Why Bother?

For the past year I've been trying to get past the surface issues of low test scores, poor attendance and behavior problems.  I want to look at the culture of the schools in our district.  I want to identify and put into words the many tiny forces that, over a period of 13 years, add up to the atmosphere in a building or a classroom.  By the last four years that we're with the students, we try to control this force with rules and requirements, but by all indications students are missing the point.

I haven't been great at this yet, but I think I'm asking better questions.  Here's how I am phrasing it now.  Consider two groups of students in the secondary buildings--those who are learning what we'd like them to learn (group I) and those that aren't (group II).  This includes learning the content to a high standard, plus any of the other important things we want to see in young people such as responsibility, punctuality and so on.  In the other group we have everyone from the struggling learner to the talented but lazy to the outright resistant.  

Now, my question is this:  What do the students in group II see regularly that will encourage them to make the changes necessary to move into group I?  On an emotional and rational level, what is set before them throughout their waking hours that says it is urgent and worth the effort?

I think the time at home might outweigh what we can accomplish at school in this regard, but leaving that aside, I tried to answer this question from the students' point of view.  I thought of a school day, the teachers and classrooms that they will see.  I thought of the messages they get through words and actions.  I don't yet know what the solution is, but as I considered this, the frustrations I hear from the staff in the high school suddenly made more sense.  There's just not much reason to aim high.  

I don't know if this is obvious and I can't say it's a problem anywhere other than in the buildings where I work.  I do know it doesn't get asked in this way in the meetings I attend.  I'm going to start asking it more of others and of myself.  I'm going to propose some answers and put them into practice.

Passion for learning

This must be the best time in the history of the world for people who love to learn. So much knowledge is immediately accessible. Video tutorials allow novices to pick up skills from masters.

I read David Warlick's blog post last week that compares the state of education in Finland with the system in the U.S.. It is here and it's worth the read.

His points are valid, but like so many other opinions on this matter, I think it only touches on the heart of the issue. I am face to face with the real problem every hour that I'm in the classroom, yet I rarely read anything that points it out clearly. From what I see daily, the core of the problem is simply that in the U.S., students do not value learning on an emotional level. For the most part, especially starting at about 6th grade, there is no passion to learn.

Instead, we manage to turn the whole thing into into a system for getting credit. A focus on learning turns to a focus on grades. At the secondary level, grades give way to credit. This credit supposedly will turn into something meaningful way down the road, like getting into a good college or getting a good job. Over the years, students completely forget the joy of learning.

So in this time where learning is more obtainable than ever before, let's remember the only real job is to help our students discover the joy of learning. Let's hunt out and destroy those practices that slowly squelch their natural curiosity and passion to discover. Maybe then the other problems that get attention inside and outside of the schools would take care of themselves.

My Mantras

Here are some things I find myself repeating when I work with students in all grade levels. It's not always with these exact words, but these quotes are the foundation of my work in the schools.

• Anyone can play with technology, but successful people use it to create something valuable.
• Technology is a magnifier. It always allows the user to do more. What more has technology allowed you to do? What more would you like to do with it?
• Technology makes many things simpler, but the best jobs still go to the people who can do the difficult things.

Cultivating a Learning Environment

I love David Warlick's blog. In a recent post he lists six suggestions for cultivating a learning environment. I'm going to use these as a guide for any meeting I chair or any tech project that allows me some influence. I also hope to add to the list and have a list of my own specific examples by the end of this year.

Here are his suggestions taken from his post:

1. Fill your school(s) with learners. When interviewing prospective teachers, ask “Tell me about something that you have learned lately.” “How did you learn it?” “What are you seeking to learn more about right now that is not related to your teaching – and how?” Find out how proficient they are at network learning.
2. Be a public learner. Open your faculty meetings with something that you’ve just learned – and how you learned it. Include in the daily announcements some piece of interesting knowledge that is obviously new. “Did you know that a California power utility has just gotten permission to sell electricity from outer space? Make frequent mention of what you’ve learned from your Twitter stream, RSS reader, specific bloggers you read. This should not be limited to job specific topics.
3. Introduce new ideas that are not necessarily related to school. Share links to thought-provoking TED talks or other mini-lectures presented by interesting and smart people. Ask for reactions during faculty meetings, in the halls, or during casual conversations with employees and parents.
4. Make students’ outside-school-learning part of the conversation. Find out what their passions are and ask them what they’ve just learned about it. Suggest that they write something up about it for the school web site or annual research publication.
5. Make your school a curiosity lab. Plant around the school (especially in the library) intriguing questions that might provoke curiosity in learners (How many steps does a centipede have to take to travel a foot? Who was the youngest person to sail around the world?). Reward students who answer them and video their explanations of how they found the answers for the school’s web site. With the help of creative teachers, invent a mystery for your school and plant clues around the school. Require student-participants to research the clues they have discovered in order to find their way to the next clue.
6. Make all school stakeholders public learners. Ask members of your staff to write essays about their latest vacations or hobbies and publish them on the school web site or annual research publication. Ask teachers to devote one of their classroom bulletin boards to information about a personal passion of theirs, sharing their latest gained knowledge and achievements. Suggest that they produce TED style multimedia presentations about a topic they are especially interested in and post them on the school’s web site or perform them at PTA meetings. Learn about the hobbies and travels of the parents of your students and ask them to share what they are learning and how they are learning it through essays, videos, Skyped-in conversations, etc.

Other versions of this list can be found here and here.