The Role of the Principal - Connector

I’ve been thinking alot lately about how research in education and other fields makes it way from academia to teachers in classrooms. One of the things I’ve realised is the importance of the school principal as a “connector”. To be sure, academics share their research in all kinds of ways that get their material read and implemented, and practising teachers also often seek out new sources of information, including current research. However, the school principal is perfectly positioned to be a conduit for current research to make its way into the hands of busy classroom teachers. 

An example of this came up for me in a recent meeting. In the meeting we were discussing what resources we would purchase to teach reading at school. Several options were presented from a variety of publishers. What was immediately apparent for me was that research into how children acquire the skills of reading is evolving, and some methods and resources that were common and widespread even just 2 or 3 years ago are outdated, called into question, or even discredited. (see “The Science of Reading Progresses”) 

I’m grateful to have the time outside of the classroom to learn about and share new ideas. I’m grateful to have the network to draw new ideas and resources from far and wide into my school. The potential for influencing teaching practise and the impact on learners and their future success is inspiring, and hopeful. That’s a great feeling to take home at the end of a day!

An ordinary life – embracing mediocrity

 An ordinary life – embracing mediocrity

The phrase “good enough” has been circulating in my brain for the past few months. It came up recently in several team discussions. It’s also served me well in past projects at school and work. I’ve often had a hard time explaining that I don’t see it as a cop out or slack work ethic, but an efficient use of my finite time and resources. I do value doing things well. But it makes sense to me to only give as much time to something as is reasonable, and not to let any one task take over my life. 

The idea came up again recently as I listened to an excellent segment of the CBC program Ideas. The episode is all about living a “good enough” life, and embracing failure, mediocrity, and the everyday ordinary. Moments of excellence are fleeting and not equally accessible. Society is not egalitarian or built for the success of all. It's important for me to contribute to the world in a way that is kind, fair, and works towards survival and success for all, rather than excellence for the few. Focusing on time with others, people who really matter to me, is most important. And when I develop an appreciation of the ordinary and mundane I don’t need to wait for my next vacation or special project to experience "a little splash of magic" every day. 

If you haven't heard it already, I highly recommend checking out this episode of Ideas:

• On Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3299yCV 
• Ideas website: https://bit.ly/3qEp8Qg

Learning Styles Revisited

In a recent podcast episode my friend Joe Clausi and I challenged Chat GPT in a game of “What’s Hot and What’s Not?” We asked the AI site for trending topics in education, and then tried to decide if they were accurate or not. The first topic we tackled was learning styles, and ChatGPT indicated that the notion of tailoring teaching methods to preferred student learning styles has been debunked by research. My initial reaction was can't be right, isn't supported by evidence, and it’s certainly not the consensus amongst educators. Well, did I ever have that wrong!

A quick google search led me to a host of articles that re-educated me on all the work that’s been done in the last twenty years on learning styles, and that there are in fact a range of theories. To be clear, there are ample theories and studies to support the various ways people learn. However, the validity of using learning styles in education has definitely been called into question. In fact, several studies have made the claim that learning styles are in fact a “neuromyth”.

Another interesting question that came up in a quick scan of the articles was putting learning styles aside, and wondering how to better meet the needs of students for whom public school doesn’t fit the bill. What about those who drop out or don't complete Gr. 12 , or their college or university programs? Do our schools meet the needs of all our students? Or do our systems and institutions themselves constitute a barrier for some of our students? 

For more in-depth reading check out these articles:

• “Learning Styles and Pedagogy in Post-16 Learning: A systematic and critical review,” Frank Coffield, Elaine Hall, and Kathryn Ecclestone (2004). London: Learning and Skills Research Centre. https://tinyurl.com/yfyjjkmy 
• Jérémie Blanchette Sarrasin and Steve Masson, (29 September 2015) in  "Neuromyths in Education", EdCan Network, Canadian Education Association
• Sanne Dekker, Nikki C Lee, Paul Howard-Jones, and Jelle Jolles, (18 October 2012) in "Neuromyths in education: prevalence and predictors of misconceptions among teachers" in Frontiers in Psychology. 3: 429.