Article: "How Not to Talk to Your Kids"

An insightful article on the impact of incessant praise on a child, "How Not to Talk to Your Kids," in the New York Magazine.  I've also seen it entitled "The Praise Paradox" in other publications.  The most pertinent passage from the article:

“Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control,” she explains. “They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child’s control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure.”

Sprinters and marathon runners

Principals who visit classrooms to observe teachers are analogous to a well-rested sprinter running side-by-side with a runner who is in the middle of running a marathon.  There is a different level of energy, mental clarity, and strength between the two runners in that situation, just as there is between a principal and a classroom teacher.  I believe there would be a far greater probability of feedback from principals resulting in positive action by teachers if this analogy was openly acknowledged and embraced.

A theory of diminishing returns in teaching

Last week, I attended a SIOP facilitators meeting at our school.  No wonder that there's so much resistance and cynicism in my school about implementing SIOP.  The philosophy of SIOP demands faithful implementation by at least 75% of a school staff before promising any results.  There are eight SIOP components to lesson planning: 

1. Lesson Preparation
2. Building Background
3. Comprehensible Input
4. Strategies
5. Interaction
6. Practice/Application
7. Lesson Delivery
8. Review/Assessment

But here's the thing:  at some point, aren't we drilling down to such an excruciating level of detail in our demands of teachers, that we are making the act of teaching appear needlessly complex?  Granted, teaching is not "simple", but even simple actions can be made to appear complex through over-analysis.

If you wanted to, you could break down the act of catching a ball into a sequence of 100 steps supplemented with formulas from physics and calculus.  You could similarly break down the secrets to a healthy marriage down to the level of the timing and frequency of foot massages.  But would the benefits of internalizing such advice be worth the effort?  Isn't their a point of diminishing returns?

How should we view teachers?

There's an extremely fine line between viewing teachers as a problem, and viewing them as a solution.  The unstated assumption of so many texts on educational leadership is to view teachers (within a context of the need for change) as a problem.  I would hope that I am able to adopt a viewpoint of teachers as the solution to achieving excellence in schools.

Building Trust (Part 2)

When texts on educational leadership speak of "building trust," they are invariably referring to the ideal of staff trusting administrators.  But what about the other way around?  Isn't there room to discuss whether administrators are able to trust their staffs?

Building Trust

"Building trust" with staff is a central concern in the educational literature for school principals.  This worry is so prevalent that it almost exists as a convenience to explain away the failure to realize the gains in achievement promised by whatever trendy teacher-centered reforms are being pushed by educational researchers at the time.  (Heavens forbid, after all, that these researchers ever admit that their precious, meticulously "researched" ideas were either impractical, ineffective, or just plain out-of-touch.) 

The preoccupation with "building trust" has a flip side that I have yet to see be explored.  There exists in every school district veteran principals who are respected, trusted, and even loved by their staff.  I can think of many in my own school district.  In schools like these, what remains as a barrier to the enactment of any good idea?  Gains in school-wide achievement should be automatic, no? 

The fact that an achievement gap persists, in schools with both high and low trust among staff and administration, shows that the industry of educational research and publishing produces little that is of practical value for schools.  Instead of a relentless focus on how to make teachers better, a wider lens needs to be applied to the perceived underperformance of children in our public schools.  Our scope should also include the underlying systems and structures of schools and the cultural values of our communities and families. 

Teacher interview questions

One of my most valuable experiences this summer with my mentor principal has been participating in all of the summer interviews that are required to fill our school's staffing requirements.  All told so far, I have participated in four days worth of interviews. 

After the first day, I remember being enamored by one candidate's competence--she clearly knew her stuff, and I was convinced she would be an amazing teacher.  My principal, on the other hand, expressed reservations.  There were little clues in the wording of some of her responses that caught my principal's attention.  Like phrases that indicated a pride that she was able to do her job better than others.  Then on the second day of interviewing, we met a candidate that just lit up the room with enthusiasm.  Every teacher on the interview panel was energized by her.  I then realized that in today's world of public education, it's not enough to be adept in the classroom--a superior teacher is able to elevate the quality of teaching among her peers as well.  It is the power of collaboration, a key buzzword in education today. 

As a little bonus, here is a sampling of some of the questions that we used in our interview: 

• Can you briefly describe your level of familiarity with our school district's learning targets (in your subject area)?  
• In any subject area that you have taught, describe how you have used learning targets or state standards to guide your instruction.  
• How would you address a gap in knowledge that you have noticed between students who have access to a variety of technology in their own home, and those who do not?  
• Could you give us an example of how you have collaborated with members of a grade level team to improve learning in your classroom?  
• Could you give us an example of an instance where you worked effectively with a parent to improve his or her child's classroom achievement or behavior? 

Vice presidents and assistant principals

The debt ceiling compromise appears to be a done deal.  I enjoyed reading Politico's piece on the crucial role played by Vice President Joe Biden in negotiating the final details, "Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell and the making of a debt deal".

One of the ironies of the the coursework my classmates and I have gone through in order to earn our administrative credentials is the amount of time we spend discussing our personal visions and philosophies about being a leader, when in fact, the first many years of our administrative careers will most likely be spent as an assistant principal.  In other words, we will be working tirelessly to support someone else's conception of school leadership. 

For all future assistant principals (such as myself), the piece on Joe Biden provides an example of how even leaders in positions of secondary authority occasionally have central roles to play in critical matters.  The debt ceiling compromise is not one that I am pleased with, but I wholeheartedly appreciate the work of our Vice President.

My summer training

I am so fortunate to be mentored by a principal who trusts and values me.  I earned this stature as I worked with her for four months last year as part of my administrative licensing program, a formal process known as "the Practicum."  And because our relationship is so productive, she has allowed me to work with her throughout this year's summer vacation.

I am still technically a teacher.  I don't get paid anything extra.  But I have been spending two days every week this summer working at her school, simply soaking in all the wisdom and technical knowledge I can from her.  She generously shares her thoughts in her decision-making processes.  She has entrusted me with a sizable plate of responsibilities.  She values my input. 

I have been assigned by my school district to continue my mentorship with her when the new school year starts in a month.  It is going to be a pleasure to open the school together.

Headline irony

Just yesterday, in my reflection on the Women's World Cup, I wrote about how our ability to access knowledge is limited by our language.  In a "related development" (as a journalist might say) can you guess what is today's top headline among the Japanese news media?  It is the following:

米朝協議始まる、１年７か月ぶり

.. which loosely translates to "The United States and North Korea open talks for the first time in one year and seven months." 

Now, if it's "top news" about the U.S., and it's even garnering prime headlines in foreign news publications, wouldn't it be reasonable to expect at least one of my favored U.S.-based news websites to cover the story?  Apparently and ironically, no.  Google News homepage?  (Nowhere.)  Huffington Post homepage?  (Zippo.)  Politico?  (Korea is waaaay too far from the beltway.) 

Oh, so language is a barrier to knowing what's happening in other important parts of the world?  How about American media being a barrier to knowing what's happening right here in our own country.