Drive by Daniel Pink

“…autonomous motivation promotes greater conceptual understanding, better grades, enhanced persistence at school and in sporting activities, higher productivity, less burnout, and greater levels of psychological well-being” (p. 90-91). I have been able to see this first hand in my GSE program at HTH. This school gives greater autonomy to learning that has made we want to learn and enjoy it. I was in a different graduate program at state and it felt like jumping through the hoops, do what you need to do to get the good grade, it didn’t matter what you learned. I enjoy coming to class, I enjoy reading the books that we have assigned or chosen, and I really love our discussions. The GSE program made it relative to what I needed to know to become a good leader, and it has motivated me towards mastery even after the program is completed. I guess that is what Daniel Pink calls self-directed and I agree. I guess what motivates me is the challenge of running a school, constantly learning new things and sharing them with others.

I have really been thinking about the autonomy in the work place. The teachers at TLC all ready have some autonomy such as, setting your own hours and days you work but, there are strings attached and I would like to see what would happen if I removed those strings. What would happen if I allowed teachers to use 10% or even 20% of their work week to work on anything they would like. I feel that would bring back the creativity to the teachers especially the ones who are just collecting their pay checks. So many possibilities.

I found the section of unschoolers very relevent. That is a big percentage of our school and those kids do very well, and why wouldn’t they, they get to choose what they learn and that makes it relevant. I have also seen in my own kids that the classes they enjoy and find relevance in they do well in and the ones they have to do because someone said I have to push them to complete it or get a good grade. Also at our school and at HTH students show mastery by teaching others. I really enjoy having students show me or teach me what they have learned. Again I feel that self-directed and purpose motive leads to mastery if we as educators would just step aside. I really took away that Type 1 can be learned and that in its self is motivating.

Find the Bright Spots

“And that’s why bright spots are so essential, because they are your best hope for directing the Rider when you’re trying to bring about change.”  I found this to be the backbone to why I wanted to be a teacher and now a director. It’s the little bright spots that mean the most to us in education. I like how the author Chip and Dan Heath focus on the positive and the now. I found that to be very helpful in being able to move forward with projects, people, or even life. Stop focusing on what happened and focus on how to correct it.

“But if you’re trying to change things. there are going to be bright spots in your field of view, and if you learn to recognize them and understand them, you will solve one of the fundamental mysteries of change: What, exactly, needs to be done differently?”  I really felt that this quote struck me the most and was very timely. As my director retires and I take on the role of director I hope to be able to find the bright spots and make change. Especially in areas that will benefit our school greatly.

“Now that you’ve defined your bright spot, you can try to clone it.” I have been working hard at one of our schools with my action research and feel that I have been greatly successful in working with teachers. Now I feel that I need to look at the other sites and see if it can be duplicated. I guess the big question is what do you do with the ones who resist?

Is Merit Pay the Answer?

In the article “Is Merit Pay the Answer?’ I found myself agreeing with many of the points the author pointed out. The one quote that struck me the most and I have never even thought about was “it undermines teamwork”. I have been so focused on test performance as the base and disagreeing with that, that I didn’t even think that it would undermine the teamwork teacher have. I do agree that we need to have a better way of paying teacher but I am not sure how to determine this.

In the paper “The Pros and Cons of Performanced-Based Compensation” by Lewis C. Solmon and Michael Podgursky they too discuss the issue of teamwork being undermined. “Teachers will no longer be willing to share their hard work if they fear that someone else is going to take credit and get the extra pay.” This quote struck me too. I became a good teacher because of my mentor teachers who were will to share ideas.

In the same article  it talked about paying extra to those who would become mentor teachers. I liked this but my only worry was  how would you pick who would be a mentor, I could see some teachers who are not very good at mentoring wanting this position just for the pay.

As in most of the articles tying teacher pay to student performance on test scores doesn’t work for non-traditional classrooms. How would that look like in a school where the parent does most of the teaching, or in a project based school where building and creating are the building blocks of that school. 

 In the article by the Washington Post “Myths About Paying Good Teachers More” had some very good points that really hit home, “…typical teacher evaluation in public education consists of a single, fleeting classroom visit by a harried principal who is often more interested in classroom behavior that quality of instruction.” I saw this first hand that if a teacher did not have good classroom managemnet according to the adminstration then they were not a good teacher. Many great teachers were let go on this basis, what about teacher who do a lot of projects, group work, it can’t be quite all the time.

“teachers say higher salaries are less important to them than a work environment is which they feel respected and receive help to improve their craft.” I totally agree with this statement. I left a school due to the administration changing because I felt I could not be an effective teacher any more. I loved the support I had and the training I received prior to the change. I felt I could just teach what the children needed not what the administration felt they needed.

Many things to think about with this pay change, but I do believe that tenure is killing the teaching profession and something needs to change just not sure what would be fair. Maybe national standards made for teachers like we have for students would be a start?

California Educational Opportunity Report

WOW! this is really depressing. I know I didn’t get into education for the money, but no money? “More affluent schools generated eight times the private funding as poorer schools.” I see this quite frequently where my kids went to school in east county. It is very apparent that where the shortfall in funding is the parents of more affluent schools step in and help with that gap.  So how do we make it fair for our less affluent schools?

What teacher is even going to want to teach in low poverty schools, you have no resources, no books, and more students. I was in 5th or 6th grade when proposition 13 passed and I remember all the cuts that came to our school. We no longer had 6th grade camp, no more art or PE and they took away freshman sports. I give those teachers who stuck it out a huge pat on the back and now they are facing it all over again.

 ”These patterns are largely due to unequal distribution of school resources (including highly qualified teachers) and other factors that negatively affect teachers’ work lives in poorer neighborhoods.” How is it fair that poorer schools get the short end of the stick when these students don’t have the home support to help them succeed. I have always felt that we have our system backwards. New teachers are usually placed in these low poverty schools where they are challenged with discipline, students below grade level, and not much support. Why not take the experienced teachers out of the more affluent schools and place them where the most help is needed. New teachers would go to the more affluent schools to learn and be mentored. These students have the home support to make them successful. Just a thought.

I don’t know the answer to the budget crises but I do believe that if teachers were allowed to do what they were trained to do that those gaps would close.

Best Practices in Education and Facilities Design

What powerful video, I really liked listening to what he had to say about space and learning. I do have to agree that you can take an industrial space and really make it likeable for learning. All of our schools have common areas for parents and students to hang out and learn or talk. I do wish we had the wireless internet, in the future that maybe an option. Thinking about our own spaces,  most of our schools have windows and open areas. The one school that doesn’t have windows seems to have more trouble with students, could there be a correlation? We are not fortunate enough to have an outside common area but maybe someday that can happen.

One of my favorite places was the school he showed that looked like a bookstore with tables and chairs around and many open spaces. I love to go to book stores like this much more than a traditional library. Another nice thing about independent study is that our students spend most of their time at home in an environment that they find comfortable, happy, and are finding a love for learning. I feel we just need to add the networking part of it in there.

The Way We Were? The Myths and Realities of America’s Student Achievement by Richard Rothstien

“But if schools or school districts have different standards for determining eligibility for such accommodations, or differing abilities to provide them, test score comparisons can be misleading.” p. 48

The comparisons between schools, districts, states, and countries have been a pet peeve of mine since I started teaching. I began teaching in Las Cruces, New Mexico in 1995.  Most of my students were Second language learners. In the five years of teaching I watched the district change the test requirements three times. First they took out second grade, then they only were going to test at the beginning of the school year on the grade they just completed, so if you were in 4th grade you would be tested on 3rd grade standards the first month of school.  Then they decided to only test 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th graders.  The ITBS was the test given at this time.  

When I moved back to San Diego and learned about the new state standards, the new STAR test, and how far behind California was in test scores compared to the rest of the nation, I couldn’t believe it. How could California be behind New Mexico? I knew for a fact that my own children suffered in the New Mexico education system, it was an easy year for them their first year there. They were at least a year ahead of their peers and their peers were at least a year older than them. I hate listening to people base how our students are doing on one test, and then compare it to other states in the nation who are not even taking the same test or testing that year. FRUSTRATING

My question is how do we make it fair to all and make it valid?

I enjoyed the book, made some great comparisons to the past. I also enjoyed the data used to show the differences in test at different years and the end all question of  “how do we make it valid?”

The ‘Master Pay Bump’

In the article “The Master pay Bump” by Patricia Wasley and Marguerite Roza published in Ed. Week I have to say I agree with her. She discusses how teachers are just going to Universities to receive a masters so they can receive a pay raise. I have to say that the way the state of California has set up our pay scales as well as receiving a clear credential, yes this is true across the board.

I received my credential out of state and when I came to California they told me that I would have to have 60 units of higher education in one area to clear my credential and stay in the state within 5 years. I thought that’s fine I will just go get my master’s and at the same time I would get a pay raise. Most teacher I spoke with have also come across this and feel the same way.

It wasn’t until I started my masters at HTH GSE that I realized that you can go to school and actually learn something that is relevant to what you are doing at your school. It is useful and has helped me become a better leader. I wish all masters programs were this way.

I  believe that we need to change the way universities think they should educate students and listen to the people who are taking the classes. How do we change the mind-set of the universities, government, and districts to make this work?

Data Wise

“Encouraging facility to work across disciplines to figure out how to connect the instructional goals of the school to their daily lessons can be a powerful way of making sure implementation gets off the ground, especially when considering the learning of at-risk or struggling students.” (160)

 I really liked how in the book they had buy-in from all teachers for the whole school not just the reading teachers or the math teachers. I feel that if you are truly going to reach all students you need to have the help of all teachers who can help you with strategies for struggling students. The SPED teachers can help with those students, ELL teachers can help in that area and other teacher from other disciplines are able to help with what works in their classroom. Once again you are working for a common goal for the school as well as helping particular students.

 How do you get those teachers who don’t want to be a part of the team on board?

Management of the Absurb

This book was well written and made many great points. In the chapter “There are no Leaders, There is only Leadership” was one chapter that really grabbed my attention.

Is there a way to be a leader but not be a leader?

“Leadership is distributed among members of a group, and they in turn play such vital roles as task master, clown, mother figure and so on.” p. 144

I feel it is important to be able to distribute jobs among your staff and let them know you have faith in them and know that they will do a great job. I believe that leaders who try to do it all find themselves with staff that has no faith in their leadership because that leader has no faith in them. Also if you try to do everything you begin to loose the drive you had to become a leader or why started the company.

“In a well-functioning group, the behavior of the leader is not all that different from the behavior of other responsible group members.” p. 145

“…it might be difficult to identify the leader in a group that is working well.” p. 145

I enjoy working with High Tech High and the way every staff member takes a roll of a leader. It is hard sometimes to know who the leader is at HTH. I want my teachers to feel that way and I want to be the type of leader that will allow that.

“The best leaders are servants of their people.” p. 145

“Leaders are themselves often led and managed by their employees, from the bottom up..” p. 146

I feel it is important for employees to know there is a leader, but it is more important for leaders to know that their employees are what make them great leaders. I feel you get more out of your staff when you are not always telling them what needs to be done. It is important to help guide, but it is important to have your employees feel like what they say is worthy and important. Allowing your staff to use their assets as a leader goes much further then having them interpret what you want from them.

Crucial Considerations

How do we find the time to make this work?

“Many protocols for looking together at student work are designed to help everyone slow down. These protocols invite participants to take a step back and to look calmly, carefully, and patiently in order to see what the student put into the work – before attaching personal interpretations and evaluations to it.”

I really like this idea because when we teach something every year we get use to what it should look like or be like and we don’t really look at the individual piece. I also like the idea of having others look at other students work without any knowledge of that student. I feel it does give you a new perspective on that students work and other might see something that you might be missing.  We just need make time to allow this to happen.