Archive for: August 2008

What are you resisting?  Is it a change in curriculum?  A change in staffing? A new assessment?

Whatever it is, your resistance is you being swept away by your own thinking and fears.  When you look at the formidable wall of resistance it’s easy to rely on your default tactics.  A default tactic is your personal position and when your emotions run high you subconsciously revert to one of these.  It could be the use of power to get your way, manipulation of others, applying the force of your reasoning to build a wall, ignoring what you don’t want, making a deal to get support for your position or killing the messenger.

Unfortunately all these tactics do is to sometimes create a win for you that turns out not to worth the cost. 

So how do you approach resistance without caving into your own fears?  First it’s important to recognize that all resistance is a natural part of change.   Before you can move beyond what is fearful you first have to recognize it.  Have a dialogue with yourself about what you are afraid of, is it failure, is it the adjustment of something new, or is it just moving out of your comfort zone?

Once you have clarified your feelings maintain a clear focus on the changes ahead.  Ask questions about the proposed changes, respect the other point of view, and remember that in a school everyone should have a shared mission and goals.   Keep in mind both a long and a short view of the changes to come.  Think about your present position and work and imagine how the changes will impact the future.  What is the desired future outcome; can you see the possibility of this?  And have patience, nothing happens successfully for any organization without the quality of perseverance which requires you not to quit or lose heart when things seem not to be working. 

Change can be a dynamic time, a time to embrace new ideas and to explore your own inquiry into your schools values and vision.  As you do this you will be able to embrace the commitment to continuous improvement.  No learning community can successfully survive without a commitment to the discipline of self-assessment and self-improvement. 

The best part about surviving these changes and shifts in your professional life is the ability to adapt to be flexible will become part of your personal relationships.  One side will constantly benefit the other.  You will find yourself being a better teacher and enriching all the other roles you have outside of the classroom. 

Michael Phelps now holds the record for the most gold medals won at a single Olympics with a total of eight.  He said, “ I’ve dreamed a lot of things, and written down a lot of goals, and this one was the biggest one I have ever written down.” 

But not too long ago he could have been labeled a problem student.  He still jokes about his middle school teacher who said he would never be a success.  In school he struggled with AHDH and started swimming to provide an outlet for his excess energy.

Phelps unlike many struggling students overcame his disability, he had the support of an encouraging and loving family and he never believed the words of his critical teacher.  How often do you think this happens?

It is inevitable that every teacher will experience a student with ADHD. It could be the biggest challenge a teacher can face.  It can result in frustration and exhaustion for the teacher worse it can negatively impact a student’s self-confidence and belief in his or her own ability to learn. 

What you tell yourself can become a self-defeating mantra whether you are the teacher or the student. 

Teachers who dread the presence of a student with ADHD will communicate this even in non-verbal ways.  What teacher’s witness is the impulsive, unorganized and easily distracted student.  What they don’t see or connect to is this behavior is a cry for help saying, “reach me and accept me.”  Teachers can look at the glass half-full or half-empty when dealing with a student with ADHD.   When they make a connection with the student and use behavior and classroom modifications this connection will become a life preserver. 

Some of these modifications are:

• A touch – on the shoulder or a smile so the student know what good behavior is
• Rewards to motivate like a smiley sticker on the corner of the deck
• Verbal reinforcement with positive praise
• Give the student specific tasks that require movement in the classroom
• Provide structure at all times and remain calm
• Have the student repeat verbal directions
• Provide advanced warning when a change is coming
• Take five minutes everyday with the with the student to make sure he or she is using a planner for organization
• Divide tasks into chunks of time with shortened assignments
• Consider how desks are arranged and be sure ADHD students are grouped with others and frequently switch

As difficult as this seems when a teacher practices compassion and understands how critical “what you tell yourself” is to learning  things can change and improve.  Look to Michael Phelps as an inspiration.  Know that in his life it was not just what he told himself but also what he heard from others. 

Ornithologists have observed that flocks of birds have no leaders.  The synchronization of bird flocks appears to be a complex interaction of movement and communication.  Within the flock is constant communication between individuals.  The key to this sophisticated system is shared goals.  Each individual must survive, but the group must also prosper if any individual is to improve their chances as well.  Thus feeding, safety, repositioning to  new areas – all of these are shared goals to help achieve the success of the group. 

So what is the relevance of this information for teachers? 

Complex systems in the natural world are based on a just a few simple rules.  The key element of these rules is this:  every small act is individual but it’s taken from the perspective of the whole. Sticking together each individual might increase his or her own chances of success. 

The success of any school is a human endeavor.  It’s also based on many small acts.  It’s not possible to see the immediate result of every small act but understanding this interconnectedness brings new awareness to what you do every day.

When teachers see themselves not just as individuals but rather as part of a group they will begin to enhance the capacity for student learning.  They can work on building a collaborative school culture.  As a group teachers can implement curriculum, instruction, and assessment. 

In this colloraborative culture teachers create a resource of shared knowledge.  By building shared knowledge all teachers have access to the same pool of information thus increasing the likelihood that they will arrive at the same conclusions. 

Some of the advantages of teachers working in collaborative teams are:

• Gains in student achievement
• Higher quality solutions to problems
• Increased confidence among all staff
• Teachers able to support one another’s strengths and accommodate weaknesses
• Ability to test new ideas
• More support for new teachers
• Expanded pool of ideas, materials and methods.

It’s possible that big things can be accomplished by small acts.  The behavior of birds in the natural world demonstrates this.  We are all connected to this same complex system.   Our future success depends on the ability to recognize that sometimes we is more important than me.

Jane Goodall’s animal observations have helped her understand some aspects of human behavior and its place in nature. She recalls a story about a young male elephant who was the lone adolescent in the herd.  Everyday he would station himself on a path that was used by buffalo on their way to drink at a pond.  He hid in the undergrowth and then as the buffalo appeared he burst from his hiding place and charged toward then, ears out with a great trumpeting sound.  The startled buffalo would scatter in all directions.  The young elephants game of surprise was something the buffalo did not expect.  Jane Goodall was able to look into a peephole at the young elephant and witness his joy and creativity at play. 

The desire to play is intrinsic; it is a state of being that is intensely pleasurable.  It has the ability to energize and renew a natural sense of optimism, an optimism that opens us up to new possibilities.   Recently scientists have begun to view play as a profound biological process.  They are learning that play sculpts our brains; it makes us smarter and more adaptable and is central to brain development.

When children play they learn trust, empathy and social skills.   Fourth grade teacher Amy Whitcomb part educator and part comedian at the Rooftop School in San Francisco uses her love of play and fun to teach math.  she says, “my general philosophy is if it’s not fun they are not going to want to learn.”  She has learned to keep her inner child alive and uses it to engage and teach her students.

Play optimizes the learning process and increases performance.  There are patterns of play like the periodic table of the elements.  A teacher can use this table to integrate play into their lesson plans

• Attunement Play - simply means you are attuned to one another; it’s spontaneous, like laughter or a loving smile.  Get into the habit of connecting to your students daily with this infectious type of joy
• Body Play and movement – think of simple movements like skipping.  Skipping is a lesson in gravity, flexibility and rhythm.  Any movement that is done for its own sake is intrinsically playful.
• Object Play - hands playing with all types of objects help the brain develop problem solving.  The manipulation of objects creates curiosity and innovation.
• Social Play – creates bonds, fosters belonging and is a celebration.
• Imaginative and pretend play - the ability of the young child to create their own sense of their mind takes place through pretend play.  It remains the key to innovation, creativity and discovery.
• Storytelling – narrative play – is the way most children love to learn, it is play under a microscope.  A story helps make sense of the world, helps to understand others and gives children a way to expand their own consciousness.  Stories can give your own life with, drama, love and comedy.
• Transformative – integrative and creative play - uses fantasy, theatre, art and music to give enrichment.

A transformation in education is possible, if educators apply the understanding from the science of play.   Students are primed for learning through play, when they have fun at learning, they will pursue it for it’s own sake.  It is how nature assured us how to learn about the world and our places in it.