Never. Give. In.

“Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

― Winston Churchill


These wise words were uttered by Winston Churchill during a speech he delivered to students at Harrow School, a boarding school he attended 53 years prior. I first heard these words when I was quite young and I have used them as motivation more than once. I recently had to dig deep to find the strength to keep from yielding to negative forces as I found myself entirely too close to giving up on everything I have dreamt of doing in education.


Churchill shared this sentiment in 1941 while England was reeling from the misfortunes of World War II. While the challenges I have faced pale in comparison, they are, nonetheless, significant in my world. I have spent my entire educational career chasing the belief that we can do better in public education, that we can have a system where all children are included and challenged. I have dreamt of schools where educators receive the respect and accolades they rightly deserve and where all children are excited about learning and want to be challenged in all that they do. Despite many obstacles and many non-believers, I have continued to dream and cultivate my vision. As one of my good friends likes to say, I have been a Pollyanna believing only the best in all people and all situations.


My resolve was tested by a series of events that occurred in the span of just three days. In this short period of time, I witnessed a bureaucracy that prioritized pencil-pushing to the point of jeopardizing the amazing work that is having a demonstrated positive impact on student learning in schools. I watched an initiative to which I devoted more than seven years of my life crumble and fall apart in a very public way. The final straw was the realization that non-educators are making devastating decisions that are impacting the future of a district desperately in need of a savior.


My inner Pollyanna could not provide me with enough grace to extend to all of these situations and people at once. I stood with my toes hanging over the cliff, garnering the strength to set my sights on a new passion and vision. Thankfully, I have amazing colleagues, friends and family who reached out and yanked me away from the cliff's edge while offering encouraging words. One of them reminded me that we have "the greatest jobs in the world" and that "every single day we get to wake up and choose to either make a difference in the lives of others or not." This same person countered my discouragement by telling me that "the only way you know for certain it won't happen in your lifetime is to not chase your dream through maximum effort" and to "Embrace the pain over mediocrity, you will have company." I also had good friends who were quick to remind me of the successes we are currently experiencing in schools right here in Illinois, then reassured me that I am not and will not be alone in this journey. My father, in his infinite wisdom, reminded me that the daughter he knows is too gritty and determined to walk away. He shared a Robert Kennedy quote that came to mind as he listened to me share my woes. What I didn't know at that moment was that he would proceed go home and order this picture for me as a reminder to keep forging ahead:

As we enter a new calendar year, my resolution is to fight the good fight, and my hope for fellow dreamers is that you will have the strength and support from friends and family so that you never, never, never, never give in. We have the best jobs in the world and our children and our future are worth it. Surround yourself with good people and keep the stars shining in your eyes!

Challenge to change

A year ago, I was beginning to lose hope in my starry-eyed dream to see schools engaged in the kind of school improvement that produces positive and significant impact on learning for ALL students.  Throughout my career I had seen too  many false-starts, implementation failures, surface level or unsustainable changes, unreasonable expectations for change, and indifference to the need for change.  I started to wonder whether I would see the solution during my career.  Fortunately, I was introduced to the Challenging Learning Process through Challenging Learning.  I wrote about my first experience visiting a school that had engaged in the process in September when I described the re-imagining of learning that took place at a school in Denmark.  I realize that some people may have read my refection and questioned whether something like that could happen in US schools.  Well, it is happening in West Aurora, and it is quite amazing!

The Challenging Learning Process (CLP) supports a culture of organizational growth, leading to shared ownership, distributed leadership and a culture of collaborative learning and collective efficacy.  The process is made up of continuous action learning cycles that are shaped through a collaboration between the school and Challenging Learning (CL).  The process is fully supported by CL, but is driven by the school and is focused on specific aims that are tailored to the needs and vision of the school.  It includes evaluation of impact, ongoing monitoring and a comprehensive structure which ensures sustainability.  In West Aurora, the following aims were crafted based on a desire of assistant superintendent Brent Raby for "teachers to be enthused in their craft" and the desire of students and teachers to rediscover "the joy of learning":
1- A culture of challenge for all learners
2- Students who are able to make lasting meaning of their learning
3- Students are independent and resilient learners.

The work in West Aurora began in the spring of 2019 when administrators and teachers on the leadership team began collaborating with consultants from CL to plan and design the project.  The first 4 schools rolled out in earnest in August with their first training day.  I have made two visits to one of the schools in the first wave, Hall Elementary School.  During the first visit in September, I was able to observe model lessons being taught by CL consultant Lisa Cook.  Lisa taught a class from Hall while the teacher teams observed and discussed what they were seeing.  The dialogue among the teachers was incredibly rich as they enthusiastically shared ways they could make changes to their instruction.



Today was my second visit to Hall Elementary and I was blown away!  I visited classes at all levels and saw a variety of subjects, but in every class I could clearly see that they were focused on shifting the talk from teachers to students, to incorporate deeper thinking and challenge, and to develop a common, shared language around learning.  The students in the classrooms were engaged, supportive of one another, and motivated to participate and learn.

I was able to sit down with the principal, Zak Fitzenreider, and the Assistant Superintendent of Operations, Angie Smith to hear about the journey at Hall.  Mr. Fitzenreider shared with me that prior to the CLP, they were seeing 4-5 behavior referrals a day in the office, but now they only see about 1 a day, if that.  They were also engaging in multiple CPI supports per week for students who were physically out of control, and they have not had one incident requiring CPI support this year.

According to Mr. Fitzenreider, the environment is now set up such that it feels inappropriate to the students to misbehave.  Mrs. Smith added that students were misbehaving because they were not engaged and did not care if they had to leave the classroom to go to the office, whereas now they do not want to leave the classroom and risk missing anything.  Prior to the CLP, many staff members believed that they needed to address the social emotional concerns first before attempting to tackle instruction and academics.  What they now realize is that by enriching their instruction, they have significantly reduced the number of actual concerns in that area.  As they shifted their focus to the delivery of universal challenging instruction instead of the behaviors, they were no longer engaged in power struggles.

An instrumental part of the CLP, which helped the staff at Hall to truly integrate Social Emotional Learning and academic learning, is the ASK (Attitudes, Skills, and Knowledge) model.  Simply focusing on attitudes and developing the attitudes that allow students to effectively build their skills and knowledge provided a connection between SEL and academics.

Another advantage of the CLP is purely academic.  Mr. Fitzenreider shared that they had already put significant work into developing excellent curriculum materials based on essential questions and supported by well developed resources, but that they were not seeing the impact of the curriculum.  He now realizes that they were missing the context for the "why".  The CLP has allowed them to embed a common language around learning and a shared understanding of the meaning of learning.  They are now seeing the impact of their curriculum work.

Mr. Fitzenreider indicated that this has been an easy sell to the staff and that he has had no resistance. In fact, the structure of the CLP, which allows the educators to work a their own pace as they focus on one aspect of the learning culture at a time, has led to teachers who are much happier and who are fulfilled by the success they are seeing in their classrooms and in the building as a whole.  Mrs. Smith  agreed, saying that for her it was an easy sell because it is a much better use of district dollars given the impact they are realizing.  The CLP is a school improvement process that encompasses all aspects of the learning culture and includes all stakeholders, eliminating the need for additional dollars to be spent on ancillary processes or programs.

Hall is not the only school in West Aurora experiencing success.  The school district saw the value and impact experienced by the original 4 schools and is now adding 5 more schools.  I was fortunate enough to observe portions of the baseline visits to 2 of the additional schools and I was pleased to see that some of the principles of Challenging Learning were already being cultivated, even before starting the process.

The CLP is unlike anything I have seen, and I truly believe it is what we need in order to make the long term changes necessary to create school cultures that challenge ALL students while preparing them for a future that is constantly changing.  We need to disrupt the "way we have always done things" and I believe this process does just that.

Highly Engaging High Schools

I recently had the opportunity to visit a few schools in the Seattle area that are doing great things to engage high school students in learning and in preparation for their future.  There were so many things to love about what we saw:  high levels of student engagement, community involvement, district commitment to innovative ideas, flexibility in rules and procedures for the sake of children, collaboration, and a willingness to change to keep getting better.

The first two schools we visited were a part of the Highline School District (www.highlineschools.org/@HighlineSchools).  Highline is a diverse, K-12 district outside of Seattle with approximately 20,000 students and 33 schools.  The first school we visited was Raisbeck Aviation, a choice high school with an aviation and aerospace focus.  The school was formed in 2003 by the Highline district to serve students from the whole Puget Sound Region.  The students are selected on a lottery basis and represent 25 districts, although 50% of them come from the Highline school district.  The learning environment is entirely project based and has a STEM focus.

After entering the school, which sits right next to the Museum of Flight and a hangar with Boeing aircraft just feet from the building, we were escorted by two AMAZING students who were very patient with our constant barrage of questions.  The students walked us through the lab where they learn to create and operate robotic devices, then one of the students, a junior, proudly showed us the solar car that his team has been constructing in preparation for a national competition.

We visited a freshmen class, Physics of Flight, that was completing their first project which challenged them to design an aircraft that would withstand heat and impact testing.  In addition to coming up with the concept, creating the design, building the aircraft, and testing their aircraft, the students also presented their designs to a panel of engineers.  They openly discussed what they learned from their failures as well as their successes.  When students are expected to get up in front of engineers at the age of 14 to discuss complex work and make themselves vulnerable, and then they continue to do that for four years of high school, it is exciting to think about the composure and confidence they will have when they enter college and then the work force! In addition to the amazing relevant curriculum and projects, the students have access to a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities,  the senior class builds an actual working plane each year, and they have access to the Museum of Flight throughout their high school experience during the day and for after school offerings.  The school environment was extremely calm, inviting, and very conducive to learning.  There were spaces throughout the building where students could go to work in small groups or on their own, there were maker spaces with building materials, and the classrooms had large windows with views of airplanes- what better inspiration is there than that?  When asked if there were ever any discipline problems or fights between students our escorts said they do not have many issues, but that one time there was kind of a fight that had something to do with Star Wars and Star Trek:-)

I won't go into detail in this blog, but the history of the school, including the early years and the evolution of the vision is very inspiring.  The school district and the inaugural principal took risks to make this school a reality and the whole school community had to show a lot of perseverance and innovation to make it what it is today.  We need strong, brave, visionaries to keep making new paths for our students!!

After Raisbeck Aviation, we visited the Puget Sound Skills Center, which is a Skills Center consortium hosted by Highline Public Schools.  They offer 18 different specialized career and technical learning programs that provide students with high school credits, college credits, certifications, and job-ready skills.  Many of their programs offer a semester's worth (15 hours) or more of college credit as part of the program.  They have an Aeronautical Science program that produces 60 hours of college credit!!  Most of their courses are taught by industry professionals who have chosen to teach and are able to begin teaching right away while taking a couple of courses that allow them to become certified.  I love that flexibility shown by the state of Seattle.

We began our visit in their public restaurant where they have their ACF Certified Culinary and Pastry Arts program.  Students can receive the Certified Fundamentals Cook and/or Secondary Culinary Graduate through the American Culinary Federation.  Their restaurant is open to the public for 5 weeks at a time as they complete 6 week cycles.  During the 6th week they switch the restaurant to a different theme and learn about some aspect of science and food.  

 






We also visited their brand new Science and Health building where they have a Dental Assisting program with an on-site dental clinic which allows the students to complete internships and gain experiences so that they graduate from high school short only two classes to begin working in the field.  The Science and Health building also houses a Biomedical Research and Global Health program that is taught by a doctor from Seattle Children's Hospital and a Nursing Assistant-Certified program that also serves as a pre-nursing school for students interested in pursuing nursing in college.

 

We made our way through a parking lot where the Fire & Emergency Services students were using fire hoses and other equipment from a fire engine to visit the Trades & Industry buildings.  Our host was making some side deals with the auto body students regarding a dent in his car while we checked out their expansive auto body shop.  My HGTV-loving self really enjoyed the tiny houses that they were making in the construction shed.  The tiny houses will be used on the district-owned campground that is used for outdoor ed.  They were also using kits that were donated by Home Depot to create very small dwellings that will be painted bright colors and lined up in a park for homeless citizens in the community. 

 


Everywhere we went students were HIGHLY engaged and the teachers spoke of their motivation to do their work well and independently.  In many cases we were seeing students who were not successful in their home schools for various reasons, yet they are extremely successful in this setting.  It is relevant to them and they connect the work to a vision for their future. 

The last school we visited was Tesla STEM High School, a choice school in the Lake Washington School District.  The Lake Washington School District, located to the east of Seattle, is a K-12 district with approximately 31,000 students and 56 schools.  The Tesla STEM school population is made up of students from the Lake Washing School District and it is determined by a lottery system.  They use problem-based learning and focus on STEM real world problems related to STEM professions. 

We visited multiple classrooms and heard students say that they appreciated the opportunity to do hands on activities on a regular basis, that they enjoyed the collaborative atmosphere, that their teachers were excited about what they were teaching which made them excited to learn, and that they liked coming to school.  One of the classes we visited was an AP Psychology/Forensics class.  At the beginning of the year, they throw a 50 pound pig into the woods behind the building and do experiments and investigations on it.  This same class does an intensive research project throughout the year in preparation for a national competition.  One student shared his topic, which was to find a way to prevent superbugs by studying how antibiotics permeate or do not permeate cell walls.  I have to be honest- his research was a little over my head, so I am sure I am not explaining it correctly.  And this was a JUNIOR in high school!!

One of the things I really liked about the Tesla STEM school was that they had a very clear vision that was developed by their development team and they run everything they do through that vision and they re-visit it regularly.  It includes the following, which I agree is absolutely key!
Educate students to be:
Problem-solvers
Innovators
Inventors
Self-reliant
Logical thinkers
Technologically literate

I really enjoy seeing examples of schools that are working to find ways to teach our children in ways that meet their needs and prepare them for the future.  Even in these schools, the leaders talk of work they have to do, and I agree- I see room for improvement, and I am glad they want to keep moving forward. 

I, for one, refuse to give up on my vision and belief that we can create spaces that work for all students to learn and succeed. 

Educators Rock!

Do you ever have one of those days, or one of those weeks where you just so energized by those around you that you can hardly stop yourself from walking around shouting about it to everyone who will listen?  Okay, so maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration...I don't really mean that I would walk around in public yelling random thoughts about how much I adore and admire educators.   The point I am attempting to make is that I have had one of those weeks where I have been completely energized by the people I admire most- educators.  I went into this week excited because I knew that I would be spending the day on Tuesday with a local district talking about grading and assessment, that I would have the opportunity to talk with parents on Wednesday about the work another district has done in shifting their practices to value the learning process, and that I would get to work with yet another district on Friday to clarify and extend their thinking about formative assessments.  However, this week has been even more energizing and rewarding than I anticipated.  My most amazing day, Wednesday, which is what inspired this blog, was sandwiched by the opportunity on Tuesday and then Thursday to have long conversations with some educator friends overseas who are largely responsible for a complete resurgence, over the last 9 months, of my overall confidence and my passion for my work and also for creating clarity about my future path.

On Wednesday, I attended a meeting where one of our local superintendents, Gary Tipsord, worked with a small group of us who have been developing visions for new learning opportunities in our community.  He wanted to meet because he was noticing some duplication of work and the potential to leverage our resources in a more efficient way.  Our ROE has been considering a Pre-K-12 innovation school that would educate students in a way that is a complete shift from traditional schooling paradigms, our Bloomington Area Career Center is working on adding new career path opportunities for high school students and Bloomington Normal STEM is building learning opportunities for career paths for high school students and STEM immersion experiences for K-8.  We met to discuss how our ideas fit together, are overlapping, and where we may be unnecessarily competing for resources.  Gary jumped up and began writing on the whiteboard (see picture above) as he facilitated the conversation.  His ability to see the big picture and to efficiently align our thinking and visualize a blending of somewhat divergent ideas was absolutely amazing.  In the end, we had clarity about how we can collaborate in a way that will greatly benefit students while also utilizing resources in an efficient and effective way.  During the process, he gently and eloquently (with a smile and a laugh, considering his own driven personality) reminded me to be patient and have trust in other educators to continue moving forward as we explore innovative ways to promote student learning.  His passion for quality his knowledge about the entire institution of education, and his ability to lead and communicate is inspiring!

Later that day, I headed to the Olympia district to participate in a discussion with parents about their shift to a grading and assessment system that is focused on learning and feedback.  I had the pleasure of visiting a high school science classroom where I was completely blown away by her understanding and application of the Learning Challenge/Learning Pit.  Chris Embry-Mohr has masterfully created an illustration of the Learning Pit to walk students through the learning process, but also to align with her NGSS storylines.  The following image is the series of Learning Pit images that skillfully incorporate many of the Learning Challenge Concepts:

She shows the stages of learning from being in the practice zone and having a set of attitudes, skills, and knowledge, to being in the learning zone and wobbling with different ideas about a concept, to the development of new attitudes, skills and knowledge.  She even shows that the teacher (in pink) and the student (in blue) are working together, but that the teacher does not "save" the student or pull them out of the pit.  Instead, the teacher encourages learning through questioning.  The blue thought bubbles are the scientific practices that students utilize to get themselves out of the pit and clarify their thinking.

Chris has taken a step further by adding a series of Learning Pit images that are a "work in progress" as she takes her class through an NGSS storyline:

These illustrations are interactive and engage the students as they work through the storyline and identify when they are wobbling with ideas and immersed in a cognitive conflict that puts them in the pit.  The ideas and questions are noted on the pit and then they connect the scientific practices that they do or could use to get out of the pit.  I am sure I am missing some of the nuances of how Chris is using these illustrations with her students, but I plan to return to her class to learn more!!

From this fabulous classroom, I entered a parent meeting where the educators from Olympia High School were talking with parents about shifts they have made in grading and assessment in order to focus more on learning and progress and less on sorting, ranking and competition.  I witnessed administrators, teachers, and a counselor who clearly understand their role as educators talking to parents about the importance of consistent feedback that is accurate and timely.  I heard them talk about treating each student as an individual and making decisions based on the needs of the students. My chest swelled with pride as I listened to them answer questions from parents in ways that undeniably demonstrated their commitment to supporting each student to learn.

I ended this fantastical educational inspiration day by speaking to a doctoral class at Illinois State.  I humbly stood in front of a group of about 15 administrators who, every week, go to class from 4:00 pm- 10:00 pm to further their learning.  They are so committed to bettering their craft, that they put in a second day's work in the middle of the week.  Can I just say that I love educators?!  

This work that we do is hard, but it can also be incredibly rewarding.  Our children are absolutely worth it.  I am super tempted to go into my running narrative about change and what we still need to do, but I am just going to leave it at - EDUCATORS ROCK!

Re-imagining Learning

I recently had the opportunity to tour a school in Denmark that has completely shifted their vision of what school looks like and how they think and talk about learning.  The results have been phenomenal and have assured me that this kind of change is definitely possible!  Thank you to the Søndervangskolen School for allowing us to visit and to Anne Katrine Kusk for the tour and for sharing the presentation that I will reference throughout this blog entry.

Søndervangskolen, a primary and secondary school, is located in Aarhus Denmark.  It is home to 348 students, 96% of whom are bilingual, and represent more than 20 nationalities.  They have a vision of being a school which houses all of the children in the district and their mission is to create a school which matches their students' complex needs, with a focus on well-being and to make the students be winners in their own life.  Ten years ago, they found themselves in a tough spot and they recognized the need to make some changes.  They had low numbers of students, they were getting weak test results, they had high absence rates for students and employees, and they were sending a large number of students to schools for special needs.  They noticed a sense of negative storytelling and there was a lot of conflict.  The teachers and teaching assistants did not work well together and there was little to no collaboration with parents.  The learning environment was very traditional with a lot of teacher talk, little collaboration between teachers and a distance management approach to leadership.  I am fairly certain that many schools and educators can relate to some or many of these concerns.  In fact, I am guessing that many of these concerns are the very reasons that educators are leaving the field.  I will tell you, though, that this story has a happy ending, so keep reading...

The leaders and staff stepped back and decided to focus on their children and what they need.  As a result, they developed a shared mindset for learning and a new culture for learning.  The following image is from a presentation shared by Anne Katrine Kusk, which outlines their shared mindset:

They did not attempt to make this massive shift by fitting it into the existing structure and paradigms that landed them in this tough spot.  Instead, they made a complete pivot and began to rethink everything from the spaces where they work to the spaces where students learn and beyond.  They gutted the inside of their building and reworked the spaces to make them fit their new vision and mindset.

They started with the teachers and leaders and the spaces where they work and collaborate.  The classrooms were transformed into learning spaces (more on that later), so the teacher space for planning and preparation was moved out of the classroom and into a shared space where they are able to engage more with their peers and collaborate effectively.  The teaches have a large area with desks for working and meeting and lockers for their belongings.  Right across the hall, the leaders have a similar, wide open space.  This allows for easy access and collaboration among the leaders, and between leaders and teachers.

I was extremely impressed by an additional staff room that really honored and respected the teachers' need for quiet, reflective time while at work as well.  They have a staff room with comfortable chairs, soft lighting, carpeting, and live plants where teachers can go to read, rest, reflect, or simply put their feet up and take a break.

When you walk through the media center and head to the classrooms, there is a beautiful message hanging from the skylights that were cut into the ceiling as part of the re-model to bring more natural light into the building.  I couldn't help but think about the symbolism with the sky showing through the letters- boundless- no limits- reach for stars.

As you can see from the focus areas of Søndervangskolen's new shared mindset and culture, there was a tremendous amount of time and effort invested in creating conditions for learning.  This includes the physical environment, the language of learning used in the school, and their approach to learning.  The hallways are filled with options for all types of physical movement:

 

The classrooms are clearly designed for learning and were learner focused.  They are clean, open, clutter free and purposeful.  Each classroom has multiple, designated learning areas, including an area for full class activities where the teacher has access to a screen display and there is space for a full class.  The other spaces are for small groups or individuals to work, or for experiments, inquiries, and other activities.  

 



The students' need for quiet, personal time is also honored and respected in this re-design.  A room that they refer to as the jungle room is a place where students may choose to go at any time they need a break or feel overwhelmed.  There are games available for them to play, they can read, bring work to do, or they can rest and reflect.

 

This changed mindset and the changes in environment led to positive results in the school.  Student scores on the compulsory 9th grade exams increased, moving their average score from low average to high average, there was much more collaboration within the staff, the culture was more positive, and the referrals of students to outside schools for special needs dropped dramatically, from a high of 53 in August 2009 to 31 in August 2016.  In 2016, the leadership team decided they could still improve in their learning mindset and culture.  They decided to engage in a Challenging Learning Process for the following reasons:

• To secure continuous progression for the students at their school- with a focus on knowledge, attitude, and skills.
• A wish to develop a shared mindset for learning, a shared language and approach for learning- a shared culture.
• To move the leaders closer to the daily practice of learning and teaching.  More shared leadership.

As a result of a thorough evaluation, which included interviews with staff, students, and parents and learning walks, Challenging Learning worked with the leadership team to identify the following three Aims:

• To develop independent thinking and learning in students
• To encourage a culture where there is a shared language for learning
• To build a sustainable model of professional learning for teachers and leaders

For the next three years, Søndervangskolen worked with Challenging Learning to achieve these aims.  They developed "champions", who support the professional learning of teachers through a coaching model.  For their leaders, they focused on developing a culture where they are able to build capacity for teachers' professional learning while monitoring the progress of the work. They also worked on structures to actively engage parents, with the goal of having parents who are active and collaborative in the learning process. The Challenging Learning team conducted sessions throughout the three years to train and support the champions, model lessons, conduct parent meetings, and support the leaders in conducting learning walks.  Between these sessions, though, the staff worked hard to continue the improvement work, using these key questions to guide their efforts:  Where are we going?  Where are we now?  What's next?  

At the end of their 3 year journey, they have noticed a complete shift in the language of learning used by the staff and the students.   Feedback in the classroom is focused on progress and learning and includes quality peer feedback.  The students engage in more dialogue and are more willing to take risks.  They have embraced the advantages of challenge and use the language of the Learning Pit to talk about how to demonstrate through their attitudes, skills and knowledge that they are learning and progressing.  One impact we witnessed was the independence of the students.  There were multiple learning spaces that we entered where there was no direct supervision by an adult and yet students were actively working and collaborating. 

They have seen a continued drop in the number of students who are being sent to outside schools for special needs, reaching an all time low of 26 students in November, 2018.  

The leaders in the buildings have moved from a distance management role to an active, instructional leader role.  Through learning walks, they are able to see evidence of students engaged in peer collaboration, students able to articulate what they do when they "struggle", clear, shared learning intentions and students discussing learning.  They are then able to follow up with teachers and champions to celebrate the successes and talk about next steps.  

Søndervangskolen has much to be proud of.  They have done outstanding work and continue to strive for improvement as they focus on learning.  Well done!!

My journey over the sea to develop some mindset C’s

 In the last week, I was incredibly fortunate to join Professor Carol Dweckand James Nottinghamon their Mindset tour across Europe.  This was a professional highlight for me because they have both been quite influential in shaping my thinking about learning and learners throughout my career.  I started reading about Professor Dweck’s research in the mid-1990’s when I noticed that my gifted students were not taking advantage of the challenges that I was offering because they had a fear of failure.  I was determined to push them out of their comfort zone, knowing that their first real challenge would be crushing to them if it came too late in their educational career.  Their parents, however, wanted some reassurance that this was a good thing for their child. Apparently, the word of a 24-year-old brand new teacher was not sufficient!  It was Dweck’s research on helplessness and mindset that helped me to convince them. In 2011, when I first saw The Learning Pit and began reading the work of James Nottingham, it was like an “aha” experience for me.  The ideas I had about challenging students and the importance of authentic engagement began to take on a more coherent structure and expanded as I read all of the Challenging Learning books, including the Challenging Mindsetbook James wrote with Bosse Larsson, who I was blessed to spend time with on the tour!

I have followed Professor Dweck’s and James Nottingham’s work so closely, that I was not surprised by the fact that I did not hear a lot of brand-new ideas, facts, or concepts during their presentations.  I did, however, gain new perspectives and I heard things in new ways, which caused me to reflect differently on what I was hearing.  I came away with a lot of new thinking but have focused on two main takeaways that I wanted to briefly summarize here- one is how mindset relates to control and the other is what it takes to cultivate a culture for mindset.  

The idea of control has an interesting dynamic in schools.  We want children to have self-control in school, yet we allow them to control very little once they enter school. They are told when to arrive, what to do when they arrive, where they will sit, how they will sit, when they can talk, how they can answer, and who they will work with.  Adults decide what they will learn, how they will learn it, how they will show that they have learned it, when they can show that they have mastered a concept, when they will move to a new topic, etc… It is not surprising that students may find it hard to comprehend that something like intellectual growth, is within their control.  You see, they have been trained to believe that what happens in school is not within their locus of control.  Most children, however, do crave the opportunity to gain control in any area of their life where they can.

Many of the change efforts that are taking place in education are, in one way or another, increasing the level of control that students have throughout their learning journey. Capitalizing on opportunities for students to take control of the factors that put them into a fixed mindset can go a long way in changing the narrative they may have in their head about not having control.  One of the fixed mindset triggers that Professor Dweck mentioned was setbacks and criticism.  This is not surprising if you consider the phenomenon of celebrating winning and shaming losing that James talked about during one of his sessions. Therefore, an example of an opportunity to capitalize on students taking control would be to be intentional about modeling and practicing the idea of turning losses and mistakes into explicit learning opportunities.  Pull a small group of students who struggled to solve a math problem on an assessment- discuss the errors that they made, then ask question like- What did you learn from the errors that you made?  What do you now know you need to work on?  What might you do the next time you encounter a problem like this?  Can you see any other ways to solve it?  Would you like to try another one now or do you want to practice first?  Then celebrate with them and emphasize the fact that the extra time they took to understand their error actually helped them to develop a better understanding of the mathematical concept.  Encourage them to consistently take control of their learning in this way in order to increase their learning potential.

There were two quotes that rang true to me as I think about cultivating culture, one from Carol Dweck- “Mindsets take root only in fertile soil” and one from James Nottingham- “ You are stuck with the system, but you don’t have to be stuck with the thinking that created that system.”  As an advocate for change, I have had this never-ending mantra of “we won’t see change if we keep things the same.”  Just as a real change in learning will not occur by simply changing some instructional practices while maintaining a school setting and structure that mimics that of 60 years ago, a real change in mindset will not occur by simply teaching new language while maintaining practices and behaviors that do not model growth mindset.  

Professor Dweck shared promising research about the positive impact on the growth mindset of college freshman who engaged in a short 50-minute training on mindset development.  Children are malleable and can learn new ideas and skills- we know this to be true.  On the other hand, she also says that an adult’s attitude towards failure is more visible to children than their mindset and is more likely to impact the students’ mindset.  If we don’t talk the talk AND walk the walk, the effect of what we teach the students about mindset is likely to be trumped by what they observe in our behavior because it tells them what we really value and believe.  Cultivating a mindset culture is much more complicated than a training, posters on the wall, using different words, or eliminating stickers.  It is a deep transformation that includes a collective commitment to new values and a new way of thinking that influences the actions, practices and policies within the school. 

Think about your own school or classroom.  Would students feel comfortable talking publicly about their mistakes/failures and what they have learned from them, or is this something they are more comfortable doing in private?  Are student and family challenges talked about as excuses or opportunities?  When students do make mistakes, can they truly take advantage of an opportunity to show that they have grown (without penalty)? Do students seek challenges because they know they will help them to grow?  Do they know how to use a challenge to grow their learning? Highweek Primary Schoolin England reflected on their school and decided they needed a change. Through a Challenging Learning Process, they completely transformed their school in three years through the development of a shared vision.  Jennie Carter and Judy Martyn from Highweek spoke at the opening conference on the tour and did an amazing job telling the story of how this transformation has benefited their entire school community. Here is short clip highlighting their exciting journey.  

THIS is an example of cultivating a culture for mindset!   

Challenge and Mindset

It is that magical time of year, when educators and students are starting a brand new school year.  It has been 14 years since I prepared a classroom for the first day of school and this is the 5th year that I have not been leading in a school as we prepare for the first day.  The last 4 years I have not been able to drive by a school during the first week of school without wiping tears from my eyes and wondering how I ventured so far from the classroom- teaching children- which was my unwavering dream from the age of 8.  This year will be different- no tears or feeling sorry for myself.  I now have a strong vision for why I am in this space and how it fits into my dream.  More importantly, thanks to  friends and mentors who reminded me that I should not be standing in front of educators talking about instructional practices that I have not personally tried, failed, refined and found success with a variety of students in a variety of settings, I WILL be in classrooms with students this year.  (Also thanks to friends who will let me in their classrooms and will share their students with me.)

My focus when I am in classrooms will be inspired and informed by two opportunities that are currently contributing to a significant change in my professional path.  The first is an extraordinary opportunity that I have been blessed with to see Carol Dweck and James Nottingham on their Mindset Conference tour in September.  The second is the influence, guidance, friendship, and mentoring I have received as a result of my association with Challenging Learning (Challenging Learning USA).  I have been a believer and fan of Challenging Learning for a long time, but I now have an even better understanding of the intentionality and authenticity that makes their work and their company so effective.

I am going to be intentional about two things- Challenge and Mindset, and I am going to be authentic by practicing both with students and engaging in dialogue with teachers about how they incorporate them into their classroom culture.  At a time when educators are feeling overwhelmed by so many initiatives, improvement plans, and change programs, I invite my educator friends to join me in focusing on just two words-challenge and mindset.  We can do this by filtering all of our instructional and assessment plans through two questions :  Am I challenging ALL students?  and Am I modeling and encouraging a growth mindset?

Am I challenging ALL students?  As you plan your units, activities, and daily lessons, focus less on content coverage and more on the idea of challenging the students.  Once you have a true culture of challenge, covering the content is easy.  Hold all students to high standards and expect all students to engage in challenging activities.  Obviously students all need different levels of support along the way, but they can all engage in the challenge and achieve at high levels.  Regularly introduce concepts that encourage cognitive conflict and avoid swooping in to save them at the first sign of struggle.  Instead, encourage and support their struggle without offering the solution.  You will be amazed at how much content they will learn on their own once they achieve that EUREKA moment.  When questioning students, think carefully about whether your response to their questioning is ending the learning process or whether it is challenging them to continue their thinking.  Challenge yourself to respond to their responses with more questions rather than accepting the answer and moving on.  Plan your lessons so that you are talking less and are, instead, engaging the students in dialogue.  True dialogue will help them build their efficacy through their collaborative efforts to construct understanding and form their own judgments and inferences.  (References to The Learning Challenge, Challenging Learning through Dialogue and a book coming out soon- Challenging Learning Through Questioning)

Am I modeling and encouraging a growth mindset?  There has been a lot of focus on growth mindset, especially in recent years.  Unfortunately, although there have been great intentions, much of the work around growth mindset had been slightly misguided.  Growth mindset cannot be an additional "subject" that is taught in class and it cannot be achieved by simply changing the phrases that we use to praise student work.  Shifting mindsets is more about creating a different culture by evaluating how we instruct, thinking about the messages we send about expectations for success, and modeling growth mindset behaviors every day.  If you are focused on challenging all students, you are already on your way to modeling and encouraging a growth mindset.  In her book, Mindset:  Changing the way you think to fulfill your potential, Carol Dweck discusses how people with a growth mindset seek and thrive on challenge.  She shares stories of people like Mia Hamm and Patricia Miranda who took on physical challenges in order to succeed athletically and Christopher Reeve who challenged himself in recovery from a severed spinal cord to do things the doctors told him he would never do.  On the other hand, she shares that people with a fixed mindset thrive on the "sure thing" and shut down when challenged.  If we can challenge all students in a non-threatening environment, we can  help all students to thrive on challenge rather than the "sure thing".  Dweck does acknowledge the difficulty in shifting mindsets and talks about the journey to a true mindset and how it takes time and effort to achieve it.  In their book, Challenging Mindset, James Nottingham and Bosse Larsson build on Carol Dweck's famous phrase, "The Power of Yet" from her Ted Talk in 2014 by introducing YETIs that can be used to help students on their journey to a growth mindset.  The Y in YETI is for you, and it encourages students to focus inward on whether they are open to learning, determined to improve, and willing to have a go at improving.  The E stands for evaluate and prompts students to evaluate their progress towards the learning goal.  The T is for setting targets that will help with improvement and deeper learning.  The I stands for improve and involves selecting a strategy that will effectively support movement towards the target.  There are YETIs for older and younger students for a variety of concepts in which students may need support in reaching their goal. With the use of strategies like the YETI and a focus on mistakes as not only learning opportunities, but the only way to really enhance learning, we can help students (and ourselves) to make the shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, or for those who already have a growth mindset, we can continue to feed it!

As we think about challenging all students and modeling and encouraging growth mindset, it helps to have a vision for what our classroom would look if we say yes to the two questions I have posed above.  For me, that vision can be formed by thinking about how students would respond to the following questions on a survey:

• Does your teacher believe that you can solve challenging problems on your own?
• What does your teacher value?

My vision includes students who say yes to the first question and  who answer the second question with words and phrases like:  students, learning, risk taking, growth, resiliency, student voice, learning from mistakes, student choice, self-efficacy.... 

Change one thing

As all of our educators head back to school for a new year, I am a little envious of the teachers who will be standing in front of a new group of learners over the next couple of weeks.  I miss teaching students every day and I especially miss the excitement that comes with a brand new year.  Students will walk into new classrooms, with a new teacher, a new set of classmates, ready to unpack new school supplies.  What will not be new to many of them is the anxiety that resides just below the surface and is fed by questions like:  Will my teacher understand me?  Will I have any friends?  Will I get the help/challenge that I need?  Will there be adults who care about me and accept me for who I am?  Something else that will not be new is the knowledge that things WILL be different this year than last.  The curriculum content will change, the teacher's expectations will be different, and classroom procedures will vary from past years.  Amazingly, young learners do not typically struggle with this part.  They are amazingly resilient and adaptable to change.  Especially if they are well supported and cared for.

I am completely immersed in my passion and efforts to support change in our schools that will benefit our learners.  I will not re-hash what I have already shared in my blogs about the documented need and urgency for change, but suffice it to say, our children need us, as educators, to shift our practices.  I have been disheartened in the last few weeks to witness multiple occasions where high quality and well informed efforts to support and inform change have been thwarted or adjusted because they do not align with the "American market".  I find this to be frustrating, embarrassing, and discouraging.  I have great faith in our educators and I am certain that our schools are brimming with talented, motivated teachers who are very capable of making the same changes that are being made in other parts of the world.  Rather than making changes to high quality change efforts to fit the "American market", I will continue to challenge our educators to create a new culture where we are as resilient and adaptable to change as the students who enter our classrooms.  Like the students, though, it must be done with support and care from the system.

I challenge our schools and districts to embrace ONE substantial change this year that is focused on learning rather than just a cursory response to student achievement data.  Maybe it is a focus on process over content, it could be a shift to competency based practices, it could be a commitment to challenge students to lead their own learning, or perhaps it is the integration of academic subject areas.  Work collaboratively and set aside your other initiatives long enough to really figure out what supports, steps, resources, etc... are needed to truly make this ONE change.  I am not talking surface level, check-the-box-and-move-on kind of change.  I mean real change that looks and feels different, infiltrates the entire system and has a measurable impact on student learning that is not only visible, but also long-lasting.

We must move beyond doing what we have always done and we must stop limiting our vision for change by the current structures and paradigms that we hold so dear.  We are preparing students for a future that we cannot even fathom.  It is difficult to justify educating them in a setting that has changed little in the last 100 years.

We can do better

I am going to pick up where I left off in my last post, when I shared the statistics from Jenkins' Loss of Enthusiasm for School Curve and I said I wasn't okay with just over 1/3 of our high school freshman still loving school.  Well, today in the car, my 16 year old daughter said to me, completely out of the blue, "I don't want school to start up again.  I just don't like it.  It's way longer than it should be for what I get out of it." and then she looked at me with a very sad and distraught face.  She goes to a good school, she does not get in trouble,  she knows the value of an education, she wants to go to college, and it is not hard for her.  She shouldn't feel this way.  My heart broke a little today as it does every day when she tells me how much she doesn't like going to school.  What makes it harder is that I know that many other children are uttering the same phrase, and that many of them have even more reason to say it.  Some of them do not have a nice school to go to, and some of them find school very difficult because it is not welcoming to them or it is not equipped for them.  I know we can do better.

I really started to believe this about a year ago.  Last July (2018), I experienced my first Annual Visible Learning Conference in Chicago.  Despite the fact that I had already read much of the work of Hattie, Nottingham, and Fisher & Frey, hearing them share how their ideas have been applied in schools and classrooms around the world was impactful for me and left me energized and excited.  I was fortunate to join John Hattie, his son Kyle, and Sarah Martin for the Lunch and Learn where they talked about Stonefields School in New Zealand and how the Visible Learning practices are embedded in everything that they do.  I came back from the conference with big dreams of opening a brand new school for our region built on the practices that I had been so excited to hear about at the AVL.  I shared this idea with my boss and he didn't say no.  This was a big deal to me because I have always been a dreamer, but had often been met with reasons why my ideas would not work.  No money, the parents won't understand it, the community won't support it, our kids can't do that, there is no time....  This time what I heard was that I needed to find other models, figure out funding options, decide what my vision is, and start talking to people.

Fast forward one year.  I now know for certain that we can do better because there are places all over the world where educational communities have worked together to be innovative and brave as they create schools that do not look like what we have always had.  And it is working!  Stonefields School in New Zealand, is one example.  They have grown from 50 to 600 in their first 8 years and they have remained innovative and learner centered and have been very successful.  This year at the AVL, Ka'Imiloa Elementary School in Hawaii was honored as a Visible Learning School.  They had a complete transformation in their culture as a result of a community commitment to Visible Learning.  Highweek Primary School in Newton Abbot, UK has worked with Challenging Learning since 2016 and has already seen significant changes in student and staff mindsets and they have seen all members of their learning community join in their efforts to make learning a priority.  Michael Fullan introduces deep learning in his books Deep Learning: Engage the World Change the World and Indelible Leadership and he discusses the successes of  New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL) Partnership which includes hundreds of schools engaging in systemic change.  I could keep going, because there are a lot of schools making significant changes in response to the research.   They are making shifts in their schools to more closely match the flexible learning needs of all students in the 21st century.  There are schools where achievement gaps have almost disappeared, where dropout rates have plummeted, where all children seek challenges because they want to learn, and where community involvement is constant and effective.  Clearly, we CAN do better.

Robert F. Kennedy once said- "Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened, when we fail to speak and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom, decency and justice."  At this point, at least for myself, I do not believe that I can continue to close my eyes and ears.  I know that we can do better, and therefore to do nothing is to tolerate what I know is wrong.  I am absolutely frightened about this next part of my journey, but there are great models out there, I know where to find sound research, and I also know that I have met and continue to meet a lot of brilliant people who will have ideas that will build on my own.  One thing I have learned in the last year is that I am definitely not alone on this journey.  And my motivation?  It is, and will always be, all children.   However, there will be this constant echo in my head that will keep me fighting... "I don't want school to start again.  I just don't like it."

Schools are for learning and learners- PERIOD

Anyone who knows me knows that I am passionate about finding ways to remove any of the static that causes our focus on learning and learners to be fuzzy or unclear. I know that we need to be engaged in the hard work of change in education and I am dedicated to doing my part. I had yet another amazing experience at the Annual Visible Learning Conference where I gathered many nuggets of information that had already set the gears in my mind into overdrive. Then I read this article from Alfie Kohn and started putting some of the pieces together. I especially loved the last line- "Everyone may not get there, but at least in theory all of us could." In the article, he talks about how standardized tests and comparative grades create rankings that make it impossible for all students to experience success because someone always has to be failing. His point is well made and I strongly encourage educators to read the article.

If we believe that everyone is entitled to an education, and if we truly want all children to have a shot at being successful in this world, we cannot continue to let the classroom be a place of such intense competition. There will always be playing fields, courts, pools, concert halls, chess tables, etc... where we can foster and encourage competition for those children who crave it, but education should be for ALL children in ALL contexts.

There is no question that rankings and that aura of competition impact the performance of students. Very early in their learning, students become aware of their "position" in relation to their peers and the subsequent expectations of their teachers and they perform accordingly. During a session on feedback, Shirley Clarke shared that 88% of 4 year olds who are placed in an ability group remain in that group throughout their schooling. During his keynote address at the AVL Conference, John Hattie shared a number of differences that had been noted in the classrooms of teachers with high expectations of students verses teachers with low expectations. Teachers with low expectations put students in ability groups and develop different activities for each group, whereas teachers with high expectations work with all students and expect them to do the same work, but they realize they may need different levels of support and different amounts of time. The children who are placed in ability groups and who are given easier assignments will never be pushed to perform beyond that level. They will meet the low expectations held by their teacher. On the other hand, the students who are given the time and support needed to complete the work will live up to the high expectations of their teacher.

The good news here, is that there is a lot of great information out there to guide our work. John Hattie's meta-analysis is an amazing collection of evidence about which variables in education can have the greatest effect and many other education researchers have complimented his work by clarifying how and when these variables do have the greatest positive impact on student learning. Of all variables, he found that the average effect size was .40 which is known as the "hinge point" point or the growth per year. We know that collective teacher efficacy, with an effect size of 1.39 can have a tremendous impact. However, it is important to read Jenni Donohoo and Peter DeWitt"s work related collective teacher efficacy and collaborative leadership and Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan's work on Professional Capital to truly understand how collective teacher efficacy can be leveraged.

One of the variables that I see as a potential game changer and that was the topic for a lot of sessions, is feedback. It only has an effect size of .66, but many believe it could be much higher if the feedback is used effectively. James Nottingham, in his session on feedback, pointed out that 1/3 of all studies on feedback showed a negative impact on learning. He emphasized the importance of the timing of feedback, specifically that feedback should not be given until after the teacher and students have agreed on the criteria. Shirley Clarke also talked about the importance of co-creating and communicating learning intentions and success criteria in order to provide effective feedback. Similarly, when Hattie shared the differences between teachers with low and high expectations, he noted that teachers with low expectations focus on activities and behaviors and communicate the details of the activities to be completed, whereas the teacher with high expectations focuses on learning and communicates learning intentions and success criteria.

The 2007 publication of The Hidden Lives of Learners, which documented the extensive observational research of Graham Nuthall, uncovered important information that can be used to inform the effective use of feedback. He found that in the classroom, 80% of the feedback that students receive during the day comes from their peers and that 80% of that is inaccurate. Knowing this, it is important to teach students to accurately offer and reflectively process feedback. You can find excellent strategies and guidance for for creating this culture in the classroom in James and Jill Nottingham's book Challenging Learning Through Feedback, or Visible Learning: Feedback (Vol. 2) by John Hattie and Shirley Clarke.

I do not think many of us need motivation to lead this charge of change in education because we see and hear evidence of the need every day. However I want to end with a statistic that has haunted me since seeing it during John Hattie's keynote. He shared this graphic which captures the data Lee Jenkins collected when asking 3,000 teachers the following questions: “What grade level do you teach?” and “What percent of your students love school?”. It shows that from kindergarten to grade 9, student enthusiasm for school drops from 95% to 37%. I don't know about you, but I am not okay knowing that just over a third of our students still love school by the time they start high school.

Understood or Accepted?

As part of a reflection on Father's Day, my dad sent a message to my sister and me late Sunday night (well technically it was early Monday morning since it was after midnight, which is typical for him) telling us what he thought to be the best thing about being a dad.  In his message, he told us about an exercise he used to complete with his students where he would ask them if they could only choose one, would they choose to be understood or accepted.  He went on to share that, while most started out by saying that they would choose to be understood, the majority ended up changing their mind after a few strategic questions.  He asked them if they thought that any white American can truly understand what it is like to be a black person in America or if any black American can truly understand what it is like to be a white person in America.  He proceeded to tell them that he had two daughters and asked if he could truly understand what it is like for his daughters to face the problems and challenges in their lives that are shaped, in any way, by their sex.  His final rhetorical question was this:  "Do you think it's possible for a person who is not the same race as another to accept that person if he/she does not understand that person's life experience, and do you think that a father can accept his daughters even if he does not fully understand what it is like to grow up female?"

Our classrooms are extremely diverse and are made up of students who come from very different backgrounds with different needs, strengths, dreams, perspectives, likes, dislikes, personalities.... just DIFFERENT.  Our teachers cannot possibly understand everything about every child.  The children cannot possibly understand everything about their teacher or about one another.  However they can certainly make the choice to accept one another.  I was struck by the words and phrases that I found in the Merriam-Webster definition of accept:   receive willingly; give admittance or approval to; regard as proper, normal; to recognize as true: BELIEVE; make a favorable response to.  Think about these words and phrases and then imagine what would happen in classrooms if every teacher truly accepted every student, if every student truly accepted every teacher and if every student truly accepted every other student.  I am now thinking of the John Lennon's song Imagine and I really want to sing, but I am not at all good, so I will refrain.

Have you ever watched really young children playing in the park?  They often have very few inhibitions with one another.  They do not notice that children are different from themselves.  They do not seem to care about gender, size, socioeconomic status, disabilities, hair color, clothing choices, or even language.  They accept everyone around them and just want to play.  The lack of acceptance and the detection of differences is something that is learned over time through society, family, school, and various forms of media.  This is good news!  We know that universal acceptance is a skill that our children and adults have, at one time, possessed. 

I generally think of myself as an accepting person, but I am pretty certain that I was guilty a time or two (or twenty) during my teaching years of putting too much energy into trying to understand a child when I would have been better off to just accept him or her as they were.  It happens, and it will happen.  In fact, sometimes it needs to happen because there may be something that we really do need to understand about a child in order to help him or her.  For the most part, however, I enjoy thinking about classrooms where we just accept children for who they are while creating learning opportunities that can be accessed by all of them.  And then if we create opportunities for them to truly engage in dialogue about complex topics, they will actually learn a lot about one another as they learn together!  They will begin to have some understanding AND acceptance!