"A lot of scientific evidence suggests that the difference between those who succeed and those who don't is not the brains they were born with, but their approach to life, the messages they receive about their potential, and the opportunities they have to learn." Jo Boaler, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics, Stanford University
My parents were born during the Great Depression and entered their teens during
World War II, In those early years of their young lives, my mom and dad got a firsthand look at sacrifice, struggle, uncertainty and the harsh realities of loss. Certainly these early experiences helped shape who they would become and, in turn, influence how they would raise my brother and me.
One such influence comes from something I can still hear my dad say, way back when I was a kid. I'd be struggling with something, frustrated I couldn't master it and ready to give up. He'd encourage me to press on, try a different approach, or think about it for a bit and try again the next day. He'd say, "You can pay now or pay later, but if you pay later it comes with interest." Somehow, even though I really had no idea what interest was, I got the gist of what he was trying to say and I would persist (with his help, support and encouragement) until I got past whatever barrier had slowed me down in the first place.
All these years later I more fully understand the "pay now or pay later" reference and appreciate how aptly this principle applies to so many aspects of life. One such application is in regard to what many educators now refer to as "productive struggle."
From a quick review of the research, it appears the term "productive struggle" was initially associated with mathematics instruction and the notion that challenging students with material that is neither too easy or difficult, creates just enough dis-equilibrium to foster deeper learning. Productive struggle in mathematics puts a heavier emphasis on the process than the outcome, suggesting that when we push ourselves to accomplish something just beyond our reach, we learn and accomplish far more as a result of having made the journey outside our comfort zone.
In my view, productive struggle is a valuable and powerful tool that should and must be applied beyond the world of mathematics. Productive struggle is the essence of my dad's wise words and acknowledgement that today's challenges, put off until some unknown future time, will most likely become disproportionately more complex, difficult, time consuming and costly. We can all probably think of many applications where knowledge and skill in using this tool could have a dramatic and lasting impact on outcomes for students and ourselves.
One example of productive struggle that comes immediately to my mind, is in regard to special education.
As a student in special education, then later a special education teacher and administrator, I often wondered if our expectations of students with disabilities were sometimes lower than they should have been. Though I never doubt anyone's best intentions when it comes to educating children with disabilities, I often wonder if we (and perhaps the system itself) sometimes devote more time, effort and resources toward accommodating disabilities than helping students learn to compensate for them.
Learning to compensate for a disability is hard and time-consuming work, often with little or no short-term reward. It requires parents, teachers and especially students themselves, to experience much productive struggle in the present (i.e. pay now) in exchange for later having the requisite skills to gain maximum independence and lifelong success. My perspective, after experiencing special education through a variety of lenses and over a lifetime, is that by shielding our students with disabilities from productive struggle in the present, we often force them to encounter more significant challenges later on. When students with disabilities learn to rely on accommodations rather than their ability to compensate, they miss out on acquiring the skills necessary to compete and thrive in an adult world where accommodations may be lacking or nonexistent. By setting consistently high expectations now and creating the conditions for productive struggle, we help students with disabilities avoid the "pay later" scenario, whose interest rate many adults with disabilities will ultimately (and tragically) find to be forever unaffordable.
Whether we apply productive struggle to the education of students with disabilities or any other aspect of life, the concept of "pay now or pay later" necessarily involves trading short-term comfort for a far-off and often blurry destination. Productive struggle is the long game. It requires patience, persistence and endless trial and error. It is often messy and sometimes draws criticism from others, who may not understand or care that paying later means paying more. Productive struggle is a harder road and therefore a path less traveled. It can be tiring, even punishing, and it offers no shortcuts.
Paying now may be harder in the short term, but as Joe Boehler suggests, it is the path to long-term success. Productive struggle can teach us much about ourselves and our potential. It can lead us to opportunities that help shape our lives and the lives of those we teach and love.
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
On Bullying - Part 2
“I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.” Margaret Thatcher
On June 27th I wrote and posted to this blog, “On Bullying - Then and Now.” It is part recollection of my own experiences being bullied as a child and part reflection on the ways in which bullying can and sadly does continue to raise its ugly head into adulthood. To date this post has been viewed over 1,300 times by people from around the world.
A number of readers shared how they found the post helpful, instructive and even inspiring. Some shared their own experiences with bullying and the strategies they’ve found useful in dealing with it. Still others reached out to ask for advice, ideas or guidance in navigating bullying situations themselves or on behalf of their children. As a lifelong learner and teacher, these opportunities to openly and honestly share experiences, perspectives, fears, challenges and triumphs, have been wonderful. I claim no particular expertise in this area, but I am happy and eager to do what I can, even if it may only be to listen and knowingly acknowledge the pain.
Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, my first post on bullying was not well received by all. In fact, it has drawn out of the shadows and into the light, some of the very adult bullying behavior I referenced. The relentless personal attacks against our Board of Trustees, administration, community members and me, have reached a level beyond absurdity, with entire smear blogs and social media campaigns devoted exclusively to the promulgation of narratives that at their best are untrue and at their worst, libelous. Even a couple self-proclaimed journalists joined the bullies’ fray, with their poorly written, ineptly researched and factually inaccurate “news" stories. All of which underscores one of the main points in my original post ...
This is what bullies can and sometimes do when they are called-out and when their power is challenged.
I think there is an important lesson here and it extends far beyond the local histrionics of people who anonymously post their hateful vitriol or hide behind bogus pledges to justify their endless tirades. It is a lesson that everyone who has ever stood-up to a bully, learns the hard way. The lesson is that bullies often fight back and in the process, they say and do whatever it takes to restore the status quo they once enjoyed.
We just witnessed this lesson as it played out on a national stage, over a seat on the highest court in the land. But it also plays out on much smaller stages, in countless ways, in countless places and throughout every generation. In each case, sacrifices are made when bullies are confronted and that is a reality to be thoughtfully weighed and assessed, so the situation is approached with eyes wide open. Call it a "cost-benefit analysis" or whatever you wish, but each of us must decide for her or himself, how much we are willing to tolerate when or if the bully pushes back.
What I've personally endured over the years through various encounters with bullies, pales by comparison to what so many others have experienced, suffered and lost. But the bully's bite, no matter how small, still leaves its mark. From my perspective, it is how we cope with those bites and the marks left behind, that enables us to go on, to thrive and to succeed.
In our case and in the decades-long bullying situation our community has endured, coping with the bites and the marks left behind is accomplished by maintaining focus on all the great work our teachers, staff, leaders, community and students, are doing each and every day. It's accomplished by knowing our community supported and passed a much-needed parcel tax renewal, with a record-breaking majority and only a three-month, grass roots campaign. It's accomplished when one talented, thoughtful and utterly student-centered human runs unopposed for a second term on our Board and another runs unopposed for an open seat. It's accomplished when I watch our teachers being leaders, our leaders being teachers and all of us being students. It's accomplished every time a student demonstrates that he or she understands, not by just getting the right answer, but by understanding why one and often more answers can be right. It's accomplished by knowing we stay the course and continue doing what vast experience, research and data tell us will yield the greatest impact for our students. It's accomplished by having, what Jim Collins famously describes as, "the right people in the right seats on the bus."
Last night I was once again honored by our Board of Trustees, to have my contract extended for a third, three-year term (through June 2023). As I drove home I reflected on what our Board's action means and I believe that it too, reflects how we endure the bullies' bites and the marks left behind. All the cut-and-paste blogs, social media rants and amateurish "news" stories, cannot and will not minimize how far we've come or deter us from where we can now go.
The bullies, as Margaret Thatcher said in the opening quote to this post, "have not a single political argument left."
A number of readers shared how they found the post helpful, instructive and even inspiring. Some shared their own experiences with bullying and the strategies they’ve found useful in dealing with it. Still others reached out to ask for advice, ideas or guidance in navigating bullying situations themselves or on behalf of their children. As a lifelong learner and teacher, these opportunities to openly and honestly share experiences, perspectives, fears, challenges and triumphs, have been wonderful. I claim no particular expertise in this area, but I am happy and eager to do what I can, even if it may only be to listen and knowingly acknowledge the pain.
Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, my first post on bullying was not well received by all. In fact, it has drawn out of the shadows and into the light, some of the very adult bullying behavior I referenced. The relentless personal attacks against our Board of Trustees, administration, community members and me, have reached a level beyond absurdity, with entire smear blogs and social media campaigns devoted exclusively to the promulgation of narratives that at their best are untrue and at their worst, libelous. Even a couple self-proclaimed journalists joined the bullies’ fray, with their poorly written, ineptly researched and factually inaccurate “news" stories. All of which underscores one of the main points in my original post ...
This is what bullies can and sometimes do when they are called-out and when their power is challenged.
I think there is an important lesson here and it extends far beyond the local histrionics of people who anonymously post their hateful vitriol or hide behind bogus pledges to justify their endless tirades. It is a lesson that everyone who has ever stood-up to a bully, learns the hard way. The lesson is that bullies often fight back and in the process, they say and do whatever it takes to restore the status quo they once enjoyed.
We just witnessed this lesson as it played out on a national stage, over a seat on the highest court in the land. But it also plays out on much smaller stages, in countless ways, in countless places and throughout every generation. In each case, sacrifices are made when bullies are confronted and that is a reality to be thoughtfully weighed and assessed, so the situation is approached with eyes wide open. Call it a "cost-benefit analysis" or whatever you wish, but each of us must decide for her or himself, how much we are willing to tolerate when or if the bully pushes back.
What I've personally endured over the years through various encounters with bullies, pales by comparison to what so many others have experienced, suffered and lost. But the bully's bite, no matter how small, still leaves its mark. From my perspective, it is how we cope with those bites and the marks left behind, that enables us to go on, to thrive and to succeed.
In our case and in the decades-long bullying situation our community has endured, coping with the bites and the marks left behind is accomplished by maintaining focus on all the great work our teachers, staff, leaders, community and students, are doing each and every day. It's accomplished by knowing our community supported and passed a much-needed parcel tax renewal, with a record-breaking majority and only a three-month, grass roots campaign. It's accomplished when one talented, thoughtful and utterly student-centered human runs unopposed for a second term on our Board and another runs unopposed for an open seat. It's accomplished when I watch our teachers being leaders, our leaders being teachers and all of us being students. It's accomplished every time a student demonstrates that he or she understands, not by just getting the right answer, but by understanding why one and often more answers can be right. It's accomplished by knowing we stay the course and continue doing what vast experience, research and data tell us will yield the greatest impact for our students. It's accomplished by having, what Jim Collins famously describes as, "the right people in the right seats on the bus."
Last night I was once again honored by our Board of Trustees, to have my contract extended for a third, three-year term (through June 2023). As I drove home I reflected on what our Board's action means and I believe that it too, reflects how we endure the bullies' bites and the marks left behind. All the cut-and-paste blogs, social media rants and amateurish "news" stories, cannot and will not minimize how far we've come or deter us from where we can now go.
The bullies, as Margaret Thatcher said in the opening quote to this post, "have not a single political argument left."
EPILOGUE: I've received a couple of comments regarding the quote I used in this post. Specifically, some have questioned my choice to use a quote by Margaret Thatcher, who some have characterized as herself being a bully. That comment raised my curiosity and I've done some research which leads me to a wondering ..... would people refer to Margaret Thatcher as a "bully" if SHE were a HE? I realize this raises a whole other topic and perhaps a post for another time, but still, I do wonder ...
Friday, August 31, 2018
On Resilience
"Something very beautiful happens to people when their world has fallen apart: a humility, a nobility, a higher intelligence emerges at just the point when our knees hit the floor." Marianne Williamson
A year ago at this time, my knees were about as close to hitting the floor as they've ever been in my life.
My mother was recovering from a recent surgery due to lung cancer and my dad was on his deathbed. I was traveling to and from Southern California every few days to be with them and to help my mom deal with the many things that inevitably come at us when a loved one is about to die. Meanwhile, in RVSD we were busy trying to replace two school administrators who left the district suddenly and without warning, just weeks before students were to arrive. Our entire RVSD team was working full-speed and virtually around the clock to take care of the thousands of details that need to be addressed to successfully open a school year. There were also emails ... so many emails ... with all manner of issues to address, questions to answer and rumors to quell. And of course, the local newspaper and social media were ablaze with the usual ill-informed rants, personal attacks and distractions that have become the background noise of our daily experience.
I'm not complaining and definitely not seeking anyone's sympathy, as I know everyone faces challenges, hard times, disappointments, sadness, loss and pain. Instead, I'm observing, reflecting, and appreciating how resilient we can all be when we have people in our lives to steady and support us when our knees can't.
Some years ago I received a call from a principal who was in tears over the fact that one of her teachers had simply abandoned her position and left all her first graders wondering if somehow it was their fault. The students showed-up for school that day and lined-up as they always did, to wait for their teacher to come and take them to their classroom. The kids waited and waited, while all the other kids and teachers went inside their rooms. Their teacher never came. Finally someone alerted the principal and she came to take the kids into the classroom. Once inside they found the teacher's keys on the desk with a note saying she was quitting and not coming back. There was no warning, no "sign" of a problem and no way to protect a group of six-year-olds from what they all knew had just happened.
That day, and several days afterward was spent helping little knees get up from the floor. Teachers, parents, students, the principal and many of us from the District Office, all pitched-in to help the kids recover, receive needed reassurance and deal with their disappointment, sadness and loss. The students rebounded quickly. Within a few weeks we found and hired a great new teacher, and the students rebounded even more. They ultimately had a great year and many parents later reflected it was the best of their children's entire elementary school experience. Those students taught us all a lesson in the power of resilience through the care and support of others.
In a couple of weeks our calendars will once again turn to "September 11th," a day of unspeakable tragedy, senseless loss and profound pain. All these years later I still cannot comprehend the impact that dark day must continue to have on the lives of all who were so directly touched and irrevocably changed by it. For all of us, but most especially those intimately linked to the events of 9/11, the loss will never go away. Yet through the care, compassion, understanding and helping hands of others, we've all read accounts of how survivors of 9/11 found, incredibly so, a way to get up off their knees.
Resiliency through the support of others, is the path from darkness to the light.
In my case, I have time and again come to see and appreciate that my resilience is an inner strength I could not have found on my own. My wife, daughters and their significant others, grandsons, family, friends and colleagues help me find it. Our incredible RVSD Board of Trustees helps me find it. Our supportive community helps me find it. Our inspiring students help me find it. My mentors and all the special people who helped me on my journey to this place, help me find it.
I don't know if resilience in the face of adversity inspires higher intelligence, nobility or humility, but I do believe resilience is a beautiful thing. Hopefully each of us has others in our lives who can help us find our resilience when we most need it. May we be there for them as well.
A year ago at this time, my knees were about as close to hitting the floor as they've ever been in my life.
My mother was recovering from a recent surgery due to lung cancer and my dad was on his deathbed. I was traveling to and from Southern California every few days to be with them and to help my mom deal with the many things that inevitably come at us when a loved one is about to die. Meanwhile, in RVSD we were busy trying to replace two school administrators who left the district suddenly and without warning, just weeks before students were to arrive. Our entire RVSD team was working full-speed and virtually around the clock to take care of the thousands of details that need to be addressed to successfully open a school year. There were also emails ... so many emails ... with all manner of issues to address, questions to answer and rumors to quell. And of course, the local newspaper and social media were ablaze with the usual ill-informed rants, personal attacks and distractions that have become the background noise of our daily experience.
I'm not complaining and definitely not seeking anyone's sympathy, as I know everyone faces challenges, hard times, disappointments, sadness, loss and pain. Instead, I'm observing, reflecting, and appreciating how resilient we can all be when we have people in our lives to steady and support us when our knees can't.
Some years ago I received a call from a principal who was in tears over the fact that one of her teachers had simply abandoned her position and left all her first graders wondering if somehow it was their fault. The students showed-up for school that day and lined-up as they always did, to wait for their teacher to come and take them to their classroom. The kids waited and waited, while all the other kids and teachers went inside their rooms. Their teacher never came. Finally someone alerted the principal and she came to take the kids into the classroom. Once inside they found the teacher's keys on the desk with a note saying she was quitting and not coming back. There was no warning, no "sign" of a problem and no way to protect a group of six-year-olds from what they all knew had just happened.
That day, and several days afterward was spent helping little knees get up from the floor. Teachers, parents, students, the principal and many of us from the District Office, all pitched-in to help the kids recover, receive needed reassurance and deal with their disappointment, sadness and loss. The students rebounded quickly. Within a few weeks we found and hired a great new teacher, and the students rebounded even more. They ultimately had a great year and many parents later reflected it was the best of their children's entire elementary school experience. Those students taught us all a lesson in the power of resilience through the care and support of others.
In a couple of weeks our calendars will once again turn to "September 11th," a day of unspeakable tragedy, senseless loss and profound pain. All these years later I still cannot comprehend the impact that dark day must continue to have on the lives of all who were so directly touched and irrevocably changed by it. For all of us, but most especially those intimately linked to the events of 9/11, the loss will never go away. Yet through the care, compassion, understanding and helping hands of others, we've all read accounts of how survivors of 9/11 found, incredibly so, a way to get up off their knees.
Resiliency through the support of others, is the path from darkness to the light.
In my case, I have time and again come to see and appreciate that my resilience is an inner strength I could not have found on my own. My wife, daughters and their significant others, grandsons, family, friends and colleagues help me find it. Our incredible RVSD Board of Trustees helps me find it. Our supportive community helps me find it. Our inspiring students help me find it. My mentors and all the special people who helped me on my journey to this place, help me find it.
I don't know if resilience in the face of adversity inspires higher intelligence, nobility or humility, but I do believe resilience is a beautiful thing. Hopefully each of us has others in our lives who can help us find our resilience when we most need it. May we be there for them as well.
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
”In the end, those who demean others only disrespect themselves.” Rana Junaid Mustafa Gohar
Upon her death last week, Aretha Franklin was hailed as one-of-a-kind, an icon, a national treasure. Her magnificent talent was a gift to the world for over six decades, as she not only entertained, but inspired.
About her, former President Barack Obama tweeted, “Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade - our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect.”
Otis Redding wrote the words and Aretha sang them ...
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me."
I'm sure most of us strive to be respected by our families, friends, colleagues, neighbors and others in our community, not because of our roles or titles, but for our actions in making a positive difference ... having an impact. Through our actions and impact, others learn how much we value their respect, that we will go the extra mile to earn it and that retaining it is never taken for granted. Likewise, it is through the actions and impact of others, that respect is given or lost.
When you think about it, respect and trust are inextricably linked. We respect those we trust and trust those we respect. When either goes missing, the other tends to diminish or go missing as well.
Agreeing or disagreeing with others on a particular issue may or may not influence our respect for them and visa versa. For example, we’ve all probably disagreed with people for whom we have the utmost respect and agreed with others for whom we have none. I think what perhaps distinguishes the former situation from the latter is not necessarily the issue being debated, as much as agreement (or not) on certain underlying truths.
Author Santosh Kalwar writes, "Trust starts with truth and ends with truth." If this statement is accurate, then trust ... and by extension, respect ... are difficult to achieve in situations where there is a fundamental disagreement about what is true.
The notion that respect is linked to trust and trust is rooted in truth, can be put to the test on many levels. Whether we are talking huge geopolitical issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or local debates regarding education, the connection between truth, trust and respect is unmistakable as the voice of the Queen of Soul.
Upon her death last week, Aretha Franklin was hailed as one-of-a-kind, an icon, a national treasure. Her magnificent talent was a gift to the world for over six decades, as she not only entertained, but inspired.
About her, former President Barack Obama tweeted, “Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade - our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect.”
Otis Redding wrote the words and Aretha sang them ...
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me."
I'm sure most of us strive to be respected by our families, friends, colleagues, neighbors and others in our community, not because of our roles or titles, but for our actions in making a positive difference ... having an impact. Through our actions and impact, others learn how much we value their respect, that we will go the extra mile to earn it and that retaining it is never taken for granted. Likewise, it is through the actions and impact of others, that respect is given or lost.
When you think about it, respect and trust are inextricably linked. We respect those we trust and trust those we respect. When either goes missing, the other tends to diminish or go missing as well.
Agreeing or disagreeing with others on a particular issue may or may not influence our respect for them and visa versa. For example, we’ve all probably disagreed with people for whom we have the utmost respect and agreed with others for whom we have none. I think what perhaps distinguishes the former situation from the latter is not necessarily the issue being debated, as much as agreement (or not) on certain underlying truths.
Author Santosh Kalwar writes, "Trust starts with truth and ends with truth." If this statement is accurate, then trust ... and by extension, respect ... are difficult to achieve in situations where there is a fundamental disagreement about what is true.
The notion that respect is linked to trust and trust is rooted in truth, can be put to the test on many levels. Whether we are talking huge geopolitical issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or local debates regarding education, the connection between truth, trust and respect is unmistakable as the voice of the Queen of Soul.
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
On Equality, Equity and a Few Other Things
"The world is just too complicated. Life was so much simpler back in the old days." Ruth Kolman (my grandmother)
I loved my grandma so much. She is one of the very special people in my life who always believed in me - even in the times when I was full of self doubt. She is among my personal heroes. But when she made statements like the one quoted above, I tended to think these were the musings of an elderly person whose bucolic and sanitized memories had become more vivid and real than what was actually going on at the time.
Then again, my grandmother saw and lived through so much change in her 91 years. She witnessed our world devolve into two global wars and countless other deadly conflicts. She lived through Prohibition, the Great Depression, McCarthyism, the assassination of a President and near assassination of another. She lived to see everyone carry cellphones and own microcomputers. The Wright Brothers touched the sky just a few months before she was born and she died decades after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. She once lived in a home where the deed of trust prohibited her and my grandfather from selling it to a person of color.
Indeed, my grandmother saw the world change pretty dramatically from the time Theodore Roosevelt won his first Presidential election in 1904.
I now stand at a point where my grandma once stood. It is that stage in life where those of us lucky enough to get here, realize the road behind is much longer than the road ahead. I now know, as she did, that this journey and all it entails, rewards its travelers with priceless experience, opportunities to learn and the time to develop perspective. Is this what people refer to as wisdom? I don't really know. What I do know is that while my grandma may have been justified in worrying about a world moving too fast, I believe we've gone the opposite direction in terms of how we communicate information, concepts, constructs and ideas regarding the complexities of the ever-changing landscape around us.
The world today is arguably more complex than it was in the early years of the last century, but paradoxically the ways in which we communicate information about it has become simplified to the point where meaning and context are diminished, distorted or even lost. Two examples are the news media in general and social media in particular. Nowadays everything seems to be communicated in sound bites or 140 characters on a Twitter feed. Dense and complex information, important topics and deep meaning are constantly distilled to a few short words, a headline, a tag line, a Facebook post, a cartoon and yes, even a blog.
To illustrate, below is an image that has been floating around the web for a few years now. It is intended to communicate, through two simple frames, the complexities of equality and equity.
The frame on the left is intended to illustrate what happens when students are given the same level of support, resources or whatever the boxes may represent. Clearly, though each figure stands atop a equal sized box, the figure on the right is still unable to see over the obstacle, a fence. In the frame on the right, the boxes are redistributed and now everyone can see over the fence. We've simply, efficiently and succinctly communicated the concepts of equality and equity without having to get into a long, detailed and complex explanation.
Or have we?
As a person with a disability I do not see equity here. And if I were a person of color I think I'd be shaking my head while wondering, "Is the world ever going to get it?"
From my perspective, achieving equity for people with disabilities is accomplished chiefly by one learning how to compensate for his/her disability. Receiving an accommodation, no matter how helpful, is not the same thing as learning to compensate. It's like the difference between being given a fish and learning how to catch them. As the old saying goes, the former satisfies hunger for a day and the latter for a lifetime.
I cannot tell from the drawing above if the student on the right figured out on his/her own, how to rearrange the boxes (compensation) or if someone else did it for him/her (accommodation). And if someone else did redistribute the boxes, did the student learn from this experience so he/she could successfully transfer the strategy to other situations? Was this student given a fish or taught how to catch one? In other words, with regard to disabilities, I think this image vastly oversimplifies the concepts of equality and equity, while completely ignoring the importance of compensation and accommodation. It fails in its simplicity, to communicate the whole story.
But what about equality and equity in regard to race? Doesn't this image help us see that some people of color need more of something in order to, for example, "bridge the achievement gap?" Actually, there are many (myself included) who see this image as a perpetuation of the myth that racial inequities are somehow physical in nature. Look at the image again. The student on the right is experiencing inequity because of his/her physical size. He/she needs the box (a metaphor for some resource or other) to accommodate his/her height disadvantage. By extension, in order to achieve equity for people of color, do they need some resource or other to make up for a physical and/or intellectual disadvantage? Author Ijeoma Oluo would likely say such a notion perpetuates a system of racism. Oluo defines racism as, "any prejudice against someone because of their race, when those views are reinforced by systems of power." (2018, p. 26). The notion that people of color are somehow inherently "less than," ultimately supports a system of power that cyclically reinforces the original erroneous notion (Rothstein, 2017).
As with disabilities, I think this image falls woefully short in terms of accurately communicating the complex meaning of equality and equity as they pertains to race.
I've seen this image or one of its many iterations, used to help explain the massively complex system of educational funding in California. I've also seen it used to illustrate how the "achievement gap" can be narrowed or closed. Again, these are vast over-simplifications that communicate incomplete or wholly inaccurate information. The funding of California's public schools has never been, and still isn't, either equal or equitable. And what if the so-called achievement gap is really (as many suggest) an opportunity gap? What if we don't need to accommodate people by resourcing them with additional boxes, but instead teaching them how to compensate by tearing down the fence that is the real obstacle in the first place?
Oversimplifying the complex deprives us of important context, dumbs us down, distorts the truth and causes us to lose sight of the forest for the trees. Much as my grandma may have wished it to be the case, the road ahead is not circling back to meet the road we've left behind. Likewise, our quest to communicate the complex in simple and theoretically more efficient ways, is not going to guide us in the direction we really need to go.
References
I loved my grandma so much. She is one of the very special people in my life who always believed in me - even in the times when I was full of self doubt. She is among my personal heroes. But when she made statements like the one quoted above, I tended to think these were the musings of an elderly person whose bucolic and sanitized memories had become more vivid and real than what was actually going on at the time.
Then again, my grandmother saw and lived through so much change in her 91 years. She witnessed our world devolve into two global wars and countless other deadly conflicts. She lived through Prohibition, the Great Depression, McCarthyism, the assassination of a President and near assassination of another. She lived to see everyone carry cellphones and own microcomputers. The Wright Brothers touched the sky just a few months before she was born and she died decades after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. She once lived in a home where the deed of trust prohibited her and my grandfather from selling it to a person of color.
Indeed, my grandmother saw the world change pretty dramatically from the time Theodore Roosevelt won his first Presidential election in 1904.
I now stand at a point where my grandma once stood. It is that stage in life where those of us lucky enough to get here, realize the road behind is much longer than the road ahead. I now know, as she did, that this journey and all it entails, rewards its travelers with priceless experience, opportunities to learn and the time to develop perspective. Is this what people refer to as wisdom? I don't really know. What I do know is that while my grandma may have been justified in worrying about a world moving too fast, I believe we've gone the opposite direction in terms of how we communicate information, concepts, constructs and ideas regarding the complexities of the ever-changing landscape around us.
The world today is arguably more complex than it was in the early years of the last century, but paradoxically the ways in which we communicate information about it has become simplified to the point where meaning and context are diminished, distorted or even lost. Two examples are the news media in general and social media in particular. Nowadays everything seems to be communicated in sound bites or 140 characters on a Twitter feed. Dense and complex information, important topics and deep meaning are constantly distilled to a few short words, a headline, a tag line, a Facebook post, a cartoon and yes, even a blog.
To illustrate, below is an image that has been floating around the web for a few years now. It is intended to communicate, through two simple frames, the complexities of equality and equity.
The frame on the left is intended to illustrate what happens when students are given the same level of support, resources or whatever the boxes may represent. Clearly, though each figure stands atop a equal sized box, the figure on the right is still unable to see over the obstacle, a fence. In the frame on the right, the boxes are redistributed and now everyone can see over the fence. We've simply, efficiently and succinctly communicated the concepts of equality and equity without having to get into a long, detailed and complex explanation.
Or have we?
As a person with a disability I do not see equity here. And if I were a person of color I think I'd be shaking my head while wondering, "Is the world ever going to get it?"
From my perspective, achieving equity for people with disabilities is accomplished chiefly by one learning how to compensate for his/her disability. Receiving an accommodation, no matter how helpful, is not the same thing as learning to compensate. It's like the difference between being given a fish and learning how to catch them. As the old saying goes, the former satisfies hunger for a day and the latter for a lifetime.
I cannot tell from the drawing above if the student on the right figured out on his/her own, how to rearrange the boxes (compensation) or if someone else did it for him/her (accommodation). And if someone else did redistribute the boxes, did the student learn from this experience so he/she could successfully transfer the strategy to other situations? Was this student given a fish or taught how to catch one? In other words, with regard to disabilities, I think this image vastly oversimplifies the concepts of equality and equity, while completely ignoring the importance of compensation and accommodation. It fails in its simplicity, to communicate the whole story.
But what about equality and equity in regard to race? Doesn't this image help us see that some people of color need more of something in order to, for example, "bridge the achievement gap?" Actually, there are many (myself included) who see this image as a perpetuation of the myth that racial inequities are somehow physical in nature. Look at the image again. The student on the right is experiencing inequity because of his/her physical size. He/she needs the box (a metaphor for some resource or other) to accommodate his/her height disadvantage. By extension, in order to achieve equity for people of color, do they need some resource or other to make up for a physical and/or intellectual disadvantage? Author Ijeoma Oluo would likely say such a notion perpetuates a system of racism. Oluo defines racism as, "any prejudice against someone because of their race, when those views are reinforced by systems of power." (2018, p. 26). The notion that people of color are somehow inherently "less than," ultimately supports a system of power that cyclically reinforces the original erroneous notion (Rothstein, 2017).
As with disabilities, I think this image falls woefully short in terms of accurately communicating the complex meaning of equality and equity as they pertains to race.
I've seen this image or one of its many iterations, used to help explain the massively complex system of educational funding in California. I've also seen it used to illustrate how the "achievement gap" can be narrowed or closed. Again, these are vast over-simplifications that communicate incomplete or wholly inaccurate information. The funding of California's public schools has never been, and still isn't, either equal or equitable. And what if the so-called achievement gap is really (as many suggest) an opportunity gap? What if we don't need to accommodate people by resourcing them with additional boxes, but instead teaching them how to compensate by tearing down the fence that is the real obstacle in the first place?
Oversimplifying the complex deprives us of important context, dumbs us down, distorts the truth and causes us to lose sight of the forest for the trees. Much as my grandma may have wished it to be the case, the road ahead is not circling back to meet the road we've left behind. Likewise, our quest to communicate the complex in simple and theoretically more efficient ways, is not going to guide us in the direction we really need to go.
References
- Oluo, I. (2018). So you want to talk about race. Hachette UK.
- Rothstein, R. (2017). The color of law. New York: Liveright.
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
On Pedagogy
“In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on things you have long taken for granted.” Bertrand Russell
A half century ago in the movie “Bullitt,” Steve McQueen tore through the hilly streets of San Francisco in his 1968 Ford Mustang GT Fastback. This month the Ford Motor Company is releasing its 2019 homage to McQueen’s legendary wheels.
What’s old is new again. Or is It?
Aside from sharing the same name and all the generic similarities defining a car as a car, the 1968 and 2019 Mustangs couldn’t be more different.
The model McQueen drove was, at the time, considered state-of-the-art for its class. It had all the bells and whistles of the “modern” sports car and many features aficionados of the day likely considered “progressive.” For example, the car came stock with new features such as front and rear side marker lights, an energy absorbing steering wheel and three-point lap and shoulder seat-belts. Top speed of McQueen's 390 horsepower machine would have been about 130 mph and its approximate cost was around $3,500.
The re-booted 2019 Bullitt Mustang sports a host of features that were science fiction fifty years ago, including front head airbags, 4-wheel ABS, dusk sensing headlights, heated mirrors, rear parking sensors and much more. The car cranks 475 horsepower, has a top speed of 163 mph and sells (if you can get your hands on one) for an MSRP starting at $46,595.
In other words, no matter how cutting-edge the McQueen Mustang may have been in 1968, by modern standards that car is a relic of a time gone by and not something any of us would consider "progressive" today.
Education, like the automobile, has evolved and improved over time. Many instructional ideologies and strategies once believed to be innovative and cutting-edge, have long since been proven through research and practice to provide little or even no actual learning benefit to today's students (Hattie, 2008). Others, such as project based learning, seem to have efficacy on their face but sometimes don't because they are often delivered incorrectly (McDowell, 2017). Interestingly, these out-dated, ineffective and/or improperly executed educational ideas, philosophies and reforms, some heralded sixty to a hundred years ago as "progressive," continue to attract followers to this day.
Why? If we were talking cars instead of education, it would be like believing a 1968 Mustang is "progressive," in an age where vehicles are equipped with fuel efficient engines, satellite navigation, automatic braking systems and self-parking technology.
One possible explanation is that when it comes to decisions (or "choices") regarding educating our children, research has shown that some of us act based on what we feel, what we subjectively think and most important, information we obtain through our social networks (Holme, 2002). This runs contrary to what we might assume to be the case, particularly in communities where parents and educators themselves are generally well informed, highly educated and well resourced. Yet more often than not, even when data and evidence say otherwise, a certain percentage of us will make educational choices, with firm and absolute conviction, based on opinion, anecdotal information and the hearsay of others.
For example, if the early twentieth century pragmatist theories of John Dewey are marketed as more "progressive" than our modern instructional pedagogy, some of us will buy into it for all the reasons Holme (2002) discusses. That's not to suggest Dewey's theories on education, like the 1968 Mustang, aren't classics ... they are. And classics certainly have their place. We have great respect for them and all they helped teach us, for it is the classics that put down the foundation of what we know and have today. But just as we presumably want our everyday cars to have the most up-to-date and progressive safety features, it seems we should also want our public schools to adhere with fidelity, to the most up-to-date, relevant and impact-rich pedagogy.
In the Ross Valley School District, we are committed to focusing our attention, energy and effort on what McDowell (2017, p 9.) refers to as students' "confidence and competence in learning." We know that before students can self-direct and advocate for the next steps in their learning, they must first have mastery of the skills and knowledge required to do so. Students' understanding of learning intentions and success criteria, two of modern educators' most powerful tools, is also important to us.
In short, we value, appreciate and respect the pedagogies of old, but like the classic 1968 Mustang, their place is in the pages of history and not on the roads our students now travel.
References
What’s old is new again. Or is It?
Aside from sharing the same name and all the generic similarities defining a car as a car, the 1968 and 2019 Mustangs couldn’t be more different.
The model McQueen drove was, at the time, considered state-of-the-art for its class. It had all the bells and whistles of the “modern” sports car and many features aficionados of the day likely considered “progressive.” For example, the car came stock with new features such as front and rear side marker lights, an energy absorbing steering wheel and three-point lap and shoulder seat-belts. Top speed of McQueen's 390 horsepower machine would have been about 130 mph and its approximate cost was around $3,500.
The re-booted 2019 Bullitt Mustang sports a host of features that were science fiction fifty years ago, including front head airbags, 4-wheel ABS, dusk sensing headlights, heated mirrors, rear parking sensors and much more. The car cranks 475 horsepower, has a top speed of 163 mph and sells (if you can get your hands on one) for an MSRP starting at $46,595.
In other words, no matter how cutting-edge the McQueen Mustang may have been in 1968, by modern standards that car is a relic of a time gone by and not something any of us would consider "progressive" today.
Education, like the automobile, has evolved and improved over time. Many instructional ideologies and strategies once believed to be innovative and cutting-edge, have long since been proven through research and practice to provide little or even no actual learning benefit to today's students (Hattie, 2008). Others, such as project based learning, seem to have efficacy on their face but sometimes don't because they are often delivered incorrectly (McDowell, 2017). Interestingly, these out-dated, ineffective and/or improperly executed educational ideas, philosophies and reforms, some heralded sixty to a hundred years ago as "progressive," continue to attract followers to this day.
Why? If we were talking cars instead of education, it would be like believing a 1968 Mustang is "progressive," in an age where vehicles are equipped with fuel efficient engines, satellite navigation, automatic braking systems and self-parking technology.
One possible explanation is that when it comes to decisions (or "choices") regarding educating our children, research has shown that some of us act based on what we feel, what we subjectively think and most important, information we obtain through our social networks (Holme, 2002). This runs contrary to what we might assume to be the case, particularly in communities where parents and educators themselves are generally well informed, highly educated and well resourced. Yet more often than not, even when data and evidence say otherwise, a certain percentage of us will make educational choices, with firm and absolute conviction, based on opinion, anecdotal information and the hearsay of others.
For example, if the early twentieth century pragmatist theories of John Dewey are marketed as more "progressive" than our modern instructional pedagogy, some of us will buy into it for all the reasons Holme (2002) discusses. That's not to suggest Dewey's theories on education, like the 1968 Mustang, aren't classics ... they are. And classics certainly have their place. We have great respect for them and all they helped teach us, for it is the classics that put down the foundation of what we know and have today. But just as we presumably want our everyday cars to have the most up-to-date and progressive safety features, it seems we should also want our public schools to adhere with fidelity, to the most up-to-date, relevant and impact-rich pedagogy.
In the Ross Valley School District, we are committed to focusing our attention, energy and effort on what McDowell (2017, p 9.) refers to as students' "confidence and competence in learning." We know that before students can self-direct and advocate for the next steps in their learning, they must first have mastery of the skills and knowledge required to do so. Students' understanding of learning intentions and success criteria, two of modern educators' most powerful tools, is also important to us.
In short, we value, appreciate and respect the pedagogies of old, but like the classic 1968 Mustang, their place is in the pages of history and not on the roads our students now travel.
References
- Hattie, J. (2008). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge.
- Holme, J. J. (2002). Buying homes, buying schools: School choice and the social construction of school quality. Harvard Educational Review, 72(2), 177-206.
- McDowell, M. (2017). Rigorous PBL by Design: Three Shifts for Developing Confident and Competent Learners. Corwin Press.
Thursday, July 19, 2018
On Facts
“Confabulating is a fancy term for shamelessly making things up.” Macknik & Martinez-Conde (2010)
In the 1970s a man named Uri Geller gained international fame and fortune for his alleged paranormal ability to read peoples’ minds and alter the properties of physical objects, all courtesy of supernatural powers which Geller himself once claimed were given by extraterrestrials. He was so convincing that millions of people around the world, including two researchers from the Stanford Research Institute, absolutely believed Mr. Geller’s “psychic powers” were genuine. Whether he willed solid metal spoons to bend like wax before a German audience of 3,000 or accurately reproduced an unseen and impromptu drawing by Barbara Walters on national television, Mr. Geller was widely heralded and idolized as a true phenomenon with seemingly super-human and "special" powers.
Then came Mr. Geller’s August 1, 1973 appearance on the famed “Tonight Show” starring Johnny Carson (Season 12, episode 150). Mr. Carson, who in his earlier days performed magic as “The Great Carsoni,” was skeptical of Mr. Geller’s authenticity as a psychic. Unbeknownst to his superstar guest, Mr. Carson arranged to have a number of common objects on hand for Mr. Geller’s appearance - objects similar to those Mr. Geller famously incorporated into his various exhibitions of "special" mental skills. Footage of Mr. Geller’s appearance on the Tonight Show can be easily found on YouTube.
Spoiler alert ... Mr. Geller failed to demonstrate on the Tonight Show, in front of millions of viewers, any psychic abilities whatsoever. Why? The fact is, Mr. Geller is not "special" after all. He is instead, a performer, an illusionist, a professional trickster.
But wait, there’s more.
One might reasonably assume that such a colossal exposure of fakery on the most watched and longest-running late night program in television history, would send the humiliated perpetrator of such chicanery into uber-obscurity. Yet that is not what happened.
Instead, Mr. Geller’s popularity and credibility actually grew after his apparent debunking by Johnny Carson. Yes, you read that correctly ... people believed in Uri Geller’s authenticity as a psychic even more than before, in spite of what they witnessed with their own eyes. The explanation given is that when believers saw Mr. Geller fail, they rationalized that his powers must be real because if he was just doing tricks, he’d certainly have been able to perform flawlessly on Mr. Carson’s cue. Uri Geller’s failure was seen as proof that he is a human, who like all of us, has skills that can be strong one day and not so strong the next.
How is it that intelligent, experienced and reasonable people can be presented with a set of absolute and indisputable facts, only to then reconstruct them into an alternate reality based on a completely fabricated “fact” set?”
The answer may partially lie in the psychological principle of “cognitive dissonance.” This principle refers to situations in which two or more ideas, behaviors, facts, or beliefs are in conflict with one another. The conflict is resolved (rationalized) by changing one’s internal narrative to align with one of the conflicting ideas, behaviors, beliefs or fact sets. In other words, as former President Barack Obama said in a speech earlier this week when referring to the ways in which some politicians today deal with cognitive dissonance, "People just make stuff up."
Cognitive dissonance appears to be as powerful and addictive now as it was in the 1970s, or at any other time. How else do we explain that "would" really means "wouldn't," that "choice" in education should really excuse decades of outright discrimination, that bullies are really victims, that biased opinion is really news or that surface learning is really meaningful, innovative and different? Perhaps this quote by author, editor and Presidential historian, Jon Meacham helps answer the question,
Cognitive dissonance appears to be as powerful and addictive now as it was in the 1970s, or at any other time. How else do we explain that "would" really means "wouldn't," that "choice" in education should really excuse decades of outright discrimination, that bullies are really victims, that biased opinion is really news or that surface learning is really meaningful, innovative and different? Perhaps this quote by author, editor and Presidential historian, Jon Meacham helps answer the question,
"America has long raised political and cultural cognitive dissonance to an art form. We are capable of living with enormous inequality and injustice while convincing ourselves that we are in fact moving toward what Churchill called the "broad, sun-lit uplands."
I don't know about you, but today's confabulations by those desperately peddling their misguided narratives, alternate facts and revisionist history, is cognitive dissonance that makes me long for the good old days of Uri Geller and his bent spoons.
References
- Macknik, S., Martinez-Conde, S., & Blakeslee, S. (2010). Sleights of mind: What the neuroscience of magic reveals about our everyday deceptions. Henry Holt and Company.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
On Managers and Leaders
“Committed leaders, those with a lust for leadership, a willingness to serve, will, however, be distinguishable by their wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, authority and courage. They will have a human quality and a strong commitment to their cause and to that of those they serve.” from “Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun” by Wes Roberts, Ph.D.
Before I begin this post, thanks to all who have been reading the thoughts I've shared on this blog. As I write this, nearly 1,200 views from the US and abroad, have been logged since June 27th. That's not nearly as huge as some blogs, but it’s a good start and I'm grateful to all who are taking the time to read these words. I hope the information, ideas, lessons learned and stories told are useful to you in some way. Now on to the post ....
Prior to becoming RVSD’s Superintendent in August 2014, I proudly served four California public school districts in roles ranging from teacher to deputy superintendent. In all five districts (two of them hired me twice), I’ve been fortunate to learn from some truly gifted mentor-leaders. The confidence they placed in me over the decades and the awesome responsibilities they entrusted to my care, have never been taken for granted. On the contrary, the lessons of leadership and moral courage my mentors shared (and still do), light my own leadership path and serve as touchstones to inspire continuous reflection and improvement.
My first principal once confided in me, “Leadership is hard work and getting it 100% right, 100% of the time, is possible only for those who talk about it with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and no actual leadership responsibility or experience themselves.” As a first or second year teacher, I thought his comment was a bit cynical. But after years in a variety of leadership roles, where much has gone right and some wrong, my first principal (and mentor) was a wise man who spoke the truth. I miss you Mr. B.
That leadership is hard, leaders are fallibly human and their decisions will be criticized, is embedded within every leader’s job description. It comes with the territory. What’s fascinates me, though, are the elements of leadership that make it so complex and ultimately differentiate those who lead with purpose and moral courage from the rest of the leadership pack.
One such element is the notion that leaders may think they are leading, when in fact they are not leading at all - they are managing.
In 2012, while completing my doctoral dissertation at the University of Southern California, I was introduced to the work of Dr. Warren Bennis, distinguished professor of business administration at USC and a pioneer in the field of leadership studies. In his book “On Becoming a Leader” (first published in 1989), Dr. Bennis elaborates fully on what leadership is, what it isn’t and the challenges of leading with moral courage. Dr. Bennis wrote,
In fact, most education leaders I know have little interest in managing anything or anyone. Their interest and mine as well, is to lead ... not for the sake of being the leader, wielding power, etc., but for the sake of giving students true and equitable opportunities to reach their unique potential. Perhaps that sounds trite, naive, overly ambitious or a bit too much like a typical mission statement. Yet these are exactly the gifts many of us received through our schooling as we were growing up. We can all recall those special people, those leaders, who helped us find our way and didn't let go of our hands until we could safely navigate on our own. We are where we are because of them. What they did for us, we can do for the generations that follow. It takes bold leadership, not management, to make that possible.
I think the vast majority of us who willingly assume the responsibilities of leadership, likely aspire to be the type of leader Dr. Bennis writes about and we observe in the mentors who so generously share their hard-earned wisdom with us. And certainly, even the most skilled of leaders among us, temporarily lapses now and again into a manager mindset. Leadership is a constant work in progress for all who seriously engage in it. I too am always learning and while there have been, are and will be many leadership successes to celebrate, there are also leadership failures to learn from. Successes and failures are a package deal in leadership and you guessed it, they are also embedded in every leader's job description.
It is important to remember, however, that as Dr. Bennis explains, leadership requires a long-range perspective. Getting from here to there is a journey whose path will never be a perfectly straight and clear line. Leadership with a long-range perspective means having the moral courage to make hard, often uncomfortable and sometimes even unpopular decisions. Taking the long view is not easy, particularly in public education where our children are in classrooms right now and can't necessarily wait for whatever impact may be coming in ten or more years as a result of today's decision. Balancing short-term needs with a long-term perspective and making decisions accordingly, is what successful leaders do.
Every education leader knows the dynamics of this balancing act is a recipe for decision-making that will result in some level of disagreement and push-back. This too, comes with the territory and we accept it when we accept these roles. In the vast majority of situations, such feedback can be very helpful, insightful, constructive and yes, appreciated. Occasionally the level of disagreement goes beyond feedback and morphs into second-guessing, blaming, vilifying, personal attacking or worse. This is unproductive, of course, but it happens. On the rare occasions when it does, leaders take comfort remembering (even if others don't) that everything happens in context, that decisions are not made in a vacuum, that there is ALWAYS more to a story than whatever is printed in a newspaper or on social media and that those of us charged with actually doing the work have access to data and information others do not or cannot have. In short, my first principal was right ... unproductive and ill-informed attacks on leadership from the sidelines with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight is, plain and simple, just that.
A few weeks ago a parent asked me, "how do you do it?" She was referring to my role as Superintendent and all that goes on in a school district when one year is ending and everyone is deep in preparation for the year to come. I responded by saying that everyone in our district (teachers, staff, administrators and parents) has a lot on their plate. Somehow we manage to keep teaching, learning, parenting, continuously improving and above all, leading.
In reflecting on that conversation, I'm reminded that at USC, every single Trojan is practically tattooed with two words that I'm sure Dr. Bennis himself spoke to his many students. Those words are, "Fight on!" Far be it for me to challenge the fine traditions of the House of Troy, but if it were up to me, I think I'd change those words to "Lead on!" That, my wonderful blog readers, is how we do it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Epilogue: I opened this post with a quote from a book titled, "Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun," a book recommended to me long ago by one of my favorite teachers. Don't let the title fool you, as it and Dr. Bennis' book are two of the best books you may ever read on leadership!
References
Before I begin this post, thanks to all who have been reading the thoughts I've shared on this blog. As I write this, nearly 1,200 views from the US and abroad, have been logged since June 27th. That's not nearly as huge as some blogs, but it’s a good start and I'm grateful to all who are taking the time to read these words. I hope the information, ideas, lessons learned and stories told are useful to you in some way. Now on to the post ....
Prior to becoming RVSD’s Superintendent in August 2014, I proudly served four California public school districts in roles ranging from teacher to deputy superintendent. In all five districts (two of them hired me twice), I’ve been fortunate to learn from some truly gifted mentor-leaders. The confidence they placed in me over the decades and the awesome responsibilities they entrusted to my care, have never been taken for granted. On the contrary, the lessons of leadership and moral courage my mentors shared (and still do), light my own leadership path and serve as touchstones to inspire continuous reflection and improvement.
My first principal once confided in me, “Leadership is hard work and getting it 100% right, 100% of the time, is possible only for those who talk about it with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and no actual leadership responsibility or experience themselves.” As a first or second year teacher, I thought his comment was a bit cynical. But after years in a variety of leadership roles, where much has gone right and some wrong, my first principal (and mentor) was a wise man who spoke the truth. I miss you Mr. B.
That leadership is hard, leaders are fallibly human and their decisions will be criticized, is embedded within every leader’s job description. It comes with the territory. What’s fascinates me, though, are the elements of leadership that make it so complex and ultimately differentiate those who lead with purpose and moral courage from the rest of the leadership pack.
One such element is the notion that leaders may think they are leading, when in fact they are not leading at all - they are managing.
In 2012, while completing my doctoral dissertation at the University of Southern California, I was introduced to the work of Dr. Warren Bennis, distinguished professor of business administration at USC and a pioneer in the field of leadership studies. In his book “On Becoming a Leader” (first published in 1989), Dr. Bennis elaborates fully on what leadership is, what it isn’t and the challenges of leading with moral courage. Dr. Bennis wrote,
“I tend to think of the differences between leaders and managers as the differences between those who master the context and those who surrender to it. There are other differences, as well, and they are enormous and crucial.
Over the years a number of my mentors shared perspectives on leadership similar to those of Dr. Bennis, while also noting that some people prefer their school, school district, business or organization to be led by managers rather than leaders. That may be what some people prefer and I'm sure they have their reasons, but I did not choose public education as my life's work so I could become a manager.
- The manager administers; the leader innovates.
- The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.
- The manager maintains; the leader develops.
- The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
- The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
- The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
- The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
- The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader’s eye is on the horizon.
- The manager imitates; the leader originates.
- The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
- The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.
- The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.
In fact, most education leaders I know have little interest in managing anything or anyone. Their interest and mine as well, is to lead ... not for the sake of being the leader, wielding power, etc., but for the sake of giving students true and equitable opportunities to reach their unique potential. Perhaps that sounds trite, naive, overly ambitious or a bit too much like a typical mission statement. Yet these are exactly the gifts many of us received through our schooling as we were growing up. We can all recall those special people, those leaders, who helped us find our way and didn't let go of our hands until we could safely navigate on our own. We are where we are because of them. What they did for us, we can do for the generations that follow. It takes bold leadership, not management, to make that possible.
I think the vast majority of us who willingly assume the responsibilities of leadership, likely aspire to be the type of leader Dr. Bennis writes about and we observe in the mentors who so generously share their hard-earned wisdom with us. And certainly, even the most skilled of leaders among us, temporarily lapses now and again into a manager mindset. Leadership is a constant work in progress for all who seriously engage in it. I too am always learning and while there have been, are and will be many leadership successes to celebrate, there are also leadership failures to learn from. Successes and failures are a package deal in leadership and you guessed it, they are also embedded in every leader's job description.
It is important to remember, however, that as Dr. Bennis explains, leadership requires a long-range perspective. Getting from here to there is a journey whose path will never be a perfectly straight and clear line. Leadership with a long-range perspective means having the moral courage to make hard, often uncomfortable and sometimes even unpopular decisions. Taking the long view is not easy, particularly in public education where our children are in classrooms right now and can't necessarily wait for whatever impact may be coming in ten or more years as a result of today's decision. Balancing short-term needs with a long-term perspective and making decisions accordingly, is what successful leaders do.
Every education leader knows the dynamics of this balancing act is a recipe for decision-making that will result in some level of disagreement and push-back. This too, comes with the territory and we accept it when we accept these roles. In the vast majority of situations, such feedback can be very helpful, insightful, constructive and yes, appreciated. Occasionally the level of disagreement goes beyond feedback and morphs into second-guessing, blaming, vilifying, personal attacking or worse. This is unproductive, of course, but it happens. On the rare occasions when it does, leaders take comfort remembering (even if others don't) that everything happens in context, that decisions are not made in a vacuum, that there is ALWAYS more to a story than whatever is printed in a newspaper or on social media and that those of us charged with actually doing the work have access to data and information others do not or cannot have. In short, my first principal was right ... unproductive and ill-informed attacks on leadership from the sidelines with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight is, plain and simple, just that.
A few weeks ago a parent asked me, "how do you do it?" She was referring to my role as Superintendent and all that goes on in a school district when one year is ending and everyone is deep in preparation for the year to come. I responded by saying that everyone in our district (teachers, staff, administrators and parents) has a lot on their plate. Somehow we manage to keep teaching, learning, parenting, continuously improving and above all, leading.
In reflecting on that conversation, I'm reminded that at USC, every single Trojan is practically tattooed with two words that I'm sure Dr. Bennis himself spoke to his many students. Those words are, "Fight on!" Far be it for me to challenge the fine traditions of the House of Troy, but if it were up to me, I think I'd change those words to "Lead on!" That, my wonderful blog readers, is how we do it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Epilogue: I opened this post with a quote from a book titled, "Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun," a book recommended to me long ago by one of my favorite teachers. Don't let the title fool you, as it and Dr. Bennis' book are two of the best books you may ever read on leadership!
References
- Bennis, W. (2003). On becoming a leader (Rev. ed.). Cambridge, MA: Perseus.
- Roberts, W. (2007). Leadership secrets of Attila the Hun. Grand Central Publishing.
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
On Deception
“When one with honeyed words but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.” Euripides, Orestes
Last week I attended the annual fundraising dinner for SchoolsRule Marin and during the social hour I ran into a guy doing magic tricks for a small group of mesmerized onlookers. What a treat!
I’ve always loved magic, magicians and the sense of childhood wonder I still get from seeing a well-performed bit of prestidigitation. Privileged to have seen many such performances in my life, I’m awed by the dexterous skill, performing ability, timing, creativity and attention to detail that are the real secrets of magic and the answer to the question, “how did she/he do that?”
Last week I attended the annual fundraising dinner for SchoolsRule Marin and during the social hour I ran into a guy doing magic tricks for a small group of mesmerized onlookers. What a treat!
I’ve always loved magic, magicians and the sense of childhood wonder I still get from seeing a well-performed bit of prestidigitation. Privileged to have seen many such performances in my life, I’m awed by the dexterous skill, performing ability, timing, creativity and attention to detail that are the real secrets of magic and the answer to the question, “how did she/he do that?”
My own journey studying, learning and performing magic began at fourteen or fifteen, when I needed an outlet from hours of swimming workouts (a story for another time). I was so excited when my mom first took me to a local store devoted to performing magicians. In that musty old shop, secrets unfolded as I had my first opportunity to know and learn from some patient, kind and always interesting characters. These people actually made their living using anything from a simple deck of cards to a stage full of illusions. If it had anything to do with magic, they’d seen and done it all. To a kid just bitten by the magic bug, these grizzled veterans seemed like human encyclopedias of magical knowledge and I loved hearing their endlessly entertaining stories of magicians past, present and future.
One of the first lessons I learned from these real world wizards, is that a small action can easily be masked by a larger action. For example, a basic coin vanish involves holding the coin at the fingertips of one hand and pretending to place it in the other, while secretly retaining the coin in the palm of the original hand. The action of moving the coin from the fingertips to the palm is the small action and it might easily be seen if that was the only thing happening. But the larger action of moving one hand toward the other creates a visual distraction lasting just long enough to imperceptibly palm the coin and thereby create the illusion the coin was transferred from one hand to the other..
Interestingly, the principle of larger, less important actions masking smaller, more important ones is not peculiar only to purveyors of trickery and sleight of hand. If you think about it, this same basic principle of deception can be applied to the actions of government, big business, the media and politics large and small.
Deception can be fun when we run into a magician at a SchoolsRule event or see David Copperfield perform in Vegas, but it loses its luster quickly when access, equity and the education of our children are undermined while the larger action is intended to distract us.
Poof! That’s when the magic disappears.
One of the first lessons I learned from these real world wizards, is that a small action can easily be masked by a larger action. For example, a basic coin vanish involves holding the coin at the fingertips of one hand and pretending to place it in the other, while secretly retaining the coin in the palm of the original hand. The action of moving the coin from the fingertips to the palm is the small action and it might easily be seen if that was the only thing happening. But the larger action of moving one hand toward the other creates a visual distraction lasting just long enough to imperceptibly palm the coin and thereby create the illusion the coin was transferred from one hand to the other..
Interestingly, the principle of larger, less important actions masking smaller, more important ones is not peculiar only to purveyors of trickery and sleight of hand. If you think about it, this same basic principle of deception can be applied to the actions of government, big business, the media and politics large and small.
Deception can be fun when we run into a magician at a SchoolsRule event or see David Copperfield perform in Vegas, but it loses its luster quickly when access, equity and the education of our children are undermined while the larger action is intended to distract us.
Poof! That’s when the magic disappears.
Friday, June 29, 2018
On "Choice" - Who Makes It and Who Pays the Price?
"I often advocate that we look at many sides of an issue. walk in someone else's shoes and identify and reject false choices." Kamala Harris
I'm hoping the title to this post and the quote above piqued your attention. If so, good! Let's begin with a little context to set the stage for
In my seven years as a Director of Special Education/Student Services, one of my least favorite responsibilities was to participate in what I can only describe as the more "turbulent" side of special education. Highly complex and legal, special education is built upon a mile-thick foundation of intricate laws, rules, regulations, policies and procedures. At times it can become a virtual maze, where everyone navigating it (parents and educators alike) are unsure which path to take next. And, as with any formal legal process, there are bound to be occasional disputes over just about anything and everything one can imagine.
One such dispute involved a disagreement between my District and a parent, over what was to be the most appropriate (i.e. "least restrictive") placement for their child with special needs. I'll not go into all the details, but let's just say it was a difficult, emotional and contentious situation for all involved, with the parent wanting a program and placement our experienced team of educators believed would not help the student and might instead actually cause harm. The case went to mediation and when that proved unsuccessful, a full-blown hearing. The hearing lasted several days, with witnesses on the stand for many hours being grilled by attorneys over every imaginable detail. The District's evidence and testimony were compelling, based on a massive amount of data, research and decades of expertise on the part of the professionals who testified. But the parent's case was also compelling. The parent was not an educator, had zero experience in education, no credentials or advanced degrees. Still, this was the parent of the child and the parent believed that even if the placement had a minuscule chance of being successful, it was still worth a try.
That's pretty hard to argue, isn't it? Even if we could accurately assign odds to the situation, say, a thousand to one, there's that one in a thousand chance the parent's preferred program would work. Still, the district team felt it had strong evidence to show the parent's choice was most likely to result in the exchange of a short-term benefit for a much more harsh, difficult and costly (to the student and parent) road ahead.
Oral arguments were made, evidence was presented, and the hearing officer ultimately told everyone that a decision would later be sent to the parties. The hearing wrapped-up and everyone was exhausted - we all just wanted to go home. No one, including me, felt good about any of it. Regardless of the eventual outcome, in these situation there really are no "winners."
In the parking lot I saw my car was next to the hearing officer's and he was walking toward it. We exchanged some small talk. I shared my observation that this had been a really difficult case. As he got into his car he looked at me and softly said, "A parent has the ultimate right to destroy their own child."
Those words took me by surprise, leaving me speechless and incredibly sad. I've never forgotten that comment and it has haunted me many times since. Outside the very rare (and brutally pathological) situations we occasionally hear about in the news, I believe none of us, ever, would want to harm much less "destroy" our children. It's simply incomprehensible and unthinkable. Yet in this case I was being told what I've always known as a professional educator but preferred to ignore; we parents, even with the best of intentions, have the power to make educational choices for which our children may flourish, flounder or anything in-between. These choices have long-term consequences for our children and for us.
This is not, as you may have guessed by now, a post about special education, the maze of complex laws surrounding it or the outcome of a legal dispute. It is a post about the educational choices we are faced with making on behalf of the children we teach, learn from and love. "Choice" in education is all the rage these days and as a result, there are now many options made available to us. Having options is a good thing, right? Maybe so, or maybe not ... it all depends on what each option can ultimately deliver, our expectations of our children and our accurate understanding of the long-term price tag associated with the options we choose. As a parent I know there are many seemingly fine "choices" being presented to me through slick advertising, targeted social media campaigns and even personal contacts with others who have made one choice or another for their own children. As an experienced educator I know that not all choices are what they profess to be and while they may not "destroy" my child, some of these "choices" are the educational equivalent of a payday loan (i.e. instant short-term gratification in exchange for a long-term payback ... with interest).
"So," you may ask, "how do I know which educational 'choice' is best for my child?"
Sadly there is no magic simple answer to that question and a more in-depth exploration (teaser alert!) will have to wait for a future post. In the meantime, you may want to ponder a quote we've all probably heard before and is apropos to many of the choices we face, including those involving the education of our children ... "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." The challenge, of course, is recognizing the difference between reality and the false choice hiding behind what sounds too good to be true.
I'm hoping the title to this post and the quote above piqued your attention. If so, good! Let's begin with a little context to set the stage for
In my seven years as a Director of Special Education/Student Services, one of my least favorite responsibilities was to participate in what I can only describe as the more "turbulent" side of special education. Highly complex and legal, special education is built upon a mile-thick foundation of intricate laws, rules, regulations, policies and procedures. At times it can become a virtual maze, where everyone navigating it (parents and educators alike) are unsure which path to take next. And, as with any formal legal process, there are bound to be occasional disputes over just about anything and everything one can imagine.
One such dispute involved a disagreement between my District and a parent, over what was to be the most appropriate (i.e. "least restrictive") placement for their child with special needs. I'll not go into all the details, but let's just say it was a difficult, emotional and contentious situation for all involved, with the parent wanting a program and placement our experienced team of educators believed would not help the student and might instead actually cause harm. The case went to mediation and when that proved unsuccessful, a full-blown hearing. The hearing lasted several days, with witnesses on the stand for many hours being grilled by attorneys over every imaginable detail. The District's evidence and testimony were compelling, based on a massive amount of data, research and decades of expertise on the part of the professionals who testified. But the parent's case was also compelling. The parent was not an educator, had zero experience in education, no credentials or advanced degrees. Still, this was the parent of the child and the parent believed that even if the placement had a minuscule chance of being successful, it was still worth a try.
That's pretty hard to argue, isn't it? Even if we could accurately assign odds to the situation, say, a thousand to one, there's that one in a thousand chance the parent's preferred program would work. Still, the district team felt it had strong evidence to show the parent's choice was most likely to result in the exchange of a short-term benefit for a much more harsh, difficult and costly (to the student and parent) road ahead.
Oral arguments were made, evidence was presented, and the hearing officer ultimately told everyone that a decision would later be sent to the parties. The hearing wrapped-up and everyone was exhausted - we all just wanted to go home. No one, including me, felt good about any of it. Regardless of the eventual outcome, in these situation there really are no "winners."
In the parking lot I saw my car was next to the hearing officer's and he was walking toward it. We exchanged some small talk. I shared my observation that this had been a really difficult case. As he got into his car he looked at me and softly said, "A parent has the ultimate right to destroy their own child."
Those words took me by surprise, leaving me speechless and incredibly sad. I've never forgotten that comment and it has haunted me many times since. Outside the very rare (and brutally pathological) situations we occasionally hear about in the news, I believe none of us, ever, would want to harm much less "destroy" our children. It's simply incomprehensible and unthinkable. Yet in this case I was being told what I've always known as a professional educator but preferred to ignore; we parents, even with the best of intentions, have the power to make educational choices for which our children may flourish, flounder or anything in-between. These choices have long-term consequences for our children and for us.
This is not, as you may have guessed by now, a post about special education, the maze of complex laws surrounding it or the outcome of a legal dispute. It is a post about the educational choices we are faced with making on behalf of the children we teach, learn from and love. "Choice" in education is all the rage these days and as a result, there are now many options made available to us. Having options is a good thing, right? Maybe so, or maybe not ... it all depends on what each option can ultimately deliver, our expectations of our children and our accurate understanding of the long-term price tag associated with the options we choose. As a parent I know there are many seemingly fine "choices" being presented to me through slick advertising, targeted social media campaigns and even personal contacts with others who have made one choice or another for their own children. As an experienced educator I know that not all choices are what they profess to be and while they may not "destroy" my child, some of these "choices" are the educational equivalent of a payday loan (i.e. instant short-term gratification in exchange for a long-term payback ... with interest).
"So," you may ask, "how do I know which educational 'choice' is best for my child?"
Sadly there is no magic simple answer to that question and a more in-depth exploration (teaser alert!) will have to wait for a future post. In the meantime, you may want to ponder a quote we've all probably heard before and is apropos to many of the choices we face, including those involving the education of our children ... "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." The challenge, of course, is recognizing the difference between reality and the false choice hiding behind what sounds too good to be true.
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Focus on the Process Rather Than the Result
"The best competition I have is against myself to become better." John Wooden
I am fortunate to have attended UCLA during Coach John Wooden's final years as perhaps the greatest basketball coach of all time and some might argue, the greatest coach ever. Coach Wooden and his amazingly talented team of athletes won an astounding ten NCAA titles between 1963 and 1975, competing against equally amazing and talented athletes from every corner of our country. Competitive as Coach Wooden's teams were, including their complete seven-year dominance of the NCAA between 1967 and 1973, the final score was not John Wooden's focus. In fact, he wrote,
In education these days, I think it is easy for us to focus more on the final score than the total effort. Listen carefully here ... I am not suggesting in any way, shape or form that summative assessments shouldn't matter ... they very much do. But FOCUSING primarily on them misses the forest for the trees.
Dr. John Hattie (Professor and Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne) asserts that our focus for every student should always be to achieve one year of growth for one year of time. In other words, if we focus our total effort on the process of maximizing impact in the classroom, every student, no matter where he or she starts from, has the potential to achieve one year of growth in one academic year.
So, you might wonder, what factors have impact? Great question. It's a little complicated but to understand impact we need to understand something called "effect size" a quantitative measure of the magnitude of a phenomenon. In Hattie's 2008 book, Visible Learning," he determines that an effect size of 0.4 is the statistical magnitude equivalent to one year of growth in one year of time. If numbers and stats are not your hobby or profession, no worries ... just remember that 0.4 or greater is the effect size we want. Effect sizes greater than 0.4 are golden nuggets and those below 0.15 are basically, according to some pretty extensive research, not worth the effort. The chart below gives you a sense of how effect sizes work in regard to the various influences on student achievement.
Now that we understand effect size, let's look at what influences educational outcomes the most and the least. According to Hattie's exhaustive analysis of education research, here are a few of the items that have significant impact. Remember 0.4 equals one year of growth for one year of time ...
What does it mean to be a learner in the Ross Valley School District? It means our total effort must be focused on those known influences that provide the greatest impact, in pursuit of at least one year of growth for one year's time. That is my expectation as Superintendent and why we ignore those influences that are known to be inefficient, ineffective and therefore not part of the genuine education we deliver at Brookside, Hidden Valley, Manor, Wade Thomas and White Hill.
I share Coach Wooden's enthusiasm for placing focus on the process, because that is what leads to real growth for every student ... the final score takes care of itself.
References:
I am fortunate to have attended UCLA during Coach John Wooden's final years as perhaps the greatest basketball coach of all time and some might argue, the greatest coach ever. Coach Wooden and his amazingly talented team of athletes won an astounding ten NCAA titles between 1963 and 1975, competing against equally amazing and talented athletes from every corner of our country. Competitive as Coach Wooden's teams were, including their complete seven-year dominance of the NCAA between 1967 and 1973, the final score was not John Wooden's focus. In fact, he wrote,
"Competitiveness must be focused exclusively on the process of what you are doing rather than the result of that effort (the so-called winning or losing). Otherwise you may lose self-control and become tight emotionally, mentally and physically. I think someone who is too competitive as an individual is overly worried about the final score. Therefore, I never mentioned winning or victory to my players. I never referred to "beating" an opponent. Instead, I constantly urged for them to strive for the self-satisfaction that always comes from knowing you did the best you could to become the best of which you are capable. That's what I wanted: the total effort. That was the measurement I used, never the final score." (1997, p. 88)Going after "the total effort" as opposed to the final score, is wise beyond words. It applies equally well to the process of teaching and learning as it does to playing basketball, perhaps even more so.
In education these days, I think it is easy for us to focus more on the final score than the total effort. Listen carefully here ... I am not suggesting in any way, shape or form that summative assessments shouldn't matter ... they very much do. But FOCUSING primarily on them misses the forest for the trees.
Dr. John Hattie (Professor and Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne) asserts that our focus for every student should always be to achieve one year of growth for one year of time. In other words, if we focus our total effort on the process of maximizing impact in the classroom, every student, no matter where he or she starts from, has the potential to achieve one year of growth in one academic year.
So, you might wonder, what factors have impact? Great question. It's a little complicated but to understand impact we need to understand something called "effect size" a quantitative measure of the magnitude of a phenomenon. In Hattie's 2008 book, Visible Learning," he determines that an effect size of 0.4 is the statistical magnitude equivalent to one year of growth in one year of time. If numbers and stats are not your hobby or profession, no worries ... just remember that 0.4 or greater is the effect size we want. Effect sizes greater than 0.4 are golden nuggets and those below 0.15 are basically, according to some pretty extensive research, not worth the effort. The chart below gives you a sense of how effect sizes work in regard to the various influences on student achievement.
Now that we understand effect size, let's look at what influences educational outcomes the most and the least. According to Hattie's exhaustive analysis of education research, here are a few of the items that have significant impact. Remember 0.4 equals one year of growth for one year of time ...
- Teacher estimates of student achievement (i.e. expectations) = 1.29 (desired effect)
- Strategies that integrate students' prior knowledge = 0.93 (desired effect)
- Transfer strategies (i.e. meta-cognition) = 0.86 (desired effect)
- Teacher Clarity = 0.75 (desired effect)
- Open vs. traditional classrooms = 0.01 (what students could achieve without schooling)
- Students' control over teaching = 0.02 (what students could achieve without schooling)
- Multi-age classrooms = 0.04 (what students could achieve without schooling)
- Charter schools = 0.09 (what students could achieve without schooling)
What does it mean to be a learner in the Ross Valley School District? It means our total effort must be focused on those known influences that provide the greatest impact, in pursuit of at least one year of growth for one year's time. That is my expectation as Superintendent and why we ignore those influences that are known to be inefficient, ineffective and therefore not part of the genuine education we deliver at Brookside, Hidden Valley, Manor, Wade Thomas and White Hill.
I share Coach Wooden's enthusiasm for placing focus on the process, because that is what leads to real growth for every student ... the final score takes care of itself.
References:
- Hattie, J. (2008). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. routledge.
- Wooden, J. R., & Jamison, S. (1997). Wooden: A lifetime of observations and reflections on and off the court. Chicago, IL: Contemporary Books.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
On Bullying - Then and Now
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” Winston Churchill
When I was a kid I was bullied, a lot. In third grade I was placed in a special education program for blind and visually impaired students. The program was housed in a public elementary school located several miles from my home and my neighborhood friends. This meant they attended our local neighborhood school, while I was bused along with other students with various disabilities, to a neighborhood I did not know and where the kids did not know me.
My memory of riding that bus is that it felt like the elementary school equivalent of having leprosy. It didn't matter who you were, what talents you had, what clothes you wore or what kind of house you lived in ... the minute a kid stepped off that “special” bus in the morning, he/she became instantly labeled an inferior being, who deserved relentless mocking, teasing and harassment. Like now, this treatment was often referred to as “bullying,” but adults dealt with it differently back then. They told me I needed to ignore it, that such treatment was part of growing up and “besides,” they’d say, “everyone gets bullied sooner or later." The few times one of my tormentors was caught in the act by an adult and disciplined for his/her behavior, I'd be teased twice as much the next day. As a result, I learned it was best to deal with things myself and keep my mouth shut.
According to a 2003 publication by the California Department of Education, bullying is defined as,
Bullying may be physical, verbal or psychological and in my case I suffered all three. The bullies would call me names, push, punch and kick me, take my things, make threats, band together with other bullies to intimidate me, and so forth. The playground during recess and lunch was where the bulk of the bullying took place and though I developed numerous close friendships with others at school, these classmates were not much protection or defense from the regular and random targeting we all received from these ruthless rulers of the schoolyard.
I more or less learned to live with the bullying I experienced, finding ways to compartmentalize it. I did my best to ignore this dreaded behavior and in some cases that worked because the bully couldn't get a rise out of me. In other cases I'd use humor to deflect or act like I didn't care. I learned to never let them see me sweat and whenever possible I'd avoid places and/or situations where I might get caught alone in a bully's path.
But something happened as time went by .... I grew bigger, stronger and ever-more determined to find a way to stop being a victim.
One day in seventh grade, two boys cornered me on the way to gym class, demanding the bag I carried containing my brand new gym clothes. They circled around me, called me names and told me that if I didn't give them my gym clothes they would beat me up. Other kids saw what was happening and started gathering around. A circle formed, with everyone watching to see what would happen next. A couple friends in the growing crowd shouted to the boys to leave me alone, but they ignored my friends' pleas. I just stood there, saying and doing nothing. One of the boys suddenly reached out and tried to grab my bag. I instinctively pulled it out of his reach and with my free hand, pushed the boy back. I pushed him hard and he lost his balance, falling to the ground on his rear end and landing in a puddle. The crowd started to laugh and the next thing I knew, I was standing over the boy, fists clenched. The other boy could have jumped me then and there, but for some reason he didn't move. I wasn't paying attention to him anyway. Instead, I just stood over the boy in the puddle and glared at him while he looked at me in total disbelief. To my great surprise, he got up and quickly walked away. Even more surprising, his friend followed him!
When I was a kid I was bullied, a lot. In third grade I was placed in a special education program for blind and visually impaired students. The program was housed in a public elementary school located several miles from my home and my neighborhood friends. This meant they attended our local neighborhood school, while I was bused along with other students with various disabilities, to a neighborhood I did not know and where the kids did not know me.
Yes, I rode what some now refer to as “the short bus,” but that wasn’t what kids called it back then. In those days they called it “the retard bus” and I rode it to and from school, every day, for six long years.
My memory of riding that bus is that it felt like the elementary school equivalent of having leprosy. It didn't matter who you were, what talents you had, what clothes you wore or what kind of house you lived in ... the minute a kid stepped off that “special” bus in the morning, he/she became instantly labeled an inferior being, who deserved relentless mocking, teasing and harassment. Like now, this treatment was often referred to as “bullying,” but adults dealt with it differently back then. They told me I needed to ignore it, that such treatment was part of growing up and “besides,” they’d say, “everyone gets bullied sooner or later." The few times one of my tormentors was caught in the act by an adult and disciplined for his/her behavior, I'd be teased twice as much the next day. As a result, I learned it was best to deal with things myself and keep my mouth shut.
According to a 2003 publication by the California Department of Education, bullying is defined as,
"... a variety of hostile acts that are carried out repeatedly over time. The acts involve a real or perceived imbalance of power, with the more powerful child or group attacking those who are less powerful."
Bullying may be physical, verbal or psychological and in my case I suffered all three. The bullies would call me names, push, punch and kick me, take my things, make threats, band together with other bullies to intimidate me, and so forth. The playground during recess and lunch was where the bulk of the bullying took place and though I developed numerous close friendships with others at school, these classmates were not much protection or defense from the regular and random targeting we all received from these ruthless rulers of the schoolyard.
I more or less learned to live with the bullying I experienced, finding ways to compartmentalize it. I did my best to ignore this dreaded behavior and in some cases that worked because the bully couldn't get a rise out of me. In other cases I'd use humor to deflect or act like I didn't care. I learned to never let them see me sweat and whenever possible I'd avoid places and/or situations where I might get caught alone in a bully's path.
But something happened as time went by .... I grew bigger, stronger and ever-more determined to find a way to stop being a victim.
One day in seventh grade, two boys cornered me on the way to gym class, demanding the bag I carried containing my brand new gym clothes. They circled around me, called me names and told me that if I didn't give them my gym clothes they would beat me up. Other kids saw what was happening and started gathering around. A circle formed, with everyone watching to see what would happen next. A couple friends in the growing crowd shouted to the boys to leave me alone, but they ignored my friends' pleas. I just stood there, saying and doing nothing. One of the boys suddenly reached out and tried to grab my bag. I instinctively pulled it out of his reach and with my free hand, pushed the boy back. I pushed him hard and he lost his balance, falling to the ground on his rear end and landing in a puddle. The crowd started to laugh and the next thing I knew, I was standing over the boy, fists clenched. The other boy could have jumped me then and there, but for some reason he didn't move. I wasn't paying attention to him anyway. Instead, I just stood over the boy in the puddle and glared at him while he looked at me in total disbelief. To my great surprise, he got up and quickly walked away. Even more surprising, his friend followed him!
I learned something about bullies that day. I learned they do not like it when someone stands up to them. Now, as a grown adult, I know standing-up to bullies diminishes their power and that's what bullies fear the most. At twelve, all I knew was these two bullies backed down and left me alone. I don't condone pushing someone and I'm not proud of the fact that, even at twelve, I couldn't come up with a better solution ... but I am proud of standing my ground for the very first time and not letting bullies take advantage of me.
Why am I sharing all of this and who cares about an ancient story that hasn't seen the light of day in decades? Here's the thing.
Eventually we all grow up and while some childhood bullies do stop their malicious and destructive behavior, others do not. Childhood bullies who become adult bullies, continue trying to exert their power over others in selfish, mean, destructive and hurtful ways.
As Superintendent of the Ross Valley School District (RVSD), I can speak of this adult bullying from personal, first-hand experience. Our district has been the recipient victim of long-standing adult bullying that makes anything I experienced growing up pale by comparison. If you know our community, you are very familiar with what I'm talking about. If you are new to Ross Valley, check out this list of articles our local paper printed since 3/30/17 about our tiny, high performing district. The point is, adult bullying of our Board of Trustees, me, our colleagues and those who came before us, is purposefully designed and intended to silence our community's voice, diminish our families' choice and disrupt our students' educational experience.
This is why, today, just as I did when I was twelve years old, I choose not to play the bullies' game. A vast majority of our community feels the same way. We are no longer quietly tolerating threats, name-calling, social injustices, unreasonable demands, personal attacks, hollow promises, revisionist history, newspaper hit pieces, smear blogs and phony pledges. The bullies hate this and like all bullies who have lost their power, they aggressively lash out to obfuscate, rationalize, shift blame and endlessly play the “victim.” Their goal is to win the minds and hearts of those who do not see them for who they really are, thereby regaining the power they poorly deserved but richly enjoyed.
Child or adult, standing up to bullies is hard. It takes patience, determination, grit, courage and a very thick skin. But not allowing bullies to continue taking advantage of us, our children and future children, is worth every bit of the effort. I’ve been standing up to bullies all my life, even when the odds were strongly in their favor. It’s what I do and likely one of the reasons my path led to RVSD, where I'm so proud our community is speaking out, voting their confidence in genuine education and re-balancing the power in support of our truly public schools.
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