reform Archives

Pedagogy and its Discontents pt.2, Lead me where?

“It is impossible to escape the impression that people commonly use false standards of measurement–that they seek power, success and wealth for themselves and admire them in others, and that they underestimate what is of true value in life.”

Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents

Let us not make any bones about the situation. The teacher is at the front of the room and hold the keys. There are places that students cannot go. There are places that students can go. There are places that students may only go if the teacher takes them there. Say what? This is the 21st century. This classroom is flipped. We are unlearning. Delearning. Relearning. It is our new pedagogy. You can’t front on that.

Or can you, Biz? Will you front on that? Is it the content, the context, or the process that is of value in the classroom? Some mix of the three, perhaps. Maybe, even, a fourth entity–the interaction of them all. In the same way that you may not separate nature and nurture, it is unlikely that you may separate the content from the context or either of them from the process that brings them to light. Further, it is unlikely that by explicitly valuing one part of the mix that a teacher or student will be sure to have the desired influence over those components.

Do you follow? If I, as a teacher or student make explicit statements of value, the reaction of students may be to value or devalue or, perhaps, to have no change in their valuation of the component. Some rebel while some draw near. It depends on how that serves their needs for safety, belonging, esteem, or actualization. Remember Maslow? Not to oversimplify, but if you have ever tried to teach a hungry student, you are probably missing more than my point.

Getting back to the matter at hand, students respond to the content, context, and process–along with the demonstrated valuations by the instructor in a given manner. They may follow, rebel, or have no change in their value of the experience. The teacher, assessing the response, may ‘course-correct’ mid-stream-of-thought BUT what may happen is not entirely predictable! Change on the part of the teacher–either re-emphasis, over-emphasis, or a decreased emphasis–may result in a different overall response.

The most significant (read risky) overall response may be an overarching loss of interest should the instructor effectively abandon ship on the premise or the beliefs that were held at first. Any teacher still holding the torch of pedagogy as a method of a priori distribution of information should probably have a widow’s walk built and learn a new lament. The kids are alright.

“And yet, in making any general judgement of this sort, we are indanger of forgetting how variegated the human world and its mental life are.”

Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents

Assessment Pt. 2: Problems of Scale

Measurement is a curious thing. Everyone is talking about it. A lot of people are doing it. With all that talk and all that measurement, it causes even more people to do it. I mean, it must be important, right?

Contagious shooting.

Offsides. They jumped first. We all jumped.
Strong words. Actions. Open doors. Imply permission.

Buzz. Some are testing because everyone else is doing it and they do not know why they are doing it themselves. It is contagious and it is killing us.

There are a few problems that are typical of assessment culture. They differ in severity. Jim Croce used to talk about causing trouble in Chester, PA where they would cut you four kinds of bad: long, deep, wide, and often. Who would think that I would ever talk about assessment and Jim Croce in the same paragraph? I like Jim Croce. I like assessment. I do not like the abuse of assessment and data. It gives an essential part of education a bad name. Yes I said essential. When it is done well and done correctly, it is good stuff. Don’t mess around with Jim. Errr, Slim.

The effect of non-educational and non-assessment pertinent information on our students is referred to in the testing field as “unintended consequences.” We need to consider them. Seriously.

1. Long
Rather, length. Any assessment that causes the facilitation of learning to be interrupted is too often long and disruptive. It is important for the assessor to consider what is actually being tested when distributing a test with 120 items. My first assumption is that they are assessing attention and fortitude. Stubborn constitution? While it may be clear to the test creator that each of these items has a clear purpose, I pose this question–has the need for coverage been obscured by the other challenges that are presented before those questions are asked?
The length of a test is one of the first things that a student checks when it is delivered to their desk. Flip through and count the pages. See if they are multiple choice, short answer, long answer, or essay. Matching? True/False?

2. Deep
It is often that the coverage of an assessment is haphazardly accounted for by length. Oops. Depth of an assessment can be addressed with a shovel or with a scalpel. Do you investigate like an excavator or a surgeon? While there are several questions that could get to the bottom of a student’s understanding of a novel, mathematical concept, or science theory; is it possible that there is one question that could be used to demonstrate understanding of the larger constructs? The answer is usually yes and the rationale that is usually defended is depth.
When quality inquiry includes necessary skills, we begin to scratch the surface of depth. A complex skill often trumps less complex skills–not always the case but often the case. You have heard the saying, “You have to crawl before you can walk.” If your child went straight to walking without crawling, would you intervene? Neither did I. It is not a completely common phenomenon but it happens and aside from toddler locomotion, there are not really any good reasons to crawl. Either way, I would bet that you could learn it later.

3. Wide
Breadth of assessment is key. It probably means something completely different than what you think, though. The wideness of assessment does not have to include every aspect of what is being taught. Variations in the width of coverage is often a factor of interests that our students have that either narrow or widen their take on the material. That is fine.
As educators, we must widen our assessment in order to provide every opportunity for our students to demonstrate competence and understanding. If this goal is achieved by one student through a presentation and another through various and typical testing procedures, why should that prove an issue?
BECAUSE in college, they will get scantron tests so they need to get used to it!
That is not a reasonable answer. I do not care who says so, either.
If you want students to get better at scantron tests because that is what they will encounter, that is fine and in some contexts a reasonable goal. There is, however, no reason to restrict a student in their demonstration of competence and understanding in the process.
You will often hear about differentiated instruction but I am telling you that the need for citizens of our age is to be given the opportunity for differentiated assessment. You see, differentiated instruction is an appealing concept but its goals are achievement on typical assessment procedures–if you teach them differently, they will all be able to achieve in the same way!
No. The teaching is probably not the issue. I will put myself out there and say that you are probably a good enough teacher. It is more likely that a student is capable of demonstrating understanding in a way that is not being assessed.

If I hear “they know the material but they cannot pass the test” one more time I will scream. Twice.

4. Often
The frequency of assessment is not simply a problem of testing too often. It is also a problem of failing to assess often enough. Notice that I am referring to testing specifically and assessment in general. The “movement” to get rid of testing and assessment and measurement and grades aside, please understand that we are constantly assessing, judging, and measuring. After all that we act, stop acting, or change the methods and manner of acting to meet the assessed need. If you want to attach a letter, number, or whatever to that–fine. Do not think that by doing away with scantrons, letters, and numbers that you have put the assessment monster out of the room. It is still there. Boo.

Ecological validity is an issue that is at the forefront of research these days. Developing methods of observation and assessment that fit and make sense in the context of the learning scenario can be challenging. Is it possible to measure some aspect of learning within the context of that learning using tasks that make sense within that domain? If not, that is an issue of ecological validity. Think about the NFL combines that are used by professional teams to assess the viability of future draft picks. These sets of skills are supposed to be indicators of the athletes’ ability to do well in an NFL game. We know, though, that the only way to know if an athlete is capable of playing professional football is to have them play professional football. Ecological validity.

Slightly more than a rant.
Pt. 1 coming soon!

Yeah, Jim got his hat.
Find out where it’s at.
Not hustlin’ people strange to you.
Even if you do have a 2-piece custom-made pool cue.

Beg to Differ. Go ahead, BEG.

Rebel: Noun. Verb. Adjective. Sweet.

I should probably spend more time being positive. Surely, that is what Tom Whitby thinks. I would say that I am more serious than negative. My goal in this post, aside from contributing to the REBEL post-o-rama-thon, is to be helpful. Comments are always welcome. If you like it, maybe I will write a part two/three/four.

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” Albert Camus

I only have a few thoughts about the educational revolution and it is all about the world between the walls. From bell to bell. Ding. Ding.

re-evolution

re-educational

de-evolution

re-de-evolution

redevo?

devo?

oh.

my.

If you want to cause a rebellion, treat everyone the same. If you want to lead a REBELlion, treat everyone as the exception to rules that do not matter. The single most important thing that a teacher can do is to teach children with a discrete awareness and appreciation of their individual differences. Change and reform will not succeed as a top-down process. Change happens on the ground, as I like to say in my classes; where the teaching takes place.

My ideas are simple. None of them are revolutionary–with apologies. These are simple pieces of advice from my experience as a classroom teacher and a teacher educator. They are focused on needs of our students and ourselves. I believe

1. Stop being cutting edge (I totally stole this from Peter Sellars). We have already done cutting edge. We are cut. We are bleeding. It hurts. Please stop. We need change that heals and we know how to do that.

2. Think. Have you considered the short/mid/long-term results from change that you are proposing? I mean, look at the schools that produced REBELS like us? VERY unlike anything that we are proposing. We have to consider the outcomes of our “progressive” ideas.

3. Share in the name of selfishness. Giving away your knowledge, techniques, and ideas makes you better. Really.

4. If you focus on results, you will all treat all of your students the same. That is not fair, that is stupid. You had better be ready to look to yourself for the cause of problems. There are ways to teach and assess that recognize individuals.

5. The answers are already in the room (I totally stole this from Sir Thomas Beecham). The collective knowledge in a given room is probably all that you need to get your points across. Bruner called it scaffolding. Do that.

6. You are not the first person who thought that.

7. If you are thinking about being famous for something, please stop teaching and follow your dream. Nothing worse than a bitter failure in a room full of kids because he/she is using the backup plan.

8. Be consistent with things that matter. Is it worth it? Yes. Do not give me the Emerson quote about consistency being the hobgoblin of the small mind. The qualifying adjective in that quote is “A foolish consistency…” I am not suggesting that you maintain foolish consistency but that you maintain consistency in the things that matter.

9. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Treat students as you would like others to treat your own children. I remember the last time I said something that I would consider “unacceptable” to a student. I did not yell or say something foul or rude. But I did say something to a student that I regretted. As soon as it left my mouth, I remember thinking–what if I walked in when someone said that exact thing to my child? I could have cried right there. We have to be honest with ourselves and allow that type of thinking to occur.

10. Consider needs before anything else and then advocate appropriately. Someone once asked me how I would change schooling. The answer was nothing revolutionary. I said that I would find a way to make sure that the kids got a good night’s sleep, a healthy breakfast, and clothes that made them feel secure. Beyond that, I would help to make sure that teachers were able to do their jobs to the best of their ability.

11. Find people who can help, reaffirm, critique, and develop YOU. They do not need to be all different people or all the same person, but be clear about what you need in a given conversation. Do not make assumptions about others and do not expect them to read your mind. If you need reassurance, begin your conversation by letting that person know.

12. Being the best at something is a decision. Pick one thing. Then pick another. Maybe your decision is based on a need. Or interest. Or innovation. Either way, it will be worth it.

13. You have a lot to say. You have a lot to give. You have a lot to offer. You are not like me and you can help me with something even if I do not know what it is yet. Me too.