How do the concepts of intrinsic motivation and culturally relevant instruction discussed in Excited to Learn become a lens through which we view instruction and supervision?
What is one takeaway from either the book or Cassie's presentation you are thinking about?
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ReplyDeleteIn my breakout group, we tried to frame this question for each of the themes found in chapters 3 (Establishing Inclusion), 4 (Developing +Attitude), 5 (Enhancing Meaning), and 6 (Engendering Competence). Our first frame to view the learnings, lessons, and activities in these chapters was student-centric. Interestingly, to me, was that many of the same insights would be correlational to staff-centric professional development.
ReplyDeleteEstablishing inclusion amongst staff builds that dynamism around the cause greater than oneself. Simon Sinek would reference rallying around the ‘Why’ of your organization or school. Learning, both student and professional, is critically dependent upon motivation, and motivation comes from the heart. The heart cries out for inclusion.
In terms of staff development, attitude is the manifestation of school culture. When people reference the positive ‘buzz’, ‘vibe’, or ‘energy’ of a school, my contention is that they are sensing the attitude of those within the organization, both staff and students. Inclusion and attitude are two of the elemental building blocks of a thriving school culture.
The chapter on Enhancing Meaning directly tied to two other books we are reading in class. The largest takeaway I found in Mission High was that the intangible academic gains created by enhancing meaning for students transcends a numeric test score. Students were motivated and self-directive in their learning. Couldn’t this be the perfect model for professional development as well? Ginsberg’s Transformative Professional Learning prescribes two methods for enhancing the meaning of PD through an inward (microscope) rather than outward (telescope) lens. By tying inquiry circles centered on student need or problems of practice to the practices of student shadowing and home visits; teachers would be creating a paradigm wherein the topics of PD are our community of learners and building the capacity to improve pedagogical service to them through the lens of culturally relevant instruction.
Engendering competence would be a natural place for data, coaching, and peer support to rise to the surface. By examining data reflective of our practice, we find specific strengths and needs of both our students and our pedagogical practice. If inclusion, attitude, and meaning are the structures supporting our staff, than engendering competence naturally becomes more of a team commitment and collaboration rather than an exercise in demonstrating competence to satisfy a ‘proficient’ cell in a rubric.
I love your application of the lens to staff development! That's sort of the same direction that I was heading with my thoughts on this. As an administrator, this will be a great tool both for guiding our own "instruction" of staff and as look-fors as we observe instruction of students.
DeleteI had the good fortune to be in Corey's group for the initial part of the breakout, and I can amplify that we found a critical piece to consider would be how to grow evaluation conversations so that they are focused on how we are advancing student learning. One area where we struggled was how this works when you are focused on implementing a results-based curriculum with fidelity. While it does seem that even in the most 'scripted' curriculum there is room for many of the strategies and activities described in Excited To Learn, we did wonder if teachers feel they can 'afford' the time these activities take when they have to remain on pace. The role of the instructional leader seems to begin with having a strong understanding of the connection between motivation (where there is often an entry point for nudging teachers towards growth) and culturally relevant teaching and learning (where many white teachers are afraid to tread since they feel unprepared to have potentially discomforting conversations).
ReplyDeleteThe text, Cassie's facilitation and the conversations of my group led me to reflect on a few important (and not very new) thoughts:
* Just as in teaching our students give us what we expect/ask for, so too in how we lead teachers. What we choose to share, focus on, point to with our comments and observations conveys a strong sense of what we value. This reminded me of the work of Kegan and Lahey http://www.naturalawareness.net/sevenlanguages.pdf and was a reminder to me that what I expect, I will get. If I talk about supervision in terms of compliance, I will get compliance and not growth.
As I am supporting instructional coaches in their work with teachers through coaching cycles and other professional learning opportunities, I am reminded that our actions and words need to convey an honoring of growth and student-centered learned as the focus. What I choose to amplify will be a statement of what I value.
-- Katie
I loved the layout of the chapters in Excited to Learn. The intro of information connecting relevant activities makes this book a great resource to keep within reach. I see a lot of connections between "cycles" and frameworks. The Motivational Framework: inclusion/attitude/meaning/competence; Dylan Wiliam's formative assessment processes: Clarify/elicit/interpret/act: the Framework for Practice; Respectful/Relevant/Rigorous/Results focused; Relevant experience/critical self reflection/reflective discourse/effective action. Removing any of the four motivational conditions will likely affect the entire learning process. These frameworks "flow." "Flow occurs in learning when the students' goals are desired and clear, feedback is immediate and relevant, and the level of challenge is in balance with the required skill or knowledge". Material that is too scripted will lag in capturing the interest of all students. As mentioned in previous comments, scripted curriculum can build and enhance foundation skills, but it can also stifle expansion and exploration, another pathway to motivation. A room of students are often bias to what a teacher knows. The educator often drives the conversations, chooses literature, projects - sets the tone with mood - almost limiting students to his or her own likes, knowledge and boundaries. Mission High presented real examples showing knowledgeable instructors with unscripted assignments. When appropriate processes are taught, students can engage through options of using relevant problems as stimulation. I think of students who challenge with "when will we ever use this?" mentality - if you can't make it relevant for them, evaluate the purpose.
ReplyDeleteI, too, loved the organization of Excited to Learn. It certainly feels like an accessible way to approach the topic of culturally responsive pedagogy, especially because the concept is somewhat nebulous, open to interpretation, and downright scary for some. I feel like there are so many strategies and entry points for a teacher or leader.
DeleteI also appreciate the way we are grappling with the tension between "scripted" (not an entirely accurate term) curriculum and the frameworks about which we are reading. Navigating this tension is the major focus of my role as a TOSA, and I see valid arguments on both sides. When I think about my own experience and growth as a teacher, much of what I learned about AVID/GLAD/culturally responsive strategies was a result of those very strategies being embedded in the "script" I had for teaching. I certainly had some knowledge beforehand, but was not an expert. As I began using various strategies and seeing how they helped my population of students find success and grow their own toolkit of strategies, I was motivated to conduct more research and to move beyond the framework to explore other ways to be a more effective teacher. That, coupled with much reflection on my students, was a game-changer. I don't think it's an either/or question, but more along the lines of differentiation for teachers, just like we do for our students...
Hi. I so agree with the following: Respectful/Relevant/Rigorous/Results. I teach high school and as a new leader in our administrative team we look at the 4R's. Having a common language for our staff. And if we need to lead our students and staff --those four components are essential for student and staff success.
DeleteI am also very engaged on the reading "Excited to Learn". I love the conversations about motivation. I believe that -we - leaders need to be incredibly motivated to guide our students be as productive as we can for the success of our schools.
I am also passionate to continue to learn more about how can I lead teachers to use Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation to help underserved students.
This quote from Excited to Learn is something that has been sticking with me all week; "At the end of the day, how we teach has the most enduring impact on students' attitudes. If we expect students to have a positive attitude toward learning, our instructional practices must take into account students' perspectives, interests and strengths." pg 86
ReplyDeleteFor me, in my current position, I see too many teachers assume that students should be ready to learn from the beginning and don't take time to learn a student's story. Then the teacher and student get frustrated with each other and this often leads to a power struggle in class. I feel like in any curriculum, whether it allows for creativity or pure fidelity, a teacher's knowledge of their students will push kids to succeed through the way the teacher presents a lesson with a certain tone, celebrates a student's success or helps students when they are struggling because the teacher understands the "student's perspectives, interests and strengths".
I completely agree! Getting to know our students and their stories are so important. Unfortunately, I think that many teachers feel that they do not have enough time to spend on getting to know their students really well and teach the curriculum that ends in a high stakes test. They need the PD to understand why it is important to "learn" their students; and how to "learn" and teach at the same time.
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