Brilliant or Insane?: rants

Monday, April 7, 2014

What's Your iPod?

By Mark Barnes

photo credit: scottwills via photopin cc

People I'm close to know I'm a huge fan of the late Steve Jobs. I recently watched the movie about his life, Jobs, starring Ashton Kutcher in the lead role.

The biopic begins with a remarkable scene, in which Jobs delivers one of his epic speeches in 2001 at an Apple Town Hall meeting. In his textbook style, Jobs tells the mesmerized audience about a tool for the heart. "When you can touch someone's heart," Kutcher says, gracefully capturing Jobs' melodic voice, "that's limitless." He then reaches into his bluejeans' pocket and produces an iPod. The scene is a perfect beginning to a very entertaining story about a truly visionary man.

As the scene shifted, flashing back to Jobs' college days in the late 1970s, I considered the impact that the iPod and all devices beginning with "i" have had on the world. Jobs and Apple have touched my heart and the hearts of hundreds of millions of people, with revolutionary technologies.

Everyone can't be Steve Jobs. We can't all create the next life-altering device or write beautiful music or find the cure for AIDS. Still, can't every single person contribute something unique? Don't we all have our own special brand of "i"?

Consider what you might contribute -- whether it's the next great novel or a simple smile you give to a child in need.

What's your iPod? Be sure to touch someone's heart with it today.

Mark Barnes is an education author and consultant and the publisher of Brilliant or Insane. Learn more about Mark on our Team page. Follow him on Twitter here.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

The game of school

By Reed Gillespie

“What do I have to do to earn an A?”

If you’re an experienced teacher, you’ve been asked the above question too many times to count. We need not look any further to provide definitive proof that our archaic grading system has failed our students.

Instead of being motivated to learn, students enter our classrooms motivated solely by grades. The good students have learned to play the game. They turn their work in on time, answer a couple of questions in class, fulfill the rubric’s requirements, and occasionally—when necessary—they complete extra credit to ensure they’ve accrued the necessary points.

The end of the marking period arrives and the student has “earned” an A. At an awards ceremony, the student receives an Honor Roll Certificate; her name is published in the school newsletter and maybe even in the local paper. Perhaps, she even receives a certificate for a free pizza from the local pizza parlor. Her parents proudly display their “My Child is an Honor Roll Student at XYZ Middle School.” So while seemingly, everyone wins, nothing could be further from the truth.

We are teaching compliance, not learning

Our current “if-then” grading system rewards students for compliance, instead of learning. With the focus on outcomes, students will take the shortest and easiest path to the A, including cheating. Such a system takes away from the love of learning and reinforces superficial learning, instead of true understanding.

By ditching our current grading system in favor of the SE2R approach or another Standards-Based Learning system, students will take control of their learning. As Daniel Pink suggests in Drive, “increasing student autonomy promotes greater conceptual understanding, better grades, and enhanced persistence at school and in sporting activities, higher productivity, less burnout, and greater levels of psychological well-being.”

Ridding our schools of our antiquated grading system won’t be easy, but doing so will increase student learning and their love of learning.

Reed Gillespie writes about education for Brilliant or Insane. He is a longtime educator and blogger. Learn more about Reed on the Our Team page.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

We aspire to be Finland, but we're not even close

via: elearninginfographics.com

Listen to our president, education secretary or just about any bureaucrat claiming to be interested in American education, and at some point, you'll hear that "We need to be like Finland."

The irony of this is staggering.

Consider what the people making the decisions that drive American education believe is effective:

Large class sizes
Plenty of homework
Tons of standardized testing
Little or no time for physical activity, like recess
A bizarre teacher evaluation system that rates educators on traditional methods and student test scores

Still, "We need to be more like Finland," is the bureaucrats' favorite mantra.

Take a look at how Finland does education:

Average class size is 1 teacher to every 12 students.
There is virtually no homework.
Finland has 10 times less standardized testing than American schools.
There is heavy emphasis on physical activity and down time (75 minutes of recess).
Teachers are as respected as doctors.

Sure, we're not Finland. We're much larger and face different socio-economic issues. If we aspire to be like Finland, though, why not at least attempt to incorporate some of its simple strategies?

Right now, we're not even close!

Friday, January 17, 2014

Throw out your vocabulary workbook

Interestingly, I don't see anything that says, You should bombard students with boring vocabulary workbook activities.

Tips-for-Effective-Vocabulary-Instruction-Infographic

Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics

Hey, Mark Zuckerberg, when is Facebook going to do something significant for education?

via: startupeducation.org

Mark Zuckerberg's foundation, Startup:Education, claims that it invests in "high quality school models to help all children succeed."

On the surface, this seems very altruistic. What troubles me is that Zuckerberg, while presumably well intentioned, appears to also be frighteningly misguided.

While we can't be sure what Startup:Education's idea of a high quality school is, it's clear from Zuckerberg's donation of $4 million to Panorama, a startup company that administers surveys, that the Facebook creator doesn't understand the real issues in American education. There are plenty of more experienced companies already exploring school climate and bullying -- not to diminish these important issues.

How about something more significant?

Since Zuckerberg has a foundation in place, why not contribute something more significant than surveys and $100 million to one school district? Here are three causes that come to mind:

How about a national program that puts a book in every child's hand? The U.S is a country littered with nonreaders. Quality research says that lack of books is the culprit.
How about funding a movement to eliminate standardization? Sound unrealistic? Put the power of Facebook behind it, and we'll see about that.
How about at least one powerful, standalone app for students of all ages? Maybe build a simple platform to facilitate communication between a student and all of her teachers that she could access from her mobile device?

I'm sure there are dozens of other excellent ideas to maximize the power of Facebook and Startup:Education. I hope Mark Zuckerberg will consider these and add a leader to his foundation who is a teacher.

Consider this post my application for that position.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

How the Huffington Post cheats readers

As an avid reader of The Huffington Post, I'm not suggesting that everything there is bad. My problem is with the shameless way the site draws readers in with titles, links, pictures and little or no content, which seems to be a recent change in editorial policy.

The picture above provides a perfect example. I read this post's title in my Feedly reader and clicked through to see the entire article. Of course, when I got there, I found a few sentences, followed by a link to the real story -- posted at NBC News.

I don't have a problem with linking to other sites; this is what good curation is about. Far too much of The Huffington Post's content, though, is nothing more than a title, link and a bunch of advertising.

If the policy is to glean stories from other news outlets, fine; how about adding some insight of your own, though?

The Huffington Post is cheating readers with this spammy ploy, and I'm done being drawn in by it.

Friday, December 20, 2013

School administrators wising up about Teach for America

All stakeholders in the Pittsburgh schools received a marvelous holiday gift, when their school board made an enlightened decision.

via: seattleeducation2010.com

The Pittsburgh school board terminated its $750,000 contract with Teach for America, the opportunistic group that has been undermining quality education for far too long.

Instead of wasting valuable dollars on TFA, the district will maintain an elementary school that was slated for shutdown.

As a longtime opponent of Teach for America, I couldn't be happier to see school board members realize what a horrible mistake they made in handing over a huge contract to a group of people who know so little about education.

Well done, Pittsburgh Schools. Merry Christmas.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Hey Major League Baseball, I'm breaking up with you!

Major League Baseball and I are not married; we're not even dating. Still as a longtime fan, whose interest has waned in recent years, mostly because of an endless stream of failed Cleveland Indians seasons, I'm breaking all ties with MLB.

via: ESPN.com

Why would an avid sports fan go to such extremes? I'll answer in two words -- Robinson Cano. The former Yankees 2nd baseman recently signed a free agent contract worth, get this, $240 million over 10 years.

Maybe I should be mad at the Yankees for starting a Cano bidding war. Perhaps it's the Seattle Mariners I should hate for creating this beyond ridiculous contract.

Not only is $24 million a year for a ballplayer a slap in the face to any blue collar worker, it's especially infuriating to me -- an educator, completely convinced that I'm in the most important profession there is. Am I worth millions? No. Am I worth more than a guy who hits baseballs? Without a doubt.

Don't even get me started on how marginally talented Cano is when compared to other great players, who never made one-tenth of his salary.

So, there you have it. I'm sick of the money that MLB teams are handing out, with no thought to the economic ramifications. Maybe I can't stop it, but I don't have to participate.

This is why I'm breaking up with Major League Baseball forever.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Is ESPN article racist or just poorly written?

Howard Bryant wants us to believe in what he calls a "code of black masculinity." Is this guy kidding, because if he isn't, Bryant comes off sounding bitter and racist, in his article about Jonathan Martin in this month's ESPN The Magazine.

Howard Bryant, via: businessinsider.com

Martin's problem, according to Bryant, isn't that he was bullied by teammate Richie Incognito or that his coaching staff apparently missed what appears to have been an ongoing issue between two Miami Dolphins players. Rather, Martin just doesn't understand this bizarre black code that Bryant claims rules NFL locker rooms and society.

Bryant says that black men must behave differently while "navigating the white world," and he further absurdly insinuates that a smart and articulate black athlete is subject to ridicule for being "soft" (his word). Bryant's support for this asinine idea is that Stanford-educated Martin was viewed as weak, while white Stanford athletes like John Elway and Andrew Luck are not.

Hey Howard, did you ever consider that a quiet, aloof offensive lineman might be viewed differently from an outspoken, high-profile quarterback, who is, by the nature of his position, viewed as a leader? Is it possible that Martin's issues are only about Incognito and ignorant teammates and coaches and not at all about your made-up code?

In his most abject statement, Bryant summarizes his ludicrous article this way:

"This represents the ultimate victory of racism: the belief that exists among both whites and blacks that being educated, being articulate, having manners, is the sole province of being white. This is why Jonathan Martin appears so foreign, so threatening, to his teammates, and why a nothing like Richie Incognito makes them feel right at home."

In the end, it appears possible that Bryant's point could be that Richie Incognito is taking far less heat for his egregious behavior, while the media focuses on how Jonathan Martin allowed this to happen.

Maybe I'm giving Bryant too much credit. I'm offended that a purportedly intelligent national writer would wildly insinuate that intelligence and manners are "the sole province of being white."

So, I put the question to you: does Howard Bryant's article smack of racism, or is it just poorly written?

Monday, December 2, 2013

Teachers rail against grades, while administrators continue to mandate their use

One of my Twitter friends, Joy Kirr, recently shared a conversation she was having with someone else on Twitter about grades.

Joy has been a marvelous supporter of my book, Role Reversal, which she has reviewed and tweeted about many times. This Twitter conversation demonstrates an ongoing issue about grades, and how many school administrators are inhibiting the change that needs to be made in education.

"I didn't get approval from admin (for student self-grading)," Joy says in one tweet. This issue comes up often, when I speak at schools and conferences.

In his highly-regarded book, Visible Learning, education researcher John Hattie calls student-self evaluating and grading the single most important factor, when it comes to measuring learning. Yet school administrators continue to mandate traditional grading.

Luminaries like John Hattie and Alfie Kohn and in-the-trenches teachers like Joy Kirr understand the deleterious effects of grades.

How long must students suffer before bureaucrats and school administrators change this harmful system?

Auburn-Alabama game has arguably the greatest ending in college football history

As a Thanksgiving weekend of college football approached, Alabama appeared to be cruising toward yet another national championship game.

The top-ranked Crimson Tide faced what some fans might have called a challenge with a post-Turkey Day tilt against rival Auburn. Still, most college football analysts gave the Tigers little chance against the two-time defending champion Tide.

A remarkably close game appeared to be headed to overtime, and then the unthinkable happened. Alabama head coach Nick Saban sent his kicker to attempt a lengthy game-winning field goal with only seconds left.

Check out this video to see the uncanny result.

So, what do you think? Is this the greatest ending in college football history?

Friday, November 22, 2013

Hilarious QR code lecture

Thanks to Rebecca Woodhead of the Bexter Review for sharing this split-your-side-laughing video, featuring Scott Stratten, lecturing about proper use of Quick Response, or QR, codes.

In case you really don't get this, here is a perfect example of what Scott is talking about.

If you have a QR code reader on your device, you can take a picture of this QR code. The code will instantly take you to a website.

Of course, it would be just as easy to click this link. Both the code and the link take you to my website, www.markbarnes19.com.

QR codes belong on paper. They are ideal for schools, books, magazines and other places, where you can easily take a picture of the code, which serves as a one-click roadmap to another piece of information.

A novel about a treasure hunt, for example, might have a QR code that takes you to a website, where a treasure map is located. So, you see, QR codes can be really cool, when used properly.

When they're used improperly? Well, say Goodbye to your cat.

Top 5 reasons homework fails students

The homework debate is one that may plague educators for decades -- even centuries -- to come.

It perplexes me, because the research is so overwhelmingly against homework's effectiveness. After much consideration and exhaustive research of my own, I stopped assigning homework a few years ago.

Homework simply doesn't fit into a Results Only Learning Environment. Although I could write endlessly about the deleterious effects of homework, I'll get right to the top five reasons homework fails students.

5 -- Virtually all homework involves rote memory practice, which is always a waste of time. My fourth-grade daughter was recently confounded by a math problem -- 273X62. She was instructed to use some sort of quadrant method to solve this problem. My response: "use the calculator on your iPad."

4 -- Homework has nothing to do with teaching responsibility (HW advocates love this claim). Not only is there not one reliable study to prove that homework builds responsible children, based on what we know about responsibility, the assertion is illogical. Responsibility implies autonomy, and homework offers none of this. Students are told what to do, when to do it, and when it must be returned. With no role in the decision-making, where does responsibility come into play?

3 -- Homework impinges upon a student's time with family and on other, more valuable, activities -- like play. As Alfie Kohn states in The Homework Myth, why should children be asked to work a second shift? It's unconscionable to send children to work for nearly eight hours a day, then have them go home and work for 2-5 more hours; we don't live in 19th century London.

2 -- I can teach the material in the time I'm with my students in the classroom. The endless cry of "I can't teach all of the standards without assigning homework" is a tired excuse used to hide ineffective teaching methods. Creating engaging activities in place of lecture and worksheets, along with less testing will eliminate the need for homework.

1 -- Students hate homework. I want to help my students develop a thirst for learning. I want them to read for enjoyment and exploration. I want them to extend their learning when they choose, because they are interested in what we do in class. If I force them to do activities that they don't choose, they will hate them. If I penalize them for not completing something they see as valueless, they not only don't learn, they get a bad grade and hate learning even more. My colleagues often attempt to persuade me that homework is an integral part of teaching and learning. I'm simply not buying.

So, what's your take on the debate?

A version of this post first appeared at ASCDEdge, where it is one of the most viewed posts of all-time.

Mark Barnes is an education author and consultant and the publisher of Brilliant or Insane. Learn more about Mark on our Team page. Follow him on Twitter here.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Maybe we should teach at the mall

After dropping my kids off at school, I sat at a traffic light, gazing pensively at an adjacent shopping mall. I noticed the name Simon and realized that this amazing place is owned and operated by a large corporation. At that moment, it struck me that shopping malls and schools are strikingly similar.

Simon is to the mall as a superintendent is to a school district. The mall is filled with stores, all housed under the supervision of Simon. The district is filled with school buildings, under the direction of the superintendent.

via: simon.com

The mall has stores, each with its own manager. The school district has various grade-level buildings, each managed by a principal.

The stores have salesmen, and the schools have teachers. Customers visit stores to buy products, and students go to school to acquire information.

So, what separates the mall and the school district?

My only answer is that the shopping mall's customers have autonomy. They can choose what places to patronize and traverse the mall as they please.

Apart from this, I see very little difference in these two organizations. They both use a top-down management model. They are both driven by competition, and both always decide what products to offer their clients, based on a standardized form of assessment.

What's the point of this comparison? I'm not entirely sure; maybe we should think of teaching our students at the mall.

Not much would change in terms of how well they are educated, but perhaps the economy would improve.

Things students hate

Although some of this might seem silly, the point is clear. Students don't want traditional teaching methods used on them. . . ever.

So, listen to what Connor says. It's funny and logical.

Is there anything here that you do in your class that you might consider eliminating or changing?

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

When NBA meetings go wrong

After a particularly brutal beating at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves last week, the Cleveland Cavaliers called a players-only meeting. In fact, it was reported that All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving unceremoniously ejected the coaches from the locker room, just prior to the meeting's start.

via: Kingsrowe.com

From there, the details are sketchy, but a variety of sources say the meeting turned ugly, with players confronting each other about their bad play. At that point, fingers could have pointed anywhere, as no Cavalier, other than CJ Miles, has been very good this year. In fact, when compared to his first two years in the NBA, Irving's statistics are quite appalling.

Some sports team insiders will say that players-only meetings can be more effective than meetings involving coaches. Presumably, those involve leaders who are respected by their teammates. This is something the Cavaliers seem to be missing. Irving has admitted to members of the local media that he needs to be a better leader.

So what happens when leaderless, players-only NBA team meetings go wrong?

The Cavs followed their 29-point loss to Minnesota with another loss at home to an underwhelming Charlotte team.

After the next lopsided loss, Brown might consider placing a gag order on his players, because players-only meetings don't seem to be the answer in Cleveland.

Do you know of a time when a players-only meeting turned a team around?

Monday, November 18, 2013

Trying to comprehend Incognito-Martin story

My first reaction to the controversy surrounding Miami Dolphins players Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin was to condemn the former and to pity the latter. Regardless of how many excuses I heard from Incognito, I knew he had a violent history, so I believed that he, under these circumstances, was a bully and a racist.

In a Fox Sports interview about this bizarre case, which has seen the Dolphins suspend Incognito and Martin quit football indefinitely, Incognito says the entire episode is a misunderstanding that speaks to the "culture of our brotherhood."

via: strikesportsnetwork.com

Incognito claims that using racial epithets and serious threats is the culture of NFL locker rooms. He told Fox Sports, "No matter how bad or vulgar it sounds, that's how we communicate. That's how our friendship was." Still, Martin is gone and Incognito is suspended, awaiting the completion of a league investigation into the matter.

When I taught middle and high school students, racial comments used as friendly jibes occurred daily. Although there's certainly no acceptable instance for this, which I always told the offenders, the slurs were always exchanged by students of the same race, which is not the case with Incognito and Martin.

This post isn't about if and when racial epithets are okay. It's about trying to understand what happened between to colleagues, pro football players and, seemingly, close friends.

I'm no longer ready to lay all of the blame on Richie Incognito, just as I can no longer only pity Jonathan Martin. It now appears, based on what sketchy evidence we have, that both played a role, while Dolphins management didn't help matters.

I guess I'm still trying to comprehend what happened and how it evolved into an erupting volcano.

As the story continues to unfold, I'll keep an open mind. How about you?

Do educators suffer from the Lemming Condition?

Award-winning actor and author, Alan Arkin, tells a brilliant tale in his young adult novel, The Lemming Condition.

The story is an allegory on conformity, as Bubber, a lemming, is faced with following his entire race to self-induced extinction.

Bubber struggles to decide if he should participate in what appears to be an insane death walk, only to constantly be told by family and friends that this is just the way things are. I won't ruin the ending, but let's just say that Bubber isn't your garden variety conformist.

Several conversations with colleagues have me wondering if Arkin's lemmings could have just as easily been today's teachers -- legions of people who conform daily to the principles of traditional methods and administrative pressure to teach to the test.

Like Bubber, we are constantly told this is just the way things are. Bubber was faced with extinction.

One must wonder, are educators next?

A version of this post originally appeared on The Results Only Learning Blog

Sunday, November 10, 2013

To whom are teachers most accountable?

Last week, I presented results-only learning to educators in New York. A day or two later, I tweeted about best practices in the classroom. A question came up at both the training and on Twitter about teacher accountability.

To paraphrase the inquiring minds, how can teachers use progressive student-centered practices, which require discarding old-school methods like teaching to a test, and still be accountable to administrators, policymakers and parents?

via: ultimateyouthworker.blogspot.com

Although there are ways to put students at the center of learning, while remaining accountable to all stakeholders, I typically answer the question with my own question: "To whom are teachers most accountable?"

After a moment of pause to allow the query to drip tantalizingly, I ultimately answer like this: Teachers are accountable, first and foremost, to students.

Angering a parent who wants worksheets as proof of achievement or scoring poorly on a principal evaluation because a standard wasn't posted are risks good teachers must take, in order to do what's best for their students.

In the long run, nothing matters more than the welfare of learners. Everyone else's opinion is secondary.

Yes, even parents.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

ENDA is one more step toward true equality

via: salon.com

In his guest column for The Huffington Post, President Obama calls for congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, which would prohibit the firing of employees, based strictly on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

After last summer's elimination of the military's insidious "Don't-ask-don't-tell" policy, ENDA represents yet another step toward true equality in America -- one quest that has embellished Obama's pockmarked presidency.

The fact that workers must hide their life choices, or risk being terminated from their livelihood, is archaic at best and egregious at worst. With enough clarity for even the most conservative politician to understand, Obama writes of ENDA:

Does it make a difference if the firefighter who rescues you is gay -- or the accountant who does your taxes, or the mechanic who fixes your car? If someone works hard every day, does everything he or she is asked, is responsible and trustworthy and a good colleague, that's all that should matter.

This law represents what is fundamentally good about America. Let's hope our congress sees it that way and passes ENDA.