WOW:Working on the Work

To go from good to great!

In his new book Good to Great, Jim Collins describes the characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great.

Collins illustrates one trait that distinguishes Great companies

from Good companies by citing an essay by Isaiah Berlin in which the

author uses the parable of the Hedgehog and the Fox.

In the parable the fox tries all sorts of ways to catch the hedgehog, while the hedgehog spends his days waddling along

minding his own

business.

One day, the hedgehog is so engrossed in his own affairs that he wanders right into the path of the fox, who has been lying in wait.

The fox licks his lips and prepares to pounce on the

hedgehog, but the hedgehog curls up

and becomes a sphere of sharp

spikes.

Will he never learn?

This same scene is played out each day, and despite the fact that the fox is known for his cunning tricks, the hedgehog always wins.

In this essay, Isaiah Berlin uses the parable to illustrate his idea that the world is made up of two types of people: hedgehogs and foxes.

Isaiah Berlin

Foxes “pursue many ends at the same time and see the world in all its complexity. They are scattered or diffused, moving on many levels, never integrating their thinking into one overall concept or unifying vision.”

“Hedgehogs, on the other hand, simplify the complex world into a single organizing idea, a basic principle or concept that unifies and guides everything…

…It doesn’t matter how complex the world, a hedgehog reduces all challenges and dilemmas to simple hedgehog ideas. For a hedgehog, anything that does not somehow relate to the hedgehog idea holds no relevance…

…hedgehogs understand that the essence of profound insight is

simplicity.”

Isaiah Berlin

Jim Collins found that those who turned good companies into great ones were hedgehogs.

They used their “hedgehogness” to focus on a crystallized, unifying “Hedgehog Concept” that became almost a mantra.

WOW provides a disciplined framework for thinking and talking about the quality of work teachers create for students. Providing high quality work becomes the crystallized

Don’t

On the

…Student

ork

W

WorkOn the

orkW

WorkW

Work

“The core business of our schools is to ensure that every

student, every day, is provided challenging,

interesting, and satisfying work.”

Phillip Schlechty

WOW provides educators:

a unified vocabulary, a unified design tool, a unified goal

This is what makes it a Hedgehog Concept.

Increasing the level of authentic engagement in the classroom…

WOW is about…

and…. Ensuring that students

are motivated to participate in, respond to, and benefit from, a variety of instructional modes

WOW is also…

What a teacher does to and with the work they provide to students, rather than with the products of student work

WOW is not about… Just increasing the

level of classroom activity

Adding a new instructional program

Making incompetent teachers competent

WOW is a “minds on” experience!

The work teachers give students must be intellectually challenging

and demanding.

It must be authentically engaging to the vast majority of students for whom the work is intended…

…and it must call on students to acquire knowledge and skills they value as a condition of the successful completion of the work.

WOW is the scaffolding on which to hang

CRISS Brain Compatible

Learning Multiple

Intelligences/4 Mat Project Based Learning Cooperative Learning

Intel Teach to the Future

Technology Training Portfolio Assessment Teaming Classroom

Management Differentiated

Instruction

Through its ten Design Qualities, WOW pulls together all of the the Professional Development trainings in which a teacher participates.

According to Phillip Schlechty, “Attention to the Design Qualities is simply a means of increasing the number of students who are authentically engaged…”

Phillip Schlechty

Students are authentically engaged in the work; they are persistent and committed to the work that teachers have provided because it is

Interesting Challenging Satisfying

A reminder of what is meant by “authentic” learning :

Students know the work will have real and meaningful consequences for them; they perceive the task as “real.”

If the task, activity, or work in which students are involved has inherent value or meaning to them, they are authentically engaged.

“The critical result of student engagement is that students learn what is important for them to learn.” Phillip Schlechty

I N V E N T I N G B E T T E R S C H O O L S F O R T O D A Y ’ S S T U D E N T S

C E N T E R F O R L E A D E R S H I P I N S C H O O L R E F O R M

© Center for Leadership in School Reform. All Rights Reserved.

Authentic Engagement:

The task, activity, or work students are assigned or encouraged to undertake has inherent meaning or value to the student.

AuthenticEngagement

Ritual Engagement

Passive Compliance

Retreatism

Rebellion

Profile Elements

Authentic engagement is NOT Ritual engagement

(e.g. reading a book to pass a test or to earn good grades to get into college)

Nor is it Passive compliance

(e.g. student exerts just enough effort to avoid negative consequences)

Nor is it

Retreatism (e.g. student

totally disengages from task, but does not disrupt others)

Nor is it

Rebellion (e.g. student

refuses to do assigned task and disrupts others)

“Most students in the highly engaged classroom are authentically engaged most of the time, and all students are authentically engaged some of the time…

The highly engaged classroom is one that has little or no rebellion, limited retreatism, and limited passive compliance.” Phillip Schlechty

You may be asking, “How can a teacher authentically engage students, which is its core business and Hedgehog mantra?”

The ten WOW Design Qualities can be applied to virtually every Professional Development training in which teachers participate.

How do I go about incorporating the

strategies I’ve learned from all of the trainings

I’ve taken with the WOW Design

Qualities? What should the lesson look like?

 

  Design Qualities 

1. Content and SubstanceThe exemplar lesson falls within the curriculum for fourth grade and is also an interesting and engaging adventure for students.

 2. Organization of Knowledge

Lessons were planned for 30-45 minutes daily. Students used a variety of graphic organizers such as charts and Venn Diagrams. Rubrics were used as an evaluation tool.

 3. Product Focus

Students have both an individual and group grade that will be completed throughout the lesson. The information from the projects will be compiled into a power point presentation.

Look at this exemplar designed by a 4th grade teacher about the Rainforest:

4. Clear and Compelling Product StandardsStudents will have a checklist and timelines of expectations and deadlines. Class created rubrics will be used to evaluate the individual projects. Ongoing conferences about the individual and group projects will be conducted.

 5. Protection from Adverse Consequences and Initial Failure

Students will follow a timeline and established criteria for the project to meet rubric guidelines. Student progress towards meeting the deadlines and criteria will be monitored by the teacher.

6. Affirmation of Performance

Students will showcase their individual projects in class. The projects will be shown to the Second Grade on the Rainforest Day. Additionally, a slide show presentation will be constructed.

7. AffiliationStudents will present their work and knowledge to Second Grade classes on the Rainforest Day. Each member of the classroom will have individual responsibilities and a role for the presentations.

 8. Novelty and Variety

Students will create dioramas, plays, posters, scrapbooks, and research. A guest speaker, Mr. Robert Welsch, will also talk about his experiences in the tropical rainforests.

 9. Choice

Students will select from five project topics for their individual assessments.

 10. Authenticity

Students will be involved in collaboration with younger students and the simulation of being in the Amazon Rainforest.

The pieces are all coming together…

WOWProfessional Development

With hedgehog-like focus on the quality of work we give students…

The puzzle pieces will all be in place!

WOWProfessional Development

Good Schools

System at large (Finance, Transportation, etc.)

=Great

Schools !