• Imagine a school where the students take responsibility for their own learning, are happy to come to school, and where the staff, students, and parents are aligned with the same theory of how people learn. The Ronald Reagan Elementary School in Lake Elsinore, California may be such a school.

• Imagine a school district with a solid long range plan that actually is drafted with the intent of being put to use, not becoming shelf art*. The Gloversville School District is off to a good start.

Within the past few months, it has been my privilege to visit these schools.

In the summer of 2005, three caring, outstanding veteran teachers from Lake Elsinore found our Institute on the web and participated in our conference. Their monumental task was to launch an elementary school based on constructivist theory of how people learn. At the conference, they worked with Bruce Bonney of Leading Edge to design staff development days and a timeline of initiatives for their first year of operation.

In March, 2006, Bruce and his collaborator, Jack Drury, visited the California school and conducted a week of training for 21 staff members. Paul Vermette, Pat Flynn and I were there that same week to work with the leadership team which consisted of the three teachers who had attended our conference and their principal, who had supported their effort from the onset.

We do not present the Lake Elsinore School as a finished product ready to be held up as an exemplar. Rather, it has just completed its first year, is gaining adherents and, as Larry Byrd would say, reflects the fact that “Nothing is as fragile as an idea being born.” One misstep, piece of bad luck, or error in judgment could bring this unique initiative to a screeching halt. However, here is what we observed that caused Paul Vermette to say, “This is the most exciting school I’ve ever entered.”

Most of the elementary students were happy to be in school; the atmosphere offered evidence of the school’s success as you walked in the hallways, or entered a room. When we debriefed a class of first graders, they could explain why something was right or wrong by referring to a school motto that was emphasized at the start of school each day. As we passed a small stage in the middle of a lobby, there were always four to six students rehearsing for a presentation, within supervising view of a teacher who was not visible to them. In other words, thinking they were not being observed, these students – a different group each time we passed – stayed on task and took, pride in what they were doing.

There’s much more. What is unique is that staff is on the same page (philosophically) and with each day that passes they are able to bring more and more parents, teachers, and students on board who then become informed supporters.

In Gloversville, this past week, I showed up the third day of what was billed as a “Three Day Summit for Special Education.” Approximately 50 teachers, mostly special education with a few classroom teachers, devoted three full days to an exploration of what the district can do to build on what is working and improve what is not.

What was unique about this?

The teachers weren’t there to have a new program laid on them and to sit through three days of learning how to implement what someone else had decided. Instead, the agenda for the three days was filled with questions which the teachers, often in small groups, were challenged to address?

• What are our strengths?
• What challenges do we need to address?
• What strategies would you suggest for addressing these challenges?

Staff was treated with respect. The district funded their time. Yes, it cost money, but not as much as bringing in a high priced presenter might have cost.

Also, this was not a one-shot event. Eight people will participate in our 2006 conference, in two weeks, with the task of sorting through three days of feedback and putting together a long range plan for addressing the needs of students with disabilities.

The plan devised by these eight people will not be foisted upon the staff. Instead it will be taken back and presented to the 50 participants in The Summit with this question: “Does this reflect what you spent three days telling us?”

And the plan will have a long range goal statement along with Measurable Objectives for the first year. Measurable Objectives is a favorite word of planners, but Gloversville intends to take three necessary steps with their measurable objectives that are often overlooked by districts boasting of their long range plans:

1. Write them in a way that actually measures, with validity, what they purport to assess.

2. Refer to them at the end of the school year with at least a full day actually spent assessing whether they were achieved and if not, why not.

3. Utilize them as the basis for the design of a strategic plan for the following year.

Gloversville isn’t there, yet, but they’ve made a good start.

What impresses me most about Lake Elsinore and Gloversville are: 1) they are challenging staff to use its expertise to solve educational problems while providing resources and support, support, support; 2) they are not only thinking out of the box, but they are visioning several years down the road and working toward implementation of initiatives based on a theory of how people learn. This teamwork alone (with everyone rowing in the same boat) has simply got to bring results that will improve student achievement. If these schools can maintain their focus and if they can have the kind of luck that any idea requires in its earliest, most fragile state, then they well may be exemplars for the country in the next few years.

We are pleased that Lake Elsinore will have two teams at our conference later this month. Our hats are off to pioneering teachers Gary and Thenell Hangii and Jan Mohler and their supportive principal Craig Richter. Similarly we salute Roger Rooney, Colleen Ulrich, Frank Pickus and the 50 participants in Gloversville’s three day Summit.

*Our thanks to Gerry Peters for introducing us to the term “Shelf Art.” Shelf Art is what districts create when they put teachers to a great deal of time and effort to compile volumes of information that has no practical application except to sit on a shelf and look pretty, never to be referenced by anyone again at any time except perhaps for use on a resume.

But I digress: the staff, parents, and board in Lake Elsinore, and the people I experienced in Gloversville reflect the caring, hard working people throughout the world who are striving to make schools a better place for educating children. They may be on to strategies that are worth emulating.

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) 2006, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

Here are two unrelated, but, hopefully, interesting thoughts to ponder on a summer’s day:

The sign in front of the church in Malone reads,

“People live their lives by comparison rather than by standards.”

As we drove through Malone the other day, and I noticed the sign, I thought: “Too often we grade students by comparison rather than by standards.”

The second thought is about a recent quote from Drew Barrymore:

“I’m nowhere near the top (of my profession). I’m still on the mountain clawing and climbing my way up – not knowing everything. That’s the fun part, the journey.”

This quote reminded me that when the team from India participated in our conference several years ago, they said a major difference between Indian and American culture is the Indian focus on the importance of enjoying the journey.

Are we, as professional educators and parents, making the journey “fun” for our students? How much will any of us, as adults, voluntarily engage our minds with if we don’t find it either fun or relevant?

The Institute is currently registering the limited number of teams that will be enrolled for the 2006 summer conference. Don’t miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

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) 2006, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

Forgive me if I send two newsletters a week for a short while. We recently concluded our most successful summer conference ever (judging by participant and facilitator feedback) and it took me out of the loop until now. I have a personal goal of 52 newsletters a year and I’m trying to get back on track. This one, and several of the next few, will be brief.

And now, an interesting report on Constructivism in Thailand .

Two of our best conference facilitators over the years have been Roni Brierley and Mike Smith, both of Niagara University. They missed this summer’s conference because they were on their second visit to Thailand in two years, conducting workshops and spreading the constructivist theory with examples of how to put it into practice. Here is an excerpt from a report we just received from Roni:

“The King and government have put a great emphasis on transitioning Thai education from a “rote-based” format to a thinking and problem solving focus; and this was stressed in the Prime Minister’s address. This is why the connections that we are making during this trip and the workshops we’re presenting are being welcomed so much by the schools we are visiting.”

Many people, upon first learning of constructivism, think that it is as simple as equating it with student interaction. This is not always true. While a classroom in which students are moving about and conversing with each other is often an indication of constructivist theory at work, the key is whether students are being challenged to think critically.

The King and Prime Minister of Thailand obviously understand this concept. Roni and Mike, thanks for the update.

The Institute is currently registering the limited number of teams that will be enrolled for the 2006 summer conference. Don’t miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

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) 2006, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

Here are some questions for the good administrator to address:

· Do your staff meetings model what you would expect to see in a classroom? Or do you conduct your staff meetings from the front of the room and expect staff to sit silently as you speak?

· How often do you ask questions of staff members relative to the number of times you give instructions?

· Do you frequently run errands for staff and assist staff in the implementation of new concepts or ideas?

· Do you make decisions and then try to encourage staff to implement them, or, do you design the questions and structure the dialogue for the purpose of facilitating important decisions from the staff?

A constructivist administrator is one who understands that his or her main job is to support the teachers in their quest to make student learning the focus of the classroom. This involves providing school-based and/or classroom based professional development that assists teachers in their mission.

This means bringing teachers together to make educationally sound decisions.

This means facilitating parent involvement.

This means learning what constitutes sound teaching practices and encouraging teachers through engagement with these practices and modeling.

Susan Farley was principal of the Maple Avenue Elementary School in Niagara Falls in the early nineties. Pat Flynn and I facilitated the district’s creation of a shared decision making process and then provided training, for three years, for the newly created shared committees in each of the district’s 13 schools. Maple Avenue School’s committee was particularly effective. Six teachers, two parent representatives, the principal, and a representative of the business community met regularly, inspired the confidence of their constituents and functioned as an exemplar of what the shared decision making process can be.

We sat in on a two-hour meeting as the committee planned a major community forum which ultimately brought nearly 200 parents and community members to the school on a Wednesday evening, a large turnout for the relatively small school. Following the meeting, Pat, video camera in hand, conducted interviews with each member of the committee separately. He began each interview by commenting on the effectiveness of the committee and how much had been accomplished by ten people in a two-hour meeting. His first question to each committee member was, “What accounts for the unusual degree of success of your group compared to most shared decision making committees?”

The response, from every committee member was, “Our principal. She makes the difference.”

This caused the Pat and me to reflect on the role played by Ms. Farley during the two-hour meeting. She rarely said a word. Another member of the committee facilitated the discussion and Ms. Farley occasionally spoke, almost always to pose a question rather than make a statement. “If we hold the forum on a Wednesday evening do you think parents will turn out?” she asked the two parent representatives. Or, “Would it be helpful if I could find $100 in the budget to cover the cost of fliers and media ads?” she interjected when the committee was discussing how to publicize the event.” She asked probing questions and volunteered offers of support.

Here is one more question for an administrator to ponder?

Which of two attitudes do you convey to your staff:

· respect for their expertise and the feeling that your role is to support the professionals who have been hired to do the job?

· or, the feeling that you know what’s best for educating children and staff’s role is to listen to you and follow your directions?

The Institute is currently registering the limited number of teams that will be enrolled for the 2006 summer conference. Don’t miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

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) 2006, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

For many of us, this week marks the beginning of the school year and students will be in classrooms anticipating the first words and actions of the teacher. Will it be the same old, same old? Will the students hear and experience what they expect and what they are geared to anticipate?

Dear Teacher,

The bodies of your students are in their seats; with good disciplinary strategies you can require them to remain in their seats for the time they are in your class. However, where are their minds? If you assume that because their bodies are present, their minds are, also, you may not be in the real world. Do something at the very beginning to let your students know that this time school is going to be a different, challenging, exciting experience.

Here’s one possibility:

• Ask all students to pair with a student whom they do not know at all. (If they know everyone, they should find someone they do not know well.) They can stand or simply move their chairs next to the person with whom they are paired. Ask each pair of students to exchange three pieces of information: 1) Name 2) One thing they know about the subject you will be studying for the year (i.e. English, math, science, art, music, etc.) 3) One thing they think will be difficult for them in this class. Tell them they have two minutes – one minute for each of them to share.

• After allowing two minuets, ask the students to find a second person they do not know at all, or at least not very well. Ask them to share the same information with this next person and, once again, allow two minutes.

• Announce that you will now have one more round where students, in pairs, share this information except there will be one difference. After they have exchanged information for two minutes you will ask each person to share with the entire class the information they have received from the last person with whom they shared.

• After the third round, if the facility allows it, ask the students to create a circle with their chairs (or chairs and desks) and have each student introduce the last person he or she was with.

• Now begin the school year in whatever way you feel is appropriate.

What will you have accomplished with this activity?

1. You will have grabbed your students’ attention simply because you have begun the school year differently than they would expect. (Without their attention what does it matter what you say or do?)

2. You will have begun the process of discovering your students’ prior knowledge. According to constructivist theory of how people learn, your students will learn best when you are able to connect their prior knowledge with the new information you will expose them to in your class. How can you help students make this connection if you don’t make the effort to find out about their prior knowledge?

3. You will have begun to learn about your students’ interests and this, in turn, will enable you to relate better to them and to think of effective ways of helping them understand some of the lessons you will be teaching.

4. Your students will relax and be more attentive throughout the remainder of class. Isn’t there a reason that most teacher workshops begin with some kind of an ice breaker? Why shouldn’t the same approach be valid for students?

Some of you may be saying, “What if some of my students don’t cooperate or what if they get unruly?”

If this happens, deal with the misbehaving students the same way you would deal with them if you were doing something else. But, as Paul Vermette would tell you, be glad that you are finding out at the start of the school year which students are not ready to participate in group work. You want to identify them early so you can address the issue.

And here is one final reason for beginning the school year with pair sharing and group work: students need to practice group work just as much as teachers need to train to conduct group activities. By starting the school year with a pair, then group, activity you are setting the tone for the class and letting your students know that group work is an expectation.

I recall arriving at a middle school at 3 pm for a workshop and, as I waited in the faculty room, a student teacher walked in with “depression” written all over her face. She had just conducted her first group activity and it had been, in her words, “a disaster.” A veteran teacher asked her what class she was teaching, and when the student teacher told her, the veteran said, “Those kids have never had a teacher, at any time in their schooling, who used group work. It doesn’t surprise me that they reacted negatively.”

The way to prepare students for group work is to start with brief pair or group activities and to select content that is not very intense or complicated. In other words, when you first introduce students to group work, don’t focus on the content – it is less important; focus on the process.

The Institute is currently registering the limited number of teams that will be enrolled for the 2006 summer conference. Don’t miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

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) 2006, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

Recently I went through ten years of accumulated materials that were in boxes I hadn’t looked at since they were stored away “just in case I might ever need something.” I came across a single sheet of paper with some interesting comments by Linda Darling Hammond. What I am about to quote is from the second page of a two page document and so I can only reproduce part of the citation. It continues from page one:

“. . .Darling-Hammond, L. (1999, Jan-Feb). Educating Teachers, the academy’s greatest failure or its most important Future?, Academe, 26-33.

Upon discovering this wonderful articulation of where the teaching profession is headed, I was starting to believe that much good can come from a ten year cleaning of boxes of old materials. While I discovered this gem, I threw out almost everything else. Unfortunately, three days later I went searching for some hand-outs without any luck. I just know they must have been in one of those boxes that has now been incinerated. I learned my lesson. It will be at least another ten years before I throw anything else away.

The Institute is currently registering the limited number of teams that will be enrolled for the 2006 summer conference. Don’t miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

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) 2006, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

I’d like to share what I feel is the most significant concept (or mind-set) for teaching that I have learned over the years. It can be summed up very simply:

Student engagement with information must precede explanation

Think about this: Isn’t it our tendency to explain what we don’t think students understand and then, if time allows, engage them in an activity that allows them to apply that knowledge? In sports, it’s reversed. First the players practice (engage); then the coach teaches through commentary about player performance in the practice or in the game.

It is becoming common to hear that teachers should go from being sages on the stage to guides on the side. A teacher who becomes a “Guide on the Side” is often referred to as a “coach”.

How close is the connection to the term “coach” as it applies to a sport and as it applies to a teacher in the classroom? Here are some of my views:

In a traditional lesson, the teacher explains, the students practice and, if time allows, the students are offered the opportunity to apply. Much teaching and little learning occurs.

In a constructivist based lesson, engagement precedes explanation. Effective teaching is like effective coaching. In sports, teaching occurs as players engage in a practice session or a game. Maybe that’s why we call the primary teacher in a sport, a “coach”. The “coach” offers the players (or students) a context for learning and instructs while and AFTER the players perform.

In traditional classrooms, unfortunately, we explain and sometimes never afford students the opportunity to engage with the information we want them to learn. Research supports the contention that we don’t understand information or learn to apply information unless we engage with it.

What must math, science, social studies, and English teachers do in order to be able to teach as coaches do? They must design performance tasks so that students, much like players in a sport, are engaged in a performance and the teaching (coaching) comes in the form of spontaneous interventions.

In a sport this can be when someone does something well or poorly and the coach is able to use this as a model for praise or for letting the player know what was good and what needs to be changed about her behaviors during the performance. In a classroom, the teaching needs also to be while students are performing. For instance, as students stage a mock trial of Socrates, the social studies teacher is now able to act as coach and point out, in a context that is meaningful to the students, which aspects of the script are accurate and which need to be revisited. Better, yet, the skillful teacher, through artful questioning, can often encourage the students to self discover what is good and what needs to be altered in their performance.

The key words are: Engagement precedes Explanation

Here’s an example: Every semester I inform my students that, in groups of three, they will have to make a one hour presentation on a topic. I also lecture them that when they ask their classmates to get into small groups and begin a task, they need to immediately fan out around the room and be available to the groups in case any of them are unclear about their task. This is an example of Explanation Before Engagement. It doesn’t work.

Each semester the same thing happens. Despite my mini lecture, as soon as a presenting team of three turns small groups of their classmates loose to work on a task, they stand around in the middle of the room occupying themselves while they wait for the small groups to finish their work. My earlier “explanation” went for naught. However, when these three students are conducting the lesson this is a performance task for them. Now I can approach them, while their peers are beginning to work in small groups, and I say exactly what I said in my mini lecture that is being ignored. They immediately divide and begin checking on the small groups. I have struck while the iron was hot; I have used a teachable moment. A teachable moment can be defined as the time when students are engaged in performance and feel the need for the information they would ignore if the teacher offered it at a time when it didn’t appear relevant.

It is only when the students are actually performing, engaged with information, that the information has meaning for them because the performance creates a context for their learning. Following their one hour presentation, my students are open to much learning because I can now EXPLAIN important concepts through reference to what they have just experienced – much like a coach explains through reference to a player’s on-field performance during practice or a game.

Come to think of it, how did I learn that I need to engage students with information before I try to explain it? A professor or workshop leader probably told me that once, or maybe I read it in a book. But it was when I was actually teaching, and then reflecting on my engagement with teaching strategies that these words became meaningful. I learned by performing as a teacher and then either reflecting on that performance or, at that time, reading or hearing someone say: “Engagement must precede Explanation.”

When we “explain,” we are teaching. When we engage students with information and then teach (or coach), the students are learning. There’s a difference.

The Institute is currently registering the limited number of teams that will be enrolled for the 2006 summer conference. Don’t miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

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) 2006, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

Scaffolding is an important concept to grasp for a teacher to effectively use strategies that actively engage students with information, whether it be project based learning or a process such as student-conducted interviews, skits, or presentations.

My article on “Teachers as Coaches,” last week, drew more feedback than usual, including comments from some administrators who felt it was worth circulating to their entire staff. I appreciate this feedback because knowing the Institute is having an impact is what keeps so many of us doing what we are doing. I want to print an e-mail I received from GS Kumar, in India. His excellent question enabled me to respond with an explanation of the role of “scaffolding” as part of a process of engaging students with information. Here is his e-mail followed by my response. Thank you, Kumar, for posing a question that I know is on the minds of many:

Dear Don,

My observation is "guiding students to develop interest in learning is a complex as well as a simple process". It depends on who the guide is and who the students are. It is not desirable to reduce this concept into some generalized process. It may send wrong signals.

It is like throwing a child into the water first (engagement) and then guiding him to swim. Some children learn this way and some children get scared of water for life!

Good wishes and compliments for the continuous good work

GS Kumar, Hyderabad, India

Dear GS Kumar,

The term we use to describe the process of providing just enough support so the student is comfortable and has the opportunity to succeed while no more (because that would deprive the learner of the opportunity to become an independent learner) is "scaffolding".

You are correct that the Guide needs to be qualified and there is judgment involved about the personality and capabilities of the learner. A competent teacher (guide) would not throw the child into the water if that would engender a level of fear that would be counterproductive. However, there are other ways of generating engagement. Perhaps, it could be through films of countless people swimming successfully; perhaps it would be by starting in a very shallow end of a pool. Perhaps it could be through setting up conversations with people who had been equally as fearful of the water before they learned to swim so they could explain what they did to overcome their fear.

Engagement doesn't have to be throwing someone into the water. However, if someone is fearful of the water, will any amount of lecture convince them otherwise?

Engagement can take many forms. It is the proper amount of scaffolding by someone with expertise in judging how much scaffolding to provide (i.e. a competent teacher) that ensures that the kind of engagement in the lesson will be appropriate for the learner.

Does this clarification address your legitimate concern? It is a privilege to be able to communicate regularly with someone who cares so much about the quality of education we provide to children.

Don

The Institute is currently registering the limited number of teams that will be enrolled for the 2006 summer conference. Don’t miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

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) 2006, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.