So, you're working in a PBL classroom. You have a teaching partner that works with you. You are wrapping up a unit and your director (manager/principal... whatever) asks you the big question: "How are you going to assess the students?" Oh, yes - we all love hearing that question. Nevermind that we've been assessing students for weeks. Yet, the administration needs the data to show the state that you are actually doing something. Understand the scenario? So what can we do? Here we are doing real world things, in a real world setting, sometimes with real world partnerships and sponsors - but the administration needs something to show the state. They need data.
It's not that teachers are afraid of data. When I talk to most teachers they aren't concerned with how the data will make them look. They're truly more concerned with the amount of class time they will lose acquiring the data. Our school takes the NWEA exam, the Acuity exam, the PSAT exam... We also give our own diagnostic tests. With all of these tests and exams we are wearing the kids out. They are becoming "desensitized" as it were to the tests, themselves. They simply don't care.
Take our last pass through the NWEA a week ago. My teaching partner and I put the highest score up on the board with a message around it that said, "Can you beat the high score?" We appealed to their sense of competition. Also, we appealed to their rationale saying, "These scores help us decide teams, allocate partners, and define groups." As a final push we appealed to their sense of empathy saying - "We know that you have taken many tests, but the data gleaned from them is truly important. We need you to try your best."
What happened? The scores got worse. Most students actually lost points.
Why? They're tested out.
The hypothesis of the politicians, at least here in Indiana, is that Teachers create a "product". This product is student knowledge. They assume that human beings retain knowledge like computers, readily accessible at the drop of a hat. The truth is, human beings, and our minds, are elastic when it comes to retention. We remember key things that we need to remember, but we can forget things too.
There seems to be a correlation between stress and forgetting things.
Put a kid in the hot seat and watch them sputter and stammer while they try to formulate a response. I surmise that my students did poorly on the test because we are nearing the end of the semester. Students are scrambling to finish projects that they have been working on, prepare for final exams, and get last minute points for their grades. On top of that there are basketball games - everyday! - music rehearsals, concerts, drama plays, and movies coming out. This is not only the most wonderful time of the year, it's the most distracting. But nevermind that... we're going to set you down in a room in front of a computer and make you take this test. All in the name of getting data that will probably shoot us in the foot more than help us.
So, again, what can we do?
I was at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC last year for a CETA conference. While our school is not yet a CETA school, we were looking into the possibility of becoming one. One of the presenters, discussed this very topic. Her problem was that she would have students create amazing art that took intense work, but the parents and visitors would say "That's nice." when they saw it. "They didn't understand what it took to create it." she told us. She wanted to create a way to document the amount of work the students put into their projects. What she came up with was something simple. She created a word document that had a table on it. The table contained pictures of the processes that the students went through. Underneath each picture was a caption that explained what the students were doing and which standards they had to master to do it. The step by step table guided parents, and administration, through the process of learning that the students had taken. "All I had to do was have a camera handy to take shots ever-so-often." she told us. This method works for the general populous, but how can we get the "data" that the state wants? Lets face it. They want numbers. They want something that can be quantified.
How can you quantify true knowledge? Seriously...
I'm afraid I don't have an answer. I could go back to worksheets, but that won't solve the "test" problem either. Nor does a worksheet give a clear and true account of a student's "knowledge". You want to see knowledge? Put the kid in a situation; see what they really know. I have been stunned in the parking lot of my school, when one student's car wouldn't start and I was standing there, like a dunce, trying to help. A kid we've labeled as "stupid" comes up and says, "Oh, I see the problem..." and proceeded to get the car running. With a "That will only hold for a little while, you'll need to get it fixed permanently." he sent his fellow off while I stood there trying to figure out how he fixed the car. That's a brand of cunning I don't have.
How is the state assessing that? Is that kid really "stupid". Perhaps in English, but not in Engineering. He has obviously learned somewhere how to fix vehicles. I'm glad someone knows how to do it. I don't.
I guess someone smarter than me is going to have to figure this one out? I will pose the question, though: How do we, in a PBL system, show data that is quantifiable for the state, but still accomplish the task of actually teaching? With all of these tests how can we get our actual business done? When they finish collecting all of the data they need, what will the kids have to show for it? Another question... What does all of this quantifiable data amount to anyway? What are we really getting out of it?
Until next week.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Creativity Paradox in Education
"Stand up straight! Walk the line! Be quiet! Don't speak until you are called on! Keep your hands to yourself! Don't touch anything that doesn't belong to you! AND don't touch your stuff until the appropriate time and place!" Our teachers told us those very same things. I remember vividly being reprimanded by my 2nd grade music teacher because I sang. It was out of turn, yes, and in the wrong octave, but the message was, "Shut up."
So I did...
What exactly are you telling students in your classroom? Are you telling them that if we don't learn about History, we're destined to repeat it? That Mathematics is a door to the future? That Science and Technology are best friends and they can help us create amazing things to improve our lives? Are you showing them amazing and powerful Music? Are you introducing them to a Literary world that both inspires and records our civilization? Are you encouraging students to come with you on this journey called life? Are you sounding a clarion call to the next level for them?
Or are you gaining compliance? Are you just simply getting kids to sit down and shut up so you can get through your lecture or lesson plan; so you can do your job?
My partner teacher, Sarah, and I have a quandary. A student named - we'll call him Alex - has a real issue. He cannot be creative. He simply cannot do it. He cannot think outside the box. Now, Alex is not dumb. In fact, he has displays brilliance in the area of regurgitation. He can memorize and do just about anything that you tell him too as long as you set the template. As soon as you take away the proverbial training wheels - he's lost. He cannot function. He shuts down.
Sarah and I, along with our team, began to explore Alex's issue. TCHS Spanish teacher, Michael Buck identified the problem fairly quickly. The diagnosis: FEAR. Of what? Of FAILURE. The next question rationally is: WHY? The answer came like lightning from Mr. Buck's mouth, "Have you met mom?" Thank you doctor, the case is solved. Mom has set her standards so high for this individual that he has been conditioned against thinking on his own. Her quest to create the perfect child has rendered her son completely incompetent when asked to think, act, or do anything by himself. He is an automaton programmed to do exactly what you ask of him - nothing more. We have work to do. We have to unzip the conditioning and get this young man on his feet before it's too late. But HOW?
To answer that we have to look into what went wrong in the first place...
A few years ago I was privileged to coach the girl's varsity soccer team at Triton Central High School. Also during this time, my daughter began playing on a little church league team. On occasion I helped coach her team too. One day I was yelling to the little kids, trying to get them to move toward the ball. They were all over the field and many of them were standing and watching, while one kid moved the ball up the pitch. "Go to the ball!" I kept encouraging.
When I went to the varsity practice I had a different problem. The girl's were all good athletes, fast and strong, with good minds, but many of them hadn't played soccer before. The team was new. Many of the girls had played basketball and knew to go to the ball, but they ended up getting in the way. "Spread out!" I told them. "You have to create space!"
And it hit me... The young kids were told to go to the ball, but at the varsity level I'm asking them to spread out. That's the paradox... Color inside these lines. Do this exactly as I say... Do that... Follow directions... and then we turn around and ask students to Create. We turn around and ask students to perform higher order processes after demanding for 8 or 9 years that they stick to lower ones only with mild forays into the higher order thinking world.
To complicate things - Parents pressure kids to get A's, and teachers to give A's. With my own ears, on more than one occasion I've heard parents tell their children that if they didn't get straight A's college's won't accept them. The parents feel pressured so they put that pressure on their kids to be "perfect". Often this perfection is demanded in every subject area. Heaven forbid that a student has a weakness in any subject.
This will not work.
How can we solve this problem? How can we overcome this paradox? I have a few ideas...
We can't throw out learning basic rules. Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Of course students should learn to color inside lines. Of course students should learn when it is appropriate to speak, and when they need to sit and listen. (I know adults that need a refresher.) Of course we need to teach students to mind their own property and business. I'm not contesting that at all...
The problem is getting students to utilize those basic skills to forge new concepts, to synthesize, and ultimately, to create new. Bloom's Taxonomy - right? Really, we're dealing with the very heart of education. This is what it's all about, our mission is to introduce our subject area to students in hopes that they will take that knowledge and move it forward to new creations for mankind. A trivial example: A 6th grade science teacher introduces a student to cells. The high school Biology teacher breaks down the internal cell for the student. The college professor teaches the student gene manipulation within a cell. All three levels offer their expertise so that the student traveling through the system may create/discover a cure for cancer that does not yet exist. In order to do this, the student will have to synthesize the prior knowledge that was afforded him/her by their instructor. They will have to be creative and they'll have to use what they've learned - both.
I discovered a video on YouTube of John Cleese giving a speech on Creativity. (You can view that video here.) The video is an excerpt of a speech that Cleese gave to an organization that is unidentified. In it, Cleese describes his process for being creative and points out some of the difficulties that occur when people try to become creative. A quote that sticks out to me is: "It's easier to do trivial things that are urgent, than it is to do important things that are not urgent - like thinking... It's easier to do little things we know we can do, than to start on big things that we're not sure about." - (Cleese, video, 3/27/12)
Returning to my student, Alex, in this case - Mr. Cleese is spot on. Alex is working to meet deadlines in his classes and he is also unsure about being creative. Thus, Alex does what he is good at. He automatically reverts to processes and actions he knows he will succeed in; processes and actions he is comfortable with. This shows that Alex lacks confidence. He is not confident in his teachers, he is not confident in his parents, he is not confident in his classmates, and worse yet - he's not confident in himself.
Mr. Cleese offered this gem on concerning confidence: "While being creative, nothing can be wrong." (Cleese, video, 3/27/12) In the context, Mr. Cleese was suggesting that being creative requires play. When children play they don't worry about right or wrong, they simply act. The act of playing is an open thing with scant rules or regulations. Mr. Cleese points out that it is nearly impossible to play when you are afraid. Alex's case is apparent; He cannot create because he is afraid to fail. He is afraid to fail because he is not confident in his own abilities and his parents have placed restrictions on him that will be punitive, should he fail.
How can we solve Alex's case? That's difficult. We'll need to talk to the parents and find out what they expect from Alex. Hopefully we can help them forge more realistic goals for him. We'll also need to find out what Alex expects from himself. And, most important, we'll need to find out what Alex wants to do. It's his life.
We as a society are going to have to really examine our definitions of failure and success in order to really tackle the paradox. Politicians are putting huge amounts of pressure on educators to create miraculous systems that cause our kids to excel in Reading and Mathematics. I wonder what will happen when students can do calculus, but can't paint a picture? What happens when we understand how to diagram a sentence, but can't write poetry?
It is apparent to me that we need a balance of work and play, and we as educators need to foster that play, to get our students capable of creating on their own.
So I did...
What exactly are you telling students in your classroom? Are you telling them that if we don't learn about History, we're destined to repeat it? That Mathematics is a door to the future? That Science and Technology are best friends and they can help us create amazing things to improve our lives? Are you showing them amazing and powerful Music? Are you introducing them to a Literary world that both inspires and records our civilization? Are you encouraging students to come with you on this journey called life? Are you sounding a clarion call to the next level for them?
Or are you gaining compliance? Are you just simply getting kids to sit down and shut up so you can get through your lecture or lesson plan; so you can do your job?
My partner teacher, Sarah, and I have a quandary. A student named - we'll call him Alex - has a real issue. He cannot be creative. He simply cannot do it. He cannot think outside the box. Now, Alex is not dumb. In fact, he has displays brilliance in the area of regurgitation. He can memorize and do just about anything that you tell him too as long as you set the template. As soon as you take away the proverbial training wheels - he's lost. He cannot function. He shuts down.
Sarah and I, along with our team, began to explore Alex's issue. TCHS Spanish teacher, Michael Buck identified the problem fairly quickly. The diagnosis: FEAR. Of what? Of FAILURE. The next question rationally is: WHY? The answer came like lightning from Mr. Buck's mouth, "Have you met mom?" Thank you doctor, the case is solved. Mom has set her standards so high for this individual that he has been conditioned against thinking on his own. Her quest to create the perfect child has rendered her son completely incompetent when asked to think, act, or do anything by himself. He is an automaton programmed to do exactly what you ask of him - nothing more. We have work to do. We have to unzip the conditioning and get this young man on his feet before it's too late. But HOW?
To answer that we have to look into what went wrong in the first place...
A few years ago I was privileged to coach the girl's varsity soccer team at Triton Central High School. Also during this time, my daughter began playing on a little church league team. On occasion I helped coach her team too. One day I was yelling to the little kids, trying to get them to move toward the ball. They were all over the field and many of them were standing and watching, while one kid moved the ball up the pitch. "Go to the ball!" I kept encouraging.
When I went to the varsity practice I had a different problem. The girl's were all good athletes, fast and strong, with good minds, but many of them hadn't played soccer before. The team was new. Many of the girls had played basketball and knew to go to the ball, but they ended up getting in the way. "Spread out!" I told them. "You have to create space!"
And it hit me... The young kids were told to go to the ball, but at the varsity level I'm asking them to spread out. That's the paradox... Color inside these lines. Do this exactly as I say... Do that... Follow directions... and then we turn around and ask students to Create. We turn around and ask students to perform higher order processes after demanding for 8 or 9 years that they stick to lower ones only with mild forays into the higher order thinking world.
To complicate things - Parents pressure kids to get A's, and teachers to give A's. With my own ears, on more than one occasion I've heard parents tell their children that if they didn't get straight A's college's won't accept them. The parents feel pressured so they put that pressure on their kids to be "perfect". Often this perfection is demanded in every subject area. Heaven forbid that a student has a weakness in any subject.
This will not work.
How can we solve this problem? How can we overcome this paradox? I have a few ideas...
We can't throw out learning basic rules. Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Of course students should learn to color inside lines. Of course students should learn when it is appropriate to speak, and when they need to sit and listen. (I know adults that need a refresher.) Of course we need to teach students to mind their own property and business. I'm not contesting that at all...
The problem is getting students to utilize those basic skills to forge new concepts, to synthesize, and ultimately, to create new. Bloom's Taxonomy - right? Really, we're dealing with the very heart of education. This is what it's all about, our mission is to introduce our subject area to students in hopes that they will take that knowledge and move it forward to new creations for mankind. A trivial example: A 6th grade science teacher introduces a student to cells. The high school Biology teacher breaks down the internal cell for the student. The college professor teaches the student gene manipulation within a cell. All three levels offer their expertise so that the student traveling through the system may create/discover a cure for cancer that does not yet exist. In order to do this, the student will have to synthesize the prior knowledge that was afforded him/her by their instructor. They will have to be creative and they'll have to use what they've learned - both.
I discovered a video on YouTube of John Cleese giving a speech on Creativity. (You can view that video here.) The video is an excerpt of a speech that Cleese gave to an organization that is unidentified. In it, Cleese describes his process for being creative and points out some of the difficulties that occur when people try to become creative. A quote that sticks out to me is: "It's easier to do trivial things that are urgent, than it is to do important things that are not urgent - like thinking... It's easier to do little things we know we can do, than to start on big things that we're not sure about." - (Cleese, video, 3/27/12)
Returning to my student, Alex, in this case - Mr. Cleese is spot on. Alex is working to meet deadlines in his classes and he is also unsure about being creative. Thus, Alex does what he is good at. He automatically reverts to processes and actions he knows he will succeed in; processes and actions he is comfortable with. This shows that Alex lacks confidence. He is not confident in his teachers, he is not confident in his parents, he is not confident in his classmates, and worse yet - he's not confident in himself.
Mr. Cleese offered this gem on concerning confidence: "While being creative, nothing can be wrong." (Cleese, video, 3/27/12) In the context, Mr. Cleese was suggesting that being creative requires play. When children play they don't worry about right or wrong, they simply act. The act of playing is an open thing with scant rules or regulations. Mr. Cleese points out that it is nearly impossible to play when you are afraid. Alex's case is apparent; He cannot create because he is afraid to fail. He is afraid to fail because he is not confident in his own abilities and his parents have placed restrictions on him that will be punitive, should he fail.
How can we solve Alex's case? That's difficult. We'll need to talk to the parents and find out what they expect from Alex. Hopefully we can help them forge more realistic goals for him. We'll also need to find out what Alex expects from himself. And, most important, we'll need to find out what Alex wants to do. It's his life.
We as a society are going to have to really examine our definitions of failure and success in order to really tackle the paradox. Politicians are putting huge amounts of pressure on educators to create miraculous systems that cause our kids to excel in Reading and Mathematics. I wonder what will happen when students can do calculus, but can't paint a picture? What happens when we understand how to diagram a sentence, but can't write poetry?
It is apparent to me that we need a balance of work and play, and we as educators need to foster that play, to get our students capable of creating on their own.
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