Monthly Archives: January 2016

When it Comes to Education Issues, It’s Crickets for the Donkeys and Elephants

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The presidential election is still ten months away and field is still broad.  There are currently 1507 individuals registered as candidates for president, including both Yoda and Darth Vader.  There have already been ten debates held among front runners of the Democratic and Republican parties with at least another ten expected to be scheduled before we cast our ballots.

Issues of immigration, national security and climate change have made the stage in both red and blue debates and candidates continue to throw jabs across the party lines on issues of abortion, Wall Street reform, gun control and health care.  While there has been brief mention of college tuition and the future of the Common Core, education and education reform has been absent this debate season.

Former US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan recently called for candidates to address a five-year plan to address universal pre-school, high school and college graduation rates and college readiness.  CaptureThere are an estimated 3.12 million teachers employed in US public school.  How is it that this collective voice has not been leveraged to demand that candidates address issues central to the support and development of a robust education system in our country? Capitalizing on fear and threats is nothing new to the political landscape.  We are wired to attend to what we perceive as threats and candidates are hoping their promises to alleviate imminent danger will drive us to the polls. Fear-driven and angry rhetoric stimulates the emergency system of our brains and can lead us to minimize issues that are important but don’t feel as imminent.

The last child of a US president to attend a public school was Amy Carter who attended DC public Schools through the family’s four years in office.  What happens when teachers don’t see themselves reflected in the political landscape?  When education is not a part of the national discourse? Teachers often cite a lack of public support for their work as a key factor in burnout, coupled with a sense that things are not going to get any better. Without a clear legislative plan for how to adequately fund education, it’s likely we will continue to see numbers of talented teachers decline.

Arne Duncan is calling for presidential hopefuls to provide details on a five year plan to address education issues.  Imagine the impact of 3 million people submitting demands to the hosts of upcoming presidential debates that Mr. Duncan’s questions be addressed. You can see a listing of the currently scheduled Republican and Democratic debates and their hosts here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/debates/schedule/

The February 6th Republican candidate debate is being co-hosted by ABC and the Independent Journal Review.  Questions for candidates can be submitted to storyideas@wmur.com Be sure to specify in the subject like that you are submitting questions for the Republican Debate.

PBS News Hour will be hosting a Democratic candidate debate on February 11th. Nick Massella is the Director of Audience Engagement and Communications at News Hour and can be reached at nmassella@newshour.org.

 

Are You “Matronizing” Your Students?

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CaptureMy son was complaining about his teacher the other day and said “She’s always patronizing me!” I guess those vocabulary study sheets really do work. When I pressed my child further to describe his experience with his teacher, he confirmed that she often speaks to him as though he doesn’t know anything, she doesn’t give him time to figure a thing out before providing an answer and generally has a lot of advice for him about how he should be doing things.  Mind you, I was a bit glad to let the teacher take this heat for a while as these are often complaints lodged at me as well.

My first instinct was to come to the teacher’s defense while still somehow making my child feel better.  “Oh honey, she probably just wants to make sure you understand so you’ll do well in the class.  I’ll talk to her tomorrow and let her know you were upset.”

By this time my child was long gone.  He had tuned me out completely and I might as well have been talking to the fish tank.  In trying to smooth over his experience of frustration had I, in fact, “matronized” him?

The teacher and I had both missed the chance to related to my child through his own experiences, instead we were driven by our own desires to advise (in her case) or comfort (in mine).  And in these efforts, we unwittingly created distance between ourselves and my child.    Research suggests that we learn best when we feel validated and supported enough to take risks and engage in challenging activities.  We are best able to feel that support through relating to others, through feeling heard and seen.

Imagine a long pole.  At one end is patronizing behavior – behavior that puts the student down, establishes teacher as expert, student as less than.  At the other might be ‘matronizing’, behavior that enables helplessness, that coddles and prevents the child from learning to tolerate difficult feelings.  This behavior can result in the child feeling helpless or can diminish the child’s ability to take personal responsibility for his thoughts, feelings and actions.  Somewhere in the middle is behavior that acknowledges the child’s experience without solving, that says “I hear you. That’s tough.  What might you want to do about that?”

To use classroom experiences, direct instruction might be at the patronizing end of the continuum.  Teacher and students are handed down information which is not to be questioned or altered.  The script, the worksheet, and therefore, the teacher are ‘right’, and by default, any student not meeting the expectations is wrong.  At the other end of the spectrum one might argue that invented spelling and participation trophies send the message that the student is always ‘right’, that there is little need for self-evaluation and improvement. Neither end empowers the student to become more aware of his own strengths and areas for growth.

So do you ‘matronize’ your students?  If you say yes to 3 or more of these questions, you might be compromising a closer relationship with your students and providing them less of a chance to become independent, capable learners.

  1. I never let a student know if I am displeased with their work.
  2. I make certain every student gets a sticker or a star every day. I wouldn’t want anyone to feel left out.
  3. I am quick to redirect a student’s frustration or anger.
  4. I am uncomfortable if a student expresses sadness during class.
  5. When a student says “I’m stupid”, I’m quick to say ‘No you’re not!’.

Key to quiz answers:

  1. Children can learn to make changes to study habits and behavior when a teacher is clear about what is acceptable and what is not, especially when the criticism is not directed at the student’s character or sense of self.
  2. Universal approval may make students feel better in the short run, but can make it difficult for the student to understand where they need to improve. Approval appears to be subjective and based on the teacher’s grace, perhaps outside of the student’s ability to obtain.
  3. Frustration and anger are often indicators that a student has reached an area for growth. When taught to tolerate frustration, a student can learn to push through difficulties and master new skills.
  4. Sadness is another emotion that students must learn to tolerate. If they are too quickly soothed or redirected, each new disappointment can feel just as difficult to bear.
  5. Honoring a child’s experience can help them to gain more perspective. When a child says “I’m stupid”, offering “Something feels difficult to you right now and you’re feeling bad about yourself for struggling with it” allows the student to notice their thought patterns and consider alternatives.

The New Year: A Road Paved with Good Intentions

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roadOne week back to school.  The talk in the teachers’ lounge turns to New Year’s Resolutions.

Suzanne:  This time I’m really going to do it.  No more junk food, and no more extra weight.  I’m also resolving not to take so much work home with me every weekend.  I have to get a better work/life balance.

Celine: I hear you.  I’m hoping for a healthy year too and looking forward to creating some special memories with my son. He is 5 already! I have set an intention to make healthy choices and slow down when I’m with my son.

Suzanne:  I do this every year.  But this time it’s going to be different.  I want to lose 20 pounds and work out three or four times a week so I can be the size I was when we first got married.  I have a high school reunion this year and I want to be able to hold my own with my classmates.

Suzanne has set some firm resolutions for herself.  She has identified what she wants to change and has a plan for how she’ll make it happen.  Celine, at first glance, doesn’t seem to be as focused.  So who’s more likely to see the changes she hopes for in the new year?

Let’s take a closer look at what’s happening.  Suzanne is focused on what she sees as problems she wants to fix.  She knows a lot about what she doesn’t want and some idea of where she hopes to be – 20 pounds lighter and perhaps not grading papers on the weekend.  So she’s holding two sets of information in her head at one time, what she wants to leave behind and where she hopes to be, or, what exists in the past and what might exist in the future.  Celine also has a vision for what she hopes for in the coming year.  Because she hasn’t started from a place of fixing a problem her attention is focused on the change she hopes to experience.

So who’s more likely to be successful?   Suzanne has a specific number of pounds she wants to shed, so she can easily measure when she’s a quarter of the way there, a half, etc. Celine’s goal to be healthier in the coming year seems to lack a measurable outcome.  What constitutes greater health?  How will she know she’s on track?

Imagine we’re back in the lounge a couple months later.  Suzanne is picking the cheese off a piece of pizza some parent has provided for the staff.

Suzanne:  I know I shouldn’t have this.  In fact, I don’t know who I think I’m kidding, I’m going to eat the crust anyway.  I am so bad at dieting! I lost 7 pounds in January, but I put them all right back and then some!  It’s all the stress of this job.  It just gets to me. How about your ‘intentions’?  How do you work on those with all these tests to mark?

Celine:  It really is tough.  I hate when I have papers to grade at night.  My son and I have a little game we’ve been playing lately when I bring work home.  He puts on my old reading glasses, gets out his coloring book and starts circling the words and letters.  Then he writes A++++ and laughs and laughs!! It helps make the work seem less intrusive.   I also tend to eat a little more during exam season.  I’ve been trying out new healthy recipes, though and the family seems to approve.

The challenge Suzanne is having is that she is not trying so much to BE something, rather she is trying NOT to be what she currently is.  All of her attention is focused on what she doesn’t want.  Our actions tend to move in the direction of our focus.  Think of the Pink Elephant experiment.  If I tell you that for the next three minutes you must NOT think of a Pink Elephant, that pachyderm is going to creep right into your thoughts – if even to note that you are most definitely not thinking of it.

Celine’s intentions allow her to imagine and hope for changes. Her energy is future focused and the desire is present for her in her daily routines including preparing meals.  She hasn’t stopped taking work home, but her intent to make memories with her son has shaped how she meets that demand.

What is likely to happen in December?  Suzanne may or may not have been able to shed the pounds.  If she has lost anything less than the 20 she resolved to lose, she is likely to count this as a failure.  She may feel resentful of the work she is still bringing home, possibly increasing how out of balance her work and life feel.  If she stays mindful of her intention, Celine will make moment to moment choices throughout the year that are directly related to the change she wants to see.  As she sits to write her lesson plans, she is aware of her intent to create memories with her son and actively looks for ways to attend to him and incorporate him into what she’s doing. Her intention becomes a force of energy rather than a chore or obstacle and is likely to lead to a more sustainable change long term.

So what intentions do you plan to set for the coming year?

That Time Trump Ran for Student Council

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sm_rooster_freeThe students filed into the cafeteria to hear the candidates’ speeches.  In an hour they would be casting their votes for student council president.  The two opponents took the stage.  The outgoing president gave the instructions:

“You each have two minutes to state your platform.  Let us know what makes you an ideal candidate for the job.  Afterwards you will each take up to three questions from the audience.  Candidate One, your time starts now.”

CANDIDATE 1: “Well, you all know my IQ is one of the highest.  Please don’t feel stupid, it’s not your fault. Our student leaders are stupid. I have to say, if I were in charge of the nominations, I’d have looked right into that fat, ugly face of my opponent and said ‘you’re fired’.  I mean, would any of you vote for that? Can you imagine that face as our next student council president?”

“Uh, that’s time, Candidate 1. I’m going to stop you right there.  Candidate 2, can you please address the student body with what you hope to offer our school with your leadership?”

CANDIDATE 2: “Thank you, Madame President. Before I do that I’d like to address my opponent’s claims.  I am really shocked to see such a massive hairdo.  Did you all notice it today? It is massive. But I digress.  Clearly we have a problem with school resources.  I believe we can solve this by requiring all low-income students to wear badges so that we don’t inadvertently give them supplies meant for our gifted program.  At least until we can sort all of this budget shortage stuff out.”

Note: No actual high school students were harmed in the creation of this piece. These are, however, direct quotes from some of this year’s presidential hopeful candidates.  It is sometimes hard to imagine why candidates would find this kind of bullying to be an effective way of exciting the electorate.

Strong rhetoric, like that currently making up the debates, stimulates the part of our brains that respond to fear and passion, the limbic system.  When the limbic system is activated it hijacks the rest of the brain, cutting off access to the cortex and slows our ability to use reason and judgment.

As we come to equate this kind of bullying with strong leadership, we can consider where else in our lives we are likely to substitute passion for the critical thinking skills we know are necessary for learning and growth to occur.  Consider the supervisor who ‘sets an example’ by punishing a staff person’s error; the teacher who shames misbehaving students and the relationship that is drama filled and exciting, but lacks deeper intimacy.

In the months since the campaign season began we have seen increased intolerance for diversity and strong divisions along candidate and party lines as people dig in their heels to defend their own ideas.  The very concept of dialogue is seen as spineless and weak – candidates who suggest compromise find themselves quickly out of the running.

In our November 23rd posting we discussed the concept of Constructive Differencing, wherein our differences become a tool for expanding our sense of self and of the world.  When our leaders encourage us to embrace differences and challenge us towards greater understanding of one another, we become more flexible, agile and able to adapt to change.  If we allow fear and aggression to drive our decision making, we may just end up with the leaders, schools and relationships we deserve.