Leadership/Best Practice/ First Year of Teaching

Okay Is Not Okay!!!!!

Today’s article will start with a widely accepted definition of a word used by many on a frequent basis. The popularity of it has grown as we become more dependent upon our technologically driven world.

Okay (OK):  all right, proceeding normally, satisfactory, under control, correct, permissible meeting standards.

 The word is extremely versatile. It can be used as an adjective, adverb, noun, interjection, and verb.  Although the word could be considered trivial, it can pack a powerful message.

“My meal last night was OK.”  “My car is OK.”  The weather is OK.”  One could go on and on describing how we use this word.  However, I do not want my school system, my administration, my teachers, my students, or my school being defined as being “OK.”

Yet it is a fact that many districts, administrators, teachers, and students are quite content with just being OK.  In fact, many people work quite hard at being mediocre.  One could spend endless hours discussing the problems that plague education.  Including but not limited to, inadequate funding, test scores, achievement gaps, overcrowding, a deteriorating infrastructure, inadequate technology and resources, and poverty.  However, the most substantial problem could very well be the complacency or what I like to call the contract of mediocrity established throughout the many layers of the world of education.

This contract of mediocrity is rarely spoken about.  It is in a sense a covert epidemic that exists in far too many schools and districts.  This complacency, or lack of desire or difficulty to change this complacency is what prevents schools from attaining excellence.  Good people have tried to change this, but the system can wear you out.  Being mediocre is easy.  Being excellent takes commitment, independent thinking, and hard work.    Although unspoken, everyone seems to know that this contract exists.

Let us take a moment to illustrate and understand how this contract works.  You can extrapolate and build on these examples and in all likelihood identify elements that exist in your school.

On the classroom level:

A student is allowed to submit sub par work and receives a passing perhaps even a superior rating.  The student is never pushed.  In turn, the teacher expects orderly teacher pleasing behaviors from the student and of course, if an administrator ever enters the room, the student is to be quiet and fake engagement and interest.

 On the teacher / principal level:

The principal values orderly student behavior, quiet classrooms, and quiet hallways. The principal especially values and no parental complaints. If the teacher is able to provide this, the teacher will receive a high evaluation score regardless of the ineffective teaching or lack of student engagement.

On the Superintendent /Board of Education level:

The superintendent will present data and reports in a way that meet compliance issues but rarely paint the true picture.  Both the superintendent and the Board are quite pleased because of the positive image painted, masking any potential dysfunction.  One could even rationalize stagnant scores by pointing out that at least scores did not regress.

You now understand how the contract is enforced.  It may be wise to recall what former legendary football coach Bill Parcells once said.  He stated, “You are what your record says you are.”  Many others have commented and recognized that you are never stagnant.  You are either getting better or getting worse.

There has been a great deal written about a phenomenon called the “game of school.”  It parallels the contract of mediocrity of which I speak. Dr. Richard Waters in his recent book, The Evolution of Teaching (2014), speaks extensively on this topic and how it negatively impacts instruction and the entire profession of teaching.  He contends that it can be seen by a lack of personal investment and the loss of personal intrinsic rewards one receives from teaching.  Educators have become more interested in the appearance of teaching and learning than the true substance of teaching and learning.  They are also more intent on keeping aggravation at all levels away from them.   Gradually, a mentality starts to develop that one exists to get through the day only to begin the process anew the next day. The goal of each day is to avoid aggravation. It becomes unimportant if students experience any true learning experience.  But that is okay!

The purpose of this article is to seek to break this contract of mediocrity and to stop the non-ending game of school.  This game may in fact only end with time as the new generation of teachers enters the workforce. The “game of school” may be so entrenched right now that it may be almost impossible to break.  I choose not to be too cynical and believe that education can change for one teacher, one classroom, and one school at a time.  Listed below are some points of reflection about how to potentially avoid falling into this trap:

• Possess a competitor’s drive toward excellence. Possess an attitude that you hate to lose and view every challenge as a win / lose opportunity.  Some may refer to this spirit as passion.
• Own your personal behavior and know when you are getting pulled into the game or are preparing to sign on to the contract of mediocrity. You cannot have a contract without anyone else.  It is hard to play this game by oneself.  My challenge to you is to not become a player.
• Own your results. When test scores come in, no matter how well your students did, expect and work toward producing better results.  Do not settle.
• Take it personally every time a student is absent or disengaged. Every second wasted is time lost.
• Challenge teachers and students to push towards the next level of excellence. Invest the time and energy to reach this level.
• Challenge the status quo in yourself, your school, and district. Remember nothing remains the same.
• This article was written to spark some reflection and thought.  The article was written to inform new teachers of the contract and the game.  The article was written to get each person to think about how his / her own behavior perpetuates this epidemic.

I will close by paraphrasing another legendary football coach Vince Lombardi, who told his players, “We will chase perfection and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it.  But also, along the way we shall catch excellence.”

Be relentless!

References

Waters, R. (2014) The Evolution of Teaching. Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.