I was listening to Dr. Brad Gustafson and Ben Gilpin's Unearthed Podcast featuring Rick Wormeli. The title of the Podcast was Proficiency Versus Growth: Why the Difference Really Matters. Rick's statement really got me thinking. "The question is how we use the data...diagnostically, supportively or punitively." NumbersI had the privilege of playing college football. Numbers were a big part of the game. This held just as true for my punting career. Our proficiency was 40 yards, with a hang time of 4.5 seconds and a snap-to-punt time of 2.2 seconds. To break that down more, that is 1.3 seconds from the time I touched the ball to the time the ball met my foot. Not to mention, you have to catch the ball (regardless of location it was snapped), get the laces facing the sky, take steps, drop the ball with a slight downward tilt and angled towards around 10 o'clock. This doesn't factor in gusting winds that can easily move an oblong ball weighing a little less than a pound, which instantly changes the angle your leg must track to ensure your foot compresses squarely on the sweet spot of the football. Lastly, field position dictates your strategy. If the snapper is inside the five yard line, the punter's heels are flirting with the end zone. One false step and a heel dusting the end zone line results in a safety. Or flip the script and put the punter well within the opponents territory and a 40 yard punt puts the ball into the end zone resulting in a touchback. Now the punt has to be throttled down to hopefully land within the 20 yard line or even better the 10 yard line. Proficiency versus GrowthLet's reflect a bit on the punting lesson. I mentioned what the proficiency was for me as a punter. This proficiency didn't care about any of the other variables such as wind, snap location or field position. Plain and simple, you better get the ball 40 yards down field with 4.5 seconds of hang time and leaving your foot within 2.2 seconds of it being snapped. So what in the world does this have to do with students?
It seems and feels like our current education reality is hyper focused on students as numbers. What number of kids are proficient? We break it apart by boys vs. girls, ethnicity, and whether they are designated as free and reduced for lunch. Once again we are magnifying numbers over students as human beings. Take for example the third grade retention law in Iowa. Kids must be proficient in reading by third grade or face potentially getting retained. We essentially dehumanize our students to the likeness of a number. Let's disregard all their unique characteristics, values, and ebbs/flows they have experienced. You didn't get breakfast this morning? Your parents got in a fight last night? Someone made fun of you at recess? You don't feel well today? You didn't get invited to eat with some friends at lunch? You have moved to three different schools this year? You are scared of what your peers will think of your new haircut? WHO CARES! You should still be proficient. This was the same M-O for my college football experience. We had defined proficiency for a punter. However, this "label" was not the driver nor limiter. We focused on growth. How could we get better each week? Each season? Growth was the driver. Proficiency was nice to have, but growth was the driver. It was understood that it might be messy and not a linear process. The conversations weren't about lack of proficiency. Instead, they focused on how much growth each player made, whether giant leaps or small steps. As Rick mentioned in the podcast, its about "how we use the data." I am not saying proficiency doesn't have a place. However, I wonder if it is the limiter and catalyst for mediocrity. If we define kids as being proficient or not, are we limiting their growth? If I reach proficiency and that is all that is valued, then what is going to drive me to grow? This seems to make proficiency punitive compared to diagnostic or supportive. I think it is time we stop labeling kids as numbers and start valuing them as human beings. Let their stories shine. There were so many variables that impacted my punting at a proficient level. The same is true for kids. We need to embrace their diverse journeys to and through education. Standardizing proficiency without any consideration to students as human beings is a disservice. It's time to empower kids through a growth mindset and strive to push growth over proficiency. They are more than just a number!
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Rethinking Learning
As you can see from the images above, play is an opportunity for kids to imaginatively create, tinker and explore the endless thoughts running through their heads. So what happens to that innate passion of exploration? I was recently tagged by Zack Kruger on Twitter. The Tweet referenced the video below. I would encourage you to take a couple minutes and watch the video as it explains how play leads to creativity.
With the large amount of initiatives and mandates at the local, state and federal levels, it is easy to lose sight of the characteristics of meaningful learning. Memorize, regurgitate, repeat is unknowingly becoming engrained in the traditional classroom.
Who's to blame? It would be easy to point fingers at initiatives, class sizes, limited funding or any other fill in the blank _______ excuse. As coach Charlie Stumpff once told me, "You can be part of the problem or part of the solution." Will you be part of the problem (blame game) or part of the solution (do what you know is best for kids)?
Contrary to popular belief, teachers didn't get into teaching because of June, July and August. They got into teaching because they were passionate about being part of something bigger than any one person. We should create a "We before me mentality" in our schools.
When you put "me" before "we", you start to default to the blame game: I don't have time, I can't differentiate my lessons because I have to stay on the pacing guide, I have too many interventions, so worksheets will have to do for keeping the other kids busy, I score kids on being able to comply, not their ability to create, communicate, collaborate or even think critically.
However, when we shift our thinking to "we" instead of "me", then we start to see great things happen. Yes, it might take me more time to redesign this lesson to allow for more student choice, but one size doesn't fit all and I should embrace all my students' learning needs and styles because #kidsdeserveit. Yes, I will feel out of control at times by letting my students infuse their passions as they demonstrate their understanding of skills and concepts, but I know #kidsdeserveit. Yes, I will have lessons fail, but it will reinforce the culture that we are all learning together and learning can be messy. Play is a powerful vehicle for students to get their creative juices flowing. While it might be hard to venture off the path of initiatives, mandates and more, the mindset of "we" empowers us to think differently about our instruction and do what we know is best for our students because #kidsdeserveit. As George Couros said, "Change is an opportunity to do something amazing!" What mindset will you embrace? Me before We? or We before me? "Why?"I am sure you have been around young children that are always asking, "Why". It is their natural curiosity shining through? Where does that constant yearning of "why" go? They have a "need to know" attitude about the world they are part of. They possess an intrinsic motivation to understand the perplexing environment they tromp through on a daily basis. However, as they grow and mature their "need to know" attitude seems to disappear. "Why?" SquasherWhere do all the "whys" go? Do our classrooms and schools slowly squash that intrinsic "need to know" attitude? We tell kids where to sit, tell them they must ask to get a drink or use the restroom, to raise their hand to talk, and walk in a single file line without talking. Do they become a product of their environment? Do they become conditioned to a culture of compliance? How do we get the "whys" to reemerge? Culture of "Why?"If we truly want the "whys" to reemerge, we must find a way to shift from a culture of compliance to a culture of why. Not only do students need to be asking "why" more often, but teachers need to as well. Why does literacy have to be seen as reading words on a page? Is coding a form of literacy? What about navigating a webpage or synthesizing social media? Does watching a YouTube video count as literacy? Are these forms of literacy valued and learned in our classrooms? What about paper/pencil worksheets, quizzes or tests to demonstrate understanding? Why not allow video creation? What about creating screencasts or songs? Why not allow a student to code a program to demonstrate understanding? When will it become the norm for students to have the choice in how they demonstrate their understanding instead of being told they must show their understanding by coloring in some dots on a piece of paper? Put the "why" in the frontI am not trying to point fingers at anyone. I am part of the system that seems to be failing our students. With the amount of new initiatives each year it is hard to find time to reflect on all of our practices. However, it is time we put "why" back at the beginning of what we do. Why do my students sit in rows? Why do they have to keep their cell phones put away? Why is YouTube blocked? Why do kids have homework? Why do we put a grade on someone's work when, in our economy, employers don't give a grade on our work? Why is the end product valued more than the process? Isn't it time to transform a culture of compliance to a culture of "why"? |
Andrew FenstermakerInstructional Technology Coordinator | Innovation Coach | Google Certified Innovator | Presenter | Blogger | Adjunct @UiowaEducation | Owner @kids_f_i_r_s_t |