Rocking the Boat
Task Zero, Review:
Rocking the Boat by Debra E. Meyerson is a handbook on how to make slow, affective change in an organization. She calls boat rockers “tempered radicals” and I see why she had to change the title of the book as the word radical can seem extreme even when tempered. She states that the contributions of a tempered radical are not usually immediately apparent, but can lead to lasting changes.
In Part 2, she explores a spectrum of tempered radicals’ strategies. Resisting quietly and staying true to one’s “self” involves subtle, behind the scenes resistance through self expression such as dress, decor, language or rituals. Turning personal threats into opportunities reframes possibly negative encounters into opportunities for learning. Broadening the impact through negotiation is the idea of approaching difficult situations as negotiations and trying to reach a middle ground. Leveraging small wins begins with initiatives that are doable and can be started immediately. My administrators call these “quick wins” which, as stated on page 102, can create "immediate tangible progress”. These small changes can cause a domino effect and lead to changes of broader proportions. Organizing collective action harnesses the power and resources of a group of individuals.
Task One, How am I different?:
Three ways to be different in an organization according to Debra Meyerson are: 1.) having a different social identity from the majority and your differences exclude you, 2.) having a different social identity, but your differences are cultural and not a basis for exclusion and 3.) having philosophical differences which conflict with the beliefs of the organization.
Philosophical difference applies the most to me when thinking of my school district and their philosophies behind students. My values and beliefs are often at odds with CPS policies and practices. Because of the size of the district, to CPS, educating students is seen as a business. I struggle with evaluating students based on standardized test scores. I think my students are much more than data points.
I believe each student is a whole person with unique and diverse talents. Through this program, I have become more cognizant of multi-modal forms of communicating learning (photos, video, song, dance). It would be a fantastic shift in how we evaluate students, if we could advance toward online learning portfolios that students curate throughout their school years.
Task Two, Becoming a Tempered Radical:
I see myself on the resisting quietly and staying true to one’s self side of the continuum of tempered radicals. I don’t think of myself as much of a boat rocker, but I am excited about spreading the knowledge I have gained about STEM learning through this program. The 7th and 8th grade teachers and I have been wearing our MSU green shirts Thursdays since December. This small action has sparked many informal hallway conversations about the MSU program, STEM learning and exploring new teaching strategies to keep up with changing technologies.
On page 160, the importance of a good relationship with immediate supervisors was discussed as making it either safe to speak your mind or not. I am very lucky in my current position to work with like-minded administrators who are very open to new ideas and suggestions and who are very excited about STEM learning practices. I see myself moving toward the “broadening the impact through negotiations” side of the continuum. I can see myself slowly effecting changes by inspiring a movement at my school toward more STEM learning opportunities for students. One personal leadership goal that I have is to make the 6th (and 7th and 8th grade) ImagineIT projects public to the school community during Inquiry Extravaganza Night in April. Allowing the students to showcase their learning will be a great step in promoting STEM practices and multi-modal composition projects.
The story of Peter Gant, in Rocking the Boat, slowly and methodically working to advance opportunities for minorities really inspired me the most. Working in a school with a large minority population, I feel the urgency of providing the best learning opportunities, of celebrating and bringing attention to successes and of pushing against obstacles to open new doors and opportunities.
Task Three, Facing challenges:
The four levels of challenges faced by tempered radicals are ambivalence, the pull of co-optation/assimilation, damage to reputation, and frustration and burnout. Having been in teaching for many years, I definitely deal with ambivalence at times. I have a lot of anxiety and that often causes me to hold back ideas that differ from the majority. On page 144, the text states that "a basic psychological drive to alleviate the anxiety from ambivalence can lead people toward conformity”. Therein lies my tendency to tow the company line and blend in with the masses.
I don’t feel as if the “lure of co-optation” poses a particular challenge to me. Taking more risks by standing up and promoting small, incremental changes for the implementation of more STEM and TPACK at my school will not put my tenure, position or reputation in jeopardy. I also don't foresee that there would be any type of negative impact on my professional reputation.
I think frustration and burnout is very real and in such a large, urban district there are mandates and policies that can exacerbate these feelings. It is important, when trying to make small, incremental changes, not to give up when efforts do not seem to be producing the desired outcomes immediately.
Task Zero, Review:
Rocking the Boat by Debra E. Meyerson is a handbook on how to make slow, affective change in an organization. She calls boat rockers “tempered radicals” and I see why she had to change the title of the book as the word radical can seem extreme even when tempered. She states that the contributions of a tempered radical are not usually immediately apparent, but can lead to lasting changes.
In Part 2, she explores a spectrum of tempered radicals’ strategies. Resisting quietly and staying true to one’s “self” involves subtle, behind the scenes resistance through self expression such as dress, decor, language or rituals. Turning personal threats into opportunities reframes possibly negative encounters into opportunities for learning. Broadening the impact through negotiation is the idea of approaching difficult situations as negotiations and trying to reach a middle ground. Leveraging small wins begins with initiatives that are doable and can be started immediately. My administrators call these “quick wins” which, as stated on page 102, can create "immediate tangible progress”. These small changes can cause a domino effect and lead to changes of broader proportions. Organizing collective action harnesses the power and resources of a group of individuals.
Task One, How am I different?:
Three ways to be different in an organization according to Debra Meyerson are: 1.) having a different social identity from the majority and your differences exclude you, 2.) having a different social identity, but your differences are cultural and not a basis for exclusion and 3.) having philosophical differences which conflict with the beliefs of the organization.
Philosophical difference applies the most to me when thinking of my school district and their philosophies behind students. My values and beliefs are often at odds with CPS policies and practices. Because of the size of the district, to CPS, educating students is seen as a business. I struggle with evaluating students based on standardized test scores. I think my students are much more than data points.
I believe each student is a whole person with unique and diverse talents. Through this program, I have become more cognizant of multi-modal forms of communicating learning (photos, video, song, dance). It would be a fantastic shift in how we evaluate students, if we could advance toward online learning portfolios that students curate throughout their school years.
Task Two, Becoming a Tempered Radical:
I see myself on the resisting quietly and staying true to one’s self side of the continuum of tempered radicals. I don’t think of myself as much of a boat rocker, but I am excited about spreading the knowledge I have gained about STEM learning through this program. The 7th and 8th grade teachers and I have been wearing our MSU green shirts Thursdays since December. This small action has sparked many informal hallway conversations about the MSU program, STEM learning and exploring new teaching strategies to keep up with changing technologies.
On page 160, the importance of a good relationship with immediate supervisors was discussed as making it either safe to speak your mind or not. I am very lucky in my current position to work with like-minded administrators who are very open to new ideas and suggestions and who are very excited about STEM learning practices. I see myself moving toward the “broadening the impact through negotiations” side of the continuum. I can see myself slowly effecting changes by inspiring a movement at my school toward more STEM learning opportunities for students. One personal leadership goal that I have is to make the 6th (and 7th and 8th grade) ImagineIT projects public to the school community during Inquiry Extravaganza Night in April. Allowing the students to showcase their learning will be a great step in promoting STEM practices and multi-modal composition projects.
The story of Peter Gant, in Rocking the Boat, slowly and methodically working to advance opportunities for minorities really inspired me the most. Working in a school with a large minority population, I feel the urgency of providing the best learning opportunities, of celebrating and bringing attention to successes and of pushing against obstacles to open new doors and opportunities.
Task Three, Facing challenges:
The four levels of challenges faced by tempered radicals are ambivalence, the pull of co-optation/assimilation, damage to reputation, and frustration and burnout. Having been in teaching for many years, I definitely deal with ambivalence at times. I have a lot of anxiety and that often causes me to hold back ideas that differ from the majority. On page 144, the text states that "a basic psychological drive to alleviate the anxiety from ambivalence can lead people toward conformity”. Therein lies my tendency to tow the company line and blend in with the masses.
I don’t feel as if the “lure of co-optation” poses a particular challenge to me. Taking more risks by standing up and promoting small, incremental changes for the implementation of more STEM and TPACK at my school will not put my tenure, position or reputation in jeopardy. I also don't foresee that there would be any type of negative impact on my professional reputation.
I think frustration and burnout is very real and in such a large, urban district there are mandates and policies that can exacerbate these feelings. It is important, when trying to make small, incremental changes, not to give up when efforts do not seem to be producing the desired outcomes immediately.
Setting Goals
My short-term goal is to continue to implement my ImagineIT projects through the rest of this school year and into next year. Our 6th, 7th and 8th grade students have been collecting their ImagineIT project artifacts in Google and will be able to archive those each year. We have been working to build a solid foundation at the middle school level for integrating technology into science learning. Our hope is to expand or broaden the impact of the STEM program at our school by having students share their work with the school community at large.
Students would best be able to demonstrate the engagement of using technology in the learning and studying of science by sharing their excitement with younger grade levels. Lower grade levels would be invited to the middle school classrooms to work on collaborative projects that incorporate science learning and technology. This would also provide inspiration to K through fifth grade teachers (who in some cases, due to time constraints, spend less time on science) to incorporate some ideas into their science lessons.
My long-term goal is to spread the message of STEM learning to other schools in our network. Starting small, we could arrange a visit from another school to share our STEM learning projects. Students could host workshops on how to use various technologies such as stop motion videos or using Make–a–Movie videos with BrainPOP to create multimodal presentations on science topics. It would be great to coordinate these events to make student learning even more public and more relevant. Each year we could expand the event to include more schools.