Vision Archives - Will Richardson

The Future (and Present) of Expertise

January 19, 2017 By Will Richardson 2 Comments

Yesterday, I ran across this quote from Degreed, an online credentialing site:

“The future doesn’t care how you become an expert.”

Now, is that a marketing pitch or a reality? Obviously, for some professions, the future is still going to care a lot about how people gain their expertise. As I’ve said many times, I don’t want my surgeon trained on YouTube. (And don’t laugh; that stuff is already starting to happen.) There will always be certain kinds of expertise that we will want to accredit through rigorous training and practice.

But there’s going to be a whole bunch of stuff that isn’t going to require a traditional certificate or diploma given by a traditional school. For lots of “professions” now, people will (and are) able to begin to cobble together their own credentials. And portfolios. And websites that display their expertise. And networks that connect them to other professionals or learners or whatever.

In other words, the potentials to roll your own career are exploding, assuming you have certain skills, literacies, and importantly, dispositions to do that.

In schools, we talk about the skills…a lot. To be honest, I don’t know how well we actually develop the skills since “learning” them is so hard to quantify. We love our data, and we hew to the quantifiable in the end. Testing for real world, in the moment critical thinking is hard and messy and time consuming.

And we cover the “literacies,” although again, I think you could argue that we don’t do a great job of it. Recent Stanford research suggests that at least. I think it’s arguable that by modern standards, most students and teachers are illiterate, and that our practice around teaching literacy is in dire need of rethinking.

That all said, how do we do on the dispositions part? I know that a good chunk of how kids approach the world is hard wired or baked in by the environments they grow up in. But if the opportunity (expectation?) is that expertise is now something that you develop on your own, then how are we tackling in schools the development of mindsets to do that? How do we create conditions where kids will learn perseverance in non-oppressive ways? How do we help them remain optimistic in the face of some serious global changes and tensions? How do we nurture patience and healthy confidence with a significant chunk of extroversion?

The answer isn’t hard. It’s about culture and about a mission and vision that focuses as much if not more on the “immeasurables” as on the easy to measure stuff. What’s hard is actually changing culture and mission and vision to accommodate that need.

The next time you look at the students in your schools, ask yourself this: Will they be able to become experts on their own when they leave you? Will they be able to learn to the depth necessary, connect widely enough, and have the confidence to make their expertise known to a global audience?

They’re not all going to do that, I get it.

But they all should be able to.

Image credit: Steven Wei

The One Word That Prevents Real Educational Reform From Happening

August 3, 2016 By Will Richardson 2 Comments

Given the common sense arguments for learning that run counter to the current day structures and practices of schools, it would seem that a real rethinking of our education system would have happened long before now. It’s hard to argue that forcing kids to learn the same thing on the same day in the same place at the same pace with other kids their same age from their same neighborhood with the same teacher to be assessed in the same way is built on any sound theory of learning and not instead focused on being as efficient as possible in “delivering” an education to our kids. Kids don’t learn that way before they become school age, and no one learns like that in real life. Imagine, if you can, if we set the same conditions for our adult learning. We wouldn’t stand for it, would we?

But despite the obvious problems with the structures, we come up with all sorts of reasons for not changing. It’s because we can’t ignore the state assessments. Or we can’t change the structures. Or we can’t make the parents upset. Or we can’t ask the unions to change. Or we can’t risk our college placement rankings. Or we can’t…

And that is the word, “can’t,” that we use to quell any real discussion of change and reform. Real change is just not possible. It just can’t be done.

But here’s the thing: in my travels, I’ve seen every one of the “can’ts” overcome in one school or another. A number of schools don’t give grades because they think they’re detrimental to learning, yet their kids end up going to great colleges if they so desire. Other schools have mixed age groups because they believe that’s a better condition for learning. There are schools that have created relationships with parents so that when change is needed, the community comes out in support of an at times even initiates the change. And there are schools who have stood up to the state assessors and asked for and received waivers to what they see as counterproductive policies and practices. Or, they convince constituents that the test scores are not where real learning and preparedness for the modern world resides.

If we’re honest, it’s not about “can’t.” Instead, it’s about “won’t.” We won’t do those things, even though common sense says we ought to, because we don’t have the conviction or the courage or, importantly, the conscience to do them. And so, we introduce cosmetic changes meant to soften the disconnect between what we believe and what we do all the while knowing deep in our learning minds that we’re trying to do the wrong thing right. (I know, broken record.)

Sure, real change that requires us to think differently about the experience we provide for our kids is extremely difficult. And it challenges centuries of history and practice.

But let’s be clear: it is not impossible.

It’s happening all around us.

If we want to resist real change in our schools, so be it. But let’s just own the fact that it’s not that it can’t be done.

It’s that we won’t do it.

(Photo Credit: Maurits Verbiest)

The “New Basics”

May 16, 2016 By Will Richardson 5 Comments

books delete “What beliefs guide your work in your school?”

I ask that question over and over when I visit schools and talk to teachers and leaders. And I’m not so much wondering what exactly those beliefs are (though, that’s important) as much as whether or not there is some collective belief system that undergirds the practice, and subsequently, how that’s shared and manifested in the classroom.

Take, for example, Beaver Country Day School in Massachusetts.

At Beaver everything we do is student-centered and future-focused. We recognize today’s students live in a world that’s different from the world 25 to 30 years ago and education needs to respond – just as it did in the late 19th century in the face of the Industrial Revolution. We believe students need to develop essential new skills, what we call the New Basics: creative problem-solving, collaboration, iteration, visual communication, empathy, tech & media literacy, and presentation skills.

And it’s not just a list; it’s a culture.

Prioritizing the development of these skills must live everywhere in the school – in 7th grade math and in 11th grade English, in science and in art, on the stage and on the turf. To gauge effectiveness of this approach, we use a pretty simple measuring stick. At any given time, in any scenario, our students need to be able to answer two key questions: “What am I doing?” and “Why am I doing it?”

If you really want to change what you are doing in schools, one of the “new basics” is to state what you believe, and make sure it’s contextualized in the realities of living an learning in the modern world.

Image credit: Patrick Tomasso

Find More Old Things to Say

May 13, 2016 By Will Richardson Leave a Comment

Here’s your Friday moment of “EduZen” to think about this weekend:

Zac Chase and Chris Lehmann:

Schools would be better off finding a vision in which the desired practice of a school can truly take root and then seeking ways to embody that vision in every action of every individual on the campus. Once that has happened, the next step is not to find a new way of saying what you believe, but rather to deepen the expressions of those beliefs and values key to your institution’s identity. We are better off figuring out how to say the things we believe and actually do than finding new things to say. Coming to terms with what a school believes as a learning organization is a strong first step toward making the change. As with so many journeys, it is the steps that follow that determine what you will become. When vision is put into practice, when who we want to be is constantly reflected in our practice, then we can move closer to the better versions of ourselves and our institutions (Kindle 576).

Too often, we find “new things to say” about education and schools and classrooms, and in the process, we ignore the eternal truths about how real learning happens.

We need to find more old things to say.

This is Why True Ed Reform is Fruitless

May 12, 2016 By Will Richardson 1 Comment

Seymour Sarason:

Is it not noteworthy that the word or concept of learning probably has the highest of all word counts in the diverse literatures in education and yet when people are asked what they mean by learning they are taken aback, stammer or stutter, and come up with a sentence or two which they admit is vague and unsatisfactory? (x)

Me (to the authors of an article titled “School Superintendents Have No Contractual Obligation to Improve Learning“):

Serious question: What do you mean when you say “learning?”

Malachi Nichols, co-author, in response:

Great question. We wanted to leave it wide open since there are many possible definitions of what learning could be. But essentially we are defining “learning” as academic goals. We counted any mention, however vague, of student graduation rates, test scores, employment outcome, or simply the word “academic” as a form of an academic goal which measures student achievement.

Seymour Sarason:

This book is centered around two assertions. The first is that the word or concept of learning is not only lacking in substance but also has the characteristics of an inkblot; in addition, the relationship of those characteristics to actions is illogical, confusing, and self-defeating. The second assertion is that unless and until research provides a credible basis for distinguishing between contexts of productive and unproductive learning in the classroom, educational reform will be fruitless (vii).

Me:

Long, long way to go.

(Serious note #1: We need to be asking that question every day, all day when it comes to framing our work in schools. Define your terms.)

(Serious note #2: If you haven’t already done so, read the whole Sarason chapter (or better yet, the book) and then come back and let’s talk more.)

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Adapt. Fast.

May 5, 2016 By Will Richardson 3 Comments

Stewart Hase:

The ability to learn, for both individuals and institutions, is critical to survival. While it has always been so, adaptation in the past could comfortably take place over a long period of time. Now, that is no longer possible.

One of the biggest challenges to schools is that the timeframe for “adaptation” is speeding up. If you don’t believe that you need only look at the current U.S. election cycle and how, at least on the Republican side, the traditional playbook has not only been tossed out but may have been totally erased from the political hard drive. Or look at the early but quickening effects of climate change on our societies. Businesses, medicine, science…everyone seems to be in “perpetual beta” when it comes to figuring out what to do next.

So when we talk about “modern learning,” we’re not just talking about the learner; we’re talking about the institution as well. And while the learner (Read: kid with a smartphone) is doing an ok job of “adapting” to this new environment, schools and “education” seem to be struggling. Adapting doesn’t mean overlaying technology on top of traditional practice when learning with technology defies those practices . It doesn’t mean hewing to traditional power relationships at a moment when modern organizational hierarchies are flattening. And it also doesn’t mean installing a maker space or a “Genius Hour” or a coding class and calling it a day.

Right now, schools that learn understand that their central function is changing.

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Right now, schools that learn understand that their central function is changing, that “an education” is no longer the delivery of a set curriculum but, instead, is about building the capacity for individuals and groups to learn deeply and powerfully in the world. That moving forward, an “education” will be determined by the learner as they play out their lives, not by an institution attempting to predict what may or may not be relevant or useful in the future. That’s a significant rethinking of practice and architecture required to make that happen.

The fact is, few schools reflect the ability to learn. Few have cultures where the emphasis is on questioning and wondering and iterating new practices for the new contexts that now surround us. Instead, schools are focused on doing the old stuff better. Better policies. Better assessments. Better practices, not new.

The question then is not whether schools who don’t learn will survive. In the short term, most will; there is an important child care function that’s not to be overlooked. The more pressing question is will the students in those schools survive and truly flourish in their lives as adults who are constantly being asked to adapt, and not given much time to do it.

Image credit: Maico Amorim

“Where Are You Going?”

April 14, 2016 By Will Richardson 2 Comments

“Where are you going?”

We ask that all the time of our kids, our spouses, our friends. Do we ever ask that of our schools?

We should.

And I’m not talking about being #FutureReady or other such recipe. I’m talking about the unique vision that every school should grapple with as the people in it look to the future and try to move forward. A vision that challenges our current practices.

Seth Godin:

“We’re trained not to speak up and say “I want to go over there, and I’m going to be responsible for getting us over there, and no one has ever been over there, and I’m not exactly sure how to get over there…’Let’s go!’ That’s hard. So we’re to go in acknowledging that it’s hard. That the difficult work of leadership begins with understanding that our responsibility…is to describe a future, a place where we want to go.”

If I asked “Where is your school going?” could you answer?

(Photo by Olivier Miche)