In This Issue:

  1. Successful authors describe how they write

  2. Practice makes perfect – but only the right kind of practice

  3. How can we prepare students for the 21^st-century economy?

  4. Keys to classroom engagement

  5. How literacy specialists can avoid simplistic and inaccurate solutions

  6. The power of students reading along while listening to a podcast

  7. Effective use of apps in the classroom

  8. Dealing with the boss from hell

  9. Unproductive organizational practices

10. Short items: (a) Visualizing Earth’s history on a football field; (b) Apprenticeship websites

 

Quotes of the Week

“Many youths, especially urban students of color, are constantly navigating curriculum and institutions that render them invisible.”

            Crystal Belle in “Don’t Believe the Hype: Hip-Hop Literacies and English Education”

            in Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, November/December 2016 (Vol. 60, #3,

            p. 287-294), available for purchase at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaal.574/abstract

 

“Surveys show that almost all American kids aspire to attend college. Why not say explicitly whether they are on track to achieve that goal?”

            Michael Petrilli in “Common Confusion: Most Kids in America Aren’t on Track for

Success. Why Don’t They and Their Parents Know It?” in Education Next, Winter

2016 (Vol. 17, #1, p. 84-85), http://bit.ly/2cNgvgT

 

“As the old adage puts it, practice makes perfect. But if practice is all there is to it, why has my typing improved so little in the last 40 years?”

            Daniel Willingham (see item #2)

 

“The kid with a high IQ will play better chess than the kid with a low IQ, but only because neither knows much about chess. If they both practice, the influence of IQ will disappear, and whoever practices more will be the better player.”

            Daniel Willingham (ibid.)

 

“Having a bad boss isn’t your fault, but staying with one is.”

            Manfred Kets de Vries (see item #8)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Successful Authors Describe How They Write

In this Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy article, Michael Sampson and Evan Ortlieb (St. John’s University) and Cynthia Leung (University of South Florida) report what they learned from a survey of 39 best-selling and award-winning authors:

• Note-making – Having a way to capture thoughts at any moment “was deemed quintessential to their writing process,” say Sampson, Ortlieb, and Leung. But authors used a variety of methods – journals, small notebooks, notepads, computers. Patricia McCormick said, “My notebook looks like the one from the character in A Beautiful Mind. Scraps of dialogue, random details, etc. No one would understand it but me.”

• Preplanning and outlines – Some writers, like Lois Lowry, carefully plan and script stories. Others start with an outline but tweak it as they proceed. “I work best with a loose structure,” says Alan Brennert. Some authors talked about the extensive research they did and the effort they made to get into their characters’ heads. But most of the writers who responded said the story, content, or voice of each character reveals itself during the process of writing rather than in any systematic planning. Jack Gantos said, “I start with some sort of inspiration – some bit of story – and then discover and steer it as I’m writing.” Joseph Bruchac said, “At some point, the story always takes on a life – and a voice of its own.”

Adrian Fogelin said, “Preplanning too much deadens that voice for me… “[T]he energy that propels the story is generated by the act of writing. If I had to preplan my books, they would never get written… The way writing is taught in school robs it of all the fun. Most people are not born planners – and that includes many professional writers – but writing is taught as if planning were the only way to arrive at a good piece of work. Not making allowances for us ‘blurters’ kills many young writers’ interest in the process.”

• Revision and editing – Some authors said they revised their writing as many as ten times – and some not at all. “The many iterations and revisions that these highly successful authors make to their manuscripts are in stark contrast to the writing process that occurs in schools,” say Sampson, Ortlieb, and Leung. Almost all the writers said they edited on the fly, with a “big edit” when the writing is complete and ready to be shared with others. What about responding to feedback? Jerry Spinelli said he never reads reviews of his books: “Both praise and damnation tend to drive you outside your work, make you self-conscious, and self-consciousness is poison to art.”

• Research – There was wide variation on this aspect of writing, with some authors doing extensive research and others doing almost none. Some used libraries and the Internet while others relied on interviews and visited the site where a story was set. Jerry Jenkins said that “nonfiction has to be unbelievable; fiction believable. The definitions have switched. That means heavy research, regardless of the discipline.” Wayne White said research is important for credibility with readers, but “there is a danger in continued research becoming an excuse for not confronting the more difficult work of writing.”

• Collaboration – Most of the writers are not part of a writer’s group and wish they were (a busy travel schedule is a major impediment). Those who are find a group of colleagues very helpful. Some share their writing with loved ones or a small group of “alpha readers” before publication, but most do not. Randy White had this to say about sharing a work in progress: “No. Absolutely not. Committees build bridges; individuals write books. Talking about a story burns creative energy that should be reserved for the actual work.”

• Challenges – “Creating the large structure of the plot is most difficult for me,” said Adrian Fogelin, “– as I think it is for many writers. The big picture, which is the plot, can be intimidating.” Eve Bunting said her greatest fear was “being boring.” Wayne White said, “For me, all aspects of writing are challenging. It wasn’t easy when I started, and it has only gotten harder. Good writing is the selective elimination of details.”

Sampson, Ortlieb, and Leung believe the authors they surveyed have an important message for K-12 teachers of writing: “Professional writers are not all the same, and the same goes for student writers… Remember that the writing process is inherently idiosyncratic; teachers must help student writers find what works for them, by showcasing and modeling a range of options through a process-oriented writing pedagogy to avoid the pitfalls of a locked step-by-step approach.” A few other take-aways:

-   Learn from the experience of published authors.

-   Encourage students to experiment with different ways of incubating their ideas.

-   Have students try writing on a computer, on paper, or a combination.

-   Remind students that “the content, style, and voice are largely determined by the task at hand and one’s background experiences.”

 

“Rethinking the Writing Process: What Best-Selling and Award-Winning Authors Have to Say” by Michael Sampson, Evan Ortlieb, and Cynthia Leung in Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, November/December 2016 (Vol. 60, #3, p. 265-274), available for purchase at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaal.557/abstract; the authors can be reached at [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected].

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2. Practice Makes Perfect – But Only the Right Kind of Practice

            In this Education Next review of Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool’s new book, Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, Daniel Willingham (University of Virginia) highlights the distinction the authors draw between merely repeating a process and deliberate practice. The old adage says that practice makes perfect – “But if practice is all there is to it, why has my typing improved so little in the last 40 years?” asks Willingham. “Even though I type every day, my typing is not really practicing, because I’m not purposefully or systematically trying to improve it. Given that I have not formally studied typing, I may even be reinforcing bad technique.”

            According to Ericsson and Pool, several key components are involved in making mere practice deliberate:

-   Evaluating what needs improvement;

-   Selecting one small aspect of the skill to work on;

-   Developing a strategy;

-   Evaluating the results of the revised performance;

-   Practicing a lot (perhaps 10,000 hours).

In this construct, talent is much less important, except perhaps in athletics, where physical attributes give some people a big advantage. But Ericsson and Pool argue that in most domains, innate ability is important only before people start practicing. “The kid with a high IQ will play better chess than the kid with a low IQ,” summarizes Willingham, “but only because neither knows much about chess. If they both practice, the influence of IQ will disappear, and whoever practices more will be the better player.”

            What are the implications of this book for schools? Clearly it’s helpful to get past the innate ability/intelligence paradigm, and the concept of deliberate practice has wide implications. For example, teachers may think students will learn collaboration skills if they’re assigned to do group projects. “But working in a group is simply experience,” says Willingham. “If you want students to become better group members, they need to practice being a group member. They must be explicitly taught how to work in groups, and that’s something few schools do.”

It’s also important to work on one skill at a time – for example, breaking down the process of writing a research paper into smaller tasks, each of which needs practice, feedback, and refinement: using a database to locate research; evaluating the relevance of sources; creating an annotated bibliography; writing a rough outline; writing a detailed outline; and then the four or five steps of writing the actual paper.

Ericsson and Pool’s book got Willingham thinking about teachers’ professional learning curve, which tends to flatten out after the first few years. Could the reason be the lack of deliberate practice – and the time to engage in that kind of systematic analysis of areas for improvement, practice, feedback, and more practice? In addition, says Willingham, “Practice is only possible if practitioners agree on who the experts are, so the goals of practice can be articulated. In addition, educators will need to define the sequence of subskills to be acquired on the way to expertise. Practitioners need to know what ‘once you’re mastered X, you move on to Y.’”

 

“When Practice Makes Perfect: What Everyone Can Learn from Top Performers” by Daniel Willingham in his review of Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool (Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin, 2016), in Education Next, Winter 2016 (Vol. 17, #1, p. 80-81), http://bit.ly/2gzyvh0

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3. How Can We Prepare Students for the 21^st-Century Economy?

(Originally titled “Globally Ready”)

            In this article in Educational Leadership, Marc Tucker (National Center on Education and the Economy) says that globalization, automation, and the improved skills of workers in other countries are transforming the U.S. economy. As Brynjolfsson and McAfee said in a 2014 article, “There’s never been a better time to be a worker with special skills or the right education, because these people can use technology to create and capture value. However, there’s never been a worse time to be a worker with only the ‘ordinary’ skills and abilities to offer, because computers, robots, and other digital technologies are acquiring these skills and abilities at an extraordinary rate.”

            In addition to education and technical skills, global-ready graduates must have the ability to:

-   Learn new things;

-   Relate to a constantly changing array of people from different backgrounds and with different views and skills;

-   Work independently with great focus and within tight timelines;

-   Make sound judgments on the fly;

-   Be trustworthy and ethical;

-   Do the creative and imaginative work that machines can’t do.

What does this mean for K-12 schools? Tucker offers some suggestions for preparing global-ready graduates:

            • Focus on continuous, deep learning. “It’s simply not true that the profusion of knowledge in recent years makes accumulation of knowledge unnecessary,” he says. “Being able to analyze and synthesize will require students to know a lot about the material they’re analyzing and synthesizing.”

            • Integrate academic and technical learning. We should abandon the old dichotomy between bookish and practical education, says Tucker: “The curriculum that students need must create a constant interplay between academics and application; problems that arise in the course of application give rise to the questions addressed in the academics, and the constructs learned in the academics are explored in application.” But it must go deeper than some current project-based learning that doesn’t go beyond what students can find on Wikipedia.

            • Develop ethics. Beyond academic and technical skills, students need to build “a full range of qualities, many of which are related to character,” says Tucker. “Schools should create experiences for students in and out of school that will enable them to develop the full range of habits, values, ethnical commitments, skills, and knowledge they need.” In the schools of the future, he says, sports teams will be no less important than math classes, a week on a wild river with ten classmates no less important than literature, and apprenticing in a manufacturing facility no less important than AP physics. And a faculty member will “be responsible for the development of each student in a process owned by the entire faculty.” Students need to be able to do the right thing when no one is watching, be strong contributors to a team, and experience leadership first hand. These used to be the skills for the elite, says Tucker. “But now, given the skills we need, we must treat all students as elites.”

            • Cultural competence. Does this include being fluent in foreign languages? Tucker thinks not. “[A] large portion of the world’s professionals now speak English,” he says. “More to the point, you may work for an employer who assigns you to work in another country. However, you have no way of knowing which country that will be when you’re in school, and the likelihood that the language you choose to study will be the language you need is small indeed. You’ll usually find that your employer will be more than willing to pay for you to learn the language you’ll need.” What’s far more important, he believes, is that Americans understand the perspectives of different people. “Whether our future graduates will be selling to people in other countries, buying from them, building teams with them, or simply voting on issues that arise from our conflicts and alliances with other countries, it’s essential that we Americans know much more than we currently do about people whose cultures are different from our own.”

 

“Globally Ready” by Marc Tucker in Educational Leadership, December 2016/January 2017 (Vol.74, #4, p. 30-36), available for purchase at http://bit.ly/2gBVX9R; Tucker can be reached at [email protected].

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4. Keys to Classroom Engagement

            In this article in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Stacey Alicea and Sukhmani Singh (New York University), Carola Suárez-Orozco (UCLA), Tasha Darbes (Pace University), and Elvira Julia Abrica (University of Nebraska/Lincoln) report on their study of student engagement in 57 classrooms in several urban community colleges – work that has definite implications for K-12 schools. The authors used a classroom observation protocol and student surveys to measure three ways in which the class as a whole can be engaged – academic, cognitive, and relational:

            • Academic engagement – The extent to which students and instructors are engaged in behaviors reflecting involvement in the classroom, specifically:

-   Attentiveness – Students show they’re paying attention.

-   Compliance – Students follow the instructor’s prompts.

-   Authoritative content – The instructor delivers material authoritatively and responds knowledgeably.

-   Engaging – The instructor shows enthusiasm for and interest in the content.

-   Classroom management – There’s an absence of disruption.

At the highest level of the 5-4-3-2-1 observation rubric, this involves almost all students having attentive body language, following the conversation, leaning forward, taking notes, and raising their hands to volunteer answers, initiate questions, or make a comment.

            • Cognitive engagement – This can be summed up as “mental sweat” – the level of intellectual challenge, higher-order thinking, analysis, and collaborative work students are doing – the degree to which they are thinking deeply about ideas and concepts, are curious about and interested in what they are learning and are reading widely, integrating knowledge, discussing ideas with others, and applying knowledge to real-world situations. Key elements:

-   Students show curiosity about the subject being taught.

-   Students ask interesting questions.

-   There is a balance of students participating in discussions.

-   The content level is appropriate.

At the highest level of the rubric, this includes several students asking critical questions (beginning with How or Why), several students expressing opinions, guesses, and ideas related to the content, and at least one student asking a critical question challenging the reading or the instructor or providing alternative explanations.

• Relational engagement – The degree to which students appear connected to one another, providing academic support to their peers. “Relationships play a crucial role in serving to build confidence and encourage students to redouble their efforts when motivation fails,” say the authors. The key elements are:

-   Comfort – Classroom interactions are relaxed, empathetic, and warm.

-   Validation – Class members appropriately praise and support one another’s efforts.

-   Equity of treatment – Class members treat each other equitably and there’s an absence of micro-aggressions.

-   Fairness and inclusion – The instructor encourages participation by diverse participants.

At the highest level of the observation rubric, this includes members of the class appropriately praising and encouraging one another’s contributions and acknowledging when someone makes a positive contribution – for example, “That’s interesting” or “That’s a really good idea” or “I didn’t think of it that way.”

            What did the researchers find? Classroom observations and student surveys confirmed the close association of academic engagement, cognitive engagement, and students’ perceptions of “instructor press” and classmates’ participation and preparation. The researchers found a less robust correlation among community college students in the relational area. “It may well be,” the authors speculate, “that students are well attuned to their own relational engagement with peers, but do not typically pay strong attention to relational engagement dynamics among others in the classroom.”

            Alicea, Suárez-Orozco, Singh, Darbes, and Abrica believe their observation tool, developed specifically for this study, can help address the “complex and multifaceted crisis of low graduation and high transfer rates in community colleges.” They call for further research on the correlation between measured classroom engagement and GPAs, credit accrual, attendance, degree completion, persistence, and psychosocial outcomes.

 

“Observing Classroom Engagement in Community College: A Systematic Approach” by Stacey Alicea, Carola Suárez-Orozco, Sukhmani Singh, Tasha Darbes, and Elvira Julia Abrica in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, December 2016 (Vol. 38, #4, p. 757-782), available for purchase at http://epa.sagepub.com/content/38/4/757.full; Alicea can be reached at [email protected].

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5. How Literacy Specialists Can Avoid Simplistic and Inaccurate Solutions

            In this Literacy Today article, Deborah Wolter (Ann Arbor Public Schools) says that when literacy specialists finish assessing a student, a parent or administrator often asks, What level is he? Does she have a learning difficulty? Will he qualify for special education? At such moments, she says, it’s important to gently skirt giving a simple reading level or label and “provide a complete portrayal of the processes, strengths, and weaknesses of an emerging or developing reader.” Specifically:

            • Explain how proficient and fluent readers actually read. They select books and other material to expand their own interests and knowledge; read for a clear purpose; adjust their reading according to the readability of the text and their background knowledge; are aware of the vocabulary needed for a particular text; self-correct, re-read, infer, or look up definitions when the meaning is unclear; and read and think deeply in both linear and nonlinear fashion to understand and learn new information.

            • Explain the ins and outs of assessment tools. Many tests, says Wolter, “go against the grain of what proficient and fluent readers normally do, particularly among students of diverse cultural, economic, linguistic, and academic backgrounds.” For example, a test might ask students to read words in isolation – words they can read accurately in context. Most tests are composed of isolated fragments of text and measure narrow subsets of reading skills. Some assessments don’t give students credit for self-corrections or word substitutions that make sense. And some tests are timed, require oral reading, and don’t let students look back at the passage when answering questions. Because of these and other characteristics of reading tests, literacy specialists need to use interviews, observations, and professional judgment to see if test results are an accurate reflection of a student’s true reading proficiency.

            • Work to get individualized and well-matched literacy instruction for each child. “Too often,” says Wolter, “parents and administrators take an arbitrary and direct route to some sort of ‘evidence-based’ core reading program as a result of simple scores.” Without a more thoughtful diagnosis, this program may not be the best match for students – for example, subjecting them to phonics instruction when they really need support with vocabulary and comprehension. Students need “an inclusive and language-rich literacy block with plenty of opportunities for listening to teachers reading aloud, shared reading with peers, guided reading, independent reading, and writing workshops.”

            • Provide tools for progress monitoring and coaching for the teacher. After doing an assessment of an emerging or developing reader, literacy specialists should provide blank graphs for data collection, a record-keeping system, and confidential coaching that addresses the specific needs of each student as the student grows.

 

“Skirting Questions” by Deborah Wolter in Literacy Today, November/December 2016 (Vol. 34, #3, p. 10-11), no e-link available

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6. The Power of Students Reading Along While Listening to a Podcast

            In this Literacy Today article, California teacher Mike Godsey describes how playing podcasts of popular radio shows like Serial and This American Life and letting students read along with the transcript on a screen has revolutionized reading in his high-school classes. Godsey was surprised that students wanted to read along when he first projected a transcript. “I thought it might be a bonus feature for a few students,” he says, “I didn’t dream that it would radically shift the way the students approached reading. After I projected the words on the big screen, I told them, ‘Here’s the script in case that helps anyone.’ It apparently helped everyone. Even though they didn’t have to look at all, many of them promptly shifted their desks and never looked away.”

Godsey cites research that reading and listening to engaging material is an effective way to boost comprehension and can also help students use longer, more-complex sentences in their own writing. When he polled his students, almost all said they preferred the listening/reading combination, and offered these reasons:

-   Hearing the text read helps you visualize a scene or idea.

-   It’s good to re-read something you’ve just heard.

-   It’s easier to relate to a real person’s voice instead of a dramatized fictional character.

-   It’s easier to pick up the tone from a spoken narrative.

-   It keeps you focused and on pace and doesn’t let you space out.

-   You can take your eyes off the screen and doodle or take notes while listening.

-   It helps correct and reinforce the spelling of unfamiliar words.

-   Especially with English learners, it helps with pronunciation of unfamiliar words.

Godsey also found that richer discussion ensued after students listened to and read a podcast. “In class,” he says, “the students practiced their critical thinking and listening comprehension skills; after class, they excitedly discussed the podcasts with teachers and administrators – who were listening to the same episodes on their way to work.”

 

“Listen to This” by Mike Godsey in Literacy Today, November/December 2016 (Vol. 34, #3, p. 10-11), no e-link available; Godsey can be reached at [email protected].

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7. Effective Use of Apps in the Classroom

            In this article in Literacy Today, Rachel Karchmer-Klein (University of Delaware) says that most educational apps have three strengths:

-   They are multimodal, incorporating written and oral language, still and moving images, audio, and the ability to move objects around on the computer screen.

-   They are collaborative, allowing students to work together on the same device or with two or more devices.

-   They are interactive, making it possible for students to communicate with a wider audience and get feedback from more people.

But apps are effective in the classroom, says Karchmer-Klein, only if they are effectively woven into lesson plans. Analyzing 50 educational apps, she found they fell into four categories:

            • Content – Designed to help students learn content, these apps may have game-like interfaces asking students to beat the clock, play against opponents, or earn points. Khan Academy is a premier content app, letting students progress through sequences of instructional videos, practice items, challenge items, and self-testing.

            • Presentation – These apps allow students to become active, creative producers of information – for example, BaiBoard, a whiteboard app, lets students use individual devices to create and revise content in tandem with other students in the classroom or in other schools.

            • Productivity – These support organization, management, and document sharing – for example, Qrafter can be used to scan quick response codes directing students to websites, podcasts, or other electronic information.

            • Hybrid – Combining the characteristics of two or more of the other categories – for example, Edmodo allows teachers to store resources, share documents, manage student attendance, give quizzes, and use polls to get students’ perspectives.

            Here’s an example of “app smashing” – using more than one to complete a sequence of learning activities: An ELA teacher begins a persuasive writing unit with the Writing Prompts app, which generates writing ideas from current events material on the Internet. Students then use their computer browser to research different perspectives on their topic and then outline their arguments with Idea Sketch, a concept-mapping app. Then they compose multimedia presentations using ShowMe, a whiteboard app.

 

“Technology-Supported Learning” by Rachel Karchmer-Klein in Literacy Today, November/ December 2016 (Vol. 34, #3, p. 8-9), no e-link available; the author can be reached at [email protected].

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8. Dealing with the Boss from Hell

            In this Harvard Business Review article, Manfred Kets de Vries (INSTEAD) quotes a recent Gallup workplace study’s finding that half of all employees in the U.S. have quit jobs at some point in their careers to get away from a bad boss. Unsurprisingly, your relationship with your manager has a direct impact on engagement and productivity on the job, which means bad manager/employee relationships hurt the whole organization. What are the “bad bosses” doing that makes their subordinates unhappy and unproductive? Micromanaging, bullying, avoiding conflict, ducking decisions, taking credit for others’ work, shifting blame, hoarding information, failing to listen, setting a poor example, slacking, and not supporting and developing their people.

For those who can’t escape a workplace dynamic with some of these characteristics, de Vries suggests several options:

            • Practice empathy. Consider the external pressures your boss is under, which can bring out the worst in a person who might not be all bad. “Research has shown time and again that practicing empathy can be a game changer in difficult boss-subordinate relationships,” says de Vries. “Neuroscience also suggests that it’s an effective strategy, since mirror neurons in the human brain naturally prompt people to reciprocate behaviors.”

            • Consider your role. “In my experience,” says de Vries, “people who struggle to work well with their bosses are nearly always part of the problem themselves. Their behavior is in some way preventing them from being recognized and valued.” Could the boss’s criticisms perhaps have some validity? Could some aspects of your behavior be irksome to him or her? Why might your personalities clash? Could the boss be a “transferential figure” reminding you of authority figures in your past? One de Vries client realized that her boss reminded her of a primary-school teacher who had bullied her and could never be pleased. Once she identified the link, she was able to reframe her relationship with her boss.

            • Sound out colleagues. Seek advice from those who have a less contentious relationship with the boss, who might be able to help you understand his or her preferences, quirks, and hot buttons. Good questions for co-workers might be, “How do you know whether to speak up or not? How can you tell when the boss does or doesn’t want input? How do you express disagreement?”

            • Approach the boss – carefully. Rather than asking, “What am I doing wrong?” ask, “How can I better help you achieve your goals?” If the boss isn’t responsive to that approach, says de Vries, “that’s a clue that the problem isn’t you, and you need to figure out what – if anything – you can do to alter things.” This might include asking for a private meeting in a “safe space” and saying up front that it’s a difficult conversation about improving your relationship. Some bosses are oblivious to a subordinate’s unhappiness and a conversation could change things for the better.

            • Go to HR. This is a last resort, says de Vries, and should be used only with good evidence of the boss’s pattern of behavior, a clear case that it’s having a negative impact on the organization, and testimony from others.

            • Play for time or move on. There’s always the possibility that the boss will leave, but that might be wishful thinking. Remember, says de Vries, “that in playing for time, you also need to set a time limit, so that hanging in doesn’t become a way of life. If it does, you will feel disengaged, disenchanted, and even embittered… The better solution is to look for another job while you’re still employed, exiting on your own terms… Having a bad boss isn’t your fault, but staying with one is.”

 

“Managing Yourself: Do You Hate Your Boss?” by Manfred Kets de Vries in Harvard Business Review, December 2016 (Vol. 94, #12, p. 98-101),

https://hbr.org/2016/12/do-you-hate-your-boss

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9. Unproductive Organizational Practices

            In this Harvard Business Review article, Tanya Menon and Leigh Thompson report on their survey of 83 business executives on “people problems” that waste time and money. Here are some of the items (rank ordered from the worst) that might also be present in K-12 schools:

-   Hiring the wrong people;

-   Wasting time in unproductive meetings;

-   Leaders who don’t inspire employees;

-   Consultants whose ideas the organization already knows;

-   Ignoring important problems to avoid conflict;

-   Analysis paralysis – talking endlessly rather than making decisions;

-   Missed insights from other parts of the organization;

-   Applying routine solutions to problems without thinking more creatively;

-   Failing to give underperforming employees feedback;

-   Unproductive conflict;

-   Self-censoring to avoid voicing concerns about critical issues;

-   Busywork – employees being asked to do unproductive tasks;

-   Spending money on training that isn’t useful.

 

“Putting a Price on ‘People Problems’” by Tanya Menon and Leigh Thompson in Harvard Business Review, December 2016 (Vol. 94, #12, p. 28),

https://hbr.org/2016/08/putting-a-price-on-people-problems-at-work

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10. Short Items:

            a. Visualizing Earth’s history on a football field – In this NPR video, Adam Cole dramatizes the key events of the Earth’s 4.5-billion year history on a college football field: http://www.npr.org/2016/11/22/502920622/watch-earths-history-play-out-on-a-football-field

 

“Earth’s History Plays Out on a Football Field” by Adam Cole of National Public Radio, November 22, 2016

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            b. Apprenticeship websites – In this article in ASCA School Counselor, Katy O’Grady shares several websites with resources on student apprenticeships:

• U.S. Department of Labor – www.dol.gov/featured/apprenticship

• Quick-Start Toolkit - www.doleta.gov/oa/employers/apprenticeship_toolkit.pdf

• Registered Apprenticeship College Consortium – www.doleta.gov/oa/racc.csm

• South Carolina Future Makers – http://scfuturemakers.com

 

“Youth Apprenticeship: An Ancient Path to Modern Success” by Katy O’Grady in ASCA School Counselor, November/December 2016 (Vol. 54, #2, p. 18-27), no free e-link available

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