Once upon a time… Not again!
My friend and colleague Sharon Hejl was a second grade teacher before she decided to share her leadership at the campus level as an elementary principal. Sharon was one of our group of pioneers in transforming our classrooms to places where students showed up not because they had to be there, but because they wanted to be there. She shared this story of her second grade classroom’s journey with me…
“Not again,” I thought.
Glancing up from my group of readers, I saw the “friendly” pushing-and-shoving-in-line maneuvers that inevitably escalate to louder, not-so-friendly encounters. Years of experience told me it was time to intervene before thing got out of hand.
Standing in line, waiting a turn to retrieve a needed piece from the SRA reading kit has always been a challenge for a class full of energetic eight year olds. For those of you who don’t know what an SRA kit is, let me explain. Students have been using these kits which contain a range of reading levels to encourage students to learn independently and at their own pace since 1957. (Some things do stand the test of time.) Self-directed readings let teachers support an entire classroom of readers at different levels. You simply initiate the program with a placement assessment. Then, students progress through each level at their own rate.The box contains cards with short reading selections, cards with comprehension questions for each story, and cards with answer keys. And each student gets a booklet to keep track of their own progress.
I sighed, took a deep breath and stood up, all the while thinking, Maybe I should put that kit away until later in the year when they’re more mature. Or maybe I need to put more restrictions on their freedom of movement in the room.
I sighed again, unconsciously striking the quintessential hands-on-hip-eyebrows-furrowed-
teacher pose. Before I could utter a word, I saw a little arm stretch high, a hand waving in the air.
“Yes, Matthew?” I asked.
“Mrs. Hejl, I think we have a problem here that needs improving. Maybe we need to do a Plus/Delta.”
I pursed my lips to stifle a chuckle, thinking how cute it was that my second grade student was picking up on my vocabulary...how cute it was that he wanted to help...how cute that he even picked an appropriate tool to address the problem.
Since I wanted them to know that I cared about their opinions, I decided it was worth a couple of minutes of discussion...and I’d say, “Thanks for that thoughtful discussion, boys and girls.” And then I would put that SRA kit off-limits for a while.
I drew a T chart on the board and labeled the left column + and the righthand column ∆ (Delta symbol for change). We brainstormed what was going well and what needed to be improved. As the discussion with the class using the Plus/Delta continued, I became more and more intrigued. You see, the students identified the problem much differently than I had. I had seen the problem as a lack of maturity--a problem which is difficult to solve. However, after generating many suggestions under the Delta/Improvement side of the chart, students identified the area most in need of improvement as too much waiting in line. And their recommendation for addressing that improvement amazed me even more.
“Since we each want different parts of the kit,” one young man suggested, “what if we separated the kit and left the story cards in that box, and put the question cards in a different box in the back of the room and the answer keys in another box by the windows. So, if we put them in three different places around the room there wouldn’t be so many kids waiting in one line for different things. Do you think you could find two more boxes, Ms. Hejl? If not, I think I might have something at home.”
I realized my mouth was open.
I found two boxes at home that night and we put the new, student-improved system in play the very next day.
It worked flawlessly.
Ten years, I thought!
Ten years of using that old reading kit and it NEVER, EVER occurred to me to take the parts out of the stupid box. . . but then ten years ago, I didn’t know how important it is to ask my students to help improve our system.
•∞ • ∞ • ∞ • ∞ • ∞ • ∞ • ∞ •
I love that story for so many reasons. I love that, as the teacher, Sharon was willing to listen to her students. I love how it depicts how we often underestimate the contributions students can make. And I love the use of the Plus/Delta.
By listening to her students, Sharon involved the people who were most knowledgeable about the process, the people who could provide hands-on knowledge of the problems. Why do we think we have to wait until students are older for them to make a contribution? Shouldn’t they leave our schools already knowing that they are capable and responsible for contributing toward improving the world?
I roll my eyes remembering all the problems I used to try to solve by myself, or with other people who were a bit removed from the situation. The solutions weren’t awful, and they usually were somewhat helpful. But they often missed the mark a bit or only resulted in short-term fixes. It’s such common sense that the people who actually do the work in the process can offer needed insights for lasting improvement. Duh!
And if the process in a complex, intertwined one, it accelerates the potential for improvement if you involve some people who work before the process starts and after it is complete. For example, do you want to identify a key improvement for your student’s writing, ask some folks who were involved in the grade/course before and the course/grade after. When you clearly understand what students experienced before and what they are expected to do as a result of their learning, you might be surprised to discover some unidentified assumptions.
And I’m a big fan of the Plus/Delta because it is an incredibly simple yet incredibly powerful tool to guide discussions. It’s my go-to tool I keep in my back pocket.
Just completed an incredible presentation. Great. Pull out the Plus/Delta and complete it yourself. Better yet, ask the participants to spent a minute or two giving your feedback.
Just completed a unit with students? Ditto.
You listen to the conversations around you and hear some discontent. Rather than wallowing in that discontent, grab any piece of paper and direct that discontent to a dialogue for improvement using a Plus/Delta. It’s definitely a more productive and uplifting use of time.
By the way, it’s important to avoid the tendency to morph the tool into Plus/Minus or what went well and what didn’t. In my experience some of the items you list on the Plus side, often also end up on the Delta column because you can decide to build upon a strength for even better results. Also, asking what can we improve, rather than what went wrong, can yield some new innovative actions.
It seems hard to remember, but when we first started asking ourselves this critical question: “How can we improve?” many people were a little offended. What? How can we improve? Are you saying that I didn’t do a good job? Asking how can we improve can be unsettling at first for people who are used to responding to a situation with compliments or criticisms. Neither compliments or criticisms do much to improve the future.
Not Again….So what?
Moral of the story:
Make this question a normal part of your conversations: How can we improve? How can we improve on both things that were successful and things that are problematic.
If you want dramatic improvement, ask the folks who know the process best, the people who work in the process.
Of course you want to solve problems, but make improvement a way of life when things are going well, too.
And keep the Plus/Delta tool handy. It’s a game-changer!