Defining a Practice

Welcome!

Today I had a vision while listening to the radio.  My vision: every radio story, every expert interviewed, and every lengthy discussion would mention the handy term Variables Thinking.  Because every student had been given the opportunity to practice Variables Thinking from Kindergarten through 12^th grade, every adult would use the short hand term to describe the process of considering multiple aspects of any one challenge or problem.  Each variable would be considered in relation to the others thus completing the process.  And to describe this process: that’s right, the term I have coined, Variables Thinking.

I paint therefore I consider variables. My thinking process… from choosing subject matter, to deciding scale, to surface, to prepping that surface, to choosing brushes, to paint, to mixing paint, to rate of brushwork, to layers of brushwork, to extending drying times, to rushing drying times, etc and so on is one example of VT.  Any expert considers a large number of variables in everything they do well.  Cooks, athletes, scientists, doctors, astrologists, hedge fund managers, yoga Instructors and teachers do it.  Isn’t it time we begin to look at the meta process of considering variables and make it something our children get to practice?  And more importantly, isn’t it time we foster in children an understanding that all problems are essentially the same?  Problems have aspects/parts/elements which are variables.   Giving thought to the relationships between the aspects/parts/elements in addition to considering what aspects/parts/elements might be missing from the problem become fundamental skills.

Here are a few concrete ways I will use Variables Thinking this school year with High School students.

As idea generation:  Brainstorm Variables.  Example:  As you design your ideal home, list all the factors that would ultimately affect your choices.  (Budget, codes, materials, location, perceived spatial needs to name a very few.)

As focusing tool:  Isolate one variable.  Example: Tell a story in 5 paragraphs, then 1 paragraph, then 1 sentence.  LENGTH is the variable here.  Which length is suitable for what use?

As play:  Pick 3 variables from a list of 5 (color, texture, shape, line, value.)  Make 3 different compositions where you emphasize the three Variables differently. In other words in composition #1 prioritize Variable 1, then 2, then 3.  Then switch the order. 

As analysis:  Read two extremely different critiques of the work of Jackson Pollock. Then write about what possible factors contributed to such glaringly different points of view.

Variables Thinking is what goes on in any reflective practice.   Therefore it is adaptable and flexible.

Start with:  What are the parts?  How do they relate to each other?  The practice can address simple things (Play Doh) and complicated things (climate, poverty) and everything in between. 

With the world we live in, a routine practice of Variables Thinking across disciplines and grade levels is a pretty logical idea.  Or at least a pretty cool dream.

Thanks for reading. - L

Letter to a Young (Brain Surgeon) Teacher

(This post in honor of the brave souls who will begin their first year of classroom teaching this fall.)

Letter to a Young (Brain Surgeon) Teacher:

So of all possible fields you have chosen brain surgery.  You want to operate on the brains of young people without the respect, status, monetary reward and auxiliary support of a "real" surgeon.  And if that is not enough, you will be doing your work on multiple brains simultaneously without nurses and operating room staff supplying you with the customized tools you need in a moment's notice.  During group brain surgery, you will improvise your way, balancing the needs of each with the needs of the class as a whole. You will be endlessly challenged by all the learners before you and how to best unlock their potentials.  Scalpel, suction, compression!  You will decide -  make  mistakes and change course - in fact "improvise/revise" will become your middle name.  You have made the grand decision to be become an agent of change.

Your bedside manner will not only dictate your success, it will be crucial to the unfolding of the two-way street that must exist for "real" surgery to occur.  As you create an emotionally safe space in your classroom, the brains before you will become active participants.  With this success you will learn that you too are on the operating table, your students changing you as much as you change them.  You will become a guide, adjusting to the learning needs, rather than a know-it-all-sage with all the answers.  Mutual respect will define the two-way street of engagement between you and your students.

Learning on the job will become your addiction.  For to remain a teacher is to remain a learner with the job itself gracing you with the most profound laboratory you could ask for.  Each brain before you the unfolding of so many variables, you will have to draw lines and create strategies as you discover the complexities.  Who is this brain? What learning back story has lead it here?  What are its needs?  How does it understand?

For taking one of the hardest and most complex jobs, Congratulations!   ...And the next time you hear someone use the phrase "it's not brain surgery" or "rocket science" to describe something modestly difficult you may confidently add that "it's not teaching either."

Regards,
From a fellow teacher