I was tickled to read
The Tempered Radical writing about objectives that were required by his principal. I felt like his frustrations with the mandated objectives were something similiar to what any of us suffers are we drudge through out lesson plans. Take a look...
1 comment:
Hey Ruff (an appropriate pseudonym for Learning is a Contact Sport),
Glad that you liked my frustrations with SWBAT objectives. That bit was fun to write because I was venting a bit.
(could you tell?)
I think my frustration with the whole experience came from the fact that my school leader didn't understand the importance of teacher buy-in for driving change. To him, posting objectives wasn't about getting teachers to wrestle with their curriculum---and to wrestle with how to make that curriculum approachable to students.
To him, it was simply a task to be completed. Checked off. Done.
That kind of approach to school change is all too common: Let's tell the teachers what to do. Make them do it. Then sit back and watch the kids succeed.
But it never works because of the power of the door knob! In the end, if I don't believe in a mandated practice, I'll follow the rules (don't want to get fired for insubordination, you know), but I'll follow the rules without passion or commitment to the process.
And successful change requires passion and commitment on the part of practitioners.
Why do you think that school leaders remain hooked on top down change in education? Is it because they don't believe in the ability of teachers to drive change? Don't have the time to wait for us to get things right?
Interesting questions, huh?
Bill Ferriter
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