DaveShearon

GRIT in Schools

I got an email recently from a elementary school principal I work with about his school focusing on Grit. Attached to the email were materials that one of his staff had provided to the school's teachers - posters, worksheets, etc. Their were 11 attachments, some with multiple quotes on them. Only two mentioned passion. One was Angela Duckworth's definition of Grit: "passion and perseverance for very long-term goals." The other was a quote the internet attributes to Abraham Lincoln (I could not confirm): "Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want the most." Other than that, everything focused on hard work, perseverance, etc.

Passion: I'd suggest emphasizing with teachers the passion component of Grit. (Grit is very similar to a construct developed and studied by Robert Vallerand called "Harmonious Passion.") Without emphasizing passion, it's easy to turn Grit into "Eat your peas," or, perhaps even better for schools, "Do your homework!" Passion is the "why" of effort. Vallerand defines passion as follows:

Passion is a strong inclination toward a self-defining activity (object, person, belief) that we:

• Love
• Value
• Invest time and energy in

A lot of what I see in schools about Grit can be boiled down to "Work hard at the work I give you even if you don't really care about it." That's not Grit. A true Grit focus would help students discover their passion and then consider how working in school could be a step towards that passion.Once connected, then the hard work of focusing on boring or difficult practice becomes something one just does because... Love.

You can't teach passion. You can help students discover theirs, then pursue it. Angie Duckworth writes about engaging with activities for at least two years in high school just as a way to discover what it means to work hard at something over and extended period. She believes this helps students learn to recognize areas of passion where they are willing to work that hard over time.

Obviously, younger students may not yet be sure of their passions (or, they may think they are, then change later). That's ok. They can still explore passion, interest, and sustained effort.

Character Strengths: Passions are often going to align with Character Strengths. My strengths (Curiosity, Love of Learning, Judgment) have made it easy for me to sustain efforts to gain and use new knowledge over my lifetime. Those with different sets of strengths might have found such a focus uncomfortable and unfulfilling and have chosen, instead, to focus on something else: developing relationships, mentoring others, leadership, a sustained focus on improving one skill, etc.

Connecting School to Passions: For those whose passion isn't school, the fact still remains that they have to go and, in today's world, they have to achieve some level of success. Connecting school to those passions can help. For example, my older son became passionate about baseball in the second grade. Very early on, I told him that, if he wanted to play baseball, he would have to keep up with his homework and that I wasn't going to do it for him. He'd either keep his grades up or he wouldn't play. He knew I wasn't kidding; I didn't really care that much about him playing baseball anyway - when he first started, I didn't even like the game! And he did. Never had to oversee whether he was getting his work done. (Later on, when he was in high school and I wanted to push him to work harder, he reminded me of that, said he was taking care of it, and to leave him alone!)

Gabrielle Oettingen in Re-Thinking Positive Thinking tells a similar story about a little girl who's dearest wish was to be a dancer. But, when she thought about what might keep her from achieving this wish, she said that she wouldn't finish school:

“What will prevent you from finishing school?”
“I’m not good enough at schoolwork.”
“Why aren’t you good enough?”
“Because I don’t get good grades in English or math.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Because I don’t do my homework.”
“Why don’t you do your homework?”
“Because I watch TV in the afternoon.”
We now had the obstacle—too much television watching in the afternoon. Now it was a simple matter to come up with an if-then plan. “If I start watching TV in the afternoon, then I will switch it off and do my homework instead.” If we had started with “doing more homework” as the wish, the child wouldn’t have become engaged in the exercise.

Oettingen, Gabriele. Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation (Kindle Locations 2399-2408). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Those teaching Grit should consider what they have been and are Gritty about. What are they passionate about? Looking at their day-by-day efforts over the last six months, what would an observer conclude are the very-long-term goals they are working toward?

Hope this helps.

A Response to Jordan Furlong

In a post at Law21, Jordan Furlong claims that no one wants to ask whether Mandatory Continuing Legal Education programs work, i.e, that they improve attorney competence. He suggests there is no evidence. There is. But MCLE organizations do need to pay more attention to the evidence.

Evidence for the effectiveness of MCLE: New York Study of CPE for Accountants

New York implemented mandatory CPE for accountants in the mid-90s and the state legislature required a study of effectiveness as part of that implementation. The study was run by Arden Grotelueschen, PhD, University of Illinois who was, at the time, the leading exert in the world on continuing adult professional education. They spent a half million dollars and concluded:

1. Mandatory programs increase partcipation in continuing education, and
2. Increased participation in continuing education correlates with increased knowledge.

So, what those of us who have been involved in MCLE for decades have always assumed - that attending CLE programs would increase lawyer knowledge levels - turns out to be validated. Who wants to argue some state or province should repeat this study just to show the same in law?

(As far as I can tell, the technical reports from this work aren't online anywhere, but I've got a scanned copy. Email me, dave.shearon at thrivinglawyers.org, and I'll send you the file.)

Evidence for the effectiveness of MCLE: Lawyer Response

Jordan also suggests asking lawyers about MCLE. Again, it's been done. Repeatedly. In multiple states. Over more than a decade. And the results are always the same: overwhelmingly positive responses indicating they approve of MCLE, they think it is making them a better lawyer, and they think it is making others a better lawyer. This data is online: Mandatory CLE Survey Analysis.

But, the competence criticism has some validity.

I agree with Jordan about the lack of purpose statements for MCLE programs. Basically, the writers of the Rules for the first programs back in the 80s appear to have assumed purpose was self-evident, and later drafters copied. However, after 24 years of leading an MCLE program, I can tell you that, in practice, the purpose evidenced by the behaviors of many state MCLE programs does not appear tightly focused on competence.  Many (most?) don't approve the type of training most needed to improve competence.

First, lack of knowledge of the substantive law is not the cause of most instances of poor lawyering. In a Tennessee survey, only about 16% of lawyers picked that as the primary cause. A whopping 84% went with either lack of law practice management skills or lack of commitment, energy and engagement with the law. See: "Causes of Poor Lawyering". As a result of its study in this area (and, yes, at my urging), Tennessee changed it's regulations on MCLE accreditation to specifically approve both personal coaching in defined formats (a change that has not seen much use) AND adopted Regulation 5H.2 that provides:

2. Dual credit will also be granted to programs or topics: 

a) designed to sustain or increase the capacity of attorneys to strive for and to achieve the highest, aspirational levels of professionalism, including programs aimed at increasing attorney well-being, optimism, resilience, relationship skills, and energy and engagement in their practices, 
b) designed to help lawyers re-connect with, strengthen, and apply their values, strengths of character, and sense of purpose toward achieving outstanding professionalism, 
c) designed to protect lawyers or help them recover from the deleterious effects on professionalism of stress, substance abuse, and poor staff, financial, or time management, or
d) designed to support the development of organizational cultures within firms, law departments, and legal agencies that recognize, support, and encourage outstanding professionalism.

Dual credit means credit that counts for either the Ethics/Professsionalism or the General requirement - it's the most valuable type of credit for compliance.

 

In addition, Tennessee has now undertaken an experiment in acccrediting mentoring (voluntary) for CLE, and the approach requires substantial training for mentors around the powerful negative impact of law school on the motivation and well-being of law students, the aspects of that impact that continue and are reinforced in practice, and key skills and practices that can re-build, maintain, and enhance levels of commitment, energy and engagement that lead not only to satisfaction in the practice, but also to the highest levels of professionalism and client service.

So, MCLE works to build knowledge, but many MCLE jurisdictions should not only accredit programs focused on helping lawyers engage better with their practices, peers anc clients, they should encourage the provision and participation in such programs through explicit approval language and no-limits accreditation.

 

A Christmas Song for Albert Ellis

I've just finished reading Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: It Works for Me - It Can Work for You by Albert Ellis, one of the founders (he'd say THE founder) of cognitive behavioral therapy. Dr. Ellis is recognized as one of the sources for the work on resilience I'm involved in and I wanted to know a bit more about him and his work. Wow! Interesting guy! The book's an easy read and engaging read even if you know nothing about REBT, cognitive psychology, etc. The stories of Dr. Ellis' life were intriguing and engagingly told, and the book does open a window, at least, into the power of deep patterns in our thinking - the beliefs about the world and our place in it - the shoulds and musts. 

Anyway, I know it is a bit weird to connect a Christmas song with a man who was a practicing Jew as a child and a  "probalistic atheist" from 13 on, but this song (1) seems to capture some of REBT, (2) was written by a great guy whom I used to go to church with, Kyle Matthews, and (3) is one of my very favorites.  Hope you enjoy:

 

Smartphones, Mindfulness, the Masters & Intelligence

"Navigating a No-Phone Zone" by Jason Gay in the Wall Street Journal for Friday, April 6, (http://j.mp/I4bNqJ) provides a great window into the experience of the gallery at the Masters with its "no phones" policy.  That's as in no phones.  They'll escort you out if you use one.  Wow.  And, cool!  Mr. Gay describes the experience as "oddly satisfying."  He says that fans "look at things - with their eyes.  They solve questions - by asking nearby human beings.  They come up with clever comments and somehow survive without offering them to the world in 140 characters."  Love that last bit!  He goes on to talk about having to make plans (meet under the big tree at 2 pm) and then having to stick to them!  And he points out that, because they weren't looking at their phones, spectators got to watch, really watch, the event.  They didn't miss key moments, or fail to make interesting observations from seemingly mundane moments, because they were too busy texting, tweeting, typing, or touching (the screen - not a person!).

This strikes me as a policy that promotes mindfulness.  Right now, my personal working definition of mindfulness is: sustained, continuously re-focused non-judgmental attention to what is.  In other words, it involves paying attention to some aspect of reality (one's breath is a frequent focus,  but the Masters should work!) and continuously re-focusing on that reality when the mind wanders.  Some Masters fans may be more non-judgmental than others: noticing the heat of the sun rather than constantly assessing whether it is "too hot" or even complaining about it.  This sounds somewhat naive and detached from reality when I write it - as if being "real" requires being "judgmental" - but that's not my experience when I practice mindfulness.  It also doesn't seem to be the result for highly-experienced practitioners.  Rather, they seem more able to deal with the world as it is and less caught up in dealing with the world as they think it "ought" to be.  (The next book I'm looking forward to reading in this area is The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live--and How You Can Change Them by Richard Davidson.)

However, as someone who loves me my smartphone, and because of my interest in education, I want to give a brief nod to an alternative view: smartphones actually make us smarter.  David Perkins in Smart Schools talks about what he calls "person-plus" intelligence. (Book note: http://j.mp/Im4nts.)  This simply means that your  ability to understand and contribute is greater if you have access to tools and
repositories of information that you have mastered, and the same for me and everyone else.  As an incredible tool to augment our intelligence, is it any wonder we're "addicted" to our smartphones.  The trick, as with any tool, is becoming a skilled master of its use.  Right time, right place, right manner.

So, mindfulness?  Yes.  Person-plus intelligence?  Yes.  It ain't easy being modern.  But it is a lot of fun!

 

 

Policy Recommendations for Improving Teaching

This post is actually a response to John Merrow's Huffington Post column on value-added.  Recommended - it's quite good!

First, I appreciate Mr. Merrow going to the source.  I've known and worked with Bill for years and his work inspired my passion for education, leading ultimately to serving on the school board here in Nashville.  His work is solid but the policy recommendations drawn from it are often wrong.  Part of that is Tennessee's fault - we've had almost 20 years to learn how to help teachers add more value, and we've failed because we spent most of those 20 years fighting the data rather than working with it. Based on years of working with that data from a policy perspective and my work in positive psychology, here are my policy recommendations:

1.  Recruit great teacher candidates.  TFA has found that high grades and test scores from top colleges are not enough.  We need better data on the qualities of character and outlook that make for great teachers, and how to select for them (I suspect there will be multiple patterns), but, in the meantime, look to resilience - especially optimism and a growth mindset - plus a passion for teaching.

2.  Help teachers develop personally to become more resilient, more growth-minded, better at relationships, more focused on strengths - and show them proven ways to help develop these same qualities in students while teaching academic content.  The Army is doing this for sergeants to help soldiers; why can't we do it for teachers? http://csf.army.mil/news.html  This book I co-authored can help: http://www.smartstrengths.com/

3.  Focus teacher professional development on teacher-led instructional improvement through "Lesson Study" or something very similar.  http://www.shearonforschools.com/books_lesson_study.htm

4.  Develop better leaders.  Top young teachers want and deserve good leadership, and they want open, meaningful pathways to leadership.  A great principal can help inspire and guide young teachers toward excellence and high value-add; a poor one runs great candidates out of the teaching profession. Many unnecessary obstacles have been placed in the path to leadership by legislators and administrators in the name of "improving leadership" - get rid of those that don't have solid, empirical evidence that they actually make better leaders (when in doubt, cut it out) and focus on leadership opportunities and mentorship to build on the base provided by the professional development and teacher-led instructional improvement cited above.

For more on the thinking behind these recommendations, see the chapter on "Positive Education" in Marty Seligman's new book <i>Flourish</i> or the white paper available here: http://www.flourishingschools.org/Positive_Education_FSWhitePaper.pdf

Holiday music, marketing, and "Other people matter"

Teresa & I are fans of the acapella group Straight No Chaser.  They began at Indiana University about a decade ago, and their "signature" song is a crazy rendition/mashup based on "The Twelve Days of Christmas."  They are also a great example of Chris Peterson's shorthand for the key findings of positive psychology to date, "Other people matter."  SNC got their big break because a fan posted a video of them to Youtube.  They have not forgotten.  They welcome recordings at their performances (I hope to get a clip of them in Nashville doing "Rocky Top" later this week!), and they have gone beyond that to celebrate with their fans.  I find a lot to like in this - and it gets me in the holdiay spirit.  Hope you enjoy!

Positive Cultures?

What do you think?

Can the application of positive psychology on a broad scale create more positive cultures - habitual, common patterns of interaction that facilitate getting more of what's really important in life for more people? I've run across several items recently that have made me think about this. (I include excerpts and links below.)

Assuming that cultures really are significantly different from place to place in ways that make a real difference in how likely an individual is to get what's really important in life, and that we can call this a "positive culture":

1. What are the mechanisms of a positive culture? How can a non-positive culture establish the necessary set of such mechanisms? Are there mechanisms in a non-positive culture that must be actively destroyed in order to allow positive mechanisms to take hold?

2. What is the smallest area that can establish and maintain a stable, self-reinforcing positive culture?

3. What role does the legal structure play, and how does this affect the smallest area question. For example, in the US, could a city located in a state with complex legal requirements that make it difficult to operate a business succeed in creating a positive culture?

4. What research points the way forward in this area?

 Here are the items that have stimulated my thinking:

An article in Der Speigel (http://bit.ly/rp9FbUl) focused on the cultural differences that make it much easier for a business to succeed in Estonia than in Greece. It begins with the story of Loukas Nakosmatis, a Greek who started a wholesale rose business in Greece four years ago and ultimately failed due to the habit of his customers of finding ways to make him deliver flowers on credit, then never paying. The article goes on:

As he tells his story, Nakosmatis is sitting outside under a blue evening sky, with Elias, Kostas and Krikor, fellow Greek expatriates, in front of the "Artemis," a small street restaurant he has opened in the pedestrian zone of the Estonian capital Tallinn. The business is going well, and Nakosmatis has begun to pay off his debts. A waiter is serving the guests at the next table: souvlaki, a mixed grill platter, Ouzo and Greek salad.  

It's one of the few summer evenings in Tallinn when it's warm enough to eat outside. Half of the dozen or so small tables in his restaurant are taken by Japanese, Finns, Danes and Dutchmen, but there are no Estonians. A meal at his restaurant is too expensive for them, says Nakosmatis. Then he describes the two Estonian women he hired as waitresses.

 

"They are hardworking, honest and never late," he says. The group of Greek men falls silent for a moment. "Strange country," says Elias.

Second, and also focused on business, in the Nov. 3 Wall Street Journals, Daniel Henniger wrote a column basically questioning whether US Presidential candidate and governor of Texas Rick Perry had much to do with Texas' economic success in recent years, or whether it came from a difference in culture between Texas and states like California and New York:

In 1990, one of the world's biggest companies, Exxon Mobil, left New York City for Dallas. Exxon's former CEO, Lee Raymond, says the move in part was indeed about costs and New York State's notoriously overbearing tax authority. But it was also about working amid a culture of competence. "It's just the attitude in Texas of getting things done and doing them well," he says.

 

Mr. Raymond remarks that the economic policies that in time trapped the Northeast and Rust Belt in spirals of decline never touched Texas. But this is about something beyond low taxes and no unions: "In Texas the people tend to be farmers or individual businessmen, and they have this attitude: We have to make do with what we have and work together to get things done and survive. It's can-do. That attitude permeates everything there."

Finally, in a somewhat different vein, a post at Instapundit (http://bit.ly/vvTH9h) dealt with manners in the "South" (US). It included this email from a reader:

As a recent (female) Yankee transplant to the south, I can’t speak of past southern manners, but I can speak of what I’ve seen and experienced since I’ve been here. It’s been nothing short of culture shock, in a wonderful way. I work in a retail store where it’s occasionally required of me to help customers out to their cars with heavy packages. I have no problem with this, but I have yet to seen a man let me take the heavier box, and if I try to, they won’t let me. My male co-workers won’t curse in front of me, or even discuss “inappropriate” subjects without first saying “excuse my language” or “pardon me for this”. I routinely have customers tell me not to worry about helping them with heavy packages, and that I should make the guys carry them. I’m called “ma’am”! (And occasionally, “darlin’”, which is also perfectly acceptable.) I’m treated like a lady wherever I go, not just another random customer. I rarely have to open a door for myself, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been offered assistance to my car when my arms are full after grocery shopping, from both men and women alike.  

And the women are no less polite and warm-hearted. They’re happy to have a quick chat or offer an opinion on something if asked by a random stranger. They’ll politely catch your attention if you’re dropped a penny or a piece of paper from your purse to return it. They seem to have a big, wide, authentic smile and a kind word for everyone. They say “Please” and “thank you”, and mean it. And most shockingly, those mothers who bring their young children with them into the stores actually discipline them to make them behave, and will even apologize to the employees if their kids are being unruly.  

I’m amazed and grateful for a culture that teaches such manners. If this is a decline in southern manners, then I can only imagine what they were like at their peak.

Picture credits:

Estonia_1573 - Tower Top by archer10 (Dennis) from Flikr

Feeling like a fraud?

"An adventurous person will always have moments of feeling like a fraud—it's a sign that you're creating new roles for yourself, that you're evolving. It means you're doing great, passionate work."  Todd Kashdan, Author of Curious

Change, anyone?

My monthly post is up over at PPND.  "Change is hard, except when it is not!"  http://su.pr/2xzKqT  

Images

“Protect Me” courtesy of jennzebel

Stand by Me!!

Amazing.  Uplifting.  As Chris Peterson says, "Other people matter."

Stand by Me from theRedPillRadio on Vimeo.