Sunday, December 22, 2013

Final Thoughts from 2013

I collect quotations the way people collect coins, stamps, and matchbook covers. I collect them from Internet sites, from books and magazines, and from miscellaneous social and unsocial media -- T-shirts are an under-utilized source of inspiration. At one time, early in my pre-computer career, I pasted address-sized stickers of sayings on interoffice mail envelopes until the mailroom stopped that practice after most of the envelopes of the school were cluttered with my little bits of wisdom.

Now, my life's work is to fill the digital capacity of the world's servers with witticisms. But rather than hoard them in digital folders buried many layers down, I recycle quotations on email messages, classroom whiteboards, assorted posters, and lesson PowerPoints.

Before I retire 2013 quotes from active use to inactive memory, I thought I would give a dozen favorites one more moment to digitally shine. Think of this post as a parting, end-of-the year gift for those just starting their collections of wisdom.

Many of my favorite quotations talk of journeys:

"It doesn't matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are going." Brian Tracy.

"The best sermons are lived, not preached." Cowboy saying.

"If it's both terrifying and amazing, then you should pursue it." Erada.

Some talk of overcoming problems along that journey:

"One cannot stumble upon an idea unless one is running." Vladimir Kosma Zworykin.

"A bird only flies. It does not turn to another bird and ask, "Am I doing this right?" Mary Ann Rademacher.

"No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the middle of the storm." Paul Boese.

Some talk of persistence while overcoming problems along that journey:

"It's hard to beat a person who never gives up." Babe Ruth.

"Never make decisions while running up a hill." Christina Cox, runner.

"If Plan A didn't work, the alphabet has 25 other letters." Unknown.

And some talk of our most difficult journeys: those we take within ourselves:

"If you don't have confidence, you'll always find a way not to win." Carl Lewis.

"You become what you think about." Earl Nightingale.

"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken." Oscar Wilde.






Sunday, December 15, 2013

Counting and Measuring in the Classroom

At the end of every month, I open up my old-school attendance notebook and total data points in columns and rows. This is a habit I started back seven years ago as an adjunct in the Basic Ed classroom when I first wanted to know how I was doing and how I could improve it.

Sure, the creative free-flowing part of my brain saw the results of daily lessons and thought that everything was brilliant, just brilliant, but my business, quantitative-numbers side wasn't so easily persuaded by colorful thoughts. It asked persistently, "Do you have the data to back that up?" I know from a variety of business experiences that almost everything can be measured or counted: it's just a matter of asking the right questions and tallying the data.

If you can't count or measure something, it probably doesn't exist.

At first though, I wasn't sure what data I needed. So I started to collect and organize what I had at hand: number of students per session, programs represented, hours attended, tests taken, results achieved, and so forth. After one semester collection, I had a baseline of data points. One semester of data still didn't answer the question of how I was doing since I had nothing else to compare it to. So I kept on.

After another semester, I started to notice trends by comparing the first semester to the next. I felt better, but two semesters of data didn't seem to be terrifically valid since I suspected that the fall semester differs from the spring or summer semesters (which it does by quite a bit). What I needed was a full academic year including the summer term.

In the meantime, I continued to collect and to ask questions of the data and pass the reports on to the center managers and my associate dean. Some of the information has been important for Basic Ed funding (student numbers, attendance, and entry and exit tests: all part of GED scorecards), some for center BE scheduling, and some information, while interesting, didn't have immediate practical importance. For example, at one time I tracked how many students signed into the center lab just for testing and how many were there for GED or pre-program instruction: since testing has moved to other desks, that data is now irrelevant.

And, my old notebooks and monthly reports have provided a hard record of the evolution of the Basic Ed program at my two sites. Initial data quantified the old system of open academic skills labs, while the 2012-2013 Academic Year data showed how the school-wide Pathways initiative changed the flow of students at my two sites. Now, this fall (AY 2013-2014), the data shows upward trends possibly due to changes we made in delivery of both the GED/HSED content and the college prep classes. I say "possibly due" since the increase might have more to do with the GED 2002 series Closeout Campaign, than any structural changes we have made. Time will tell. Data collection is an exercise in patience as well as persistence. Ask me about trends in May or next fall.

In the meantime, the monthly exercise of data collection, comparison, and trends satisfies my personal business numbers curiosity and helps me recommend the best BE strategy at the centers. And, the data comes in handy when my center managers or associate dean have specific questions of me. When you have the data, you have the basis for intelligent evidence-based answers. Without data, well, your guess is as good as mine.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Mandela's Code of Respect

When students fill out paperwork to enter Basic Education classes, they have to read and sign a Code of Conduct form promising to behave themselves in the classroom. It's a shame we have to waste the paper on the obvious, but there have been incidents and lawyers must make a living too. But when a student seems overly intimidated by the two-column legalese, I say, "Look, just respect the other students who are working alongside you. That's all this code means: respect one another."

I thought of that Code as I watched and read of memorials this past week to the late President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Surrounded by a world-wide celebration of his life, I reflected on the qualities of a Code of Respect, the basis for the Mandela legend.

One network correspondent summed his life saying Mandela believed that no one was above him. He would not acknowledge the power that others had over him, even as a prisoner for twenty-seven long years. Stories said he respected his jailers as fellow human beings, but would not bow to the system of apartheid that they represented. It takes an amazing inner reserve to respect your opponents without agreeing with them and then, in turn, to earn their respect by your strength of convictions.

Left unsaid by the reporter but equally true is just as Mandela believed no one was above him, he also believed no one was below him. He offered equal respect for people from all social and economic, racial and ethnic levels. This is what gave him his generous spirit that was loved by his countrymen and admired by the world. So many of the tributes during the past week spoke of vignettes that showed Mandela's humor and common touch when he walked among his people and focused on their individual stories. 

But respect, it seems to me, needs to crystalize within us before we can project it into the world. We need to begin our personal Mandela transformation by really, honestly, and openly accepting who we are. Self-respect may be the hardest part of the personal Code to form, because we all are too aware of our faults, gifts, and gaffes. Even Mandela. He once asked his followers, "Do not judge me by my successes, but judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

A life lived in a Code of Respect is an ideal that few of us can achieve on a consistent basis, which is why, I suppose, we need to be reminded of it as we sign classroom Codes of Conduct. It is also why we are attracted like moths to shining examples, like Mandela, who show us that we have the power to rise above daily pettiness and indecision that mires us to baser instincts. As Mandela once said, "A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Post-Graduation is like Shepherd's Pie

Of course I like Thanksgiving. Who wouldn't like slow-roasted turkey infusing the house with sage-spiced memories; or pumpkin pie bars, or a legendary green bean casserole; or gossiping with the latest in-laws, out-laws and new family additions; or, of course, NFL football -- well, maybe not NFL football this time around.

Of course I like Thanksgiving. It's a holiday that seems uniquely shaped around the American psyche.

What I like almost as much as Thanksgiving are the three days following Turkey Day: additional family gatherings (congrats to Hannah and Brandon), college football rivalries (cheers to Auburn, Penn State, and nice try, Michigan), and the start of the Christmas season (on Black Friday, mind you, not Thursday). But what I like most is our family's leftover culinary tradition, Shepherd's Pie, which can only be made after Thanksgiving because it is built on layers of stuffing filled with turkey meat and topped by carrots, gravy, and mashed potatoes. All Thanksgiving leftovers.

So, why the change of blog theme from mostly education to holiday recipes? Am I now underwritten by the Food Channel? I wish, but no. It occurred to me, as I watched my wife spoon in the stuffing crust for this weekend's Shepherd's Pie that things built off a main event are sometimes as tasty as the main event itself. Let me explain.

In a little more than a month, on Dec. 20th, NWTC students will graduate in mid-year ceremonies at the Resch Center in Green Bay. This is a single central celebration that hundreds have been working toward. You might call it our school's Academic Thanksgiving Day.

Yet, what happens the day after the graduation gown is folded up and put away? Just as we need to guard against post-holiday blues, a newly-hatched alumni needs to guard against a post-graduation let down. Somehow the student needs to collect all the blessings and benefits he or she has accumulated from their work and mix these academic ingredients layer by layer to create a new wonderful concoction.

For example: if you are a student you shouldn't think of graduation as an end point, but as a beginning. You should stay in contact with the school, the instructors and staff. We would love to be able to help you as you move forward. Next, don't just up and sell texts, workbooks or manuals: there might be ideas, activities, inspiration that will be handy in the future -- who can say? That will be worth more than the 50% or less cash back. And, stay in touch with classmates, with employer mentors, and with professional organizations. Exchange contact information before, during, and after the Resch ceremony -- this will be the beginning of your professional network and probably one of the most important layers of your future academic feast.

So, by all means celebrate the holidays and the December graduation. Make time for family, for parties, and even for more football (there's always time for football). But, at the same time, don't forget to package, label, store, repurpose all the "leftovers" from your academic career. These may be as important, as nutritious, and as tasty as the main event.