TOC in Education--Architects of Their Own Future
Announcing a NEW book for the TOC Library
Architects of Their Own Future
by Michael Round
A retired Principal. A struggling basketball team. Stagnant ACT scores. Washington High was running out of time. To make matters worse, the community was clamoring for more; more foreign language programs, hands-on science, and more technology.
What to do?
This is their story.
A story of survival, of optimism, of the possibility of improvement now AND in the future, of an achievable goal for education, with students as...
ARCHITECTS OF THEIR OWN FUTURE
Some valuable lessons for anyone wanting to make change in schools. Architects is written especially for those associated with K12 education in the US. If you have any concern about the state of your schools and about seeing them improve, you'll want to give this to your school friends. A word of caution; read the novel and you will know better than to say "You should read this" when you hand it to an educator.
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A Publisher's Review
of
Architects of Their Own Future
An Educational Action Novel - A Viable Vision - The Goal for Education
I watched an old movie the other day, the relevant issue being an industrial "incident" prompting a regulatory commission investigation. A plant supervisor tells a foreman for the plant (who is working with the commission), "This shutdown is costing us money. Give them everything they want. Be thorough." He pauses, and then adds, "But be fast".
What a dilemma the foreman suddenly found himself in! Sure, the solution may present itself rapidly, but what if it didn't? What if "thorough" meant "very slow"? What's he to do?
Dilemmas, though not with the consequences of a faulty power plant, tug at us daily. Should I, as a programmer, document my work when I'm getting paid by the amount of code I write? I'll leave the debugging to the next poor fellow!
My bonus is tied to the number of subscribers I enroll? Don't blame me when many cancel their plans 6 months down the road when they can't pay. I've already cashed my check!
In other words, don't blame me when my behavior is a product of how you will measure me.
I believe the K-12 educational system is in a similar bind.
The principal goal of "Architects" is not to "solve" the problem of education, but rather to define the reason education does not improve like we think it should.
The Principal Conflict
Imagine you're teaching math to a group of 25 kids with differing abilities, having to get through material dictated not by you but by the district curriculum head, with state tests around the corner. In comes "consultant x" or "person y" carrying "great materials z" to revolutionize math. What would you say? "It looks great, but not right now". What else could you say? You can't possible do anything with the material, given your situation, right - even if you wanted to!
The Format of the Book
A word on the layout of the book: there are three "themes" intermixed. One regards high-stakes tests, beginning not with "how do we do better", but rather, "Why isn't anybody doing better?", particularly when all of the material is right in front of the kids (in the reading and science sections). The progression is through the reading, math, and science sections.
The second thread is provided as a "rest" from the first, and it deals with a basketball team struggling with the loss of key players and the eminent shutdown of the school. How can they compete? Though seemingly different than education, the issues involved are identical. Can we (and how) improve rapidly - now?
The third thread is my philosophical thread. These are Principal Ragnar's nightly walks / self-discussions, trying to make sense of systems, of improvement, of stagnation, etc. The six "peripatetic adventures", called in the book "Chautauquas", are:
Other Issues Considered
A non-exhaustive list of things considered in the book follows:
· The relationship between the core problem and the constraint;
· The "have a seat" injection, where, instead of trying to solve a conflict, you simply show your conflict to the other party;
· The brutal consequences of injecting your "solution" on someone else's problem (The words "do you know what you should do" should be banished from one's vocabulary);
· The "foothold", allowing one the ability to "get grounded" in a body of material;
· "Conduction", integrating "induction" and "deduction" in solving math problems with perfect documentation;
· "Iterative Effect-Cause-Effect", seeking causal explanation for natural phenomena, and integrating new experiences into one's understanding
· Debate and Logic, not taught as separate and confrontational disciplines, but integrated into everyday materials.
