BFTP: The professional stick

A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past Original post, October 24th. I dearly love my job, but these past couple of weeks I've felt like I'm being pecked to death by chickens - everybody needs some small thing or has some small complaint. A couple times I've wished I'd had my professional stick...

Wanted: One professional stick that would have the following effects on the person struck:

• Whack! would be able to work with others despite personal dislikes.
  
• Whack! would be unable to whine, only offer practical suggestions for improvement.
• Whack! would not race the kids out the door at the end of the day and actually attend training outside the contract day.
• Whack! would never again mention how many days (hours, minutes, seconds) he/she has until retirement.
• Whack! would actually try something before complaining about it.
• Whack! would actually try to fix a problem before complaining about it.
• Whack! would read a professional book or journal once in a while.
• Whack! would frame all arguments in terms of what is best for kids.
• Whack! would join a professional organization and not complain about paying for dues.
• Whack! would volunteer to do some work for said professional organization.
• Whack! would act happy to be alive.
• Whack! would treat kids and fellow workers with the same respect she/he would like to be treated.
• Whack! would not comment on the lack of professionalism of others. (Ouch!)

 

Why yes, it has been that kind of week. Thanks for asking. And I know I need a good whack myself now and then.

Add your own powers to the "professional stick." I'm taking orders - want one? 

______________________________________________

I loved the comments from this original post:

Sounds a little like you are adopting 2500 year old thinking here, Doug.

"#27 Every walking animal is driven to its purpose with a whack" - Heraclitus In Expect the Unexpected Or You Won't Find It - A creativity tool based on the ancient wisdom of Heraclitus by Roger Von Oech

I've just been reading Robert Genn's latest newsletter on the 5 principles behind Starbucks empowerment of people. I've been thinking that we'd be in a good place when teachers and students saw learning in a similar way:

1. Make it your own
2. Everything matters
3. Surprise and delight
4. Embrace resistance
5. Leave your mark - Artichoke

This is the exact reason I walk around with the Thinking Stick. :)

• whack! Get over it.
• whack! Work is hard...that's why they call it work.
• whack! Some days you might have to work late.
• whack! Summers are for recharging and relearning.
• whack! If the district gives you a PD day use it to learn, not complain.
• whack! Assume good intentions.

Interesting! Must be the moon it's been one of those weeks on this side of the world as well. - Jeff (Thinking Stick) Utecht

Divergent thinking, constructivism and dentistry

Stolen from M. Guhlin's Around the Corner blog

From Will Richardson: Here are the new rules:

• Create your own education.
• Find problems and solve them. 
• Be unique. 
• Make beautiful, useful stuff. 
• Build a network of really smart people who you will never meet. 
• Be indispensable. 
• Do real work that changes the world. 
• Have a brand. 
• Share widely and safely. 
• Collaborate.
• Add value. 
• Be a voracious learner. 
• Tread softly but boldly. 
• Edit the world.

I don't think most of us want our dentists to be "out of the box" thinkers. I don't believe that when teaching a pilot to fly 747s we encourage a "don't memorize facts, look it up" training. Do we really want the accountants preparing our taxes to take a constructivist route to learning new tax laws? Do we really want an engineer learning how to learn when she designs the bridge we travel over for work each day?

I shudder to think of a world in which hospitals were run like schools: every doctor allowed to do her own "thing" with no accountability or practices based on the best research and information available. Every hospital does not need to be a rearch establishment, gathering data via "action research" related to any spurious brain-fart a teacher might have which could even remotely impact learning.

Children are not rats on which educational experiments should be endlessly run. Until we have a body of evidence, hopefully gather by lab schools or non-commercial researchers, we ought to be following best practices as outlined by our professional organizations.

Educational technology experts may be doing both students and themselves a significant disservice by advocating a single, unproven approach to educational practices.

Mr. Warlick and Mr. Richardson, I am a huge fan and appreciate the challenge. But don't discount the value and honor in learning a craft or a research-based profession and doing it very, very well. I want our schools so serve those who wish to be future plumbers, mechanics, and nurses as well as future politicians, bureaucrats and school administrators. Those folks who need a actual body of knowledge and skills that they can apply reliably and effectively.

Thus endth the rant.

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Learn how SIGMS can support your professional growth through a variety of virtual and F2f PD offerings, and volunteer opportunities. Hear how to be a contributor to our newsletter, The Scanner. Join us as leaders in our field share how they leverage their involvement with SIGMS to play, learn and network. Sept 21, 8PM ET

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