Declaration of Educational Independence

After completing a unit where students decided when they had reached a satisfactory proficiency in selected targets, it is time to raise the bar. While exploring changes in education that should be made following the unfortunate "time out" that has occurred in school for the last nine months, early childhood teacher Erika Christakis, in her article "School Wasn't So Great Before Covid Either," in the December 2020 edition of The Atlantic, discusses the gains in learning that have been made by students who were able to work more independently, while having more time outdoors. That those are important factors for elementary students also portends their effectiveness for older students as well. My thinking is to finally create a more personalized way of conducting class. After years of talking then forgetting about doing it, I am going to undertake a transformation of Arete English 10, which includes literature, composition and speech. I will require a project, paper and/or presentation at regular intervals with all targets open for each task. Students can look at which targets they need to shore up and attempt them in a format of their choosing on future concepts. There will continue to be lessons for specific targets, but students won't have to attend them unless they haven't yet shown proficiency. 

The projects will be constructed by students who will examine the targets, the concept and the formats available to them to create a rationale for the project  in which they lay out all aspects of the project, including schedule, targets, and product, for approval by the teacher(s), parents and hopefully a non teacher/family member who is there to ask questions, check on the student and hopefully, create a solid relationship with another adult. 

I can start with English, and hopefully, social studies can work in easily as well. The eventual goal would be to include math and science into the project too, but that will remain to be seen. The class structure would give students as much structure as they need. Obviously, there will be students who can work at a high level of independence, but there are those who need encouragement and to be led one small step at a time. We will have to set up short, regular meetings with all students to answer questions and encourage progress. 

Purpose is most important

 

Possibly, concentrating on the purpose we do something rather than just a number, is one way that Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and the Patriots have been so successful (Clear 202). Belichick has sold the idea that it is about the purpose (to win games) and that is the metric that drives all other decisions. Should they run the ball 30 times or throw it 50 against a certain team? Should they blitz against this team? If the idea is effectively sold to the others on the team, then they would be willing to miss out on individual statistics that others use to rate themselves, so the team can reach their ultimate goal which is for the good of the team.

How can this be imparted to students in class? The focus on the learning (winning) rather than the grade (personal statistics) is essential for our program. More exactly, the grade should be an indication of the learning, and not separate from it, let alone be the sole focus. Again, like Belicek selling the win over the personal statistics, the challenge is in looking for how to sell learning as the goal. Each week, there is a way for teams to check whether they have accomplished their purpose. Are tests or projects that win? It seems so.

In football each year, the ultimate goal is to win the Super Bowl. Is the Super Bowl of learning, college? a dream job? happiness? financial success? How can we create a shorter term ultimate prize rather than one that is years in the future? Is it

Each year there is a Super Bowl and hence a Super Bowl winner. After the season, the team and the players can evaluate themselves to reflect on what they did to lead to the championship (or for all but one team, not the championship). In learning, the goal is for everyone to win the championship and everyone can win the "championship." How does someone decide if they won the "championship" or if they even played in the game?

Highway to Many Methods

In the last forty years, anyone who has watched television, been to a sporting event or listened to a cover band has heard AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" at some point. Millions have heard Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue,"  but not the way Umphree's McGee plays them in their song "Electric Avenue to Hell." Their mashup of the two songs shows that choosing a different method can be surprising and delightful. Their imaginative playing of "Electric Avenue" with the lyrics to "Highway to Hell" and vice versa leads to a dissonance when hearing the "wrong" words sung to the music. Similarly, when Chris Cornell combined the songs "One" performed by U2 and Metallica it showed his ability to capture the principles of each song and make it his own through a new interpretation.

Umphrey's McGee Zonkey Album

In thinking about how students are asked to show learning of a certain principle in school, in method, it often ends up being too similar--like a million cover bands playing "Highway to Hell" so that it sounds the same as it did when AC/DC played it.  Harrington Emerson comments that while "principles are few, the man who grasps the principles can successfully select his own methods" (Ferris 178). Once a person has an understanding of the principles (the content, or "Highway to Hell") they can choose any means to show their learning, but most are not asked nor encouraged to do so because the "audience" wants to hear it in its original method.

If, as an education system, we are focused only on the principles, we are short changing students from the most important aspect, being able to show true understanding by inventing a way to show their learning. For musical artists, the usual way to show they know a song is to play it as the original artist did. For Umphrey's McGee or Chris Cornell, that wasn't enough.

Students could choose their own method to show learning from two subjects, such as explaining the history of Rome through parabolas. Each part of the quadratic formula would correspond to Rome, including: the x and y axes and intercepts, height and direction of the parabola all of which support the actual mathematical uses, definitions and explanations. Students would then explain their thinking in an informative essay. That method would let them "rock down to" a new and exciting experience which provides them with a highway to satisfaction.

"I'm the Kind of Person Who..."

The idea of rebranding Arete has bedeviled me for the last couple of years because the Arete concept, while great, does not resonate with people. When you have to teach them how to say it and what it means, that is two steps too many. John Ernst of Kinnektor asked me, what is your program about? Who are your people? Capture your program in one sentence. After giving him a paragraph, I realized that we are trying to be all things. We want our message to resonate with people who are dissatisfied with current school structure, and who want to use their learning to make a difference, and who want to be contributors, and who want to do advanced work and who are creative, and who work hard and who want to do hands on learning and who want to solve problems and who want to get things done. We want our program name to effortlessly connect with middle schoolers, their parents, and community members without explanation, but in a way that communicates who we are and what we are about.

Ernst gave the example of Jeep. When one sees a person in a Jeep (the CJ-5, Wrangler, doors-off type), immediately a concept of who the person is and what they are into leaps to mind. The same thing is the case with a Suburu or a Prius. They don't haul lumber or pull a boat. Generally, they are not what a wedding party will ride in, but people who see them know what they are for because, as Seth Godin may say, "People like them drive things like that." Steve Sims, author of Bluefishing: The Art of Getting Things Done writes prestige brands "set out from the very beginning to create an experience for someone" (Sims 125). What is the experience we create, or are aiming to create in Arete?

What would our students say when completing the sentence "I'm the kind of person who..." They may say (or mean): gets things done, invests in themselves, believes in themselves, wants to change the world, wants to help people, wants to do hands on learning, makes connections in the community, revolts, is contrary, is different, is advanced, makes my learning matter, learns my passions, uses my skills, learns new skills, etc. Which of these things is it our intent for them to respond?

Think, Learn, Change

"Think Big! Do Something Awesome! Change the World!" I created these statements out of frustration six years ago with a class of juniors who claimed it was too hard to research anything they were interested in and do anything they wanted with it, has become a mantra we whith which begin each Genius Hour session. It is easily chanted or repeated as a class, but this year it is evident it missed the mark because people seem to focus on the third part and feel they have to raise money rather than doing something they are truly interested in doing. They may learn about a topic, but most of their time is spent in doing the logistics of an event. It doesn't come off quite as pithy, but using Tim O'Reilly's lines "Work on stuff that matters," and "Create more value than you capture" could create more of the vision we are seeking for what has become one of our signature events (Ferris 221). "Think Big" stands on its own, because we want students to challenge themselves to do something beyond what they may have done before. Thinking big is about giving themselves confidence iin their capabilities--and maybe even swagger.

"Do Something Awesome" was not a self evident statement. Doing something awesome could mean play a video game that is awesome, watch a video that is awesome or hang out with friends, which may be awesome as well. The revised phrase should be "Learn Something Important" In the past, we have begun the semester saying those words, but lately haven't directly defined what we mean by each sentence. The whole goal behind Genius Hour is to pursue a topic that has always been intriguing but has never been a priority, or maybe it has been and they want to delve deeper. It may be a problem that exists in the world that the student wants to solve, or something else. Once a topic is identified, the first charge is to learn as much about it as possible. That will involve reading, experiencing it first hand and interacting with experts among other things. They should be able to explain why it is important and to whom it is important. That will lead to the third part, which recently has been the stickiest.

Where they become most confused is with "Change the World." "Change the World" does not mean raise money. It means take what you have learned out into the world and do something that matters. That is where they can "create more value than (they) capture." Taking their learning and giving it to the world in a way where it will benefit others at a magnitude greater than 1 is the goal. If, after doing the learning, a person is twice as good at something, the good they do for others or the learning they give to others should be greater than twice as much. That may mean it beneifts one other person. It may mean benefiting many more. It does not mean benefiting 7 billion people, but it may. Making others' lives better is not directly correlated with a dollar amount.

Begin in an "Educational Position"

Every sport I have played or coached starts with the same thing, an athletic position. Being ready to attack or react involves preparation thta includes bending forward at the waist, bending the knees and having hands out ready for anything. Why is there not an "athletic position" for school or even work? People spend more time in those situations and it is 100% easier to become distracted during that time. Having a means to check one's actions or attention and to refocus during a day when time may be spent sitting in a desk reading, writing or listening may be a game changer. Focusing on the present leads to future success according to George Brownell, financial consultant at Baird,"Take care of the days and the years will take care of themselves." Brownell suggests to prepare yourself for success by making your bed when you get up each day because then you have already been successful at something which sets you up for success the rest of the day. Gary Vaynerchuk has a similar belief, in that people "should not care about the next eight years, the should stress the next eight days" (Ferris 216). In the short term, people are waiting for something to happen not making it happen. They are wasting time thinking that what they are doing right now doesn't matter because they have plans after high school. They make dumb decisions on a minute by minute basis. They may choose to play a video game, watch youtube or Netflix rather than deciding to maximize every minute. Vaynerchuk warns against "wasting your days worrying about the years" (Ferris 216).

That doesn't mean everyone is raring to go every day. Even in sports, athletes may not feel like going to the ballpark every day. They combat that by having a routine they follow that allows them to mentally prepare for the game. The process of getting dressed is like putting on armor and preparing for battle. It can brush away off the field concerns for the time you are out there. Again, what is the equivalent off the field? What is something a person can do while getting ready for the day or before walking into a building or on a job site where they are going to spend the day? Amy Cuddy suggests taking two minutes to make yourself bigger Even putting your hands on your hips in a Superman stance can do the trick.

Limitations to Thinking

There are at least three activities which sap our energy and make it hard to make difficult decisions. Our brains remain incapable of concentrating on more than one thing at a time. Even though people may think they can operate by multi-tasking, instead it leads to alternating attention and not providing the person with a coherent, streamlined method of thinking. The second limiting factor is that humans short-term memory can only hold 7 items (+-2). Combining multi-tasking with trying to remember a large number it items leads to doing tasks at a level lower than can be expected or what one is capable of. The final limiting element is will power. Because of the research by Roy Baumeister, it is now believed that willpower is like a muscle. When it is overworked, it becomes tired and gets sloppy.

Over use of will power leads to poor control of self and environment, including decision making. Baumeister writes that "results suggest that a broad assessment of actions make use of the same resource. Acts of self-control, responsible decision making, and active choice seem to interfere with other tasks that follow soon after." Baumeister's findings suggest even if we are excited by the work we are doing or are in a time crunch, we should give ourselves break time to recharge our attention and ability to think clearly. The break allows the brain to process information and make new, unique connections between ideas and prepare it to receive new information.

Instead of just "pushing through" or forcing ourselves to take notes, read or write, we need to find a way to make us feel like doing any activity which truly moves our work closer to completion. I doubt that rewarding ourselves truly works, since doing something with the idea of a reward makes us realize that it is something we don't want to do. What is something that people want to do and how can that be used to keep themselves engaged? How can they flip the idea from having to do something to getting to do it? The other element is that it will have to be able to be done without much mental gymnastics, because people generally won't spend the energy trying to come up with those connections. It will have to be something easy, but effective to do.

Ahrens, Sönke. How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking - for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers. Sönke Ahrens, 2017.