Last week I used this classic Jerry Seinfeld piece from Saturday Night Live as part of an administrators' workshop. We had lots of fun. Here's your chance to borrow the idea.
Goal: I was working with a team of principals and district administrators who wanted to provide more consistency in their teacher observations and look for strategies for using observations to assist teachers in reflecting on their instructional approaches. We first met at district office before going out to observe a few classrooms and share our impressions. I thought it would be useful (and fun) to warm up with Seinfeld's disastrous history lesson.
- We watched the video.
- A volunteer agreed to take the role of an administrator who just observed Seinfeld teaching. I played the role of Mr. Seinfeld as we both met for a post-observation conference.
- I set up a "Fishbowl" discussion group among the remaining participants. Half would pay attention to the administrator conferencing with Seinfeld. They were asked to record two types of admin questions or comments on a T-Chart - either ones that caused Seinfeld (me) to reflect on myself as a teacher or judgmental questions / comments that caused me to get defensive. The second half of the fishbowl group focused on me (Seinfeld). They were asked to record two types of comments I made - either comments where I was reflective on my lesson / teaching or comments where I got defensive / argumentative.
- I asked each of the fishbowl groups to compare within their two groups. We then we shared in a full group discussion.
While there was little positives to find in the Seinfeld lesson - the activity got us thinking about ways in which an administrator can give teachers feedback that is less judgmental and more likely to cause teachers to reflect on their lesson and instructional approaches.
Sample judgmental admin question: "You say that you want the students to 'think about history' and forget about the details, so why did you start asking a series of content questions on material they had already failed on the test?"
Similar theme explored in a non-judgmental, reflective tone: "What are some of the methods you like to use to gather feedback on student mastery of content? How do you use the information to design a lesson?"
It was a great icebreaker and loads of fun for everyone. Later in the day we observed some actual classrooms taught by teachers who had volunteered to host us. We came back together as a group and compared our impressions using the district evaluation instrument. We compared our results to calibrate the observation tool. Our final activity was to develop some feedback to give the teachers who hosted our visits. We crafted comments that were more reflective than judgmental. The volunteer teachers' principal later delivered the feedback to the teachers.
Everyone thought it was valuable session. I hope you can find some use or ways to modify.
How to set up a Fishbowl discussion group Download Fishbowl-discussion 58kb pdf
9 Questions for Reflective School Reform Leaders
In response to the November 22: Day of National Blogging for Real Education Reform, I have posed nine questions for school leaders to consider. They're organized around three themes and a concluding recommendation. Readers might also want to review my post "A Taxonomy of Reflection: Critical Thinking For Students, Teachers, and Principals"
Theme 1. Learning must engage student in rigorous thinking at higher levels of Bloom - analyzing, evaluating and creating. School leaders should ask:
1. Does our school community recognize the difference between higher and lower order thinking?
2. Are students expected to just consume information, or are they asked to create something original that demonstrates their learning?
3. Is our school a creative problem-solving organization? Answers: We cut music and art for remedial math. (Wrong!!!) We recognize music and art are vehicles to teach math. (That's better!)
Theme 2. Learning is relevant when the student understands how the information or skill has some application to their life, has an opportunity to figure out their own process rather than just learn “the facts," and is given opportunities to reflect on their work and their progress as learners. School leaders should ask ...
4. Do our students get high grades for simply memorizing the review sheet for the test?
5. Do our students “follow the recipe” or are they increasingly asked to take responsibility for their learning products, process and results?
6. Is the audience for student work simply the teacher, or are students asked to share their learning with peers, family, community?
Theme 3. The digital age has redefined literacy. To paraphrase David Warlick, Literacy now means the ability to: find information, decode it, critically evaluate it, organize it into digital libraries, be able to share it with others and stay focused on a task. School leaders should ask ...
7. If we’re no longer the "information gatekeepers," are we teaching our students to critically evaluate information and use it responsibly?
8. Does our technology get used mainly by the educators, or are students regularly employing it to create understanding and share their learning?
9. Is our credit system based on seat time or can it be expanded beyond the school walls to any place / time virtual learning?
I find it ironic that while schools chase NCLB “proficiency,” life has become an open book test. We need to unleash the power of assessment that targets and inspires. One-shot, high stakes tests are just autopsies. Students need regular check-ups where teachers can gauge student progress and target instruction. Ultimately the program must be designed to foster student self-assessment that gives them responsibility for monitoring their own progress. Students should be supported in on-going self-reflection that addresses questions such as:
Schools will need to become places that create engaging and relevant learning experiences, provoke student reflection, and help students apply the learning to life. Authentic accountability is reciprocal ... leadership is responsible to provide resources for success, educators are responsible for results. Simply sorting students along the "bell curve" won't do.