Category Archives: Blog

Bull Roar Meter – A New Basic Skill

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Reading, writing, arithmetic and a Bull Roar Meter. Should these be our new basic skills for an educated child? I hope so.

We readily recognize that reading, writing and arithmetic endure as necessary basic skills in the education of every child. As children progress through grade levels of curricula, they engage in increasingly complex and rigorous learning activities that grow these basic skills. By the time a child graduates from high school, a learned capacity to read, write and solve mathematical problems makes the child ready for career or college. Great! But, what about the child’s capacity to engage with their daily deluge of media, news and fanciful spinning of stories that face adults every day? On the one hand, we can hand a student a Bull Roar Meter, perhaps an app for their smartphone, coupled to their high school diploma and believe that each graduate will use it. Or, we can educate children to create an internalized, intellectual Bull Roar Meter that will serve them after graduation. I like the latter.

I am heartened that the Wisconsin academic standards include several statements that approach the concept of an internalized, intellectual Bull Roar Meter for every high school graduate. These are the Model Social Studies Standard C – Political Science and Citizenship and the College and Career Readiness Anchor standards for Reading.

Through their social studies curriculum, children learn to –

C.12.8 Locate, organize, analyze, and use information from various sources to understand an issue of public concern, take a position, and communicate the position

https://dpi.wi.gov/social-studies/standards/political-science

And, in their English/Language Arts curriculum, children will learn to –

7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.*

8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/standards/pdf/ela-stds-app-a-revision.pdf

I ponder how the children currently in our schools would prosper in their future careers and adult lives if they are successfully educated to

• Understand that facts are facts – they are known and can be proved to be true or they are known to have happened or to exist.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/fact

• Recognize that some statements are lies and to call out lies for what they are. “A lie is a statement made by one who does not believe it with the intention that someone else shall be led to believe it”

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lying-definition/

• Opinions are important. Opinions are not facts and they are not lies and need to be understood for what they are. “A view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter” and “a belief stronger than impression and less strong than positive knowledge.”

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/opinion

As I observe life in our nation today and consider that most of the significant decisions are made by educated adults, high school graduates at a minimum, I am convinced that the majority were not inculcated in their education with a working Bull Roar Meter. Otherwise, they would not purposefully obfuscate their speech with opinions and lies and defend them as facts. Further, I am convinced that working Bull Roar Meters are not turned on in a majority of our population. Otherwise, they would not be so gullible in accepting and repeating opinions and lies as facts.

It is probable that a person reading this blog may flick on their intellectual Bull Roar Meter and with a cough mutter BS.

Or, a reader may check his or her mental screens for discerning facts, lies and opinions and begin to consider how each of these impacts their thinking and decision making.

What Do You See? What Do You Think? Good Questions Always

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What do you see, what to you think

When I sit with grand daughters at our local park looking at the sky and horizon over the waters of Green Bay, they can anticipate two questions. “What do you see?” And, “What do you think/know about what you see?”

“I see water and blue sky and clouds and sunshine, Gramps.”

The game is on. Once they tell me what they see, we begin a conversation and a push of their thinking. The question began with our understanding that there are no right or wrong answers. What do you see asks just that – tell me what YOU SEE. A good open-ended query. Once they tell me what they see out there in the distance, our conversation becomes focused on them and what they observe and know and are willing to consider.

“Tell me about the shape and color of the clouds. Are the clouds moving? Is the water moving? Any boats out there?”

For the next half hour, we talk about the weather. They describe the texture and shape of the clouds and learn about cumulus and cirrus clouds. They give the direction the clouds are moving and talk about wind and earth rotation. They notice calm water in the harbor and heavier ripples beyond the headland and talk about wind and current. They see a laker nearer the Upper Peninsula side of the Bay and talk about incoming and outgoing shipping and what might be aboard. They consider what early French explorers and Native Americans might have seen centuries ago on these waters and if they would recognize this place today.

Or, we might have spent the half hour lying on our backs looking at clouds to see the cloud shapes form faces and fish and sailing ships and pillows for sleeping. “I see a face, Gramps. Eyes and a mouth and lots of frizzy hair. She’s smiling.”

“Tell me about that face,” I say. “What is she smiling about? Tell me a story, Izz.”

And, off we go on a voyage of imagination. Izz develops a character and short plot that change with the shifting shapes of the clouds. We have learned to end our cloud-based stories with a single word. “Poof.” The cloud shapes are gone.

Tell me what you see and tell me what you think/know about what you see are great questions for anywhere and anytime. They are powerful starters for children who may be timid or who worry about making a mistake. The lack of a right or wrong response frees them to talk about what THEY SEE and what THEY THINK.

I use the same question when helping my wife line up a putt on the golf course. “What do you see?” And, “How will what you see affect your putt?” As always, I have the questions, but not the answers. When she rolls the putt 16 feet into the cup, the smiles are all hers. Just as the Izz’s observations and imaginative story about clouds are all hers.

Good questions are winners every time.

“Tell Me” and “Show Me” If You Want To Be Understood

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I can hear Robert Shaw’s voice. “Do ya folla’?”, Quint, the shark-hunting captain of the Orca, asked Martin Brody (Roy Schneider) and Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfus) in Jaws. “Do ya folla’?” was Quint’s way of checking if the Sheriff and oceanographer thoroughly understood what he was asking them to do.  The dangers of hunting a great white shark necessitated that Brody and Hooper followed Quint’s directions to the letter. Without exaggeration, the consequences to the future when we are teaching children can be just as serious as those in Jaws. Instead of being consumed by a shark, children may be consumed by errors of misunderstanding resulting for their failure to learn from you.

What is your checking query? As a classroom teacher or principal or curriculum director or facilities manager, how do you check to verify that those you are instructing or directing or mentoring or leading have a successful understanding of what you expect them to do? A checking query is essential. Not to have one is to be a pitcher throwing nine innings of a baseball game without ever hearing the umpire call “strike” or “ball.” Just like the pitcher watching for the umpire’s call, a teacher who models solutions to a math problem needs to know what each student heard, saw and understands regarding each possible solution. Without this feedback, the teacher should stop and not say another word. No feedback – no going forward.

In educationalese, “do you follow” can easily become one of two requests. Tell me. Show me. If you ask these two questions consistently, you will know if your students, teachers, and custodians are clear in their understanding of your expectations of their future performance. Those who study pedagogy, will recognize “Tell me/Show me” as application of Madeline Hunter’s “checking for understanding,” a timeless lesson design strategy.

What does “tell me” sound like?

You are an art teacher. You have demonstrated how to mount a lump of clay on a potter’s wheel. With students gathered around, you demonstrated the “a, b, c’s” of centering an amount of fresh clay on the center of the wheel, how to use the heels of your palms and your thumbs to work and shape the clay, and how to use finger pressure to draw the clay vertically into the beginnings of a small bowl.  In a perfect world, every child now is ready to throw a bowl from a lump of clay.

Common practice is for the teacher to look at the faces of surrounding children and ask “Any questions?” And, with no children bold enough to show they did not see exactly what the teacher said or did, the teacher sends them to their wheels where more than half sit looking at the lump of clay wondering “What do I do now?”

“Tell me” is an easy question. No one has to straddle the potter’s bench to say “First, you …”. “Tell me” is verbal – just repeat back what I just said to you. The “tell” does not have to be word perfect. Just get the sequence right. Just describe how your hands should work on the clay.  Describe how the turning speed of the wheel does the work of moving the clay.  Describe in words that demonstrate that you have a mental imaging of what you are supposed to do when you sit at your wheel.

If enough students participate in oral feedback, you can generalize that they understand “well enough” what to do. The key is that a majority of the students participated in the “tell me” and those who did not gave adequate visible agreement in what was told.

If the “tell me” does not meet the teacher’s level of confidence, then re-teaching is in order. Re-teaching involves the same key words in a different story line. Re-teaching involves the correction of any parts of the “tell” that were clearly wrong. Re-teaching is aimed at causing all students to be able to contribute to the next “tell me.”

Then do the “tell me” again. And, again, if the second “tell” does not meet your confidence level. Subsequent re-teachings cannot be repeats of the first or even second. They must directly clarify the sequence of steps and correct the mistakes in the “tell”.

You are a principal discussing the school’s practices in using standards-based grading. “Tell me” should achieve the same feedback loop as the “tell me” of the art teacher. And, if you are a curriculum director leading an in-service on the use of formative assessments, your “tell me” will sound like the art teacher and principal’s “tell me.” The same is true for the facilities supervisor who is showing a new custodian how to use a floor scrubbing machine. The supervisor wants to hear an accurate verbal description of what the supervisor demonstrated.

“Tell me” is one of the simplest yet most often ignored or misused strategies for getting instructional feedback. Many leaders will use it once or twice and then believe that if their students and subordinates got it right once or twice, they will get it right each time new instruction is given in the future. Wrong! This may be true if the future instruction is a repeat of past instruction, but if it is new instruction, especially new and without transfer from other past instruction, “tell me” is essential.

You are half-way in confidently believing that students and subordinates understand your instruction or direction. Now, “show me.”

“Show me” is more strategic. A teacher or principal or director or supervisor does not have time to view a “show me” by every student and subordinate. So, pick one or two students to straddle the potters wheel and begin to throw a bowl or go to the SmartBoard to write out a solution to a math problem or construct a grading template for a given middle school writing standard or demonstrate how to set the height adjustments on a riding lawn mower and mow a field in a way that does not require subsequent raking.

“Show me’s” must be objective and subjective. The “show” of the persons selected may not be as perfect as the demonstration. Objectively, does the “show” meet minimum requirements? And, subjectively, the person evaluating the “show” must suspend everything else known about the person showing and observe only the demonstration of the “show”. Being objectively and subjectively fair often is hard in a “show me” but it is essential.

If you pick a representative student and rotate your picking so that all students and subordinates over time will be called upon to “show me”, you can use these selected shows to reinforce your confidence that your students and subordinates know what to do and also know how to do it.

“Tell me and show me” also conserve time. The minutes that it takes to ask students and subordinates to tell and show you what they have heard and observed you say and do is significantly less than the time and effort it would take to go forward with their unchecked work only to find later that their thinking and skills are all wrong. Reteaching after incorrect information has been practiced and reinforced takes a lot of time and very specific instruction to unlearn the incorrect and learn the correct. “Tell me and show me” is an efficient and effective way to assure readiness for independent practice of new learning.

So, now I ask you in my Quint voice, “Do ya follow?” Tell me.  Show me.

Five Dimensions of an Organizational Selfie

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How are we doing as an organization? Are we successful? Are we doing a good job? How do we know? Perhaps we need an organizational selfie; a snapshot using data not pixels. Smile!

In our selfie culture we are accustomed to seeing self- and group-portraits. Some are formal and others are whimsical snapshots. No matter, anyone with a digital camera can show the world “This is me!” It is fun and it can be informative. Selfies can show us how we want to be seen. Selfies also can inform us about how others see us.

An organization selfie serves the same purpose. It displays the image that the organization puts forward to the world at large. I posit that this image has five dimensions. The first dimension is the stated purpose, mission, and function of the organization. This is the formal portrait of “this is why we exist.”

The second dimension is the face that the organization wants the world see. This is a staged set of snapshots that capture the organization at its work. These snapshots typically are full of people and smiles. This snapshot shows “who we are.”

The third dimension is the data snapshot. Data tell as many stories about an organization as its portraits of purpose and people. Data show the quantitative and qualitative profile of how well the people of the organization perform the purpose of the organization. Where smiles are friendly and warm, data seem impersonal and cold. However, data tell clear stories of “this is what we do.”

The fourth dimension is an organizational selfie response. This dimension displays “this is what the public thinks about our organization.” The fourth dimension are snapshots of people outside the organization looking at the organization and considering their cognitive impressions of the organization. This selfie is “what do people think about us, who we are, and what we do?”

The fifth dimension, like the fourth, is a response selfie. This dimension displays “this is how the public feels about this organization.” The fifth dimension is emotional and visceral. It may mirror or be completely different than the cognitive dimension, because feelings about the organization may vary from thoughts about the organization. This selfie is “how do people feel about us, who we are, and what we do?”

Healthy and dynamic organizations inspect these five dimensions with regularity. It is pleasing to see validation. It is reassuring to learn that there is congruity in the line up of purpose, composition, quantifiable and qualifiable data, and how the public thinks and feels about the organization. Validation gives confidence for continuity.

It is equally valuable, perhaps more valuable, to learn of incongruities. Self-analysis opens opportunities for affirming organizational qualities and addressing things that need to be changed in order to re-achieve congruity.

  • Are we doing what we purport to be doing? Is our purpose still viable today?
  • Are we who we believe we are? Are we skillful? Are we diverse? Does the composition of our membership contribute to fulfilling our purpose?
  • What conclusions do we reach from the data created by our productivity? What strengths are displayed by the data? What weaknesses? How should we respond to the data? How will we respond to the data?
  • Does what the public thinks about our organization match our self-image?
  • Does how the public feels about our organization match our self-image?
  • And, most importantly, what are we prepared to do now?

Everyday we observe selfie pictures posed on social media. Now and then, we ponder “What does the person/people in this selfie really think about what they have posted? Is this really them?” It is good to ponder the same about an organization. How an organization responds when looking at its five dimensional selfie is very telling about the integrity of the organization.

Two Rules: Administer the Policy and Do What Is Right for Children

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“Rocks in the pocket” eventually cause most school administrators to leave their current position, wrote Jerry Patterson in The Anguish of Leadership (2000). Rocks are negative baggage. They are the unfavorable stories attached to a person’s reputation by those who are dissatisfied with the direction of leadership or did not get their way on an issue. They are the residue of scorn accrued by leaders who make leadership decisions that cause some to smile and others to frown. The weight of rocks, like the chains forged in life by Marley in Dickens’ Christmas Carol, eventually cause career mortality, because their accumulated weight drowns their owner in the political waters of public education.

It is impossible to be an active school leader and not pick up some rocks along the way. The simplest of decisions, such as keeping children indoors for recess on a rainy day, will cause someone to say “it was not raining that hard, “they could have gone outside” and that someone deposits a pebble in the principal’s pocket. On the other hand, sending all children out in a rainstorm would cause many people to drop a lot of pebbles in the principal’s pocket with the aggregated weight of a hefty rock.

Some pebbles and rocks are avoidable and may even be returned to sender if a principal follows two rules of the leadership road: execute the policy and do what is right for children.

“Here, fill this pocket with rocks,” is what a principal says when he tries to make children or parents or community members happy by “customizing” school rules or school board policy. Softening the consequences prescribed by policy may be a principal’s initial thought when looking into the sad face of a child alleged with a school rule infraction. “Do something to appease this sad child,” a principal’s inner voice says. Bending the rule “just a bit” may seem okay when confronted with a very supportive parent who understands the rules, but ekes out an “is that really necessary in this case.” “Just a bit” is the length or rope that that winds up being a noose. Letting something slide is the same as standing watch on quick sand; there are no secrets in schools and very quickly others expect the “bent rule” or the “let it go this time” to be the new status quo on school policies and rules. Within a few years, a principal’s pockets are so heavy with rocks that this principal begins to avoid making decisions, especially critical decisions. “How can I be blamed, if I don’t make the decision?” Decision avoidance doesn’t bring rocks; it brings boulders.

The easiest way to remain a “pebbles only” school leader is to be clear about your duty. You are hired to maintain an orderly and positive learning and teaching environment by doing the work assigned by your employer, the School Board. Number one on the job description for most principals is “administer Board policies and school rules” or a variation of that mandate.

Executing policy is not an act of compliance that is blind to the moment or the people involved. Being an educator first, a principal has perfect teachable moments to explain the rationale for a rule or the background to a policy. When a school board reviews and revises policy frequently in order to craft appropriate organizational and behavioral guidelines, policies have a context that should be explained and can be taught. As an enforcer of policy, a principal by design is a player in the writing of policy as well as a reviewer and reviser of policy. There should be very few school policies of which a principal can say “I was unaware of…” or “… am unfamiliar with this rule.” An active principal reads and studies and understands school policies and rules and purposefully talks with district leadership and the school board when policies and rules seem out of date or ineffective in guiding student, parent and community decisions. Policies and rules are living statements in a school and a principal is responsible for the quality of their life.

To enforce a rule is to provide clarity between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. It is personally impersonal work. The resulting clarity of what the school expects and accepts can create a very positive and productive margin within which children and adults can use policy and rules for their individual and group success. At the same time, the margin allows these same school people to be creative in “pushing the envelope” of policies or rules to open new possibilities and opportunities. Principals who understand policies and rules and can help students and adults to explore new areas of behavior and school culture without falling into conflict with the school’s need for orderliness. Enforcing rules can be very liberating when a leader understands their intentions and goals. A leader who does this begins to unload rocks from his pockets, because he engenders respect as a leader rather than a “by the rules man.” School principalship, however, begins and ends with administering policy with integrity.

The second rule of the road is to always find the high ground of “doing what is right” for children. Sounds easy and sounds right, eh! But, what do you do when “what is right” for children is not shared by teachers and staff, or community adults, or parents? Seems odd that this contradiction might exist, but it rises all the time. The special interests of specific groups of people often are in conflict and the core of each conflict is control. Whose opinion will control the behavior of others? What students wear, how they behave in school, what they can say and do, how they use their time, what they eat and where they eat it, when they go to the bathroom – the list is endless – all are control issues. Some may say that decisions on these issues have safety and organizational implications or are based on “common sense.” Whose common sense will control the issue?

In almost all of these issues, the principal must be the spokesperson for children. Because children are not formally at the table for a discussion and decision of the issues that involve them, their opinions are given short shrift. Enter the principal! The principal’s high ground position must be “I will speak for what is right for the children in my school.” This white knight role does not mean the principal should uphold nonsensical child-based positions. Some things children want to wear, do, say and have in their school will go beyond every adult’s common sense. Nonsensical as they often be, children still need to be represented at the adult’s table and that representative person must be the principal. There is a sincere sense of pride and purpose when a principal self-acknowledges that “this decision is right for children” and that is what really matters.

A principal who conscientiously administers Board policies and school rules and takes the high ground of doing what is right for children is a school leader who will not be drowned by the weight of rocks in the pockets.