Mastery

!!!!!DISCLAIMER!!!!!

I am sorry to have to do it but this post is not a informative, instructional post. It is a rant. If you are here to learn how to use the internet and technology, good. But ignore this post. If you are interested in reading the opinion of somebody who is completely and utterly right then read on. 

Definition of Mastery

great skillfulness and knowledge of some subject or activity
(wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)


Very great skill or knowledge
(World Book Dictionary)


Possession or display of great skill or knowledge
(Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary)


Great skill, expert knowledge
(Gage Canadian Dictionary)


Can do the skill, twice.
(the standard teacher's definition)




Anybody see a problem?  As teachers we throw the word mastery around like a dirty dishrag at a community supper.  "Yes, they have mastered the skill."  Has the student?  Or can they merely do the skill (at least we have seen them do it - twice if we are good teachers).  We use the term way too loosely.  Is this just another symptom in our declining expectations?  Master means that they have amazing skill and or knowledge.  Wayne Gretzky mastered hockey.  Arnold Palmer mastered golf.  Steven Spielberg  mastered moviemaking.  A concert soloist has mastered their music.  Any olympic athlete has mastered their sport.  Many of my university professors mastered their content area (some even learned how to teach it).


Malcom Gladwell talks about mastery in his book Outliers.  "10,000 hours is the magic number of greatness."  That is how long it takes to truly achieve mastery.  In studies that ranged from musicians, to professional hockey players, to amazing computer programmers, the common factor was that they ALL worked for roughly 10,000 hours before becoming very good, before achieving mastery.  Skill is not what made them great - skill and working much, much harder than everyone else made them masters.


And here we go as teachers using the word.  We have watered it down and ruined it.  I don't even want to say it again.  It has become meaningless.  How many of our students have spent those kind of hours on any skill we teach them?  A student with perfect attendance would take until grade 11 to reach 10,000 hours of school (not counting homework).  Without a heck of a lot of homework do you really think they can achieve the M-word in any subject area?  


I have already heard the argument "But they have achieved mastery for their level."  (Yes I have gone off on this rant before.)  Really?  Have they?  Are they great?  Are they showing expert knowledge?  Or can they merely do it consistently.  I can drive down the road and consistently stay between the ditches.  Have I mastered driving?  No, I am merely good enough.  


And when has good enough ever been good enough?

My Students are Screwed!

My students are screwed. They have been from long before they walked through my classroom doors.

I am sure that you are all wondering what the heck I am talking about. Patience. I will get to it - but first you need some background knowledge.

Lets start with Malcome Gladwell's book Outliers. Read it. It rocks - and it will make you look at amazing people like Wayne Gretzky and Bill Gates a little bit differently. Haven't read it? Not going to get to it soon? Ok - here is the basic information that pertains to what I am talking about.

In Outliers there is a chapter about mathematics - more specifically about how Asian students tend to do better in math. Gladwell says that there are two main factors that explain the test scores. He calls them cultural legacy. The first is that numbers are handled differently in most Asian languages. They make more sense. If I were to have a race a Chinese person in counting to a hundred (in our own languages) they would win almost every time. It is just the structure of the language. The second factor (and more important factor) is the fact that a large percentage of Asians come from a rice farming background. Rice farming is VERY labor intensive. Successful rice farmers work much harder and much longer than other types of farmers. Asian students have grown up in that type of environment. They learned how to work very hard. They grew up with a cultural legacy of hard work. (Every single successful outlier in Gladwell's book worked very hard to get where they were.) Gladwell explained that mathematics is easier when the language makes better sense - and when you work hard towards a solution (No surprise there!).

So how are my students screwed? All of my students are First Nations. (Ok maybe 2 aren't - but the rest definately are.) What cultural legacy has been left to them? Thanks to a wonderful system of government handouts many of them come from an environment where they don't have to work. They will be provided for if they choose to not work at all. (Keep in mind that only a pittance is provided - I realize it is not an easy life or a good life.) If you go back before Europeans were in the picture that was not the case - but wasn't that too many generations ago for it to truly be a huge part of many of their cultural legacy? Also keep in mind that this is a generalization and does not apply to everybody. I have students that I would be willing to hire outside of school because they are hard workers. The point I am trying to make is that my students have to fight a very uphill battle in order to succeed in math (and I never even touched on language issues!). They have to fight that battle because of where they grew up and what they saw around them.

So what do I do about it? No, what am I failing to do about it? - because that is what is happening. My students are failing - which means that I am failing because I have failed to do enough about their new cultural legacy. One more time - (and yes I am begging for help here) - what can I do about it?

Opening the GATES to Education?

Bill Gates - he's maybe not the evil megalomaniac that he gets made out to be.  This guy is actually pretty smart.  Watch his TED talk.  The first half is about mosquitos and malaria.  It is ok (especially the part where he releases live mosquitos into the audience) - but then quickly get to the good part - the part about the education system.  (Well the American education system anyways).  I don't agree with everything that he says but his message is definately worth listening to.  He approaches education from a slightly corporate mindset.  While initially I find that disturbing I have to think about it.  He is the key part of a highly successful and innovative company (despite what the Apple propaganda wants you to believe.)  He knows how to succeed and he knows how to effect change.  He IS worth listening to.

Bill Gates does push the current bandwagon - data and assessment.  His message about it is different though.  Don't use the data to identify who is weak and what teachers are terrible - use it to celebrate those that are good.  Put them up as examples and say - "Here is a good teacher - his/her students learn more over the course of the year.  Learn from this teacher."

He also talks about KIPP schools (Bill Gates likes them - no that does not make them evil).  If you have never heard of KIPP schools then you should read up on them too.

Watch it.  Listen with an open mind.  As I said before - he IS worth listening to.

You Betcha I want to say Yes!

Dan Meyer of dy/dan fame picked up one of my rants a while back.  I just found it now.  Here is what he said:

Just Say Yes?

Gary Ball, edtechnophile:

I want to be a Yes Man. I want to be a Lets Find a Way Man. I want my job to be finding ways to say yes to educators requests. Educator: "Can I do/have (insert random skill/technology/tool)?" Me: "Heck ya - that sounds awesome. I am not sure how but lets find a way!"

Mark Weston, Dell's educational strategist:

Asking the question, "Does technology improve student learning?" is the wrong question. The question should be, "Does technology support the practices that improve student learning?"

After reading the comments and thinking about it for a while I wrote this reply.  I figured that I should share it here.

Dean Shareski has the essence of what the post was actually about. You are quoting me a bit out of context.

No division could afford to keep me (or any good teacher) fully stocked up with all of my (our) whims. There has to be some sort of system of checks and balances to see that funds are truly spent on technology that supports students learning (and the practices that improve it). However I was not ranting about whims. Any conversation that starts out with a NO probably won’t get far. I want to be heard out and considered before I get a no (and please leave out the capital letters and the exclamation mark).

Innovation and creativity (which we need more of) sometimes involves picking up something new and asking “What can I do with this?” It involves playing with the new shiny thing and finding interesting ways it is useful.

I do agree that we need to have the conversation about how things will improve or support student learning. Anything that does not in some way improve student learning is money wasted. I don’t advocate blindly saying yes. I do advocate for innovation, creativity, and the conversations that should come with them.

As I have said before - I enjoy when people disagree with me or challenge me (as long as they do it intelligently.)

Related Posts

I Want a New Job

The Saddest Sound in the World

Online Video Statistics

The average canadian watches over 605 minutes of online video every month.

That is what I heard on CBC Radio today on my drive in to work.  We watch an average of 10 hours a month.  Here is a link to some of the stats that they are quoting.  We are the top country for the amount of online video watched.  (The radio host figured it might have something to do with winter.)

Now you tell me we shouldn't be using this for and in education.

You tell me that we should be blocking these sites.

You tell me that we can't afford the bandwidth to use these tools.

Then get out of the way of my bus.

Photo Credit  http://www.flickr.com/photos/wheany/2233392126/

The Saddest Sound in the World

What is the saddest sound in the world?

A teacher excited about a new idea/ tool/ pedagogy having to ask "Are we allowed to use that?" (In other words "Is this blocked?")

A little tear rolled down.....
True story. Honest.

The Business of School

School is a business.  We are selling education to our students.  How do we get them to buy what we are selling?  What price are they willing to pay?  Attendance?  Homework?  Emotional involvement?  What price are their parents willing to pay?  Time?  Involvement?  Risk?  Money?  What price is our community willing to pay? 

Finally, what are we teachers willing to pay to sell our product?  Are we willing to pay the price in time and personal commitment?

In his blog marketing guru Seth Godin wrote that in order to sell you need:

1. A group of possible customers you can identify and reach.
2. A group with a problem they want to solve using your solution.
3. A group with the desire and ability to spend money to solve that problem.

Well lets look at those three things.

#1 - We have them in our classrooms.  The law says that they have to be there.  All we have to do is reach them.

#2 - Here is a little bigger problem.  Do they see us as a solution to their problems?  Are we relevant enough?

#3 - Are they willing to pay the price for education?  Or do they have something else going on in their life that makes school impossible?

It is interesting to look at our jobs through a different lens.

Buddhist Fisherman

How does a Buddhist fishermen justify his job? "They are saving the
fish from drowning, unfortunately it happens to die in the process."
Amy Tan.

There has been a lot of buzz going around the blogoshere about about
how our educational system is killing creativity. In the act of giving
the students an education their creativity just happens to die in the
process. (Well not always but way to often.) Damn, we are Buddhist
fishermen.

** Update **

This post was made from my iPod Touch so I was unable to add links. One of the articles I was talking about was this one from Ewan McIntosh.

Time, Innovation, and Open Ended Learning

I just got off the phone with a colleague. He is participating in an e-Journalism project and just finished a PD day for it. He loved the way that he was given time to play. He said that we would all be using the new web 2.0 tools if we just were given the time to learn them. He had a good point. Why are we only expected to innovate on our own time. When are we given paid time to learn and develop new things? (Conference doesn't quite cut it.) A conference is a great place to dip our toes into the water but then we need to time to go back to school and try it.

My colleague also raised another good point. He learned a huge amount at his PD day. And the learning was structured absolutely nothing like his classroom (or most of our classrooms for that matter). Play time to pursue learning. Learning in the direction you choose. Self directed learning (to use the jargon). I think he is at home right now thinking about how to restructure his classes.

I had a similar discussion with a couple of colleague's after a recent PD. A session were we were being instructed in how to "control the flow of information. " A direct quote. Not kidding. Our classrooms are killing creativity. We are not building lifelong learners. The structure is the problem. The control is the problem. Lets get the heck out of the way of student learning.

Damn, I hope that they don't make me try and innovate too. I just don't have the time.

Photo by Thomas Hawk Used under a Creative Commons License.

How to Engineer an Objective Pedagogy

We know that the internet is a great way to enhance classroom-based living documents. It can also be used to leverage top-down interfaces. Good teachers use it to utilize peer-based networks. Others use it to implement holistic higher order thinking. Going online helps us engage compelling learning and deploy mastery focused strategies. We can easily expedite an overarching pedagogy and enhance critical content. I mean it never hurts to strategize performance based systems and extend bottom up pedagogy.



Others (like me) use the internet to randomly generate proffessional sounding jargon. The Educational Jargon Generator is a wonderful tool. Since most of us will need to be getting our second semester year plans in soon I thought I would help you all out. Someplace I read that this website had been successfully used to write grant proposals.



I have to share a story about the benefits of having Google (and this website) in your pocket. In a recent staff meeting a couple of collegues were presenting about a conference they had recently been at about Differentiated Instruction. One activity they had us do was list a bunch of terms that described Differentiated Instruction. I pulled out my IPod Touch and ran the Educational Jargon Generator. "That is exactly what DI is all about" was the response to my randomly generated words. (If you were one of the presenters and are reading this blog I owe you an apology for pulling one over on you. If you don't read this then no apology for you!)


Use this tool wisely and don't tell the administrators in your life.


.............and remember - it's same fertile growing medium, just a different bovine.

Quick, Stop Them! - THEY'RE READING SHAKESPEARE!!!!

I have been following P. Fjeldstrom and Luseland School's work at developing a student internet use policy. Let me quote section 5 of their second draft.

5. Any websites containing the following information listed below is forbidden. Any students caught on websites containing any of this information without direct teacher supervision will be have their computer privileges removed. Items used in research for information in reports, essays, etc. are only acceptable if being viewed under direct teacher supervision.

i. Violence (guns, killing, injuring, punching, kicking, etc.)

ii. Alcohol abuse

iii. Sexual content

iv. Drug abuse

v. Manipulation

vi. Profanity (swearing)

vii. Harming of others/themselves

First let me point out that this part is complete enough to be the core of an acceptable use policy. Add some consequences and then you are good to go. Good work Luseland.

Now wait a minute. How many books in our libraries would pass these restrictions? (This comes from a conversation I had with my Principal). The great bard himself (Shakespeare) includes lots of i) murder and war, ii)public drunkeness, iii) incest and lewdness, iv) reference to drug use, v) tons of manipulation (the three witches in Macbeth), vi) swearing (ok maybe today this one is a stretch), and vii)suicide (harming yourself). Heaven forbid that one of our students should actually try and check one of his books out of the library! The moral implications are endless!

Really. When is the last time you read a book that did not break any of these restrictions?

I have said it before and I will say it again, I wonder if they had any of these problems when the ballpoint pen was first introduced?

A Vision of Students Today

This is a short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University.

Umm, how many of us are old school teachers. Come on admit it (as I sheepishly raise my hand). Are we really giving students what they need? Do you hate the question "Why do we need to learn this?" Am I delivering content in the most appropriate way? Is it the right content?

(sarcasm)

Bah, what am I thinking. Since I am always right my methods must always be right. These students just don't know what they need to know. No need to change how things are done.

(/sarcasm)