RFK Ramblings

World Series and Assessment

This year the world series is truly unique in that it is the first time in a while that the two teams, the Yankees and the Phillies, are generally considered the two best teams in their leagues.

In recent years that has not been the case as the best teams have been eliminated in earler rounds of the playoffs.  How exactly does that happen if they are the better team?  Simply put the playoffs in any sport are far more random in their outcomes then the regular season.  A playoff series in baseball only consists of five or seven games.  It is hard to determine who is better using such a small sample size.  After seven games of the baseball season it is not usually clear yet who the best teams are - afterall the season is 162 games long.  Over the long haul, however, we get a much clearer picture of how good a team is because we have a much larger sample size giving teams the opportunity to perform to their potential.

The same is true in school.  The more assessments we give students the better picture we get of the tue ability of a student.  In addition, it allows students the opportunity to work to their potential.  Offering more assessments throughout the school year yields major benefits to all students.  Giving only one or two assessments during a marking period doesn't always guarantee that the best students will perfom the best...but they will over time with opportunity.

Instant Feedback

I know I have spoken to many people in the past about the value of feedback.  I am fascinated by all the ways we, as educators, can receive and give feedback if we so choose much faster and more meaningfully than our colleagues could have in previous years.  That is, in part, because of new technology that allows for feedback to be received by teachers immediately and because as educators we are smarter and see things with a very different lense.  Still, anytime I come across interesting examples of using feedback I must write.

The other day I was driving home listening to my favorite radio show when they - the hosts - began talking about the feedback they receive as their show is going on.  They described monitoring their IMs, their emails, their calls from listeners (even the ones that don't get on the air), and various other forms of feedback that include chat rooms and other places where listeners get to post messeges. 

I was blown away hearing it.  This show is not what I would consider to be high art and still they don't want to wait for the ratings to come out to find out if the listeners are actually interested in the show.  In this instance a caller asked if people were enjoying their previous interview cause he did not.  They cited the feedback that had been collected to say that it had, indeed, been positive.

I have said in the past that the challenge is not in the gathering of the feedback but in the use of it.  The reality of feedback is that we all gather it everyday whether we want to or not.  some we use some we discard.  The trick is to make it conscious, to set up systems that we know will give us up to date feedback and then make adjustments accordingly.

Again, if this smart use of feedback can exist on my low brow new favorite satellite radio show then there must be a way to do the same in our classrooms.

Where is the lesson?

On Saturday night during her Semi-final match on national television Serena Williams exploded into an ugly tirade against a line judge that resulted in Serena losing a point and subsequently the match.  I am not so concerend with the tirade.  Great players in every sport have regrettable moments just like the rest of us except they live their lives in the spotlight while the rest of us have the comfort of not having to watch our ugly moments replayed endlessly on tv.

My concern with Serena is her lack of remorse about the incident.  She has said that she just wants to move on and not live in the past and that she does not think the judge deserves an apology.  Most of us would like to forget our embarrasing moments and repeatedly celebrate our triumphs.  Our charachter is revealed most when we have to deal with our own shortcomings.  Everyone looks good in victory, but how do we look in defeat - especially when it is our own doing. 

The fine art of exploding or why everyone is not meant to teach...

I was recently at the gym working out with my trainer.  I was, at the same time, watching another trainer work with a client.  The other trainer was giving his client instruction on an excersize that was new.  as a means of instruction the trainer told his client to step up to apparatus and explode onto it.  I, of course, immediately began to wonder how one actually explodes onto anything.  My thoughts were not meant to be deameaning to the trainer but very serious.  Of course, the issue is not how to explode, but how do we make sure we give clear instructions to people so they can increase their own chances of success.

Good teachers have a knack for giving concrete, specific instructions to kids.  Obviously this is not a skill everyone possesses particularly when we are trying to explain things that we do very well.  The more specific the instruction the less likely the instructed make errors in form or judgement.  Make an effort to listen to linstructions you give, receive, or over hear and see if the instructions are clear.  Read your childrens assignments and see if they are easily understood.  It's amazing what good clear instructions can do. 

Lost in Barnes and Noble

I took my son to Barnes and Noble last night to meet author Jeff Kinney who has written a very popular series childrens books called Diary of A Wimpy Kid (The Jed Herman Story).  We arrived at B&N at about 6:45pm for a 7:00pm start only to be informed that numbered bracelets had been distributed starting at 3:00pm.  We ended up with number 1745!!!  It was going to be a long night.

The point here is not to retell the story of the night and how we finally did get to see the author shortly before 11:00pm and how we passed the time in a very overcrowded book store.  The point is what did not happen.  Clearly the store was unprepared for the number of people who showed up for this event.  In fact, they ran out of books, and numbers - even making people wait outside.

The point is that they never bothered to adjust their plan once it became clear the orignial one wasn't going to work.  That is, by far, the biggest problem we faced last night.  They monitored the situation, but never adjusted to it.  It's wonderful to go into any endeavor with a plan, but it's only a plan not a guarantee that things will work out.  Leaders, managers in this case, need to re-evaluate their plan when they first find out its not viable.  To carry a plan forward just because that was the plan is irresponsible and ignores the people most effected by it.

That's Why They Play The Game...

A great thing happened late Saturday night.  The Arizona Cardinals beat the Carolina Panthers in an NFL playoff game.  It was great because Arizona had been winless this year in games played in the Eastern Time Zone and because Carolina was undefeated at home.  No one really gave Arizona a chance to win, and yet I am sure they practiced hard all week leading up to the game and at least they believed they could win.

Something else sports related happened back in November as well.  North Carolina University beat Noth Carolina University at Ashville in a college basketball game 116-48 on November 30th.  That game, unlike the football game above, was no surprise at all as the winning team is far superior to the other.  I'll wager, however, that the Ashville team and their coaches worked very hard preparing for a game they knew they would lose.

Sports, as I often write about, provides a great window into the world of education that we can, but usually don't, learn from.  In each of these cases the coaches worked hard preparing their teams to play.  I bet they watched film and analyzed strengths and weaknesses of themselves and their opponents.  It's very likely that no one anywhere said that they shouldn't play the game at all.

The RFK Girl's Varsity Basketball Team has won one game in the past 4 years and yet they still prepare for each one.  There are games that the coaches know they won't win and still they scout, identify the other teams best player and review what they have to do to win.  I have never heard one of the coaches say that they just shouldn't play.

Often the exact opposite happens in the classroom.  Teachers, administrators, parents, even the students themselves decide they shouldn't even try to play especially as we approach January testing time.  Instead of preparing by analyzing the data or identifying what a student does well we debate whether a student should take a test at all.  

It's ok to lose or to fail.  Sometimes its about redefining what success means or about inching closer to success each time you take the test or step on the court.  None of that is possible if you don't play or worse, if you play but make no effort to prepare because you determined the outcome already.  Sometimes we are all the Arizona Cardinals and we win a game we were not supposed to win.  More often we are UNC-Ashville or the RFK Girls' team and we lose - but at least we play. 

Welcome 2009 - Opportunity Knocks

I am not a big fan of New Year's and the insane partying that goes along with it.  Often it feels to me just like another day and, thus, I don't feel the need to celebrate.  I will admit to becoming nostalgic, refelctive, and thoughtful during the New Year's time.

I have started to think about opportunity and the often mysterious ways they get presented to us.  The great challenge of opportunity is how to recognize it.  Frequently its a small, seemingly insignificant event that becomes a domino effect that alters the course of your life.  Think about your current job, how you met your spouse, or choosing a career path - they all started with an event, an opportunity that was small but over time turned big.

So, in '09 like '08 before it opportunity will knock.  Sometimes you may not want to answer the door, but I am encouraging you to get up and open every door - you never know what's waiting on the other side.

Happy new year!!

Speeding Home

I got pulled over driving home last night.  In fairness to the police officer I was driving fast, at least faster than the posted speed limit and I knew it.  I was cooperative, provided no lame excuse for speeding nor did I pretend I was not aware of my speed.  I was, however, apologetic.  He, in text book fashion, asked for my licence, registration, and my insurance and went back to his car for, what seemed to me, the really long wait until he found what he was looking for.  He finally came back, gave me back my things and told me to drive carefully in the future and to have a nice night.

No ticket for me on this night and no explanation for this kind treatment.  Of course I wanted to know why, but he was gone quickly.  I can only make assumptions as to why he let me go.  I have a clean record and I was cooperative.  I don't know which was more important or motivating for him.  Clearly the law states that everyone who gets pulled over for speeding gets a ticket, yet we know that deosn't happen.  Why if the law is clear does it not happen all the time?  Ask your friends and most will share a story similar to mine from some point in their lives.

The reality, for me, is that we want our police to see us as people and not just as lawbreakers.  We want the laws applied to us fairly, but we also want the laws applied to us in context of who we are and having a clean record should count for something so should being cooperative.  The reason is that the police need to care about what happens next too.  Giving me a speeding ticket may not have the desired effect he is hoping for - me slowing down in the future, but not giving me a ticket might.  It's the policeman's recognition that tomorrow exists and that his goal is larger than filling his ticket book with tickets.

Laws, rules, anything that gives instructions are frameworks that we all live within.  We know intellectually that they are not applied the same to everyone.  Sometimes we think the way they are applied is unfair, but more often then not we want context to be taken into consideration.  That is true everywhere even the classroom.  It is vital for teachers to have rules, standards for acceptable practice and for those rules to applied consistently, but consistently does not mean universally.  Teachers need to always be aware that tomorrow exists and that we should always be focused on tomorrow.  Some kids, and adults, need to have the rules enforced for them to change but others need the reprieve.  The challenge is trying to figure out which student will respond best to which treatment - there is no universal answer and sometimes we are going to be wrong, much like the officer from last night cause I know that I will speed home again, probably tonight.

As I am writing this I am thinking about parking tickets, something that we have all received in our lives.  It seems to me that I have gotten tickets only minutes after my meter has expired.  Why no chance?  Why no context?  The only answer I can think of is that the driver is not present.  The person giving the ticket does not have to deal, more often than not, with the person receiving the ticket.  In many respects that is easier.  No decisions to make based on our value judgements of the driver, no time to check the record of the driver for unpaid violations, no excuses or smiles or crying, just a ticket placed under your wiper.  If you didn't get a ticket there would be no chance for a lesson learned because the assumption would be that the officer didn't get to your area.  What if instead of a ticket you got a note saying, "Your meter was expired but I decided to give you a break.  Be more careful in the future."  Can you imagine?

Truth is dealing with people is the difference and the hope that we might be able to change behavior for the better is the difference maker.  Rules are important, but people are more important.  If the cop can do it for me than the teacher can do it too.  Don't make the rules more important and become inflexible.  Drvie safely.

Just Try Harder

Effort is a funny thing to me sometimes.  While I believe effort is a major factor leadeing to students success it can be overrated.  Let's be clear, we need students - and everyone - to believe that effort is the key to success otherwise we risk students giving up on themselves because they were not born to do math for example (see Attribution Theory).  Still effort alone will not do the trick.  There is a very important role for the teacher in this equation.  Often we want kids to try harder, but we don't always focus their efforts on an area of the greatest need nor do we always know what the area of greatest need is.  It is a question of precision for the teacher.  Our ability to be precise with our students, with ourselves, to know and then articulate to a student exactly where and how their efforts need to be focused.  When we lack precision we reduce ourselves to encouarging effort and only effort.  Think, if it helps, of a diver.  Each dive, to me at least, looks very close to the same and yet the scores vary dramatically.  The coach needs to see with precision the thing the one small piece that is off and work with his student to correct it.  Maybe it's pointing toes or straightening the left arm or over-rotation of the legs - rest assured it is a thing that you or I cannot see and therefore correct.  We might be encouraging and push our diver to try harder but we would be unsure of our ability to make the diver any better.  So, effort is important, but not just any effort - we must focus ourselves and our students.

How 'Bout Them Cowboys

Watched my favorite team blow a seemingly impossible lead yesterday.  It is heartbreaking to watch time and again my favorite teams find new and more improbable ways to lose games.  Sports are interesting as it is one of the few areas in the life where you can do a lot of things right and still have an outcome that is not favorable.  Sometimes teams are just overmatched and other times they make a few poorly timed errors that lead to defeat.  Either way it is interesting to me that we end up only evaluating the outcome and not the performance as a whole.  Education is another such area where we can do everything right (and so can the students) and still have an outcome that is not the one that was desired.  How does that get fixed?  How does it get dealt with emotionally?  I don't know the answers, only that it's very important to look at the entire "game film" and not just the final score.  Like football, in school too, there is always another game.