I think this recent journal entry from Chris Dillard speaks for itself. Chris is a student in my class at St. Lawrence University on "Problems in Education." This is his first entry of the semester (I request a journal entry after every class) and this excerpt is reprinted with permission:

• "Mr. Mesibov made the statement that students should feel empowered in the classroom. Just hearing that meant a lot to me and is something I was never taught when I was in school. It was a student's place to be subordinate and not to be empowered much at all."

In a moment, I will revisit Chris' observations about "empowerment" in the context of whether this means students should decide what they will learn.

The notion that constructivist theory implies that students should decide what they will learn is one of three misconceptions frequently attributed to constructivism:

• 1. That teachers need less expertise to facilitate learning than to lecture.
• 2. That constructivists don't believe that students should ever memorize anything.
• 3. That students in a constructivist classroom decide what they will learn.

I will address the first two misconceptions in a subsequent article.

Addressing the third misconception now, it is not true that in a constructivist classroom students decide what they will learn. Constructivist theory addresses how students will learn, it does not limit or dictate what they will learn, except to suggest that critical thinking skills, understanding and application are important.

If we want students to take responsibility for their own learning, and to be life long learners, then we must empower them. However, the empowerment is in terms of offering options and responsibility in determining how they learn and how they address the standards which are set by the school; it does not mean empowering students to determine what they will learn.

Can we really expect students, or anyone else, to take responsibility for their own learning if they are not empowered to do so? This is why I think Chris' observation is so instructive. Is anyone listening?

Another student, Emily Warren, discussed, in her journal entry, an activity I conducted in which students peer reviewed papers they had written for class expecting to hand them in. Instead of collecting them, I had them exchange papers and review them according to criteria I provided. Then I gave each student the option of submitting the paper, as written, or taking it home, rewriting it, and submitting it the next time class met.

Here was Emily's observation about that activity:

• "It is not very often in a class you get to look at what kind of work your peers are doing. I think this provokes me to look at things from a different angle and ultimately improves my own quality of work."

Happily, an increasing number of teachers - many of you who are reading this article - are using peer review, self assessment, and similar strategies. I hope you will take heart from reading Emily's comments and realize that you are in the forefront of a pedagogical revolution that needs to take place. We need to get beyond the point where a college student can say that "It is not very often in a class you get to look at what kind of work your peers are doing."

I know you folks in Clifton Fine are doing wonderful things by having students and teachers focus on evidence of quality student work. When your students get to college, they will not be able to say that they haven't often had the opportunity to view the work of their peers.

The author welcomes comments, feedback, reactions of any kind to the thoughts expressed (above).

Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If
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Copyright (c) 2000, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All
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The students in my class at SLU are divided into seven groups of four and they have certain assignments that must be done in these groupings. Each group, for instance, is responsible for conducting three ice breakers (exploratory activities) during the course of the semester. I model the process during the first few classes, then the groups rotate assuming responsibility.

Our first student group conducted an ice breaker February 8. They put the entire class into small groups and asked each person to do the following:

As the students reported out, I took notes of what they said made the one teacher they cited so outstanding:

The author welcomes comments, feedback, reactions of any kind to the thoughts expressed (above).

Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If
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Copyright (c) 2000, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All
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This is the last in the series of articles on " Strategies for Enabling Students to be Independent Learners," which I began in December.

Here are some suggestions:

JOURNAL ENTRIES

There is no "right" way to have students keep journals. Journals are an excellent way to teach students to reflect on their learning, to provide the teacher with information about what is "sticking," and how students are reacting to strategies, and also for enabling teachers to assess student work as part of a group.

If you have students keep journal entries:

1. You can control the frequency - once a day, once, twice, or three times a week, once every two weeks, once a month.

2. Give the students a rubric and limit the criteria on your rubric. In designing the rubric, think about your purposes for the journal entries. This will influence what criteria you list in your rubric. For instance, any of the following are legitimate to require in a journal entry, depending on your purposes:

Do not list all of these as criteria on your rubric for a journal entry - it's too long a list. But you could select two or three criteria from this list.

3. Write your own journal entries. Share your entries with the class whenever you require students to submit entries. For my University Class on "Problems in Education" I have students write journal entries after every class (twice a week). I do the same.

In addition to modeling what a journal entry should be, it's a great way to communicate with students. Some students pay more attention to my brief written reflections on my expectations and reactions then to anything I say in class.

CLASS AGENDAS

At the start of each class I distribute an agenda for the day (aren't students just as anxious to know what will happen as adults at a workshop? Aren't they entitled to the same respect?)

Ice Breaker

I begin every class (or workshop) with a brief opening activity (ice breaker or whatever you'd like to call it) that generates dialogue from at least some students (loosens up the class) and moves us toward class content for the day. Often I have students conduct the ice breaker.

Closure I end every class (or workshop) with a brief closure activity that generates dialogue from every student. It forces reflection on the students (and processing of what we have studies) and it gives me valuable feedback on what has "stuck" from the day¹s lesson. Often I have students conduct the closure activity. (For those of you who have worked with me, you know I do these same opening and closing activities at a workshop with adults - and with the same goals and results.)

AUTHENTIC TASK

When I work with students (or participants at a workshop), I feel they should be able to identify an authentic task that motivates and directs their work. Focus students/participants on the task, not how to accomplish it.

EXEMPLARS

Once you have designed an authentic task for students (or participants at a workshop), or once they have selected their authentic task, have at least one example of how to accomplish the authentic task ready to share; but do not share your example until students have explored and proposed their own approach - and only share yours if an example is needed.

ASK, DON'T TELL

ALWAYS challenge students to figure something out BEFORE sharing a model with them.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT

Use the ice breaker/opening activity to involve parents.

A good opening activity encourages students to share their perceptions of what they are about to learn BEFORE their thoughts have been challenged with outside information, including anything the teacher may wish to share.

Once you have challenged students to share their perceptions (prior knowledge) ask them to go home and elicit perceptions of someone in the household.

Example:

"OK, class, on a blank sheet of paper write down what you feel could be the first step to take to figure out how to remove the tree (overhanging a house in the problem in front of you) without having the tree fall on the roof of the house."

Allow five minutes.

"Now, hand in your papers to me, meet in pairs, and share with your partner the first step you just described on the piece of paper."

Allow five minutes.

"Now match up your pair with another pair, and share your responses."

Allow five minutes.

"Now let's hear responses from a few pairs."

"Your assignment for tonight, is to go home, ask someone at home what they think would be the first step in solving this problem, and come into class tomorrow with the name of the person, and their response, written on a sheet of paper."

JOURNALS FOR SELF and PEER ASSESSMENT

I had the privilege of observing the "Venture" program in Carthage a number of years ago. One of the ten week interdisciplinary assignments required that each student conduct a comparison of track events on two kinds of surfaces, and also participate in the project of five other students. I asked the teachers how they assessed whether students were participating in projects led by five other students. They said they required that journal entries address the role each student played in each of the five other projects.

When students in my SLU class are involved in a group project or presentation, I ask them to describe their role, and the roles of other group members in the project. I wouldn¹t use this as the sole criteria for grading a student, but it does provide me valuable insights into who¹s doing what. I thank the pioneer teachers in Carthage's Venture program for this idea which has worked well for me.

The author welcomes comments, feedback, reactions of any kind to the thoughts expressed (above).

Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If
you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a
message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com.

Copyright (c) 2000, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All
rights reserved.

I would like to address, separately, the issues of "Classroom Rage" and administrators as "Instructional Leaders." Then I will weave these two thoughts together into a suggestion for the commissioner's office.

ISSUE # 1: "Classroom Rage," is a term coined by a high school math teacher when he observed a stressed out colleague uncharacteristically losing her cool because of work overload, standards, assessments, parental complaints, lack of top down support, unrealistic class size and all of the problems that are increasingly confronting everyone in education.

When I shared this term in a newsletter article last Spring, I had a response from many people who could relate, and who gave their own examples.

The situation is not improving.

ISSUE # 2: Administrators as Instructional Leaders:

Some administrators want to be instructional leaders, are doing their best to fulfill this role, and - in order to be successful - must be super human because they must also accomplish all other tasks required of an administrator and they could use a 42 hour day and still not fulfill all the tasks for which they are held accountable.

Some administrators either have not recognized the need to be instructional leaders, are not willing to make it a priority, or do not have the skill/training to be effective in this role.

The road to education reform is far longer and more troublesome due to an insufficient supply of administrators who want to be instructional leaders, know how to do it, and are able to find the time to do it without jeopardizing their efficiency in other aspects of their job such as budget, paper work, scheduling, etc.

What is the correlation among "classroom rage," "administrators as Instructional Leaders," and the initiatives put forth by the commissioner for education reform?

Before defining the correlation, and before offering a suggestion, I need to state, once again, that I agree with the goals of the commissioner and the people in the State Education Department. I also admire many of the strategies they are using to accomplish their goals. My thoughts are in the vein of trying to make a good thing better.

The change process takes time and involves increased stress for all concerned because - by definition of the term ³change² you are trying to make major adjustments in a system that has functioned largely unchanged for many years, and you are, initially, introducing new concepts (ie. team teaching, addressing standards. etc.) while old paradigms are still in place (ie. schedules, length of day, ways of thinking). When you try to push a new idea into an old structure, you get resistance and stress just as you get resistance and stress if you try to put a reshaped body into an old set of clothes, or a new and larger family into an old bungalow built for two.

Here is what I think needs to be improved:

FOCUS

That's right, FOCUS.

Generally speaking, in this technological/information age, there is too much information available, and too much is too easily accessible for anyone to grasp.

Specifically speaking about education, the commissioner's office has done a wonderful job of making all kinds of support and information available to everyone engaged in education reform. There is AIS, APPR, PDP, CDEP, parent involvement strategies, standards, "Sharing Successes," all kinds of models, BOCES, teacher centers, Regional Support Teams, SED liaison personnel, web page references, grant money, etc., etc., etc. And then, on top of all this, for the first time in 100 years, a teacher cannot rely on the time-tested teaching strategies he/she saw modeled when he/she was a student, or was taught to use during university preparation. Now there are portfolios, journals, authentic assessments (rubrics), inquiry based questioning, Bloom's Taxonomy, and so much more to master while still confronted with the inconsistency of some universities still teaching the "old" way. Also. at a time of increased administrative turnover, there is the constant stress of most new administrators abandoning what the previous administrator spent a long time exciting the staff about, as the new administrator tries to excite the staff about his/her goals and methods of achieving them..

All of the above seem to hang out there in a cloud of ambiguity, giving us the feeling that no matter how much we master this month and this year we have barely had the impact of rescuing even one star fish from the beach.

We need FOCUS. We need realistic time lines. It is not satisfactory for SED to tell us a school should have a CDEP. AIS, PDP, et. al.

It is not satisfactory for an administrator to say to teachers you must master cooperative learning, portfolios, journals, et. al.

It creates the feeling a student would get upon entering 4th grade if he/she were told you need to learn geometry, trig, algebra, probability and calculus. Instead, if we even suggest these goals to a student we do it in the context of "Learn to add and multiply this year, in a few years you will take geometry and algebra, at some point in your latter high school years there may be probability and calculus."

Why is this important?

It is important because, just as I predicted last Spring, too many districts have only gone through the motions of completing an AIS, PDP, etc. Yes, SED is to be commended because some districts have used these plans in the spirit of intent and they are guiding improvement in student learning. But the lack of a good rubric for some of these plans, by the state, the lack of any mechanism for checking up on districts has sent out the message loud and clear that as long as we put something on paper and can tell SED it's on file in the district, we can stop there. Hence, too many plans are not worth the paper on which they are written. Even some good plans have been written, are on file, but there was, and is, no intent to try implementing them.

And I am not overly critical of the districts that are short circuiting the intent of these plans. These districts are overwhelmed. They can do only so much. They are reacting exactly as students do when they have insufficient guidance as to what they should do first and how they should prioritize - they are seeing what is evaluated and what is not, and they are short changing the work that is not being evaluated.

Let's be real. For most districts, it will be a five to ten year effort to design effective plans in all the areas required by the State, to effectively involve all the people who should be involved, and to design implementation plans with valid monitoring and assessment provisions.

I would like to see the State work with BOCES and teacher centers, and others, to devise a ten year plan for implementation of all its initiatives. Challenge the BOCES and teacher centers to work with local districts to set up strategies for developing all the required plans, implementing them , and monitoring the implementation. If there is only enough personnel to assess 300 AIS plans a year, then let¹s only require the phasing in of AIS plans over several years and have a random assessment of 25 percent of them with a stiff enough penalty for non compliance so it isn't worth the gamble to a district not to meet the state¹s standards for an AIS plan.

As a student, when my teacher would ask for one student to answer a question, it was always a good gamble (one in 25) that I wouldn't be called on so I was willing to ignore the assignment and gamble I wouldn't be called on. The occasional time I might be called upon and be at a loss for the correct answer, I could withstand the predictable one minute lecture and that was a fair exchange for the time saved by not doing the work.

School districts are the same. There must be sufficient checks for any initiative the State deems worthwhile, and the penalty must be significant enough so that it is not a good gamble for a district to risk non compliance.

I am imploring the State Education Department to take one major step that I think can help to alleviate classroom rage and pave the way for administrators to be instructional leaders.

Help us create A FOCUS. Work with BOCES, teacher centers, and others to develop a realistic time line for accomplishing all the state initiatives in support of raising student achievement. Included should be suggestions for administrators who want to be Instructional Leaders. More importantly, if the State does not help everyone prioritize and then focus on the highest priorities, according to a well thought out time line, even the best administrators will be limited in how much time they can devote to being Instructional Leaders.

The author welcomes comments, feedback, reactions of any kind to the thoughts expressed (above).

Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If
you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a
message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com.

Copyright (c) 2000, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All
rights reserved.

In 1992, 150 teachers viewed five brief videos at a workshop on Grand Island, NY. Each video focused on a different "Education Reform" initiative, and each boasted of success in raising student achievement. I overheard a veteran teacher comment, "I've been here for 30 years and we¹ve tried every one of these reform strategies."

At the conclusion of the day, I approached this teacher and said, "I overheard you say that you've tried all of these in the Grand Island schools at some time over the past 30 years. Weren't any of them successful?"

"Oh, they all had terrific potential," she replied.

"Then why didn't you stick with any of them," I asked.

"Every time we got a new administrator, we dropped one reform initiative and started another."

Good administrators too often make one major mistake when they move to a new district. They totally dismantle (or ignore) reform efforts of the previous administrator and institute their own.

Why is this a mistake?

It is a mistake because this is what causes the attitude among so many teachers and parents (and administrators) that "I better not get involved in a new initiative because just at the point when I have invested myself completely, the administrator will leave and a new administrator will abandon the work that has engaged me for so much of my time."

A major hurdle that has confronted the commissioner's office since the time of the EAP, and then the Compact for Learning, has been the attitude that "If I close my eyes and ears long enough, this, too, shall pass."

This attitude exists because too often this is exactly what happens.

In the past few weeks, I have seen stressed out teachers, in several districts, complaining that they worked for a year and a half on alignment, only to have a new administrator totally abandon their work. Wake up, folks: sometimes the method of alignment is less important than the need to reinforce those people who have already begun their work. There are many ways to align a curriculum, design a unit, address standards, provide professional development, etc. When we unilaterally abandon what those who came before us gave a high priority, why do we then wonder when people don't want to commit to our new initiatives? Why are we surprised when people have the attitude, "He's not serious, this, too, shall pass?"

Gerry Peters coined the term (or, at least used it the first time I heard it) "Shelf Art." Shelf Art comes in many forms - we see it in shared decision making plans, new curriculum, aligned curriculum, AIS plans, PDPs, CDEPs, etc. "Shelf Art" is anything which has been developed over a long, laborious period of time, and then remains on a shelf somewhere (usually no one in the district can recall exactly where) and gets little or no use. "Shelf Art" occurs either because of administrative turnover, lack of sufficient professional development, or lack of a systemic approach designed to make sure the success of the venture is not overly dependent on any one individual.

"Shelf Art," and most teachers know exactly what I am talking about and can cite examples of committees on which they served - giving heart, soul, time, and often their own money - which have either abandoned their mission before completion or have completed the mission only to see their product sit somewhere (who knows where) as another example of "Shelf Art."

I am not suggesting that an administrator has neither the right, nor obligation, to put his/her own stamp on a new school or district. I am suggesting there needs to be sensitivity to what has gone on before, an effort to look at what has just been completed or is still in progress, and a major effort to find some way to reinforce those who have worked hard on a project so that their work is put to good use. It is the new administrator who suffers, along with everyone else, when a project undertaken under a previous administrator is abandoned without sufficient reinforcement for those who took part.

A few years ago, I was asked by a building principal to spend a week with some of his teachers facilitating them through completion of standards-based units which the entire staff had begun five years earlier. A new superintendent had been hired. The principal was intelligent enough to recognize the damage to staff morale that would occur if a multi year project were left incomplete. He requested resources from the new superintendent to allow his staff to complete the units by funding teachers to work for a week during the summer with professional facilitation.

The superintendent also was smart enough to recognize the long-term value to the district of empowering this staff to complete its work.

Fortunately, this does happen. Unfortunately, it does not happen often enough. I know from personal experience, that too many people in New York State, right now, have been forced to abandon work they were reluctant to start, a year or more ago - started because an administrator implored them and assured them that "this time it will be different, this time we will complete it," - and now the administrator is gone, their work is left incomplete (not even making it to the shelf), and their cynicism is increased.

The author welcomes comments, feedback, reactions of any kind to the thoughts expressed (above).

Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If
you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a
message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com.

Copyright (c) 2000, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All
rights reserved.

Last Fall, I cited a parallel between the twenties and the nineties, suggesting the possibility of a serious recession or depression extending through the next decade. Whether or not that forecast is accurate, it does appear we are in for more difficult economic times than we have recently experienced.

What can school districts expect:

Take a look at the last ten notices, fliers, and letters you have sent out. How many are intended to provide a service and how many are intended to let people know what you feel a need for them to know? It is not enough that what you send out is intended to provide a service. Will the recipient view the communications as providing a service?

CREATE THIS STEERING COMMITTEE NOW, NOW NOW! Either use an existing group, or create one. Make this a priority. Schedule a retreat, followed by regular meetings. Function by consensus. The agenda topic needs to be "What does this district need to do in order to be able to pull together during difficult economic times?" Design an action plan that is consistent with all district plans, but has an emphasis on getting everyone to work together.

During the Ice Storm, many communities came together because of a perceived universal need. This same sense of urgency, and unity of purpose must be achieved for school districts to come out of the next economic downturn with students who are achieving higher standards, not students who have been victimized by a district in turmoil because of internal battles exacerbated by an economic slowdown.

The author welcomes comments, feedback, reactions of any kind to the thoughts expressed (above).

Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If
you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a
message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com.

Copyright (c) 2000, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All
rights reserved.

Politicians often claim to be concerned about education. Some of them, no doubt, are legitimately sensitive to the needs of children in our schools. However, if New York State politicians want any credibility when they try to hold others accountable for our schools, they must stop making a political football of teacher center funding.

It's as simple as that!

Teacher Centers are invaluable to the educational process in New York State. The nature of the person who would apply for a job as teacher center director almost guarantees quality in that position. The structure of having a policy board, representative of component districts and universities, supervising the teacher center director works well.

Teacher centers are able to focus on the needs of educators and children to as great a degree as any organized structure in New York State's educational process. The services provided by teacher centers augment what BOCES, teachers, administrators, and others are trying to do, without causing conflict or competition.

Yet, despite the evidence of the success of teacher centers, apparent to anyone who takes the time to look, each year the fate of teacher center funding is uncertain until the last minute. Consequently, too much time is taken away from focusing on children and instead must be devoted to lobbying, lobbying which serves the purpose of telling legislators and the governor what they already should know, that teacher centers are a vital part of New York State's effort at school reform.

Often, valuable time is lost in the summer, the best time for teacher training, because teacher centers can't commit funding which hasn't yet been authorized. Often, valuable people are lost to teacher centers because they cannot pass up other employment opportunities while they wait to learn if they will have a job when the legislature and governor finally pass a budget.

It is time for this nonsense to end. The governor and legislature should agree to a multi-year commitment to teacher center funding, at least at current levels, and give teacher centers the security they've earned and the security they need if they are to continue to be beacons for education reform in New York State.

I contend that no politician can have credibility claiming to support high standards for all children while simultaneously dragging feet on this issue of teacher center funding.

On a totally different matter, I received calls from two administrators who felt that my column a few weeks ago was harsh toward administrators. I wrote of the consequences for teachers and schools when an administrator ignores hard work performed by teachers on projects initiated by previous administrators.

My experience is that most administrators, teachers, parents, board members, and others are outstanding, concerned people who are working hard to improve education. It was not my intent to suggest a deficiency of any kind in administrators. To the contrary, administrators are as overworked, underpaid, and under appreciated in the current educational environment as anyone.

However, education reform cannot succeed without strong leadership from administrators who view themselves as instructional leaders. It is the responsibility of all of us to help reform education so that administrators can get out from under the demands of paperwork and myriad other chores that require a 30 hour day, and can give the priority to instructional leadership that most of them, as dedicated and competent professionals, would like to.

In the column in question, I was attempting to suggest to the many good administrators the importance of reinforcing teachers, parents, and students for initiatives undertaken with previous administrators.

If I did not effectively articulate this, or if I came across as being critical of administrators, I apologize. I sincerely believe that the hope we have for the future is because of the high quality of so many administrators, who must provide the leadership, parents, teachers, SED officials, board of education members, paraprofessionals, and students.

What we need is to reform the system so that it supports, rather than complicates, the efforts of all of us to provide the best educational opportunities for all students.

The author welcomes comments, feedback, reactions of any kind to the thoughts expressed (above).

Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If
you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a
message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com.

Copyright (c) 2000, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All
rights reserved.