To help encourage conversations and dialogue about the importance of owning one’s own learning, our topic/question for the dinner table is: What is one thing you are currently working on to improve your learning? Articulating Learning (Week of 10/26/20)
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Our Students
Blake's Core Values: Respect, Responsibility, Resourcefulness, Reflection
Our Essential Question: How can we cultivate and curate the progression of student learning and growth?
Our Mission: Blake Middle School believes in a living mission statement, based on the concept that our community seeks and respects knowledge, integrity, character, wisdom, and the willingness to adapt to a continually evolving world.
The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning. - John Dewey
You cannot teach today the same way you did yesterday to prepare students for tomorrow. - John Dewey
Hopefully everyone has been able to find some time to rest and recharge during these busy days - even though we have now been in school for about 5 weeks or so, the routine/schedule is one that I am still adjusting to each day and week! It seems as though the ‘leaf falling’ increased dramatically over the past couple of days, so we have been spending time in the yard - always a mix of feelings with the autumnal weather indicating that winter is on its way.
Earlier in the week I listened to an episode from HBR’s podcast, The Anxious Achiever, featuring Marc Brackett (@marcbrackett), the author of Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive. I have shared many times the influence Brackett has had on me and I will do my best to capitalize on any chance I can get to read his work or listen to him. As is often the case, the messages within this episode were ones I needed to hear...
Why Learning to Label Your Feelings Makes You a Better Leader
(36:47)
Many managers and leaders misunderstand what emotional intelligence really means, despite the trendiness of the phrase. Marc Brackett, director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, urges leaders to learn to understand themselves and their teams using a Mood Meter, a tool he developed to help people explain their emotions.
After listening to and processing the messages within the episode, I was reminded of how important it is to make space for listening to ourselves and others. We are all experiencing a really difficult time with a confluence of emotions - and, this is true for students, staff, and families alike. ‘Speaking from the I’, it has been challenging to feel as though I do ‘not have answers’ or the ‘right’ action steps to make things better. Although that may not be the reality of a situation at all times (I hope), those feelings are real and they have an impact. Brackett’s work opens up the space to allow those emotions to be articulated - and, in turn, that process has helped me to move forward. And, most important, I feel validated and am learning. A few things/take-aways keep coming back in my thoughts...
- Change is emotional (and we are experiencing a great deal of change)
- This is hard work (teaching and making meaningful work has always been hard, but I would be lying if I did not take time to share this is hard)
- It’s not easy (this may seem to be saying the same thing as ‘This is hard work’, but language and words are important - and, I find it important to say these words as well)
- Discomfort is an indicator of learning (this is very true and very real - again, this helps to acknowledge and appreciate the discomfort and then articulate the learning that is coming forth)
- Grace and flexibility (giving myself the same grace and flexibility that I want to extend to others and I hope others extend to me)
- Our work is important (this has always been and will continue to be true - and it needs to be stated)
Learning looks different for each of us - how we access learning, how we process learning, how our learning influences our actions, and how we seek learning. The responses from last week’s question reflect the innate and fostered curiosity that is present within our community, and the posts I am sharing this week are ones that I believe (and hope for all of us) affirm, support, and challenge our approaches to align our systems of feedback with the learning and curiosity in our students.
Sampling of Responses from Our Last Topic/Question (Week of 10/19/20): What are you curious about learning? Share why.
- I am curious about how scientists are going to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
- There is so much to learn about in life,it’s endless! So in life I would like to learn as much as I can!
- I am curious about learning how airplanes stay up in the air. I have never learned that I used to travel to Sweden every summer before COVID.
- I want to learn more about things in Science, and I want to be better at division in math.
- I am curious about learning about coronavirus. I am curious about learning this because I want to learn more!!!!!!!
- I am curious about learning since because we are learning triple beam balances
- I am curious how people make a language. Do they just think of random words and decide what they mean?
- I am curious about learning about ancient civilizations. I think that it is really cool people are discovering past empires and entire cities, and I would like to know more.
- How devices work.
- I am curious about analytics and what can be discovered by examining large amounts of data, In general, I find the results fascinating to almost any topic this approach is applied to. These studies often produce interesting results and I become curious about what data in my own life can be analyzed and what it would reveal.
- I like learning about history
- How to use a triple beam balance
- How an engine works
- I am curious about how people got so many answers to their questions! There are so many facts in the world that I am starting to wonder how we found so many facts.
- Space and Greeks because I am interested in it
- I am curious about which companies will produce the best vaccine. I want to make sure to no't rush the process by sacrificing accurate science.
- I am curious about learning about animal behavior, because I always wanted to understand what went on in animal's heads and how they communicate with each other on a deeper level.
- How students are motivating themselves to practice at home.
- I am curious about science topics like how the universe was made. and zoology, and the social sciences - I am also passionate about theatre and acting.
- I want to learn more about outer space because we know a lot about Earth, but not any other planets.
- Early humans and the Paleolithic era
- I am curious about what it was like for a 12 year old to live 100 years ago.
- I am curious about the live-science era which is going to be the next era in life. I want to learn more about that.
- I’m curious about learning more about dna. I want to know more about it because it’s basically a code for our whole self and I find that very interesting.
- I’m curious about learning new things and learning more on certain topics like dolphins and the Titanic.
- I am curious about learning about the election on Wednesday because the election interests me.
- Sparta and Athens
- How things work and the science behind it.
- Curious about learning about Harris and me because it is a really good book.
- I am curious about learning more about politics in civics because I have never had a chance to learn about current events before.
- The book we are reading, The Color of My Words.
- Paleolithic Age
In Schools, Are We Measuring What Matters?
By Stephen Merrill in Edutopia
This post captures a discussion between Merrill and Angela Duckworth (@angeladuckw), author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, about the ‘…traits that research is increasingly linking to success throughout life, including grit, passion, creativity, teamwork, loyalty, and honesty.’ The emphasis on learning, finding passions (rather than discovering), lingering with your learning, and teachers serving as observant advocates for students is insightful.
The scientist who probably deserves the most credit for demystifying high performance is Anders Ericsson...He spent his whole life as a cognitive scientist, trying to understand how high performers do what they do. And what he learned is that these world-class experts start off like everyone else—they are awkward, clumsy amateurs. And it’s through thousands of hours of what he called deliberate practice that they attain greatness.
Call it soft skills, call it social and emotional skills, call it healthy habits, call it character—whatever you want to call it—I think any educator and certainly any parent would say that we have to broaden our view of kids’ capabilities. That’s partly because students have a rainbow of capabilities, but it’s also because I don’t want to send a signal to young people that cognitive ability is the only thing that matters. It’s not. If teamwork matters, if loyalty matters, if honesty matters, if grit matters, if creativity matters, then we have to start assessing these things, because as it’s often said, what gets measured is what gets treasured.
With fear of failure, what’s the thought that flashes through our mind the moment before we’re embarrassed? I think the thought that flashes through the mind of a student is “I’m stupid.” And I think when you’re an adolescent, feeling stupid in front of other people is something to be avoided at all costs. We have to learn to replace the thought—“I’m stupid”—with another thought, which is “I’m learning.”
We Don’t Value Education. We Value The Credential.
by Brandon Busteed in Forbes
This is an important and critical read as Busteed delves into some important questions about the value we place on education and learning - is it more about the ‘credential’ or the actual ‘learning’? We want our students to learn, not to just get higher ‘marks’.
It’s time for our country to reckon with itself on the deeply held value of education. Is it education that we value? Or is it the credential that results from certain types of education?...Education, broadly defined, is among the most worthy goals of any democratic society. But lurking beneath the surface is a real crisis of conscience for our education system as to whether it values education and learning or simply the credentials that accrue from it. At the core of this are colleges and degrees.
Colleges and universities do indeed suggest they value education; for example, ‘lifelong learning’ is one of the most common phrases in college mission statements. But they don’t reward lifelong learning in any way...In reality, lifelong learning is more a myth than an outcome that has been achieved.
In Michael Sandel’s new book “The Tyranny of Merit,” he suggests that our overzealous belief in meritocracy has led us to a point where we have created a toxic politic of credentialism as “the last acceptable prejudice” in America. He points explicitly to American higher education as a source of this; elite universities, in particular, have created an obsession with selectivity that has led to ‘fevered striving’ among students who focus simply on grades and test scores rather than sincerely engaging in education.
If higher education fully embraced the inherent value of education more broadly, it would behave differently than it does now. Examples abound.
Considering whether it is education that we value or simply degrees is a critical reflective moment for our democracy. Sandel makes a blunt point about this against the backdrop of rising populism in the United States: “Building a politics around the idea that a college degree is a condition of dignified work and social esteem has a corrosive effect on democratic life. It devalues the contributions of those without a diploma, fuels prejudice against less-educated members of society, effectively excludes most working people from representative government, and provokes political backlash.”
The notion that higher education might be contributing more to the unrest in our country than to building its common good is a deeply troubling thought. It forces us all to think carefully about what we’re really after. Is it the unending quest of credentialism and educational elitism for a select few? Or is it education for the benefit of all?
4 Strategies for Implementing Standards-Based Learning
by Eric Saibel and Nathan Beach in Edutopia
The structure of this post provides a window into the process that this school followed as they shifted towards a learner-centered approach to feedback - adopting Standards-Based reports rather than traditional A-F grades. The series of questions led the school towards a focus on learning rather than scores.
The ensuing conversation was surprisingly brief. We came to a quick consensus that our points-based A–F system did not square with what we clearly defined as successful learning for all students. We wanted our students to be more interested in how they could improve their understanding of concepts rather than how they could raise their grades.
Instead of prompting additional curiosity for continued learning, A–F grades were sending our students the wrong message—“earning, not learning.” Learning is complex, and our feedback practices should be, too. Once we had this collective awareness and sense of possibility, we began a slow and patient journey to create a new language of learning—a process that continues to this day.
Change is emotional work, and it can be uncomfortable. Leaders looking to support grand conversations about building the future of their institution need to anticipate that these thought exercises will make some members of the faculty and community uncomfortable. It’s important to remember that discomfort can be a positive sign that there is a substantive conversation taking place.
In traditional grading systems, more students than not are motivated by fear—fear of losing points, fear of getting less than an A, fear of their parents’ and teachers’ disappointment or anger. But fear does not make a kid learn more—it just makes him or her stress more. There is nothing wrong with striving to succeed in an academic setting, but it’s important to recognize that with high academic achievement come high stress and high pressure to perform. The result, all too often, is a hit to students’ mental and emotional well-being.
The mental health and wellness of students should be of paramount importance to educators; in fact, there is nothing more important for us than to reduce stress and anxiety that our students feel. Decades of research tells us that standards-based learning practices help accomplish this.
I shared these words last week and I think they are worth sharing again and again - they are helping me to improve my own learning, and I hope they will help our students and community to articulate the action steps needed to support our emotions. This will then help me to actualize my own answer to this week’s question (What is one thing you are currently working on to improve your learning?) - listening and being present for others is the action step I am working on for my own learning. Please help hold me accountable with this - it is important.
‘This pandemic is not about how productive we can be. It’s about getting to the other side emotionally intact.’
- Lisa Damour
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Take care.
Nat
#willfulhope #willfulaction #longasIcanseethelight