Help me!

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Permalink Reply by Lisa J. Cooley on June 9, 2011 at 5:31am

I have a pretty good grounding in the reasons for the passion-driven classroom, having read lots of books and listened to almost all Steve's interviews on the subject, read lots of teacher blogs over the last months and done a bunch of writing on it.  But when I sit in front of parents and traditional teachers my mind goes blank, or I lose my temper, one or the other. So I need help.

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Permalink Reply by tom abeles on June 9, 2011 at 8:22am

I am uncertain how you differentiate between your passion model and the effort to move to an outcome or competency based model of education.

 

No matter how students learn- self-driven by carrots or externally driven by teacher mandates, if the students can't demonstrate the ability to use the materials other than passing a test, the system fails. The latter model, or std model, which you face has failed even the unmotivated kids who just "do" or dig in their heels. It has and is failing. it is the status quo that needs to be on the defensive and not your model. George Land has a wonderful book, Grow or Die, which basically points out that change frightens us. Those who are able to embrace it will make the leap or transition. Those who fall back to the old paradigm in order to try to feel as if they are growing are caught in the loop of failure where the old method repeated and repeated spirals into destruction. The current system is in that spiral and those that argue for it need to explain how they will get beyond by "more of the same"

 

There is a book called "Why Work Sucks" which shows that an entire corporation can move towards a results-only work environment. You can come and go as you please as long as you deliver (there is more obviously) . It has worked so well that companies are moving to adopt this idea which is competency or outcome based, the ideas behind your "passion".

 

The key is to identify the possibilities and not emphasize the problems before they appear- It's taking an idea and shooting it full of holes and then saying: hmm, maybe there was some merit here. What is there to like and how might that address the current system which is obviously failing in today's world.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hargadon on June 11, 2011 at 10:08am

Lisa:

 

I would love to take a few minutes with you to talk about this.  I just finished a really interesting book:  Polarity Management, and I think there is a principle in the book which would really help in such a discussion.  If you're around this weekend, you can call me at 916-283-7901.  Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Lisa J. Cooley on June 11, 2011 at 10:38am

Thanks, Steve! I will be around tomorrow.  I get upset when parents tell me what they want is more of something that I believe to be actually harmful to kids (i.e. "merit" trips, tracking, more homework, etc.) and I wonder if they will be open to the possibility that they need to step outside of their perception of school, into something new, where all kids' passions are valued and where they are given time and resources to pursue them.  It's hard to envision it if you've never been exposed to the ideas.  It's also hard to give up on the thing that your own education was based in.   Reaching across the divide of opinion and experience is difficult.

 

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hargadon on June 11, 2011 at 12:07pm

The basic idea of Polarity Management is try and help people see the value in both of the ideas--typically, ideas that reflect the dual nature of most situation.  Control/Freedom, for example.  My idea would be to find a way to help the school board themselves identify the things that are good about the traditional model, the shortcomings, their worries about the passion model, and then what they might find good in that model--bringing them there with respect for their perceptions, and allowing them non-defensively to see the possible good of what you're proposing.  The the idea from the book is to look at the positives from both side and agree to focus on them as reflecting dual principles of good that need to be balanced.  I'm not doing it full justice, but hopefully you're getting some of the ideas... :)

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Permalink Reply by tom abeles on June 11, 2011 at 3:01pm

,
Steve, your explanation is based on a logic/rational approach. As Daniel Ariely in his "predictably irrational" points out, this may seem to be but may not be the obvious path, but one which is an Enlightenment inheritance when Greek argument is mated with the hopes brought about by the success of 17th century Newtonian science. I would say that the path might be closer to the ideas of Ressler and Thompson who had to deal with the same type of opposition in the corporate work environmental when transforming corporate culture from the 9-5 punch-the-clock routine to a world where "results" are the measure and not butts-in-seats validation.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hargadon on June 11, 2011 at 3:39pm

I'd actually like to play this out myself sometime.  I'm not sure I know all of your references, but I am interested in how specific kinds of social activities might help to bridge the oppositional forces.  I think I'm agreeing with you (am I?) when I say that Lisa is not likely to ever get the kind of response she's looking for based on her description of the situation.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa J. Cooley on June 11, 2011 at 5:46pm

It's something to think about.  I find it hard, personally, to find anything good about the traditional model, but then I am rejecting what other people value. 

 

Sigh.  I keep telling the folks I'm working with on this that I am NOT their ideal leader and it would be lovely if someone else stepped forward to play point on this. 

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Permalink Reply by Nellie Makarova-Cross on June 16, 2011 at 9:20am

Hi, Lisa , How was your Board Meeting ?

 

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Permalink Reply by Lisa J. Cooley on June 16, 2011 at 10:45am

It went well.  I have been having some trouble - -or rather, my son is -- getting the video off his ipod and up on YouTube.  Rather than a dialogue it was very much a lecture, mainly because of my nerves as I plowed through the material.  There were no questions afterward, which was disconcerting, but we will talk about it more at the next board meeting.

 

Thanks so much for asking!

 

ljc

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