Data Driven Instruction vs. Passion Driven Learning
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized the critical importance of mindfulness and emotional intelligence. He understood that discovery and mastery of self was just as important as mastery of informational text and that the appropriate and effective use of so-called "hard skills" is dependent on the acquisition and application of "soft skills".
"We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "The Purpose of Education" , Morehouse College Student Paper, The Maroon Tiger, in 1947
David Coleman, a lead writer and chief architect of the Common Core State Standards has made it perfectly clear that teachers have more important things to do than designing learning activities that deal with such trivial matters as students’ thoughts, feelings, and personal reflections.
Reformers may claim that establishing emotion-free zones in Common Core classrooms will improve the college and career readiness of students, but there is ample evidence that what employees think and feel has a direct impact on worker engagement and job satisfaction.
“Best places to work” companies don’t just have ping pong tables and free lunch, they have a “ soul” which makes work exciting and energizing.
They invest in great management and leadership. They train and develop people so they can grow. And they define their business in a way that brings meaning and purpose to the organization…
Now is the time to think holistically about your company’s work environment and consider what you can do to create passion, engagement, and commitment. It may be “the issue” we face in business over the next few years.”
Josh Bersin, “Why Companies Fail To Engage Today’s Workforce: The Overwhelmed Employee” Forbes, 3/15/14
Perhaps now is not the best time to roll out rigorous lessons and data driven instruction developed from a passionless set of standards when a record number of employees are reporting feeling disengaged and dispassionate about their jobs…
“Gallup’s data shows 30% of employees Engaged, 52% Disengaged, 18% Actively Disengaged. “These latest findings indicate that 70% of American workers are ‘not engaged’ or ‘actively disengaged’ and are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and less likely to be productive,” states the report.
“Gallup estimates that these actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. between $450 billion to $550 billion each year in lost productivity. They are more likely to steal from their companies, negatively influence their coworkers, miss workdays, and drive customers away…
Though higher education generally leads to higher earnings, it by no means guarantees higher engagement. Consider the data: College graduates in the survey were 28% Engaged, 55% Not Engaged, 17% Actively Disengaged. High school graduates were 32% Engaged, 49% Not Engaged, 19% Actively Disengaged.”
Victor Lipman, “Surprising, Disturbing Facts From The Mother Of All Employee Engagement Surveys” Forbes 9/23/13
The Common Core ELA standards require students to provide evidence when making a claim, so one would expect reformers to value the research and evidence cited by Daniel Goleman (not to be confused with David Coleman) that thoughts and feelings do matter in life and have a significant impact on the performance of students and employees.
"An inner focus lets us understand and handle our inner world, even when rocked by disturbing feelings. This is a life skill that keeps us on track throughout the years, and helps children become better learners. For instance, when children tune in to what engages them, they connect with the intrinsic motivation that drives them…
In our life and career this can blossom into “good work” – a potent combination of what engages us, what matters to us, and what we can accomplish successfully. In the school years, the equivalent is “good learning” – being engaged with what enthuses us and what feels important…”
Daniel Goleman, “The Case for Teaching Emotional Literacy in Schools” 8/10/14
“A 30-year longitudinal study of more than a thousand kids – the gold standard for uncovering relationships between behavioral variables – found that those children with the best cognitive control had the greatest financial success in their 30s. Cognitive control predicted success better than a child’s IQ, and better than the wealth of the family they grew up in…
These human skills include, for instance, confidence, striving for goals despite setbacks, staying cool under pressure, harmony and collaboration, persuasion and influence.
Those are the competencies companies use to identify their star performers about twice as often as do purely cognitive skills (IQ or technical abilities) for jobs of all kinds.
The higher you go up the ladder, the more emotional intelligence matters: for top leadership positions they are about 80 to 90 percent of distinguishing competences…”
Daniel Goleman, “What Predicts Success? It’s Not Your IQ” 7/17/14
K-12 education programs that claim to prepare students for college and careers should be more concerned with cultivating a wide array of social and emotional competencies along with transferable workforce skills, rather than continually measuring a narrow set of standardized and testable math and literacy skills.
Many students’ academic and content area skills will actually flourish if they are given the opportunity to enroll in hands-on trade or vocational programs.
“Math used to be a struggle for 14-year-old Kathryn, until she fell in love with cars and started a hands-on project to build her own. Now the math matters and makes sense, and a whole new world of learning has opened up for her.”
Edutopia: How Building a Car Can Drive Deeper Learning 6/11/13
Learning should be a self-directed journey of discovery. Students should be “free to learn” as they explore their interests and pursue their passions rather than simply following a curriculum map and data driven route to each Common Core learning standard.
Learning occurs when students engage in meaningful and purposeful activities that respect the interests and needs of students rather than simply serve the "needs" of the standards and the tests.
Classroom learning activities should be individualized rather than standardized and provide numerous opportunities for students to express and connect with their dreams, feelings and other people, rather than demand that students read closely and stay connected to the text.
Standardized data driven education programs focus primarily on measuring student knowledge and skills, while customized passion driven programs are focused on cultivating student curiosity and creativity.
The following excerpt from a 2010 valedictory speech reveals the negative consequences of data driven education programs if a student becomes more focused on preparing for tests, than preparing for life...
“…While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment.
While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost?
I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning.
And quite frankly, now I’m scared…”
Erica Goldson, “Here I Stand” 6/25/10 Valedictory Speech
"School should be a place to find yourself,
not lose your identity"
~ Scarsdale student (video below)
( "Losing Ourselves" by Rachel Wolfe )
In 2014 Jim Carrey gave the commencement speech at Maharishi University of Management that challenged students to overcome their fears and follow their hearts…
"So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect, so we never dare to ask the universe for it. I’m saying, I’m the proof that you can ask the universe for it — please!…
I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love…
You are ready and able to do beautiful things in this world and after you walk through those doors today, you will only ever have two choices: love or fear. Choose love, and don’t ever let fear turn you against your playful heart.”
"What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge,
and not knowledge in pursuit of the child."
~ George Bernard Shaw
Originally posted; WagTheDog Blog 7/24/14
Sent from my iPhone
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