Autonomy. Mastery. Purpose. (Drive, 2011)

Daniel Pink and so many others that I follow on Twitter and old fashioned email listservs, inspire me to think outside the box.   In high schools, it seems, there has always been a dynamic tension between athletics and academics, especially when it comes to staffing and funding.  Like divisiveness everywhere in politics, faith, and more, both sides stubbornly cling to their own views, denying themselves the opportunity to see something from another perspective.  However seeing something from another point of view is when we learn something new. 

Back to Daniel Pink’s, Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose.   Coaches individualize practices aimed to improve each athlete, assigning  manageable skill sets that when put together for a live performance creates a win.  That same effort when applied academically is called differentiation. 

In each scenario we want students to win.  To have success.  Both coaches and teachers understand that the learner needs to internalize that drive for success.   How do we instill that in students?  It doesn’t happen overnight.  In the Educational Leadership’s October 2012 issue of   Student Who Challenge Us (pp.76-78), Jeffrey Benson, in his article, 100 Repetitions, makes a strong case for the collective work of many when working with challenging students.  He talks about the need for variation and the fact that we, as individuals, may not see results in our own work with every student.  But at some point, the learning will click for a student. 

What reformers have wrong in their push to redesign public education is the fact that learning is complex and cannot be reduced to a set of results in one moment in time.  Practitioners in daily practice need leadership and support in order to persevere through many student failures.  It requires not only skills and strategies, but faith, hope, and determination.  Pushing students or teachers without the necessary supports does not create successful educational outcomes.  We need to step back, listen, and learn from each other.  We need to start solving problems together rather than insisting there is only one way to overcome our challenges.  And most importantly, we need to inspire students and teachers to internalize that drive, so that we are all pulling in the same direction.