This Might Not Work

 As reported by Paul Tough in his book How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions, developed by NYU psychologist Gabriele Oettingen, is the best way to move from a current state to a desired state. When using mental contrasting, one concentrates both on a positive outcome, while also predicting the pitfalls they will encounter along the way (Tough 93). Without knowing it had a name, this is a strategy that we have used for years when planning for long term projects like Genius Hour. The whole thing is predicated on a student being able to see into the future and anticipate what will happen and how they will respond. Possibly, some extra guidelines may make it a more useful activity.  Some categories that we could use to examine obstacles may be self (what problems may I cause myself), other people (not returning messages, scheduling,  not doing their share, etc) , non-human outside factors (technology, travel, etc). Otherwise, often it comes down to “I might procrastinate and not get it done on time.” This method seems like a gentle version of Red Teams where one envisions that things went horribly wrong and the project ended up with the worst possible outcome. Rather than imagining a catastrophe, MCII is more of a “these are some things that may go wrong,” 

Having students create their own schedule based on known future events made a difference in AP Seminar this year. Some kids knew they were going away for spring break and scheduled everything to be completed before then and they appreciated the guidance.

Tough, Paul. How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. 

Whose Idea Is It?

 In discussing how to create an effective TED Talk, Chris Anderson notes how it is important to make the presentation simple, but not too simple. Feed them enough information and lay out enough bread crumbs to “snap it in place for themselves” (Anderson 82). Everyone wants to feel smart and following Anderson’s strategy will make them feel smart. 

Years ago, I wrote an email to all of the administrators explaining that the sign boards outside of each school should not say “Early Out” because it sends a message that teachers have the afternoon off rather than it being used to make them better at what they do, or to make their kids smarter or more ready for their futures. Obviously, it didn’t work since, eight years after leaving the district, the boards have not changed. After describing this situation to my dad, he said,  “Haven’t I taught you anything? You have to  make them think it’s their idea.”  Simple, but not too simple.

Magic of Discussion

For the last three days we listened to the Brene Brown podcast Unlocking Us on which she interviews Angus Fletcher. The podcast was so powerful that we decided to listen to it as a class. We stopped it occasionally and let kids discuss what they heard. The discussions were deep and rich, with almost every student participating throughout the three days. The students stated that they want to have more discussions about what literature makes them feel and where it will lead them, do less organizing  the book into little boxes through analysis. They want to have deep conversations about people and human nature and their thoughts. They want to understand what other people think about an event or situation. They especially relish the opportunity to hear from people with whom they disagree on almost everything. The result was magical. Kids listened to each other and responded appropriately. They asked clarifying questions and summarized what they heard. They added their own thinking based on their experiences while taking others’ experiences into account. It was magical. I can’t think of three better consecutive days of school. It was so good, it seems that assigning a grade to it might cheapen it.

Drip by Drip

 At one time, the idea of school as we know it must have been revolutionary. Over time, "drip by drip, year by year" the manual of being a teacher and being a student was written (Godin 2010, 120). Before long, everyone knows school is done in a certain way and those for whom that structure doesn't work are destined for digging ditches.

School became successful in draining creativity and joy out of learning, until the point where asking teenagers if they like to learn only elicits guffaws. We know the rules, which have been developed over the years to combat any of the negative, distracting behavior of being an artist, writer, musician, or independent thinker. In a sense, mediocrity became a desired quality because no one tries to tear down people who are equal in effort, thinking and output. The problem is when someone tries to undermine the rules by working harder or working by their own rules.

The way school is run today, with "common assessments" and the common core, everyone is expected to learn the same things, in the same way. The "resistance" as Steven Pressfield calls it creates conformity because it takes too much energy to overcome institutional expectations, which include those of the school administration, other teachers, parents, students and the community. It takes the rare person to step out of that brainwashing and create something new, or at least a new way of looking at the topic.

Part of the problem is that we have been told for a long time to "run schools like a business." That leads to homogonized students and methods to make things the same, like a can of Coke. that may be great for the people who are rule followers, but not so great for people who bristle at that sort of life.

Who Do We Serve?

 We created the Arete Academy for people who are dissatisfied with the current school structure and wanted a way to make their learning matter. To give them a way to use their learning in a real way that will connect with other people. We also created it because we feel that the current format of education is not giving students skills that will lead to success outside of school. Seth Godin states that a group should figure out who their customers are and then create a product that they will connect with (in order to help "others become who they seek to become" (Godin 2018, 6).

I think we think we created the Arete Academy for others, but did we really create for ourselves to resuscitate or reinvent our careers? I know we were dissatisfied with what we were doing and how we were doing it. What ended up happening was that we had a group of adults we could rely on, bounce ideas off, combine ideas with and pull together rather than all pulling individually, which makes everything seem easier, even though we chose the harder way to do things.

Godin, Seth. This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See. Portfolio Penguin, 2018.

Infinite Education: Learn How to Learn

 To make the Arete Academy and education itself resilient, it must be relevant now and in the future, and our message about the infinite nature of what kids will learn needs to be shared using consistent language that also coincides with our brand of exploration and creativity. Simon Sinek, author of The Infinite Game, discusses how railroads' finite vision of themselves caused them to ignore the emergence of cars and trucks as the major means of transportation rather than seeing themselves and their purpose as moving people and goods and creating their own non-rail vehicles. . The music industry fought streamed and digitally accessible music rather than figuring out how they could spread the artistry and message to as many people as possible (Sinek 2019, 45). Any of these established industries fought challenges to their supremacy and ignoring or denying they were losing their grip on their field. 

Like the railroads 80-100 years ago, in the face of virtual learning, education is missing out on defining what it is truly about and seizing that message to create a new way of thinking about it. The question used to be “what is the purpose of school?” After a year of students learning from home, especially with students having devices and a strong wi-fi signal, learning, the new question should be “what is the purpose of coming to school?” After students were at home for the months of October and November 2020 learning in a real-time at home setting, upon their return it became apparent that, as Suzette Weisgerber, social studies teacher in the Arete Academy at Neenah High School stated, it is to “feed their soul.”  The interpersonal connection that they had taken for granted throughout their school lives had been removed, which left only the learning. Throughout  their years of school, students have come to equate learning and school. When asked “do you like to learn,” most kids say no because they see “learning” only happening in school and do not recognize that they are learning machines, constantly taking in information and creating new knowledge. At this point schools and the education system are missing out on the fact that their infinite game is in guiding  students to learn how to learn.  It is no secret that almost anything one wants to learn is accessible to anyone with the internet through a variety of sources.

Sinek, Simon. The Infinite Game. Penguin Business, 2019.

Predictions

 The ability to create a "story," to project what will happen in the future rather than merely reacting to what is currently happening, or acting purely on instinct is what makes us human (Johnson 81). That is how stock brokers, professional sports general managers, and even people filling out NCAA basketball brackets and other prognosticators make their living. They take information at hand and make educated guesses about what will happen, often for financial gain. After studying 28,000 predictions by people in the media regarding economic and geopolitical events, political science professor Phillip Tetlock, concluded that often those people, when their predictions are examined after the event, are entirely wrong (Johnson 83). These events projected by “experts” are actually no better than a guess. It is almost like a lottery, most people don't win, but when they do, someone makes sure everyone knows it.

Tetlock did not leave it at that. He examined what separated (more) successful prognosticators from the others and he found that being able to identify unknowns (what Jimmy the Greek from the 1970’s NFL Today termed “intangibles”) and feel like they may be important led to more success. Having the flexibility to take in as much information as possible, while keeping crazy ideas in play was the most vital aspect of prediction.

Johnson, Steven. Farsighted; How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most. Riverhead Books, 2018.