How long will it take… to do it well?
What resources do you need… to do it well?
Who can help you… to do it well?
What can you put off… so that you do it well?
Some jobs just need to get done, others should only be done if they are done well. The work is rewarded with a job well done. So give it the time, put in the resources, get the support you need, and put forward an honest, concerted effort… to do it well.
I love this quote from David Jakes:
“Design creates useful things. Much has been written by various educators about valuing process over product, but in the real world, people create things. It’s easy to value process over product when the product is a grade or points on a test. In your classroom, shift from a transactional approach to a design-based transformational one where the product has value and meaning to students and has the potential to impact intellectual growth, spark personal development, or contribute to improving the human condition.”
There is a lot of talk about process over product. However this comparison is built on a false dichotomy. It’s not about one over the other, rather it’s process with the purpose of producing a product.
For example, when looking at design thinking, we start with empathy for the end user. The final product is the goal, it’s the purpose we are designing for, but the process of design thinking is the journey we go on.
So, it’s not process over product, it’s process with purpose. The final product is important, be it a presentation, an app, a business or business plan, a play, or a piece of art. How you get there is important too. Understanding the purpose, having a real reason to produce a final product is the reason to go through the process.
What’s exciting is having students learn, value, and be motivated to go through the process to get to that final product. That’s a shift from a more traditional test, or a cookie-cutter assignment where everyone produces an identical final product. Instead the students are part of the process, and understand the purpose of getting to the final product… which they have constructed or co-constructed.
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Here is a specific example: There are a couple educators from the Northwest Territories coming to visit us at Inquiry Hub. They are heading this way to see Trevor Mackenzie on Vancouver Island, and he recommended they come visit our school. Unfortunately the only day they can come is a professional development day when there are no kids at our school. So, I asked 6 kids if they would be willing to come in and present to these teachers.
Once they agreed, I sent this in an email to the teachers coming to visit:
“As an FYI, I’ll be handing over the presentation fully to the students, they will design what it looks like. With the design thinking model in mind, the big question is “What does the end user want/need”… so, please give me a short write-up of what you are looking for.
They will give you the shape of our day, what the student experience is like, but beyond that what do you want to get out of the visit? Whatever you share is exactly what I’ll be sharing with them to prepare with.”
Our students will design the presentation, they will understand the purpose of their final product, and while the process is important, and while they have had a ton of practice producing great presentations, they know that delivering a good final presentation to an authentic audience is what will matter in the end.
It’s not one over the other, it’s process for the purpose of a good final product.
My personal best on a 10-round Vegas 3-spot target (highest score 300) at 18m (20 yards) is a 289. I’ve done that 3 times now. I got a 288 last Tuesday with all arrows in the gold (score of X, 10, or 9, with an X also being worth 10). Today I shot a 284, but had three 8’s and a 7. I also had three more X’s than Tuesday (which is the bullseye the size of a penny).
Tuesday:
Today:
Take away my last 4 arrows and even with the 8’s I was on par for an equally good round as Tuesday. The problem is the huge lack of consistency.
Both results give me feedback to reflect on. Tuesday tells me that I can keep the arrow in the gold. Today tells me I can hit the X or 10 two-thirds of the time. Both results show improvement, and that I have a lot to approve on. But most of all, they tell me that I need to focus on every shot, and not think about the results. On Tuesday I knew I was shooting well, but I had no idea I was close to my record. Today I let myself slip at the end, because I already had 3 in the red, even though when I was on, I was really on.
Archery is unforgiving. Small mistakes are exaggerated as the arrow moves further away. Distractions and stray thoughts leave me doing things I shouldn’t, like triggering the release with my thumb rather than using back tension. Thinking about my results while shooting actually hurts my results.
It’s all about the process. And when I have a day like today, where I have big movements that end up with me shooting three 8’s and a 7, I think to myself, ‘I just need to keep shooting. 1,000 more arrows, then 1,000 more after that…’
Tomorrow marks the first day back from March break in our school district. Teachers will not be returning Monday/Tuesday, and can schedule a time to come in to collect resources etc. after that. The continuation of learning plan will evolve over the week in response to schools being closed to students due to COVID-19.
I know that students and families want to know what things will look like after that, but no one is rushing to give answers, and for good reason… This is all very new to us and our approach moving forward deserves thoughtful planning.
We need to consider:
This last point is interesting. At one my schools, Inquiry Hub, we could almost run everything the same. Every class already has shared digital spaces. We could have students meet on Microsoft Teams during class time and students are only in class 40-60% of their day, so they could still have large parts of the day to do school work, and inquiry projects, and have free time. But how fair is it for us to expect this of them at home, when no other school is expecting this? How fair is it when we don’t know how equitable home situations and supports are?
We need to go slowly. We need to ask a lot of questions. We need to think about expectations at the provincial, district, school, and home levels.
A quick response will not be as good as a slow, thoughtful response. The pandemic has everyone thinking in ’emergency response mode’. What we need now is long term thinking and planning. We can’t treat a continuation of schooling like we are in a constant crisis with immediate response time required. We have to remember that the school year ends at the end of June, and quick responses now, without thinking and processing time, will not help us get to the end of June in a thoughtful and supportive way. We need to slow things down, think things through, and put the long term well-being of our students first.
