What's the Point of School? Guy Claxton

Things that resonated with me:

• People have a deeper need to be successful - to do this they need a rich set of habits of mind to stand them in whatever destiny they find themselves in.
• Despite many claims, levels of literacy haven't changed much from 1950s to 2007 (Presumably this is UK based, but likely reflective worldwide). Rather, the statistics show that teachers are just getting better at teaching to the test.
• The pleasure in reading has dropped considerably - in the pursuit of 'higher standards'.
• Reading for pleasure outweighs every social advantage, including parents income, in the future success of children.
• A child's perception: 'The people who write textbooks do not make mistakes, and the best way to learn is by your own mistakes.' (Jennifer, fifteen)
• Being a powerful learner  is not the same as being a good student. 
• Conventional education is an experiment too (as well as 'new' ILE education) - one which we have good reason to question. Inaction is not an option.
• Why should intelligence be related to the 3 Rs? What if other kinds of knowledge and expertise were more prestigious? What if English and Mathematics were reduced to one hour a week (like PE and the Arts) and became optional in later education? Children who are naturally 'bookish' are disadvantaged by the lack of fit for their strengths and interests (and those that the school clearly values).
• Possessing skills and abilities cannot be assessed by a tick box. How can a teacher observe it once and know that that child can apply that skill in a variety of contexts, for various purposes and on various days?
• Unmotivated children don't exist. This is a belief by people who actually mean: 'They don't want to learn what I want them to learn, when I want them to learn it, in the way I want them to learn it.'
• Learning at school often lacks a sense of timing.
• 3Rs - responsibility, respect and 'real'. 3Cs - choice, challenge and collaboration
• Toddlers have built in learning amplifiers - practice and play. Practice makes perfect, and the disposition to practice seems to be built in to their brains.
• Learning is learnable and teachable.
• Good learners can be awkward and inconvenient - but the teacher not having having enough time should not result in learning being inhibited.
• Teachers need to be willing to grow and learn. Would you want a surgeon to operate on you who had not opened a book or researched since he graduated 30 years ago?
• Every little detail of the way a lesson is delivered, or a school organised, is a carrier of values and beliefs.
• Magnificent Eight qualities: curious, courage, exploration/investigation, experimentation, imagination, reason/discipline, sociability, reflective.
• Performance indicators in fitness are your 'personal bests' - i.e. running a kilometre in less time than before, or lifting a heavier weight. Measuring learning power should be the same - comparing yourself with yourself. 
• Just as it takes time to build strength, it also takes time to build learning power. 
• A learning power coach (teacher/mentor) should give feedback that is useful and precise. 
• Try giving children the job of nominating each other for awards such as star persister, questioner or collaborator of the week.
• Teachers should be required to be visible engaged in some project that stretches their own subject knowledge and share that process and progress with the children. Model.
• Teachers should regularly say 'let me try this on you' and 'tell me how it goes'. Seek feedback from the students.
• Sometimes we have to restrain our enthusiasm to teach as children operate best on a 'just in time' basis. They are very good at learning what they need to know in the moment, in order to get on with a project. 
• Imagination is the child of boredom, so allowing a child to discover that being bored isn't so bad, to tolerate the quiet times, and to learn to use their own imagination to 'rescue' themselves from boredom, is a useful regime for your child.

Some deeper thoughts:

A life of cheating

According to Claxton's sources, cheating is rife in secondary and tertiary education now. And part of me says - not a surprise! He also refers to the fact that most students (I, myself can identify with this) will forget the content of their exam within a reasonably short space of time. Can you remember what was in your school or tertiary exams? So what is the point of these closed book tests - especially now when we are in a Google Age and content is free everywhere. Should these education systems be thinking about assessing ability to access and synthesis information, question it and identify errors and possible errors? Are they too thinking about the point of school?

The word 'work'

I've had an issue with the word 'work' in the classroom for a while. Claxton sums it up succinctly: "The language of work continually reinforces the idea of learning as drudgery". Talking about learning to the children is much better and causes engagement and activeness in learning. Instead of "get on with your work", try:

• How are you going to go about that?
• What is hard about that?
• How are different groups going about that?
• How else could you do it?
• What could you do to help yourself if you get stuck?
• How could you help someone else learn that?
• What are the tricky parts?

Am I moving towards my Desired Reality???

It's been a few weeks now since we set goals to reach our Desired Reality and it's time to check in on them. 


My 3 Great Steps:

1   Seek Feedback - constructive 70%/ positive 30%
The purpose of having this goal is to grow my capability as a leader. I have been getting some feedback, mostly in relation to co-leading the Innovation Incubator team, but I'm not really seeking feedback as the goal states. This one needs to become priority in Term 2. I have purchased a book called Thanks for the Feedback and I'm hoping I will dig into this over the holidays and get some inspiration. 

2   Honest conversations regarding priorities and balancing responsibilities
I have been persistent with some things and making my feeling known in habitat team meetings, sometimes without a result. Am I not being heard? Or is it that my priority is not a team priority? Hard to say - but working on my first great step could help with this. I am improving on saying no to things. In fact I can think of two examples where I have turned down 'extra' jobs because the timing and commitment wasn't right for me. 

I have found this term particularly busy. Before school was preparation time, non-duty lunchtimes and after school were basically meeting times. I have found it extremely difficult to find time to work with Emma on Innovation Incubator stuff, so it is essential that I continue to prioritise this goal.

3   Make time for professional reading (learning environment goal and Innovation Incubator)
At the beginning of the year I set myself a wee target of four professional development books over the year. I have already exceeded this! I have read 1) The Element 2) chapters from The Professional Practice of Teaching in NZ 3) Expansive Education 4) Show and Tell and I'm currently making my way through What's the Point of School? 


My One Line Job Description:
To lead learning (for students and colleagues) that adds value.

I had to look this up this morning, meaning it is not yet cognitively portable - this is something I need to remedy.
However - do I think I'm doing it? Everyday? Yes and no. 
For colleagues, every day that I have an opportunity to work with the Innovation Incubator team or leading on behalf the team - yes.
For students, I would hope so. I think so. But more time and daily reflection needs to go into this one. A screen shot and laptop wallpaper may help me with this.

Putting on the presenters hat

Yesterday was a new milestone for me - co-running my first teacher meeting!

I was a bit nervous leading up to it, but actually it was more excitement as the topic is a passion and sharing that with others always brings a sense of joy. The actual presentation I felt went well mostly, apart from the odd fumbling of pages, making sure I hadn't forgotten to share any of my notes and the bit where I kicked the bucket of pens everywhere!

It felt really good be able to talk about and share what the team had been up to. Emma and I complement each other in many ways, and Emma (with far more experience in leadership) is doing a great job of extending me in my ability to both think about and articulate my ideas more clearly. 

It was wonderful to get some great feedback from teachers today - saying they enjoyed the meeting and appreciating the great deal of work that has gone into what seems like a very small slice of what is to be done. 

Getting nice feedback is always a good feeling, but it's the more specific stuff that will help me to grow and learn. 

One person said that they really liked my manner as I was presenting and sharing. 

Another gave me some more critical feedback (which was probably not intended this way, but was good to hear anyway). They said I had done a good job coping with co-presenting and that from their experience they knew how hard it is when presenting with someone who is good at talking off the cuff to an audience and how when you have your notes you want to go through in the planned order and make sure everything is covered. 

This unveiled a big realisation for me - something I think I already knew, except this was the moment of true-recognition: I have not yet developed confidence that I actually do know what I'm talking about. I rely too much my notes as though they are the only ones who can 'think' for me in a public situation. 

Next week, we have session two. I think I'm going to try to put the notes to the side, be more present in 'reading the room' and engage in the 'feeling' of the day.

Here I am clutching my notes as though my life depends on them!

Most Likely to Succeed Film

The QT-Basin was lucky enough to secure one of Core Educations screening rights to show The Most Likely to Succeed film here. 

It was a brilliant showcase of the changing nature of education and we need to get this film out there so as many people can see it as possible. It was great to have so many people there - I just feel that most of those people were already 'sold' on the idea of why education is changing.

Although there was lots to take-away from the film, the biggest thing for me was the need to for (some) parents and older generations to get their head around school is not about content anymore. 

Content is free now - it's on every internet device. 

-MLTS film

I recall a moment in about my fourth year of teaching. At the time I was living in the small town of Kirwee, about 40km west of Christchurch. Nana was visiting and I was giving her a grand tour. She asked a question about the geography of the land and we I said I didn't know the answer, I remember very clearly her reply...., "but you must, you're a teacher". It is a sign of her era, where the teacher was the giver of information, and the children were the  sponges to soak up what they could. 

As we move into an increasingly technological world, we need students who will be thinkers, innovators, collaborators, and people who can fail intelligently without being defeated. A robot will do everything else!

It brought together a lot of the things I've been reading for my role in the Innovation Incubator team, particularly what I have learnt from Claxton.

Guy Claxton - Achievement and Character: Can you do both at once?

I awaited with nerdy excitement for the day to arrive to hear Guy Claxton speak. With the focus for Emma and myself to pick up ideas relevant to what we are doing in the Innovation Incubator team. I left with some answers, and many more questions!

Here are my notes:

• Can you fulfill potential? How do you know how much someones potential is? Have you fulfilled yours? When? So why do we so often refer to wishy-washy terms like this?
• How do you 'evidence' values like Growth Mindset or resilience? I like how 'evidence' has been changed into a verb.
• Things need to be grounded in good quality research.
• How does time effect stuff - is a 45min period or one rotation going to allow persistence to grow?
• There are four Layers of Learning: today we were focusing on layer three - habits

• "Flounder" intelligently
• It is no teachers dream to turn out passive, docile, compliant, students - yet we do....
• Content gives a topic that you teach your habits through - "Today we are stretching our ______ muscle." E.g. questioning.
• Skills v dispositions - dispositions are far more important because it drives the development of the skill.
• Low socio-eco status kids benefit more from higher cognitive load. Don't go easy on them because 'their lives are already stressed'
• You can't teach attitudes and dispositions directly - they have to be coached, cultivated in culture.
• Epistemic apprenticeship

• If you diet is predominately 'efficient' then you're going to end up a bit lopsided!
• Removing own desks increases collaboration and collegiality in a classroom - proved somewhere in Australia (sorry I didn't get the details)
• Phrase: "hump of resistance" often used when referring to staff not willing to change or even explore change
• Performing v learning - learning has some form of difficulty attached to it
• Students learning to choose, design, research, conduct, troubleshoot, and evaluate learning for themselves
• Build power to teach themselves 
• Things should always be under review, status quo is not safe or neutral.
• Stepping in too soon during a learning struggle deprives an opportunity for that student to Build Learning Power. 
• Have a High Participation, Low Shame culture. Make it safe to learn.
• Display a final product with the draft - shift the focus from achievement to improvement.
• Flexing learning muscles - coach, coach, coach!
• Learning muscles to stretch (on the left hand side)

The final three points really resonated with me. This video that Guy shared with us shows the importance, and how easily coaching can be done from a very young age.

Austin's Butterfly

What next? For me:

• Read How Children Succeed - Paul Tough
• Give students authority and ability to challenge what people tell them
• Give activity and then give students think/peer/share time to decide how many people should be in groups - ownership and decision making onto kids.
• Two stars and a wish - go back to coaching children how to give feedback (I used to do this so well - why did I stop???)
• Mix up groups more - ensure children are frequently working with different people than usual.
• Use a distraction scale - show me 1-4 fingers how distracting that (plane/lightning/noise/class clown - don't actually say what was distracting though) was. If you show 5 fingers, you were the distraction. Children monitor their own focus.
• Use a kind continuum - children can move their own or others face depending on how kind/supportive/helpful they've been. Or not! Keeps an open dialogue of support.

What next? For the Innovation Incubator team:

• Give mentors strategies to embed teaching of character so it's not 'more teaching'
• SOLO - depth of though, not level of thought
• Review, review, review - this year and into every other year Shotover School exists!

Expansive Education

The main theme I'm getting out of it is the need for a 'whole' education. School is not just about the content, but learning about being a person too. This includes knowing how to behave when we don't know the answers.

The early chapters in the book has referred to the Theory of Mind a bit. This was a concept I knew about, but needed a little more context before I could continue reading. I found this little video helpful.

The basic vision of Costa and his colleagues is that schools should prepare young people 'not just for a life of tests, but the tests of life'.
My other keys points:

• students to need to be self evaluative
• willpower is like a mental muscle that can be strengthened (or depleted through non-use) and likewise resilience, concentration, imagination and collaboration can be coached and cultivated
• Expansive Education see 'skills' grow into strong 'dispositions'
• three attitudes as elements of a 21st century mindset: communal virtues (honesty, trustworthiness, kindness, tolerance, empathy), virtues of self regulation (patience, self discipline, tolerance of frustration/disappointment) and epistemic/learning virtues (determination, curiosity, creativity and collaboration)
• of course, all these things interweave and even sometimes conflict each other. Balance is key
• John Dewey was ahead of his time, "the teacher becomes a partner in the learning process, guiding students to independently discover meaning."
• learned helplessness arises in students who not not given the opportunity to think of intelligence expansively. They lack resilience and resourcefulness.
• successful intelligence is to think in three different ways: analytically, creatively and practically.
• approaches (such as Building Learning Power) do not work if they are simply bolted on to another restrictive approach.
• using colours to highlight mistakes (and not fixing them for a student) means the student does the thinking about it and how to fix it - building a discussion around 'good' and 'silly' mistakes. This has created a greater feeling of playfulness and adventure in their writing
• interesting analogy: Children sitting around like baby birds with their mouths open, ready for the teacher to bring them the worms - we need to teach them to get their own worms. Learning isn't just an outcome, it's a process.
• re-defining pedagogy - should we more often be referring to it as 'Instructional Design'
• a teachers main task is to notice the impact of their teaching on students' learning and achievement. They need to talk less and listen more
• we need to be so careful with our use of the word ability - it is easy for it to become a synonym for 'talent' or 'intelligence'. Create learning groups that are genuinely fluid and regularly changed
• getting into a state of flow is an optimal learning experience. There needs to be three things for this to happen: task is sufficiently demanding and engaging, learner has enough skill to tackle the task, and time.
• talking about learning is good. If learners see what is going on as they are learning, the better they will be able to apply it to different contexts

What if education were less concerned with the end-of-year exam and more concerned with who students become as a result of their schooling? What if we viewed smartness as a goal that students can work toward rather that as something they either have or don't? 

-Ron Ritchhart

The book also covers the significance of others in the learning environment. "Little or no learning will take place unless the learning environment is trustful and the others who are significant to the learner (parents, teachers, coaches, etc.) model the desired outcomes."

This is backed up with other key points:

• Hattie says helping students to develop habits (curiosity and collaboration) works better when teachers model these
• culture is set by the leaders of the institution and what is around in the environment, even before the teacher walks in
• it is essential that teachers develop and share a common language of learning with students and the parents/community.
• thoughtful environments encourage a focus on big ideas. The learning offered in them captures the interest of students and provides them with some degree of autonomy and choice
• we have to expand staffrooms, as well as classrooms, and consider how teachers are trained and subsequently developed.
• new teachers become socialised by 'old-timers' into semi-conscious views and habits. "For expansive educators, it is vital that the community of practice of a staffroom is also a living, evolving community of enquiry."
• Hattie makes explicit connections between teachers undertaking professional enquiry and the benefits that transfer to student learning.

"A teacher can never truly teach unless she is learning herself. A lamp can never light another flame unless it continues to burn its own flame."

-Rabindranath Tagore

These last few points made connections to another video I watched today. This is Kath Murdoch and her thoughts on teachers can (or can't) teach inquiry.

All of this together basically says to me that a good teacher is prepared to, and will, let go of control.

One final thought: 

Education has to change. It has to engage the energies and intelligence of all young people. It has to respond to their anxieties about the future, and to help them develop the mental, emotional and social equipment they will need to thrive in a complex, challenging and exciting world. Here's hoping, as David Price says, that the seeds of Expansive Education that we have explored in this book will continue to germinate strongly and to populate the earth!

- Claxton, Lucas and Spencer (Expansive Education authors)