Education Perspectives

Classroom Leadership

I just watched a wonderful TED Talk by Italy Talgam.  A former conductor, Mr. Talgam has reinvented himself as a conductor of people in business. 

While viewing it, I began thinking about the ultimate facilitators and leaders of the world, teachers!  With good leadership skills, teachers can become masters of what I call "discover-ology"; they let students find learing from within.  How much better is that than teachers who try only to impart information.  I call them "lecture-ologists". 

I've often witness "discover-ology" in a math class where I work.  The teacher inspires learning.

This talk is indeed inspiring as well.  Mr. Talgam's metaphor is indeed fitting.

Intrinsic Motivation

Below is a TED talk by Dan Pink.  He advocates an approach toward motivating people that has a firm basis in science.  The implications toward education are enormous!

How Trust Affects Learning

Carol Rubel wrote a guest post here about her methodology for motivating students.  Carol ran a program for “at risk” high school dropouts called Yellowwood.  Students were hand-picked for the program, and would spend 4 days each week on a supervised job site as a student worker.  One day per week was a scheduled “chunk day” for applied academics.  Carol had expectations of her students, especially related to their demeanor and behavior on job sites.  But the foundation of her relationship was focused on 2 ideas; trust and choice.

I believe the one-on-one interpersonal relationship that exists between teacher and student is the basis for learning.  And trust is the basis for any fruitful relationship. An example from my own life illustrated for me how a trusting relationship promotes learning.

I had a very close friend named Terry who passed away in January 2008.  Terry was a person whom I came to trust without reservation.  He operated a financial planning company; I was his technology consultant and client as well.

It was about 20 years ago when he was referred.  I did some spreadsheet templates for his company, and helped him handle other tech issues. After billing for my services, he called to clear up what he considered an over-charge.  After a brief discussion, we agreed that I misunderstood his intent and that he was correct.  I apologized and promptly adjusted the bill.  That was the beginning of our relationship of trust, and I then became his client.  As our relationship matured, so did our level of mutual trust.  As a matter of fact, trust was the basis for all of his client relationships.  Terry’s business was successful as a result! 

Both of us learned because of that trust relationship.  But the learning went far beyond technology and financial planning.   Although we exchanged ideas on many issues, we also had deep discussions about dealing with people, our convictions about integrity, and how to change the world in our own ways.  We even discussed matters of a deep personal nature.   And trust was the basis for all of it. 

Carol was honest with her students about how the world operates; “my kids knew that there was a quid pro quo framing their chosen behavior and the desire of their adult caretaker/educator”.  She was honest about the choices they would face.  She was honest about taking responsibility.  Maybe there’s a reason this program was called “alternative education” because the public school system generally doesn’t promote “the integrity of trust”.  Thankfully, some good teachers know this and promote it anyway.  It is difficult because this media-driven world rarely promotes integrity…but that’s another post altogether.

Those trust relationships are the basis of win/win and a mentality of abundance.  Check out an article about trust written by Matt May.  An interesting perspective!

Think about the relationships of trust you might have in your own lives.  What have you learned from them?

Student Motivation, by Carol Rubel

Years of working with "at risk" students intensified my belief that the only valuable motivation is internal.

The most fragile kids in our current educational system are, simultaneously, among the most adept at sifting nonsense from truth; they are, in my view, the consummate "crap detectors"!

Coming from environments in which their essential needs were either not met or marginally met (with a few notable exceptions, of course), kids clearly recognize that the fastest way to purchase peace is with an offering of dubious worth. Whether their experiences included being bought off by parents with an ice cream cone or silenced by teachers with the promise of a "reward" at week's end -- my kids knew that there was a quid pro quo framing their chosen behavior and the desire of their adult caretaker/educator.

And that system worked well ... for the kids.

It worked because it gave them a false and shifting sense of control: they manipulated their immediate environment by acquiescing to or refusing the demands of the adults with whom their primary relationships existed.  And that made them powerful.  Until ... the real world intruded.

Sooner or later, those kids realized that a world different from the "buy off for behaving" one valued nothing except internal control.  Motivating smart and street wise kids requires an approach that is brutally honest with them ... every second of every day.  When people ask me how I was able to motivate those kids, my answer can be reduced to a few words: I told them the truth... about themselves and the world they live in. And, after learning to trust me, they believed that truth.  No magic formula ... no secret machinations.

At risk kids tend to be "smarter than the average bear" (a nod to Boo Boo and Yogi Bear for that one!).  After all, that special intelligence they have is what kept them on their feet in circumstances that would level most corporate types into quivering masses of self-pity. Getting them to understand that real respect (as compared with street-level respect) acknowledges the personal and wider truth necessary for success -- not mere subsistence -- seemed to work!

No external rewards existed in Yellowwood, the alternative school I ran.  Instead, kids did what they had to do because they learned to see the value in choice. They learned to recognize that the "real world" aka "normal world" ran by a series of principles that would never change. There goes that "truth thing" again!  Yellowwood students learned that they could choose to remain in a dysfunctional world or leave it -- more choice.  And, more truth ... no one could pull them from the world of skipped classes, failed courses, brushes with the law, active addiction, etc.  No parent, no friend, no teacher could accomplish the movement from current place to different place.  Only they could ... truth.  If they chose to ... choice.

Don't misunderstand me -- while the prescription is fairly easy, getting the patient to trust the physician is not. But that, gentle reader, is what separates the true teacher from the license-bearing individual in front of a class.

Like all monumental ideas (think about Einstein's formula, for example), the apparent simplicity belies the work underneath.  Kids ... especially those deemed to be "at risk" resonate to truth and choice. Truth and choice require accountability.  Accountability frames success.

There it is: internal motivation - and only internal motivation moves people from one place to another.

May you find a teacher who can unlock the internal choice for you! Better yet -- may you BE the teacher to unlock the choice for someone else!

 

Motivating Students

To me, a teacher who can motivate students to embrace learning, or at least accept it in some fashion, is golden!  As I've said before, good teachers can easily and quickly get burned out or demotivated by the bureaucracy.  I know of one teacher in particular who has effective insights into motivating students.  She is one of the best I've met in 33 years in education. 

This article will introduce her, and the next article I post will be her "secret sauce" in regard to student motivation.  And you will see, it really isn't a secret, it is just an underutilized methodology.

Carol Rubel, although retired from public education, now continues her work as a consultant, communicator and facilitator.  She now operates a business, CWR Consulting Services, LLC.  She has over 30 years experience as a teacher, and her passion for education only seems to intensify over time!  Carol began her career in education as an English teacher, and continued many of her studies Harvard. 

Later on, she became the teacher and facilitator of an alternative education program for "at risk" youth called Yellowwood in the Scranton City School District.  That program has continued beyond her retirement.  These kids are generally high school dropouts who were hand-selected by the teacher for entry into the program.  The program is community-based, and students spend 4 days at various selected "work sites" throughout the area.  One day is set aside as "chunk day" where students spend time learning applied academics.  My youngest son attended this program.

I will post her guest article tomorrow.  You can then see for yourself how her approach makes so much sense.

8 to be Great

In The Beginner's Mind, I talked about fear of mistakes as being an issue in American education.  Richard St. John authored a book called 8 to be Great.  It answers the simple question "What leads to success?"  In the part of this video where he speaks of persistence, Richard says "All successful people fail."   

Richard also spoke twice at TED.  Here, he speaks of his own failures.  Everyone interested in education should check out Richard St. John.

I'm not saying we should all strive to fail.  But I do believe we all need to put failure into perspective.