Yoda on Pass-Fail

This past semester I had my first experience with pass-fail courses. In order to show my bias, I will say that I love the pass-fail system as a student. I feel as though I can really explore the world that the course is introducing me to. I feel free to take chances and make mistakes because I know that I will pass if I do my best. Which is an essential part of a safe learning environment, no? I just think that there is so much more room for learning in a pass-fail course than there is in the traditionally graded classroom! Even if you make the argument that students will only do the bare minimum, I know that there are many students already doing that in traditionally graded classes.

In my undergraduate I have come to realize that all of my courses are really just introductory courses to a larger world of that subject area. Our public schools offer introductory courses to these introductory courses. Meaning, to me, that if all learning ends in the classroom, not one student will discover the world that this subject matter belongs to until later in their life when they choose to take it in again in university (and it isn't eve guaranteed at that point). Which is unfortunate. I see pass-fail courses as a chance to manipulate activities, assignments, and projects to suit your own needs in order to differentiate the learning of every individual even more than usual- relating the content to the student as an individual on an even deeper level. If a student is able to connect to the subject matter I believe that they will continue their learning outside of class and they will come to know the subject matter in a truer form than most students who receive 90% will by filling out their worksheets, memorizing facts, and doing a couple presentations based on a few Wikipedia articles.

Grades are supposed to be an accurate reflection of the student- the work that they do and the outcomes that they meet in a class. However, a 90% in Language Arts does not describe that this student has an incredible ability to write in the third-person. It simply says that the student received 90% of the marks available. An 83% in Math does not say that a student is able to derive unique equations in order to solve problems. It simply says that the student received 83% of the marks. There is no substitution for words when it comes to describing a student's abilities (in my mind), which is why I don't understand why we find the need to assign people various percentage grades to describe their abilities. 

I believe that every classroom is a micro-chasm of society and that if we can create a perfect classroom that we can make a perfect world. However, with numerical grades we promote this idea (whether we would like to or not) that one person is better than another because they have a higher average. Yes, it feels good to know that you did better than someone else. However, if it's always going to be a competition we will then always have the competitive nature of the outside world too- as opposed to possible idea of a collaborative world in which we utilize the skills of each individual in order to benefit the whole global community.

I do not mind a percentage made up of numerous pass-fail assessments, but large scale percentage assessments seem wishy-washy to me at times. In many ways I believe that there are two options in meeting an objective and/or receiving a grade- meeting or not meeting (approaching). If one is not meeting the objective they are still approaching but, ultimately, they have not yet met the outcome. For example, when Luke Skywalker attempted to move the X-Wing from the swamp he was unable to do so. He almost did, but Yoda did not give him a 68% and send him on his way to Jedi graduation. Instead he had Luke stay and continue his training on Degoba. Yoda knew that we was not yet a Jedi because of his disbelief in himself. 

Before Luke had tried moving the X-Wing, Yoda says, "Do or do not, there is no try." This is the attitude that we should have towards our students. With people to support, encourage, teach, and to believe in them they can become the Jedi Master that they were destined to become. We need to push our students to meet their goal and not just 75% of their goal- simply because they can do it and they can do it better!

Reflection for the week: We must encourage our students to learn beyond grades and into the world of developing skills, character traits, and exploration so they can save their X-Wings and destroy their own opposing Death Stars. Do or do not, there is no try- pass or fail, there is no 55%.

Growing Up is Hard to Do

As of late I have really been thinking about what it means to be 21. Being 21 means that I am an adult; an individual who should be contributing to the advancement of society and the general global good. It also means that I have lived through approximately a quarter of my life, which is really scary for me to think about. I also realize that many professional athletes have already been playing in their respective professional leagues for 3 years and are no longer considered rookies. This leads me to ask myself, "What have I done so far?" 

Now, I can look back and think of a number of different things that I have done but I also realize that there is still a lot more that I can do. Right now I am attending a university to become a teacher. More and more I am coming to realize that the job that a teacher does directly affects the productivity, enjoyment of life, society as a whole, and many other things of the next generation. The only people that have a larger impact on the lives of the people of the next generation (in my opinion) are their family members. The great responsibility that you accept when you step into a classroom as the educator of the next generation is probably much larger than any of us can really anticipate. Yet, that is exactly what I will be doing in approximately 18 months. How can we even think that 5 years of schooling would be close to enough time to learn how to perform this task properly?

Once again, I look at my age and all of the experiences that I have had. Maybe I haven't had 100+ points in a single NHL season but I have picked up a few skills here and there. I then look ahead to the future when I am 42 and I try to imagine all that I have learned by looking back on my next 21 years- how much more would I know? How many more challenging and exhausting growth experiences will I have? I'm assuming more than I can think of. So why not learn from people who have lived through those additional 21 years already? 

Technology- as great as it is to find resources and organize information I'm really thinking that I haven't fully taken advantage of its ability to form networks with experienced individuals whom I trust and who are in the field. To tap into that base of experience and knowledge would be extremely beneficial for my development as a teacher and as an individual who is simply trying to figure out what it means to be 21.

Lesson of the week: take advantage of the experiences that other people have and listen to what they have learned. At 21 you can have a lot of constructive and knowledgeable experiences but at 42 you will have had many more. 

Agricultural Learning

This past week I watched multiple Ted talks about education, most of which were given by Sir Ken Robinson. Sir Robinson is a firm believer that critical thinking is key to preparing students for the future that we do not know. The aspect of critical thinking that Robinson talks most about is that of divergent thinking and its factor, creativity- defined by Robinson to be the process of having original ideas that have value. Robinson sees creativity as a natural ability that we all possess. The problem is that our education system tends to squander creativity while promoting monotony and convergent thinking. Like most other speakers on education, Ken Robinson says that we need to change the system; that we need a revolution in education.

I would strongly agree with Sir Robinson and all of these other speakers that I have heard say this exact same phrase. The question that I ask myself is, "how?" What can we change in order to have this revolution of learning mean something? I guess that really is the million dollar question, isn't it?

One of the things that hit me the hardest in the three Ted talks that I watched Sir Robinson give was found in his talk "Bring on the Learning Revolution!" which I have embedded below for your viewing pleasure.

In this talk he compares to the current American education system to a that of a fast food restaurant's system of distributing burgers- all of the products standardized in every way. He then says that we need to structure ourselves after an agricultural model- to provide the proper context for healthy development and knowing that no two ears of corn will be the same. Although this statement was not referring to the Canadian education system I still saw the comparison in what we do with education to be similar to that of a fast food restaurant. We have our standardized goals, outcomes, and courses that we want all of our high school graduates to have. Hoping that they will all be ready to attend whatever university they wish to go to. Some teachers will even inflate grades to make it seem like their product is better than the product down the street.

Earlier on in my blog I  had posted about the amazing accountability that the curriculum gives us with the outcomes that it provides. But Robinson's statement about fast food structured education has me second guessing. Are specific outcomes really the appropriate way to look at education? Or are we to develop outcomes for the individual classes that we have from year to year?

Just recently a friend had described her grade 9 math class as being extremely below level and making the statement that they did not understand the difference between multiplication and addition without a calculator. Now, this scares me a great deal. Another friend of mine said that it is more about the progress than the "being at level" when faced with a class like this. To me the happy compromise would be for teachers to set the curricular goals for each individual class that they have in this case. Meaning that the teacher can create what they believe to be a reasonable outcome for these students and then pass what these students do know on to the next teacher. Something very similar to this process is being done in Finland which is ranked in the top 3 of the world's finest educational systems. I also believe that this would resemble that agricultural approach. As the farmer will look at the stock market, the forecast for the season ahead, as well as the equipment that he or she has in order to help the crop grow.

The problem that I see with this agricultural approach is that it is a lot of work. This work requires skills that I do not think that I will have as a first year teacher. This then leads me to wondering about the curriculum. As a teacher is it truly my job to teach the curriculum? This is what I have been told over and over again so it seems to me like it is. However, Sir Robinson's talks have me wondering if a teacher's job something even bigger than that. Is it my job to be constantly adapting, adding, and possibly removing content from the curriculum for every class that I have so that they will be creative, productive, and contributing members of a global society? Hmm... All from learning about ratios in a math class? Or the length of a quarter note in a music class?

To me it seems like it is a combination of all the classes that they take to be their true education. Maybe it isn't about the outcomes of a single class but instead, through the relation of the outcomes of all of the different courses that they take are they really learning how to learn and what relates to the "real world". Maybe the learning occurs in a reflection on the mixture of all of their experiences and social interactions and not on Black Line Master sheet 8.3.3.

Reflection of the week: At the end of all of my reflections I have just slightly changed the question that I had at the beginning (which was "What can we change in order to have this revolution of learning mean something?) to being, "How do we maximize a student's exposure to learning experiences, social interactions, and reflective thinking?" That is if my reflections are anywhere near or even the least bit closer to the hallowed field of learning.

Open Source Software

Last year I completed all of the physics requirements in my degree. This meant that at times I was much more a physics student than a music student or an education student. I wouldn't say that I was out of my element but I certainly was not in it at the start of the year. Throughout the year I learned many amazing things- some of which were easily translatable to the other subject areas that I was studying or even to my daily life. One thing that has recently come in handy is the use of Open Source Software. Some of you may already know about this stuff and use it on a regular basis but I really hadn't started exploring the Open Source world until last year in my lab course. 

The general idea of Open Source Software is to provide people with an accessible version of software that can help one become more productive in their learning, business, research, or whatever else. Once someone has used the Open Source Software of their choice the idea is that this same person will then iron out some of the kinks that they may have experienced in the software and then put that up for others to access. Then, throughout the years, this software will become better and better and continue to keep up with the times. The problem that one can sometimes run into is that these programs may not be very user friendly or they may be very new with many kinks to be ironed out. 

For the many years that I have been in music school I have been putting off buying certain software such as Sibelius and Band-In-A-Box because they cost a little bit more than I was willing to pay for them. Last week I was finding myself in need of their services but my Sibelius trial had just expired. After a moment of wondering what I would do, I decided that I would try to find an Open Source alternative. After about 5 seconds of searching through the Google results I found an alternative called MuseScore. After a 30 second download I have been able to enjoy all that I required of a notation program. I honestly feel as though I have to watch what I say because it feels like I just stole software, but I didn't! I was just able to experience the miracle that is Open Source Software. 

The thing is, in taking part in this software one cannot simply expect to be a consumer forever. Eventually it will be time for you to contribute to the Open Source community- to pay forward what other people helped you obtain by developing next generation's software or by simply updating and editing the old software. Not that anyone will force you to do so but it just is not cool to take advantage of other people's ideas and work without contributing any of your own. Not meaning that you must know how to enhance the programming of an application before using anything but just that you will one day pay forward these resources that these developers have given to you.

In the end, my reflection for the week is simply about being diverse. It is a good thing to be diverse: to try things that are outside of what you would usually do and to really learn  as much as you can from every experience that have. I have always been a believer of this and I think that as teachers we should encourage students to be versatile and holistic in their learning. Some of our students will be the next top notch physicists, professional athletes, architects, and musicians but I truly believe that in order for these students to be the best that they can be they must be able to relate to the concepts that they play with from many different perspectives. I believe that the best learners are indeed versatile learners. If I had not paid attention in my physics courses I would not know about the world of Open Source Software. If Shaquille O'Neal had not been a team leader during his NBA basketball career he would have had a much more difficult time relating to his doctoral research (about how CEO's and principals use humour in the workplace). I simply believe that there is value in having a broad range of interests and we should encourage our students to pursue these interests, but make sure that they are constantly reflecting on how these varied experiences relate to one another.

Lesson for the week: There is value in diversity. Take every opportunity that you can to broaden your worldview as these opportunities will help you learn concepts, both old and new, in ways that you could have never understood before.