Blog

We Are So Much Better Now – Really

The pandemic has at times both bewildered and humbled us. Occasionally, our confidence waned and uncertainty haunted us. Meanwhile, our circumstances also pressed us to learn and grow as educators. We found ourselves in places where much of what we relied upon to organize our work and engage our students was no longer available. We had to decide whether to persist as though nothing had changed or shift our attention and efforts to develop new strategies, create new learning environments, and nurture new relationships with our students. Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of us chose to engage, learn, and grow in response to the challenges we faced. It wasn’t always easy and the path was often not clear. We weren’t always successful, but one thing is clear: We grew, added skills, and expanded the strategies and approaches we employed to connect with students and nurture their learning. Now is a good time to pause and reflect on how far we’ve come and what we have accomplished. Of course, there is more to do and ways to still get better. Yet, if we fail to take stock of our progress and appreciate our successes, we risk losing our momentum and stalling our growth. To help us start our reflection, here are five key areas worthy of note and celebration. We developed a new appreciation for and command of technology tools and developed crucial skills and strategies for using technology to nurture and support learning. Prior to the pandemic, technology often served as an option for and enhancement of the experiences we offered to learners. It quickly shifted to a primary vehicle for reaching and teaching students. As we look to the future, we now have available to us a rich and expansive set of options on which we can call to support our instruction and nurture the learning of our students. We learned to lessen our dependence on compliance to manage student behavior and developed strategies to gain their commitment and engagement. When we shifted to remote learning many of the tools and much of the leverage to control student behavior disappeared. In response, we increasingly relied on intrinsic motivation and self-discipline to create conditions to support learning. As we make the transition back to full face-to-face learning, we can bring this expanded set of skills and strategies to build classroom communities and culture that are less reliant on compliance and coercion. We learned to instruct with less dependence on presentation and more reliance on exploration and experience. Whether synchronous or asynchronous, lessons had to include variety, opportunity, and purpose, or we risked losing the attention and engagement of students. We developed an ever-widening set of options, opportunities, and experiences to keep students connected with learning while maintaining a focus on standards and benchmarks. In short, instruction became more learner-centered and the learning experience became more customized. We spent more time and energy focused on developing self-regulation habits to help students become more skilled and independent learners. We have always aspired to have our students become more independent, self-regulating, and self-motivated. The pandemic has magnified the importance of self-management as a learning skill well beyond where it was in the past. This set of skills has consistently determined the success of students during remote learning, but they are also, increasingly, core skills for success in the workplace. We also expanded our skills and strategies to assess learning. We were pressed to move beyond assessments that were vulnerable to students Googling answers or conferring with family members. We migrated to assessment practices in which students explain their learning rather than supply a single answer. We gave students opportunities to demonstrate competency rather than rely on selections from limited choice responses. Of course, long before the pandemic, students often defaulted to finding answers over developing understanding. However, we now have a better developed repertoire of assessment strategies, practices, and frameworks to support deeper, richer learning. The past months have certainly been challenging, and at times, overwhelming. Yet, it has also been a time of important growth. As the pandemic subsides, we have a wider, more flexible, and useful set of instructional, relational, and assessment tools we can tap to nurture learning. Indeed, we are much better from the experience.

February 22, 2021

The Key to Unlocking Lifelong Learning

The secret to being a lifelong learner is both obvious and surprising. Lifelong learners share a common characteristic: an insatiable curiosity. Curiosity can be compared to radar. It constantly “pings” the environment to discover what is interesting, new, and worthy of attention. People who are curious are usually aware of approaching change well before others who wait until they experience its presence. Curious people ask questions, seek information, and try to understand the world around them. In fact, curiosity is a better predictor of success in life than intelligence and socioeconomic status. Remarkably, curiosity is built-in for most humans. We are born curious. Curiosity is the source of most learning – and many mishaps early in life. Young children are known for constantly asking questions, often to the frustration of their parents. Unfortunately, over time children often become less curious and more inclined to wait until told what to do and what to learn, at least in school. This trend is not an accident. Traditional school experiences are designed to have students sit still, comply, and wait for instructions from adults. In fact, much of the job description and expectations for early grade teachers are focused on getting students ready to engage in receptive, passive student roles. For some students, curiosity is not extinguished, rather it becomes a driver of learning outside of school. For others, the definition of learning becomes what is expected in school and curiosity is pushed aside. And still others do not lose their curiosity. They continue to ask, wonder, and seek information and understanding often to the chagrin of their teachers. This issue is even more crucial for students who come from families living in poverty. A 2018 study from Pediatric Research found that curiosity plays an even larger role in accelerating the achievement of students from lower socioeconomic environments. In fact, students from lower SES environments with high levels of curiosity appeared to perform at the same levels as their more SES advantaged counterparts. However, we need to protect and nurture curiosity for it to survive the traditional structures and expectations of schools. So, how can we nurture and protect curiosity? For students who come to school with well-established curiosity, we need to encourage and feed it in every way we can, including tolerance of seemingly incessant questions, occasional distractions, and periodic obsessions with their latest passion. We need to search for ways to connect required learning to their interests and, when possible, give them space, support, and opportunities to explore. We can build curiosity by asking interesting, open-ended questions. Of course, this strategy requires us to know our students well enough to determine what questions and topics they will find interesting. Why do you think, what do you predict, and what might you do next questions are good stems to stimulate curiosity. However, we need to be patient, respectful, and responsive to their wonderings. Further, we need to resist the temptation to step in immediately and provide direction when students struggle while engaged in learning they find interesting and purposeful. A suggestion, hint, or coaching comment can help without stealing ownership for learning. A sense of accomplishment and openness to pursue the next challenge is often influenced by past success in the face of struggles. Additionally, we can challenge students to make connections among ideas, items, and experiences that can lead to new discoveries and insights. How can a caterpillar become a butterfly? How can an airplane fly when an apple falls to the ground? Why do we become tired after running, but not so much after talking? Even better: Invite students to define their own questions and challenges. We know that curiosity prepares the brain for learning and learning that results from curiosity is more rewarding than the learning that is served to us. How might we leverage what we know to make learning more enjoyable and a passion to pursue for life? Source: Shah, P. E., Weeks, H. M., Richards, B., & Kaciroti, N. (2018). Early childhood curiosity and kindergarten reading and math academic achievement. Pediatric Research, 84(3), 380-386. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-018-0039-3

February 15, 2021

Remediation Is Not the Answer to Remote Learning’s Lags and Lapses

Many educational leaders and practitioners are anticipating large scale remediation efforts when schools resume in-person learning. They point to evidence that many students have failed to benefit enough from remote learning to keep up with the expected pace of progress. Their hope is that by providing remediation services, students will catch up to classmates and grade level performance expectations. Yet, there is ample evidence that such a strategy is unlikely to deliver the results we hope for and need. In fact, decades of research and experience have shown remediation as a “catch-up” strategy to be expensive, time consuming, and largely ineffective. Remediation as an approach has suffered from at least four key faults. First, efforts to remediate have too often utilized the same instructional strategies and approaches that led to the problem. Repeating what did not work the first time offers little promise for a better outcome. In fact, it may reinforce for the learner that he or she is not a capable learner and lessen confidence, commitment, and effort rather than build capacity for current and future success. Second, the time gap between the emergence of learning problems and remediation responses are typically too long. When students are confused or hold misconceptions regarding a concept or skill, the longer we wait the more difficult it is for students to “unlearn” their faulty understanding. When students are made to wait until they are assigned to a special class or given services, they face far greater challenges than if a simple, direct intervention had occurred in real time. Third, remediation services often target a specific problem or assignment when the problem may be broader. If the real problem is lack of background knowledge or key learning skills, targeted remediation offers little help. Meanwhile, teacher and student become increasingly frustrated with the student’s lack of progress. Fourth, remediation focuses backward to problems with previous learning challenges. Remediation asks students to stop and focus on what they did not grasp. At the same time, they are expected to be moving forward with new concepts and skills. This challenge is especially difficult when new content is dependent on understanding what should have come before. Rather than default to traditional remediation practices, we would do better to understand why students are falling behind. There are many reasons why some students are not keeping pace. Unless we understand these underlying causes and respond to them, we can hold little hope of making a difference. Here are five of the most common causes:

Lack of background knowledge. When confronted with the challenge of learning something new, we immediately search for what we already know that may assist us in the task. If key aspects of our knowledge and experience are missing, making sense of what we are attempting to learn and connecting with prior knowledge can be challenging, if not impossible.
Missing universal learning skills. Organizing information, identifying key characteristics, sorting details from main concepts, and other learning skills may be missing. Absent these skills, even seemingly simple learning tasks can prove to be unachievable.
Mismatched instruction and learning pace. For some learners, the pace of instruction may be too slow. They become distracted and frustrated and miss key elements and characteristics of what is to be learned. For other students, the pace may be too fast and they struggle to keep up. Many of these students are capable learners, but they need more time to process content and skills or may need more examples and practice to fully grasp patterns, sequences, and key characteristics.
Lack of self-monitoring skills. Some students are not aware of when they are falling behind until they reach a crisis. They may not know when to ask questions and tap other resources, such as classmates, to carry them through and keep their learning on pace. By the time they become aware or their performance makes their lack of progress visible, they are already far behind.
Absence of feelings of connection, community, and caring. For some students, the problem is not lack of skills, absence of background knowledge, or level of challenge. They see no reason to invest and persist with the learning. These students may feel little connection with the teacher and other members of the class. They do not experience learning as part of a community that values their contributions and offers support. Even though they are capable of learning what is presented, they feel little reason to remain connected. Learning is not their problem. It is relationships.

So, what can we do to respond to the problems with traditional remediation and the multiple causes for learning lags and lapses? Not surprisingly, the most effective responses are aligned with the barriers and challenges encountered by students. We can start by building strong, positive relationships with our students. We can nurture a learning community that values the uniqueness and talents of each student and is quick to offer support when members of the community struggle. When these elements are in place, many learning-related problems are prevented and those that are not can often easily be solved. Relationships, community, and caring are foundational to learning success, especially for students who are most vulnerable to falling behind, struggling, and giving up. Second, we can assess the levels and nature of student prior knowledge and experience before we introduce new learning challenges. If there are gaps and areas in need of refreshing, pre-teaching can prevent struggles, frustration, and loss of learning commitment. Third, we can monitor student progress closely and intervene when student confusion is fresh, progress begins to wane, and problems begin to surface. The universal key to keeping learning on pace is to anticipate, monitor, and respond in a timely manner. The earlier we intervene and help learners make adjustments and strengthen areas of vulnerability, the more likely learners are to experience success and not fall any further behind. Fourth, when students fall behind, we can inquire, investigate, and analyze the causes rather than assume lack of effort, absence of attention, or another seemingly obvious cause. Unless we know what is causing the problem, we are unlikely to successfully solve it. Fifth, when we encounter students who are already behind, we can employ instructional strategies and present learning experiences that are different from the strategies and experiences that led to the learning struggles and barriers that made remediation a consideration. Repeating what did not work in the past is not likely to be a good strategy. Sixth, when we need to catch students up, we can focus on the highest leverage, most crucial concepts, and key skills rather than attempt to repeat the entire content and instructional process. If students can grasp the most crucial elements of a concept and the critical factors inherent in learning a skill, they will be better positioned for success. Later, if needed, they can fill in details, and successfully apply what is necessary to support future success. The goal is to help students get back on track, not cover every detail.

January 18, 2021

Powerful Levers to Counter Disengagement and Disappearance

This year may have been the most challenging of our careers. It may also have been the most challenging year for our students and their families. Much of what we have been accustomed to in our practice has been disrupted or does not apply in the pandemic. The struggle to engage students and keep them motivated and committed to learning in this context is far different from what we have faced in normal years. It used to be that routines could be set and followed, students regularly showed up in our classrooms, and distractions at least seemed to be manageable. Across the nation we hear reports of increases in failing grades, irregular attendance, and even students missing from class. The realization that for too many students this may be a lost year, in addition to the learning disruptions of the past spring, is heartbreaking. Yet, we also know that many factors and forces driving the drop-off in school attendance, engagement, and focus are beyond our control. Families are struggling. Students are often stressed and may be torn between school and dealing with other life demands. Still, accepting the reality that we cannot control all the forces competing for the attention and commitment of students does not mean that we are powerless and cannot counter them. In fact, we have some very powerful, proven levers at our disposal. When used effectively, they can create a nearly unstoppable force to attract students and build powerful momentum for their learning. Here are five levers we can engage to make a difference. The first lever is the simple statement “You matter.” When students experience this message in our words and actions, it is nearly irresistible. When we know someone values us, we want to be around them. They are people we can trust. We can take risks with them. On the other hand, when we feel that we don’t matter, it’s an easy choice to go elsewhere and engage in other pursuits. Second is the clear commitment “I am here for you.” Knowing that someone who values us also stands ready to support us, encourage us, guide us, and is committed to our success can be powerfully reassuring. When our actions reflect this commitment and students feel the reassurance of our advocacy, we can be a welcoming and safe connection in their lives. The third lever is found in the message “I appreciate having you in this class.” When we have a place where we are welcome and belong, we want to spend time there. Further, when we help students see ways in which they bring value and add richness to the learning experience of others, we grow a sense of community. Being part of a community also conveys responsibility to protect and contribute. There is little in life that is more compelling than feeling needed. A fourth lever is the message “Struggles, setbacks, and mistakes are important to learning.” Many students have come to believe that in school, mistakes are signs of failure, struggles are signs of weakness, and setbacks are evidence of incompetence. Yet, real learning—learning that involves grasping unfamiliar concepts, learning complex skills, and exploring novel content—often requires mistakes and missteps to achieve success. Children and young people grasp this truth in other areas of life, but grading practices, judgmental feedback, and other forms of shaming too often send a message that in school, anything but perfection is to be avoided. The power of this messaging can be magnified in remote learning contexts, when support is not readily available, uncertainty is rampant, and walking away feels like a convenient option. Finally, we can reassure students that “smart” is highly overrated. Practices common in formal education settings often send the message to students that fast equals smart, struggle signals lack of potential, and asking questions reveals a lack of intellect. Yet, dedicating time to learn deeply, being willing to struggle until a solution is discovered, and seeking answers are crucial contributors to success in life. What matters is the discipline to persist, commitment to keep trying, and confidence that success will come. Now is the perfect time to reinforce these insights for learners and help them to understand that smart is something they become, not who they are. Of course, to tap the full power of these learning levers, we need to do more than mention them in passing or post them as a theme. Our actions, our attention, and our expectations must offer constant and consistent reinforcement of their importance and potency.

January 04, 2021

Now Is Not the Time to Lower Standards

Schools across the country are reporting growing concerns about the number of students receiving failing grades during the pandemic, especially in remote learning settings. Some argue that grading practices and policies in effect prior to the pandemic do not match current circumstances and needs. In frustration, some schools and school districts are changing or are contemplating changes to grading scales to allow lower quiz, test, and project scores to be assigned higher grades. For example, a passing grade might be assigned for answering 50% of test items correctly or meeting half of the criteria for a given project or assignment rather than the traditional standard of 70% or 75%. In other cases, schools have moved to grading based on a simple pass/fail judgment rather than deal with lower student performance. On their face, these seem like unfortunate compromises driven by the need to accommodate less than ideal learning conditions. In effect, they are designed to make disappointing results appear better and potentially obscure a drop in performance. In the short term, such shifts can avoid negative perceptions about learning conditions and performance. However, they hold the potential to create long-term problems and complicate the difficult educational challenges the pandemic already is creating. Among the most obvious implications of lowering standards and obscuring performance is the covering up and the risk of ignoring gaps in learning that will leave students further behind. Meanwhile, the grades some students receive will inaccurately indicate higher levels of performance and more learning. The teachers these students will have in the coming year will have little on which to rely as they attempt to move these students’ learning forward. In some cases, lower academic performance may be the result of an instructional pace that assumes the same capacity for progress present during in-person, pre-pandemic conditions. Of course, expecting all students to learn at the same pace has never been a good premise for instruction and learning. We have always known that students learn at different rates and in different ways. Rather than plowing ahead expecting students to keep up, now is a good time to create flexibility that allows students to progress at a pace that supports their learning and avoids their being left behind. When students are able to learn at a rate that matches their readiness, they almost always are more successful. Of course, some students may not be exposed to as much content, but learning is much better than mere exposure. Rather than shifting grading scales or abandoning measurement of learning growth, the interests of students, and by extension, our interests would be better served by limiting the amount of content and skill instruction to what is essential. If students completely and deeply learn what they are taught, they will be more successful in the long term. Now is also a good time to consider how students can become more fully engaged in and committed to their learning. Traditionally, schools have relied on compliance as a key driver of student learning and performance. While this approach has worked for some students, it has not been adequate for far too many learners. Of course, depending on student compliance to drive behavior and learning in a remote learning setting is a low-leverage strategy. We control far too few variables to force compliance. Only by fostering commitment and cooperation can we expect consistent learning engagement and progress. Nevertheless, this approach requires us to slow down, at least initially, as we nurture the skills and habits necessary to succeed in a learning environment where learners are co-investors in the teaching and learning process. The stakes are high as we approach a full year of living with the pandemic. Many students have not made the progress we would like. Some have made little progress at all. Now is not the time to lower standards or otherwise ignore the challenge to better support learners’ needs. Rather, we need to recommit to finding ways to ensure learning success. We may need to slow the pace to match the readiness of our students and explore more completely what will lead our students to fully invest in their learning. These options seem preferable to ignoring or covering up the problem.

December 21, 2020

Four Tune-Up Tools for Pandemic Learning

The challenge to keep learning moving forward during the disruption and distractions of the pandemic is obvious and significant. Many teachers and students find themselves swinging back and forth among in-person, remote, and some combination of the two teaching and learning contexts. Quarantines, isolation, distancing and other inconveniences can make building and sustaining momentum for learning a Herculean task. Students often struggle to stay engaged and motivated. Teachers compete for the attention and learning commitment of students whose lives are not what they used to be and may be filled with uncertainty, disappointment, and isolation. The challenge is obvious. Yet, we remain responsible for continuing to nurture learning despite the setbacks and distractions surrounding the process. Even more disheartening can be the reality that many of the routines, processes, and procedures on which we relied in the past no longer deliver what we expect. Students typically want to learn, and we are no less committed to seeing that learning occurs. The key question is: How can we “tune-up” our instruction, much like an automobile engine, to make learning smoother and outcomes more predictable and satisfying for everyone? There are four tune-up tools we can employ daily to reduce our frustration and increase the learning success of our students. First, consider connection before content. Rather than assuming students will engage and commit to the learning we are asking of them, we can take time to help students see how the content and skills we are presenting can connect for them. The connection might be prior learning. It might be something that interests them. Or, it might connect to some other aspect of their learning and lives that is important. This step can be the “spark plug” to get learning started smoothly. Second, begin learning where the learner is. We might wish that our students were further along given the time of year, the pacing guide, or even the amount of content we want to cover. However, when students begin new learning that builds on what they already know and utilizes current knowledge and skills as a foundation for what comes next, the transition becomes much smoother and more successful. We might choose to press forward with instruction that is beyond the readiness of our students, but when we do, we can expect learning to frequently “misfire.” Third, accept that during times like these, less can be more. Choosing to expose students to content and skills and move forward before learning is complete is likely a mistake. Rather, now is a time for focusing on essential content and skills and ensuring the learning is fully “grounded.” We may need to let go of some learning “accessories” to maximize the power and impact of the learning core. Supplemental information and “nice to have” skills may have been realistic in a stable, non-pandemic context, but they can be an unaffordable luxury right now. If we are certain that students grasp key information and core skills now, less essential content can be added later. Fourth, focus on progress over perfection. Obviously, we want students to perform perfectly in every aspect of their learning and ourselves to perform perfectly in our instruction. Yet, we face conditions where perfection may not be immediately attainable. Rather, this is a time to focus on and celebrate the progress students are making and take pride in the learning and skill growth we see in ourselves, despite the challenges we face. Success only comes after meaningful progress is achieved. By focusing on aligning processes, marking progress, and remaining focused we can avoid “power drain” and grow momentum that can generate outcomes to which we are committed. Of course, the complexity of teaching and learning far exceeds the complexity of an automobile engine. Yet, our efforts to “tune-up” learning processes and align our instructional efforts can lead to equally rewarding outcomes.

November 09, 2020

Share Your Tips & Stories

Share your story and the tips you have for getting through this challenging time. It can remind a fellow school leader of something they forgot, or your example can make a difficult task much easier and allow them to get more done in less time. We may publish your comments.

Send Us An Email

Ways to Make Today’s Lessons More Enticing

We spend a lot of time thinking in terms of how to make academic material more interesting and compelling. Our concern is reaching and influencing a class, but we are really teaching individual students in every class. In truth, the more we think about each student in the class, the more effective we will be. When we don’t think about and plan to reach and teach each student, we can expect individuals to tune out rather than choose to tune in and take full advantage of our teaching. Remember, we influence one student at a time. We reach one student at a time—while we are teaching all of them in a class at the same time. Fortunately, there are six strategies we can use to entice students into the lesson we want them to learn. The first strategy is using your belief in the importance of today’s lesson—along with your promise regarding how important it will be to them. You can count on the fact that many of your students will be influenced by your opinion and recommendation. You can even say this is one of those lessons which you believe they can’t miss. Your promise can be to help all of them learn this material—so follow through when you finish this lesson to make sure they do. Second is the strategy of using a success story of past students that will appeal to individual students in your class today. Simply use the success a former student reached regarding a lesson you are teaching today—and how it “changed everything” for him or her, gave the student a new perspective, or led to another achievement or to another opportunity—such as college or a job. Third is telling students what you’re going to teach them and ending with telling students what they learned—and reminding them that nobody can take away what they have learned. This “exactly how much they learned” subject is one students love to talk about. This strategy can be used quickly and in one sentence or at length. Tell students, “You will learn six important things by completing this assignment.” In every class, you’ll find individual students who are really inspired by the approach of “how much, how vital, and how valuable the learning is” as motivators. Fourth is the personal satisfaction they will get from doing the work. It is one of your most powerful strategies for enticing students to learn. This includes being ready to focus and persist as well as do what comes next in their learning. There is nothing that builds more confidence than getting prepared and meeting the next challenge. Fifth is instilling your confidence in their ability to do the work and learn. One of the best strategies is to appeal to student’s strengths, which includes focusing on their talents and potential, ability, and achievement. This means pulling students into your orbit. This strategy is always enhanced by revealing abilities you see in students that they don’t see in themselves. Never forget the power of your high expectations. Remember, students are always more likely to be and do what you expect of them—and you can’t entice them with doubts. Sixth is the vitally and all important “How to.” This includes clear, concise, and complete instructions regarding how to do the assignment successfully. Remember, if any student doesn’t know how to meet your expectations, he or she will not be able to do the work and be successful—even if he or she wants to do so. Therefore, think about each student and decide what clarity you need to bring before starting. What fears do you have to quell? What questions do you need to answer? What problems or challenges need to be addressed? Above all, what encouragement and reassurance needs to be given? Who will need the extra clarity or the promise of help before starting to say “yes” to your urging? We need to work hard to influence students to want to do what they need to do to learn and be ready for a richer and more rewarding life. And we can do it with more and more enticing strategies to get students focused and wanting to learn. These are the actions that make lessons seem tailored to meet students’ individual needs. Make no mistake: When our lessons answer the question “What’s in this learning for me?” our lessons will get the attention of our students and their desire to learn.

November 02, 2020

Five Things for Which You Will Be Remembered Most

We do not teach for today, this week, or even this year. Learning is not for the unit assessment or even the state standardized test. Of course, these and other progress and performance markers are important. They give us information to determine if students are grasping concepts as they are introduced and developing skills that move learning forward. Whether we are teaching in a face-to-face, hybrid, or remote setting, how we approach our work and the experiences we create matter. Our students will take with them important knowledge and skills, but the impact we have on their lives and the things they will remember and value about their time with us will not be found in the content we taught. Rather, they will reside in how we make them feel and the strengths we nurture in them as people and learners. Think about your experience as a learner. What do you remember most about educators who had the greatest influence on your life? These same feelings and experiences will be treasured by the students whose lives you are shaping today. Chances are high that much of what you recall and value most falls into five categories:

Students want assurance that we care about them and their success. It is very difficult to succeed in an environment where we do not feel valued and respected. We want to be known for who we are, not just another student or occupant of a seat. There is a saying that people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care. This axiom is even more important for students who have struggled to learn and find success in school.
Students want to feel that we have confidence in their ability to succeed. Few of us have the fortitude to keep trying when those in authority around us do not believe we can succeed. Interestingly, the ways in which confidence or lack thereof is communicated are many, but only one of the ways is through words. Our attention, our attitude, and our persistence all play a role in conveying our belief in the success potential of our students.
Students want to feel commitment from their teachers. We remember people who are committed to our success. In fact, when educators communicate that they cannot be successful unless their students are successful, their influence moves to a new and even more powerful level. When students feel this level of commitment, resistance is difficult to maintain. On the other hand, students quickly discern when educators are “just mailing it in.”
Students value experiences in which they have a hand and feel responsibility. It may be designing a major project, an opportunity to plan an event, or choosing a learning path. When students experience shifts in learning that lead to greater ownership and responsibility, often a “light goes on” that reveals a passion, builds confidence, and uncovers a talent to be developed. These experiences can drive the direction of a life.
Students recall experiences that awakened insights, connections, and perspectives. These experiences go beyond learning specific content and mastering discrete skills. When we introduce learning that helps students to better understand the world and make sense of what they see and experience in life, the impact can be lasting and life-changing.

Granted, life and learning can be challenging right now. Yet, we still have it in our power to convey our caring, confidence, and commitment to our students. We can provide experiences and open new doors that lead to new understanding, awaken new insights, and build new perspectives. When we do, we change lives and make imprints that can last a lifetime.

October 26, 2020

How Can Students Become More Accountable for Their Learning?

Convincing students to be more accountable for their learning is not a new challenge; teachers have long complained about the problem. Now, with a significant portion of students engaged in remote learning, the challenge is even greater. Certainly, when students and teachers are together in physical classrooms, teachers have at their disposal numerous options for gaining compliance from students. Incentives for cooperation and consequences for failure to follow directions and expectations are readily available. In remote learning contexts, the “levers” to control behavior are fewer and less powerful. Yet, close examination reveals that teacher efforts to direct and control students and have them accept more responsibility for their learning have never been highly successful. In remote learning settings teachers experience even less control and often struggle even more to gain the behavioral compliance and learning commitment they seek. Nevertheless, this struggle is not inevitable whether instruction is occurring in person or remotely. When we rely on external, or extrinsic, rewards and sanctions to regulate student behavior and stimulate learning, some level of resistance and noncompliance can be expected. Students may resist the imbalance of power they experience. Compliance-based engagement rarely inspires students to do more than required. And, little attention is often given to students’ perspectives on and connections to what they are asked to learn. On the other hand, when the approach to engaging students originates within, or intrinsically, students’ motivation to learn takes a much different form. When students understand the purpose and importance of what they are asked to learn, they are less likely to resist. When learning taps the natural interests of students or is generated with students, their enthusiasm often soars. Further, when students experience reasonable levels of autonomy, or choice, about their learning and work, they are more likely to take ownership for it. While extrinsic rewards and the threat of consequences can stimulate early cooperation, they rarely work long term. Conversely, intrinsic approaches tend to work even better as they are utilized more. Of course, intrinsic engagement requires that we know our students well, understand what is important to them, and what might get in the way of their willingness to be more accountable for their learning. Yet, armed with this and related information, a world of possibilities opens for our students to engage more frequently and deeply, persist longer in the face of struggles, and become more serious about and committed to their learning. So, what are some of the most powerful intrinsic “levers” available to motivate learners and position them to be more accountable for their learning? Four of the most common and potentially powerful levers are:

Autonomy. When we give students opportunities and space to make choices and develop goals and plans for their learning, they naturally make a greater investment in it. Of course, the nature and scope of the autonomy we offer to students will vary by age, maturity, learning challenge, learning context, and other factors. Just be certain that the autonomy you offer is meaningful to and manageable by your students.
Purpose. Having a purpose for learning is a powerful force for momentum and accountability. When students feel a strong sense of purpose related to what they are learning, motivation is rarely a problem. We may need to spend some time early in the teaching and learning cycle to develop an understanding of and connection to the purpose, but once it is in place many behavioral and learning issues fall by the wayside.
Mastery. When students see the potential to be successful, effort and persistence take on new significance. Conversely, when students do not believe that mastery of what they are asked to learn is within their reach, we can expect minimal effort, distraction, and even resistance. To make a crucial difference we can position learning to make success a reasonable possibility and coach students to see their potential for success.
Connectedness. Feelings of acceptance, belonging, and respect matter in learning. When students feel safe emotionally and physically, when they are noticed, and when they feel included, many potential barriers to learning are removed. In fact, when students feel that they are a valued member of the learning community they will often take risks, make contributions, and collaborate at levels we may never have imagined.

Teaching, whether in person or remotely, can be challenging. Nevertheless, there are powerful strategies we can employ to make the task less daunting and position our students to choose to be more accountable for their learning and other behaviors.

October 19, 2020

Positioning, Promises, and Positive Ideas for Success

Decision #1: How will you position yourself? There are three decisions you must make in order to build an image of trust and confidence for you and your schools. It is vital that you make these decisions now. They will become the rock-solid pillars you need to lead during this time of uncertainty. The first decision you must make is to choose how you are going to position your school or district in the community. This means deciding that you will purposely build the image of your school or district instead of just “letting things take their own course.” How you position yourself and your school is vital. For instance, during this crisis you can position you, your school, or your district as one who will do everything possible to ensure the safety and continuous learning of your students and staff, or choose to lie low and bend in one direction and then the other depending on who is applying the pressure. One thing is certain: A superintendent, principal, or teacher who isn’t positioned to build trust will never acquire the freedom necessary to give the best possible education for students. Often, because we haven’t decided how we wish to position ourselves, we send mixed messages to those we lead. One day our decisions appear student-centered, the next day they appear teacher-centered, or administrator-centered. When this is the case, those we lead are confused—consciously or subconsciously—and can’t support our actions because they can’t follow them. The most professional position we can choose to take is to create and maintain a student-centered philosophy. As long as every decision has the welfare of students as its foundation, we’re on defensible ground—even when we err. A close look will reveal that its only when we are not student-centered that we don’t have a valid defense. Once we are positioned appropriately, we need to consider our second most important decision: making a promise. Decision #2: Make your students, staff, parents, and community a promise. Emphasize delivery make sure they know you are delivering. The second most important thing we can do to establish an image of trust and confidence is to make our publics a promise—and then deliver. The most desirable promise we can make is that we will give each and every child a great education—even despite current circumstances. It’s the best promise we can make to gain and keep a position of trust, respect, influence, and leadership. But without a plan for continuous communication of our promise to our communities, we must realize that people will never know we are making any promises, much less keeping any. There is a management law called the Law of Positive Reinforcement. This law relates: In the absence of positive reinforcement from appointed leaders, negative human attitudes and behaviors are most likely to emerge from the group being led. In a nutshell, this means that not only do we have to make our students and our communities positive promises, but we have to repeat those promises over and over again in a variety of ways to prevent the negative from emerging and dominating. The question now is: “What can you promise in a time of fear and uncertainty?” The truth is, there are many promises you can make. You can promise that you will do everything in your power to keep students and staff safe. You can promise that you will support teachers to deliver creative and rigorous lessons whether in-person or online. And you can promise that as soon as you have information that is useful to your various publics you will deliver factually. The central issue is this: You have the opportunity every day to take some of the worry, concern, and fear out of people’s lives and to create the positive focus we want and need to function effectively—just by making promises you intend to keep. We should never make promises we can’t fulfill. However, there are promises we can make for those things we are already doing or know we are going to do. Remember, teachers, educators, and leaders who position themselves and their organizations as worry relievers and helpers are always considered valuable and enjoy the best reputations. Decision #3: Build your image on positive ideas. Unless we build our image on positive ideas for helping students and teachers find success, what we are saying about the merits of our school or district is unlikely to match reality. It takes positive and enthusiastic ideas to make people notice what we are doing for children—and to cause them to develop good feelings about us as well as take the action we want them to take to support us. The fact is this: Many of the positive ideas we need are already in place. We’re doing fantastic things with and for children. But if these methods, techniques, and successes are not common knowledge to your publics, they have little value in building an atmosphere of trust, confidence, and support.

July 02, 2020

The Master Teacher Blog