Encouraging students to try hard things and make mistakes

Alexander Russo at This Week in Education points to a New York Times piece on how people process mistakes and their own sense of success or failure.

“Studies with children and adults show that a large percentage cannot tolerate mistakes or setbacks,” [Prof. Carol Dweck] said. In particular, those who believe that intelligence is fixed and cannot change tend to avoid taking chances that may lead to errors.

Often parents and teachers unwittingly encourage this mind-set by praising children for being smart rather than for trying hard or struggling with the process.

For example, in a study that Professor Dweck and her researchers did with 400 fifth graders, half were randomly praised as being “really smart” for doing well on a test; the others were praised for their effort.

Then they were given two tasks to choose from: an easy one that they would learn little from but do well, or a more challenging one that might be more interesting but induce more mistakes.

The majority of those praised for being smart chose the simple task, while 90 percent of those commended for trying hard selected the more difficult one.

In the comments on the TWIE piece, Teacher Leaders Network‘s John Norton links to a related piece by a TLN teacher talking about how he encourages his students to “do hard things.” Some of his suggestions:

- Use portfolios to help them see progress
- Use rubrics to help them clearly understand expectations
- Model high quality work.

Meanwhile, in the TEN discussion forum, lapstrauss, a new teacher, is struggling to get her students to try hard things and be invested in their own learning:

My kids are not used to thinking.  They are more comfortable with book work.  They want points to be associated with everything that they do.

Have advice for her?  Click here.  (Don’t forget to log in).

Labels: Conversations

Golden Apple Awards - Nomination Deadline Extended!

Know an amazing teacher in grades 4-8 in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, or Will County?  We are accepting nominations for the 2008 Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching until December 28!  Ten award winners will receive a paid sabbatical to study tuition-free at Northwestern University, a laptop computer, $3,000, induction into the Golden Apple Academy of Educatiors, and recognition on a 1-hour WTTW TV special in September.

Here’s the nomination form and more information on the Golden Apple Awards.

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A global perspective on arts in education

2007 Golden Apple Fellow Melinda Wilson, who teaches dance at Curie High School in Chicago, recently returned from a visit to El Salvador.  She spent her time there at Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos International (NPH), an orphanage in Santa Ana.

She learned some very surprising and inspiring things about education at NPH from a 14-year-old resident named Carlos:

During lunch, he sat right next to me and began telling me about himself.  He was personable, friendly, educated and happy.  “I’ve got pants, a shirt and shoes,” he says pointing to them.  “But most of all I’m getting a good education!” Carlos beamed.

NPH children have access to counselors, physicians, psychiatrists, a priest and teachers.  Dormitories are abundant with bunk beds and lockers for each child to store their belongings.  There is even a play area for the younger children complete with swings, climbing apparatus’, a pet rabbit, slides, a teeter-totter and two merry-go-rounds.  The kitchen and eating areas are large, clean and bright.

The children were especially proud to take us on a tour of their school.  The level of education at NPH surpasses state standards in El Salvador by going beyond basic curriculum and introducing all students to trades such as wood shop, sewing, computer technology and culinary arts.  NPH orphanages believe in the power of the arts and all students participate in dance, music, and the visual arts.

A recent op-ed piece in the Boston Globe highlights why American schools should be as strongly committed to arts education as this remarkable orphanage.

We don’t need the arts in our schools to raise mathematical and verbal skills - we already target these in math and language arts. We need the arts because in addition to introducing students to aesthetic appreciation, they teach…vital modes of seeing, imagining, inventing, and thinking.

I often hear that No Child Left Behind has caused schools to back away from arts programming.  Has that been your experience?  How have you responded?

[Check back soon for a link to a longer account of Melinda’s trip to El Salvador!]

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Moment of Silence, Redux

An update on the mandatory moment of silence approved by the state legislature back in October…

First, in late October, atheist activist Rob Sherman and his 14-year-old daughter filed a lawsuit in US District Court challenging the law’s constitutionality and seeking an injunction to stop it in District 214 (Buffalo Grove).

Yesterday, a District Court judge ruled in his favor, calling the law “likely unconstitutional,” vague, and unenforceable. The judge’s ruling yesterday only covers District 214, but he can (and likely will) decide to extend it statewide.

Meanwhile, Evanston-Skokie School District 65 tested the law’s enforceability last week, announcing that they would simply ignore the law. Hear State Rep. Jeff Schoenberg discuss why he’s encouraging other schools in his district to challenge the law in an interview on WBEZ’s Eight Forty-Eight.

Also on Eight Forty-Eight, this adorable Curie Youth Radio piece, in which Curie HS students discuss what they’d be thinking during the moment of silence.

Classroom teachers, is this issue still on your radar? Are you implementing this?  How’s it going?

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A radical proposal for mathematics

Debbie Meiers, within a larger argument against the idea of a national curriculum, made a drastic proposal for changing math education in America in her blog recently:

The public’s much-criticized lack of interest in advanced math may, in fact, betray their good sense, not their bad. Calculus-driven math may be foolish-driven math, that mis-prepares us, leaving us disarmed before the realities of our world. Perhaps a “statistics-driven” math would be equally tough and “advanced” but more suitable for a democratic citizenry?

She’s no advanced math teacher, and neither am I.  So let me pose her question to those of you who are: is it time for a radical re-imagining of the mathematics curriculum? If you were in charge, what would it look like?

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Conferences, parents, and planning for next year

Now that you’ve gotten through the (pick one or more: great, fun, terrifying, stressful, enlightening, confusing) experience of parent-teacher conferences for another year, it’s the perfect time to share some reflections and suggestions for next year.  We’ve already got a discussion going on this topic, with several suggestions from Golden Apple Fellows.  Click HERE to enter the discussion. (You’ll need to log in to comment).

For another set of perspectives, check out the District 299 blog, where parents and teachers are sharing their experiences.

This Teacher Magazine article highlights some new strategies districts are trying to make conferences more meaningful, including providing childcare and translation services to make it easier for parents to attend.

The Teacher Leaders Network brings up the more general topic of how to engage parents.  You know...I bet we could have a great TEN discussion on parent engagement… Feel free to comment on this blog post or start a new discussion in the forum!

Labels: Conversations

2007 ISAT Stories

The 2007 ISAT results are out, and with them a raft of front-page newspaper stories. Some themes:

I. Schools that Work
The Chicago Tribune and Sun Times each highlight two schools that are showing great results.  The Trib visits Finkl and Calhoun in Chicago and the Sun Times focuses on Smyser in Chicago and Willard in Evanston.

The articles highlighted both structural elements and teaching strategies that helped these schools succeed.  Among them:

- Coherent literacy and math curricula, aligned across the school, with professional development and coaching.
- A principal who hires committed staff.
- Staff who are available “at all hours” and even make home visits.
- Before and after school enrichment; sometimes even Saturday classes.
- Positive behavior reinforcement.
- Personalized support plans for struggling students.
- Frequent walk-throughs by the principal--sometimes with teachers, too.

Another interesting element: the Trib article pointed out that Finkl has had the same administrative team for seven years, with the former principal able to hand the reins to her trusted AP.  We hear a lot of stories about the terrible impact of teacher turnover...but not so many about principal turnover.  It’s nice to see administrative continuity highlighted as a key element of school success.

II. Various Achievement Gaps
The Trib reports that girls are outpacing boys on state tests, in one case by as much as 18%.  This is across the board, including math, not just in reading/writing as had previously been the case.

As usual the statistics are not as clear as they seem at first.  The PSAE does not show the same trend, and neither do IL student performances on other national tests.  So, like many stories about IL results on the ISAT, this one comes back to the many tweaks that have been made to the test in the last few years.  Is it possible that the changes have made the tests more aligned with girls’ learning styles?

The Sun Times focuses on the gap between scores at selective enrollment schools vs. neighborhood schools. This was mirrored in an increasing gap between white and minority student performance on state tests.

Minority student achievement is generally increasing, sometimes significantly.  But white student achievement, in CPS, primarily in selective schools, is increasing much faster.  Is this because these schools are doing a far better job educating these kids?  Maybe. But it also has something to do with the fact that selective enrollment schools are now so prestigious that they are drawing more already-successful middle class white students in from private, parochial, and suburban schools. 

Both of these stories affirmed something I’ve always felt about the way the powers that be use test scores: it doesn’t make much sense.  Want to use test data to see if schools are working?  Trace the same kids over time. The current system produces data with such a high vulnerability to demographic shifts and test tweaks that I struggle to find it compelling.

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