Design Exercise

I am currently teaching an Engineering course. Although this is the first year I have ever taught it (its a new course) I am confident that making A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink one of the central pillars of the course has been a good ideas. The main premise of the book is that in an age of a interconnected global economy, automation, and abundance that its not enough to have strong technical (read left brain) skills, you also need to be able to contextualize and give meaning to what you do (read use the right brain). Basically Pink is saying that the brain needs to balance form and function.

Design Thinking Exercise: Read Design Magazines
One of the things Pink does in his book is identify 6 senses (design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning) that he says are essential for the "whole new mind" he advocates for. For each of these senses he suggests some exercises to enhance the readers' capacity for that sense. For the design chapter I took his advice to read design magazines and spent some time navigating Dwell, which is a magazine and website devoted to design in residential applications.

I ended up looking at designs for compact home offices, which interests me both as a homeowner and as an educator. On one hand I'd like some ideas to make my space at home a bit more productive and comfortable, on the other I see a need to create more spaces for students to work on campus. From reviewing all the examples I saw two main themes:
1) A productive area is not cluttered
2) A beautiful work area has visual connections to other spaces


Every example had very little stuff laying around. This certainly makes the space nicer looking, but I think it also plays into function. Lots of items, regardless of what they are, serve as distractions. If they are gone, so are the distractions.

The other thing I noticed was obvious in some examples and subtle in others. Every work space provided the person using it a view of another place. In the picture above the man can see into the foyer, in a few the desk was set up in front of a giant window with a great view, but even in the small crowded apartment the mesh behind the desk provided a view into the next room. Although a redesign of a work space probably can't always include a window overlooking a mountain it could certainly provide some sort of orientation that gives the person working a sight line.

This exercise served as a reminder to me that every thing we create represents thousands of decisions. In the work space above it would have been easy to continue the blue wall to divide the room. The designer made an intentional decision to provide a sight line into the next room, which I contend makes all the difference. I suppose that is what separates good design from bad design: thinking about the decisions we make passively to be more intentional about everything.

Leading: Doing something wrong to show that it is right.

One of our readings this week was Chapter 7 from Michael Sadowski's book Adolescents at School. The chapter focused on the struggles of LGBT students in our schools. As I read through the chapter I couldn't help feel depressed at the harassment/judgment/lack of support that LGBT students receive and angry about the mindset that makes school such a difficult place for these children that are in the very most need of a supportive environment.

The timing of this reading was serendipitous, in a way, because it came just around the same time that a story broke about the firing of a lesbian theology teaching at a local Catholic school. This has become a somewhat regularly occurring story to hear about, but in the wake of the historic supreme court decision on marriage equality it was a bit of a shock. This has caused a somewhat dramatic reaction both from journalists and the school community from where the teacher was fired. The response from the school and church authority in the region has been blunt and far from empathetic. Most strikingly, it seems to be directly counter to Pope Francis' philosophy of engagement rather than separation in the midst of local and global cultural, and perhaps church doctrinal, changes.

My immediate thought in reading all these articles in tandem was: how can we possibly make schools a safe environment for LGBT students if we don't model that same support for LGBT adults? Imagine being an adolescent at that school that is maturing into their sexuality and, perhaps, questioning their sexual identity. Is there any hope that this teen would think her school would be open minded and supportive? Would the same principal who fired a gay teacher garner any credibility when they tell student's that LGBT persons “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity”, as stated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops? No. The school's actions took a significant leap backward, has (and will continue) to cause significant harm to an already marginalized group of students, and has irreparably harmed its reputation on a national scale. Simply put, in this case following the rules was wrong.

On December 1st, 1955 a young woman broke the law. She was not ignorant of the law, in fact far from it. Totally cognizant of the rules established by her government she actively defied them and was arrested for it. Her name was Rosa Parks and she helped ignite one of the greatest civil rights movements in history. She, along with countless other brave men and women, lead a movement that helped end (at least on paper) segregation and remove many of the oppressive laws that were holding down an entire population of supposedly free citizens. Rosa Parks is remembered for being a leader, a civil rights activist, a feminist, and a hero. She is not remembered as a criminal, even though that is exactly what she was on December 1st, 1955. She knew that leading meant being willing do something wrong to show that it is actually right.

The Catholic Church says it is wrong for two men, or two women, who love each other, are devoted to each other, and respect each other to commit to a lifetime together, often to raise a stable family in a two-parent household. An otherwise excellent and well respected teacher was fired simply because she felt otherwise. The Catholic Church may want to refrain from administering the sacrament of Holy Matrimony to same sex couples but right now it is essentially excommunicating people that are exercising their constitutionally granted rights to Marriage with a person they love. The church is on the wrong side of history and it will take real leadership, be it a school principal, a church pastor, a bishop, or a cardinal to break the rules, like Rosa Parks did, to stand by LGBT teachers, and other members of the church community. This type of leadership is transformational. More importantly, our LGBT children need to know that they really are supported and there is no way for them to feel that way without someone else breaking the rules to show these kids that there is nothing wrong with who they are.

THE HUNT FOR READing in OCTOBER

I'm sure not too much has changed with high school students and reading since I was one, about 15 years ago. I went to an all boys school where it seemed like most, if not all, of the guys had the same relationship with reading:  forced, faked, and infrequent. I'm sure many guys, like me, told themselves "this is the year, this school year I'm actually going to read everything I'm supposed to". Then, with about two weeks left in the summer you pick up the summer reading books and say "ok, 15 pages a day and I'm good". After missing days, falling asleep while reading, or procrastinating in oth er ways you get to the day before school with 200 pages to read OR 20 pages of cliff's notes. Guess what most guys normally decide....

I wish I was a better reader in high school and still want to be a better reader now. I don't pick up books and read for fun often, but I'm always surprised how much I enjoy a book that I chose to read for fun. The same goes for articles on websites. If I find a long story that I want to read, I read it through the end and get a lot out of it, but if it is something I am asked to read its another story. I still use the "doctoral read" strategy with most things I am asked to read, whether a research article, a book, etc. Ironically, I gave a doctoral reading of a few articles about reading. I don't attribute this to laziness though, I attribute it to a bad habit that I learned in formal schooling.

The articles we read (skimmed, perused, etc) talked a lot about strategies for teaching reading. In Zemmlemen's article titled "Best Practices in Reading" he said "Choice is an integral part of literate behavior. Children should be permitted to choose reading materials, activities, and ways of demonstrating their understanding of the texts they have read." I couldn't agree more, but I think something also needs to be added. Having the choice of what I wanted to read in high school most certainly would have lead me away from textbooks and towards newspaper articles, novels, and graphic novels. But, I still probably would not have read those if I didn't have time set aside to do so. The way I see it, there are two essential elements to develop good reading habits: choice and time.

Leonard Sax argues that boys in particular are turned off reading at an early age because we are expected to start reading before it is developmentally appropriate. I both agree and disagree. My 21 month old son loves books. He can spend hours flipping through the pages. He of course does not know how to read yet, but so what? He is developing the habit of sitting patiently with a book and is in part willing to do so because I always let him pick the books he wants. Trust me, if he wants "Goodnight Moon" and you give him "Berenstain Bears: No Girls Allowed" he will not sit patiently and read.I want my son to associate positive thoughts with books, but I don't really care when he learns how to spell certain words or that his literacy skills develop right away, I want him to go at his pace and enjoy learning to read.

I, and I would wager many other students (especially boys), are not allowed to go at our own pace. I am still a very slow reader. I like to read slowly, but if I want to keep up with readings in my classes or stay on pace with a book club I need to read faster. We ask our students to read things that they didn't choose and at times that may not be convenient for them then wonder why they didn't do it. The harm here is that every time they don't read they are developing a habit of avoiding reading. If the goal is to get more students reading I suggest we flip our entire paradigm when it comes to reading in schools. Lets forget about assigning readings from chosen materials that must be completed outside of school and instead just give students time in school to read whatever they want. Remember SSR? Why not have that but without the pressure to read the textbook for your next class or the book that you need to do a report on? Why not give students access to reading materials, a comfortable and quiet place to read, and time to do it? If students get in a good habit of reading in this manner, when they are infrequently asked to do a required reading, it is not a big deal. More importantly, after they are done with formal schooling they might leave with good memories about reading and be more likely to do it on their own throughout life.

Pick Up And Watch

Welcome to a very special video blog edition!

20,000 Leagues into Reading

We have be using the term "deep reading" to refer to reading with purpose, re-reading, reading with a pen in hand, or what I typically call "reading." I suppose if there is such a thing as "deep reading" the opposite must be called "shallow reading," which could mean skimming, speed reading, or seeing the words but ignoring the meaning. I tend to deep read everything, which is not meant to be a brag. Really its a complaint. I can't read something without taking my time and re-reading sentences again and again. It sometimes takes me over an hour to read 10 pages. I don't mind this, because I tend to get a lot out of what I read.

The irony here is that the readings on deep reading ended up coming the same weekend that I was away for a wedding. Well, my wife was away for a wedding. I was mostly watching our son or driving the entire weekend. Either way, this lead me to have to "shallow read" our articles advocating for "deep reading." I consider myself very responsible and always try to go above and beyond the expectations of my teachers, employers, students, and colleagues but in this case I think I fell a little short. This made me think about our students. How often do they come to school after "shallow reading" or not reading at all, even when they had the best of intentions?

Lets take a typical school day for one of our students: classes end at 3:30, go from class to practice which ends at 5:30, travel home over the next 30 minutes give or take, take a shower at 6 and sit down for dinner with the family at 6:30, dinner ends at 7. We advocate that students get a good night's sleep so they should really be in bed by 10. Now this student has 3 hours to do all their homework for their seven teachers. Lets assume that on any given night half the teachers would assign 10 pages of reading each. That means the student get 35 page of academic reading (I stress academic because it is harder and slower to read something for work/school than for pleasure). I mentioned before that I can take over an hour to read 10 pages. That means this student would have three and a half hours of deep reading and only three hours to do it. Bear in mind, this student did not watch any television, have a conversation with friends, go for a relaxing walk, or play with a sibling. To get to this point they worked from 8 am to 10 pm and still found themselves 30 minutes short of time. Now, instead of having 35 pages of reading imagine giving students double. Is the lack of deep reading a problem of knowing how to do it or just not having the time?

Degrading Students... Less

Jim Stinger mentioned working with me in his blog today which helped me reflect about my strengths and weaknesses. Ron Algeo commented on my post yesterday asking me to compress my argument. I am going to try to emulate Jim Stinger and meet Ron's challenge at the same time:

McTigh and O'Conner (2005, p. 13) said that "although good grades and positive remarks may feel good, they do not advance learning." I couldn't agree more. Grades serve as a label, and little more. In the post industrial revolution model of education its easy to see why the habit stuck. However, its strange to think that parents and educators are complacent in labeling students the same way we label beef at the super market.

Bogdan (2011) says that an educator's role is changing from the traditional role of 'imparter of knowledge to that of coach and consultant.'" While I can see someone who's business is transferring a commodity to measure their success rate in percentages, I can't think of a coach or consultant that provides anything except qualitative feedback aimed at growth, rather than evaluation.

I am inclined to think Augustine would agree with me. After all, it was he who said "that you have done what you were able to do, although you may have failed to achieve what you wanted, counts in your favour; that you tried to do something and you were not able to, counts as if you had done so." (Sermon 18, 5) This is far from "Well you didn't meet the standard so you only get a 'B', but you worked hard so you should be satisfied!"

We are educators, not evaluators. We should measure growth for no other reason than to help promote more growth. Grades are more of an inhibitor than an enabler and as such are out of date. Our homes no longer have crank telephones and our schools should no longer have grades.

Degrading Students

Today we discussed St. Augustine's perspective on motivation, pondered the appropriateness of using the word "fail", worked on promoting active learning in our classroom instruction, and discussed the validity of grading. It sounds like these topics are disjoint, but they all revolve around one central idea. I'll give you a hint, its the first thing that comes to mind when any student thinks about school: grades.

I will be blunt. I don't like grades. I think they are a fabricated label for sorting and ranking students and provide little benefit compared to the great deal of harm they do.  Receiving an 'A' is more or less the same as getting a 'Great Job!' on a paper. It means you did well, but there is no explanation why. Isn't it better to replace the 'A' with "You did a good job of stating your claim, alluding to your supporting evidence, and meticulously tying the details of the evidence to your original claim. You then succintly tied everything together in a coherent closing that emphasized the meaning of your original claim. Well done?" Likewise, wouldn't it be better to replace a 'C' with "It is clear that you know a lot about the topic you decided to write about, however your argument structure is a bit faulty. If you want to make the point that you articulate in your introduction it is important to lay out the facts that support your case. Most importantly, to pursuade the reader you need to stitch those facts together into a narrative that leads them to no other conclusion but the point you stated so clearly at the beginning.?" Because I have argued for feedback over grading before I know you are thinking "sure, but why not both?" Well, spoiler alert: imma tell you.

Lets go back to my original paragraph and look at each of the four things we hit today, which I claim all have to do with grades and why they are a terrible invention. As a reminder, the four topics were:

1) Augustine's thoughts on motivation

2) Whether or not its appropriate to tell students its ok to "fail"

3) Promoting active learning

4) Validity of grading

First, let's remind ourselves about some of Augustine's insights into motivation. You may recall that when it came to his most important student, his son Adeodatus, his emphasis was to learn things for their own sake, to seek questions rather than answers, and for learning to culminate in the joy of understanding. I get the impression that Augustine would not have found much use for a scantron in working with his son. However, you may be thinking that Adeodatus's joy at learning could be similar to that feeling of accomplishment or pride you feel when you receive an 'A' on an assignment. I'll agree, it is a nice feeling but it is fleating, especially when you get the grade on a first period test and have 6 more classes during the day. More importantly, it can be easily replaced with genuine praise with feedback embedded into it, like the examples I gave above. MOST importantly, Augustine would not have approved of such a meaningless reward of knowledge. It goes against his philosophy of learning for its own sake. In fact, he warns us about using such simple forms of praise to encourage good behavior when he said to "test those things which are done in a praiseworthy manner lest they be spoiled by the desire for praise itself." (Letter 118, 3, 22). When asking ourselves WWSAD, it seems quite obvious that reducing student work and development down to a single letter would not appear on the list. He shunned frivolous external motivations and there is no better example of such than grades in school.

It should be obvious that our discussion of the word "fail" is related to grading, but let me make it as clear as possible. The word "fail" in "school" has a definition. It means a grade under a certain percentage, 66 for example. The word "fail" in "learning" has a different definition: "not learning." How is it that a student can learn in school, yet still fail? More importantly (and I can assure you this happens too) how can a student not fail in school yet fail to learn anything meaningful? Both have a simple answer: when we reduce our evaluation of learning to numbers and letters we lose the big picture. Instead of worrying about learning students worry about not failing school (or getting a good grade), which can be done without actually learning. It is here that we see the true purpose of grades: ranking. The problem here is we rank based on what students know at the end of a class, not what they learned. For instance, a natural spanish speaker can take Spanish I and get an 'A' without learning a thing while others students can learn a great amount of spanish but end up with a lower ranking. Does that seem right? Colleges use grades to determine if students will be successful in higher education, but to that avail should we be ranking knowledge or ability to gain knowledge? I'd argue for the latter if I had to take a position, but my real feeling is that educators should be primarily concerned with education, not with sorting and grouping students so that colleges can select who they want the most. The moment we make college acceptence a higher priority than college preparation is the day that we have to change our name. I'd say we are "failing" our students if we grade them based on the standards of "Malvern Accept" instead of educate them according to the mission of "Malvern Prep."

Active learning is synonomous with "Student Centered Learning" and basically means to put learning in the hands of the students and harness their own curiosity and motivation to push their learning forward. We read four different pieces regarding active learning from journal articles to blog posts and not one mentioned grades. This is not a coincidence, grades are antithetical to student centered learning! Suppose you put a problem in a student's hands and they run with it. They learn all kinds of things in your content area as well as others. In fact they change some of their life's perspectives and decide the plans they originally had laid out are all wrong. They make leaps and bounds in their development of maturity and spill their guts to you about the revelation they have had. If you look them in the eye and blurt out "You get an A" then you should not be a teacher. This is the absolute pinnacle of education and it is demeaning to a student to reduce the experience down to a grade. I know you are thinking "sure, but you can say all the things you should say in addition to giving the grade" but by adding that label onto such an important experience it cheapens it. We don't give grades at MECO. We don't grade performances in theater. We don't grade an atheletic performance. We don't grade christian service. We recognize that all of these learning experiences are valuable in their own right and that a grade is out of place. Why then do we invest time, effort, resources, anxiety, ink, and bytes of data storing meaningless labels for meaningful experiences?

OK, time to rein it in. In fact, its about time that I was honest. If you were willing to read all of this I owe owe you at the very least my sincerity. I lied. When I said "I don't like grades" I was misrepresenting my feelings. In truth, I abhor grades. Lest you think its is because I have had bad experiences with them, I have generally received good grades and enjoyed the sweet and short rush of seeing an 'A' on a paper. But now as a mature adult I realize I wasted much of my education worrying about grades rather than receiving and listening to feedback. I don't blame myself. As a 15 year old I knew little about education, who was I to tell teachers "hold the grade, just tell me what my weaknesses are so that I can reflect upon them and improve myself?" Fortunately, now I am the educator and I do know better. In fact, so did Augustine. Our job is to educate, not to evaluate. We should be worried about motivating self motivation, not labeling it. The sooner we realize that grades are a relic of the 19th century that we should discard, the better.