One of the things I have tried to encourage this year (07-08) is discussion of certain topics by the staff that are related to education and that could have a positive impact on how we teach. I feel that it is important, no matter how good we think we are, to strive to learn new things that can make us better. Understanding that everything has room for improvement is something that I think we should also instill in our students. I have attempted to incorporate bits and pieces of Habits of Mind, Discovering & Exploring by Costa and Kallick as suggestions for thought and discussion at every staff meeting. The following is an excerpt from a piece that I wrote for an opening to an e-staff meeting we had in November. Circumstances were such that we could not meet as usual so I decided to send the agenda and my comments as an attachment to an e-mail. For the entire day, teachers could read the items and respond to all recipients their opinions about the topics. I started the meeting with my thoughts about professional growth….
e-mail Meeting - November 8th, 2007
I was reading from the Habits of Mind, Discovering & Exploring the other night and ran across the section about “Remaining Open To Continuous Learning.” Underneath it was one of my favorite Albert Einstein quotes. In fact I have it on the wall of both of my offices. “Insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
I do not want to repeat word for word but I do want to highlight a couple of things from the paragraphs. In this section the authors (Costa and Kallick), state that people of intelligence never stop learning. They write that these people “are always striving for improvement, growing, learning, and modifying and improving themselves.” They also state that many of us are afraid to learn new things and feel quite comfortable with what we know.
In our District Mission Statement, there is a line…that one of our quests for our students is “instilling a desire for lifelong learning”… In our Elementary School Mission Statement, it is stated that we believe that “each student has the opportunity to learn in classrooms employing diverse instructional methods.” Our Arts in Education objective is centered on the “Creative Problem Solving” method. Costa and Kallick state that the first step of learning is knowing that you don’t know anything and not being afraid to find the answer. In Creative Problem Solving we identify the problem or find out what we don’t know. The next step, of course is to learn the answer to what we don’t know.
Please take some time to read this section. I believe it is in the papers that I handed out a couple of months ago, section 16. I would like you to apply some thought not only to how our students are to learn and develop but also think of it in terms of how we teach and what we know (or don’t know) about teaching. I believe that every one of us has things we can learn and do better and we should instill the same type of thinking in our students.
In my offices I also have two other quotes. One is from Einstein and the other from Socrates. They are constant reminders to me that I always have something to learn. Socrates said (in Greek probably) … “all I know is that I know nothing” and another from Albert Einstein… “the more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know.”
This portion of the e-meeting is nothing more than me spouting off some thoughts that may get us thinking about what we do and how we do it.
Responses: I had some interesting responses to this opening. Not all were positive as you might imagine. Many teachers responded with a thank you for helping them remember why they became teachers in the first place. Of course many did not answer. I can only hope that they at least stop and think about what they are doing and improve what they can. Others told me I was preaching to the choir since they have always applied the “programs du jour” that the District provided or directed. I would rather see self-directed motivation here rather than response to an extrinsic force. As a closing note to this blog, I did respond to one teacher who told me that I should give credit to the teachers who have many years of experience and trust that they know what they are doing. I was told that there were many teachers who have 25 years or more experience. I agreed that many do have valued experiences. They have consistently kept up new techniques and ideas and that I appreciated the knowledge they shared with others. I also told her that there were some who taught the same way they did years ago who can hardly be bothered by taking a chance on something new. I ended by stating that there was a difference between 25 years experience and 1 year’s experience, 25 times.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Lori Diamond // Apr 15, 2008 at 9:03 pm
I was interested in the idea of an emeeting and I think itin some ways raises the level of expectation because once something is out there in print, you own it. So staff has to think carefully about how to state it. I would love to see “accountable talk” in that people build off of other’s comments, either agreeing or disagreeing. We expect that from our students but don’t often find it from our peers.
And thank you for those last two sentences!!! I agree wholeheartedly.
2 Edwin Beck // Apr 21, 2008 at 11:51 am
Mr. Stickles — I am not one of your flock but indeed admire (A) your respecting teachers to the point where you acknowledge that professionals remain “professional” by growth, often nurtured by reading; and that your assumption is that if you feel strongly about something worth sharing, you will assign your thoughts to writing. Not only does decent writing (which your exceeds, I might add) take a good deal of time, but it allows the reader the opportunity for convenient moments of uninterrupted comprehension. This is very courteous of you. (B) Secondly, I am so pleased to read that Bena Kallick and Art Costa are still in the business of bringing great ideas about teaching and kids’ learning to the educational “table.” I spent a week of workshops with Costa many years ago when I was still an administrator, and found his program very important to my changed thinking. And Bena Kallick is incredible as a speaker and insightful educator; we recently e-mailed one another and it was great reconnecting. I too used to write for teachers in the pre-e-mail days, in our weekly staff bulletin for a school of 930 k-6 students — a hueristic piece called “THE FIRST ITEM” — and recall being disappointed that it was the very rare week indeed when my thoughts would elicit any responses. But the superintendent liked them and realized that my costly workshops with folks like Kallick and Costa had been worth the taxpayers’ bucks. Keep the faith…..edwin beck
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