Remember, observe the masses and do the opposite. Do what scares you… that’s when the exciting stuff happens.” — James Caan, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Hamilton Bradshaw
The other day I jumped on a Twitter convo about HyperDocs which evolved into a conversation about the state of education… (come to think of it, many Twitter conversations seem to take that turn lately). One of the tweets really struck a chord with me:
James Caan says we need to do what scares us. But Aaron says that educators are scared to think and teach beyond the “borders” of traditionally accepted teaching practices. So it seems to me, then, that it is imperative that we all think and teach beyond those borders…because in doing so, then the exciting stuff will happen.
And perhaps that exciting stuff is that the classroom reality changes and the “borders” become a distant memory. Wouldn’t that be grand?
Our district mission statement centers around our calling to “ignite genius and empower students to advance the world.” That’s a pretty tall order!
Especially when, as Seth Godin explains (“The Long Term” podcast), students typically spend 90-95% of their school day on either doing what they’re told, aka compliance, or finding the right answer, also compliance!
If only 5-10% of the day is open for a student to think bigger thoughts, then how in the world can we ever expect students to find their genius?
Looking for the right answer? It’s easy. You can’t.
If we truly want students to find their genius, then we need to provide the opportunities for them to dig in to complex problems. Complex problems does not mean a calculus problem, or balancing scientific equations. What I’m talking about here are complex LIFE problems. Problems that, quite honestly, don’t have answers. Things like:
Overpopulation and resource scarcity (Although, if you watched the last Avengers movie, this problem does have a potential solution… No Spoilers allowed!)
Economic development of the global poor
Nuclear security
When we allow students time, resources, and freedom to explore complex problems like these, and even more so, when we let them explore the world of no resolutely right answer, we are building their capacity for original thought. We are building their capacity for grit. We are building their capacity for learning from failure.
And in doing so, we are building their capacity to ignite their own genius.
When people feel like they can experience success in a situation, they have more reason to put forth the effort to do so. If they feel like a situation is hopeless, or out of their control, why bother? This is the concept behind Attribution Theory. In other words, if I work hard (internal) at this, will I succeed? Or should I not bother because I know my boss never likes anything I do (external)?
This is why Carol Dweck is so popular in education circles. Dweck states that “individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts). This is because they worry less about looking smart and they put more energy into learning.”
Basically, people with a growth mindset use an internal locus of control to explain their successes and failures. Therefore, they are more motivated to put forth the effort needed to learn.
In my post “I Believe in 28 out of 36 of You” I discussed Bandura and his research which shows how beliefs impact action. And that people with self-efficacy set their sights higher, try harder, persevere longer, and show more resilience in the face of failure. Sounds pretty internal, right? Not much to attribute to external forces there.
So when we talk about students and goals, how we frame the conversation has a profound impact not only on our perceived ability in their success, but also their own perceived ability in their success, which ultimately creates the conditions to internally and externally impact their success.
If we say 28 out of 36 students will pass, we can easily attribute the eight failures to external causes such as poverty or already being academically deficient when they walked in the door. But when our goal is for all students to increase their score by 20 points, external factors don’t carry the same weight. The goal requires an intentional, unrelenting focus on internal causes … on effort and belief and efficacy … for every student to feel and achieve success.
I was at a local event the other day that was filled with young children and their parents. The children were getting faces painted, collecting Easter eggs, and taking photos with the Easter bunny. As you can imagine, it was a bit… chaotic. Parents chasing children, shouting phrases like:
“Don’t run off ahead of me!”
“Stop bugging your sister.”
“Don’t eat any more candy!”
You get the idea. And it made me think, how many times a day do you think a child is told NOT to do something? What if I told you not to watch this video? Would you do it?
I’m going to go ahead and assume you watched. As you saw, Brown uses the power of negative suggestion to get children to open a box. How? Simple. By telling them NOT to open the box. The more they tried not to open the box, the more difficult it was to resist.
Brown shares that curiosity gets the better of us, and we wonder what will happen if we do the thing we’re trying not to do.
Makes me wonder, then, are students getting in trouble in school simply because we continuously tell them not to do something… are we, unwittingly, using the power of negative suggestion to convince students to act out counter to our desires? Are we fueling their curiosity with our constant messages of:
“Don’t run in the halls,”
“Don’t use swear words,”
“No talking,”
and “Don’t access inappropriate content on the internet”?
The negative rules are everywhere. They are not only said by adults on campus, but they are published on classroom posters, listed on Internet Acceptable Use Policies, and sent home in First Day of School packets.
So how about I try a little negative suggestion for you:
DON’T USE POSITIVE SUGGESTIONS WITH STUDENTS!
Did it work? Have you torn down the posters? Rewritten the Internet Acceptable Use Policy? What are you waiting for?
*****
By the way: Derren Brown is an English mentalist. I wasn’t sure what a mentalist was, so I looked it up. And honestly, I’m still not sure, but it seems to involve an ability to subliminally manipulate people through psychological suggestion. If you liked his video, check out his YouTube channel – I should warn you though… he uses negative suggestion with adults that are a bit darker than the video I shared here.
I had the pleasure of listening to 5th grade students share their proposals to relaunch the lunch experience at their school. There were a few issues that the students were looking to solve:
Students who get hot lunch need healthy, delicious food choices everyday to include vegetarian choices in order to avoid food and money waste and get nutrition for the rest of the day
Students need more time in order to play, eat, line up, and transition to be relaxed.
Students need choices and flexibility in seating in order to feel valued, respected, and trusted.
Students need a way to change the music at lunch in order to have amore enjoyable lunch experience.
Regardless of the need being solved, a theme quickly emerged – Agency. Or lack thereof.
One student explained in his presentation: “In the classroom we are always told to be ‘Be quiet!’ by the teacher. And then at lunch we are told to ‘Be quiet!’ by the lunch aides. When do we get to unwind and let our energy out?”
Another student shared that “KidzBop is dreadful,” so as a reward for behaving, it is truly missing the mark.
Other students shared that the playground should be a place to play freely, and not be limited in choices by the adults supervising the area.
And when it came to food, many were in agreement that having parents place orders at the start of the month did little to satisfy their taste buds later in the month.
Regardless of the need being solved, a theme quickly emerged during the presentations – Agency. Or lack thereof. These students wanted to have input into the routines impacting their day. They wanted choice. They wanted freedom. They wanted voice.
Their proposals were all awesome: Music committees to analyze lyrics of songs requested by students so as to create playlists; student-generated rules to provide equitable access to playground; and healthy food vending machines that not only provide choice, but also generate revenue for the campus.
Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders. If they are to lead well, we must give them opportunity to develop agency. You never know… they just may do a better job than we are!
P.S. I’ll be excited to hear what changes result! Final presentations are next week, right before Spring Break. Stay tuned…
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The other day I walked in to the art classroom at one of our elementary schools. Third graders were on a mission.
As artists, how might we use our creative voices to affect change in
our school?
our community?
our world?
Specifically:
To get humans to use less plastic and/or dispose of plastic properly to protect our ocean creatures.
In order to tell the story of plastic’s toxic impact on the ocean, students planned a public art piece depicting the ocean, with the creatures and such made of plastic. It was ambitious, and meaningful. And they needed the help of the art teacher.
When I entered the classroom, it was hard to even find the art teacher. She wasn’t in front teaching the class. She was sitting with a group of students, encouraging them, inspiring them, and helping them turn their vision in to a reality. Other students were spread around the room working with different tools: saws, drills, paints, wire.
I also couldn’t find the classroom teacher! Oh wait…there she is. Not monitoring the room, or sitting in the corner grading papers, but she was making art right there with the students. With her goggles on. As equals.
Each student I talked to knew not only what he or she was creating and how it would tie in to the art piece, but each student also described for me why this art piece was important. I was told about jellyfish dying with plastic wrapped around them and dead fish full of plastic in their stomach. They asked me about my plastic usage, and if I knew how much of what I used would end up floating in the ocean.
They had a reason for their art. A passion for their art. Activists for a cause important to them.
It was truly a moment when I said, “Yes! This is what learning should be like for students every day!”
Empathy + Action = Activist
Teacher and student creating plastic bottle fishes
Our district mission statement centers around our calling to “ignite genius and empower students to advance the world.” That’s a pretty tall order!
Laura K Spencer, Ed.D. 