My Walnut Trees

A popular article Find Your Marigold by Jennifer Gonzalez, outlines how important it is for new teachers to find and surround themselves with good people, which she calls marigolds. Unfortunately, in the teaching profession there are few marigolds, and a preponderance of walnut trees.  These are members of staff who survive by putting others down or causing division.  Being around them makes you feel insecure, discouraged, overwhelmed, or embarrassed.  I am not a new teacher, far from it, but I let the walnut trees get to me. Here are my walnut trees.

The would be principal

A seasoned veteran with many years experience under their belt. Nothing phases them because they can handle anything or anyone that comes their way. They talk with confidence at staff meetings, often bringing up matters that need to be changed. Holding forth on lengthy descriptions of how much time they are putting into making slide shows and spreadsheets that will benefit their students; not asking for help, just letting everyone know. Holding themselves to a high standard, and are quick to judge others who do not appear to have the same work ethic. However, all this effort trying to prove their worth leaves little time for empathy or collaboration. Any contact with them is one-way, and often meant to belittle. Their behavior may be confused with that of an administrator, rather than a teacher.


The missionary

Another teacher with years of experience which we know because they often talk about it: “At my old school I…” “I have had great success with this in the past…” “I won an award for…” All is said in a gracious and uplifting manner, avoiding any negativity. “It is because I care so much that I am suggesting…” Since their own experience is so full of smiley faces and hearts, they are happy to share their good fortune in the form of helpful advice and considerate remarks in emails addressed to the whole school. Unfortunately these remarks are often meant to publicly shame and bring awareness to the community and administration of perceived wrongdoing. This is classic teacher stuff: making a colleague look bad makes them look better. Similar to why parents like watching ‘Supernanny on TV” because watching someone in a worse state makes you feel like a better parent. Their behavior may be confused with that of a missionary, although their message of good news is for themselves.


The rule follower

A no nonsense teacher who believes in following rules. Not only their students, but also their colleagues must become rule followers too. The world is black and white, we have bells for a reason, the work day ends at 4pm, and there is no wiggle room. Those who fall short are put quickly in the dog house. Since this teacher’s classroom runs like clockwork, there is never any need for discussion or exceptions. Interaction with them feels like following orders. The real reason behind this behavior is because it makes the job easier, cuts down on time, and eliminates haggling over key points. However, there is also no room for growth, change, or appreciation of diversity.


The politician

A young teacher still full of idealism and enthusiasm for the job. Upbeat and frequently heard praising her students and colleagues. Careful use of social media and networking has brought with it a reputation of being creative and fun. These have a huge following in the community. This also means prioritising, when planning, to showcase and celebrate. Any criticism of what might be perceived as a shallow curriculum, is taken public to encourage others to take umbrage online. Colleagues are forced to take sides, and some choose to opt out entirely. After time this behavior may be confused with that of a politician, building their base. The staff become divided into polarized parties.


The grandparent

A master teacher who has learned how to go unnoticed by flying under the radar. They keep to themselves and concentrate on their instruction. These are often specialists who have great knowledge of their subject and do not appreciate others telling them how to do their job. As a result they flourish on their own, often skip meetings and have their own interpretation of the rules. To avoid criticism or confrontation, random positive notes or compliments are dropped in the group chat… they are not only meaningless, but often hypocritical lies. They shower their students with compliments, gifts and smiles to keep everyone happy. Everyone gets an ‘A’ and in turn votes them as their favorite teacher. What goes unsaid, is the tolerance for below average performance, the lack of respect for colleagues and unwillingness to reach out and collaborate meaningfully. Their behavior may be confused with that of a grandparent who plays the part but secretly disagrees with the way other members of the family operate, and is unwilling to get involved in times of stress.

 

Dismantling an ES for the sake of change

 

Our island school system hired a new Superintendent who came with her own vision, and curriculum. This school model emphasized the 3 R's, using a basic curriculum and scripted interventions to bring all students up to a passing level in Math, Reading and Writing. With this model there is no need for ESL, Speech, Reading or SpEd teachers, since all students receive the necessary teaching within the classroom curriculum. There is only a need for PE, Art and Music for the sake of appeasing the parents and giving the classroom teachers a break. I have heard of this type of school, but in all my years of teaching (in 10 schools) I have never taught in one. And the obvious question here was, how would our new administration go about getting rid of surplus teachers and converting the rest to embrace the new curriculum.

After only two years, half of our staff are leaving, or have already left. There has been a very effective campaign to jettison teaching staff that are seen as unnecessary or non-compliant. Looking back now, it is quite easy to see how this was done:

• First, teachers were managed in isolation.  The very infrequent staff meetings came with a format not allowing discussion, comments or even questions. All those had to be brought up to the Principal later in a one-on-one session. No teachers knew what their colleagues were thinking.
• Anything the administrators didn't agree with was buried, often only mentioned three paragraphs down in the daily repetitive emails. 
• PLC's were formed for classroom teachers only, since they were the only ones who needed to adopt the new curriculum. Other staff never met, and had no platform on which to voice their worries or celebrate their accomplishments.
• All staff were asked which committee they would like to join, but only classroom teachers were actually placed on them. These committees gave updates at staff meetings where other staff could clearly see they were not involved in the school culture. The classroom staff and the 'specialists'  had no time to discuss student achievement or instigate collaboration. As a specialist myself, I often went days without seeing or speaking to another adult at school... completely alienated.
• Phase two began in the second year, when specialists such as myself were called into a private meeting with the administration to be told that we were not doing enough, our teaching schedules were too light. We were then asked to do more duties, substitute teaching, and take random classes for no other reason than to give classroom teachers as many as three preps a day. This sent the message that we were not really needed.  Fighting this only created more separation between the classroom teachers and the support staff. 
• Non compliance led to referrals to HR, and disciplinary meetings. Complaints to or about the administration went unheeded. Teachers feeling the stress of conforming to an educational model that didn't include or celebrate their strengths were advised to take some time off work. 

Depending on your world view, you may see this as a step in the right direction, or you might see it as change for the sake of change. Our school was not failing previous to this administration. Our test scores were very good, and most stakeholders were positive about the school's place in our small island community. It is unfortunate that, although there will always be change, we must live with a pendulum that swings from one extreme to another, where many will be left behind. 

I am not a Marigold

 

Marigolds are believed to protect and encourage other plants in the garden.

In a recent staff meeting, teachers were asked to fill out a form providing a positive appreciative comment by each colleague's name.  This is a good activity to start with as it gets everyone thinking friendly thoughts. But when it was announced that we would be presenting a flower to those teachers we considered our 'marigolds' in the style of The Bachelor, alarm bells starting ringing.  Why make this such a public performance?  Surely an anonymous approach might be more appropriate.  I am a big believer in Jesus' words: 

Matthew 6:6, "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen". 

This is not the first time I have participated in an administrator's well-meaning attempt at showing appreciation. And I am very aware of how this can be interpreted as something else altogether. 

During my first year of teaching in the UK, the government decided to hand out incentive pay and allow each school Head to decide who on staff would receive it. My superintendent gave all the money to two young new teachers with the idea of enticing them to stay instead of moving on to bigger schools with higher salaries. As a result two senior teachers, who had given years of service to the school, resigned on the spot. The message I got was the need for new blood and staff turnover... and I promptly found another job in a bigger school.

The principal in my fancy new school decided to introduce the "Golden Apple of Excellence", a reward that would be passed along from recipient to another deserving teacher each staff meeting. The principal presented it to his wife, who in turn presented it to her teaching partner, who then awarded it to her best friend, who passed it on to his drinking buddy.  I'm not sure about the 'excellence' part, but we soon found out who was in the in crowd, and who did not get on with them. 

Another school made this show part of a Professional Development day. All the teachers were asked to write warm and fuzzy's which were then read out on stage. Most of us were loyal and wrote about those we worked closely with, to save their feelings. It reminded me of when they give out Valentine Grams in class. There is always one kid who sends themselves a few just so as to not be without.  All I remember of that activity was that no one wrote anything about me, a relatively new outsider.  It is important to have a social circle for support, until you don't. 

When my new principal announced that we would be all emailing each other positive messages the last day before the holidays, I finally spoke out. I pointed out that this would not be a great way to end the semester for those who received no messages, it would only point out how they were often overlooked, forgotten or avoided. Working as part of a school staff can be difficult enough without a dreaded popularity contest.

Similarly in my most recent experience with the showing of appreciation amongst staff... everyone presented their marigold to another, some got more that one flower... till it was over and everyone had a marigold but me. 

That is how I know I am not a Marigold,  the Marigolds told me.

And I do feel more like a dandelion anyway. I have been furloughed, fired, asked to resign and demoted from teaching, but here I still am, trying to bloom where I was not planted.

I'm tired, so it is probably time to go to seed.

When you next go to pull up a dandelion, think of those who never quite found their place in the garden.

Perceived Barriers to Change

 I recently read a study (Vongkulluksn, Vanessa & Xie, Kui & Bowman, Margaret. 2018), regarding the role of value on teachers' internalization of external barriers, and this gave me a glimpse into why some teachers will complain of barriers that may have already been eliminated. A teacher with the belief that technology in the classroom should be for the benefit of the teacher, cannot easily begin to allow students to experiment with that technology. One-to-one tech programs cause alarm in these teachers, and they perceive possible harm and distraction to their instructional program. These perceived barriers are voiced as 1st order barriers ( naming the devices, and lack of training and support) because those are less personal. 

The points above stood out, because I see their evidence in my own school staff. As the Tech Integrationalist, I came in at the beginning of a year with DL. Previous to the forced remote teaching, most of the staff mainly used tech to support their own instruction. Now they are being forced to promote tech as a learning platform as well. The following complaints were common among the staff: "Students don't know how to use the iPads;" "The iPads are too old to support our platform;" "There is no structure within the school when it comes to remote learning;" "We can't meet without an agenda;" "The internet creates too many disruptions to Zoom or Meets instruction;" "I feel uncomfortable meeting face2face." Now, I know for a fact that all except the last statement are false.  However, the admission of 'feeling uncomfortable' may have been used to provide a barrier, but it also holds the key to how some staff react to change: it is uncomfortable.
These staff have buried their heads in the sand, waiting for the day when they can teach their students face to face again. I have heard, “You just can’t teach Science remotely!” as a reason given why the curriculum has been reduced to math and reading. I need to convince them that there are appropriate digital tools for students to experience that hands on activity. But for every argument I use for, there will be more against.

For students we can concentrate on taking away the anxiety, and the discomfort of being pushed into new areas of learning. We start with what is known and comfortable, then build on related new content.  Students who are made to feel successful will develop a "can do" attitude, a growth mindset. We not only want them to be problem solvers, but solution designers. Solution designers can face problems with a creative energy for finding and testing out solutions, and sharing them for other's benefit.  Can we not do the same for staff?

Each time we flipflop between distance and on campus learning, the whole community must make a new adjustment, and take on a whole new set of conditions.  We are in the process of going into a hybrid model where students attend face2face in the morning, then remotely in the afternoon. Add to this the factors where students can choose to come on campus or stay at home, and the possibility of this new model being as short lived as the last. A new perceived barrier is, "How can I possibly adapt my teaching so quickly to continual changes?" 

My message must be: You have enormous ability to adapt, and so do your students.  Take a moment to brainstorm some possible changes, and share those with other staff. Be on the look out for small successes and share these for the benefit of all."  After all, we are becoming experts in change and creating solutions. This can only benefit the future of education.

Reference:

Vongkulluksn, Vanessa & Xie, Kui & Bowman, Margaret. (2018). The role of value on teachers' internalization of external barriers and externalization of personal beliefs for classroom technology integration. Computers & Education. 118. 70-81. 10.1016/j.compedu.2017.11.009.

Teacher Politicians

Shockingly, this Facebook post was made by a former student of mine. I taught her 6th grade in a private American International school in eastern Europe. She showed signs of this supremacist attitude even then, but what is surprising is that she hasn't changed her stance after having the best education Europe can offer. I now look back to see how I could have intervened to instill empathy in my students. Most of the time I shied away from anything political or ethical. At least one student in the class was the son of a Mafia boss, Serbs and Croats were fighting a few miles away across the border, and the animosity between Turks and Bulgarians was such that I couldn't mention the word "turkey" without someone spitting on the ground. In the most part, the teachers kept their heads down, taught the curriculum, and held their tongues in fear of being fired.

But then, I had not trained to be a politician. Things have changed: "Like it or not, teacher development is a political activity, especially so in the emerging postmodern world. Building more awareness, adeptness and acuity among teachers so they can pursue positive politics inside and beyond their schools for the benefit of their students, must therefore become a much more salient and explicit part of the teacher development agenda".(Hargreaves 1994). There is new thinking that "Teachers must strive to become experts in context." (Fullan 1994) That means that we must help students to face the outside world, and help build bridges between the sanctity of the classroom and the bedlam of the world. We can no longer bury our heads in the sand and let social media feed lies into the heads of the next generation.

My view of teacher leadership is one of a collaborative group of scholars, administrators and politicians. I feel I have sat back too long, waiting for my head of school to recognize my efforts, or waiting to be given orders. This sort of top down administration within schools does nothing to promote free thinking, active citizenship. In fact it is oppressive. Just as we want students to find their voice within the classroom setting, so we need staff to feel they are part of a collaborative work culture. Is a cooperative possible within education?

Just as with any content teacher, the librarian needs to take more of a leading role. One study I read outlined how most teachers want librarians to teach part of their information literacy curriculum, but don't want to take the time to work collaboratively, or be given PD from the Media Center. And if there must be collaboration, then the teacher wants to be able to control the initiative. This puts the librarian on a lower level of influence within school culture. There is no easy way around this as the present scheduling stands, but librarians must make the effort to reach out and initiate collaboration. The success of this effort is dependent on how much of a politician the librarian can be!

Fullan, M. (1994) Teacher Leadership: A Failure to Conceptualize from Walling, D., Teachers as leaders : perspectives on the professional development of teachers 241-53 OCLC - 31615030; ISBN - 0873674685; LCN - 94066516; Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation Bloomington Ind. c1994. Source: info:sid/minnesotastateuniversity-mankato.worldcat.org:worldcat Copyright: CCL

Crary, S. (2019). “Secondary Teacher Perceptions and Openness to Change Regarding Instruction in Information Literacy Skills opens in new window.” School Library Research. 22.

Against Common Sense: Kumashiro's Challenge

 

"Learning is not a comfortable process that merely repeats or affirms what students have already learned. Learning is a disarming process that allows students to escape the uncritical, complacent repetition of prior knowledge and actions." (Kumashiro 2015)

In his book, Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning Toward Social Justice, Kevin Kumashiro puts forward a case for all educators to reexamine their practices and move towards a more anti-oppressive education that teaches social justice.  He suggests that, by avoiding controversial and uncomfortable issues, we are reinforcing stereotypes and allowing discrimination to continue. We need to be more aware of what is learned, how it is learned and why it is being learned. Certain lenses (political views, sexism and racism ) have become the norm because they go unchallenged and remain invisible. 

The author illustrates this point within the curriculum of several disciplines.  Take what we choose to read, for example.  If we are reading for pleasure, or research, or affirmation, we choose books we agree with and which make us feel better.  By ignoring all the literature we disagree with, or which causes us discomfort, we are reinforcing what we already know, and therefore unable to break out of the simple mold of our understanding.  Kumashiro believes it is important to raise questions about the partial nature, or the over simplification, of our learning.  We also must choose to read more diverse books, and choose to read them differently. 

Alongside Kumashiro's book, I am reading from a favorite of mine: The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series, by A. McCall Smith.  I love the books for their insights into Africa, and the positivity of the genre.  These books are "feel good" books that give the reader a sense that every problem is solvable with a little commonsense and compassion.  I have never before questioned the authenticity of the message, nor the nature of what was deliberately being left out of the story in order to allow the reader to feel this way. 

On the surface the books promote diversity.  The main character is a woman in a man's world, who is overweight and independent. All the characters are black Africans from different tribes in Botswana. However, Kumashiro's book is pushing me to read differently, looking for what was missing; what parts of Africa were deliberately being left out?  Furthermore, is it wrong to promote a partial view of the world in order to hide the ugly and uncomfortable?  I now see that there is a real danger in ignoring history and modern-day problems. As one article put it, "these texts strive for an imagined realm in which history does not begin and passes by unseen."(Counihan 2011) It is in ignoring the complexity of the hidden partiality that creates stereotypes. 

This book is not an easy read, but then that is the point!  The author draws from his diverse experiences growing up in Hawaii with Japanese parents, Peace Corps in Nepal, and various short term teaching positions throughout the US. And in Part 2, he provides practical application within several disciplines. In Social Studies he advocates, "it is not just teaching about different groups of people, but how the US acts against those people."  We must take into account that no research is ever neutral, or complete! There is room in both Science and Math for questioning the conclusions and the context of any research conducted. Similarly, in reading the classics, it is important to entertain the idea that these books may be reinforcing the dominance of the ruling class.  It is not necessary to throw the classics out entirely, but to read them differently and make them just a small part of all the literature introduced in school. 

Through all the disciplines, arts and sciences, there is opportunity to teach about the Other, and in turn, let the experience teach us about ourselves and our understanding of the world.

About the author

Kumashiro, K. K. (2015). Against common sense : Teaching and learning toward social justice. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.mnsu.edu

COUNIHAN, C. (2011). Detecting Outside History in "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency". Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, 44(2), 101-118. Retrieved November 6, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44029511
 

Teaching Outside the Lines

 

Teaching Outside the Lines (Johnson 2015) outlines what creativity looks like in education, and why it is so necessary. The author begins by debunking seven frequently voiced delusions about creativity, then introduces many ways we can encourage creativity in education.  

The AASL (2207) standards demand student "demonstrate creativity by using multiple resources and formats" and "use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning." This suggests that we should be looking for creativity as a valuable skill students will need to be successful in education, their careers and in life.  If creativity is one way to empower students by allowing them to solve any problem they encounter, and be able to change their lives for the better; then creativity is a necessary skill to be fostered in school. 

But what exactly is creativity and how can it be taught?  In this book many definitions are given: independence, curiosity, self-confidence, growth mindset, risk tolerance, grit and playfulness are a few.  The easiest for me to engage with was that of Big -C and little -c (Csikszentmihalyi 1997).  The Big-C creativity is what we identify with innovative scientists, artists and folks who influence their entire world.  If this was the only form of creativity possible, then children could not be considered creative.  The little-c of creativity is the everyday problem solving that we are all involved in on a personal level.  We might call it improvisation, adjusting, or being flexible, and just as we might employ it unconsciously, it can also be something we ask students to practice.  The opportunity to think of creative solutions to a problem might be more useful to a learner than the traditional projects and formal assignments. 

There is another Creative C, the Middle -C (Morelock & Feldman, 1999), which is more intentional than the little-c, but has less impact than the big-C.  This definition of creativity is what occurs in schools.  We try new things, revise outdated ideas, make connections and modify technology to suit our needs. Furthermore, students do not experience this when working towards formal summative tests.  There is a need for open ended project work that has the potential of releasing a creative spark.  

One of the 7 delusions at the beginning of the book:  Technology use automatically demands creativity.  Where it might be true that new technology might be motivational,  it may actually discourage innovation with its mindless programs that require no talent.  Projects that allow creativity use technology in productive ways.  And projects that allow the teacher to become a colearner in the classroom, also lead to greater creativity.   It is vital that teachers are designing assignments that help teach not just content, but learning processes as well. 

In choosing technologies that encourage creativity, it is important to make sure the tool is being used for the right purpose; either for research, production, or for communication. 

The author asks whether, as educators, we fear working with creativity because we cannot objectively measure it.  He quotes Grant Wiggins (2013a) who warns that poor assessments can work against innovative thinking.  But does creativity need to be measured or assessed?  The answer is yes, if creativity is important it should play a part in assessment.  The rubric may need to be modified to allow "exceeds expectation".  There should not be a checklist or examples of "exemplary" results, neither should there be limiting factors in the rubric.  Instead of assessing students' work as right or wrong, we could decide that the method was either effective or ineffective.  

If we use this way of assessing students' creativity, we need to ask the student:  "Did your new approach work and why or why not?"  However, the teacher must also design assignments where students are asked to use innovation in their solution, not merely imitating a portion of content.  And we cannot ask if a child is creative, but how that child is creative.

Creative Project by student

About the Author
Doug Johnson is the Director of Technology for the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage (MN) Public Schools and has served as an adjunct faculty member of Minnesota State University. His teaching experience has included work in grades K-12 both here and in Saudi Arabia. He is the author of nine books including Learning Right From Wrong in the Digital Age; Machines are the Easy Part; People are the Hard Part; and The Classroom Teacher′s Technology Survival Guide. His columns appear in ASCD’s Educational Leadership and in Library Media Connection. Doug’s Blue Skunk Blog averages over 50,000 visits a month, and his articles have appeared in over forty books and periodicals. Doug has conducted workshops and given presentations for over 200 organizations throughout the United States and internationally and has held a variety of leadership positions in state and national organizations, including ISTE and AASL.

Johnson, D. (2015). Teaching outside the lines. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin

I read the Kindle version which I rented from Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Outside-Lines-Developing-Creativity-ebook/dp/B07C66DD9B

References:

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention.  New York, NY: Harper.

Morelock, M. J., & Feldman, D. H. (1999) Prodigies. In M. Runco & S, Orutzjer (Eds.), Encyclopedia of creativity (pp. 1303-1310).  San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Wigging, G. (2o13a). How to create a rubric that does what you want it to.  Te@chThought. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/how-to-create-a-rubric-that-does-what-you-want-it-to/

Graphics from https://pages.stolaf.edu/. St. Olaf College,  Northfield, MN