James Counsilman, the late infamous Olympic coach (1972 Montreal Olympics, where the men won every Olympic gold on the program, and the women might have done the same had it not been for the DDR drug fueled juggernaut that, to this day, has NOT been corrected by the IOC), and coach of Indiana University (11 times NCAA champions...) gave a landmark presentation to the ASCA World Clinic in 1975 simply entitiled "The X Factor :Separating the Important From the Uninportant". It is still considered one of the seminal presentations in the annals of the American Swimming Coaches Association, if not one of the most important, and an integral part of the Level I educational system of new coaches...and so it should be of all new teachers.
In a nutshell, he admonished coaches (teachers) from jumping on every 'shiny and new' training (teaching) methodology that pops up, and instead concentrate on the 'X' Factor, the ability to separate the 'wheat from the chaff'...separating what's important from the less imporatant. His belief, as is mine, is that great teachers are born (NOT taught...) with an innate ability to see what is important, winnow it out from the myriad of offerings being proffered as the 'next great educational tool', and forge ahead, even in spite of great opposition...and that, usually, with sheer will and perseverance, prove true.
After 35 superbly successful years of teaching/coaching, I, too, occasionally fall victim to the 'shiny and new' promises of the next great wave of educational tinkering...but, as a born skeptic, I've also become very wary of the snake oil salesmen at every turn, particularly if they spend little or NO time in the classroom. As result, I've adopted the state of Missouri as my home state (I'm actually from Arizona...), whose motto is 'SHOW ME!', hence, the 'Show Me' state.
The late Carl Sagan said skepticism is a process to winnow 'great truths' from 'great folly', and in education, there is a LOT of great folly out there. I've come to the conclusion that to separate the important from the unimportant I need only look no further than 'what can I take to the classroom tomorrow that might make a difference...'. Technology IS the wave of the future, but for my great state of Utah ('Life Elevated'...we're just not sure WHERE quite yet, but if it costs money, no way) our leadership that perpetually is re-elected ad-infinitum is anti-education at every turn, and it's not likely to end anytime soon...we're lucky to have a TEACHER'S work station in each classroom, let alone any other type of technological tools.
Our push toward Dr. Rick DuFour's Professional Learning Community has taken 7 LONG years, mostly due to conservative, dogmatic administration that has blocked classroom innovation at every turn. With a new school district's birth, however, there may be a light on the horizon...but, not so fast...the same, administrative dogma that plagued us in the past seems imminent in the 'New and Improved' future...time for the 'X' Factor...
We HAVE to take control at the classroom level and instigate DuFour's axioms: "WHAT do we want students to learn?; HOW can we tell if they've learned it?; and WHAT do we DO if they haven't learned it (or already KNOW it)?" Not much technology here, simply the hard work (as it ALWAYS has been, of rolling up our sleeves and getting down and dirty.
It will NOT come from the top down...it will NOT come across our desktop as the newest and cleverest podcast; it WILL come from us who are daily separating the important from the unimportant...those actually DOING the work of teaching...NOT talking about it. Legislatures, Superintendents and Board of Educations be damned...get down here and SHOW US...in our state, where we are already uncommonly succesfull as measured by ANY proxy test you want to throw at us...we'll probably show you!!
No comments:
Post a Comment