If it works with third graders, it’ll fly with adults (From Machines Are the Easy Part)

From Machines Are the Easy Part; People Are the Hard Part. 
Illustrations by Brady Johnson

 51. Law of Assessment: You'll only get what you want if you can describe what you want.

Speaker and consultant Debbie Silver has a perfect term for the kids who have the ability to read their teacher’s minds. She calls them little “bow-heads.” 

You know them. The little girls and boys who seem to instinctively know just what the teacher wants on any given assignment. The ones who always get their papers displayed on the bulletin board. The ones who get into the college of their choice.

Debbie and others are out to help level the playing field for those of us who lacked such intuition by advocating the use of good assessment tools that serve as a guide to the completion and quality of school work. These checklists and rubrics are given at the beginning of an assignment and used to check progress during it.

Speaking from experience, parents of less than academically over-achieving children appreciate such tools as well.

Don’t be surprised if you don’t get quality work if you can’t describe it.

 52. If you want creativity you have to ask for it.

My son once came home with the assignment:

“Write a paper about bats.”

I nearly suggested he copy the entry from an encyclopedia and tell his teacher that someone else had already done this job. Instead we worked on whether we should and how we could attract bats to our own backyard.

I have very little sympathy for teachers who complain about plagiarism but who continue to give assignments that don’t ask for any kind of originality.

Oh, for the record, it’s always been the teacher who drew the short straw who got my son as a student – through no fault of his own.

53. If it works with third graders, it’ll fly with adults.

I did not make it through Algebra II in high school and I remain math-phobic. But I aced my graduate statistics class. All thanks to the instructor.

My guess is that Bill understood that folks who take a statistics class on Saturday mornings in the spring are there to meet a program requirement, not to become statisticians. As a former junior high math teacher, Bill used the same techniques with us that he did with 12-year-olds:

• Lots of review
• Lots of relevant examples
• Lots of applied practice
• Lots of humor
• Lots more review
• Clear expectations of what would be on the test.

I can’t tell a T-score from a standard deviation from the norm today, but I can tell you that good teaching is good teaching whether it is with adults or kids.

6 tips for being a better volunteer

Guardian of the holy rolls

Since my retirement two years ago, I've upped my volunteering activities. I have led a seniors’ group hikes for a local YMCA, assisted in the teaching of adult basic education classes, and helped pack food packages. 

My primary volunteering, however, has been with the non-profit organization Help At Your Door <https://helpatyourdoor.org/>. The mission of HAYD is: “Helping seniors and individuals with disabilities to maintain their independence and continue living in their homes.” I provide two services for HAYD - giving rides to clients to medical and dental appointments, hair salon visits, and shopping, and shopping for groceries and delivering them. I average about 30 hours working and drive around 400 miles a month.

Before retirement, I had volunteered primarily for my professional organizations, so doing this kind of hands-on work is new to me. And I am recognizing some things that make me a valuable volunteer.

1. Treat volunteering like a “real” job. It may be because I was an employee for over 50 years, but when volunteering I am reliable, I am on time, and I do my best while on the job. It’s easy to think “I really don’t have to do a very good job as a volunteer - what are they going to do - fire me?” Recognize that the people who depend on your labors depend also on the quality of your labors. Late ride pickups, mashed potato chips in grocery deliveries, or simply not showing up when others are counting on you, are not acceptable.

2. Know that your interactions with others is as important as the work itself. With the isolation caused by the pandemic, the seniors for whom I give rides or to whom I deliver groceries may be the only other person I talk to all day. But often I find that I, as the driver/delivery person, may be the only person the senior has talked to all week - or for weeks. Showing interest, responding empathetically to vocalized problems, and even laughing at bad jokes, just might make someone’s day. If some riders seem crabby, I try to remember that many may be in physical or emotional pain. 

3. Do a little extra. My final words whenever dropping a client off at home or finishing carrying up sacks of groceries are always, “Is there anything else I can help you with?” So now and then, not often, but now and then, I wind up carrying out trash, moving a heavy plant from one room to another, or placing cartons of cat food up in a cupboard. At one home after being asked what else I could do, a little lady shyly pointed at three pill bottles on the kitchen counter and asked if I could help her get the lids off them. For the rest of the day, I thought how little those few seconds cost me, but how great an impact they may have had for that lady.

4. Maintain boundaries. While it is easy to form a sort of relationship with clients you serve often, it is also important that professionalism must be maintained. I insist that any rides go through the HAYD office. I rarely give out my personal phone number. I refuse gifts (no matter how hungry I may be for that Twinkie). If people want to talk about families or health, I listen and share a little about my own family. But I don’t bring up either subject (or politics or religion). Usually it’s pretty safe to talk about the weather.

5. Be flexible. As medical offices began to shut down and take only emergency appointments last spring, I found that my volunteer driving was unneeded. So I asked HAYD about other work I might be doing and they suggested grocery shopping - they needed people since many seniors were reluctant to go to the supermarket in person during the pandemic. Turns out, it’s been fun and I’ve kept doing it even after driving jobs have picked up again. And if you need to know where the herring fillets in wine sauce are located at the local Cub Foods, I’m your guy.

6. Remember that volunteering is good for the volunteer as well as the client. My initial retirement “plans” were primarily about international travel. After all those years of being able to only stay in an exotic place for a week or two, I would finally live the life of a vagabond. And I did happily and extensively travel Year One.  But of course COVID closed many things, including international borders and even made in-country travel more risky that wise. So I had many empty days and weeks instead of flights and hostels. Volunteering gave me back some structure. Some entries on my calendar. Some reasons to set my alarm, to shave, to get dressed, to keep the car clean. And as noted above, the opportunity to interact with other human beings and feel good about contributing to the general welfare. I could make the argument that volunteering does more for volunteers than those they help. And we as volunteers should never forget that.

My own 88-year-old mother lives about four hours away so I don’t get down to see her as often as I should - and I feel a little guilty about that. But while I can’t help her on a regular basis, I can help other seniors, so many who do not have families or friends or other human resources on whom to rely. Volunteering salves my conscience so I try to be good at it. I try to be the volunteer I would want helping my own mother.

Whine prevention (From Machines Are the Easy Part)

From Machines Are the Easy Part; People Are the Hard Part. 
Illustrations by Brady Johnson

 47. Whine prevention.

An old principals’ riddle:

What is the difference between a puppy and a teacher? The puppy stops whining when you let it in your door.

(Don’t tell the joke above in the teachers’ lounge.) 

The best advice ever given about whining is in Richard Moran’s book Never Confuse a Memo with Reality (HarperBusiness, 1993). He writes: “Never take a problem to your boss without some solutions. You are getting paid to think, not to whine.”

The administrator’s job is to create problem-solvers, not problem articulators. 

“And what do you think should be done about that?” is a good phrase to practice using.

48. If you can’t solve a person’s problem, at least let them know you’re aware of the problem.

There are problems that do have solutions, but that can’t be solved immediately. My techs are often stymied by strange technology behaviors. But a quick e-mail that says, “I am aware of the problem and am working on. I’ll get back to you tomorrow.” Helps.

Internationally-known speaker and author, Ian Jukes, responds to all e-mails he receives within 48 hours. He’s a pretty big fish and probably doesn’t have to do that. But it is very cool that he does.

The majority of the problems in our “technology” department stem not from the technology, but poor communications.

But we’re working on it and will get back to you when we’ve come up with a solution.

Teaching rules

 49. A project not worth doing is not worth doing well.

Kids have the capacity for sophisticated thinking about ethical issues. One emerging line of reasoning that all teachers should consider is: “Cheating is OK when the assignment has no purpose beyond busy work.”

If a student has the choice between spending time:

• Practicing lay-ups
• Putting in a few extra hours at work
• Reading about personal interests
• Doing your stupid assignment

who can blame him if he finds ways to minimize the work involved in what he views as lacking value?

Same attitude I take toward state reports.

50. Rule of Restructuring Education with Technology: the real changes are in teaching practices not technology.

• Using a word processor to create prettier worksheets is not integrating technology into the classroom.
• Teaching kids how to design a multimedia presentation devoid of content is not productive.
• Providing Internet access to students without instructions in and a purpose for its use is a waste of resources.
• Putting kids in front of a reading or math workbook that has been moved at great expense to a computer screen is dehumanizing.

Only slowly has the profession come to realize that technology “integration” really means moving to project-centered, authentic, collaborative, and creative focus in the classroom.

Technology can help catalyze the replacement of the 3 Rs of Rote, Restraint and Regurgitation with the 5 Cs of Child-centered, Creativity, Computers, Collaboration, and Communication. (And maybe 6 if you add Compassion.)