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Reluctant Learners Screencast

Futurist Scenario: Reaching Reluctant Learners

Identification of the Problem: 

Over the past few years, I have become interested in the phenomenon of the reluctant learner.  These are students who, based on achievement measures (CST scores, work samples, quizzes), have the intellectual skills to complete work and achieve high grades but who do fail classes.  These students have the ability to pass, however, they either don’t do work in class or complete homework or fail quizzes and tests due to lack of preparation.  Some of these students complete homework but are marked down because they submit assignments late.  These often bright students do well in elementary school but for a variety of reasons, they develop the above behaviors in middle school.

The Scenario:

The path I would like to take with my middle school teams is to develop and implement strategies to re-engage these students into their learning communities.

SWOT Analysis:

·         Strengths—The teams with which I work are truly enjoy working with middle school students.  The three teachers in the Montessori Middle School completed training which was specific to this developmental age.  The teachers in the DaVinci Academy are dedicated and have worked tirelessly to create a rigorous, yet fun learning environment.

·         Weaknesses—Time and expertise.  While the teachers and I have had some training in adolescent development, we are by no means experts.  Specific staff development would need to be created and the time would have to be planned to discuss this phenomenon and develop an action plan.

·         Opportunities—If we can engage more students, we can really impact the future

·         Threats—Our school is in its fifth year of program improvement (PI).  Last year, we far exceeded our goals and have the opportunity to reach those goals again this year.  If we reach our API (Academic Performance Index) goals, we would be out of program improvement.  The high pressure that this situation has created has drained our time and financial resources as we implement interventions and strategies to increase our API.

Action Plan

1.      Identify resources and allies within our organization.  Several directors (principals) within our school have been administrators at traditional public schools.  We can draw on their knowledge of intervention strategies.

2.      Identify resources and allies through networking.  This could be an excellent opportunity to use my fledgling PLN in order to gather best practices from outside resources.

3.      Share resources via Scoopit, using Diigo marked articles.  Link to EdModo for online learning experience.  Engage teachers in a discussion via Edmodo as preparation for staff development day.

4.      Design interventions for our specific populations.

5.      Design implementation plan and progress monitoring.  Currently, we monitor academic progress and apply academic interventions.  This new plan will include interventions to increase productivity and engagement with some progress monitoring measure for each.

Futurist Scenario Thoughts and Planning

So, it's Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, and other than figuring out what to wear on my mini-vacation in Vegas I am pondering, starting and scrapping ideas for the culminating project for this class.

Prezi?  Scoop-it? Tweet?

Not sure how this will all shake out but at least, I can blog.  Here are my initial thoughts.  The scenario I want to investigate is reaching the reluctant learner.  I've already read a few articles and skimmed a few handbooks but how do I make this presentation "pop"...not sure stay tuned :)

What the Internet Knows about You...

The internet as connection to the world and for society.  Filter Bubbles created by algorithms decide what the internet thinks you want to see not what you need to see. Algorithms curate the world for us.  Yahoo, Google, Facebook and Amazon among others use filter bubbles to create personalized spaces for us.  So, the world we think we see as a wide range of possibilities becomes a smaller and smaller piece of the digital pie.

When search engines base their answers on our most recent searches, one person's search for Egypt looks like a travelogue while another's looks like the front page of the LA Times.  In this scenario, the well-traveled become better traveled, the smart get smarter and Snookie gets to find out where in Cairo she can most easily GTL?  I find the idea of filter bubbles interesting and yet scary.

What brings this home is the fact that my ever-widening view of the world could really be hyper-focusing on me and my interests.  The idea that the internet could connect me to the world is actually only as true as I make it.  With this new information, I know and understand that the front page of any search on any engine should be the beginning of the search not the end.  This TED talk is a call to arms to look beyond, go deeper and travel further down the internet rabbit hole.
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What is a culture of generosity and how can it be used to improve education? What does it mean to say, "Free cultures get what they celebrate?" How can you as a leader affect what your celebrate?

Clay Shirkey's talk inspires to do more than nothing even it is the creation of yet another LOL cat.  The push to dream, strive and create are the foundations of Self-determination theory which is nested within intrinsic motivation.  We do most what we love most whether it be informing other about what is going on in the world, warning others of danger or create a silly cat image with a memorable tag line.

We have seen this phenomenon over and over and over again.  Wikipedia, Linux and Ushahidi are examples of people doing what they love or see as important for no value other than the thrill of creating something new.  This makes me wonder what we as educators celebrate and how we can free the students within our cultures.

I was reminded of something Mike Wesch said in his TED talk.  Wesch asked his students how much of the assigned reading they completed.  Further he asked them how much they felt was relevant to their lives.  The astounding answer was 27%.  He went on to say that this signifies a failure in teaching.  

Can we create generous academic cultures where students create meaning, feel that their work is relevant to their lives and teach each other for the sole motivation that what they do betters themselves and their peers?  Don't know who is out there that can do that, but I'd sign up to work there in a heartbeat!

Reflection on Invictus

Prompt:  View the movie with an eye on Nelson Mandella's style of leadership as he works to bring his country together. Be prepared to discuss how Mandella's used disruption as a catalyst for change.

Our work involving the great leaders of history has grounded me in the type of leadership I believe is so needed now--leaders that can bridge the divide, find good in past enemies and move their countries forward. Mandella took power and made a few choices that set him apart from his political enemies as well as his supporters.  Rather than institute sweeping changes across government offices, he chose to keep those from the previous government who committed to moving the country forward. He included white agents who were responsible for his protection.  This decision helped Afrikaners to see that they could be part of a black-led government while forcing black supporters to work with those who had oppressed them.

This showed that he had learned from his past as a non-violent activist who later founded the armed section of the ANC.  He understood that swinging the pendulum from one extreme to another would not propel the nation forward just as changing from a non-violent path to one which destroyed public properties and offices led the ANC down a dangerous past.  Moderation and working towards bridging the gap between the former leading party and the new leading party was a vital part of his strategy.

During his 27 years of imprisonment, Mandella learned the ways and language of those of the ruling party.  He used his knowledge of Afrikaner culture to hone in on a very disruptive strategy.  Instead of using political means to bring people together, he won the country over with the simple love of sport.  Rugby, long the favorite pastime and sport of the ruling elite was hated by black South Africans, so much so that blacks in South Africa rooted for any team that opposed the Springboks.

Mandella did for the Springboks what he did for Afrikaners in his government, he kept their culture by speaking out against the sport commission who was on the verge of changing not only the team name but the team colors.  Mandella sensed that this act would symbolize a new oppression and incite riot.  Slowly, over the next 13 months he used meetings with the Springbok captain, Francois Pienaar and the team to symbolize a new  relationship between all South Africans.  His efforts united black and white South Africans around the Springboks as they made their way to the World Cup.  A united South Africa rooted for the Sprinboks and showed the world that there was hope for a unity where only a few years ago Apartheid thrived.  

Futurist Scenario

What's bubbling up for you?  What scenario interests you?

I think for me the thing that puzzles me most, fascinates me and has become a passion of mine is adolescent development and specifically how to reach the reluctant learner.  These are students who show the ability to complete work and yet, do not complete work.  They fail because they do not turn in work, don't study for tests or choose not to participate in class.

Strengths--The strengths of our organization is that we care

Weaknesses--Time and expertise

Opportunities--If we can engage more students, we can really impact the future

Threats--Processes that must be followed regarding adequate progress

Drive Responses

Discuss a time when you’ve seen one of the seven deadly flaws of carrots and sticks in action. What lessons might you or others learn from the experience? Have you seen instances when carrots and sticks have been effective. 

As you think about your own best work, what aspect of autonomy has been most important to you? Autonomy over what you do (task), when you do it (time), how you do it (technique), or with whom you do it (team)?...

1.They can extinguish intrinsic motivation
2.They can diminish performance
3.They can crush creativity
4.They can crowd out good behavior
5.They can encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behavior
6.They can become addictive
7.They can foster short-term thinking

As a product of twelve years of Catholic school, I gotta love the term "7 deadly flaws of carrots and sticks".  I do agree with the term because carrots and sticks deaden so much of what makes us truly special.  I love the Yeats quote "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire".  When students work towards extrinsic rewards, they do only what is necessary to obtain the short term reward.  This reminds me of the questions that Wesch recorded in his video: "What do I need to learn?  Will this be on the test?  How much do I have to do?" in order to earn the grade.

Kohn speaks about this extensively in his book entitled "Punished by Rewards".  He goes so far as to call grades the ultimate in meaningless rewards.  Do rewards work?  I've used rewards in my classroom intentionally for short-term goals on non-cognitive tasks.  For example, before  Open House and Back-to-School nights, I would tell the students that if we all worked to clean-up the classroom, we could have extra recess.  

My best work has been in environments that supported autonomy while also providing structure.  I am most proud of my work shaping and creating authentic Montessori learning environments over the past twelve years.  The charter school movement has provided the structure and the accountability needed to ensure that students receive a standards-based education while giving administrators and teachers a way in which to use non-traditional methodologies and philosophies.