Here
are three things that happened to me in the past few days. Hopefully, at the end, I’ll be able to
connect these three stories into a definite point that makes some amount of sense.
One
Last
week, I received an email from a professor on the liberal arts side of our
campus. He indicated that after 30 years
as a college teacher he was in the process of switching to a Socratic Method
style. He had heard that I had been
using that approach for a long time. He
wondered if he could sit in on a class and observe.
Of
course, I was glad to have him visit.
He
showed up. He paid close attention to
what I was trying to do. He took
notes. After class, he asked several excellent questions. We agreed that we would stay in touch. I would provide advice if he ever needed any.
I
was impressed that, after 30 years, he was willing to take the leap to make
such a radical change. Most college
teachers settle into a style early in their careers and make only slight
adjustments thereafter. As Einstein
said “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different
results.”
When
is the last time you visited another class and asked the teacher why he or she
was doing what they were doing? When was
the last time you observed another teacher and really analyzed their technique? What are they doing and how (or why) is it
working? When is the last time you
walked up to a colleague and said “I know you are a great teacher. Can I ask you a question or two that might help me
become a better teacher?”
Two
Dr. Shannon
Kathryn Orr (Bowling Green State) and Dr. Staci Zavattaro (Central Florida) are
coming out with a book soon titled Reflections
on Academic Lives. In this book,
they ask quite a number of college professors to look back and describe what
advice they wished they had received while they were doing their graduate work. I provided my answer in a short essay that
will be included in their book. I actually
posted my essay – with their permission – some months ago on this blog.
Earlier
this week, I was talking (by email) with my brother and mentioned this new book
project. For many years, my brother was
(in my opinion) the world’s greatest middle school principal. I view my job as relatively easy. I viewed his job as virtually
impossible. But, he always did it with
care and humor and a lot of wonderfully innovative ideas. He is retired now but he was great at
something that still seems to me to be an overwhelming challenge.
I
told my brother about the book being produced by Dr. Orr and Dr.
Zavattaro. I asked him how he would have
answered that question. Here is his
response:
“I
always tell new people in education to watch every other teacher (or
administrator) around you. Take the time
to talk to every teacher you can. Watch
how they deal with parents. Watch how
they deal with misbehaving students. Watch
how they work with their colleagues and deal with time management. Watch them carefully. Learn from them. Then, take what you learn and fit it with
your own personality. Learn from both
the good and the bad teachers. I
remember watching my first principal and assistant principal. I was too young and too green to know that I
was watching them, but years later, I took what I learned from them--and many
others along the way--and became a better principal. They were not all great principals, in my
opinion, but I learned from them. Good
and not-so-good. The same is true when learning
from other teachers. I suppose all
educators feel this way to some extent, but I like to think that I consciously
watched others and learned from them.
Don't be so set in your ways that you can't learn from others. I have a feeling that many college professors
are "set in their ways.” I saw many
professors when I was in college who would not have changed no matter what.”
When
is the last time you visited another class and asked the teacher why he or she
was doing what they were doing? When was
the last time you observed another teacher and really analyzed their technique? What are they doing and how (or why) is it
working? When is the last time you
walked up to a colleague and said “I know you are a great teacher. Can I ask you a question or two that might help me
become a better teacher?”
Three
I am
currently reading the new autobiography by Bruce Springsteen titled Born to Run. It is great, especially if you are a fan of
The Boss. I am only about 1/3 of the
way through the book but one thing has been especially interesting to me. From his earliest teenage years, Springsteen
was obsessed with the desire to become a great musician. He buys a cheap guitar. He then watches other performers and comes
home to work and determine exactly how those musicians are doing what they are
doing. He is always a student trying to learn. “Obsession” is the only word
that I can come up to describe how much he wants to become a great guitar
player and musician.
I
love books like this. It is too easy to
look at someone who is so successful and simply say “they must have been lucky”
or “they just had a lot of talent.” I
think that is rarely the answer. There
is something in such people that drives them to keep working. Interestingly, Springsteen talks about the fact that
he didn’t drink or take drugs because those distractions would have gotten in
the way of his music. He was focused.
But,
that is not what I want to tell you about.
As Springsteen gets a little older, he forms a band and they drive from
New Jersey to California to get work and hone their craft. One day his band competes with another band
for a job. The other band wins the
job. Springsteen’s comment was
classic: “They were better than us and
that didn’t sit well with me.” Even over 40 years later, you can tell that did not make him happy.
He
didn’t make excuses.
He
didn’t blame the person who made the decision.
He
didn’t ask for a second chance.
He
didn’t get upset and quit.
He went out and worked to get better.
First,
he knew his group had been beaten (“they were better than us”). Second, that was a motivation for him to do
better (“that didn’t sit well with me”).
And, of course, the rest has become history.
I
love the deep down desire for success that he showed in just those few words “that
didn’t sit well with me.”
What’s
the Point of These Three Stories?
Unless
you are the best teacher in the world, you have more to learn. As the sign over my desk says, “the road to
success is always under construction.”
Pick
a teacher or two in your building who seem to know and love teaching. Ask them if you can talk with them about how
they teach. Make a list of questions and
get them to tell you how they make the magic happen. Ask them what you really want to know. Here are a few questions that really
seem fundamental to me that every teacher should want to discuss:
--What
do you really want to accomplish in your classes--be as specific as possible?
--How
do you get students to prepare for class?
--How
do you get students to speak up in class and become engaged with the material?
--How
do you test so that the questions fit in with what you want to accomplish?
--How
do you help students review and organize material after class before they begin to forget?
--What
do you do if you have students who do not seem to want to learn?
And
many more.
It
seems to me that every teacher can learn something important from other
teachers. But you have to have the
deep desire that Bruce Springsteen demonstrated to motivate you to get up and
go ask. Otherwise, it is so very easy to
settle into a rut and just stay the same throughout your career. Where would the world be if Bruce Springsteen had fallen back on that
tactic?
