Synergy (S): interaction of forces creating a combined
effect greater that the sum of it's parts.
effect greater that the sum of it's parts.
When you see an (S), interact with forces of educational change.
The era of teacher tyranny should be over. Now with the advent of digital tools to exponentially enhance student learning,--(S) http://cybraryman.com/-- and a virtual digital hurricane of ideas, strategies, and resources to help every teacher renew, reinvigorate and repurpose their teaching,--(S)--http://www.drhowie.com/-- there is absolutely no excuse for ineffective teaching. Anywhere. Ever. (S)--aampupteaching.com.
However, educational institutions, unlike businesses, lack infrastructures to promote performance excellence, teachers excited about the opportunity to continually learn and to seek out different ways to engage student learning. Even worse, those many excellent teachers who delight in honing their craft, quietly isolate themselves, fearful of the collective contempt they feel due to their success. Rock stars in the music industry brave adoring, frenzied fans. Rock stars in the education industry brave suspicion and deliberate inertia.
This is the moral plight facing many educational institutions. Professional Learning Communities dare to challenge this crisis, inviting teachers to work together, become evidence informed, participate in the magic of shared inquiry where each member can continually learn. But the absence of leadership fails to energize this potential. Blind vision of the 21st Century Skills needed to advance civilization, continues to cripple well meaning people, creating, in many upper grade classrooms, a "culture of fear", where right answers dominate mind sets, not critical thinking, collaboration, communication or creativity.
No business would launch a product without intensive employee training. Except the education business. Legions of teachers stand before the brink of the genius of Common Core State Standards, the pathway to what and how to teach for the new millennia, and are told, "Just Do It". (S)--Learnzillion.com, K-12 common core math, language arts lessons; Sokikom.com, common core math game--We put novices inside race cars and expect them to win. When they crash and burn, leaders have the audacity to ask why.
All the education stakeholders--parents, administrators, teachers, unions, philanthropies--continue to ignore this moral crisis and all share in not providing the responsible leadership to combine forces to reframe a workforce currently underprepared to meet the academic challenges of the 21st Century. (S) http://www.p21.org/, Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Although some teachers suffer from what Ralph Waldo Emerson called a "diffusion of ignorance", for the most part, teachers are eagerly willing to relearn. They need the resources and most importantly, like any learner, the time to integrate their new knowledge.
In the preface of Michael Fullan's seminal work, The Moral Imperative of School Leadership, Michael Young praises this book, saying
Being an effective leader in today's schools requires far more than dedication and skill. Effective leadership must be driven from a deep moral purpose, such as a belief that all children can and deserve to achieve at high levels and that educators can and are responsible for ensuring children's success. Drawing from research on effective leaders in education and business, Fullan provides specific and sustained attention to school leadership that is driven by moral imperative and fortified by shared leadership. More important, the main point of the book, that not only individual but system changes are needed in order for the principals to become powerful forces for school and even school system reform.
In his book, Michael Fullan states:
With learning comes the enhancement of capabilities, not their decline. For each of us, the greatest level of self-actualization comes from building our capabilities steadily over time, but that requires submitting ourselves to a constant level of manageable stress. It also stems from coming to welcome, not resist, scrutiny of our performance by others. Stress guards against our underresponsibility and scrutiny discourages our potential overresponsibility.
Launching Core State Standards will require true leadership, moral leaders who believe in the unlimited capacity of both teachers and students to learn. I urge educational leaders and stakeholders to read and become inspired by Michael Fullan's book, The Moral Imperative of School Leadership.
Claire Ratfield
aampupteaching.com
National Board Certified: Early Adolescence
National Board Certified: Middle Childhood
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