Author Archives: David Truss

Confidence and Competence

Yes, you can be overly confident, and cocky. We see plenty of that with #fail tagged on social media these days.

Yes, you can be highly competent and lack confidence. We often see this on tv shows like America/Britain’s Got Talent, etc.

But at breakfast with Dave Sands & Brian Kuhn, Brian was talking about doing some extreme mountain biking with a group, and how he noticed that confidence and competence created a positive loop with each one increasing the other.

I noticed the same while downhill riding with my nephew. We did a couple runs of the same trail and I hadn’t ridden like that in over 15 years. The first run, I followed him and avoided some of the tracks he chose, keeping myself ‘safe’ but also feeling scared anyway. I kept seeing myself make a bad choice and going over the handlebars or into a tree. I tried a couple things out of my comfort zone, was cautious and mostly unsuccessful. But by the end of that run, I could feel my confidence build, having not had any worse case scenarios materialize.

Round two was a different story. I attacked the hill trying everything my nephew did, and while I couldn’t keep the same line as him, I could feel my confidence and my competence rise. My speed was better, keeping closer to him, and I rode far better than the first run.

Confidence feeds competence, which feeds confidence…

Teaching and Learning Beyond Google

When students get time in their day to solve interesting problems, they need to learn to ask questions that go beyond Google. The problem isn’t interesting enough and worth solving if the answer is easy to find, if the data has already been collected, if the information is readily available.

If students are asking interesting questions, the teacher can’t be the content expert, they can’t know the answers that every student is seeking to discover. So, the teacher becomes the compass. The guide that points students in the right direction. Teachers steer students away from questions that are too general and easy to solve. They help refine questions that are too vague or too hard to accomplish. Teachers in the era of Google must still provide content knowledge, but they know that this knowledge is the foundation for discovery, not just the information to be learned. Learning is a process, not a product.

When learning goes beyond Google, students need to be supported in learning to communicate and collaborate with others. They need to seek experts outside the classroom. They need to solve authentic problems in the community or in students’ lives. Sometimes the teacher needs to create or help create the questions; They need to provide the scaffolding, direction, or support to ensure students are becoming competent learners. Sometimes teachers need to step back, get out of the way, and let students lead, teach, thrive, and even fail… on the path to learning through discovery, trail and error, and reflection.

The journey is seldom a straight line. The path is seldom easy, and well defined. It is not the teacher’s job to remove obstacles on the path to to solving interesting problems. On the contrary, they must ensure that there are enough obstacles in the way, and that students are challenged while not being overcome by obstacles too big to navigate. The compass does not know the final destination, or even the best route, but gives direction by pointing to north. This is the art of teaching in an era of learning beyond Google.

False alarms

If you hear a car alarm, you don’t immediately think, ‘Oh no, a car is being stolen!’ You likely believe the car was bumped accidentally in some way.

If you hear a fire alarm, you don’t immediately think, ‘Fire!’ You might smell for smoke, but your instinct will be that it is a false alarm.

If you hear a security alarm in a shopping mall, you don’t immediately think ‘Thief!’ You likely think that someone didn’t get the security tag removed from their purchase.

Police and ambulance sirens tell us to move out of the way, but they are going ‘somewhere else’. They are noisy inconveniences that slow us down or wake us up. We live in a world of beeping and wailing alarms. They lull and numb us to actual emergencies. An annoying tone at a doorway, that’s not a thief, it’s someone using the wrong door by accident, or someone holding the elevator door open for longer that it is meant to stay open. A security or fire panel droning on and on is an error, not a genuine concern.

If you were ‘alarmed’ for some reason 100 years ago, or for millennia before that, then that alarm was genuine! Dropping bombs, enemy attack, a fire, dangerous animals, threatening foe, dangerous terrain, unforgiving weather. An alarm sounded to indicate a threat or a real concern.

Now we trigger alarms all the time and our nervous systems have grown accustomed to responding without triggering genuine concern… but our senses are still triggered. Ever notice how much more annoying false alarms are when you are on vacation? We want to escape false alarms as much as we do any other parts of our regular lives.

I think we should seek ways to reduce the amount of false alarms we hear. I think that they are repeatedly adding to people’s anxiety and stress. We shouldn’t have to live in a world of constant false alarms.

Empowering students

Inquiry Hub is a small school. We don’t have a lot of grads, but we have grown enough that we need to switch venues for our Annual/Graduation. We run this event together, for our entire school community, so that our grads have a full auditorium at their ceremony.

For this special event, the presentations and entertainment are organized by our students and teachers together. At the event, our students run the show, with teachers handing out awards, and students providing the entertainment. Last year we packed the small auditorium, and with 8 more grads this year, the search for a new location began.

Two of my grads did the research and presented me with a couple options. We started inquiring about dates and costs, and by ‘we’, I mean my students did, presenting the final suggestion to me. My job, pay the deposit and set up the first technical visit.

That visit was today. We looked at the stage set-up, I shared my thoughts and ideas, and while a few were taken, a few weren’t. When the meeting with the booking coordinator was over, we thanked her and she said, “It’s funny, this whole time, until you came in today, I thought I was corresponding with teachers.” She had no idea that all the setup and communication (other than me joining in to sign the papers and pay) was done by students.

I thanked her and told her that these students, Jazmine & Antoni, would continue to be her main contacts for the event, other than final payment. The first 5 minutes of the drive home, the car ride was silent, while these two students made notes on their phones.

The one big realization that I needed to remind them of was that unlike last year, they would be in grad gowns in the front seats, and other students would have to work back stage. They assured me that the 2 students that were being groomed last year were ready to take on the challenge, and they were not available today or they would have joined us. I guess I should have known that already, but if I didn’t trust them then I wouldn’t really be empowering them.

I’m not pretending that there won’t be a lot for myself, my teachers, and my PAC (Parent Advisory Council) to do, to ensure that the event goes smoothly. But, I also know that what will make this celebration extra special is that it will look and feel like it was student run, with a level of quality that surpasses what you’d expect from a student run event. Why? Because when students feel truly empowered, they shine.

500 Billion Dollars

Imagine if the richest 100 people in the world each put aside 1 billion dollars to change the world. Think that’s too much? I just looked up the top 20 billionaires and they could each give away 15+ billion. Realistically, there could be 500 billion or 1/2 of a trillion dollars given away from the top 100 billionaires without changing their lives significantly.

What could that money be spent on?

Clean water, clean(er) energy, and food for the poorest 1/4 of the world. This would be a good start. Health & family planning would also be essential.

How different could our world be?

When I read articles like this: ‘Eye-Popping’: Analysis Shows Top 1% Gained $21 Trillion in Wealth Since 1989 While Bottom Half Lost $900 Billion

I wonder how these billionaires can imagine that their continued gains can benefit anyone, including themselves? At what point do gains like this have diminishing returns? At what point does compassion replace greed? At what point does social conscience take precedence over financial profit?

I don’t pretend to have the answers as to how to do this in a way that is equitable and helps people thrive, but with that much money, people smarter than me could be hired. There needs to be a redistribution or redirection of wealth to make our world more equitable, and more livable for those that need it most.

11 years ago, George W. Bush bailed out banks for 700 billion dollars. Since then, those banks have made the rich richer. What if the richest people in the world were to bail out the poorest? How many lives would be meaningfully changed for the better? What impact would that have on the overall well-being of humanity? The world needs another bailout. The richest people in the world have the means to provide it.

Image the possibilities!

A different kind of thanks

It’s Thanksgiving holiday Monday in Canada. From Wikipedia:

Thanksgiving Day… began as a day of giving thanks and sacrifice for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year… Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well.

For many, it is a time to pause and be grateful, and to give thanks for the things you truly value and appreciate. And for many it is a time for glutinous eating, stuffing bountiful amounts of food into belt-widening bellies. And most importantly, for many it is a long weekend when people make the effort to congregate with family and friends for a meal and get-together.

For me this morning, I will first give obligatory thanks to my wonderful family and friends, and for the blessings I have to live in a democratic and free country. And thanks for good health, and wellbeing for myself and those I love. These are people and circumstances that I’m truly thankful for.

And now for something completely different:

I give thanks for living in an era of indoor plumbing.

I give thanks for thermal underwear, that keeps my skinny legs warm in the winter.

I give thanks for audiobooks that let me ‘read’ on the treadmill, while walking, and driving.

I give thanks for the invention of chocolate covered almonds.

I give thanks for my coffee maker.

I give thanks for spill-cheek, I mean spell check, without which I would look much dumber.

I give thanks for our hot tub, and for our electric salt and pepper grinders, that are absolute luxuries that no one ‘needs’ but make me happy.

I give thanks for toothbrushes, deodorant, soap, and shampoo. And I’m equally thankful for other people using them!

And finally I give thanks to the readers of my daily journal. Whether you comment, or share, or lurk, knowing that you are there helps me with my creativity and helps me to write better.

Thank you.

Voting is a civic duty

We live in a democratic society. We are given the privilege of being part of the system of rule in our country. We ought to be obligated to fulfill our civic duty.

What should the penalty be for not voting? I believe that people who do not vote should be taxed a min. of $150, or 0.5% of your taxable income, which ever is greater. Proceeds go to supporting the delivery of our next election.

There are many excuses not to vote:

“My vote doesn’t matter.”

“It won’t make a difference.”

“All politicians are corrupt.”

“The person I want to vote for is going to lose anyway.”

“Who cares, nothing changes anyway.”

“I can’t be bothered.”

None of these excuses are better than living in a country where you don’t have the opportunity or choice. None of them make you a better citizen, a more valued member of your community. They are excuses that come from apathetic people.

Do your civic duty and vote!

Here is a website created to help you compare policies and put your vote behind the party and people that most align with your own views:

VoteMate.org

This is my life

I was dreaming. In the dream there were a group of kids lost in play, and nearby a young boy was sleeping. His mom gently woke him up. The boy, as it turned out in the dream, had Aspergers. I don’t know why that was relevant? He lay there, newly awake, saying a few incoherent things, and then he said, “This is my life.”

Suddenly my entire dream was about this statement. In my dream, I actually planned out writing this down. A young boy wakes up and is disoriented, then he comes to a realization that ‘oh, I have woken up, and this is my life’. How seldom are we ‘awake’ enough to truly understand this profound statement?

Recently I listened to the audio book ‘In Love With The World – A Monk’s Journey Through the Bardot of Living and Dying‘ by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. In it he spoke of the idea that we die every night and are reborn each morning. We completely lose our consciousness, our identity of who we are, when we fall asleep. And we wake up anew. With waking comes the realization of who we are, and our consciousness returns to us, ‘this is my life’.

Do we take the time to truly appreciate the wonder of waking each day? Of being reborn to who we are and who we can be? Each day is a new day, each breath a first breath, each moment a moment to be fully present… Like kids, fully immersed in play.

This is my life. This is your life. How will we choose to live it ‘now’?

Wake up.

Every Day is a PD Day

Every day is a great day for Personal/Professional Development.

Last night I was online in time to catch #Saskedchat, an education-based chat on Twitter, moderated by Kelley Christopherson.

I was having some fun on the chat and then I told Kelly that I needed to sign-off to write today’s post.

Kelly shares that, ‘Every Day is a PD Day‘. But it isn’t the day itself that is important, it’s the connections we make on that day. It’s the people we interact with. It’s the questions we ask ourselves.

After I signed off the chat inspired with the title of this post, I went looking for the earliest interaction between Kelly and I on my blog. I found a comment he wrote Friday the 25th of May, 2007, on a post called ‘Square Peg, Round Hole‘. I think we met before that when I started blogging on a site called Elgg in 2006, or on a social media site connected to that blog. So here’s the interesting thing… in 12 to 13 years of being connected, we’ve never met face-to-face. I’ve known him as a teacher, as an administrator, as a husband and parent, as a blogger, and as a Twitter connection. I’ve visited a virtual art gallery with him in Second Life and chatted about…life. I’ve read many blog posts that have been inspiration for thinking, learning and reflecting on his and my own practice. We’ve lost touch, we’ve reconnected… more than once.

Today, I learned with him and from him again… and now it’s your turn. The rest of this post is from Kelly’s Day 28 post on ‘Every Day is a PD Day‘. (Thanks Kelly!)

“Each person is a unique individual who has something to add to our experience. Ask questions, listen intently, engage in conversation. In a world that is filled with the possibility for personalization, building connections and sharing with others requires us to shift from “Do unto others” to “Get to know and treat them as unique persons”. We need to respect their dignity by accepting that there may be differences in how we might see things which requires a more personalized approach to connecting. As our connections grow and develop, people who treat those around them as unique, worthy of knowing, provide the opportunity for a personal connection built on sharing and learning. Applying one-size fits all formats to connections leaves us missing the opportunity to learn and grow.
How willing are you to personalize your approach to the connections you make? How much time do you take to ‘listen’ to what people are sharing with you in order to get to know them? When you meet with parents or other community members, how often do you provide them with the opportunity to tell you about themselves? When you are connecting with others, how focused are you on their experience?”

The Challenge of Incremental Change

Incremental changes are easy if you are a bee or an ant. Social insects contribute minimally to a greater goal and so collecting a droplet of nectar or moving a single grain of sand can quickly lead to incredible results. Incremental changes are hard if you are human.

Incremental changes rarely happen because incremental changes are seldom what’s really needed. You don’t get fit by adding one workout to your week. You don’t break a bad habit by adding one day of discipline before repeating the habit. There is usually a greater change needed to actually get the incremental changes you want. You aren’t going to make any significant difference collecting a droplet of honey or moving a single grain of sand.

What can you do on another logical level to achieve the incremental change you want as a positive by-product of doing something else? Example: You want to be less distracted but email eats up too much of your time. You can’t ignore email, it needs to be addressed, but maybe don’t open email until you do one thing on your ‘to do’ list that you want to do! Now you have a daily routine of focus, rather than trying and failing to be less distracted many times over the course of the day.

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Related: Leading Change – This is the post that I got the featured image from (above). It goes along with 2 other images. Together they focus on Embracing Change, Resisting Change, and Inspiring Change.