Left Lane Ends

Mr. Meyer recently posted an interesting perspective on an equation he developed regarding the instructional worth of any given ‘lesson’. It looks like this:

Darren and I have discussed this briefly, and Darren even incorporated it into his presentation on INspired Classrooms. However, I propose some dialog on a possible modification, or on a concept that could lead to modification. I am thinking about a factor that I call the ‘xFactor’.

First, however, to get us started I will briefly review Mr. Meyer’s intention with this equation. Basically, he is saying that any decision we make regarding instruction in our classrooms should be based on the relationship between its final instructional value and how long it takes to accomplish the instruction (development and deliver, I assume). I totally agree with this as a general principle. If you can do a worksheet on paper, why in the world would you want to generate a self-graded Excel spreadsheet that does the same thing but takes more time for the teacher to create and for the student to fill out? Another way to think about this is to ask what the technology (or other instructional tool/method) brings to the lesson. If it adds something that can not be achieved without it, then it will be more worthwhile. If the technology is serving the purpose of just being there for technologies sake, then it is probably taking more time and interfering with the final intent of the instruction. That, at least, is what I interpret him as saying - and I completely agree.

Here is where I see a problem, though, and it can be described with a simple example:

Teacher ‘A’ and teacher ‘B’ both use the same lesson to accomplish a state-aligned instructional goal. After the instruction, teacher A’s students perform well on the given performance based assessment, as well the state assessment. Teacher B’s students, however, do poorly on both the given performance based assessment and on the state assessment. Again, both teachers taught the same lesson with the same final instructional goal - Teacher A did it well and Teacher B, well, stunk, but probably blamed the failure of the lesson on the students (’those kids’).

I think we can all agree that the above example is a very real possibility - after all, we all have different teaching styles and teachers have different levels of experience. My hesitation in embracing Mr. Meyer’s equation is that the instructional value, as perceived by individual teachers, will be different for everyone. Thanks to my own bias, I can easily justify any given technology or lesson as not being worthwhile - even though my perception of the quality of my own teaching may not be on target. And that, is the ‘xFactor’. Hence, my proposed equation for discussion is:

I am not really sure if this is the right way to put it, but I hate to provide a teacher looking for an excuse to avoid a powerful use of technology just because they don’t know the practice that is quality teaching. I think we all need to work to understand the level and quality of our own teaching so that we can, additionally, weigh our own xFactor into the original equation and know when it isn’t the technology that is the problem, but the need for improvment in our teaching. This would mean that we could see the net instructional worth, even if we took more time as we learned how to apply the instruction/lesson/technology to our final instructional goals. Self perception is a squirrelly thing, but one we should all work to identify so that we constantly apply that perception of strengths and weakness to challenging new knowledge about our teaching practices.

I have no clue if that came out how I heard it in my brain, but I do know that when we become more aware of who we are and reflect on the quality of our own practices, we’ll be moving down the path where the left lane ends.

Self Awareness: it’s such an easy thing to preach, and such a hard thing to do. In talking about coaching, we have been discussing the concept of being aware of ones own body language, positioning, etc. While this is an important concept for coaching strategies, it is virtually impossible to ‘flip on’ your self awareness switch in specific environments - self awareness must be practiced all day, every day. I fail each day.

Here are a few resources that might be useful:

Fred Jones has a classroom management program that changed my life (literally) the first year I taught. A big part of his thoughts focus on body language and self awareness. My father, a professor of Psychology at a college in Kansas, called me one day to ask about the techniques he remembered me describing as used in my 4th grade classroom - he was having trouble with some students in his college courses! I walked him through the steps, and he reported that they worked well…ha! It’s funny how humans respond across all different levels. Here are some great little pieces from Fred Jone’s thoughts:

Adrenaline increases metabolism - nervous energy

When you run out of adrenaline you feel the exhaustion

It takes 27 minutes for adrenaline to clear the bloodstream. (i.e. Two upsets per hour with your kids keep you stressed all day.)

Calm is Strength, Upset is Weakness

Meaning business is mostly body language

Simply reading a presentation handout (this isn’t the one I read, but has many of the same concepts) was enough for me - this was my first immersment into self awareness in the classroom. Realizing the power of self awareness, I started to apply it to other areas of my life. It is a continual struggle - we are SO egocentric as human beings!

Now, I don’t want to simply put together resources that i have searched for and found (YOU can do that), so here is one last one from my blogroll. The Self Development Network is a great read, and helps with the daily focus. Give it a shot and see what results you find.

Lastly, I have found meditation (centering prayer, specifically) to have the most impact on my self awareness. The great thing is that when you take time to center yourself daily (which I haven’t been doing latley), the effects naturally roll over into all other aspects of your life. This truly has impact great impact, and I am a firm believer that meditation (either within the context of a religion or without) is one of the most important tools in developing self awareness.
Maybe one day I’ll be self aware of where I am at and if I am even located where the left lane ends…