Tag Archives: learning

Making adjustments

This week I was talking to a grade 9 who wanted to do some research on how students perform on video games depending on the kind of music they listen to. We had students do this in our early years, with a driving simulator done in silence, with classical music and heavy rock. It can be a well done experiment, or it can have way too many variables and not truly measure anything or provide meaningful results. It’s hard to measure only the thing you want to measure.

I recently received my bow back, and today I shot for only the 3rd time in a while. Nothing feels normal and while my scores aren’t awful, they aren’t where they should be. The challenge is that I’m needing to think of too many things and my thoughts get in my way. I need to be patient, make one adjustment, and then shoot several arrows before making another adjustment. I’m splitting my focus. I’m adjusting too many variables and it’s not helping me. And as a result, I’m not feeling like I’m improving.

It will get better, I just need to shoot 1,000 more arrows… that’s been my archery mantra for a while. The challenge is not making too many adjustments at once along the way. If I keep doing that, it’s going to take a lot more arrows to see the improvements I want to see.

Getting technical

While others see me as tech savvy, I know that I’m not. What I am is patient, and willing to experiment. That’s different than savvy. Why do I say this? Because I struggle. I get lost, I make mistakes. I screw up. A lot!

Whenever I’m doing something technical, I have to go painfully slow, or I have to take one step forward and two steps back. This isn’t about me trying to be humble and under-representing my skills, it’s a reality that I’ve come to accept. This is most evident when I try something new. I’m the guy that misses a step, or tries something that I’m too novice to try.

I can remember when I first tried blogging. I’d play with the HTML and quite literally break my blog. Then I’d spend a couple hours on the back end, going way over my head to try to get something besides an error page to show up. But I figured it out. I muddled through.

Sometimes these trail and error escapades left me pulling my hair out, other times laughing at myself, and sometimes feeling like I wanted to cry (especially if my mistakes cost me money unnecessarily). But I try, and I try, and I try. And unlike the song, I find that my attempts create amazing opportunities to learn… and despite the frustration, my attempts at bring more technical than I am are very satisfying.

If at first you don’t succeed

As the saying goes:

“If at first you don’t succeed… try, try again!”

Working with students, what you sometimes see is:

“If at first you don’t succeed… quit before someone sees you fail.” Or, “If at first you don’t succeed… avoid trying altogether.”

What the saying should say:

“If at first you don’t succeed… try, something different.” (Try a different approach, don’t just try the same thing over again in the same way.)

When things aren’t working, students seem to have two main gears: keep moving forward, because curiosity points to getting unstuck. Or ‘Park’ because it’s not worth the effort or embarrassment.

Teaching students that effort matters more than results or that a failing result can still be a learning opportunity, is to teach them to be resilient and to persevere. This doesn’t mean everyone gets a participation badge, this isn’t just about another quote, “If you did your best, that’s all that really matters.”

No, this is about creating an environment where students aren’t afraid to bite off more than they can chew… to be so ambitious about their goals that a failure to achieve them still puts students much farther than if they had set the bar too low and succeeded.

This is about creating opportunities for students to do something epic, rather than just something every other kid is doing, with a sample you share of the expected result… a cookie cutter task where students produce the same round cookies, but get to decide where the pretty sprinkles go to make their cookie look a little different than everyone else’s.

If you want students to really succeed, well then they have to start a task with the real potential for failure. They have to struggle with uncertainty of success. They have to learn that not reaching a perfectly successful goal can be an opportunity to learn more and different things. Because without authentic struggle, learning is shallow and fleeting.

“If at first you do succeed… the task probably wasn’t hard enough to truly learn something new.”

Meditation plateau

I’ve hit a flat spot in my meditation. I’m letting my mind slip for long periods, and even nodding off. I can’t seem to stay focussed, and no matter how much I tell myself that refocusing on my breath after distraction is a part of meditation, I find myself frustrated at my lack of ability to focus… although this frustration does come after I’m done, rather than in the moment.

I think I need to find time in my week to extend my meditation past 10 minutes. I think that I’ve created a pattern of 10 minutes of relaxation, not meditation. I need to get past this plateau rather than just get comfortable on it.

I thought after 2 years of consistency I’d feel more accomplished at getting into a meditative state… but this monkey brain seems a bit slow to learn, or rather, a bit too busy to be quieted. Whatever I decide do, it needs to be different than what I’m doing now, if I want to see and feel an improvement.

First Day of School

I’m genuinely excited about the year ahead. I know things are far from ‘back to normal’. I know safety is still a primary concern, and we’ll be wearing masks for quite some time yet. I know there will be unexpected challenges that come our way…

But the first day of a school year always holds so much promise! There is so much potential for us to do awesome things, and to watch our students shine. It’s an opportunity to look forward knowing that as educators we make a difference in people’s lives.

“With great responsibility comes great power”… that’s the reverse of the Spiderman quote, “With great power comes great responsibility”, and a teacher, John Sarte at Inquiry Hub, uses this to explain to students that while we give them a lot of time to work independently (a lot of responsibility) that comes with a lot of power. This is something that teachers understand, because they are given the great responsibility to teach, and they have tremendous power over what that experience looks like.

And collectively we have so much power over what the year ahead looks like… Let’s keep our optimism up, and make this school year exciting, engaging, and full of meaningful learning for everyone (teachers and students alike).

Feed your focus

In my morning meditation’s lesson, as part of the Calm App‘s daily 10 minute meditation, this quote was shared:

“Starve of your distractions, feed your focus.” – Daniel Goleman.

This is a wonderful quote, but it is easier said than done. It’s challenging because our distractions often bring us joy or at the very least, entertainment. But this goes well with the idea that, ‘Your priorities are not your priority‘. What is your focus? If your focus is just getting work done, or completing a series of tasks, that’s not really something to focus on. It’s analogous to having many priorities, which in turn is not a priority.

What’s your focus? What do you want to accomplish? If you find that thing that drives you, that makes you want to wake up earlier in the day to achieve or that you will stay up late trying to finish. If you find that kind of focus, well then it’s easy to feed. It’s then easier to starve your distractions… or at least limit them.

Things that I do:

• A morning healthy living routine to feel a sense of accomplishment before I start my day.

• Time limits on apps that I enjoy, and that entertain me. (This way I can still get some joy out of distractions, but the time spent on them fit within a threshold that doesn’t suck my time away mindlessly.)

• Calendar time to do the thing I really want to get done, and not just the things I have to do.

All that said, I still go through times when I seem to lack focus, or forget what I truly want to focus on. I still have bouts of procrastination and distraction. There are times when I have to intentionally starve my distractions. But in combining teo ideas, if I choose a single priority that I want to accomplish, and I also feed my focus on that priority… I get stuff done, and it feels amazing.

Thoughts on homework

Have a listen to this parent, reflecting on homework after helping her son:


(Direct link to the TikTok)

A decade ago I wrote that “I question the value of most homework“, and that still stands true. This parent adds an element that I hadn’t thought of.

Over the years I’ve restated my thoughts a number of times, but I’ll try to be succinct here.

When is homework a valuable use of a child’s time?

1. It usually isn’t. I want to start and end with this point because we have students in school for most of their waking hours. We don’t have a clue what they go home to and how much time and support they have, if any, with parents after parents get home from work. What we do know is that there is a lot of inequity in support and students who are most disenfranchised often have the least amount of resources to get homework done. The school day is long enough, and school is where there is the most equity for supporting student needs.

2. When they are doing extensions on work they want to do, or is hard to do at school.

Examples:

• An assignment that provides choices and those choices include doing extra or extending learning beyond the classroom… but done by choice, not required.

• A passion project where a student might work with a parent using a tool at home that isn’t available at school, like a scroll saw or soldering iron for example.

3. When they are asked to teach something to their parent, or interview them.

Examples:

• Teach you parent 3 different ways to add together two 3-digit numbers

• Find out where your grandparents were born, or interview your parents about your heritage.

*Both of these examples require sensitivity to provide alternatives for some students where these assignments might be challenging for them.

4. When ample time has been given in class, and students didn’t use their time well.

Note: Sometimes kids need more scaffolding at school to help prevent this from happening, but as long as they are capable of doing the work, this is a logical consequence.

5. Occasionally when big projects or presentations are due, homework might be necessary.

Note: This should be something only required occasionally, not weekly. Sometimes work piles up a bit around big deadlines. It’s healthier to teach students that some deadlines like presentations matter and need to get done on time, while other things can include extensions and more time at school for support.

6. Go back and read #1 again. That’s it!

Iterate doesn’t just mean “do it again”

I’ve written a fair bit about Learning and Failure. One of the things that turns a failure into learning is not giving up and iterating. But I’m not sure that’s the correct term? To iterate is ‘to perform or utter repeatedly’, but that’s not really what I mean. The general point of iteration when you meet a roadblock, or fail in an attempt, is not to try to perform the same task or procedure in the same way, but rather to attempt a different version of the same thing.

It’s not just about applying the same process over and over again, but rather it’s about recognizing what caused the failure and attempting to circumvent it, trying to achieve results by trying something untried, unique, or divergent from the failed attempt. This is what can transform a failed attempt into a success. Core to this idea is not seeing a failure as a failure, but rather as an invitation to learn by trying again. It’s not a failure until you give up.

But sometimes you don’t get another attempt. The question is why not? Did you run out of time? Do you lack the resources, support, or effort? Is it a high pressure test that you can only do once?

Ran out of time? Ask: What would your next step be if you had time? What did you learn along the way? Who is an expert you can follow up with to help you understand what went wrong? You can learn by reflection as well as by repeated attempts.

Lack resources or support? Who can help? What do you really need versus what would be nice to have? Who is an expert you can follow up with to help you understand what went wrong?

Lack of effort? Whose fault is that? What help do you need? What are you willing to do to move forward? What’s stopping you?

Is it a high pressure test that you only get one attempt on? This is often a fallacy. This is often more arbitrary than you think. The reality is that most tests that really matter can be done again, just not in the timeline you hoped for. Tests like the LSAT are high stakes, but many people attempt it more than once. To me it’s interesting to see so many teachers not give students second chances on tests? Why? If a student is willing to put more effort in and actually learn the content, why not give them another try? Is the mark on the first attempt the important thing or is the understanding of the content more important?

That said, to iterate doesn’t just mean ‘do it again’. What makes the second (or third or fourth) attempt different? What new information, effort, or resources are available? What other ways can learning be demonstrated? What else can be done to show learning, to achieve learning, to discover learning that wasn’t done before?

Iterate, don’t repeat failure. Don’t do the same thing over again and expect the same result.

Your priorities are not your priority

I’m listening to ‘The One Thing‘ by Gary Keller and this concept hit me over the head.

For years, there was no plural for the word priority. This makes sense. If you have more than one priority the multiple things on your list are no longer your ONE priority.

I was talking to a colleague today, (we are holidaying at the same campground), on our morning walk we discussed how some days our jobs are such that the 3-5 things we started the day wanting to prioritize remain undone at the end of our day. Other people’s priorities (and problems) get in the way of our own daily accomplishments.

Keller states, “Purpose without priority is powerless.”

Priority, not priorities.

If I were to start my day planning and scheduling to accomplish my one priority, what would that look like? How successful would I be, compared to trying to divide my day between the many things on my ‘To Do’ list? Yes, those things still need to get done, but are all of them a, or my, priority? If I had a daily focus on my one priority for the day, would that change my sense of purpose on those days when things generally get in the way of what I intend to do?

Will the daily act of determining my one priority change my ability to plan and execute?

What’s my one priority for today?

You can’t change the people around you, but…

I heard this brilliant quote yesterday:

“You can’t change the people around you, but you can change the people around you.”

It reminds me of:

“You are the average of the 5 people you hang around the most.”

Finding the right people to be around is a secret to life seldom discussed. We are blessed when those people are our family, and we don’t have to seek them out elsewhere. Being surrounded by people who make you a better person is a sure way to be a better person.

Choose your friends wisely.