I Don't Care About Scale

One thing I've realized lately is that I really don't care about the scale of projects. This summer I've run into numbers of teachers and corporations who have been touting the numbers of teachers, students and classrooms taking part in their projects.

This may be a wrong headed approach, but here's my thought anyway: I don't want people to do what I do, or for that matter, to do what anyone else does. I want them to be their own innovator and to design their own innovation. This doesn't mean reinventing the wheel each time, or that we cannot learn from what each other has done, or is doing. But it bothers me to see people interested in only replicating what others are doing. This is a path to failure.

Your own classroom, school, or community needs its own type of innovation, not that of someone else.

In my place for example, every single one of the kids in my classroom had highspeed internet access at home during the last school year and this year I fully expect the same thing. Innovations in my place are not about connectivity, they are about putting this power to work. About teaching kids to use their home and school connections in new ways. About helping them to see the internet as a rich space where they can do much more than download music and play games.

Yet scale seems to be everywhere. We have teachers almost "selling" their projects as THE WAY to connect with others on a global scale. We have people who seem to have THE ANSWER. Well, in truth, there is no answer. We've learned in math class that there are many possible routes to a solution and we need to remember that as we begin ramping up for the upcoming school year. Maybe its the DIY edupunk that lives inside of me, but I really don't want to follow the footsteps of anyone. I certainly learn a lot from many people who are far smarter than I am, but I take their things and adjust them, tweak them, make them fit my place and my situation. This isn't a slam against communities of learners or groups working together. This doesn't mean that the best path is that of the lone wolf striking off on your own. The network effect is one of the most valuable innovations we have seen in education in a long time. But lets think about leveraging the network for each of us, in ways that fit our own space.

Small communities doing things they need to do to succeed in their own place. This in my mind is the path to successful change and innovation.

Tags: classroom, planning, scale

Comments

[mike]

I think deep down that if anything works in a small group of people than it can be expanded like a fast-food franchise. Politicians and administrators are always seeking to replicate anything that works, and of course, there is big money in any good idea that can be scaled. Despite your feelings, you will always come across this tendency.

Later,
Mike

[Adina Sullivan]

I think you've hit upon a key issue. Many tech tools/activities have become popular to adopt. I'm certainly one of those who checks out what everyone else is talking about. But, I think we do a great disservice to our students by incorporating those tools or activities the same way someone else did. Looking at examples and models can be extremely valuable, but no two situations are the same. Differences in age, grade, location, school/community/cultural environment, class size, resources, experience, and personality should likely mean a difference in the way tech use happens. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Adaptation and innovation require taking a risk, accepting that failure is possible, and understanding that you may have to defend your actions. What we need are more people willing to take those challenges to do what is right for students.

[Wesley Fryer]

I agree with Mike and Adina that the mentality in education is to always search for a new program that can be rolled out to everyone regardless of context. That certainly is a invitation for failure. I heard someone who had taught at a Kipp school talk at NECC 2 years ago about how people failed when they tried to scale Kipp at a much larger level. The program is evidently very dependent on strong administrative leadership as well as teacher leadership, and it wasn't something that could just be boilerplated across an entire state or the nation like a formula.

I do think the search for best practices is a good one, however, and organizations which have large memberships and followings are important influencers for school leaders contemplating new ideas or programs.

Personally I like the metaphor of best practices or innovative ideas as "recipes" for learning rather than formulas. Experienced cooks often improvise with recipes, and so do teachers. I think one problem is that from a political, bureaucratic perspective, leaders are too often looking for "formulas" to universally apply rather than "recipes" which will need to be modified and changed to fit different circumstances.

One of the problems I have with lots of "agendas for change" in schools is that they really don't propose changing much, they just want to switch some icing on the cake or change out the window dressing. At the secondary level, they still want to preserve the same regimen of courses with the same bell schedule.

I really appreciate the ways you continue to share your learning journey and the innovative paths you and your co-learners follow in your classroom, Clarence. You continue to show me what is possible, and provide new ideas as well as inspiration. Leaders inspire, managers rarely do. I think many school and political authority figures continue to look for solutions which can be implemented by educational managers rather than educational leaders, and perhaps that is part of the problem too.

[Clarence Fisher]

I like the idea Wes of innovations and programs being considered to be "recipes." That seems to be a reasonable middle ground line to take. This is really the point I was trying to make: that just as we need to make much larger efforts to personalize the experiences that kids have in our classrooms, we also need to personalize as teachers the programs that we establish. While there certainly are huge swaths of material that we can learn from each other, every building, classroom, teacher and set of students is unique and needs to be responsible for what innovation looks like for them.

[mrsdurff]

Raise the coffee mug to DIY!

[Miguel Guhlin]

Clarence, your post resonated with me. As teachers, even though we have access to the lesson plans of others, it is up to us to adapt and reinvent them for use with our specific population of learners.

This perspective runs counter to the standardized, lock-step adherence to curriculum scope-n-sequence. When we try to make any innovative approach standard, the challenge is in ensuring our teachers embrace the diversity rather than surrender it to the imagination of another.

Thanks for sharing,

Miguel Guhlin
Around the Corner-mGuhlin.net
http://mguhlin.net

[readerdiane]

I am one of those people who take recipes and change them up a little-add some cilantro or hot sauces or more chocolate.
In this same way I am taking your idea of using a wiki to have my students write their text book. BUT it will be our curriculum done with a little extra kick (hot sauce) I appreciate your sharing of the idea and how you have done it.