Feb
2
Written by:
Dan Maas
2/2/2008
The first keynote at this week's CASE Winter Leadership conference, was Dr. John Ratey who presented the research that supports how aerobic exercise enahances brain function and positively impacts learning. Research presented in his book, Spark, shows how aerobic exercise improves mood, energizes the brain and actually causes brain cells to network which is the physiologic definition of learning. During his presentation, he refered to the brain as not unlike a muscle in that it grows after having been under stress. When you struggle to lift weights, your muscles respond over time by growing. Results are not instantaneous so a trainer must be patient. My observation is that great trainers don't punish their charges for not being able to run a certain distance at a pace, but rather patiently support the athlete through the struggle. It is the struggle over the long term that produces the result.
The last keynote was Dr. Ron Ferguson who described the still too large achievement gaps that persist today. He pointed out that the gaps among ethnicities were cut by more than half from 1972 to 1988 on the NAEP tests, but the gains have since flatlined. We need to learn to do more. His research has resulted in what he calls the Tripod Project where the emphasis is on content, pedagogy and relationships (hmmm, ring a bell? The LPS School Improvement Plan is developed in three stages: achievement, gaps and culture). Part of his discourse included measuring student to teacher relationships. He concluded that when teachers have high expectations but low empathy and support, students consider them strict... which is a nice term for mean.
Between these two speakers, I was drawn to the value of struggle and how much we tend to punish struggle in classrooms today. I wonder if the high-stakes environment puts us into a punitive mind-set, setting objectives and driving children to meet those goals... or else. But for great development, whether as an athlete or as a student, it is the struggle that counts. Think of it. Did you learn better when concept and skills just came to you or when you really had to work at it? Which was more rewarding? The time you mastered something easily or the time you really needed to struggle to get it right? I'm betting the answer is B in both cases for you.
So why so many grades? Surely we can find better ways to establish classroom order and discipline than to use the measure of academic growth. Like the coach that uses running as a punishment, I worry that if we educators punish struggling students with bad grades, that we are adding to the burden of the struggle: that the student must perservere through both the adversity of the learning and the added adversity of the grading practices along the way.
My old Cross County coach, Joe Vigil (US Olympic Coach 2008) used to always have the biggest smile for me when I would come off the work-out in pain. Whether I hit my targets or not, he would always encourage and support me. My grade for his program was based on two elements. How faithfully did I apply myself to my development routine and what was the final growth result. Yup, the ole coach is a model for us all.
I suggest celebrating and supporting struggle. For the struggling students, encourage them and find ways to support rather than always serving as judge. And for those students who get it easily, remember that they need to struggle too! It's like the runner who comes to the first practice and isn't out of breath after the first repetition. That runner needs to speed up and get his heart rate into the correct zone. His heart rate is more important than his speed. It's the struggle that counts most.