Tis the season – wondering about the Christmas and Holiday time in schools

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I am 42 years old. And this Christmas was my first (maybe since I was 4?) that I did not spend as a direct member of a school community – either as a student or a faculty member. Of course, I was a parent for my two boys – in their holiday season at school – but that doesn’t seem quite the same.

For the past five years, at least, I have perceived more and more comments like, “We’re just trying to survive the crazy Christmas season” coming from school people. Maybe because of my recent career move – I still work in education, but not at one particular school – I was more aware of the commentary this year. As I spoke to numerous school-based educators this season, many of them remarked, “Bo, you remember what it’s like this time of year in school. We’re just trying to get through the days to break.”

By no means did everyone make such a comment. Of course not. But the ratio was about four to one, if I had to guess. About four out of five school-based people commented on the hectic nature of the Christmas season in schools.

Just to be clear – I do not mean to be at all critical here. It’s really just an observation. But it has made me think a lot (more) about school change.

If so many amazing school-based educators see the Christmas season in schools as hectic – as something to be “survived” until we get to vacation – then why don’t we do more to resolve and rectify the “craziness?” Why don’t we adjust the schedule, change the tenor, and remedy the stressors?

Someone wise once told me, “Bo, God did not create the school schedule. We created it. So…we can change it. It’s in our power to do so, and I don’t think God would mind. In fact, God might rather appreciate the modifications, especially if they were meant in a spirit of Christmas-full-ness.”

To be fair, a number of school-based people also remarked to me about the wonders and specialness of the Christmas season in schools and asked if I was missing it. Those people were just outnumbered by those talking about the speed and stress of their season.

This time next year, I wonder if any brave school folks will have resolved in the new year to address what they deemed the “craziness of the season,” or if anyone will have adjusted the daily and weekly routines of December in order to instill more balance and joyfulness at a time of year that is meant to be such at its core. Will a few school-based change agents help their communities move from “survival” to “peaceful?”

It could be a great exercise in change and progress. It could be a way to transform observational commentary into purposeful improvement. It’s only just a thought.

The Best — of 2012 Lists. Is anyone writing My Best Learnings of 2012?

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The “Best of 2012” lists are everywhere. As I read my blog feeds each morning, as I scan the news headlines, and as I listen to live radio and recorded podcasts, I feel a bit inundated with these Best of… in 2012 collections.

In all of my scanning and searching, though, I have not come across a “Best of What I Learned in 2012” list from any students/learners sharing on a digital portfolio. I wonder why.

Are teachers assigning such reflection prompts but the resulting writing or podcasting is kept private? Or does such an assignment not happen, really? Are any learners choosing – unprompted – to create a collection of Best Learnings in 2012? Why haven’t I thought to do so myself?

It seems to me that such a learning reflection might be something of an ideal endeavor for learners young and old not so young. Do you know of such a list or school-based assignment? If so, will you share a link in the comments? Again, I am curious if any teachers have assigned a student reflection akin to “What are your top (10) learnings from the past year?” Or “What things have you learned in 2012 that seem indispensable to you – the things that have been most meaningful or that seem like they will be the most useful and enduring?”

I’m thinking about my list of Best Learnings in 2012. I’d love it if you would share yours. Or if you’d put me onto such lists that already exist.

#MustRead Shares (weekly)

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

How’s your honeycomb? Collecting pollen and making honey #professionallearning

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Many – maybe all – schools send teachers to conferences. This practice seems important (otherwise, why do we do it, right?). It’s like collecting pollen for the hive. Curious, ambitious teachers venture out to conferences – ASCD, Learning Forward, NAIS, EduCon, SXSWedu, Solution Tree, etc. – to learn and grow. To collect pollen for the hive.

How does your school work to transform that collected pollen into honey? How do you set up and maintain your “honey production system?” How’s your honeycomb?

Do the teachers …

  • Tweet tidbits of learning and links to resources gathered during the conference experience?
  • Storify the highlights from multiple Twitter accounts active during the event?
  • Share blog posts about what they learned?
  • Create a podcast or short summary video to distribute like a radio or TV show back at the hive?
  • Teach demonstration lessons based on what was learned and invite others to observe?
  • “Dance” in order to share with the other bees where the best pollen is so that more can go to the same source and collect more?
  • Present at a faculty meeting or facilitate a workshop to spread the new knowledge and knowhow acquired?
  • Work in PLCs (professional learning communities) to transform the collected pollen into honey practices across the school?

Or does considerable pollen remain unused or underutilized once the resource is returned to the hive?

How’s your honeycomb? How are you making that honey for the nourishment of the full faculty, student body, parents, and others?

Many schools have extraordinary practices for making honey, and many teachers share the collected pollen purposefully and proactively. To do otherwise would be a terrible waste of resources and opportunity.

[Cross-posted to Connected Principals on Dec. 30, 2012]

The Province of Elegance. @GrantLichtman #EdJourney, Episode 11

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From the concluding pages of Grant Lichtman’s The Falconer: What We Wish We Had Learned In School …

Elegance is not the province of heroes. It is here for all of us who want to emulate those who we respect, to practice the skills required, and to work hard at it. We must use the tools we have learned, and learn to suffer failure but not defeat.

Importantly, elegance is not the sole province of those we respect or revere, of those who share our world view, political party, or side in battle. Elegance deserves our attention not because it is good, but because it is new, creative, and efficient … in other words, because it is better. And if we don’t keep up with what is better we quickly lose the game, whatever the game may be.

A few paragraphs later …

The skills of strategy are our tools in the search for elegance wherever our passion leads us. … We, too, can overcome difficult obstacles and find or create these unique opportunities that make our lives full, achieve our objectives, and, hopefully, fill the lives of those around us. The key is not wealth or armies, not background or advanced degrees, or even necessarily raw brainpower. The keys are willingness, preparation, openness to new ideas, and the diligent application of strategy.

And, still, a paragraph later…

…creational thinking, not critical thinking, should be our ultimate goal in education. Critical thinking is a skill that allows us to steer a valuable course through a known problem. It engages a problem-solving skill set but stops short of what is possible. If problem solving and critical thinking are the goals of education, the bar is too low. Creational thinking, the use of content while branching into the unknown, leads to the possibility of truly elegant solutions. That is where the bar needs to be, particularly in light of the challenges that lie ahead of us.

In our search for elegance, maybe we create something new, or understand something old in a new way. Maybe we fill in a gap of knowledge, fit a new piece into the puzzle of human experience that has been forming for over four million years. Maybe we fail but decide to try again. Hopefully the elegant solutions that tend toward good in the world surpass those that tend toward evil. If we succeed, as scientist, engineer, peacemaker, prophet, soldier, teacher, designer, artist, parent, or just someone putting one foot in front of the other each day in a complicated world, maybe we have become someone else’s hero.

It has been my pleasure to follow along with Grant as he has visited 64 schools across the U.S. on his #EdJourney. The windows into these schools have proven to be invaluable to my own hope, imagination, confidence, and creativity. There are many heroes in the schools that Grant visited, and I am most thankful that they opened up their schools and their practices so that we all could connect and learn with each other. What we create with these new connections and insights will make all the difference in the world. Such is our province of elegance.

What follows is the twelfth and final videocast interview with Grant as he concluded his twelve-week, 64-school, cross-country #EdJourney. We recorded the interview on Friday, December 14, 2012. On that day, of course, Sandy Hook Elementary School experienced a horrid and terrible tragedy. Our hearts, minds, thoughts, and prayers are will the people and families of Sandy Creek in Newtown, CT. Grant and I decided to move forward with the interview on that day for that is what we must all commit to doing – move forward and create the elegant solutions together with our neighbors.