Teachers Need to be Foxy

Wait, that title might not come out right. Let's try this again...

Teachers Need to be More Like Foxes and Less Like Hedgehogs!


Amazon.com
Okay forget the title.

I am currently reading "The Signal and the Noise" by Nate Silver, the now famed economist/blogger that correctly called 50/50 states in the 2012 presidential election. The book discusses how predictions are often incorrect but sometimes can be correct (or something like that). The part that led me to write this post however is based around a chapter that asks the question "Are You Smarter Than A Television Pundit?". Silver discusses research by Philip Tetlock, a professor of psychology and political science. Tetlock was examining predictions made by "experts" and found that while they overall were about as accurate as a coin flip there was a slight differences in two subgroup he labeled "foxes" and "hedgehogs".

The names of the groups was based on a passage from greek poet Archilochus:
"The fox knows many little things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."
 Here is a more in depth description from Silvers book:
  • Hedgehogs are type A personalities who believe in Big Ideas- in governing principles about the world that behave as though they were physical laws and undergrid virtually every interaction in society.
  • Photo Credit: XWiz
  • Foxes are scrappy creatures who believe in a plethora of little ideas and in taking a multitude of approaches toward a problem.
Photo Credit: DigitalPrimate
In case you haven't realized it by now teachers need to be more like foxes. They are like "Renaissance Men", studying as much as possible so that they can apply those ideas to whatever it is they are doing. Silver characterizes them as multidisciplinary, adaptable, self-critical, tolerant of complexity, cautious (when it comes to opinions) and empirical. Now try and tell me that doesn't sound like an ideal teacher! Teachers need these qualities for their classroom. Foxes understand, and can draw from multiple disciplines when speaking on a subject. We always talk about being interdisciplinary, threading lessons through as many different subject as we can so that we highlight that subjects are not compartmentalized. We need teachers that can do that in their own classroom.

We probably all know a hedgehog-ish teacher. A teacher that knows their subject inside and out but is completely unable to speak with any credibility on anything else the students may have questions about.

We need foxes in schools. We need teachers that are willing to learn. We need teachers that branch out. Most of all though, we need teachers that model the type of multidisciplinary learning that we expect from our students. 

Standards Based Grading

Right now I am not teaching. I left a teaching position at a private high school to take a position in the IT department of a public school district. I hope to go back into the classroom next year and as I mosey around my PLN I am collecting ideas that I may want to implement in that classroom.

The most recent idea I came across that interested me is the idea of standards based grading. I have heard this term before but I became interested when I noticed a grade book service named Active Grade claimed that their entire grade book hinged on standards based grading. As I began to research the idea further I became interested for several reasons.

Most importantly I consistently ran into a problem with grading where students were not receiving grades I felt they deserved. I found myself playing with averages and tweaking numbers in order to get students to a grade I felt they deserved. One instance was a student I will call Jim. Jim struggled with testing as well as writing out his ideas. He did however generally understand the material (computer technology) presented in the class. Because of this Jim was unable to receive a high mark in the class but was actually passing as far as knowledge is concerned.

According to what I have found standards based grading would have remedied this problem. I am actually genuinely excited to get back into the classroom so that I can begin to implement these ideas. I am even willing to keep separate grade books for the first couple years in order to be sure I have the methods down before jumping in.

Standards Based Grading Resources:
The Challenges of Standards Based Grading
7 Reasons for Standards Based Grading
Active Grade
Active Grade FAQ
Active Grade - Starter Kit

Rethinking Professional Development

An idea came to me today while reading through the blog roll of David Jakes, specifically a post titled Words Matter | Professional Development. David questions the current popular definition of professional development. Professional Development carries with a sort of negative feeling. It is something that is required of you in order to continue doing that thing you enjoy doing, teaching. He recounts a colleague that begin each of his presentations with something he learned the night before. Something that may be completely unrelated to the topic but still sets him up as a learner, someone who strives to learn something new every day. He goes on to talk about creating a "learning culture";
Model it, live it, make it visible.  Do this, and you'll take some significant steps towards developing a learning culture...and that's the real prize.
image credit: JMSmith
I couldn't help but think about a recent conversation I had with a middle school principal I know. He explained that in addition to PLC and grade meetings, the teachers at his school are given weekly "reflection" time. Time that they were to use to look back on their week, think about what changes they need to make, or learn something new. When I asked how they made sure this time wasn't wasted he explained that each teacher needed to write out what they used their time for and explain what it was they did. I accepted this answer at it's face but I have continued to think that maybe this time was still being wasted. Maybe the teachers were simply making up the things they said they were doing. Really, who is going to take the time to read these essays? Are they graded? Do they get put into the teachers personnel file for later review? What real consequence is having them write it out besides busy work that we all hate assigning to students. I feel that this falls into Davids current definition of professional development and could be changed. 

Instead of having teachers write out their learning experiences for review by administration, why not have them post something they have learned each week to a school blog? Or have their learning experience emailed to a random colleague or posted on a board for the rest of the faculty to read? Why not hold a monthly "unconference" where teachers can get up individually or as a group and present a tool, technique or revelation they had during this time?

Don't get me wrong, what this middle school is doing is definitely on the right track. I think however that it can be taken to whole other level. I think that while they started correctly by encouraging teachers to learn, they reinforced the notion that learning happens while studying alone. Learning happens as part of a group. If there is nobody that is challenging or adding to what you are learning then how are you going to grow?
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