Marshall Memo 760
A Weekly Round-up of Important Ideas and Research in K-12 Education
November 5, 2018
1. David Brooks on American nationalism
2. Skillfully speaking truth to power
3. Do trigger warnings overprotect high-school students?
4. The debate about leveling texts – and students
5. Teacher questions and prompts in grade 4-5-6 science classrooms
6. Two ways of looking at personalization
7. Short item: Retrieval practice website
“It is not one thing that you love but the confluence of a hundred things. Yes, it is the beauty of the Rockies, but it is not just the land. It is the Declaration of Independence, but not just the creed. It’s winning World War II and Silicon Valley, but it is not just the accomplishments. It is the craziness, the diversity, our particular brand of madness.”
David Brooks on national pride (see article #1)
“One of the greatest deficits in leadership is to not command respect for knowing where you want to go. If people doubt the mission or how it will be carried out, you’ve got a problem.”
John Kerry in “Life’s Work” in Harvard Business Review, November-December 2018
(Vol. 96, #6, p. 156), https://hbr.org/2018/11/lifes-work-an-interview-with-john-kerry
“[S]tudents learn to do what they are asked to do.”
Vandana Thadani et al. (see article #5)
“The long-term benefit of getting through algebra ahead of your peers loses its cachet by the time you’re 30.”
Orly Friedman (see article #6)
“We can use reading levels to help guide student choice, but levels should never be used to shackle a reader.”
Jennifer Serravallo (see article #4)
“One of the roles of the high-school English teacher is to be courageous enough to bring elephants into the classroom – heavily laden topics so incendiary that they shake students from the comforts of their normative experiences, push them to reconsider their own ideologies, and – through significant, intelligent risk – bring about real changes in thought and experience.”
Adam Wolfsdorf (see article #3)
“Yes, I’m an American Nationalist” by David Brooks in The New York Times, October 26, 2018, https://nyti.ms/2OtlwdX
In this Harvard Business Reviewarticle, James Detert (University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business) tells the story of a woman who for years had endured risqué comments and sexual innuendo from her boss, the company president. Then at a staff gathering he grabbed her inappropriately, treating it as a joke. Later in the day, she confronted him in his office, prepared to quit if he didn’t change. She told him that his behavior made her uncomfortable and signified that she would never advance in the company because he didn’t see her as an equal. Perhaps he was trying to promote a fun work environment, but for her that wasn’t working. She expected him to get angry, tell her to toughen up, or fire her.
Instead, he apologized and said he was horrified that she felt that way; probably other women in the company did as well. He praised her for having the courage to speak up, and in the weeks ahead, continued to seek her advice on the issue and made a formal apology to the staff. A year later, this woman was promoted to a coveted vice president position.
Detert is quick to say that things don’t always work out this well: “Courage, after all, is about taking worthy actions despite the potential risk. If no one ever got fired, was socially isolated, or suffered other consequences for a particular action, we wouldn’t consider it courageous.” But he’s found plenty of people at all levels who have spoken up without ruining their careers. “Their success,” he says, “rested primarily on a set of attitudes and behaviors that can be learned, rather than on innate characteristics. I call people who exhibit these behaviors competently courageous…” Here are the key steps:
• Laying the groundwork– It’s very helpful to have accumulated a stock of goodwill derived from a history of competence, positive relationships with bosses and colleagues, and support in the organization. Conversely, those with a history of selfishness and ill will have less success when they challenge authority.
• Choosing your battles – The key questions are, Is this really important? and Is this the right time? “Competently courageous people are masters of good timing,” says Detert. “They observe what is going on around them, and if the timing doesn’t look right, they patiently hold off.” A cue for action might be an organizational change, the arrival of a new ally, or a public upwelling of enthusiasm for the issue.
• Being persuasive in the moment– Detert has identified three key factors: framing the issue in terms the audience will relate to; making effective use of data; and managing the emotions in the room, especially your own. Competently courageous people “connect their agenda to the organization’s priorities or values,” he says, “or explain how it addresses critical areas of concern for stakeholders. They ensure that decision makers feel included – not attacked or pushed aside.”
• Following up– No matter how things turn out, this is a key strategy for the competently courageous. “They manage their relationships with the people involved,” says Detert: “When things go well, they thank supporters and share credit. When things go badly, they address lingering emotions and repair ties with those who might be hurt or angry… Following up also means continuing to pursue your agenda beyond the first big moment of action.”
• Starting small– Sometimes less momentous workplace acts call for courage, says Detert, and tend to be avoided. “Humans naturally fear rejection, embarrassment, and all sorts of other social and economic consequences,” he says. His advice: “Don’t jump into the deep end right away. Instead, approach the work incrementally by trying smaller, more manageable acts before proceeding to progressively harder ones. That might mean having a difficult conversation in some other sphere of life, or broaching a tough topic with a colleague you like and respect, before confronting a boss about demeaning behavior… Then, as you tackle each step, focus on what you learn, not whether it goes perfectly the first time. Above all, keep your values and purpose front and center.”
“Cultivating Everyday Courage: The Right Way to Speak Truth to Power” by James Detert in Harvard Business Review, November-December 2018 (Vol. 96, #6, p. 128-135),
https://hbr.org/2018/11/cultivating-everyday-courage; Detert can be reached at
In this article in English Journal, Adam Wolfsdorf (Bay Ridge Preparatory High School and New York University) says that many high-school literary texts contain some controversial and emotionally charged content. For example:
In this Cult of Pedagogyarticle, Jennifer Gonzalez follows up on a much-discussed Twitter message sent by balanced literacy gurus Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell: “The classroom library should NOT be organized according to level, but according to categories such as topic, author, illustrator, genre, and award-wining books.” (See Marshall Memo 714 for a full article on this by Fountas and Pinnell.) Gonzalez interviewed literacy consultant and author Jennifer Serravallo, whose book on the subject was published last summer (Understanding Texts and Readers, Heinemann, 2018). Some key takeaways:
For starters, what’s up with leveled texts? In the 1960s and 70s, SRA kits attempted to provide teachers with passages at different levels of difficulty. Looking back, says Serravallo, the SRA cards didn’t provide very interesting storylines or authentic language; they weren’t real children’s books, which are not written with levels in mind. Then in the 1990s, two ways of pegging the reading levels of real literature emerged:
In this article in Education Week, Orly Friedman reflects on the many interpretations of “personalization” that she encountered working with parents and educators as head of a California elementary school:
“What Does Personalized Learning Actually Mean? It Depends on Who You Ask” by Orly Friedman in Education Week, October 31, 2018 (Vol. 38, #11, p. 24), https://bit.ly/2F4OyRA
Retrieval practice website – Pooja Agarwal, one of the lead researchers on the effective use of assessments to improve retention, has established a free website and newsletter to share ideas and research: https://www.retrievalpractice.org.
© Copyright 2018 Marshall Memo LLC
About the Marshall Memo
Mission and focus:
This weekly memo is designed to keep principals, teachers, superintendents, and other educators very well-informed on current research and effective practices in K-12 education. Kim Marshall, drawing on 48 years’ experience as a teacher, principal, central office administrator, writer, and consultant lightens the load of busy educators by serving as their “designated reader.”
To produce the Marshall Memo, Kim subscribes to 60 carefully-chosen publications (see list to the right), sifts through more than a hundred articles each week, and selects 5-10 that have the greatest potential to improve teaching, leadership, and learning. He then writes a brief summary of each article, pulls out several striking quotes, provides e-links to full articles when available, and e-mails the Memo to subscribers every Monday evening (with occasional breaks; there are 50 issues a year). Every week there’s a podcast and HTML version as well.
Individual subscriptions are $50 for a year. Rates decline steeply for multiple readers within the same organization. See the website for these rates and how to pay by check, credit card, or purchase order.
Website:
If you go to http://www.marshallmemo.comyou will find detailed information on:
• How to subscribe or renew
• A detailed rationale for the Marshall Memo
• Publications (with a count of articles from each)
• Article selection criteria
• Topics (with a running count of articles)
• Headlines for all issues
• Reader opinions
• About Kim Marshall (bio, writings, consulting)
• A free sample issue
Subscribers have access to the Members’ Area of the website, which has:
• The current issue (in Word and PDF)
• All back issues (Word and PDF) and podcasts
• An easily searchable archive of all articles so far
• The “classic” articles from all 14+ years
Core list of publications covered
Those read this week are underlined.
All Things PLC
American Educational Research Journal
American Educator
American Journal of Education
AMLE Magazine
ASCA School Counselor
District Management Journal
Ed. Magazine
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis
Educational Horizons
Educational Leadership
Elementary School Journal
English Journal
Essential Teacher
Exceptional Children
Go Teach
Harvard Business Review
Harvard Educational Review
Independent School
Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy
Journal of Education for Students Placed At Risk (JESPAR)
Kappa Delta Pi Record
Knowledge Quest
Language Arts
Literacy Today (formerly Reading Today)
Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School
Middle School Journal
Peabody Journal of Education
Phi Delta Kappan
Principal
Principal Leadership
Reading Research Quarterly
Responsive Classroom Newsletter
Rethinking Schools
Review of Educational Research
School Administrator
School Library Journal
Social Education
Social Studies and the Young Learner
Teaching Children Mathematics
Teaching Exceptional Children
The Atlantic
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Journal of the Learning Sciences
The Language Educator
The Learning Professional (formerly Journal of Staff Development)
The Reading Teacher
Theory Into Practice
Time Magazine