My Foray Into The Four A's

A few years ago my boss Dennis and I were tasked with coming up with some upper school marketing ideas that would fit on a postcard.  We bounced around some ideas, but kept coming back to the 3Rs of yesteryear (reading, writing, and arithmetic). We wanted to fight against the notion that our school was a summer camp and we thought we could redesign that traditional academic foundation to fit with our school’s nontraditional ethos. So we started with a new set of R’s - Rigor, Responsibility, and Resourcefulness. Admin rejected those immediately. Evidently rigor and responsibility didn’t mesh with the intended image. We shifted gears and went with the three S’s - Self Efficacy, Sustainability, and Success. We mocked up a tight card. We tipped our hat to traditional academics and moved the idea into the school’s  modern, progressive ethos. The first two S’s came right from the school’s “pillars.” The success piece seemed like a natural fit - what parent doesn’t want their student to succeed in some ways at school. Heck, we even wrote about how each student defines success for themself. We felt great about sending this card out and it too was rejected. Sigh...

Years later when I opened DTL I worked to create an easily digestible message around what this school was about. Something that concisely summed up our emphasis on skill development while also conveying our learning philosophy. Oddly enough I have found this much more difficult than my three S work. Keep it simple. Less is more. Focus on what we do. This wasn’t nearly as easy as I thought it would be. Finally I narrowed down the messaging I wanted to convey to four concepts - investigate, communicate, collaborate, and dedicate (the 8s). I listed our four areas of focus as:  

• Investigate: The search for information and the construction of knowledge through inquiry. 

• Communicate: Multiple means to present a wide range of information.

• Collaborate: Work with other individuals to build knowledge. 

• Dedicate: Earn it to learn it. Take responsibility for and commit to doing the highest level of work possible. 

In my mind, these four skills are what schools emphasize.  I was quite proud of my ability to distill my message down. However, at the time, I worked one on one with individuals around town. So while three skills worked well, one of those things was not like the others and it is quite tricky to collaborate with yourself. 

The next summer I focused on the next evolution of DTL messaging. I wanted to repackage our focus but not do away with the 8s. How could I reframe these ideas for a one on one learning community?  After a rather lively internal dialogue, the Four A’s (4A’s) emerged - Ask, Analyze, Answer, and Assess. And that’s when school tripled in size…

The 4A’s roll of the tongue and map on to the 8s pretty well. Collaborate remains a bit of an outlier and Assess isn’t quite congruent with Dedicate but we’re getting closer. I started getting ready for the new school year by changing up the web page. I add Ask, Analyze, Answer, Assess along the bottom of the page - easy enough. In my mind I put together what I will say when potential families ask me what they mean or what my own marketing material would read like. A more difficult task emerged when I attempted to expand on my elevator pitch explanation.

Elevator pitch description:

• Ask:  Help students formulate questions of material and to question the information they consume everyday.

• Analyze:  Foster critical thinking and the examination of multiple perspectives or data sources. Students learn how to think not what to think.

• Answer:  Develop a range of skills so that students can present their findings in multiple media (emphasis on written, spoken, and visual presentations).

• Assess: Reflect on the quality of skills involved in the process (ask and analyze) and product (answer).

Extended dance remix :

• Ask:  Students have questions and need to ask questions. Sometimes they have their own questions, and other times, teachers assign them questions.  Life is about answering questions. If students do not question information, they run the risk of becoming pawns in someone else’s game of chess.  Students are bombarded with information. Surrounded by all this content, students have to become critical consumers of information. DTL supports students as they develop their skills around asking questions.

• Analyze: To answer questions, students process quite a bit of information and disinformation. In order to build their answers students have to explore multiple perspectives and examine data. This means researching ideas, holding facts up to the light, and connect how information evolved over time.   AT DTL we facilitate this process and support each student as they develop their critical thinking skills.

• Answer: Questions need answers and how students present their ideas, opinions, and information is critical to their success in school and out of school. Students work to develop their skills in myriad types of presenting. AT DTL we focus on written, spoken, and  visual presentations. These three broad categories allow for the development of a wide range of skills within each area so that students can provide strong answers in a variety of situations.

• Assess:   Grades are a necessary evil. However, how we define that term and assess student work can be supportive for students while holding them accountable. DTL avoids the term ‘grade’ as much as possible. Students are not their grades. We discuss assessment quite a bit however. This provides a snapshot into an array of skills within specific projects or activities. Assessing skills allows students, teachers, and various grown ups to track progress and know how best to support a student and plan out future curricula for each student.

The extended explanations definitely took some thinking, but made sense to me.  The real problems emerged when I attempted to use the 4A’s as the framework for my fall report cards.

I planned to use the 4A’s instead of the various subjects as the categories of assessment for my narratives. In theory this was a great idea, but in order to make this happen I needed a rubric of sorts to serve as a skeleton of skills within each category. Really, if I could pull this off, I could reshape how people look at what and how students learn. Ok easy J…. Two things tripped me up. The foremost issue centered on other schools might react to this framework.  They couldn’t just glance at the narrative and get an idea of a student’s subject specific skills and understanding. I hear admissions people like to quickly ascertain what a student learned and how they performed. As much as I want to change things, I often feel trapped in a system that talks a good game but often resists change on practical grounds. As they say, the tall tulip gets whacked. The second issue was the difficulty I had constructing the framework of skills within each A.  I slowly framed in some of each category, but really didn’t have enough built to hold up each category within the narrative. Since it didn’t feel ready to go, I put this idea back in beta and moved forward with Plan B.

In the end, I created narratives that kept the traditional subjects as the primary categories and used the 4As as a guide to assess student work within each category.  And, since I still have a soft spot for the 8s, I also wove those ideas into each subject specific narrative. Baby steps, I guess…. 

Schools and schooling are a bit bloated and reluctant or unable to change for a variety of reasons.  The majority of schools provide an education for a future that went by the wayside decades ago. After years of having students ask versions of the “why do we have to know this?” or “ when am I ever going to use this?” I need to find a different way of doing things.  Much of the subject matter inherent in middle school and high school curricula lacks relevance or meaning to the majority of youth. Conversely, many of the subjects that could be relevant remain outside the realm of schools and formal education. However, many of the underlying skills within these subjects do translate to a multitude of futures for our students.  Maybe more schools should take up the 8s and have their foray into the 4As to make education matter again.

9.4.19: Anarchy in the Classroom

Way back in the day, Bobby Kelly and I were riding our bikes in the woods that split Westfield and Garwood. Somehow we ended up on the other side of the creek and stumbled across a wooden fort down in a gulley.  Someone had spray painted the anarchy A on one of the walls … Damn…excitement and confusion flooded my system. I knew what the A meant… some of the older kids talked that way after they went off to junior high. Actually, I didn’t really know much, but it sounded cool.  We wanted to know more, so we snuck in. We didn’t figure much out, but the inner walls had weird band names painted everywhere. As a result, we came to associate the anarchy A with punk music. For some soon to be teenagers, a door to a new world had opened. Adolescence and anarchy fit together naturally. Nothing feels better at 14 than independence and doing things for yourself. Giving the world a giant middle finger feels good at the time, but doesn’t really solve a whole lot. 

Last year a former student told me that I promoted an anarchistic community in my classroom. On the plus side, I’m glad he paid attention in his government class, but WHAT?!  I encouraged and promoted anarchy in my middle school classrooms for years? This hit me hard… Until it didn’t. Then I started getting psyched. Don’t confuse me with an anarchist - I lack the chutzpah and energy.  As much as I wanted to be anarchy back in the day,  I wasn’t even that punk back in the day. Sure, I had combat boots, tried carving the anarchy A into my bicep, and wore a trench coat, but punk and anarchy are way more than a look. The necessary attitude and full rejection of the system eluded me. All of that seemed like too much work. Maybe I just couldn’t bite the hand that fed me too hard.

Hearing that I had facilitated an anarchist community as a teacher made me feel almost legit.  I’m not pretending to know or be that knowledgeable about the anarchist community, but being told that, I got the same sensations as I did sneaking into the cool, older kids fort back in the woods. I did some digging. and came to realize that if teachers could harness some of the energy and concepts of anarchy, we could make school function more effectively or at least make it a better experience for more students.

Generally, teachers and schools frown upon anarchy in the classroom. Yet, anarchist ideas could benefit classrooms and school communities. Embracing the core ideas of anarchy could help teachers and students get more out of school. Some readers will  have already started freaking out. At the mention of anarchy, most people think chaos, confusion, and dysfunction. We hear ‘anarchy’ and picture AntiFa protests and scenes of chaos or violence. However, this doesn’t do anarchy justice. In reality, anarchy represents way more than individuals using violence to dismantle social and political hierarchies. Anarchy can provide a system that many schools actually want to establish and encourage. 

If we take a deeper dive into anarchist communities or go beyond the common imagery of anarchists we find  something more meaningful. Anarchists, their communities, and workplaces reflect more organization and equity than many of us give anarchists credit. In fact, many workplaces strive to employ some of the same ideas as anarchist communities. In schools, good luck finding a teacher who admits to embracing anarchy. Yet, if they say they emphasize decentralized, collaborative, and equitable practices - look out! So, what can we borrow from anarchistic philosophy to improve our classrooms and schools? For the purpose of this conversation I want to focus on four components of anarchist collectives that would benefit learning communities. Those four components are: collaborative relations, direct action, community assembly, and a self managed workplace. Each of these concepts involves a decentralized hierarchy that emphasizes responsibility as well as accountability within the community.

Many teachers strive for cooperative or collaborative interactions, but few would say they’re anarchists. However, if we adjust their perspective on anarchism, perhaps they really are anarchists.   A deeper understanding could lead to big changes in how we facilitate classroom interactions. Let’s start here - Schools are based on factory assembly lines or corporate offices. Classroom dynamics represent political interactions.  Most of the interactions within a school reflect a struggle for or reaction to power. Various micro-communities (small groups) coalesce around or position themselves against those with power (for example the typical popular kids versus marginalized individuals). It is foolish not to acknowledge that the social dynamics of school inhibit or impact learning. In most classrooms a limited number of students control the vast majority of resources. So classrooms reflect unbridled capitalism in which a limited section of the population controls almost all of the economic distribution system. When a few students control almost all of the classroom resources (time, attention, power, etc.), those at the mercy of the powerful have a harder time learning and living in the classroom. The festering resentment of the disenfranchised towards the ruling class of students not only impacts learning but has tremendous repercussions throughout the school.  So for a lot of schools and teachers the focus on collaborative relations fits naturally (effectiveness is a different story).

Generally, schools have issues with direct action by students. Some principals frown on student protests. Other administrators accept if not encourage students exercising their rights (appropriately of course). However, large scale direct action from students or teachers rarely happens. Perhaps teachers should protest more, but let’s focus on students for a second. Individuals and small groups fight against the systems of adolescent or academic power throughout each day.  This may stretch the boundaries of direct action, but some direct action supports positive change. Other direct action came about in response to a negative change or incident. The school day is littered with small incidents, individual action, and subtle confrontations. Whether or not we understand or support student direct action, it happens and will continue to happen. Perhaps if we infuse the other three ideas I’m discussing, we’d see more positive direct action in schools.

Having students participate in authentic decision making in the classroom and larger school community has a positive influence throughout school. What that looks like will vary quite a bit. In most schools, assemblies and meetings are rarely autonomous and usually reflect top down systems. In anarchist terms community assemblies involve autonomous, face-to-face decision making conversations by members of the community. Decentralized conversations address specific problems and issues that impact the community. Teachers and schools have a lot of control issues so ceding decision making to students takes a certain amount of confidence and trust. As a result, most schools shy away from providing students with authentic and autonomous power to make decisions. More likely teachers provide opportunities that resemble authentic control, but again what this looks like varies.  The meaningfulness of these opportunities also varies. When teachers step out of the way, their students will usually (eventually?) come up big. Expanding and increasing student autonomy by providing critical roles in deciding how the schools shapes policy and responds to issues benefits students on many levels and can reshape what going to school means. 

Contrary to popular mischaracterizations, anarchists really focus on taking an active role in and accepting responsibility for their actions in the community.  The notion of a self managed workplace continues this focus. Teaching and learning would change dramatically if teachers created self-managed workplaces in their classrooms. When students have a chance to organize and manage themselves and their work, learning changes and takes on new meaning. To my novice, wannabe anarchist eye, a self managed workplace comes down to holding oneself and your peers accountable for your actions. The self managed workplace relies on decentralized empowerment that uses a mix of delegation and direct participation within the workplace.  Since the classroom represent students’ workplace, schools and classrooms could better entrust students with genuine opportunities to shape their school experience and the power to hold folks accountable.

Almost no one will take these ideas seriously. The optics around anarchist principles in the classroom won’t fly in most school communities.  Of course, education is quite good at creating descriptors for programs or practice that people find more palatable. The truth is, schools have already adopted versions of these anarchist ideas using different terminology to describe things. I noticed that I’ve used the words ‘authentic’ and ‘genuine’ a few times in this conversation. My mom used to always tell me, “it’s not what you did, it’s how you did.” School programs and interventions are the same way. Some schools do well enough, others may not have effective programs. I’m willing to bet that the majority of all of these endeavors reflect a top down management style. To really go there, schools and teachers have to trust their students and give up some control in their  communities (developmentally appropriate of course). 

Again, many will scoff and say that students do not want or can not handle such responsibility. To that, I say this - if you give them a chance and scaffold their efforts to practice handling new found responsibility, youth will surprise you and usually in a good way. This would fundamentally change how we teach, what we teach, and the nature of schooling.  I’m guessing that most educators can not or will not shed the trappings of traditional school practices. Once again, I don’t know that I can do it either. I’ve dabbled in these practices… perhaps more than most of my colleagues. My students tend to get quite a bit of power and responsibility to shape their learning. Much of the time things work out. Patience and reflection helps students adjust to this responsibility. Most of them having never had a say or choice at school.  The transition is messy and slow, freedom and responsibility are tricky that way. Some groups handle the power better than others. Reflecting on and discussing their process and experience helps the process along. Like any other skill nurtured at school, seeing students get the hang of and run with their new skills and power warms even the coldest teacher heart. 

I wish my classroom did model anarchist principles.  Schools have to change. The factory and corporate models that guide schooling have reached the breaking point. Shifting 21st century away from traditional models of schooling might require a change in how we teach and go against many popular parenting trends (snowplow, etc.). Yet the benefit to students and communities could be quite powerful. Anarchy isn’t really about chaos and violence. Recently an article described one purpose of school as preparing individuals to be proactive members of a free society. If that’s the case, shouldn’t schools reflect free societies? To me a free society requires choice, responsibility, and accountability. If that’s the case anarchist communities have the jump on traditional communities in terms of more authentic freedom.  To make school experiences more engaging and authentic maybe we need to give anarchy a chance. 

Sources:

*theanarchistslibrary.org

*democraciaparticipativa.net

8.26.19: Bridging the Internal and External Brains

One of my students is an aspiring hip hop producer. He can SoundCloud with the best of them and loves the mumble rap. When we discuss the hip hop he listens to well ... the artists he mentions, I have to look up. He played me some ‘lit’ tracks but I didn’t get it. The staccato lyrics hit me like a snare drum to the face.  I didn’t get it. Where was the message, or the rhythm and flow?  Give me P.E., Gang Starr, Blue Scholars, some Beasties, J5, or Tribe any day. So like many aging music lovers I had to ask myself the painful question, “Can I still kick it?”

Now I could go full, grumpy old white man (and maybe I did at first), but that doesn’t really help us bridge our two worlds. The thing is, I do get it. He occupies one musical space within the hip hop realm and I operate in another space.  If we can bridge our two realms perhaps we can build a new understanding. So I try to find the flow and message in the music he shares with me. Although my understanding has evolved, the struggle is real. I bring this up not to demonstrate my hip hop bonafides, but to discuss a similar situation with technology and learning that perplexes me. 

How do we teach a generation of students who rely on technology to store the majority of the knowledge they construct? I used a computer to type a paper for the first time in the Spring of 1988. Some years later a student told me that if I don’t with technology I’ll stay lost in the technological boondocks. I’m old and migrated into the technological universe largely against my will, but I did commute to computers. My students have all grown up with technology as an appendage. Again, maybe I could get grouchy about their addiction or over-reliance on technology. That wouldn’t help. So really I have to adapt to the shifting landscape of technology.

How many phone numbers do you know off the top of your head? No, 911 doesn’t count. I think I can recite three or four from memory. What happened, where did the knowledge go? I used to be able to dial with the best on the rotor or various iterations of glorious touch tone technology. Once we no longer needed to hold on to that knowledge, it vanished from our brain over time. These days our phone takes care of remembering our contact information. Our brain is off the hook. What happens now when you don’t know something or don’t remember something… get out your phone and google it. After you look it up, that information generally slips back into the shadows of your brain. Most of us don’t bother remembering it or knowing it for the future. 

My point is that we have entered an age in which our phones, tablets, and laptops have begun to replace our brains as the primary storage facility for knowledge. This has significant implications for teaching and learning (and is kind of freaking me out). Let me present this idea from the perspective that your brain is an internal hard drive and that your phone, etc. represents an external hard drive. Forgive my rudimentary descriptions, but to me an external hard drive eases storage concerns for my laptop. This frees up space on my computer for other things. Doing this is super helpful.  Unfortunately, my brain and laptop are not interchangeable. Outsourcing knowledge to a device may not be helpful to me in the long run. And of course, these changes impact teaching and learning.

When your phone becomes the primary storage facility, your brain suffers some. If you don’t actively engage and use info or if it isn’t committed to ‘muscle memory’  your brain discards that information. More accurately, the brain prunes or shuts down the chemical/electrical circuits that store unused knowledge. Thus once the layers of dust settles on those pathways it becomes much harder, if possible at all, to access that knowledge. 

NOTE:  First, technology is not a silver bullet for education. Second, I fully recognize that this focus on technology does not address the have/have not issues (and ever widening gap) involved. Last, I will not be jumping into a discussion of what knowledge is important for students.

Where do I begin… do we abandon the brain altogether and teach to the technology… do we ignore the technology and focus only on internalizing knowledge…?  While the rise of technology does remind me of a chapter from The Illustrated Man, it may be possible to link technology with students’ brains and use technology to filter out the clutter or unnecessary knowledge so that students can prioritize what is most meaningful.

If the external HD acts as a filter that allows the internal HD to strengthen its grasp on pertinent knowledge, then teachers (and teaching) would have to serve as a bridge between the two domains. Maybe that’s what teaching and learning has to become.  This is where I have become stuck in my unpacking of this issue. This iteration of technological development presents teachers with new questions about how to teach, what to teach, and how to infuse this technology into education. It dawned on me, and this may get me unstuck some, that this development is not unique to me or those currently teaching.  As the world of students develops and changes in leaps and bounds the various developments have a big impact on education. Yet, this isn’t new, just a new change. Perhaps the problem isn’t the technology but how we change or adapt with that technology.  

Teaching students to declutter their focus will enable them to comprehend, organize, and store knowledge for later use is the name of the new game. I realize that the words declutter and focus are not often associated with middle or high schoolers but that’s the rock I push up the hill each day.  Technology can’t replace teachers. The role of teachers and teaching just has to adapt and shift as we move into a new future. 

I guess the real answer to my soul searching is...Can I kick it? 

Yes, yes I can….

3.14.19: Honesty, Trust, and Teaching

Farting made me a better teacher. There—I said it. As odd as that sounds, an incident of public flatulence helped me understand the importance of honest, upfront interactions when building relationships with students.

Back in the day I worked as a counselor in a residential treatment facility. I had quit my job in a law firm to do something real—something meaningful. My new boss figured I’d last a week. Winning her over was hard, but winning over the youth in my care was even harder. Coed Dorm housed boys under the age of eight and girls older than 12. After a strong first day (high ropes course met my fear of heights) I struggled. The youth watched and listened to what I did, what I said, and how I responded to all manners of incidents. These kids had experienced far more than they should have. They each took a different path into the system. Life had dealt them some crappy cards and as a result, they did not trust adults easily. Grownups came and went. Adults said things, made promises, and passed out of their lives as quickly as they came into them. Grownups let them down. So when I arrived in Coed Dorm, they tested me every minute. Maybe I would stay. Maybe I would be just like the other grownups. The 16 clients didn’t bother using my name. They just called me “New Guy.”

I struggled. I earned points for showing up but was in way over my head. In my first weeks as I learned and took things in, I stuck with consistency and respectful conversations. Yet, they still called me “New Guy.” After dinner one summer night while the swamp coolers struggled in the desert heat, I struggled through another shift. I sat on the end room floor during shower/homework time playing cards with a nine-year old boy named PJ. Quick aside—dinner and all food at the facility was atrocious, government surplus stuff that wrecked my digestive system. I mention this for one big reason. While it sucks to lose at Memory to a Keebler elf with ADD, what really sucks is doing so while painfully bloated with an angry stomach preparing to have a gaseous outburst. Warning—I am about to share too much.

I had to fart. I had to hold it. Silent But Deadly it would not be. Hold it. Afraid to move, unable to leave my post, New Guy didn’t want to really embarrass himself. Sitting on the linoleum, with an angry GI tract, on a warm Arizona evening… the pain. My sweaty legs cramped but stuck to the cold floor. I had to move. I couldn’t move. The horror. And then it happened.

Someone yelled at PJ. As I turned to see what was up, the skin on one leg stuck to the floor. My grandfather used to say someone sat on a duck. In this case, there might have been several ducks. The sound echoed and silence fell upon the end room. Eight faces stared at me. How do you respond to that? What do you say? Who knew that this would be my biggest test to date. PJ interrupted the awkward silence to ask,

“Did you fart?”

“Nope, that was my skin sliding on the floor.” Great, like in most situations, my first instinct is to lie.

“No way, you farted!” Giggling began in the corners of the room. Soon, the others joined in…

“New Guy farted! New Guy farted!”

“No! No No, I did not fart!”

It’s cool to tantrum in your twenties, right? And that’s when we entered into the pantheon of schoolyard legal wrangling. I went with the classic, “Whoever smelt it dealt it.” Yes, I was going to blame a nine-year old. That’s when they set the trap.

“It doesn’t smell so that doesn’t work, New Guy.”

They snared me with a pillar of American law: “Whoever denied it, supplied it.” Trapped! What was I supposed to do?

My brain whirled as I tried to figure out a reply. I couldn’t continue to deny and lie. I couldn’t quit. So, I turned to the young faces and came clean. “Ok, I farted. Sorry.” Those four words changed my life. Ok, that’s a bit dramatic. Those four words transformed how I work and interact with kids, and how I teach.

After I came clean an awkward silence fell on the end room. After which, the kids and a co-worker or two burst into laughter. Now, people laugh at me all the time so I know how it feels, but this was different.

“Oh wow, New Guy farted!”

“Man, that was crazy loud…”

“I hate when that happens.”

As they finished laughing (and in one case rolling on the floor) something changed. We talked about farting some. Turns out everyone farts. Turns out everyone fears it happening in public and the ridicule that inevitably comes with such an outburst. Also, we discovered that no one liked the food and that it made everyone feel sick. At some point Lorena, the 16 year-old alpha of the group, mumbled to everyone and no one, “How come grownups just don’t tell us the truth?” Boom. I fumbled and stumbled to reply. She continued, “We know what’s going on. We know more than you think so just tell us.” These kids had experienced a lot and knew when adults avoided hard facts and the truth. They just wanted someone to level with them.

I decided right then to always tell clients and students the truth. Maybe I couldn’t tell them the whole truth, but I would always level with them. I would be honest and upfront with them. Just like with academic material, the truth can be broken down and differentiated for specific individuals and audiences. The truth earns trust. The truth shows respect. As I have said, teaching involves a series of relationships. The core of these relationships consists of trust and respect. In this instance my clients rewarded my vulnerability when I leveled with them. Something changed. Sure this “magical” moment began with a fart, but this fart broke down barriers between individuals, and between staff and clients. Our conversation transcended differences. We found something we all had in common (farts, fear, ridicule, etc.)  and something we all wanted (honesty, respect, the truth).

Later at lights out, I made my rounds to flip off lights and finish off the day. As I did bed checks Lorena’s voice called out, “Goodnight, J.”  I had earned my name. I trusted and leveled with the group—and they rewarded me with their trust.

In no way am I recommending that teachers fart in front of their class. However, I do suggest leveling with your students. Be honest and trust them. They really do know when you’re snowing them. Building trust and respect is a slow process, but we should always invest in the process. In my five years at this center, the kids taught me many things, and these experiences solidified the foundation of my teaching philosophy and practice. And to think it all started with a fart.

1.29.19: Learning Democracy

Democracy and democratic classrooms are terms that get thrown around in schools with some regularity. Yet, if you ask students what democracy means, many will say, “voting.” In reality democracy involves more than just simple voting. History teachers talk about democracy, but getting students to make connections to and more fully understand the concept of democracy is more complicated than that. Democracy is messy and time-consuming. Messy and time-consuming are not concepts that many schools handle well.

My favorite way to teach and infuse democracy into both the academic and social curricula involves exploring the concepts of Democracy versus Idiocy as well as Me versus We. These concepts represent the need to balance personal interests with the good of the community. I usually begin with Me versus We and then layer in Democracy versus Idiocy.  Deconstructing the false dichotomy between Me and We helps students begin to understand that these are not mutually exclusive concepts and that we can balance both of these interests in our work together. Our shared and personal interests can actually work together so that each member of the group gets what they need to succeed (equity). To do this, we have to invest in a process that brings the notion of democracy off the pages of assignments and into the daily experiences of students.

Not long ago I posted an article on LinkedIn by Professor Walter Parker regarding Democracy and Idiocy. This article is a great starter course for teachers but I would encourage people to read the long version in Parker’s book Teaching Democracy (2003). I love starting the school year off by exploring democracy versus idiocy with students. The concept works on several levels within the classroom. In middle school academics, or anytime you teach about Colonial America, this work especially well. As you do this you can personalize the origins of America a few different ways. As you unveil these ideas academically you can connect the idea to students and their social interactions (really the similarities between the government and middle school astonish me).

Democracy versus Idiocy and Me versus We provide an academic and social framework for the classroom. Academically, Democracy versus Idiocy creates opportunities to discuss early America, politics, and government. As Professor Parker introduces idiocy as the Greek pejorative for those “engaged only in self-interested or private pursuits, never mind the public interest.” (p. xv). The self-centered idiot is  the opposite of a citizen and also the antithesis of Greek demos. This line of inquiry allows us to question historical and political experiences in the United States. I operationalize the democracy and idiocy notion as Me versus We to examine the social or power dynamics in my classes. This helps address the constant interplay between the needs of individuals and the group, as well as the power dynamics within the community. Reframing the discussion as Me versus We brings the selfishness of the Me actions to the fore in a subtle way, and makes sure no one goes home and tells their parents that I called them an idiot.

When I teach Colonial America, I explain to the class that Me versus We is one of the central issues within the founding of our country. In essence, the individuals and group wrestle with similar problems that the colonists did. And just like the founders of our democratic republic, they also have to find a way to create a system that balances personal and public interests and do away with tyranny in the community. More specifically, we discuss that each student wants to be who they are and have the freedom to explore or express their ideas. Yet doing so does not come at the expense of what is good for the community (i.e.  violates our agreed-upon classroom expectations). If everyone in class pursues only what they want or what benefits them, problems ensue and little is accomplished. Unfortunately, too often this is standard operating procedure in many classrooms.

Connecting these academic ideas to the social (or personal) experiences makes these historical concepts real for students. All of a sudden, learning history becomes tangible. If you want to extend this connection, I have several ideas. First, I often have students write their own declaration of independence. Parents do not always appreciate this, but for adolescents trying to establish themselves as independent young adults, this fits well developmentally. Also, have the class create their own constitution by further refining the classroom agreements. If your classroom involves group discussions and collective decision-making, you have opportunities to discuss the tyranny of the majority and analyze how group dynamics can corrupt the voting system. If you’re on a tight schedule this may not work, but that’s part of another conversation. If history becomes personal, you can increase student buy-in.

This year for U.S. Government, I brought democracy versus idiocy into the curriculum in a new way. In this iteration I used the concept as the last piece of a foundational unit on the origins of democracy. This way as we continue to explore politics, etc. we have a language and reference point on which to anchor our discussions. For instance, in recent weeks we have examined the growth of Athenian democracy and contrasted Socrates’ criticism of democratic practices in the city state with current events in American politics. We have examined the issue of zero-sum politics and how these practices impact the intent of our democratic principles. Democracy versus Idiocy (and Me versus We) will help shine a light on these strands of curriculum (curricula?) prior to culmination. And since my students don’t like reading this blog, one of their culmination questions will be, Is our country a democracy or an idiocy?

Democracy represents more than just voting. You can apply Democracy versus Idiocy and Me versus We a variety of ways, in class and across a wide variety of grades. Professor Parker asserts that infusing a better understanding of democracy into schools is critical to preparing students to succeed in increasingly diverse communities. As a teacher this works on so many levels, and also  helps make learning more real and personal to students.

The democratic framework of the United States has fractured and may crumble in our lifetime. Without being exposed to a more complete idea of democracy and democratic experiences in school, the adults of tomorrow may be cool with that. This frightens me. Schools represent the best starting place for youth to engage democracy in a more meaningful way. An experiential education in democracy might be the key to saving a cornerstone of the country.

1.15.19: YouTube Is Not A Teacher

It should be understood that without the assistance of a teacher many

roads become open to a practitioner, some on the correct path and some

on the incorrect path. It is not for everyone to be without guidance -

only a few, and they are exceptional, can make a journey to wisdom

without a teacher.  Musashi, The Book of Five Rings, ( p.xvi, as translated

by Kaufman, 1994)

A recent conversation has caused me to question, or at least shine a brighter light on, the concept of homeschooling. Realize of course that the majority of my practice involves homeschooling. So in essence I find myself questioning the hand that feeds me (again). I think homeschooling resembles Musashi’s “journey to wisdom.” Like in many endeavors, some homeschool programs address learning better than others. To be clear, I am not throwing shade on homeschooling. This issue impacts many aspects of learning and education in general.

The conversation occurred with a student. Really she just blurted something out in some combination of frustration and jest. “YouTube is my teacher,” she told me. So, we started talking about what it means to learn, what she needs to learn, and why teachers come in handy.

This student participates in an online high school and my role is to check in, answer and ask questions, and fill in any gaps in her learning. Every day she watches the assigned video, reads the assigned texts, and completes her work largely on her own. Both of us know that this has not been the best learning experience for her (although it’s still better than her previous school). Every day the web dispenses information and every day she fills in some dots. Actually what she does more closely resembles painting by numbers. I would love for her to connect the dots and that is the problem. There is no one to help her make sense of the material and to make connections between and across topics. I don’t work with her enough to guide and support all of her academics. Left alone to consume materials she is, in Musashi’s words, on the incorrect path.

Most days I fear my student feels trapped in Do mode with the occasional mix of Think and Learn. Her journey with little guidance reflects the reason why I don’t call my teaching service Think Do Learn. I discussed this at length in an earlier article, but the short version goes like this - just because you do something, doesn’t mean you have learned anything. I will always advocate for Do + Think = Learn. Really I prefer Think + Do + Think = Learn, but that makes a clumsy name for a business. After you do something without reflection, analysis, and connection the only thing you can really say is, I did that… Unfortunately, I think a segment of the homeschool community (and education in general) equates doing with learning.

Of course, my student could be more active or intentional in her learning, but many a great student has needed guidance on their journey. That journey, as Musashi described, “is a very difficult road to travel and not many are made for it. It is frustrating, confusing, very lonely, certainly frightening...” (Musashi, as translated by Kaufman, 1994,  p.xvi,). Really, not many middle school or high school students can pull off this type of journey. This young woman asks good questions, does her work much of the time, and wants to succeed. However, she struggles as Musashi predicted. I don’t think she’s learning as much as she could in each subject. There isn’t someone standing with her to support her practice. Until I see her at the end of the week, her questions around how, why, and what would that be like often go unanswered. She’s missing a teacher.

Too often the educational experiences of students, or worse, the educational philosophy of parents emphasizes this Do mindset. In classrooms, academic support systems, and homeschool programs this outlook continues to evolve as a component of teaching and learning. Technology does have a role in learning. Many people assume that technology will enhance the educational experience of students. And it can, but regardless of delivery someone has to support students’ learning by translating and facilitating their learning experiences (not just with technology). Otherwise, the adults (whether teachers or parents) are left wondering and hoping if their charges actually made sense of and connected that information to their foundation of knowledge. Now, I’m a bit old-school this way, but hoping and wishing is a lousy teaching philosophy. In order to really learn, students have to deconstruct information and play around with it before they reconstruct that information and build knowledge.

Musashi’s philosophy for learning and practicing, The Way of the Samurai, although hundreds of years old, fits with this contemporary educational issue. Without a teacher to guide them, students wander aimlessly around the landscape of learning without crossing the bridge to knowing. Homeschooling represents a great educational option for many students. We have to keep diversifying the educational options available to students and parents in order to dismantle the educational monolith that has smothered education in America. Yet, if we want to provide a diverse array of school options, those schools have to provide high-quality educational experiences. To reach this level of learning, the majority of students need someone to guide, question, and push them on their “journey to wisdom.” Learn-ing is way more than watching videos. YouTube, while offering some good insights, is not a teacher. Do-ing alone is not enough. We have to Do and Think before we Learn.

10.31.18: The Words Not Written - Overcoming Complacent Writing

“It's like the feeling at the end of the page….When you realize you don't know what you just read...I might as well go up and talk to a wall….'cause all the words are having no effect at all….Something has to happen to change the direction...What little filters through is giving you the wrong impression...It's a sorry state I say to myself” Missing Persons

“All first drafts are shit” Ernest Hemingway

Writing has changed and will continue to change. With the onslaught of text speak and social media oriented text, writing in a more formal sense seems to have deteriorated. Combine this with decreased reading experiences, and many students in middle and high school find themselves lagging behind or struggling to develop their writing skills. Some folks throw up their hands and say we can’t fight it. Others fight to help students develop the ‘lost art’ of writing. Complacent writing will not improve with complacent teaching. As teachers we can’t turn our backs on the power of words, regardless of media.

Learning to write, or the development of writing skills, stands as perhaps the most important skill a student takes with them from their formal education. Like the many interesting things middle schoolers do, their writing always provides an adventure. High school writing reads a little bit better sometimes. Some go with  earnest and serious, others witty and creative, and still others write like they talk to their friends. Effective writing represents a means to achieve unlike most other school skills. It is a means to convey, convince, and persuade - in short, writing helps a student achieve world domination (or at least dominate their world). Yet, good writing is increasingly hard to find as complacency grows and we accept poorly written work as the new normal.

There is nothing worse than bad writing. Actually, strike that - bad writing is ok. Poor spelling or grammar, and haphazard punctuation -  all tolerable. Passive, weak or repetitive sentences - ugh! Complacent or lazy writing is tedious and awful. When the writer puts little effort into their work, I have to ask myself two questions - Do I really have to read this? and Are we doing enough to help students develop their writing skills?  Realistically, one of the few skills taught to students that they use outside of schools is the ability to effectively communicate.  Therefore we should really put considerable effort into supporting the development of students’ writing skills.

Among my favorite strategies to implement in my classroom to develop writing skills and student investment in the writing process are The Words Not Written (WNW). The strategy works on several levels. Despite the long term benefits, students (and some of their parents) also like to ‘question’ the WNW.  The WNW are not nearly as hard as students think and have an immediate positive impact on their written work. If students put as much time into using the WNW strategy as they do into complaining about it, their writing will improve by leaps and bounds.

Different teachers use different names, but essentially this strategy emphasizes a list of banned words, phrases, and parts of speech. Teachers use this strategy to encourage students to expand their vocabulary and diversify their sentences. Students often write using a limited range of words and repetitive sentence structure, and rely on passive verbs that suck the life out of their ideas and paragraphs. On occasion I have told students that if I have to spend my evenings or weekends reading their work it had better not come across like the voice of  Charlie Brown’s teacher...Wa wa wawawa wa wa.

I use the term The Words Not Written as a nod to my Harry Potter leanings, with a touch of gothic horror to spice things up. Early in the school year students begin keeping a list of the WNW in their writing journals.  I ask students to remove these words from their writing as they revise their drafts prior to turning in their work. In the brainstorm and first draft stages of the writing process, I remind students to use whatever words they want. Getting student buy-in is always tricky. For some students I emphasize how their grades will improve by showing them where these changes impact the writing rubric.  For other students I appeal to their desire to be heard and taken seriously. Connecting improved writing to an adolescent’s desire to matter and have some power does have some pull.

The WNW list begins with a few words and you can add to the list as the year goes on. I usually start the year with three words on my list. Rarely do I finish the year with more than eight WNW (last year we finished with four words on our list). The list I begin the year with does not vary. It includes:

• To Be - All forms of the verb ‘to be.’  These passive verbs act as speed bumps or potholes in sentences to disrupt flow and suck the energy from writing. Most of the time the writer has partnered this passive verb with a stronger verb in their sentence.

• Very - Just say no to this adverb. My friend and OE mentor Dave Weston convinced me to stop using this adverb, and writer Stephen King supports this. Nothing good comes from its use.

• Because - Again, not necessary.

After you present the list, allow a few minutes for questions and comments. After the moans and groans, begin showing your class alternatives.  I always allow for a few WNWs to be used in the final draft (usually forms of to be). As the year goes on I reduce the number of WNW allowed. Making these changes prior to the publishing stage of the writing process can pose some challenges.  This does take practice. Removing forms of to be in particular provides varying levels of challenge. Getting rid of the different forms of to be means encouraging students to think about their writing beyond the ‘just get it done’ level.  What word should I choose….What is the best word for what I want to say… Is this the most effective sentence I can craft?  These are important questions for young writers to consider. Teaching writing means getting students to think of themselves as writers, and part of that is for them to have these conversations during the writing process.

I generally focus on three ideas when working with students around the WNW. First, get rid of very.  This consists of little more than hitting delete, crossing the word out, or erasing it. You don’t need very. In fact no one will miss it. If you must use an adverb, try one of the many, far more descriptive choices available. Using very equates to lazy and weak thinking when used by anyone outside of elementary school. Second, you don’t ever really need because. Replace because with a period and start a new sentence. Done. Also, changing because to cuz doesn't help either. Third, removing forms of to be means transforming the written work. One year I had a student who would just delete passive verbs and not replace them. His writing began to resemble a Christopher Walken diatribe - amusing but not effective writing. Removing to be challenges writers (most of the time). Examining the use of to be means finding out when a form of this verb is the best option. However, replacing to be is not as hard as folks make it out to be.  Most of the time, the sentence in need of editing has readily available options. Often in the initial drafts the writer will juxtapose a form of to be with a more active verb.  Encourage the student to emphasize the more active verb. For example, let’s help a student who has to revise the sentence, “I was thinking about my friends when I read The Outsiders.”  Recommend removing was and changing thinking to thought. The was only serves as a pothole that diminishes the act of thinking. The new sentence, “I thought about my friends when I read The Outsiders” has more power. When the writer doesn't have this option, sometimes flipping the sentence around or combining two sentences works. This takes a little practice but has a few benefits. Not only do the active, strong verbs take center stage, but the flip or combine strategy adds diversity and complexity to a student’s paragraph. This helps alter the flow and rhythm of the writing. As you provide these suggestions, it helps to point out to students how they have everything they need and how their rough drafts provide a strong start. Students gain confidence as writers when they realize that they already possess the fundamental ingredients for good writing. Last, active and engaging written work persuades and explains ideas or opinions more effectively. Effective writing empowers the writer. Who doesn’t want to feel empowered?

Let’s throw in a little bonus suggestion that focuses on the classroom community as well as the individuals in that community. During writers workshop I provide board space for students who want help with a tricky WNW sentence. Students will put their sentence on the board. Other students can then go up and write suggestions for alternatives. The author can choose which option is best for their work. Instead of relying on the teacher for the answer, students see their peers as resources. Since students who often don’t think of themselves as writers usually have a knack for providing great ideas, suddenly their confidence grows bit by bit. As this happens the class changes from individuals who have to finish their assignment to a community of writers. We think. We write. We win.

The act of writing has changed and continues to change. That doesn’t mean we should just accept complacent or poor quality work. Complacent writing does not convey ideas or opinions. Nor does it do enough to describe essential components of the narrative or engage the reader. Sentences that use strong verbs, detailed descriptions, and paragraphs with diverse sentences envelop the reader like good music. The WNW promote the expansion of an individual’s vocabulary and writing skills, but represent a difficult challenge for writers. Over time, with exposure to, and practice with a wider range of words, a student’s repertoire of words expands.  Developing a student’s skills as a writer takes time and practice. The process of transforming their writing, however, is one of the few skills schools provide that students can use throughout their lives.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back and remove as many WNW from this article as possible.

Team Building Sucks

August means the start of the new school year is upon us. In some schools classes have begun. In other schools, teachers have headed in for pre-service and prepping for the new year. The new school year also means team building activities for teachers and students. These activities are designed to examine and enhance the interactions and relationships with a specific community. The desired benefit of this is increased productivity as well as a better experience at work or school. Unfortunately, most team building experiences suck.

Just hearing ‘team building’ many adults will groan, sigh, and start crafting excuses to miss work for that day. Students may not mind missing some academic time but roll their eyes at the facilitators and the activities. As someone who spent years leading team building experiences, I don’t blame people. I throw up in my mouth a little every time I type ‘team building.’ I prefer never to use the term. So many people have had to endure debilitating team building experiences that when their supervisor tells them about the upcoming experience, employees have a negative Pavlovian response? Facilitators have failed their clients and supervisors have failed their employees.

The other day, I read a column discussing the failure of and damage done by workplace team building.  The article described poorly conceived and facilitated experiences that did more harm than good. It doesn’t have to be this way. Experiential activities can be fun and effective ways to build relationships and reshape the social dynamics of a community. Team building can make groups more successful and productive.

Sometimes the best that can be said at the end of a team building experience is, “well, that wasn’t a complete waste of time.”  As it is generally enacted at work or in class, team building pays misguided lip service to altering community dynamics and more successful individuals.  Effective community interventions are not some mysterious formula. If leaders really want to make individuals and groups more successful they need to commit to some simple steps.

When team building works it does so for several reasons.

• Relationships - A focus on relationships can be subtle or quite explicit. If you want to build relationships go slow and commit to a long process. If you want to change things one day won’t undo or reshape relationship patterns established over weeks, months, or years. Also, a focus on relationships does not mean you’re requiring everyone to be friends or be nice.  Sometimes the cult of niceness is just as toxic as bullying.

• Don’t Force It - Nobody likes forced fun. Pushing prescribed outcomes or forcing connections on people is problematic. Plant the seeds and nourish their development. Explore the process and give people a reason to buy in. Let it happen.  Then again, sometimes you have to weed the garden. If someone is going to be a tool about the process, etc. address it and explore that as well.

• Make Connections - What does this have to do with work/school?  That is in the back of most participants’ mind. Provide the connection. Be explicit.  Make it tangible. If you don’t, buy in and engagement will lag. Also, keep it real. Authenticity means a lot to people.

• Shared Vision - Teams should share in establishing the purpose and designing the goals. Build support from the ground up. See #1 -3.

If you have to plan a team building experience for your group, the best place to start is GRABBS (see Island of Healing, 1988).  This stands for:

• Goals
• Readiness
• Affect
• Behavior
• Body
• Stage

GRABBS allows you, as the planner or facilitator, to gauge where the group is as a community and what they can handle as individuals and as a group.  Matching the most appropriate activities goes a long way to an experience having a positive and lasting impact on a community.

The first really successful corporate team building I lead was notable more for what I didn’t do than for what I did do. I designed an evening of rock climbing for software developers and managers from different departments who were getting reading to work together on a new project. I wanted to keep it simple - climbing instruction, catered meal, and an open bar. When the participants arrived the skepticism and reluctance of several people threatened to overtake the group. My welcome message included some blunt assurances. There would be no hugging and no singing Kumbayah. All they had to do was help folks who needed a hand and get to know their new project people. After that my team and I just taught climbing, monitored safety, chatted people up, and provided activities for those who wanted something extra. Folks mingled and laughed. Some chose a more adventurous evening. Some took advantage of the open bar and others took photos. Folks left happy.

If jaded software developers can make the most of team building why have these experiences failed so many people? Team building doesn’t have to suck. If you find yourself building team at work or school, I wish you well.  

Fear and Learning

Fear shapes learning. It shapes what and how much students learn. It also puts constraints on teachers by limiting what and how they teach. Too many actions or failure to act in schools are fear based.

As part of my summer reading, I am working my way thru Kristen Ulmer’s The Art of Fear.  The goal of this book is to talk openly about fear and create a healthier relationship with fear.  On a personal level I have had to confront the idea that I may not have a healthy relationship with fear. At the very least, I am afraid of many things in my life beyond the usual sharks, heights, and clowns. The book really struck me as an educator. On a professional level it dawned on me how fear has such a prominent role in schools and learning. Yes, we have to confront the unfortunate decrease in physical safety in schools - shootings, bullying, and other forms of physical or emotional violence. However, fear has seeped into schools in other ways that impacted student engagement and learning.

It seems that anxiety and loneliness amongst young adults have risen substantially in recent years. Is it such a stretch to connect this rise to how youth and their parents have addressed fear? For students, fear diminishes the resources and attention that can be devoted to learning. Fear acts like an app on your phone that constantly drains the battery. If you’re afraid in class you probably are not focusing in class. These fears are varied and substantial, yet few educators discuss fear in school let alone how it impacts learning or how to engage fear in a healthy manner.

For teachers fear operates in a similar manner. Yes, some teachers fear for physical violence at school. However, fear impacts teachers and teaching in a more subtle way everyday. No one likes to look stupid. Teachers are no different. Actually, I think that many teachers fear looking stupid, making a mistake, or losing/not having control most of all. These fears limit a teacher’s willingness to change, adapt, or expand the scope of their educational practice. When difficult issues or problems arise for teachers, how much of their internal dialogue includes “What if I say something embarrassing? What if I do something stupid? Can I really pull that off?”  Principals always tell teachers to try new things and take risks, but have they really considered how much of a professional risk that is for different individuals.

Much of this fear is wrapped up in the traditional role of and how many people view teachers. Too often teachers are viewed as the all knowing expert who dispenses knowledge and rules.  This perspective is detrimental for students and teachers. This perspectives boxes teachers into a corner. Once in the corner an individual feels safe and can see ‘dangerous’ situations approaching. Fear glues us into our corners. Leaving the corner represents uncertainty and risk. If you are the all knowing expert can you risk it? That’s why many teacher fear trying something new. NOTE:  I will address the fear of overly litigious parents and lawsuit shy districts elsewhere.

This notion of fear impacting learning smacked me upside the head recently. Seemingly obvious, I wondered why I hadn’t put these pieces together sooner. My M.Ed. work looked at how students perceive academic and social risk in the classroom. Connecting risk to fear should have been a no brainer. I’m embarrassed to admit that it took me almost 20 years to connect the two.

Let me tell a brief story that I think does a good job describing how students and teachers experience fear. Way back in the day I had a client on a high ropes course element called the Catwalk. The goal of the Catwalk is to climb up one telephone pole to a wooden bridge 30 feet in the air.  Once on the bridge (also a telephone pole) you were to try to walk 35 feet across to the other side.This youth climbed up to the bridge but could not let go of the security of the first pole. They hugged the pole. Gradually they inched out on the bridge keeping one hand clasped to a metal anchor on the pole. Eventually their arm straightened and their grasp loosened, but they retreated back to the pole. The process repeated itself over and over until we ran out of time for our 60 minute session.  This went on for a few weeks. They wanted to let go. They wanted to make the walk. Yet when it came time to let go, they retreated. Fear held them tightly. For the record, after several weeks this youth crawled across the bridge. Gradually over the course of a few more weeks they would eventually stand, walk, and then moon walk across the bridge.

In climbing among the dumbest thing people say (parents listen up, I mean you) is, “Don’t worry. There’s nothing to be scared of…” Uh, yes there is.  Too often this same message is transmitted in various ways to students and teachers. Yet, we all know there are many fears present. Thus, the repression of fear slowly erodes what is possible for individuals in school. If more people talked openly about risk and fear in school... could we decrease the levels of anxiety in youth… would people enjoy learning more… would students learn more...would teachers and teaching improve?  I have no idea, but we should not be afraid of trying.

Fitness Club Learning

Not long ago as I struggled with feeling more like a barista than an educator. I stumbled across a notebook in which I had designed a middle school framework. Among my doodles was the guiding principle:  rigor - responsibility - accountability. Where did that go?

I headed out for a bike ride to clear my head. As I pedaled down the street I had to ask - am I going for a ride or is this a training ride? As the wheels turned some ideas came to mind. My question is not unlike one confronting students and schools - are we playing school or are we doing school right? I started dwelling on the similarities between school and fitness. Fitness and learning are not that different - exercise for the body and the brain. What if we start looking at schools as the fitness clubs of learning.

The various hubs of fitness - call them health clubs, fitness centers, gyms, boxes or athletic clubs - have varying levels of participation, equipments, investment, and outcomes. Each place has a different ethos towards learning. Most likely each place defines fitness a bit differently or suggest different paths to fitness.

Schools aren’t that different (despite what we say). As educators we toss arounds terms - college preparatory, magnet, charter, progressive, I.B., etc. to describe our ethos towards learning. We define learning and educational success differently across this spectrum of schooling. Before I go further… There are many fantastic gyms and amazing schools in every state. Also, all gyms and all schools have dedicated individuals, both teachers and students, who are dedicated to their training.

The fitness industry makes a lot of money from people who don’t show up much after New Year’s. Removing those participants from our equation, a few groups remain in the gym. One group plays fitness.  These folks work out but never really get their heart rate up or overload a system to encourage change. Amongst the machines some people do intervals - five minutes on their phones and 30 seconds of movement.  Other folks make a big deal of moving the pin so everyone knows they’re going to lift big weights. When they get around to lifting, they have quick movements within a small range of motion. Over by the class space a few folks who put more effort into finding an epic quote to describe their class than they actually put into class.

Are schools better than that? Plenty of students go thru the motions, distract themselves or others, inflate their experience, or focus their learning within a limited range of knowledge. Yet in both cases, there are numerous participants who genuinely pursue physical and intellectual training.  However, let us not focus on the participants.

I want to focus attention on the institutions who support these facades of learning. Unfortunately, schools are drifting towards the strip mall fitness industry model.  I chuckle when I picture an AP focused school as the Gold’s Gym of learning… bulging academic muscles with limited use or purpose. I shudder to compare a rural or urban high school much like an Anytime Fitness… $20 a month and a few teachers to coach hundreds. Something is surely better than nothing but that’s a mighty low bar. More expensive independent schools represent the fancy athletic clubs that curate a desirable educational experience. Fortunately it seems like a growing number of gyms and schools have tried to change things up.

If you look closely around the landscape of education you can find a number of schools away from the strip malls of learning that are trying to do the same.  What kind of school do you workout in? What kind of academic training do you want your student to have? Rigor, responsibility, and accountability… that’s where I want to operate.

The Turtle and The Snail

The other morning before school I went for a quick bike ride. On this gray, damp morning the roads had just started to dry from sprinkler runoff and the lingering marine layer. Plodding my way up a small hill, as I tried to organize my thoughts and anxieties for the day, I came across a snail in the bike lane.  My new friend had maybe a foot of pavement left to cross. Amazingly, if he had started from the median, he had travelled across two lanes of traffic, a bus lane, and the bike lane (maybe 60 feet of asphalt). If he ventured from the other side of the road… Either way, this was an epic endeavor. This effort could represent many things - an astonishing level of achievement and performance or maybe it was snail against the world.  

As I crested the hill I couldn’t shake the snail and his endeavor. I wondered what I could learn from the snail. Cruising down to the next climb I found myself thinking about Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.  It wasn’t the Joads, the Okies, or even the Dust Bowl on my mind. Instead as the road went up-ish I thought about the turtle in Chapter 3. Steinbeck, in one of his transition chapters, masterfully weaves the turtle into the narrative as a powerful metaphor. The chapter describe a turtle crossing a lonely desert highway. The turtle’s journey is not unlike my new snail friend’s journey.  A solitary figure against the elements of nature and humankind. To avoid thinking about how slow I felt, I focused on how, in many ways, I am the turtle and the snail.

The turtle and the snail represent the journey of Do.Think.Learn - me out on my own trying to cross the proverbial road. In his journey, the turtle gets knocked around, flipped onto his shell, and fights to right himself before making it to the other side of the highway. Steinbeck uses the chapter to describe the plight and fortitude of the Okies who migrated to California to escape the Dust Bowl. My journey is not as arduous or desperate as that. Starting a business, a school no less, feels something like that turtle or the snail fighting to cross a road - dangerous, stupid, smart, uncertain. As the turtle and snail might suggest, setting out alone is no easy task. At least the turtle and the snail had shells.

When I started Do.Think.Learn I left the security and relative safety of working at someone else’s school. Starting your own business is both exhilarating and frightening. Being your own boss...creating a foundation I believe in… building something from scratch - all of these are fantastic points. Taking a $50k pay cut… not knowing how the bills will get paid… losing gigs you thought you had - all less than fantastic aspects of starting your own business. When you set out on your own you have power and control, but there you are, out all alone, you against all the forces of nature. In the beginning I was the turtle just starting out,

...the highway embankment, reared up ahead of him. For a

moment he stopped, his head held high. He blinked and looked

up and down. At last he started to climb the embankment.

Front clawed feet reached forward but did not touch. (pp. 14 -15)

The turtle has to fight against the dynamics and physics of nature. However, it doesn’t seem that at any point during this arduous task, does the turtle consider giving up. Everything is working against him, but he keeps moving forward.  At the end of DTL’s first year, - I am still the turtle but now out unprotected on the hot pavement,

And now a light truck approached, and as it came nearer the driver

saw the turtle and swerved to hit it… Lying on its back,

the turtle was tight in his shell for a long time. But at last

its legs waved in the air, reaching for something to pull it over. (p. 15)

The turtle gets flipped over and pushed around. He has to make sense of his situation, he has to decide what to do next. Steinbeck’s description of what it takes for the turtle to succeed after being smacked around is inspiring. We should all have that kind of fortitude in our endeavors.

After cresting the next hill and crossing over the 101, I turned my bike onto some dirt and took stock of where DTL and I stand. There’s a lot to do. I have put a lot of sweat equity into this project. Yet despite my commitment, there remains a lot to do. Have I made any progress? There’s a lot I don’t know and I really need to figure out what else I don’t know.  Setting your own course represents freedom and the independence many of us crave. And yet….the shadows of my mind grow darker and colder. Sometimes I wonder if I might be better served working in an established school. Today I wonder if the snail ever looked across the road and thought, “F@<k, what was I thinking?”

After I finished my ride I was sitting in Hollywood traffic listening to a podcast on freedom (which fortunately involved no flag wearing people spewing gung ho rhetoric).  This discussion focused on freedom in the sense of not being under someone else’s yoke. This is my hope and goal. Even with constant financial and professional hardship and with continued uncertainty looming, I do not regret leaving my last job and venturing into the unknown. Having agency and some control over my future helps ward off the shadows of uncertainty. I have the freedom to succeed or stumble - it is my doing (cue the Sinatra).  

Hopefully I have a more complex cerebral operating system than the turtle or the snail. Despite the extra synapses however, the three of us have much in common. Each of us crossed or is crossing a wide expanse of the unknown. Each of us has ventured out on a journey with an unknown outcome.  The three of us (the turtle, the snail and I) have braced ourselves against threats and dangers as we cross our roads. After the turtle is hit by the truck, “lying on its back, the turtle was tight in its shell for a long time. But at last its legs waved in the air, reaching for something to pull it over.” (p. 35). I wonder what the turtle was thinking, lying on his back on the hot pavement. Did he ever consider just laying there? The snail most likely dodged numerous vehicles in his slow motion version of Frogger.  When the school bus roared over his flimsy shell did he consider turning around and going back to the median? After he got all the way to the bike lane and saw the curb, what went thru his mind? Maybe less complex brain power would be beneficial - the snail probably doesn’t over think much. What I’ve dealt with seems trivial compared to the life and death struggle of the turtle or the snail … parents changing their minds, students not doing their work, money trickling in sporadically, or failure lingering in the shadows. I feel like fate has swerved to hit me a few times and now I’m lying on my back on the hot pavement wondering do I really want to deal with this?

Of course there have been difficult days and more of these days lay ahead. The turtle kept going, “its front foot caught a piece of quartz and little by little the shell pulled over and flopped upright.” (pp. 15 - 16). As I inched my through traffic I remembered the advice of cycling friend of mine. Since he started his own business and had years of experience I asked him for advice when I decided to take DTL full time. His words have been the best advice I’ve received about starting a business, “it is okay to bet on yourself.” Maybe making it across the road isn’t the point.  Maybe having the courage to set out or being independent is the point. So now, little by little, I have to ease out of my shell, flip myself right side up, and see what lies ahead.

When Classrooms Turn Toxic

Schools have a tremendous impact on how students learn to interact with others in the future. They learn and practice these skills in class and in the hallways everyday. If we are honest, most of the subjects taught in school are not transferable to an individual’s life outside of school. However, interpersonal and communications skills learned in school do transfer to life outside of school.  

Author's Note:  Today's blog focuses on defining a problem. Future blogs will look at potential solutions and ideas for teachers.

Most of what students learn in school has little to do with the formal curriculum. The informal curriculum (skills and subjects outside the texts or not taught officially) does shape what students take away from school. Unfortunately in recent years the informal curriculum has continued to transition from problematic to harmful and from harmful to toxic in many schools. This should not surprise any people. After all the informal curriculum mirrors, or at least takes significant cues, from the larger world around us. The social, cultural, and political world provides a context and that framework has increasingly become toxic. In this article I would like to extend the conversation on toxic leadership to look at how classrooms can represent a breeding ground for toxicity.

Toxicity takes several forms within the classroom - bullying (both physical and verbal), sexual harassment, power & privilege, as well as racism, sexism, and homophobia. These negative interactions can be broadly categorized as overt or covert interactions.  Overt negative interactions represent the loud and obvious toxic interactions. Covert toxic interactions are the more subtle, under the radar negative interactions. Again, that these things happen should not surprise anyone. That toxicity in classrooms continues to happen probably doesn’t surprise many people either.

Teachers have difficulty undoing the various trends that allow toxic interactions in the classroom to continue. Some teachers do not feel equipped to intercede.  Other teachers ignore or dismiss these harmful actions. These teachers point out that they don’t have time to get involved or that their job is to teach a specific subject matter. There are teachers who do try to combat toxic interactions or create change in their classrooms. Yet when these individuals work to alter the social dynamics of learning at best they face a big challenge or worse, their peers tell them a version of ‘boys will be boys.’  We can look at the several factors that support toxicity in the classroom.

1. The structure of many schools does not support getting involved. If you only have 40 minutes to teach and your job depends on you getting through material at a predetermined pace, can you afford to stop and address non-academic issues? Factory schooling does not allow (or have much interest) for issues to interrupt the production of knowledge.
2. The continued demeaning of teaching as a profession strips teachers of the power to confront toxic individuals. Teachers have so little power and what power we do have is being dismantled in many places. A part of this relates to rise of parents exercising their “squeaky wheel” options. Another aspect of marginalizing teachers in education comes from principals who fear lawsuits. As a result admin around the country practices a ‘the customer is always right’ mantra. So if you are a teacher with little power or status are you going to invest in a struggle you probably aren’t going to win - will you have the energy to fight for the for what is right? Some will… many will not.
3. Another trend could be organized around the notion that teachers are overwhelmed and underprepared. Schools around the country implement or develop programs to address specific negative behavior (eg. anti-bullying programs). Yet too many teachers see these programs as an add-on or something extra they have to do. Now if you’re a teacher with an already overflowing plate of things to do, the last thing you want is something else to do or someone adding to your plate.  Most teachers have little training in group dynamics and management. Teacher training programs still focus primarily on the transmission of subject matter to students.

As these trends continue some students will continue to abuse their peers while other individuals will think they are alone in facing a multitude of hostile dynamics during their school experience.

I consider toxic interactions in the classroom a form of school violence. When asked, almost every teacher wants to prevent violence in school but few consider toxicity a form of violence. If we reframe sexual harassment, etc. as a type of school violence would more teachers invest in stopping these interactions in their classroom?

When toxic interactions happen in the classroom, students absorb messaging around what society values. Power and acceptance are two critical values for students to recognize when negotiating the social landscape of school. Some students come to understand that they can increase their social power or gain acceptance by those in power by demonstrating toxic interpersonal violence. Other students will see the teacher ignore these interactions and understand that they should also turn away and stay quiet. If we model acceptance or allow toxic behavior to take root in our classrooms students will learn to adapt to and live within this damaged community. Changing  and educating toxic entities within our classrooms is a daunting and never ending challenge. However, if we don’t accept this challenge as part of our job as educators, schools will continue to produce more Harveys and more Donalds to assault and bully others down the road.

Choosing Outdoor/Experiential Education Programs

Recently I had the opportunity to join a former colleague on his radio program to discuss Experiential Education and how it can support learning in the classroom. Coincidently, I have found myself in numerous conversations regarding Experiential Education and Outdoor Education in recent weeks. Being on a radio show via phone is an interesting experience. It was perhaps not my best performance, but that doesn’t bother me much. What did bother me is how 30 minutes goes so fast especially when the questions opened huge topics. I think I managed to get to 25% of my notes and the ideas I wanted to share. For the purpose of our conversation, we focused more on Experiential Education in the more traditional sense of Outdoor Education (hiking, biking, climbing, ropes course, gardening, camping, etc.). However, we briefly discussed service learning and internships.  The key to understanding and practicing  experiential learning opportunities is the connection and transfer from experiences outside of school to experiences inside of school.

We only skimmed the surface of the topic. Lost in the rich questions, we didn't really discuss the  growing body of research to support outdoor programming. While studies in years past have looked at how such experiences impact an individual’s sense of self, more recent research has examined how outdoor programming:

• Improves a student’s ability to focus or pay attention back in the classroom.

• Decreases an individual’s stress level.

• Improves collaborative and communication skills

We did discuss how outdoor programming should mirror or support classroom learning (academic and social) and that all learning, no matter where or how it happens, means transforming how individuals see and negotiate their world. As our time ran out, we had just touched on the notion that knowledge without experience lacks context and meaning or that experience without knowledge has little long term impact on individuals or groups. The benefit of outdoor programming lies in the fact that students have an opportunity to live their learning, but in order to do that they have to own what they are doing. I suggest that this was true for all learning as was the notion that good teachers would agree that their job is to expand a student’s sense of what they can do and how much they are capable of in this world.

Recently I’ve had several people ask me about the purpose and benefits of Outdoor Education (OE) or Experiential Education (EE) for their students and schools.  From parents I usually get some version of routine questions - inquiries from parents who don’t want their kids to go away on such trips; or aren’t sure if there is any benefits to such programs. Colleagues and peers often ask versions of the same questions. My response to these queries usually begins with a fairly short reply that outlines the importance and potential benefits OE/EE programming for students, groups, and for schools as a whole. I have also had several friends ask me for advice in starting OE/EE programs at their schools. Again, I start with the short answer to their query so I can gauge their level of commitment to the topic. So to parents, colleagues, and administrators who want the long answer - here are a few things you need to know about outdoor programming before you get involved.

Outdoor education has changed over the years.  Perhaps the soul of OE programming has shifted with changing times or maybe it’s good programming versus less good programming.  There are many good programs out there and some poor ones. By poor I don’t mean dangerous (although I have witnessed a few dangerous school trips). I mean that such programs miss many learning opportunities by insulating participants within a curated experience that misses much of the potential of OE/EE programming. Unfortunately, people have become used to such programs. So when they experience a thorough and involved OE program, some participants believe such experiences are over the top and unnecessary. These are the same people who have no idea how hard you just worked taking 12 middle schools on a eight mile mountain bike ride to deliver produce (“it was just a bike ride”) or that the three day school camping trip meant you didn’t sleep much for 72 hours (“camping sounds nice”). That ignorance combined with a general trend away from the benefits of struggle, discomfort, and uncertain outcomes, has led some OE programs to move towards what I refer to as  ‘gated community’ programming (insulated with glimpses of adventure) in order to survive economic hardship. That is ok. I do have my thoughts of what makes a good OE/EE program. It is not the level of adventure within a curated experience that makes great programming. Hopefully there is room for multiple levels of adventure in programming. “Best type of programs” are those programs facilitated above industry standards with a high level of professionalism in which participants learn. Learning - that’s where the problem lies. The heart of any OE and EE program like any educational endeavor is what and how students learn.

Programs and programming varies. Schools have choices to make.  Programs should meet the needs of the students and be congruent with the school’s philosophy. Schools have to decide how much they want to invest in and commit to outdoor or experiential programming.  Once they do, there are several options for them to choose from to best meet their needs.

In terms of OE/EE programs in schools there are two broad categories - clubs and class trips. Clubs represent extracurricular activities much like chess or debate clubs. So a school could start, for instance,  a rock climbing program after school. This rock climbing club would probably, after developing sport specific technique and skills, focus on fun, fitness, and climbing related knowledge construction. Class trips on the other hand are intracurricular events that tend to focus on individual growth, community dynamics, and exploring a specific place (e.g. Yosemite National Park). Now of course there are hybrids of these two categories. For example, a class field trip to go hiking or to a ropes course blends the goals of both club outings and class trips.  If a school wants to set up outdoor programming extracurricular clubs represents the easiest way to begin.

Starting an outdoor club, perhaps with a class trips mixed across grades occasionally, offers perhaps the easiest and most cost effective path to setting a programmatic foundation (and build interest for expanding the program in the future). The downside for the club route is that clubs can sometime live a feast or famine existence in schools. The life of a club depends almost entirely on participation and available faculty advisors until the program establishes itself within the fabric of the school ethos.  If student interest fades periodically the life of a club requires dedicated leadership to weather the down turns. Depending on the cost to the school this leadership will be necessary to ensure that a school is willing to brave the questions around the club’s cost effectiveness. However, with some creative planning and institutional flexibility getting a club going is a great addition to a school community. Clubs offer opportunities for students to try something new, provide a community within the school, and plant the seeds for other outdoor pursuits.

Many independent schools conduct OE class trips during the school year. The most traditional set up is the week long “bonding” trip  at the beginning of the school year. Within this model there are several categories of trips. In general within the class trip genre of OE there are three subcategories: the guided trip, the family style trip, and the student led trip. Guided trips involve schools turning to an outside group to structure and facilitate their experience. This outside group (or the company in coordination with teachers) will plan and oversee activities and meals for the school. Students usually sleep in cabins, yurts, or prefab tents in a ‘camp’ location. Often there is a cafeteria for students. The facilitators essentially guide students from one activity to the next throughout the experience. During this time the vast majority of participants stay rooted in their comfort zone. Students experience challenges  but without much investment in or responsibility for the outcome of the experience, the status quo within individuals and group dynamics remains unchanged.

I refer to the second category of OE trips as Family Style.  On these trips schools rely on parents and families for gear, supervision, and to help facilitate activities.  Often a small group of parent volunteers drive students, share in some (if not all) of camp set up, as well as support activities and meals. The success of these trips is dependent on the quality of the parental involvements. Mind you that Family Style trips might be most appropriate for younger students, but are still common into middle school. Some parents are quite helpful. Other parents try to do everything for the students in order to be helpful but as the poem says, “some kind of help is the kind of help we could all do without.”  Parental volunteers are hit or miss - some parents are worth their weight in gold and others are just more work than they are worth. For students there are several potential issues with having parents on a trip. First, students behave differently when their parents (or any parents) are around. Second, parenting is different than teaching so some parents do too many things for students. Students then are not challenged much or invest much in the outcome of the trip. So depending on a variety of factors students may or may not push the boundaries of their abilities or experience. Students may or may not challenge or transform the status quo in their community. Unfortunately, while this type of trip is relatively easy for some schools to pull off, the amount of learning depends on way too many variables.

The third category of school based OE trips are Student Led trips. For these trips a school’s OE program oversees the planning and facilitation of the trip. Classroom teachers and their students have a much larger role in the planning and day-to-day operation of their experience. The success of these trips depends on student engagement during each phase of the trip as well as each activity.  On these trips students help plan the menu, cook the food, set up tents, and can help plan the different activities. Students are responsible for how the trip goes. Whereas on the other types of trips students might show up for meals or help parents cook, on Student Led trips if students don’t work well together teachable moments quickly come to the surface. For example, if students don’t have a plan for the meal they are responsible for - dinner might takes several hours to prepare. There’s a big difference in the level of engagement between those who just have to show up to dinner and those who have to plan and cook dinner.  If you don’t plan and focus in the grocery store it may take four hours longer to shop for than anticipated and you might find out later you bought five dozen hot dog rolls but nobody grabbed hot dogs. Of course now you’re four hours behind schedule when you arrive at your campsite. The sun is going down and students have to put up their tents before it gets dark and before they start making dinner. If you want to test how a small group works together - just ask them to put up a tent. Enlightening - such a rich data point. The teachers on these trips don’t don’t things for students, they do things with students. Teachers ask a lot of leading or clarifying questions. This way, students have opportunities to explain and clarify their ideas before testing out their systems. On these trips students get constant and often immediate feedback from their teachers, their peers, and their activities. By taking more of a facilitator role or even a ‘one down’ role, teachers can build or strengthen their relations with students. Students have to take a closer look at the impact of their actions within their community, and wrestle with the ‘voices’ inside their hide guiding their emotions and their sense of self.  Overall student centered trips highlight interpersonal as well as intrapersonal relationships.

Personally, I have been on fantastic trips that represent each category of OE program. So it isn’t the type of trip that is the issue. As mentioned previously, schools have to figure out which category of programming works best for their philosophy and their goals. Central to judging this fit is the question is a common question asked in schools - what and how are students learning?  Sound familiar? Teachers and administrators ask this question constantly regarding academic curricula inside the classroom. Yet, this question often gets overlooked when choosing or planning an OE program or trip. Analyzing the effectiveness of learning on outdoor/experiential program often gets overlooked due to several factors. Admin tend to focus first on the cost of these efforts and will look at how the optics of such programming represents the school. Parents often focus on the time away from home, academics, and extracurricular activities. Teachers’ concern usually overlap with these other concerns. They are also reluctant to take on the added responsibility or discomfort of these trips.  Unfortunately this short sighted thinking obfuscates the tremendous potential upside of such programming.

Learning requires change. The act of learning expands an individual’s knowledge and understanding into new territory. When working with youth in a school setting learning involves academics, social dynamics, and emotional as well as psychological development. The changes brought on by learning can be quick, but more often than not, are subtle - the result of a gradual process.  The development of new knowledge or the shoring up of prior knowledge means that individuals or groups (social cognition) have transformed in some manner. And yes, we can look at groups as social and cognitive entities that work, play, and think together. Yet, change is hard. Learning presents difficulties for individuals and groups. People tend to cling to the safety of what they know and are reluctant to change (learn). The comfort and safety of the status quo is difficult to leave. New knowledge represent an unknown and exploring the unknown is scary.

Teacher are agents of change. As a classroom teacher if your students don’t grow, change, and learn - you will most likely be looking for work frequently. As the teacher of OE/EE programming you want to support change within individuals and groups. On many OE/EE trips however teachers allow many students and their classrooms to cling to the status quo. So why do teachers who are so invested in subject matter transformation, overlook potential social/emotional/intellectual transformation on these trips?

On many OE trips participants are allowed to maintain or remain within the status quo. Now some folks will tell me that even on the comfiest guided trip the participants have moments of discomfort that precede growth. Insert eye rolling emoji here. Others will argue with me that too much discomfort stymies learning. True. And again, insert eye rolling emoji here. Like with risk, moderate amounts of discomfort is the sweet spot that fosters learning. So let me say this - planning an OE trip presents several challenges. One of which is that in any group you have many different levels of comfort and willingness to change. Participants will all find different things on the trip challenging. The key is putting together an experience that challenges everyone a little and using that to create empathetic relationships that reshape the community. Unfortunately, too many people instead lower the bar so that there is little discomfort or risk. When you lower the bar this far (so low only Jim Cameron can find it) very little learning occurs as participants remain within the comfort of their status quo. If you raise the bar and foster transformative opportunities for everyone you provide a tremendous opportunity for individuals or groups to create a network of understanding, compassion, and knowledge. It is ok for students (and teachers) to struggle. No math teacher says, “I’m not going to teach long division because students don’t like it and might struggle.” As much as my 4th grade self would have loved Mrs. Kahn to have said that - no doubt that phrase is not uttered around too many schools. So why is it that folks say something that very thing about outdoor programming?  Why waste tremendous opportunities to prepare students for the future by building stronger individuals and communities. Teachers are there to support, nurture, and comfort their students in these moments. That’s part of the job. Change is a struggle. That struggle, although uncomfortable, creates new networks of knowledge. Creating new knowledge is what teacher do.

Schools have to decide what style of OE programs fits best for them. Any of these trips have the potential to take out of schools experiences and use them to strengthen what happens inside of school. Too often though a false dichotomy is created around this decision making - OE/EE versus ‘real’ learning. However this ignores the fact that these are not mutually exclusive forms of learning. In fact they are incredibly congruent and supportive of one another. Embrace the benefit and potential of OE/EE programming. Where ever you are or whoever you are - take a step into new territory. You will provide students with myriad opportunities to explore who they are and how much they are capable of - in school and beyond.

Leadership, Part 2: Toxic Leadership, Toxic Schools

Toxic leadership has seeped into our lives in many ways - politics is one example and the #metoo is a response to toxic leadership as well as toxic masculinity.  Toxic leadership has also found its way into our schools. Perhaps you’ve noticed? After all, schools and classrooms reflect the larger community. While toxic classrooms is an important conversation for us to have, in this post I want to focus on exploring the roots of toxic leadership.

I found toxic leadership seeping into my former school and ignored the rising seepage for years and found myself trapped.  At the end of the school year, I often spend my summer decompressing reading about leadership principles and thinking about how those ideas might translate to schools, teaching, and to learning. Focusing on different styles of leadership forced me to come to terms with the fact that I was drowning in toxic leadership. Fortunately I escaped. Many people are not so lucky. 

As I recover from that experience, I can’t help but wonder if or how the toxic matrix of my school poisoned my teaching. After much reflection I don’t think it impacted my students directly. I do, however, think that a nontoxic experience would have elevated my teaching. In that way my students were impacted by the school’s toxic leadership.  There was so much I could have accomplished. My students deserved that - all students deserve teachers at their best.

Recently there has been a lot of talk around the U.S. about toxic leadership and toxic workplaces. Many people believe that our current government exemplifies toxic leadership. The military is reexamining its culture of leadership for toxicity. So it makes sense to explore toxic leadership within schools. The quality of leadership in a school has a big impact on the health and success of those within a school community. The most obvious place to begin examining the toxicity of schools is with school leadership. High quality principals provide support for teachers, students, and families. Principals serve as a guiding force for the professional and educational success within their school. Next, teachers may also be guilty of toxic leadership or creating a toxic classroom. Teaching represents a form of educational leadership that has tremendous consequences on students. Teachers lead students to academic and social success or they lead them out of school and crush their will to learn. Earlier in my career I worked with youth in the juvenile justice and mental health systems. One common thread amongst all these youth was that their experiences in school were all less than positive. In fact, school for many of these youth was a terrible experience. Therefore, it seems important that we address  toxic leadership within the social dynamics of the students. How students act within various group settings in class and out of class has a huge impact on their engagement in school and on their learning.

Toxic leadership decimates a workplace by slowly poisoning individuals. Sometimes we don’t even recognize what is happening or the extent of the damage being done to us. Other times we do know what is happening but feel our only choice is to accept the damage in exchange for a paycheck. I know I didn’t realize the amount of physical, emotional, and professional damage being done to me at my last school until I left.  I knew things were less than ideal, but I believed in the idea of the school and held out hope things would change. Former colleagues who had left the school described a sense of freedom and renewed energy for teaching. Over time I realized this school was toxic. I just didn’t recognize how toxic until I had stepped outside the murky, purple haze.

Before going further, let’s take a look at common definitions and characteristics of toxic leaders and leadership. Veldsman (2016) describes toxic leadership as “ongoing, deliberate, and intentional action” that “erodes, disables, and destroys” organizations. Toxic workplaces, according to Rhoderic Yapp (2016), model and tolerate a culture of toxicity. These organizations have a short term focus that benefits the leaders.  These leaders tend to promote followers to help achieve their goals. These organizations tend to have high staff turnover. However, toxic leaders dismiss these high rates of turnover - saying that those who left “couldn’t hack it” or ‘didn’t get with the program.’ In reality, Yapp explains workers in such places face limited options. Toxic leaders want employees to conform or collude with their behavior. This might be considered passive and active acceptance of toxicity. Yapp refers to reactive and proactive acceptance, in which, “At some point you will be forced down one or two paths. You will have to conform with this behavior and accept it or you will have to collude with it and adopt these behaviors to get promoted.” Another choice does exist - quit. Unfortunately everyone has bills to pay so many folks just do what has to get done. Liking work soon goes out the window for many employees.

Toxic leaders exhibit specific behaviors in the workplace. Yapp (2016) describes six characteristics of toxic leaders:

• autocratic

• narcissistic

• manipulative

• intimidating

• overly competitive

• discriminatory

Jean Kim (2016) extends these characteristics by defining eight toxic traits that cause distress at work and have a negative impact on employees mental health.

1. Unwillingness to listen to feedback

2. Excessive self promotion and self-interest

3. Lying and inconsistency

4. Lack of moral philosophy

5. Rewarding incompetence and a lack of accountability

6. Lack of general support and mentoring

7. Cliquishness and surrounded by ‘yes’ people

8. Bullying and harassment

Perhaps we could say that most bosses demonstrate one or two of these behaviors. That sounds pretty normal. However, at what point do we start accepting toxic as normal? Those people who have been privy to individuals who exhibit many of those characteristics can vouch for the detrimental impact that sort of normal has on people and organizations. Accepting toxic as normal allows what is to consume what is possible in the workplace.

Now if that workplace happens to be a school, the ramifications are considerable. Toxic principals destroy teachers’ moral, alienate parents, and decimate what could be accomplished in their school. If teachers manifest toxicity within the classroom, only a small segment of students will benefit and their behavior gradually erodes the joy of or willingness to learn among students. Yet what about toxic leadership among the students? David Sloan Wilson (2014) questions whether or not toxic leadership is an evolutionary strategy and asks if people have to change or do our leadership systems have to change? If toxic leadership is a developmental stage for individuals or groups are teachers responsible for addressing this behavior as an opportunity to learn?  If we look back at Yapps’ (2016) list, many of these behaviors are fairly common in group dynamics and student interactions in class. If we as teachers don’t address these behaviors are we preventing students from becoming successful in business or becoming president? More likely, if we don’t address and reshape toxic leadership we will be creating generations of leaders we would hate to work for and workplaces we’d never want to work in. Just as we can’t accept toxic as the new normal for leadership, we can’t accept toxic as ‘kids being kids.’ Let’s intervene early and often to transform the leadership and communities of learning to be more positive and supportive (funny, this is where outdoor and experiential education really benefit schools).

When you’re  stuck in a toxic school, you make the best of things. You tell yourself it is the students that matter, etc. You trudge through the toxic swamp and hope things change. Vacations become a period of recovery.  However, if and when you make it out (however that happens) it is exactly like Liz Ryan (2016) describes. Life outside the toxicity feels like a breath of fresh air.

References

Aries, E., (2017, March 7). 5 signs you’re in a toxic workplace. Forbes Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/emiliearies/2017/03/07/5-signs-youre-in-a-toxic-workplace/#7ad8a37a5134

Kim, J., (2016, July 6). 8 traits of toxic leadership to avoid. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/culture-shrink/201607/8-traits-toxic-leadership-avoid

Ryan, L. (2016, April 25). How to rebuild your mojo after escaping a toxic workplace. Forbes Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2016/04/25/how-to-rebuild-your-mojo-after-escaping-a-toxic-workplace/#2281cba61de6

Sloan - Wilson, D., (2014, January 10). Toxic leaders and the social environments that breed them. Forbes Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/darwinatwork/2014/01/10/toxic-leaders-and-the-social-environments-that-breed-them/#75c32dfdac53

Veldsman, T., (2016, January 13). How toxic leaders destroy people as well as organizations. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/how-toxic-leaders-destroy-people-as-well-as-organisations-51951

Yapp, R., (2016, December 1). The six characteristics of toxic leaders. Retrieved from http://www.leadershipforces.com/six-characteristics-toxic-leaders/

11.14.17: LEADERSHIP, Part 1 - Renovating My House of Wisdom

Let me confess something. Watching HGTV helps me relax and unwind. Sometimes after school (ok almost everyday) I veg out by taking in some reno shows.  At some point though I usually get depressed watching these types of shows. Usually my depression emerges after seeing the inevitable commercial that describes home ownership as the pinnacle of the American Dream.  I can’t help but get  bummed out. As a teacher approaching middle age, I have come to grips with the notion that I will probably never buy a house. In order to snap out of this funk I created an imaginary house (something similar to having an imaginary friend). As a result, I now own my house of wisdom. Since I own this home I can therefore proceed with all sorts of renovation projects. Now, my pretend home won’t be on HGTV anytime soon, but renovating our practices as teachers and leaders reflects diligence and commitment to our professional well being.

I refer to my classroom and now my teaching thru Do.Think.Learn as J’s House of Wisdom (J-HOW). This allows me to add a little mystique and style all my own to how I do things as an educator. My House of Wisdom usually has a little bit of everything - a good mix of support, tough love, comedy, and high expectations personalized for each community and for different individuals or situations. J-HOW evolves constantly, but has the same basic guidelines. Each school begins with some of the guidelines for living and working in my ‘house.’ These include statements such as:  give respect, get respect; focus on the process first; what you know doesn’t matter, what you do does; be your best self today; get comfy being uncomfortable; etc. Really it is a way to focus students’ attention on the way I operate  and establishing a consistent framework within which they can operate. For me, the House represents a means to explain the nexus of my teaching and leadership styles. I spend a good amount of time reading in an effort to build on to and frequently update J’s House of Wisdom from various areas (education, coaching, leadership, etc.) . For example, a few summer ago I read The Lone Samurai (Scott Wilson, 2013). This describes the life of Miyamoto Musashi a samurai from the late 16th, early 17th century. Unlike most samurai Musashi did not align himself with a lord preferring to  travel Japan on foot developing his own fighting style and school of thought. Musashi summed up his life’s work in his treatise The Book of Five Rings. As a result  I became more determined to explicitly outline J’s Way. Now granted this is a tad hokey but after some quality samurai reading and a lot of Frank Sinatra this title made sense to me.

J-HOW needs constant attention so I can make accommodate different students or more clearly explain J’s Way. I’m curious about the work of others. What has worked for leaders in different fields? How can their ideas or styles work for me? What would that look like? How will these ideas help me evolve and adapt to changing landscapes? This article looks at the specific ideas of three individuals that I read or re-read this past summer. I’ve spent some time considering what these ideas could hold for leadership and teaching.  As I set forth these ideas, take some time to wrestle not only with these principles but understanding what is your Way. What does your House of Wisdom look like?

While much of how I lead and teach is influenced by progressives, constructivist, and multicultural educators - I shape a good deal of interactions with ideas from persons outside of education. Last summer as I looked to grow my House of Wisdom beyond a specific classroom, I looked to three written works for advice. The first person I looked to was coaching legend John Wooden (1997). The second was Willink and Babin’s Extreme Ownership (2015). For my third reference point I revisited the work of climber/trainer Mark Twight. On this trip through his writing I focused on the article “Evolve, Adapt, Grow.” These disparate sources of experience and knowledge provide some good ideas for renovating my House of Wisdom and J’s Way.

Coach Wooden projected an image of class and professionalism that seemed to mask a fierce determination to succeed the ‘right’ way. The ‘right’ way meant hard working, collaborative, and respectful effort.  His team first mantra focused on preparation and execution. And while his pyramid of success gets most of the attention, I want to focus on other aspects of his philosophy.

1. Respect don’t fear others.

   1. This could go for ideas and subjects as much as people.

2. Perfect the small things.

   1. It always comes down to the little things.

3. Hustle overcomes most mistakes.

   1. If you’re going to make a mistake, make it trying to do something. And if you do make a mistake don’t stand there feeling sorry for yourself.

4. Character > reputation.

   1. Character withstands the test of time and gossip.

5. Quickness not hurrying.

   1. Plan accordingly so you don’t have to rush. I used to students - walk with a purpose.

6. Hard work makes good luck.

   1. You can’t sit around hoping. Make it happen for yourself.

7. Reflection leads to growth and improvement.

   1. There’s a reason I chose Do -Think-Learn as the title for my school.

                                                                                                                        (Wooden, 1997)

These ideas represent a solid, old school framework for leaders and teachers to impart on their community. Perhaps things look way different in 21st century learning than they did for Coach Wooden but as someone once told me - class never goes out of style.

Willink and Babin (2015) present a leadership philosophy that blends old school common sense with a new school perspective. They’ve taken their experience leading and teaching SEAL teams and have applied those ideas to conduct business in corporate America. Normally I steer away from anything with ‘extreme’ in the title but in this case substance definitely outweighed the marketing style. These ideas might need to be finessed a bit in order to take root in most schools. However, they could really enhance how things get done in classrooms and schools.

1. Own It: Take responsibility for what happens.

   1. Students and teachers owning what they do. Heads Taking responsibility for how their departments operate or how the people within the school perform.

2. Lead:  No bad teams….When things go sideways, it is on the leader (see Own It).

   1. When things don’t go well, don’t blame your staff or the students. Look at your actions first.

3. Believe:  Embrace the objectives or the ideas at hand.

   1. Find a place each person can anchor to and engage with the goals, the activity, or the  philosophy of the class or school.

4. Lose the Ego: It isn’t about you.  

   1. Ego complicates things.  Dial back your ego in order to see situations from a different perspective.

      1. Note: This might be tricky especially in schools. While I do teach for me, what I do as a teacher isn’t about me.  The best way to describe it might be as a weird zen balancing.

5. Cover and Move: Look out for one another and anticipate potential hazards.

   1. Build a supportive community. Look out for one another. Focus on what is what is right in front of you as well as anticipate possible consequences from those actions. Everyone and everything is connected.

6. KISS Method: Simplicity works best.

   1. Things are complicated enough. Don’t exacerbate situations with unnecessary details.

7. Prioritize:  Figure out what is most important and focus on that.

   1. You can’t focus on or do everything so figure out what matters most and operate accordingly. If you try to do everything or be everything you end up with nothing.

8. Decentralized Leadership: Empower your people to make decisions and get things done without you.

   1. Don’t micromanage. Let people make mistakes and help them learn from them. It might not look like how you’d do it but that’s ok.

9. Plan: Make a plan (KISS) that everyone is on board with and have faith in the plan. Then make it happen.

   1. Decide, own it, and commit. Things might not always go according to plan but it is always easier to adjust the plan when you have a plan.

10. Lead Up and Lead Down:  There are many leaders on a team. Each small picture is part of a larger vision.

    1. Each person has an expertise to share. Students can teach other. Teachers don’t have to know everything. Sometimes stepping out of the way and letting people do their thing works best. This way, the leader can keep folks focused on the goals.

11. Be Decisive. Be Disciplined: Plan. Decide. Act (see Plan).

    1. You can’t please everyone. Wishy washy and overly nice doesn’t usually work out well for anyone. It is ok to say no. Sometimes leaders just need to lead.

                                                                                                               (Willink & Babin, 2015)

In trying to translate Willink and Babin’s ideas to schools I was struck by the amount of overlap between their guidelines and the principles of Coach Wooden. Their new school common sense might actually be a logical next step from the Wooden Way.

The philosophy and writings of Mark Twight first shaped how I thought about climbing. More recently, I have applied his ideas to teaching (think Dewey and Vygotsky go to Fight Club).  Over the summer as I began to reread some of his articles I found own that was new to me. “Evolve, Adapt, Grow” seems to fit in the continuum of ideas set forth so far in this article. In this article Twight lays out his principles necessary to learn. Several of these ideas caught my eye .

1. Expect More from Yourself:

   1. There is nothing wrong with high expectations. Think big and push yourself. If you ain for the moon and miss you hit some stars. That is still spectacular.

2. Don’t Settle for Good Enough:

   1. Complacency kills. Not everyday is your best but make do the best you can in each moment.

3. Bend Sometimes, but Not Always:

   1. Flexibility and adaptability are great qualities. There are times to let go a bit. There are other times you just need to say no.

4. Cause Change:

   1. Make things happen to dismantle the status quo. Change the narrative.

5. Don’t Stay Stuck:

   1. You will get stuck from time to time. That is ok. Staying stuck is a problem.

6. Never Coast:

   1. This gets us back to complacency. Encourage people to challenge themselves each day. You can preach to the choir because the choir can always sing better.

7. Make No Excuses:

   1. Own it. Take responsibility for what you do and clean up your own messes if need be.

                              (https://www.marktwight.com/blogs/discourse/117665476-evolve-adapt-grow)

Choosing from his list of guidelines was somewhat difficult as all of them could apply to individuals and communities.  While at first glance these principles appear to focus on the actions of the individual, A good leader will encourage their charges to strive to meet these guidelines or use these principles to guide their everyday actions.

In some ways each of these single concepts is a piece of a larger philosophy.  When I set out to read each of these texts, I did not expect as much overlap as I found. What I found after digesting the material is that these authors each set forth a similar philosophy from a slightly different perspective. Taken together, the notion of hard work, responsibility, and high expectations all shine brightly. These principles also warn against  complacency, stagnation, and ego. After sitting with these ideas and rereading each text I have many ideas but no certainties. Maybe Twight bridges the ideas of Coach Wooden with those of Willink and Babin. Or maybe these texts reflect multiple layers of similar ideas - each set of of principles layers onto the others. Maybe Twight and Wooden layer onto and give details of how to implement the leadership within Extreme Ownership. It seems that like in other aspects of teaching and leadership what these authors as a group reflect is a balance between high expectations for each  individual and community (team) excellence.

These concepts will fit well with J’s House of Wisdom. These potential updates are my version of new countertops and appliances in my fancy new open concept floor plan. Instead of new backsplash and paint- HOW is ready for a new adventure. I know, this reno talk and houses of wisdom seems ridiculous. However, think about it - the teachers and other leaders within schools who have the biggest impact on their schools are the ones who push themselves and their communities to adapt and improve.

The Role of Risk in Learning

Risk got me into graduate school. Wait, let’s back that up a bit. The idea of how risk influences behavior and learning inspired me to apply to my M.Ed. program. The role of risk in learning and school has fascinated me for 20 years. I went to graduate school in large part to look at how risk manifests itself in school and how students interpret risk in class. As a teacher, how risk impacts school and learning is an underlying focus of my educational practice. The problem is that we live in a risk-averse time for parents and students. Risk can be a part of  almost every action, interaction, or activity that does not have a fixed or guaranteed outcome. Asking a question or raising your hand to answer a question is a risk as much as rock climbing is Going camping and talking to someone new in class are both risks. Of course, this impacts how and what a student is willing or able to learn as well as how they learn.  Risk creates opportunities to learn. An aversion to risk-taking hinders learning. A student who rarely takes risks rarely learns as much as a student who takes appropriate risks in school. The question then becomes -- in our risk-averse culture, how do we support students to better negotiate and engage with appropriate risks?

Much of what I do as an educator involves risk. Inside the classroom we work to build a context in which students can take risks … asking a question, giving an answer, challenging the social status quo, etc. Outside the classroom we use outdoor education to create opportunities for students (and teachers) to come face-to-face with appropriate risks. The notion of appropriate risk centers on developmentally appropriate challenges and group and individual readiness, as well as natural and logical challenges. We manage risk in the field the best we can, while also occasionally nudging the group into situations in which they (as a group or individuals) have to address a challenge. This leads to two related objectives. The first is to help the group support one another. A supportive community benefits each person in that community. However, in a risk-averse world, many students refuse or are at least extremely reluctant to even participate if they are uncomfortable or uncertain of success. Part of this work then becomes helping students and teachers reshape the status quo in their community. This leads to the second objective -- bridging the indoor and outdoor learning experiences. Unfortunately, many teachers see their outdoor education experience as disconnected and separate from the “real work” of education.  Students, however, start to recognize that these two spheres of learning are connected and powerful. Often times the student who struggles in the classroom shines outdoors (while the star academic student sometimes struggles outdoors). This sets up potential partnerships and support systems between students. This also sets up natural opportunities to address power hierarchies in the classroom which some students may not want to address. When students recognize that they can help each other out during challenging experiences, this represents an opportunity to support one another and build a supportive network in which they are more willing to take risks. These shared experiences and the support systems that emerge help to moderate risk within a community. If you’re not alone … if you know someone has your back … then you will be more willing to challenge yourself.

The recent parenting trend that seeks to minimize or eliminate risk or the potential for negative emotions has created barriers to learning, and may have had a negative impact on psychosocial development of youth. Within this seemingly dominant parenting style the grown-ups have the best intentions, however the unintended consequence of these actions is a generation of students who struggle with discomfort and are reluctant to engage with actions that do not ensure success. Students uncomfortable with risk struggle to learn beyond a narrow and/or shallow prescribed path. Anything outside that path stymies their efforts and many times paralyzes students with anxiety or fear. As a teacher,sometimes it’s tempting to blame the parents for shaping a risk-averse child. Parents have on occasion done some weird things. One parent ‘forced’ their student to sneak a cell phone on a trip in order to send a text every 30 to 45 minutes, letting the parent know that they were ok. Another once offered to drive to our campground because it rained and they were worried their student might get uncomfortable. And recently I have experienced more than a few middle and high schoolers who have never been away from home in any capacity. It seems more and more students are reluctant (unwilling) to participate in outdoor experiences if they will be challenged or uncomfortable. Do I blame the parents? As much as I want to sometimes, that is a waste of time and energy. Can I blame the schools? They get blamed for a lot so perhaps … what about the outdoor ed industry? Have my colleagues softened their programs into catered and curated experiences in which no one is uncomfortable within an illusion of risk and challenges? Honestly, I don’t know about you but I don’t have the energy for blame.

Down the road as adults the individuals we teach will be put in situations where they must collaborate and communicate with teams of people. Risk will thread itself throughout these interactions. They will be put into work or life situations where they will be challenged. I certainly don’t want any of my former students to be paralyzed with fear or shrink away from these situations. As educators it’s our duty to add appropriate risk and risk- taking to our classroom experiences to better prepare students for the future.  The question then becomes - what can this look for your class or school?