Tag Archive for change

The Decision Book

Wednesday, 1 February, 2012 admin No comments

The Decision Book by Mikael Krogerus & Roman Tschäppeler
(Profile Books, £9.99, 2008)

(This is the fourth in a regular series reviewing books outside of the realm of education, and looking at the impact they could have in a learning environment.)

Tagline
Fifty Models for Strategic Thinking

Lowdown
What a clever little concept that has probably made a fortune for the two writers. They have distilled a range of popular, pithy and scientific models to aid decisions. Cunningly designed as a notebook, it has the feel of something you might want to write elegantly in, or even scribble down notes.
It is hard to review this book individually, as there are such a range of strategies it is possible to examine, but as a collection it is actually very clever. A cursory glance will give you ideas for quick decisions, long strategic views, ways to look at implementing something from another perspective, and even ways of developing pros and cons. It is a little like an advice book, where you can dip into to get guidance, and is a brilliant springboard for kickstarting new thoughts on what could otherwise become quite a stale topic.
Schools being as they are, great ideas are regularly trapped under a myriad of blockades, worries and concerns, and it can sometimes feel like you are dragging an initiative behind you like a boulder, rather than bringing something useful and exciting to the table.
It is very easy for schools to develop a culture of decision-making which is hard to (in the best sense) ‘disrupt.’ Any new Head will dread the words ‘but we have always done it this way’, and while protocols help in ensuring nothing is missed, sometimes they can stifle momentum, enthusiasm and innovation. This book gives a range of ideas suited to all sorts of business models, but the mutinae of decisions that are made every day in schools across the country could well benefit from a fresh pair of eyes.
More importantly, some of these models could help to break the cycle of ‘choke’ which is all to regular an issue, where a decision has been delayed or ended in a stalemate, and is unable to progress. The enoromous danger here is bigger than the item in question – if no decision can be made regularly, how does that reflect the decision process as a whole?

The Management Angle
The central joy as an SMT is that you are charged with making the decisions no-one else wants to make. As Barak Obama said, ‘anything that ends up on my desk is a problem no-one under me can solve.’ We have all felt like that. A gut instinct can work incredibly well for much of the time, but does it give us enough of an evidence base to fight our corner?
I looked at this model in light of several key decisions that had to be made, and although at this point none of them changed my decisions, it really helped to clarify for me how I had innately come about my decision, and also, with more focus, the various implications my decision may have on others. While I wouldn’t advocate using new models all the time, it is useful to be familiar with strategies which are unusual for your normal mindset.

The Teacher Angle
Brainstorms are great for spilling out everything a pupil knows about a subject, but they tend to run into difficulty afterwards. How do you organise this information? How do you evaluate it? What gaps have you missed?
The opportunity to look at data a little differently can also produce more critical thinking within pupils, and certainly changes the emphasis from ‘how much do I know’ to ‘what can I do with what I know’, which in turn reflects a learning style from something fact-based to something skill-based. Many of these models would turn simple Q/A type activities on their heads in class, and can be used (as I have done) as a source of inspiration when you have a lesson objective, but find the method for achieving this to be awkward or ineffective. One strategy would be to examine a topic you have little enthusiasm for, and skim through the book. I would be surprised if you didn’t find something of use this way.

The Pupil Angle
Which child wouldn’t want to think better? In terms of personal growth, there is a genuine benefit and reward to teaching thinking skills to pupils, as they can then begin to apply them to a range of other problems. Informal studies have shown inside a classroom that while methods may lock into place, especially in Maths, it is when these methods needs to be transferred to a different, unfamiliar environment that cognitive ‘choke’ tends to occur. The key here would be to offer children tools to allow them to make transitions from method to practical use. Throwing  pupils a range of different scenarios is quite different to equipping them with an effective transfer strategy.

Best quote
“A person who wants to think outside the box is better off thinking inside a box.”

Ponder now
What is the biggest influence in how you make decisions? How much control do you have over this influence?

Book review, Book review, Opinion, Reflections , , , , ,

Who Moved My Cheese?

Sunday, 22 January, 2012 admin No comments
Who Moved My Cheese by Dr Spencer Johnson
(Vermilion, £5.99, 1999)(This is the third in a regular series reviewing books outside of the realm of education, and looking at the impact they could have in a learning environment.)

Tagline
An Amazing Way to Deal With Change In Your Work and in Your Life

Lowdown
In terms of big sales, this business book is enormous. I was given it by a previous boss, who had bought all the staff it en masse. I quickly looked it up on Wikipedia, and immediately was drawn to the following:

Some managers are known to mass-distribute copies of the book to employees, some of whom see this as an insult, or an attempt to characterize dissent as not “moving with the cheese”. In the corporate environment, management has been known to distribute this book to employees during times of “structural re-organization,” or during cost-cutting measures, in an attempt to portray unfavorable or unfair changes in an optimistic or opportunistic way. This misuse of the book’s message is seen by some as an attempt by organizational management to make employees quickly and unconditionally assimilate management ideals, even if they may prove detrimental to them professionally. Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams claims that patronizing parables are one of the top 10 complaints he receives in his email.

This was indeed the case with my boss, who in every other way was inspirational. This book however will make you want to weep with derision, such is the patronising manner of what is a very simple concept to grasp. So simple in fact, it could be told on a beer mat. The trouble with beermats is however that they are trickier to sell many millions. Instead, you might want to do what Dr Spencer has done here and write a slim volume, which is a story within a story. We meet some lovely, wholesome people, just like you or I, and over the course of a colossal 73 pages, describe a tale where some mice have run out of their favourite cheese. Two mice react differently, one waiting for their old cheese, the other goes off, seeking new cheese.
If you haven’t detected it yet, I am rather cynical toward this book. The message of ‘change happens, deal with it’ may have had a warmer response in a previous, perhaps American, climate, but I found the read to be akin to watching a very badly-acted play. The link to buy the book, as ever is below, but to save you the money and trouble, here is the central message again: ‘Change happens. Deal with it.’

The Management Angle
One of the trickiest aspects for any member of management is that they are responsible for implementing change. This involves braking the norm, introducing or removing tasks or incentives, and altering things that have always ‘just worked.’ This in itself isn’t so much the difficulty so much as convincing those who need to change of that need. Buying this book will not help matters.
Two convincing leads toward managing change successfully are to indicate a benefit. While this may be challenging, especially in times of austerity, any benefit in saving time, effort or money is often warmly welcomed. The difficulty with this is that there are introductions made which never have these benefits – the ‘sell’ is far harder here. To convince them of the greater good is one perspective – to have all the staff on board with the mission, values and development plan something else. Isolation leads so quickly to indifference and resentment. Change is most effective when we all feel ownership.

The Teacher Angle
There just aren’t enough hours in the day, and then another thing comes along, trying to fill the spare thirty seconds you had just clawed back from another activity. The main difficulty with change as a teacher is that it often seems like an addition rather than an adjustment – and it needs to be accommodated. Added to that are new members of SMT, keen to make their mark by implementing new changes.
This of course can’t actually be true. Given time, changes settle into a comfortable groove of either happening if useful, or fading out if not. It is far better instead to rationalise new initiatives by giving them a chance, safe in the knowledge that if they are good, they will stick around, and might even make your job that little bit easier.

The Pupil Angle
Pupils seem the most content to change of all the members of a learning group. Their lives are governed by regularity and timetables, so change is welcomed, desired in fact. ‘A change will do them good’, ‘a different voice always helps’, ‘we’re going to do something different today’; all these phrases come about because change helps to kickstart thinking and learning. Why do we end up fearing or feeling uncomfortable about change then? This is a question with no real answer, similar to ‘why do children laugh more than adults’ – there is no definitive, but it is a real shame that there isn’t. Pupils, especially children, embrace change and view something different as an adventure. On the subject of change, the pupils are the experts.

Best quote
“One of the most successful business books ever”
Daily Telegraph

Ponder now
What was the last big change you feared at work? How did it turn out in the end?

Book review, Opinion, Reflections, Tips & Tricks , , , , , , ,

Bounce (The myth of talent and the power of practice)

Sunday, 8 January, 2012 admin No comments

Bounce by Matthew Syed

(Fourth Estate, £8.99, 2010)

 

(This is the first in a regular series reviewing books outside of the realm of education, and looking at the impact they could have in a learning environment.)

 

Tagline

The myth of talent and the power of practice

 

Lowdown

This is a very powerful and interesting book, with a sporting background as its basis, which looks at the evidence for and against talent. It draws on the previous writing by Malcolm Gladwell, which ascribes to the idea that talent is a created concept, and what is seen as talent is actually at least 10,000 hours of practice. Syed’s writing is however much more involving than Gladwell’s at times, and he takes the reader through the concept of talent versus practice, then pinpoints several key features of practice.

 

10,000 hours of doing anything will not make you an expert he reasons, using driving as an argument, and the practice he recommends is one of focussed, intense practice, driven by coaches who give intense support for areas which are outside the comfort zone of the athlete. He argues that those tricky shots that David Beckham or Tiger Woods take are actually not so unusual to them due to their level of training and focus.

 

The main tenet which is carefully explored in both anecdote and psychological study is that of a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset. The fixed mindset is one which believes in talent, whereas a growth mindset accepts that it takes practice to improve a skill, and that nothing is impossible, simply ‘out of reach.’

 

The book is a very easy read – that is not to disparage the quality of the writing, but to highlight how well the material has been chosen for the reader. Although this book is from a sports/business background, the connections to Education are enormous.

 

The Management Angle

The demand for Gifted and Talented Policies within schools defines a school on a paper sense as having a fixed mindset. This then has the potential to establish a philosophy of talented and non-talented pupils. While it can be argued that there are children who are stronger at some subjects than others, it is always interesting to examine why this is the case, what the origin of this strength might be. Bounce contends that with enough focus, anyone can become talented. How this can be put into Policy, and then embedded in the curriculum, is a challenge for any SMT. The main message for management from ‘Bounce’ would be to stretch all pupils , regardless of their starting point, but to underline this by eliminating the concept of failure and doubt. As Syed says, doubt reduces ambition.

 

The Teacher Angle

One area which is incredibly relevant to teachers is the language used to develop a growth mindset. Syed argues that we should verbally reward the achievement rather than the overarching skill – ‘You really nailled those tables’ rather than ‘You’re so good at maths.’ The very subtle change in language can have a lasting impact in terms of the athlete’s/pupil’s perspective of their ability; the logic being that you get told you are good at Maths often enough, and you can become nervous if you tackle something you feel you ‘should’ be able to achieve.

 

The Pupil Angle

A perception of people being ‘born with talent’ comes from an early age, and is encouraged in popular media. Whether or not we believe that this is the case, it is crucial to instill confidence in pupils that there is no limit to potential, but that lengthy, repetitive and sometimes uncomfortable practice and dedication needs to be put into place in order to progress.

 

Best quote

‘If you don’t know what you are doing wrong, you can never know what you are doing right.’ – Chen Xinhua, Chinese Table-Tennis Coach

 

Ponder now

What about your learning environment is limited by a ‘fixed mindset’? Where was this embedded?

 


Educational Research, Opinion, Reflections , , , , , , , , ,

#Googlemeetup – a review

Tuesday, 20 December, 2011 admin One comment

I was lucky enough to attend a meeting on a cold Monday night of fifty like-minded educators at Google’s UK headquarters. Ostensibly to encourage further interest and evangelism of the Google Apps range of products, which are free for schools, it was also a great chance to meet others, share good practice and enjoy that feeling that the work you do in your school and class wasn’t really in isolation; that you weren’t on your own.

There were some familiar faces attending, the ‘inner circle’ of my PLN as I like to think of them,but the evening was far from closed and cliquey, as one may have considered. After a relaxed introduction by Ross Mahon, who has the fantastic title of of Google Apps Evangelist, where he laid out Google’s vision of Apps and their potential impact on Education, a range of attendees (including me) spoke, talking about the things we were doing in classrooms across the UK. Steve Bunce spoke of his work with VITAL, creating Teachshares, which seemed to be a discrete online version of a teachmeet. Next Jill Duman spoke about how Norfolk had ALL gone across to Google Apps, initially for email.

After a short but very tasty  minglemunch, we eturned for a lively and at times quite fiery discussion on digital literacies and the desire for simpler products for younger pupils, led by the ever-brilliant Tom Barratt. These sound two very dry topics, but it became quite animated quite quickly! We then had a small announcement (covered below) and hear from Andy Alcock, who uses Google Sketchup to inspire his KS3 pupils, an entertaining spot from David ‘Deputy’ Mitchell on embedding spreadsheets, and Ian Addison finished with his version of a VLE, which was built from the children, for the children.

One of the highlights of the evening, it has to be said, is that we were all given a Samsung Chromebook, as a thank you for primarily attending, and for spreading the word about the impact that Google products can have. Ross underlined the fact that it is quite open – it wasn’t a Google-only promo, if something worked with children, it was shared. I’m writing this post on my Chromebook, and I have to say, first impressions are very good. It really does boot up in eight seconds, and seems very quite compared to my macbook.

Despite all the things I picked up and learnt about, and felt confident to attempt myself, the main highlight for me was getting to meet some people I have followed on twitter as @mrlockyer for a long time. Thank you for being so friendly, and thank you Google for the chromebook!

Opinion, Reflections , , , , , ,

#oldschool: My Markbook is my Bible

Thursday, 20 October, 2011 admin No comments

I have never been the most enthusiastic tracker of information, and especially in a busy school day, it can be quickly overwhelming to keep track of everything the children can produce in a day.

This year however that is exactly what I have done. In a bid to ensure that I am really getting the most out of each pupil in terms of their capability to produce work of their highest ability, I am macro-managing their work. Every single piece is noted and recorded in my mark book, which is quickly filling up in an unusually-satisfying way, and I can see at a glance changes, adjustments, dips and little levels of progress on these rows of ticks, numbers and notes.

What is strange is that i am using #oldschool methods – that is, pen and paper. There are of course lots of Apps for my iPad or iPhone that would do this for me, probably more efficiently, faster and almost definitely more neatly, and yet there is a refreshing rawness about the page which I am responding to in a really positive way. In fact, I feel more on top of my pupils’ work than I have ever done, so it is worth the slog of this macro-management. It has of course changed my teaching for the better too, since I am able to respond much more quickly to gaps I discover, rather than letting them fall through the sieve of time.

It would seem that the more technology is an attraction to me, it also highlights the myriad benefits of #oldschool techniques. Just as we wouldn’t use Excel to teach every Maths lesson, sometimes, someone needs to stand up for good old pen and paper. I think this explains the reason why so many Diary Apps have the option of ‘writing’ on various types of ‘paper’ – we still have this desire to physically connect, even digitally.

Reflections, Tips & Tricks, Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

Escape Routes

Friday, 22 April, 2011 admin No comments

I am currently finished work on a rear extension at home. This does not share even 5% of the skills I have had to build and develop in education, and I love it! Not in the sense that I want to jump careers in any way whatsoever, but I do find the process of learning new skills and creating quite exciting.

I should add that I’m not particularly natural at DIY. I can sketch, plan and theorise, but find the literal nuts and bolts hard work. If I encounter a problem, I have learnt not to get stressed, but do something else, anything else, to give my brain and stress levels a little break.

In a large view, the extension work is a welcome break from teaching, a good chance to recharge batteries and think of something completely different. The micro breaks are also good for that kind of release.

In schoo, we offer our students the large break in terms of play time, but do e account for the micro-break? When we expect a child to work for thirty minutes ceaselessly, where is their escape route for them to destress and take the pressure off?

I’m considering a card system which the children can use to take five (minutes) and do something completely different. This could be reading, colouring, tidying; anything in fact which gives them that mental break which as an adult I take for granted. I’d appreciate any thoughts anyone has on this, positive or otherwise (and I know that brain Gym has been thoroughly debunked, so shan’t go down that road!).

New Social Tools, Reflections , , , , , , , , , , ,

A problem with management

Thursday, 14 April, 2011 admin No comments

If you asked ten people to draw their perfect house, each one would be slightly different. Intrinsically the same, but with slightly different features and touches. Now scale that to say, 30 people, and you end up with a house that would only suit one person.

As a manager, your aim is to please everyone, while keeping the aims and passions of all intact. You cannot however be one house to everyone, it is impossible.

The solution? Go househunting!

Tips & Tricks ,

Working blind to change

Wednesday, 5 May, 2010 admin 2 comments

blindfold by crumpart (CC)

With the majority of my time in my current job teaching ICT, I see a vast array of skills and abilities on display.

Some children appear to grow these talents instinctively (if that is possible), whereas others  put in the hours at home to make dynamic leaps in terms of progress. Using MSN for example makes a massive difference to children’s typing speeds.

I find it fascinating then from reading in various forums the resistance to teachers improving their own ICT. As a flavour, how many of these statements would you agree with?

  • Children are better with computers than I am
  • There is too much changing with technology to keep up
  • Children can type faster than I can

The difficulty is the context we are viewing these questions from. Let me rephrase them:

  • Children are better at writing than I am
  • There is too much changing with communication to keep up
  • Children can think faster than I can

To ensure we are able to not only keep up with students, but help them progress, we need to ensure we understand the new channels they are using to commuincate with, and the ways in which they engage with technology. Simply saying that ‘things change too fast’ is not enough any more.

We are able to buy the latest TV, not because we understand the technology behind it, but because we can see the intrinsic benefits it brings to us.

Any thoughts would be greatly received!

Uncategorized , , , , , ,