Don't answer a student's question and another way to annoy students

Tony Wagner's book, The Global Achievement Gap, has become a good read and is making me think.

Over the history of education we have promoted the idea that the teacher is the bucket filled with all knowledge and understanding and students simply reach in and grab the information they need out of this bucket. The teacher teaches; the student listens and learns.

How can we change this mindset? Do teachers need to act differently? Do students need to take greater ownership for their learning? A teacher cannot be doing most of the thinking, leaving little left for the student.

Here are two ways we can promote more student thinking:

1.) Don't answer a students question. Absurd? Maybe, but quickly answering a question lets the student off the hook for having to think. Instead, ask a question in response to a question. For example:

- What do you think?

- Why do you assume that?

- Have you considered...?

- What do you know about...?

2.) Institute a classroom expectation such as "Ask three before me." This expectation naturally increases student thinking. Students ask more questions and students in turn answer more questions. It takes thinking both to ask and answer questions. While I walk around the room checking for understanding, and a student asks me an academic question, I often reply with, "Have you asked three?" This is a quick reminder to the class to ask other students their questions. If they have asked three students and are still confused, they ask me the question. Do I then feed them the answer? No, I revert to my strategy mentioned in #1 above.

In no way am I promoting that a teacher never gives an answer to a question. I am just advocating that this should not be the first response when asked a question. Lots of thinking should happen from when the question is asked until when the answer is found. If traveling is about the journey and not just the destination, then learning is about thinking and not just arriving at the answer. If students are accustomed to being spoon fed the answer, they will initially be annoyed when they are asked to do more thinking to discover the answer. But, thinking is in their best interest for college, work and life success.

Happy teaching and learning.

Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours,

Wayne

I’m Curious about Curiosity: Fostering Curiosity in Our Homes and Schools

Our school is beginning our WASC reaccreditation process. Our first all-staff work session was focused on commenting on proposed revisions to our four ESLRs (Expected Student Learning Results). An ESLR answer the following question: What type of student do we want to graduate?

We referenced Dr. Tony Wagner’s book, The GlobalAchievement Gap, in our ESLR revision discussion. Dr. Wagner names seven survival skills for students in our evolving global economy. The skill that peaked my interest the most is #7: Curiosity and Imagination.

The Seven Survival Skills:
1.) Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

2.) Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence

3.) Agility and Adaptability

4.) Initiative and Entrepreneurialism

5.) Effective Oral and Written Communication

6.) Accessing and Analyzing Information

7.) (And my favorite right now) Curiosity an Imagination



Over the past week I have been reflecting on curiosity.

• How can we foster curiosity? 
• As a father and educator, how do I nurture curiosity at home and school? 
• I believe much is taught through modeling. Am I modeling curiosity? Am I a curious person? 

These are some of the questions I have been thinking about. Through my reflections, I believe the road to learning has the following bends:

     Bend 1: Be curious. Ask questions.

     Bend 2: Begin exploring. Find answers.

     Bend 3: Analyze and evaluate information collected.

     Bend 4: Prepare to share new learning (visually, written or spoken).

     Bend 5: Share.

What are your thoughts on fostering curiosity, at home and school?

Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours.

Wayne

16 Books That Changed How I View Work, Health and Life

I read some of these while growing up and some are more recent reads. I would love to reread all of these.

Work

• Getting Things Done by David Allen
• Brain Rules by John Medina
• Teaching with Love and Logic by Jim Fay
• On Writing by Stephen King
• What Great Teachers Do Differently by Todd Whitaker
• A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby Payne
• The Essential 55 by Ron Clark

Health

(The following two books helped me lose 50 pounds.)

• Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink
• The 9-Inch 'Diet' by Alex Bogusky

Life

• Today Matters by John Maxwell
• Epistle of James by James
• Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado
• Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
• What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey
• Radical by David Platt

5 Simple Questions that Promote Student Thinking

Image Credit: Veer

Edutopia recently posted the following simple questions that teachers should be asking. These questions promote student thinking. 

Consider posted these questions at the back of your classroom as a reminder to ask them often.

#1. What do you think?

This question interrupts us from telling too much. There is a place for direct instruction where we give students information yet we need to always strive to balance this with plenty of opportunities for students to make sense of and apply that new information using their schemata and understanding.

#2. Why do you think that?

After students share what they think, this follow-up question pushes them to provide reasoning for their thinking.

#3. How do you know this?

When this question is asked, students can make connections to their ideas and thoughts with things they've experienced, read, and have seen.

#4. Can you tell me more?

This question can inspire students to extend their thinking and share further evidence for their ideas.

#5. What questions do you still have?

This allows students to offer up questions they have about the information, ideas or the evidence.

For more thoughts on raising thinking children, see:

• Kids + Thinking
• Think Outside the Bubble

Art Makes You Smart

My wife, Misty, would love this New York Times story in support of art education.

Here are some excerpts from the story...

Students who were selected to visit the museum on a field trip demonstrated stronger critical thinking skills, displayed higher levels of social tolerance, exhibited greater historical empathy and developed a taste for art museums and cultural institutions.

Moreover, most of the benefits we observed are significantly larger for minority students, low-income students and students from rural schools — typically two to three times larger than for white, middle-class, suburban students — owing perhaps to the fact that the tour was the first time they had visited an art museum.

Further research is needed to determine what exactly about the museum-going experience determines the strength of the outcomes. How important is the structure of the tour? The size of the group? The type of art presented?

Clearly, however, we can conclude that visiting an art museum exposes students to a diversity of ideas that challenge them with different perspectives on the human condition. Expanding access to art, whether through programs in schools or through visits to area museums and galleries, should be a central part of any school’s curriculum.

The Bottom Line

*** I first read this poem in Discipline with Dignity. ***

Face it.

Nobody owes you living.

What you achieve or fail to achieve in your lifetime

is directly related to what you do

or fail to do.

No one chooses his parents or childhood

but you choose your own direction.

Everyone has problems and obstacles to overcome

but that too is relative to each individual.

Nothing is carved in stone.

You can change anything in your life

if you want to badly enough.

Excuses are for losers.

Those who take responsibility for their actions

are the real winners in life.

Winners meet life’s challenges head on

knowing there are no guarantees

and give it all they’ve got.

It’s never too late or too early to begin.

Time plays no favorites

and will pass whether you act or not.

Take control of your life.

Dare to dream and take risks.

If you aren’t willing to work for your goals,

don’t expect others to.

Believe in Yourself!

- Anonymous

Kids + Thinking

When kids leave school they may have a burst of energy.
When educators leave school we may be exhausted.
Maybe physically, but probably mentally drained too. Why is this? Are we doing too much of the thinking, maybe thinking for our kids? 
These questions motivated me to find out what some thinkers say about thinking. Here we go...

"Time given to thought is the greatest time saver of all." - Norman Cousins

With something to think about, 

Mr. Russell

10 Brain-Break Questions

*** Read more about brain-based learning here. ***

The following brain-break questions help students focus attention by turning their thinking upside down.

1. Are you more like a cracker or cookie?
2. Would you rather be extra-large or extra-small? Why?
3. What if walls could talk? Which walls would you most like to interview? Why?
4. What are the disadvantages of being able to read minds? Write the schedule you will follow on a new holiday called Opposite Day.
5. Write a description of an imaginary teacher who teaches you in the most fabulous ways.
6. Describe a problem that has no solution.
7. Describe five unusual uses for a toothpick.
8. You have the world's oldest notebook, and inside are five of the world's top secrets. What are they and what will you do with them?
9. You are allowed to fly 10,000 feet in the air for three hours. Where would you go and what would you like to see?
10. Are you more like earth, air, fire or water?

Source: edutopia.org

7+ Ways to Support Teachers

*** If you have questions or want elaboration on any of the ideas in this post, please leave your question in the comment section. ***

1. Foster a parent support organization that believes in supporting and celebrating their teachers. 
2. Brag on your teachers during informal interactions with parents.
3. Have their backs when misunderstandings arise.
4. Assume positive intent.
5. Carve out time during the school day to work with teachers on developing lessons.
6. Provide a sub for a few hours for teachers to work together on norming their grading and then time to grade these important assessments.
7. Bring in a trainer to work with small groups of teachers (Yes, this and other ideas listed above and below may require resource allocation).
8. Encourage a close working relationship between teachers and the librarian. 

What OTHER WAYS to support teachers can you place on the table? Comment below.

*** If you have questions or want elaboration on any of the ideas in this post, please leave your question in the comment section. ***

Image credit: thecolemaninstitute.com

The Shanghai Education Secret

As an educator in Shanghai, this article obviously stood out.


*** Direct link to source: nytimes.com ***

Image credit: archdaily.net

The Shanghai Secret
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: October 22, 2013

SHANGHAI — Whenever I visit China, I am struck by the sharply divergent predictions of its future one hears. Lately, a number of global investors have been “shorting” China, betting that someday soon its powerful economic engine will sputter, as the real estate boom here turns to a bust. Frankly, if I were shorting China today, it would not be because of the real estate bubble, but because of the pollution bubble that is increasingly enveloping some of its biggest cities. Optimists take another view: that, buckle in, China is just getting started, and that what we’re now about to see is the payoff from China’s 30 years of investment in infrastructure and education. I’m not a gambler, so I’ll just watch this from the sidelines. But if you’re looking for evidence as to why the optimistic bet isn’t totally crazy, you might want to visit a Shanghai elementary school.
SHANGHAI — Whenever I visit China, I am struck by the sharply divergent predictions of its future one hears. Lately, a number of global investors have been “shorting” China, betting that someday soon its powerful economic engine will sputter, as the real estate boom here turns to a bust. Frankly, if I were shorting China today, it would not be because of the real estate bubble, but because of the pollution bubble that is increasingly enveloping some of its biggest cities. Optimists take another view: that, buckle in, China is just getting started, and that what we’re now about to see is the payoff from China’s 30 years of investment in infrastructure and education. I’m not a gambler, so I’ll just watch this from the sidelines. But if you’re looking for evidence as to why the optimistic bet isn’t totally crazy, you might want to visit a Shanghai elementary school.

I’ve traveled here with Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach for America, and the leaders of theTeach for All programs modeled on Teach for America that are operating in 32 countries. We’re visiting some of the highest- and lowest-performing schools in China to try to uncover The Secret — how is it that Shanghai’s public secondary schools topped the world charts in the 2009 PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) exams that measure the ability of 15-year-olds in 65 countries to apply what they’ve learned in math, science and reading.

After visiting Shanghai’s Qiangwei Primary School, with 754 students — grades one through five — and 59 teachers, I think I found The Secret:

There is no secret.

When you sit in on a class here and meet with the principal and teachers, what you find is a relentless focus on all the basics that we know make for high-performing schools but that are difficult to pull off consistently across an entire school system. These are: a deep commitment to teacher training, peer-to-peer learning and constant professional development, a deep involvement of parents in their children’s learning, an insistence by the school’s leadership on the highest standards and a culture that prizes education and respects teachers.

Shanghai’s secret is simply its ability to execute more of these fundamentals in more of its schools more of the time. Take teacher development. Shen Jun, Qiangwei’s principal, who has overseen its transformation in a decade from a low-performing to a high-performing school — even though 40 percent of her students are children of poorly educated migrant workers — says her teachers spend about 70 percent of each week teaching and 30 percent developing teaching skills and lesson planning. That is far higher than in a typical American school.

Teng Jiao, 26, an English teacher here, said school begins at 8:35 a.m. and runs to 4:30 p.m., during which he typically teaches three 35-minute lessons. I sat in on one third-grade English class. The English lesson was meticulously planned, with no time wasted. The rest of his day, he said, is spent on lesson planning, training online or with his team, having other teachers watch his class and tell him how to improve and observing the classrooms of master teachers.

“You see so many teaching techniques that you can apply to your own classroom,” he remarks. Education experts will tell you that of all the things that go into improving a school, nothing — not class size, not technology, not length of the school day — pays off more than giving teachers the time for peer review and constructive feedback, exposure to the best teaching and time to deepen their knowledge of what they’re teaching.

Teng said his job also includes “parent training.” Parents come to the school three to five times a semester to develop computer skills so they can better help their kids with homework and follow lessons online. Christina Bao, 29, who also teaches English, said she tries to chat either by phone or online with the parents of each student two or three times a week to keep them abreast of their child’s progress. “I will talk to them about what the students are doing at school.” She then alluded matter-of-factly to a big cultural difference here, “I tell them not to beat them if they are not doing well.”

In 2003, Shanghai had a very “average” school system, said Andreas Schleicher, who runs the PISA exams. “A decade later, it’s leading the world and has dramatically decreased variability between schools.” He, too, attributes this to the fact that, while in America a majority of a teacher’s time in school is spent teaching, in China’s best schools, a big chunk is spent learning from peers and personal development. As a result, he said, in places like Shanghai, “the system is good at attracting average people and getting enormous productivity out of them,” while also, “getting the best teachers in front of the most difficult classrooms.”

China still has many mediocre schools that need fixing. But the good news is that in just doing the things that American and Chinese educators know work — but doing them systematically and relentlessly — Shanghai has in a decade lifted some of its schools to the global heights in reading, science and math skills. Oh, and Shen Jun, the principal, wanted me to know: “This is just the start."

*** Direct link to source: nytimes.com ***

Quotes that Inspire Me as an Educator

When a school feels like a family

"You guys are amazing!" This is a text message I sent to one of our 4th grade teachers. She texted right back, "We are family."

Today, my wife, Misty, was admitted to a local Chinese hospital, Ruidong, for a four-hour IV and nebulizer treatment. She is home now, but she will be doing the same treatments at Ruidong for the next two days.

This morning I mentioned to a parent that Misty was not feeling good and within a few hours she emailed me about cooking and bringing us dinner tonight (Her noodle soup and garlic bread were delicious). Teachers have already offered to bring dinner the following three nights. One parent and their daughter would like to take Livia and Liam to a playground on Saturday. Just amazing!

I have been at Concordia International School Shanghai for less than three months and the sense of community is already strong. Community is really important at Concordia. Evidence of this is that Concordia is a founding partner of the Community Center in Shanghai. The Community Center serves the greater expat community, offering numerous services from language classes to counseling.

There is a keen sense that when a family begins at Concordia, many are also brand new to Shanghai. They are beginning a new life away from home. Making new friends, fitting in, feeling connected, making a contribution are all important things to figure out.

It is as if parents are paying for their child's educational success, but Concordia is going above and beyond and is giving support for whole family success in Shanghai. It is a blessing to be a part of an amazing community.

School Culture Matters

Our head of school, Gregg Pinick, recently launched a video series titled, Concordia Culture Concepts (C3). Every two weeks he publishes a short video for our staff to reflect on. Gregg's overarching message is: Culture Matters. His clear and relevant videoettes encourage me to reconsider the importance of a school's culture. I remember a favorite grad course all about a leader's role in developing and sustaining a positive school culture. 

When I think of school culture, I think of:

- the feeling I have when I walk up and down the hallways. Is excitement generated? Is there energy?

- the people I interact with on a daily basis. Teachers, parents, and students. Even janitors and cafeteria workers. Are our interactions positive? Or do they at least end in a positive way?

- how do visitors feel when visiting our school? Welcomed? Warm?

- are students smiling, having a good time? 

- are parents involved? What is the typical support level?

That's all I have for now. Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours.

Wayne

Funny Homework Cartoons

"Strict, but fun."

"Strict, but fun." This is how several kids have described me to others this year. Don't worry kids, I have just as much fun as you. And some days I think I have more fun. #loveschool #lovekids

"I don't know what to think!"

We are reading the engaging "There's a boy in the girl's bathroom."

Here is a short excerpt:

         Colleen asked "So what should I do?" 

         "You want me to tell you whom to invite to your birthday party?" replied the counselor.

         "Lori says you're good at solving problems." 

         "Lori solves her own problems. I just help her think for herself."

         "But I don't know what to think!" Colleen exclaimed.

When a read this passage I immediately thought of a recent conversation with my wife, Misty. We talked about what we want our kids, Livia and Liam, to leave our home with. When they graduate from high school, what knowledge and skills do we want them to have? Would a high GPA and fantastic SAT scores make us proud parents? 

We discussed how we want Livia and Liam to leave with two skills: 1.) Responsibility and 2.) The ability to think, to make wise decisions. If they left with these two skills we would be very proud parents, even if they had a B average and average SAT scores. We believe that responsibility and strong thinking skills would get them far in life. 

May Livia or Liam rarely say, "I don't know what to think!"

With something to think about, this is Mr. Russell. Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours.

Image credit: scholastic.com

Improving Education Systems

How can we measure what makes a school system work? Andreas Schleicher walks us through the PISA test, a global measurement that ranks countries against one another -- then uses that same data to help schools improve. Watch to find out where your country stacks up, and learn the single factor that makes some systems outperform others.

How Much Food Can You Buy For $5 Around The World?

Here's how much coffee, meat, beer, McDonald's, and more you can buy for $5 in countries around the world. For starters, you can buy a lot of beer for $5 in China.

Every Child Needs a Teacher to Learn

6.8 million new teachers are needed to get every child in school by 2015. Check out this INFOGRAPHIC.

GLOBAL COMPETENCY

The following is an excerpt from Educating for Global Competence, a FREE online book. Click here for the book. 

Globally competent students are able to perform the following four competences:

1. INVESTIGATE THE WORLD BEYOND THEIR IMMEDIATE ENVIRONMENT, framing significant problems and conducting well-crafted and age-appropriate research.
2. RECOGNIZE PERSPECTIVES, OTHERS' AND THEIR OWN, articulating and explaining such perspectives thoughtfully and respectfully.
3. COMMUNICATE IDEAS EFFECTIVELY WITH DIVERSE AUDIENCES, bridging geographic, linguistic, ideological, and cultural barriers.
4. TAKE ACTION TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS, viewing themselves as players in the world and participating reflectively.

Are you educating for global competency? How does your school do it?

Image credit: globalize-campus.com

Passion Reflection and Quotes about Passion

This week I have been meditating on the word PASSION. Eve Sawyer encourages us to "never underestimate the power of passion."

What's my passion?

Have I found my passion?

Do I endure life or enjoy it? Do I live for the weekend?

Do I love what I am doing?

What do I have loads of energy for? When I am doing something I am passionate about, an hour can feel like five minutes.

What makes me come alive?

I know my passion falls somewhere in the field of education. Where exactly, I feel I am still honing in on it. One thing I do know for sure is that I love working with students and teachers. I am energized when I am in classrooms and when collaborating with teachers.

---------------------------

Quotes about Passion

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow. - Anthony J. D'Angelo 

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. - Confucius 

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you. - Oprah Winfrey 

A person can succeed at almost anything for which they have unlimited enthusiasm. – Charles M. Schwab

I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. – Albert Einstein

A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position. – John Maxwell

Fan the flame of passion with persistence. - Misty J. Russell

Are you a self-motivated learner?

During a session today with fellow school leaders we brainstormed several ways to measure whether a student is a motivated learner. Our discussion left me thinking, "What normally motivates our students to learn?"

• A and B grades?
• Parents?
• Cultural values?
• College acceptance?

How can we send our 12th grade students into the world as SELF-MOTIVATED learners? Learners who do not need carrots and sticks to motivate them.

In 2010 I had the privilege of spending three days with learning expert Dr. Jim Knight at the University of Kansas (KU). On Jim's blog, Radical Learners, he describes learning as "not just something we do as a means to an end; it is as central to living a healthy life as breathing, eating, and drinking. Learning is not what we do; learning is who we are."

Learning is not just a means to an end. We shouldn't only be motivated to learn because:

• Our grades depend on it,
• Our parents demand it, 
• Our culture values it, or
• Acceptance into a top college requires it.

We should pursue learning because we love it, and we need it to survive, to thrive. We pursue learning because we intrinsically believe learning and growing are good.

According to Jim Knight, learners:

• believe we are here on earth to learn, so they are turned on by every chance they get to discover something new
• use technology to learn, or to teach others (and because it’s cool)
• have mentors and mentor others
• infect everybody with their love of learning

As educators, we are in the learning business. Yes, we ask students to learn new knowledge and skills, but we must go deeper. How can we help students 'fall in love' with learning itself?

How does your school develop SELF-MOTIVATED learners?

Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours.

Wayne

We ain't Foxconn!

Source: EETimes.com

Here are excerpts from a new online article about my school, The SMIC Private School.

Name a semiconductor manufacturer that runs a school and a real estate business along with their foundry service. There’s only one--Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), based in Shanghai.

Founded in 2000, SMIC symbolizes China’s ambition to become a key player in the global semiconductor industry. SMIC also developed a template for successful recruitment of world-class talent, by building close to its headquarters a residential campus together with an award winning K-12 international school, which as of 2012 had an enrollment of more than 2,000 students.

You’ve probably heard of Foxconn’s dormitories in Shenzhen, jammed with young production line workers recruited from the countryside. Far less known is this semiconductor company–unusual in China or anywhere else in the world–that actually operates a school and provides family living quarters for workers and executives..

SMIC deserves credit for writing a textbook scenario on how to set up a successful operation in emerging markets. The key is the school.

The SMIC School, offering an English Track that runs on a U.S. curriculum, is known as one of the best schools in Shanghai--even better than the American School in Shanghai--by the expatriate community. On the theory that the best school needs the best teachers, the bilingual school recruits its teaching staff globally, including career educators from prep schools in the United States. 

A Harvard Business Review article in 2009 that examined SMIC’s strategy–including the SMIC School–pointed out that “graduates from the school had been admitted to top universities in the U.S., including many Ivy League schools. The school became a popular choice even for non-SMIC employees, which accounted for more than 60 percent of the student body.”

In short, this may be China, but it ain’t Foxconn. 

Read the full article here.

How Do Principals Really Improve Schools?

Image credit: washingtonpost.com

Source: ASCD 

The following excerpts resonated with me as an educational leader.

The key to improved student learning is to ensure more good teaching in more classrooms more of the time. The most powerful strategy for improving both teaching and learning, however, is not by micromanaging instruction but by creating the collaborative culture and collective responsibility of a professional learning community (PLC).

Research shows that educators in schools that have embraced PLCs are more likely to

• Take collective responsibility for student learning, help students achieve at higher levels, and express higher levels of professional satisfaction (Louis & Wahlstrom, 2011).
• Share teaching practices, make results transparent, engage in critical conversations about improving instruction, and institutionalize continual improvement (Bryk, Sebring, Allensworth, Luppescu, & Easton, 2010).
• Improve student achievement and their professional practice at the same time that they promote shared leadership (Louis et al., 2010).
• Experience the most powerful and beneficial professional development (Little, 2006).
• Remain in the profession (Johnson & Kardos, 2007).

The effort to improve schools through tougher supervision and evaluation is doomed to fail because it asks the wrong question. The question isn't, How can I do a better job of monitoring teaching? but How can we collectively do a better job of monitoring student learning?

Today's schools don't need "instructional leaders" who attempt to ensure that teachers use the right moves. Instead, schools need learning leaders who create a schoolwide focus on learning both for students and the adults who serve them.

Read the entire article here.

Our D.O.G.S.

*** D.O.G.S. stands for Dads Of Great Students

Here is how we are increasing father involvement at our school...

• Our Dads take a day off work (Busy working Dads, general managers and partners in large firms, taking a day off work to spend at school with their kids).
• They arrive wearing their Watch D.O.G.S. uniform T-shirt.
• We slap on a DOG tag (Name badge).
• A photo is taken of them and their kids.
• We run through their daily schedule.
• Our D.O.G.S. help greet students as they arrive at school. High fives and hellos.
• They spend time in five different classrooms supporting teachers.
• Our Dads enjoy recess and lunch with their kids.
• They help supervise our middle and high school lunch periods.
• Our D.O.G.S. spend time in the Library reading with kids.
• They end the day by saying goodbye to our students.

Interested in starting Watch D.O.G.S. in your school? Talk to the good folks at Fathers.com. Click here to learn more.

What I try to live by at school