Are You an Education Editor or Critic?

I was listening to the song, "Story of your Life" by Five for Fighting, on my way to work today. As I pondered the lyrics of the song, I started to wonder what role editors and critics play in the lives of those who are writing the stories of the lives. We have those who criticize our stories (CRITICS) and those who help shape our lives (EDITORS).

In education, we have millions of students who are writing the stories of their lives, and we must decide if we will be their editors or their critics. Before we make a decision, we need to decide which role we play in the lives of children.

What are editors, critics and the similarities and differences between the two?

Editors are people who edit material for publication. They take rough drafts and turn them into final products. In education, editors take students as they are, see opportunities for improvement and take specific steps to help students realize their potential. They help students identify the errors that they continue to make and work with the student to turn mistakes into opportunities for growth.

Critics are people who judge, evaluate, or analyze works. They also tend to readily make trivial, or harsh judgments. In short they are faultfinders. In the school, critics blame students for not having the ability, work ethic, background or experiences to be academically successful. They see students' mistakes and shortcomings as reasons that the student are not growing.  In short they only see limitations.

Editor & Critic Similarities

These two people are similar in that they both discover areas of weakness or errors. They are both detail oriented and can see things that authors can't possibly see. Educators must be able to identify weaknesses and errors in students' learning. They must be knowledgeable in the content that they are expected to evaluate. What they do with their findings is what separates them apart.

Differences

The major difference between the editor and the critic is their commitment to the author.

Editors make stories better. Because they have an emotional investment in the author, they possess a deep commitment to see the author's story become a classic. Education editors also have a deep investment in the student. They are committed to seeing all students succeed, and all of their efforts reflect that moral obligation.

Critics can criticize a piece of work and walk away. It's easy to be a critic because he has no emotional investment in the author. In education, critics are more self-serving than editors. They are more concerned with the level of performance students are expected to meet rather than helping students grow to that same expected level of performance. Critics are more focused on their own reputation as an educator than the student's potential to learn, and as a result, student success is optional in a critic's classroom.

So which are you?

Like I said earlier, it is easier to be a critic than an editor. It is easy to find fault and then walk away. It is much more difficult to see the diamond in the rough and do whatever it takes to bring out the diamond's luster.

Millions of kids are in classrooms. Each day, they write another page in the story of their life.  Some pages are epic and some pages hardly have a word on them.  So we have a choice. Will we support each author by helping them edit each page that they write, or will we waste their time, and ultimately ours as well,  critiquing every single word that they write?

If you think about it, education already has enough critics from the news media to the legislatures and every place in between.  Schools don't need another critic, especially coming from within schools.  We need more editors to turn stories into novels.  So we have a choice.  We can either criticize and walk away or we can engage in the tedious task of guidance and influence.  The choice is ours. 

I prefer to be an editor. It is harder but worth it.

March Motivation - Hidden Hero

March is the time of year where motivation wanes and frustration abounds. Students struggle to see the benefits of their hard work and teachers struggle even more finding ways to inspire kids to work even harder at learning. Over the month of March, I'll share some strategies that our teachers are using to motivate and inspire students to learn.

Hidden Hero is a motivational strategy that focuses on recognizing the hard work of one student to illustrate the work that is expected from all students.

Here's how it works.

Teachers place the name of one student in an envelope and tape the sealed envelope on the board. The envelope has the words HIDDEN HERO written on it. The teacher then describes the learning behaviors that are needed from the Hidden Hero. The teacher then tells the class that if the Hidden Hero does what is expected, the ENTIRE class gets a reward. The power behind this presentation is that no one knows who the Hidden Hero is.

Time to Reveal the Hidden Hero

When it is time to reveal the Hidden Hero, the teacher has to decide if the Hidden Hero's work met the specified criteria that the teacher communicated to the class.

1. If the Hidden Hero performed and earned the reward for the class, the teacher announces "Because this student demonstrated the (list of criteria), the entire class will enjoy the reward of... The name of our Hidden Hero is... Everyone celebrates the hard work of the Hidden Hero and enjoys the reward. This celebration builds self esteem in the Hidden Hero and challenges every other student in the class to step up.

2. Rarely does this happen, but if the Hidden Hero did not perform as expected, the teacher announces, "I'm sorry class.  Our Hidden Hero did not do the following things to earn the class reward (define specific behaviors)". The teacher MUST NEVER reveal the name of the Hidden Hero. Identifying the person who failed to perform would be devastating to the student. In addition, not announcing the Hidden Hero will cause all students to reflect on their own performance and make adjustments for the next opportunity.

Benefits of Hidden Hero

Students will work even harder if they believe there is a possibility that their name is in the envelope. If the Hidden Hero performs, all students develop confidence in themselves and motivation to work at a higher level. Students know that there is a possibility that they may be selected anonymously in the future, and they will begin to prepare for their opportunity to win the reward.

Draw-Back

Rarely does a class fail to earn the reward, but if the Hidden Hero doesn't perform, it is critical that the teacher be prepared to use the failure as a teaching tool for improvement. If students know that this failure is not permanent, and they will have a future opportunity, they will be prepared next time. It all boils down to the manner in which the teacher communicates to the class.

Don't Over-Use this Strategy

Hidden Hero, like any motivational strategy, loses its effectiveness when over-used. Teachers must be strategic in deciding the best time to use the strategy and in selecting the learning behaviors that students must improve upon. Typically, when students are tired of the same old song and dance instructionally, Hidden Hero works best.

It's All about Celebration

Hidden Hero is only as effective as the teacher promoting it. If you want your class to work harder, the teacher must work equally hard in promoting the Hidden Hero concept, the reward to follow, and, most importantly, the work ethic that it takes to be successful.

Last, this is not an elementary strategy. All kids, K-12, are motivated by the Hidden Hero because all kids want to be recognized as the one who earned a reward for the entire class.

Motivation - From Extrinsic to Intrinsic

In order to build intrinsic motivation, we all need extrinsic motivators. Hidden Hero is an extrinsic motivator that when used properly can be referenced by teachers to illustrate to the class and to individual students that they have what it takes to be successful. Intrinsic motivation cannot exist in every kid by itself. Some students need extrinsic motivators to help them develop self-confidence.

Why Education Can't Afford to Pass the Buck

Kicking kids out of school, having them quit or quietly disappear has been a fact of life as long as there has been school.  If the student wouldn't perform, he would be asked or ordered to not return to class or school all together. This response is similar to the business model.  If the employee doesn't show up for work on time, fails to do the work as assigned, is dishonest or refuses to follow directives, he will be fired.  The business model works to teach the employee an important lesson.  If you can't work here, you will need to find work elsewhere.  Employees leave and hopefully learn their lesson as they look for their next job.

While firing employees who fail to perform works in business, this model doesn't necessarily transfer to the education sector.  When a student does what it takes to be fired from school, what lesson is learned?  Where do students go for their next learning opportunity?

The lesson learned is that if the student doesn't conform, he is no longer required to learn essential skills anymore.  He can stay home everyday which is what many struggling students desire to do anyway.  He can transfer to the school of the streets where he can learn skills that will prepare him for a life of crime.  He can go to work at a part-time, minimum wage job which will be the highest level career that he can attain.

 

So in essence, allowing students to fire themselves from school relegates them to a life of poverty or crime. 

Let's look at poverty and crime for a second. 

1. More people are dependent on governmental assistance than ever in our nation's history. 
2. The imprisonment rate is the highest in our nation's history at over 2.5 million prisoners currently locked up in the penitentiary. 
3. Our courts are flooded with criminal cases to the point that it would take 10 years for the courts to try every case that was filed this year. (Yes, that is correct. 10 years to try this year's cases) Judges have no choice but to make plea agreements, so criminals can be punished.
4. Once a person is convicted of a crime, he is virtually unemployable for any middle class career for the rest of his life.
5. The majority of crimes that police officers deal with involve people in poverty.
6. Domestic abuse has a higher chance of occurring in families of poverty than not.
7. Children of poverty come to school more than 2 years behind their affluent counterparts.
8. Children of imprisoned parents have a greater chance of having emotional and social issues than children whose parents are not in the penal system.
9. More children are being raised by grandparents, aunts, uncles and guardians than ever before.
10. It costs $27 to educate a student for one day while it costs $65 to house an inmate in jail for a day.

The effects of poverty and crime are staggering!!!

At some point, these former students gave up on school.  They quit or the school sent them on their way.  While I do not wish to argue the validity of whether these former students were difficult or deserving of consequences or accountability.  I do want to illustrate the point that by removing them from education, education is passing the buck on to the government; hence the taxpayer.  In other words, for every student that fails to be educated, the student and his children become dependents of the nation and its resources.  The student never learns the intended lesson, to be an independent productive member of society. 

We can no longer afford to pass the problem onto someone else.  No one is better equipped to prevent poverty and crime than education. While education is completely overwhelmed, every other governmental agency is overwhelmed as well.  The only way that we can address this issue is to not pass the buck onto someone else but work with the other agencies to hold students and their parents accountable for ensuring that their child is educated. 

Education is the only hope to reduce or possibly end the cycle of poverty and crime.  Educators must know that we are the last line of defense to save children from becoming another statistic of systemic dependence.  We must accept the moral obligation to educate every child and prevent children from choosing a life of poverty and crime.

My final thought is this.  For every buck that we pass onto someone else, it will cost us 10 bucks to deal with it forever.  That is why we can't afford to pass the buck.

iMovie Motivation

The iMovie has been my most favorite app for motivating students. The app creates the opportunity to make great videos, but what I like most about it is the trailer feature. There are 16 trailers to choose from where you can make a personalized, 1 minute, Hollywood caliber clip to motivate every kid in your building.

Last month, we worked to motivate our students to exhibit the best work ethic in class each week. Each Monday, teachers agreed on the targeted learning behavior that they would like to see in all of their kids. They communicated to the students what behaviors they are looking for in class all week long, and the kids knew that on Friday, someone would be selected as the most improved or best in the class.

On Thursday, I created the storyboard for each grade's video. This took me about 5 minutes because I just had to think of less than 20 words to describe the essence of the student behavior of focus on the video. Since I'm on Twitter frequently, this task was rather quick.

On Friday, I took 45 minutes to go to each class to video each kid who was selected by the teacher. The short video clips of each child showed them beside an important anchor chart, in the hall holding their awesome work or making a funny pose. The kids got a big kick out of being pulled from the class by the principal for something as cool as a commercial about learning.

After I completed the video, I saved it to my camera roll and imported it into my Dropbox so I could email the teacher the video link to their school account. On Monday, the teachers showed the video to their class and used it as motivation to work hard so they could make next week's video.

Motivate your kids using a 1-minute iMovie Trailer

Why Can't We Have a Great Day?

This morning I told my daughter to have a great day. After I made this statement, I wondered how many times I have told people to have a great day. Typically when people are in a bad mood or unhappy we tell them this all-too-familiar statement as if it will actually make their day better.

To have means to be in possession of something. It means that a great day already exists and that this person is already entitled to a fantastic day without any effort whatsoever. In my opinion this statement is very self-serving. Are we so special that we are entitled to possess or own an epic day? Are we worthy of deserving an excellent day with putting forth any effort?

Let's Change this Phrase
Seeing as how we do not deserve anything special, let's begin to say "Make a Great Day". We should realize that in order to have a tremendous day, it is our responsibility to make the day stupendous, not someone else's. It starts not with someone serving us but us serving others.

The Challenge
When we see someone in a bad mood, let's not tell them to have a great day. Let's send the message that a marvelous day is not something to be had, but something to be manufactured. The best way to send this message is to model it with our conscious choices and efforts to make the day truly superb.

BTW - I hope you MAKE today a great one.

4 Signs of Progressive Organizations

Signs inform. They guide. They even persuade.

Signs limit. They protect. They even prevent.

When you see a sign, what opinions form in your mind? Do you see the sign as an enabler or disabler? A deeper question to ask is when people enter your organization do they see signs that invite them in or ask them to leave? Do members within the organization see signs that inhibit growth or facilitate creativity?  Even better, are members within your organization signs that encourage or discourage progress toward your vision.

Courtesy of Martin Davis

Here are 4 signs that your organization is progressive

Signs of Location

In every town in the world, there is a sign that announces its name and location. Progressive organizations go beyond emphasizing the school name and the school motto and know that every person in the building serves as a sign that describes the location of the organization and what it stands for. The work displayed and the commitment that each person possesses tells whether the organization is or is not who and where they say they are.

When you enter you building, it is easy to tell if people are focused on serving others or themselves. These signs are clear and understandable by everyone inside and outside of the organization. More importantly, the current location of the organization is not determined by the leader but by the each individual within the organization, and it is defined and redefined through daily interactions.

Signs of Direction

On every street there are arrows directing people where to go to find their destination. Organizations on the move must have signs, both structural and cultural, that announce where the organization is headed on its journey of success. In addition, every member of the organization carries their proverbial sign that directs the campus to or from its intended destination. So often there is a disconnect between where the signs of structure say the organization is headed and where the culture of the organization is actually going. Transformational leaders avoid temptations to paint a rosy picture that all is great and take specific steps to remove signs that are in conflict with the vision of where the organization expects to head.

Signs of Caution

Signs warn of danger ahead. Organizations have communication systems that warn one another if there's a problem that is about to begin. In traditional systems of hierarchy, the leadership mandates what to be cautious of and what not to do, but the reasons often lack clarity and justification. The more transformational the organization is, the more involved all staff are in identifying the potential hazards for others, and the more compelled each member is in warning others.  Progress will move at a faster pace if more people are watching for potential pitfalls and sharing them throughout the building.

Signs of Persuasion and Motivation

There isn't a highway in America without a billboard enticing us to buy something. Transformational organizations have billboards of celebration to spotlight amazing work from staff and students in an effort to illustrate the desired work needed from everyone. This type of sign serves to persuade resistant members to turn around and head in the right direction, and they remind all members that each individual's journey is vital to the success of the group as a whole.

Here's your Sign

At your organization, everyone wears a sign that defines who they are and how their role affects the organization. Some people's signs detract from the focus of the mission by making it all about the importance of the individual. Some signs serve beyond their potential by consistently serving others and promoting the mission of why the organization exists in the first place.

What does your sign say?

The Ultimate Compliment

Last week, I was blessed to watch my son perform in the Texas All State Choir. It was a privilege to watch him perform with the top 1% of all the singers in the state of Texas. My proud papa moment was watching my son follow in my footsteps with his much better musical talents.

#YesI'mBragging

While I was waiting in line to enter the concert, I saw a familiar face, Jimmy. He was a former choir student of mine who was also waiting in line for the concert. He was a freshman when I left the choir room forever for a position in administration. As we caught up, he told me that he became a choir director.  That is always neat when you come across a former student that teaches in the field that you taught him.  You always hope that some of your students will one day teach the subject that you taught.


Later in the evening I received a friend request from Jimmy on Facebook. I accepted him quickly and saw his post on his perception of our meeting from earlier. What came next blew me away.

Words cannot describe the feeling that I have about this post. We all want to know that we have done a good job, even a great job, but there is no better compliment than to be told that the work you have done inspired someone to follow  in your footsteps.

Let me be clear.  This isn't about complimenting a person or blowing up their ego, rather it is much deeper.  The ultimate compliment validates a lifetime of work, commitment and service.  It affirms that all of your effort was worth it and that someone wants to give to others what you gave to them.  That beats any award, plaque or banner that I have ever seen.

As I think back, I can quickly think of 3 people that inspired me to be just like them. I strive to follow in their footsteps and inspire others in the way that they inspired me.  Now, I need to conclude this post so I can pay them the ultimate compliment.

Who do you need to give an ultimate compliment to?