One of the things about this community that I appreciate and that people have commented on over the years is that dissenting points of view are accepted and welcomed as contributing to a growth mindset. For example, Diana’s recent lashing out at me for my opinions on testing in Denver Public Schools was seen by me as nothing more than a family spat. I don’t think that is the way Diana saw it, but that’s the way I saw it.
I see all conflict as a source of growth. We should keep that in mind as we try again and again with comprehensible input each day in our own buildings. The fact is that we have the research, as well as inspired instructional strategies. What we don’t yet have is the curriculum (still based in the textbook in most places) and ways to assess that align with the curriculum and our new way of instructing. But we will get them lined up. It’s already starting to happen. Principals like Jay Thomas in Albermarle, Virginia are starting to make it happen.
Steve’s recent comment in which he describes his principal in Fresno, CA who only wants formative assessment in his building is another example. His principal observed him and gave him the green light on 100% formative assessment. Steve earned that with good instruction that aligns with research. And the principal wasn’t stupid – he saw clearly that in Steve’s class summative assessment requires memorization, which has no place in our work.
If principals don’t change right away, like Jay Thomas and Steve’s principal, they will eventually have to anyway if they want to keep their jobs. There are that many cracks in the foundation of the old ways of designing foreign language curriculums, instructing, and assessing in our field of languages now. And the cracks keep getting bigger. ACTFL is slow to see them, and they keep their thinking up in the heights of the ivory tower that they love to occupy, where they don’t have to get dirty, but we at the building level are starting to see the cracks.
So we should embrace all the antipathy that we feel all around us in our buildings from teachers who don’t want to change. In those barely submerged feelings of distrust that we sense from them, in those sideways looks lie the seeds of change, but only if we stick to our guns and refuse to cave in to the old ways. We can do it if we really want, but we must try, as per: