Putting Students First

Jim Collins, in his book “Good to Great” elaborates on ideas that show that organizations who wish to remain competitive and growing need to confront some of their own brutal facts.  He contents that by doing so leaders can transform an organization from something that is merely getting the job done to something that will be recognized as unique and that the organization could be recognized as a leader in that particular field (Collins, 2001).  The truth of the matter is that schools such, as the one the writer works in, also has to do the same thing. Many schools must face the fact that they fail miserably to meet the ideals, mission or core values that they themselves adopted and believe in.  For instance, one would be hard pressed to find a school that does not want their students engaged as global citizens. This goal is often overtly stated in the school’s mission and vision statements.  The truth is that most schools struggle to have student learn about global issues, and nearly all fail to have the student enrolled in their schools study or attempt to provide ideas and solutions to some of these very puzzling dilemmas. (Betts, 2007)  More significant perhaps of the many brutal facts that could be listed is that many of the practices and procedures that are in place in schools around the world are created to benefit the adults in the school rather than to benefit the students.

Betts writes,

“We are often more concerned, for example, that each teacher has an equal teaching load than whether individual students have equal opportunity to learn” (2007, p. 1).

and then states,

“For too long we in education have been too easy on ourselves. Too willing to accept the perceptions when finding the facts is either too hard or too demoralizing. We somehow have exempted ourselves from one of the primary ingredients that actually constitutes a profession – facing the facts and holding ourselves accountable” (2007, p. 2).

Addressing these and other brutal facts is obviously no simple task, otherwise school leaders around the world would be doing this with ease and confidence.  Unfortunately it appears that this is really no easy task.

The first of the areas that this writer would address is time structures and scheduling.  As an employee in an international school in one of the largest cities in the world, the concept of the agrarian-based calendar seems a misplaced and inconsistent with the idea that learning is best in an on-going, lifelong and must be continuous program that allow learning managed and nurtured (Cooper, 2003).  The mere idea of halting the educational process for a summer to relax is clearly stuck in an outdated model of education.   Modified calendars seem to have a strong effect on student learning—especially for disadvantaged and lower achieving students—and that people involved in the modified school calendar structures are extremely pleased with the result (Cooper, 2003).

The second (but certainly not last) brutal fact that needs to be addressed is the true lack of innovation that is taken on by schools. This writer believes that by recognizing the importance of innovation and investing appropriate resources for innovation, true educational reform can be moved to the forefront of our classrooms.

Betts notes,

“Almost no school can claim “the ability to innovate” as one of its school-wide learning standards. How frightening for our on-going civilization to imagine another generation educated for compliance rather than innovation” (p. 1).

Innovation is no easy thing to manage, especially in an environment of conservative thought.  Pressures are on all sides for the innovator in education.  There is low tolerance for risk-taking by parents of students in the schools who see innovation not as a step in the right direction, but more experimentation with their children.  Politicians are frequently demanding innovation; yet they fail to recognize the need to fund and support research and development as an important part of the educational process.  In the hallways themselves, the colleagues in the next classroom, sitting at the lunch tables and in the association memberships also put up road blocks and are oppositional to innovative ideas that will force them to change their practice.

Barriers for Change

Moving a school to a more learner-centered organization must begin with the teachers and administrators who must become learners themselves.  Looking at the major trends in education in the past 5 years one would note that all require significant changes—and thus learning by the educators—to implement in a sustainable and consistent manner. Whether it be technology topics such as personal technological devices, cloud computing, game-based learning or augmented reality approaches, the classrooms that we have today will need to be significantly changed to meet these demands (Johnson, Smith, Levine, & Haywood, 2011).

Again, the brutal facts are that the internet has made our lives easier in some respects and more complex in others.  This resource will drive us to revisit how we teach, learn and run our lives as many learners have realized that we can and want to learn, both individually and collaboratively, anywhere and everywhere (Johnson, Smith, Levine, & Haywood, 2011).  Strong learning organizations must recognize that culturally, steps must be taken to allow people to work together effectively and that the organization itself is willing to support this process (Brandt, 2003).

As Walt Kelly stated on his 1970 earth day poster, “Yep son, we have met the enemy and he is us” (as cited by White, 2008, para. 11).  The same holds true for education.  Schools mustcome together and recognize that the organizations are stronger as a whole than as a segmented collection of independent educators.

One Change

As mentioned earlier, it is this writer’s belief that schools must more aggressively become centers of innovation and become true learning organizations. As a rule, humans love to learn and gain great amounts of satisfaction from learning something new.  Humans are also very social and learn, faster and more effectively with more pleasure if we learn by helping others (Svinivki & McKeachie, 2011). Thus, it is this writer’s contention that schools need to shift their learning paradigm to become a learning organization and support this idea with focused, ongoing and sustained support.

Cohen notes that,

“A paradigm is a standard model, a set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices in which a community shares their reality. It establishes regulations and boundaries” (Cohen, N.D.).

If schools are to create this paradigm they must realize that incentive structures must be built to help facilitate the creation and on-going development of a learning organization. Schools must set learning goals for all members of the organization and communicate about those goals regularly. Data analysis of all types must be part of the educational norms of an organization and expansion of an institutional knowledge base must be encouraged to allow for expanded capacity to learn together.  Schools must be open to feedback from their students, from the parents, community member, and from the internal community.  The schools must be poised to continuously make the systems in place for the students better, more effective and more efficient – building a school that is supportive and professionally enhancing (Brandt, 2003).

Brandt wrote,

“Learning organizations are ‘open systems” sensitive to the external environment, including social, political, and economic conditions” (2003, p. 16).

Whether it be an independent international school like the one in which the writer works, or a large unified public school system in the states, it is imperative that school build structures for building internal capacity to address the multiple challenges of change that are faced around the world.

————————————————————–

References

Betts, B. (2007, December). The Principals Training Center. Retrieved November 11, 2011, from PTC Resources: http://www.theptc.org/storage/images/Brutal%20FactsDec07%20.pdf

Brandt, R. (2003). Is this school a learning organization; 10 ways to tell. Journal of Staff Development , 24 (1), 10-16.

Cohen, A. (N.D.). 21st century educational paradigms and today’s ttudents. Miami Beach, Florida, USA.

Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great. New York, New York: HarperCollins.

Cooper, H. (2003). Summer Learning Loss: The Problem and Some Solutions. Children’s Research Center. Champaign, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education.

Johnson, L., Smith, R., Levine, A., & Haywood, K. (2011). The 2011 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Svinivki, M., & McKeachie, W. J. (2011). McKeachie’s Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers. Thirteenth Edition. Belmont, CA, USA: Wadsworth.

White, M. (2008). I go Pogo. Retrieved November 11, 2011, from We have met the enemy… and he is us: http://www.igopogo.com/we_have_met.htm

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Tags: Education, Innovation, Jim Collins, learning, Learning organization, Methods and Theories, Walt Kelly

I saw this post by Steve Toback from CBS Money Watch Today titled “10 Strategies that Kill a Companies — and Careers”.

He writes…

The “peanut butter” strategy. Who can forget Yahoo senior VP Brad Garlinghouse’s now famous Peanut Butter Manifesto, a scorching indictment of a company lacking cohesive focus and spreading itself too thin across too many opportunities? Who knew it would be so predictive of the company’s strategy, or lack thereof, through two completely unique CEO regimes, Jerry Yang and Carol Bartz?

 

Does your school do this?  Like the peanut butter banned in most schools these days as it has some VERY detrimental effects on student’s well being… I think that the “peanut butter strategy” also has some pretty big implications on student learning and their well-being– not to mention the mental health of the faculty, staff and administration!

Thank you to http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonyjcase/3763379229/sizes/m/in/photostream/ for the photo!

Tags: peanut butter chaos

Image via Wikipedia

The entry is cross-posted on Leadertalk.

In recent months tremendous amounts of discourse have surrounded the topic of college and career readiness for students graduating from secondary schools around the United States and the world. A recent eSchool News report noted that the Metlife report, titled The Metlife Survey of the American Teacher: Preparing Students for College and Careers shows a disagreement in constituency groups on readiness factors, readiness priorities and the challenge of remediation upon acceptance into colleges and universities (para.1). The 27^th annual series is commissioned by Metlife and conducted by the company Harris Interactive (para. 28).

Not argued among the experts and the participants in the Metlife survey is the fact that education and career readiness is a priority. Instead, the argument is whether post-secondary education is a necessity among America’s youth. What does need to be addressed are the skills needed to be successful in post-secondary education and in careers, and how to restructure kindergarten through twelve curriculum to address this perceived skill deficiency.

College success is a clear expectation

Clearly students today have high expectation of going to college. According to the Metlife study, only 57% of students in 1988 said it was likely that they would go to college while today that expectation has risen to 75% (p. 2). Today’s middle school students appear to be even more goal oriented. 76% of middle school students who participated in the national survey want and are expected to pursue a bachelor’s degree or higher (p.9). The report also notes that there is clearly no disagreement among any of the constituency groups about the need for higher education, noting that….

“both students and Fortune 1000 executives believe that there will be few or no career opportunities for today’s middle school and high school students who do not complete some education beyond high school” (p.4).

The division of opinion begins with the classroom teachers. All teachers will openly admit that the goal for each and every student is to graduate ready for careers and post-secondary education. Yet, on average, teachers report that 63% of their students will need remediation in order to be successful in post-secondary education.

The skill set for college and career success

When analyzing the skills necessary for college and career readiness a common theme emerges. Cassel notes in that Fortune 500 companies see a set of thirteen common job skills. The first five consist of teamwork skills, problem solving skills, interpersonal skills, oral communications skills and listening skills. Near the bottom of the list of thirteen skills are reading, writing, organization skills, and computation (p.222).

The current high school diploma requirements are rooted in long standing curriculum. Even in 1918, the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education created a report, which looked at this issue. The Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education at that time set a list of clear criteria in which to measure high school curriculum. They proposed a set of main objectives including: “(1)health; (2)command of fundamental processes (reading, writing, arithmetical computations and the elements of oral and written expression”, which at the time were in priority order as organized by the president of Harvard as well as professors and teachers (Wiggins, 2011, p.29).

The Metlife study notes that in “American society overall, there is a growing sense of urgency to prepare more students for careers in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics (STEM) fields and as global citizens who understand the related challenges for society, security and the economy” (p. 11). According to Davis and Shih, the kindergarten through twelve mathematics curriculum alone has changed significantly, and thus the students themselves are developing a new set of skills that challenge the colleges and universities to add more statistics courses, more calculus classes and add coursework that is rooted in “applications and other representations, besides symbolic ones” (p.344). Davis and Shih also note that the levels and content of mathematics taken at the high school level is an important predictor of academic success for students later in their education (p.343).

Currently, the curriculum at the high school level clearly defines what is the United States high school diploma. According to Grant Wiggins, the high school curriculum does “great harm” to “the arts, the technical arts and trades, and the social sciences”. There has been a decline in vocational programs across the United States, and we are now seeing a decline in visual and performing arts as well (p.31).

Conclusion

It clearly appears that restructuring the secondary curriculum is an important first step to building the foundation for student’s success in post secondary education. With so many teachers reporting that their students will need remediation to be successful in colleges and universities, the need for an examination of the curriculum and the standards appears to be a logical next step. Clarity is needed around what is college and career readiness. The Metlife study defines college ready as “prepared for additional ‘study’” while “career ready [students] are ready to join the work force” (p.14). What a workforce in the future looks like remains to be seen, but it is clear the demands of our graduates will change over time. Instead, I agree with Wiggins when he states that the curriculum be designed backwards from what is considered “the vital human capacities needed for successful adulthood regardless of school or job” (p.33)

Interestingly, the divide in opinion as to the college and career readiness skill set is quite interesting. High school curriculum has been determined through a political process and the individuals who determined the curriculum may have a vested interest in the outcome (Wiggins, p. 30). Clearly the disconnect between kindergarten through high school education leaders and the business world is evident and the Metlife study illuminates this point. Looking at the spectrum of important skills and knowledge for college and career readiness, problem solving, critical thinking, oral and written communications are all important. Also important to all study participants are the ability to work independently and work in teams. Where the study participants differ in their views rests in the curricular topics themselves. Only 31% of the Fortune 1000 executives believe that higher-level science is absolutely essential or very important. Only 8% of these same individuals believe that higher-level mathematics is absolutely essential or very important.

The evolution of the idea of a basic skill set for college and career readiness needs to be pushed. A common set of core curriculum standards needs to be adopted, but the adoption needs to be done boldly with an eye on the reality of a changing world.

References

Cassel, R. N. (1998). Career readiness for the communications age based on fortune 500 job-skill needs. Journal of Instructional Psychology.

Davis, J. D., & Shih, J. C. (2007). Secondary options and post-secondary expectations: Standards-based mathematics programs and student achievement on college mathematics placement exams. School Science and Mathematics, 107 (8), 336-346.

eSchool Media. (2011, March 8). Stakeholders differ on college and career readiness. eSchool News . Bethesda, Maryland: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/03/08/stakeholders-differ-on-college-and-career-readiness/

Wiggins, G. (2011). A Diploma Worth Having. Educational Leadership , 68 (6), 28-33.

Technorati Tags: Career and College Readiness, 21st Century Skills, Science, Mathematics, Technology, Engineering, School Reform, College, University

Tags: 21st Century Skills, Career and College Readiness, collaboration, College, communications, Creativity, Engineering, eSchool News, Harris Interactive, Mathematics, Metlife, School Reform, Science, Technology, University

Keepers of the Nightmare are among us. You know the ones. They have other names that they hide behind like “Organizational Historian” or “Veteran“.  Not to say that Organizational Historians or Veterans are necessarily Keepers of the Nightmare, but they just use those names for cover.  They say things and do things that bring us DOWN to the struggles of the past instead of lifting us UP to the celebrations of overcoming adversity and obstacles. 

Ryan Bretag, in his blog Metanoia writes in his blog post titled “We Did That…”

Here is an exceptionally easy way to kill innovation and positive movement in your school: tell people “we did that __ years ago”.

He goes on to write…

The choice is yours:

1. Kill possibilities by proclaiming how that was tried in the past or done already
2. Give life to possibilities by being a leader and mentor that builds upon the past instead of using it as an excuse

Don’t be the Keeper of the Nightmare.  I promise I won’t.

Picture thanks to: http://static.flickr.com/4119/4923895874_bc3ef5fca8.jpg

Tags: Metanoia, School Historians, Schools

Please go to http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/02/23/maine-laptop-program-offers-lessons-n-ed-tech-implementation/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=url&utm_campaign=slider for a very interesting article on the progress of the 1:1 implementation in the state of Maine.  One of my colleagues pointed the article out to me and I was compelled to respond.

My response as I commented at the site is:

This is an interesting take on the progress of the Maine project, of which I have followed now for several years. As an International school leader in Shanghai, China we watched the early years of the implementation in Maine as we prepared for our roll out of 1:1 which occurred in 2008. I agree with Mr. Mao when he states that success needs to be clearly defined, and I would like to refer your readers to a very interesting journal article that summarizes the critiques of 1:1 programs.

The article titled “The End of Techno-Critique: The Naked Truth about 1:1 Laptop Initiatives and Educational Change by Mark Weston and Alan Bain in the Journal of Technology, Learning Assessment (http://beta.aalf.org/cms/?page=Research%20Art-%202010%20End%20of%20Techno) lays out 6 keys to realizing the benefits of 1:1– or as they refer to it, “cognitive tools”.

They are:
1. An explicit set of simple rules that define what the community believes.

2. Systematic and deliberate process for embedding the rules into the “big ideas, values, aspirations and commitments in day-to-day actions and processes. They note that by embedding these into the design of the work done at a school the results yield a big picture result.

3. ALL members of the school community are fully engaged in sustaining the design. Read COLLABORATION here!

4. The design creates a clear pathway of feedback from all members in “real-time”- all of the time. As we all know feedback, when accurate and consistent begets real change.

5. The feedback and interplay of the rules, the design,and the collaboration make it possible for the school to explicitly develop a framework that will define further practice. This “schema” will require the school to work holistically instead of with individuals repeating the same activities in isolation over and over again.

6. Guided by the schema, the community begins to DEMAND systemic and ubiquitous use of technology as opposed to the isolated and sporadic use that so typical in early adoptions.

Weston and Bain note that “In a self-organized school, if the community members want it, all students can have a differentiated learning experience that produces measurable, substantial academic social effects”. When the above mentioned 6 components are put in place the community will demand such change and each will bring their unique skills and talents to the table creating an atmosphere where teaching, learning, creating and communicating are the norm and the line between those activities and “technology” are blurred.

This certainly is a different result from what many of us thought we were after when we began our 1:1 programs, but one cannot argue that the effects are positive and will create great amounts of positive energy for teaching and learning in our classrooms.

The article http://beta.aalf.org/cms/?page=Research%20Art-%202010%20End%20of%20Techno is certainly worth the read and reinforces what is happening in Maine and also at our school.

Technorati Tags: Technology implementation, 1:1, Maine, Laptops, Shanghai American School, Techno-Critique

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• Faculty Require Mastery of Content and Skills – Not Just Technology Use (speedofcreativity.org)
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Tags: 1:1, Cognitive Tools, Education, Laptops, learning, Maine, Shanghai American School, Techno-Critique, Technology implementation

“Most change is not in what we do, but how we do it. Within all the hype, the more we are able to differentiate between constants and change the more effectively we will be able to react to new markets and profit from change” states John Naisbitt early in his book Mind Set! (p. 5). Mr. Naisbitt has had a unique and diverse career that spanned work in the corporate setting, within the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, as a entrepreneur and most recently he has regularly worked as a speaker and visiting professor. He may be best known as the author of the New York Times best seller Megatrends.

The first part of the book sets the foundation through which Naisbitt outlines a set of eleven mind sets that can help the futurists among us understand, perceive and react to the events in our future. He then puts his futurist experience to work describing the future that he sees developing, applying along the way the mind sets he set forth in part one of the book. Part two of the book, titled “Pictures of the Future” focus on changes set to take place in culture, economics, China and Europe. He closes with a very engaging summary chapter focusing on what he describes at the “evolutionary era”. Each chapter of the book is summarized with direct application of the mindsets listed in part one.

The book builds upon much of the work done in Megatrends with down to earth specific anecdotes and examples that lay the groundwork for an understanding of the issues surrounding globalization, cultural fads and trends, and the role of Mainland China and the European Union in global economics and politics. No surprise to me was China’s role as an expanding world economic leader. China has certainly developed over the past several decades as the manufacturing center for the world. With a large labor surplus, and an eager and increasingly open government approach to outside investment, the manufacturing diversification taking place within the country seems unstoppable. In the context of the global economic picture the Chinese had a long ways to catch up at the time of the writing of this book. The problem being that clearly the Chinese themselves may not have a clear idea of how big their economy really is nor how fast it is expanding. The author notes a variety of figures that vary from source to source. This describes China in a nutshell, as the outside view of China, or as Naisbitt refers to it, “the periphery”, is indeed the driving force of this nation.

Just as China is expanding, Europe’s role as a world economic and political leader of some power will be diminishing over time. While this again is no surprise, the manner in which this argument is framed by Naisbitt is unique and brings clarity to the idea that certain mindsets can set people, businesses, governments, economies and cultures free to change and expand. In the case of Europe it is not a singular mindset, but as he puts it, 25 different mindsets that will drive changes, or the lack of change and progress in the European Union. The author predicts that Europe is on track to be just a “historic theme part of well off American’s and Asians” (p. 213).

This stinging summary along with a unique overview of the current state of our increasing visual oriented culture and globalized economy makes this book an engaging and unique read, allowing the reader to put together a picture of a world that is both changing and so many ways doing the same things but in different ways.

Naisbitt, J. (2006). Mind Set! New York, New York, USA: Harper Collins.

Technorati Tags: Naisbitt, Mind Set!, Book Review, MegaTrends

Tags: China, China's Megatrends: The 8 Pillars of a New Society, Economic, European Union, John Naisbitt, New York City, The New York Times Best Seller list, United States

My post secondary education started slowly (as I do sometimes– mostly in the morning). First a community college and then a small public college nestled in the midst of the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon. Remoteness is what that little town of LaGrande seems to me now living in this metropolis of Shanghai. From 15 thousand to 25 million in a journey of 25 years since I completed that degree and creeping up on 30 years since I graduated from high school.

Now I am back in school after a hiatus of 10 years. This past weekend we were re-taught how to play the school game. We learned about formatting. We learned about citing sources. We learned that working in teams. We learned that task completion in a timely manner will be counted and finishing on time means something. There was no discussion. There was no arguing. There was only yes. If you don’t you fail.

I am operating on the assumption that this blog will serve me well through this process.  Content creation will be certainly be ramped up, and a few more reasons to reflect on my learning processes will emerge as well.  I would hope I might have some new ideas to share as well.

Back in the saddle again.

Wish me luck.

Tags: Colleges and Universities, Education, Gene Autry, Graduate school, Shanghai

One of my administrative colleagues at my school here in Shanghai is a marathon runner.

I am not.

The mere thought of running for more than my personal requirement of 30 minutes three times a week makes me want to loose more than just a few pounds (if you know what I mean!).

He on the other hand finds great joy in the planning for a marathon. The event itself is a test of a solid training plan and commitment to a goal.

His words to me still ring in my ears; “Andy, marathons are one of the very few things in this world that you cannot fake. If you don’t plan, commit and train, you throw up in front of the world”.

Ouch.

That is not something I want to do for sure!

I need teachers to take on the same mindset and apply it to their teaching and their careers. It comes down to planning, stretching for strength, minding the pace, working as a team member, and listening to a trusted coach.

Planning
I am not talking about lesson planning here. I am talking about life planning.

Like a long distance runner preparing for a race I expect a teacher to plan their career in the same way. I need teachers who can see past the next vacation or school year and consider what they need to do continue to improve, to learn and to reach their ultimate potential throughout the entirety of their career. As new employees come to our school we have a long conversation within the interview process about career goals. Professional stagnation is not an alternative at our school. We ask that people take their goals seriously. We ask that they stay professionally current and focused on goals that can be supported not only by the teacher but also by the organization.

Like a race, a career can only go two ways, forward or backward. There is no standing still. Without some plan, a career and thus teaching skill goes backward.

Stretch for Strength
Like a runner, a good stretch outside of one’s own comfort zone keeps a teacher professionally limber. We all know the person who strives to stay in their comfort zone, They never take risks. Their constant focus is to remain in the middle part of the pack (or the back) but not stand out in last pace. Mediocrity is their norm.

Instead, a quality professional, and great long distance runner knows that they must stretch themselves. Before the race (or the work) they prepare with warm-ups, stretches and deliberate steps. Teachers take care of their professional health by continuation of their learning. They take on new things, learn new skills, and assume new responsibilities. Teachers I want stretch themselves in new areas and new ways. A few years back I was asked to serve on a committee studying instrumental music in our elementary schools. I don’t play an instrument and have no background in music, yet I eagerly accepted the appointment, learned as much as I could about the subject and I believe I learned and contributed to the committee simultaneously. It made me a better principal too!

Mind the Pace
I need teachers to take care of themselves and find balance in their lives. Like a marathon runner, we have to realize that we cannot win the race in the first months of school or even the first years of our career. We must take on things carefully, with intention and with understanding that a stressed and overwhelmed teacher cannot be a good instructor or leader. In those times when the hill is in front of the runner or the inevitable “wall” is hit, a runner will become even more deliberate with their steps, carefully plodding through till the hill is gone or the wall is diminished. The runner will recognize that there may be some discomfort,- even pain- but it will not last forever and such events should not stand in front of our goals. Teachers I want to work with will also power through challenges or hills taking care of themselves and recognizing that the end will be justified by challenges they face as long as their pace is managed.

Working as a team member
Running, like teaching, is a team sport embedded in an individual activity. Administrators for years have been asking teachers to collaborate and then assigning them to separate classrooms, buildings and schedules. As much as we all hate it, there are realities we have to deal with in the daily operations of a school, but with all that being said, I still want to make sure that the teachers I work with see themselves as part of a larger team and they know that their roles will vary and depend on the topic, timing and situation. Teachers, like long distance runners must see themselves as members of a team. Some runners will be the rabbits; running ahead with a quick pace hoping to lead the way. Others will be the pacer; keeping the team at a decent speed, and minding the time. Yet another may be a leader, guiding and facilitating a good race result. These roles are fluid and changed frequently through a race, just like I would expect my teachers to take on different roles in a school setting.

Listening to a Trusted Coach
I grew up in Oregon. The name Prefontaine was burned into our brains as children there, as our bad boy running star from Coos Bay and the University of Oregon gained great status as he won race after race and whose life came tragically to an early end. Pre was a great talent, with amazing heart and a competitive edge. Most students of the sport would tell you that Pre would not have been a great runner without the guidance of Bill Bowerman. Bowerman recruited and guided this amazing talent, helping him become a world class runner. Prefontaine learned to listen to this coach, and was open to listening to and learning from him. I want teachers who seek mentors and is willing to learn from them. A mentor, by the way, is not necessarily an administrator. By no means is a mentor necessarily an older, wiser colleague or college professor. A mentor is someone who can guide learning and provide advice and support. These mentors come to us in many ways, but at the end of the day, they are there to make sure you make it to the end of the race with success and satisfaction. The teachers I want to work with seek out this deeper level of collaboration and gain great knowledge from that relationship.

Teaching, like long distance running cannot be faked. Oh sure, one can look like a long distance runner for a few minutes on a treadmill. 30 minutes three times a week can build running muscles and a guy can even peel off a few pounds, but put that same runner on a track or in a race and by the midpoint that runner (and thus that teacher) will lose their edge and it is SO OBVIOUS that they cannot continue. Sadly, I believe many schools allow the teacher who is not conditioned to continue in their work- allowing mediocre education to continue instead of allowing them to step off the track and get back into professional shape.

I need teachers who plan their professional track, stretch themselves for professional strength, mind their pace of their work and career and listen to a trusted mentor.

This entry has been cross posted at http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/10/guest-post-what-administrators-need-i-need-teachers-who-think-like-distance-runners.html

Tags: 21st Century Digital Leadership, Andrew Torris, Bill Bowerman, leadership, Long-distance track event, Marathon, Road running, Running, Shanghai, Shanghai American School, Sports, University of Oregon

This article was published in the September 9, 2010 edition of The Eagle.

Students continue to teach me and despite my role now working primarily with the teachers and administrators at SAS, I still slide out into the hallways and classrooms to interface with the students a couple of times a week and it is a rare day when I don’t hear, see or do something new and interesting during those times.Recently I was drawn to the annual report published by Beloit College called “The Mindset List.” Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released a list of topics and events that provide a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college that particular fall. The creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities, Tom McBride, and former Public Affairs Director, Ron Nief, it was originally created as a reminder to faculty at Beloit to be aware of dated references, but it quickly became a catalog of the rapidly changing worldview of each new generation. This list, of course can be applied to our students as well, and in my opinion crosses national and cultural divides to give us all some perspective on what we as adults can learn from the students- our children.

I won’t reproduce the entire list here, but I have picked a few interesting markers that our children’s worldview is different from the generations before them. For example, No. 7—“Caramel macchiato” and “venti half-caf vanilla latte” have always been street corner lingo” for our students. Noting the number of students in Starbucks as I stop for my traditional coffee as I arrive at the Puxi campus during my trips over to west side of the city, I suspect this lingo has firmly arrived in Shanghai, as it has in my hometown of Portland, Oregon.

Our students have grown up in a world in which DNA fingerprinting and maps of the human genome have always existed (No. 20) while Czechoslovakia has never existed (No. 32). No. 3 which urges America’s youth to “Go West, Young College Grad” has always implied “and don’t stop until you get to Asia … and learn Chinese along the way!” No. 41: For our kids, “American companies have always done business in Vietnam.”

Finally on the health and wellness front No. 33 reminds us that “Second-hand smoke has always been an official carcinogen” for these students.

Yes, it does seem the world has truly changed while we, the adults, have been minding our own business with our jobs and careers. We have been working, toiling and making money for our families and that occasional vacation and trip to an exotic place on the globe or just around the corner. The point of all this is that the kids in our classroom now are in some small part reminding me that the world, while so different is still very much the same. We have children who still need some reminders on the important perspectives of life and the unique challenges that we as adults and leaders of the world have created for them to learn through and with. Guidance, thoughtful engagement and critical thinking are not just alternative learning activities for the students of today. It is now a critical life long set of skills that will continue to morph and change.

Nief and McBride remind us that this generation of learners has always been “digital” and has always had cell phones to tell them the time; thus there is no need for a wristwatch. The America they know is one of soaring trade and budget deficits; Russia has presumably never aimed nukes at the United States and China has always posed an economic threat. The authors of the list remind us that our kids “come to school armed with Smartphones, on which making a phone call will be only one of many, many functions they will perform. They have been awash with a computerized technology that will not distinguish information and knowledge.” Thus, the authors urge that it will be up to their professors or teachers to help them.

One of the concerns brought up by some people about the technology initiatives that SAS has moved forward in recent years is that we give the kids too much access. I contend that when teaching a generation of students who are accustomed to instant access, learning to deal with this massive amount of information will be required course content; and that this generation of students will (in the words of Nief and McBride) “need to acquire the patience of scholarship.”

Our students will need to learn that on-line resources are just one place to learn. They will need to be taught (as they have for generations) that books and journals and magazines and newspapers will forever be rich sources of academic content. To ignore the paper-based resources is just as foolish and misguided as it is to ignore the digital resources. This generation of students will need to be taught that only the best and brightest of scholars use a balance of content for a balance of learning, and like the rest of their lives, a digital interface is no replacement for human contact and “real” human relationships and the application of innovative, creative collaboration.

Back in 1986, I worked very hard to get to know the 32 fifth graders in my first teaching job. In 2010, I see our teachers working very hard to get to know their students as well, using technology to enhance learning and communications; requiring a balanced approach to research, communications, collaboration; and thinking critically to gain that deep level of engagement in every lesson, every day.

If you are interested in the full Beloit list you can find it at: http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/index.php

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Tags: Beloit College, Education, Mindset List, Ron Nief, SAS, Shanghai, Shanghai American School, Tom McBride

Lately I have been asked more than once the million dollar question: What is your leadership style?

I find the question a bit loaded.

It is loaded with possibilities, opportunities and HUGE potholes.

The answer can be simple or complex.

My advice to those who are asked the question is to stage your answer carefully and place it in the context of your passion for learning and for leading.

For me, leadership is about connecting at a human level to the people that you are leading. Being seen as available, open to new ideas and a flexible thinker willing to consider alternatives while keeping your eye on the ultimate goal.  Leaders must model resiliency. Leaders must have a vision for the future, but must be willing to creatively and pragmatically adjust and then deliver “the goods” for the organization.  In his book Linchpin, Seth Godin talks about “shipping” being the act of meeting a deadline and/or a set of expectations. Leaders in the educational context “ship” the completed task or the “art” of educational wizardry. They “ship” the implementation of a program. They “ship” the staffing model to the students.  Shipping, in educational terms, means bringing the organization to the next step or the next level.

In thinking about my leadership style and the style of those are leaders around me has forced me to consider my way of thinking and acting on the opportunities and challenges that face me in my work. Peter Drucker in his book about effective executives (strong leaders as I see them) has guided my thinking on this by helping me segment my actions into three catagories.

The first action is “data gathering”.
This always gets the real numbers people excited as they see an opportunity to sharpen the pencils or get the spreadsheet program revved up.  In my case this activity does not necessarily mean building a gant chart or a data table, but instead asking the important questions, becoming familiar with the issues and getting to know the people.  After it is all said and done, this data gathering process gives me more information and access to the people in the organization. This is information and access that I need to move ideas forward or to address opportunities and challenges. In this process I ask myself after each conversation, 1)“What needs to be done?” and 2)“What is right for the school?”

In the second segment of decision making I look for ways to convert this information into actions.
I believe this is where many leaders become hamstrung.  It is the inability of the individual to take the next “informed” steps that make them ineffective leaders.  Drucker suggests that effective “executives”…

• develop action plans
• take responsibility for decisions
• take responsibility for communicating and
• focus on opportunities rather than on problems.

Finally, the third segemnet of my decision making process closes the deal to full implementation.
Ultimately, the strongest, most effective leaders ensured that the whole of the organization felt responsible and accountable to a decision, a vision or a direction.  I am sure you can quickly recall where this has and has not happened in your school, and what the results were on both accounts.  Effective leaders create this dynamic by running and facilitating (two different things) productive, insightful and interactive meetings. Meetings where participants gained insight, had input and were able to buy into a decision for the good of the organization.  Effective leaders acted in thought, word and deed with the “we” in mind, instead the word “I”.  There is no room for the lone individual acting for only himself.  Success is built on the success of the whole organization and is only as strong as its weakest part, thus “we” thinking is imperative for strong leadership.

Taken one by one, each segment of this construct would mean a lot to a school.

Taken as a whole would means that the organization will move forward and will make difference in the lives of the children and adults who work and learn in our schools.

One useful tool for looking at your own leadership style is the Leadership Resilience inventory from The Resilience Initiative. This seventy-three line inventory tool from the University of Alabama-Birmingham allows the survey taker to…

“reflect on your own leadership behavior in the face of adversity. All of the items contain statements that most leaders would find desirable, but we want you to answer only in terms of what your leadership behavior is actually like.“

I encourage you to try it and think about your own leadership style and your “resilience”.

Technorati Tags: leadership, thought leadership, leadership styles, Resilient leadership

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Tags: Decision making, leadership, leadership styles, Resilient leadership, Thought Leadership, University of Alabama-Birmingham