Inquiry Reflections
The End Of The Beginning
Well it has certainly been a journey. 8 months. I have been in this classroom for 8 months and it still feels like I walked in yesterday. I honestly could ramble on about lessons learned, reminisce about that one time that student did that thing, or think back fondly on all those long, wonderful hours spent marking probability packages. Alas, that is not why you are here so I fear I must focus this tirade of memories on one important area. Competition.
My final week was capped off by taking the students I had coached in Track and field to the District Track Meet at Swangard Stadium. I had worked very hard with them over the course of the season to steadily improve, work on tricky aspects like the baton pass in relays and cadence in events like 800m, but most importantly, we worked on SELF-IMPROVEMENT. That kind of intrinsic motivation to try better than next time, to work harder, and generally improve for the sake of improving. This is a tough thing to foster inside oneself and at first, (and for some not at all) the students were resistant to it. “What place was I?”and “Who did I beat?” were the cries at the end of each race at the beginning. However, (again for some) this changed. They were soon replaced by “What was my time?” or “Was I faster than last race?” This was truly great to see and I do credit it to the nature of track and field. As was stressed often, you are racing the timer as you are going for the fastest time, not the fastest in each race. In long jump or shot put, you aren’t all jumping or throwing together. You do your best one by one so you don’t even have the person in the lane beside you to compete against. It is truly a place for training, mentally training, yourself to work towards personal bests.
At Swangard this came into fruition. Everywhere I saw students discussing personal bests, wishing and hoping that the next race would result in their fastest time. Were they competing against each other? Yes, in a way. It is a district competition so I believe it would be pointless to argue that it isn’t. However, that competition isn’t directed right at another competitor. You are competing against yourself and through that, you are building intrinsic motivation. Previously I have discussed the concept of competing against an external force like a timer and this is the manifestation of that idea. It is theory put into practice and it works.
If it works for athletics, it certainly can be applied in a cross-curricular manner into other areas of the classroom. New goal: Math Athletics. Next event: The 400cm Geometry Calculations.
Track and Field is truly a place for training, mentally training, yourself to work towards personal bests.
-Me
IN-trinsic Motivation
The term personal best is a curious one. Striving to beat oneself; to push past one’s accomplishments towards bigger and better things, it does require a certain mindset. It is not unknown that the concept of personal bests is related directly to the idea of intrinsically motivation and that “inner drive” that powers us forward towards success through none other than our own will. However, what cannot be ignored that this is a difficult mindset to accomplish. One could even say that the nature of IN-trinsic motivation is IN-tricate. IN as IN-side yourself, not OUT-side. Get it?
Well the point of this isn’t for me to make cheesy one liners so let’s connect this to my practicum shall we? Over the course of the past several weeks, I have been developing the concept of a Track and Field unit based solely on the concept of personals bests. This is intrinsic motivation at it’s…well, best. Great concept, however the notion of working against oneself is tricky. For myself, I am not an overtly intrinsically motivated person. I don’t do that well with personal bests and I need some form of extrinsic motivation; another competitor, a timer, etc. Therefore, it is reasonable to imagine the same mindset is present in at least some my students. So how do I encourage a group of students to adopt a mindset that I myself struggle with. Well I accomplish this through example.
From the beginning of my long practicum until now, my SA and I have introduced a new morning routine where the students are reflecting on a motivational video, finding a connection to the theme of a clip, and sharing how it relates to them personally. The shear amount of wonderful, articulate mantras that have been created by my students in connection to these videos on a daily basis is outstanding. “Success is looking at your life and being happy”, “if you don’t take risks, you’re not really living”, “failure is a stop on the road to success” are all credos, although probably not coined, by certainly echoed, by my students. In subsequent PE lessons, I found the concept of personal bests easier to get through to my students, they were sharing their times or distances as would be expected, but I also began to hear comments such as “I beat last week’s time by 10 seconds” or “I did better than I did last week”. In discussion with my class, they related the motivational comments that we created at the beginning of every day to an increase in their intrinsic motivation (this sentiment being paraphrased by me). The videos and discussion of them encouraged them to work harder and not necessarily against others. They seemed happy with beating their previous best and were excited to try again next time to improve even further.
So I suppose the whole idea of this is that you have to use the tools available to you to achieve your desired outcome. This, plus the notion of students exploring concepts on their own to derive their own meaning from it, are a powerful combination when facing a struggle like this one. What I found interesting at the end of all this, the students increase in intrinsic motivation spurred my intrinsic motivation to get into gear. It is the little things in this profession that you derive simple pleasure from.
“Success is looking at your life and being happy”
“If you don’t take risks, you’re not really living”
“Failure is a stop on the road to success”
- My Students Paraphrasing Motivational Videos
Teachable Moments
As I have moved throughout this journey that is my practicum, something has become increasingly clear for me: the ability to adapt is critical. Much like in the process of evolution where those with the capability to change to fit into their surroundings, teachers that can adjust on the fly to fit the needs of the present situation, to “make it work”, are the ones who will survive (I know this is a dramatic analogy but I am one for theatricality, so I believe it still applies). Something that I have been mindful about throughout this process is finding ways to weave my inquiry topic into my daily routine. Setting up lessons that will bring my class together collaboratively but keep them engaged in a competitive sense. Therefore, when I reflect back upon my process (as I am doing now), I will have ample fodder for my ever-hungry blog. Was it a good plan? Yes. Are these careful sculpted lessons where I have witnessed some of the most insightful interaction to connection to my inquiry topic? No.
The reality is that “stuff” happens. And it is in those moments where a teacher is forced to adapt to a situation that you find connections to things like, in my case collaborative competition, where you didn’t see it before. An example of this was over the past weeks, my SA (who has been organizing the majority of the badminton games between our school and others) was given the task of picking 9 students to send to an upcoming badminton tournament from the over 60 who had originally signed up to play the sport. He elected to create a bracket-style tournament to pick who would go and during the course of the 3 days when the games occurred, you could see the students participate in the classic style of competition, which engaged the students with the extrinsic motivator of representing out school in this tournament. As the students were playing doubles, they did, in one way, engage in my concept of collaborative competition when the connected with their partners, supporting each other to achieve the task. This is noteworthy but something I could have predicted before the games began as it also is the classic style of teamwork and collaboration. However, it was after the games were all played out that the true, and unintended form of collaborative competition came out.
The gym was packed with teams that had finished playing, and other students who were there just to support their friends and spectate. After congratulating the winning team and noting there was time remaining at lunchtime, we proposed to have a friendly game of the winning team vs. us (the teachers). They said they would love to and the frantic excitement among the rest of the students was palpable. As the game began, something very interesting happened, the entire gym rallied behind these two players, supporting them, cheering them on, and bonding together as one. It wasn’t them vs. just another team, it was them vs. an external force (in this case us). As I have referred to in the past, this environment where the students, and not only those participating but spectating as well, can act as one against an external force (ex. a timer, another school, and yes in this scenario, the two of us). The long and short of it is that the students won a very close and exciting game, and everyone went away smiling. In conversation with the two students after, the noted as the game went on they played better and better, and they referred to the support of their peers as a driving factor behind this. They were unified and through this they felt they could achieve the goal better than if they didn’t have the collaborative force behind them.
This wasn’t intended. It wasn’t in the plan. It was spontaneous. Finding moments such as that, but more importantly taking advantage of them, is vital for a teacher to make connections to their students. I am not saying that teachers do not need to be planned or that lessons can just shift as if influenced by the tides. No. Anyone who has spent time with me knows that I am very organized and that isn’t my MO. However, what I am advocating is that rigidity and inflexibility is limiting. It limits your students and also limits your own potential as an educator. The ability to, in a structured and thought out way, ease off of the reins from time to time is one that I wish to possess and will work towards in the future.
“It is in the chaos that we find teachable moments.”
– Me
Supported Failure
Lahey, J. (2015). The gift of failure: How to step back and let your child succeed. London, UK: Short Books Ltd. Edited extract retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/sep/05/parenting-tomorrow-why-should-let-children-fail
The idea of a trained fear of failure is a phenomenon that is prevalent among students these days. Students who are terrified of making a mistake and through this, are unwilling to ever take risks. But why is this the case? Parental and teacher intervention. As Jessica Lahey states in her 2015 book The Gift of Failure, “out of love and a desire to protect our children’s self-esteem, we have bulldozed every uncomfortable bump and obstacle out of their way, depriving our children of the most important lesson of childhood: that setbacks, mistakes and failures are the very experiences that will teach them how to be resourceful, persistent, innovative and resilient.”
Well put. The way in which we create a cocoon for our students, a protective shield against falling (and in this case failing), has made our students petrified of making a mistake. This fear comes from two sources. The desire for an idyllic childhood that parents and teacher so badly wish for their children, and the reality that to get our students on an easy road to success, we push them harder and harder to be the best. This may seem counter-intuitive, but it is the reality. These over-parented, over-taught, over-guided students are going to have a very tough time when they enter adult life. When they leave school, the braces will have to be removed and if they aren’t strong enough, they will crumble. So why does Jessica Lahey’s book appeal to my inquiry question? Competition. The sheltering process many educators have engaged in, removing competition completely, is a product of this style of parenting. How do you expect you students to learn how to lose if they’re never given the chance to do so? How will they learn sportsmanship or working as team, or resilience, if you remove a barrier for them to overcome as a group? Yes, competition can be negative. Yes, competition can be part of the high-stakes race for the top that Lahey describes in the pursuit of giving one’s child the bets possible lot in life. However, it doesn’t have to. Competition can be good and depending on framework, is good. With many things in life, all in moderation and with a proper framework.
Positive Competition: A Business Perspective
Draper, T. (2013, October 2). Tim Draper: Positive competition. [Video file]. Retrieved 3 March 2016 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYaWk6a8YMc&app=desktop
First off, let me state that this resource doesn’t have to do with education. It does not contain the words student, classroom, or teacher. However, it does outline several of the key ideas surrounding competition. These are values that bleed down from the business world into the classroom for one simple reason: it is the way the world works. Here are a few keys points highlighting this from Tim Draper’s talk on Positive Competition at an event the TEDxUNPlaza in 2013.
- Competition is good
- Keeps us on our toes
- Creates innovators (in teaching entrepreneurs)
- We we compete, we get the best results (people are motivated)
Now, as this is talk was directed towards venture capitalists and investors, what I feel is the pinnacle of competitiveness, he discussed a key point. Not only is “real life” competitive, but it is something that is a commonality around the world. Every example he gave highlighted the idea of countries competing for a place at the table, a stake or share, an opportunity. There are billions of people jockeying for position and through these example, a message became clear to me. If our students don’t understand this reality, if we shield them from how the world works, they are in for a rude awakening indeed. Now I am not saying that every students needs to have this venture capitalist mentality, elbowing their peers for a shot at the title, but what this showed me is that many people do think this way. I would argue most people in the “real world” think this way. Therefore, it would be doing our students a disservice if they are not prepared. We can do this through many of the methods share on previous posts but this video really highlighted that removing competition entirely is, in many ways, setting our students up for failure.
Collaborative Competition: A Time and Place For Both
The world is inherently competitive. That is an argument expressed by many who are proponents of the model of winners and losers, victories and defeats. Due to this viewpoint (as it has been one that has reigned supreme for centuries), when it comes to competition, it is a phenomenon that inspires extremely powerful emotions from people who exist on either side of the debate on whether it is a “healthy” thing. It has been extraordinarily interesting to hear people’s responses to the idea of involving competition in a classroom. The responses are varied and full of passion, as most people have, in their lives (both educational and otherwise), when they’ve had a strong relationship with competition. When we think about the role competition plays in social relationships, it is often remarked how competition creates divides and alienates students who don’t fit into the system. Now we have discussed this previously, so that isn’t the point of this reflection, but what is, is that competition also acts in the inverse of this alienation. It can bond, solidify, and bring people together. The connections that competitions breads are incredible and are links that can last for decades.
So here I am. At the same impasse I was at a few weeks ago. My path towards collaborative competition has led me to a new place. A place I couldn’t have predicted when I started this exploration. Collaborative Competition. Now again, as I have previously stated, this could change my inquiry question, but it doesn’t. It is a means to an end. What is one way we can engage our students in positive competition in the classroom? Collaborative competition. So if this is a viable solution, let’s look at some interactions, albeit they are fairly limited still, that some educators have had with collaborative competition.
Bevacqua, J. (2013). Collaboration and competition. Connected Principals. [Web log post] Retrieved from http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/8186
On the blog Connected Principals, Johnny Bevacqua explore the concept of collaborative competition. He highlights some key concepts that I have discussed in previous blog posts but are nonetheless worthy of repetition. In terms of the downsides to competition he states “Competition without collaboration promotes closed systems. It closes classroom doors and prevents innovation and new ideas.” This summarize a negative feature of competition we have all witnessed. But as he states this isn’t the be-all-and-end-all. The two can intermingle and support each other. In truly elegant fashion he states:
There is a place and a time for both. My nuanced take on this “dance” is that to be competitive in today’s world you must find ways to effectively collaborative. In other words, to be competitive, you must be collaborative.
Competition encourages time efficiency. Cooperation encourages accuracy. To be successful you must find a way to foster both. What was particularly interesting is that, in a study referenced by Bevacqua from ZeitNews, is that student associate self-esteem with the system they exist in. If they exist within a system of competition, then competition raises self-esteem. The inverse is also true with cooperation. If they exist within a system of cooperation, then cooperation raises self-esteem. Therefore, through magnificent logic, if we instilled a system of collaborative competition in our classrooms, wouldn’t our student associate collaborative competition with self-esteem? An idea to ponder.
Play Ball: Collaborative Competition In Action
When I view the relationship of competition in schools to collaboration among students, something that stands out in the forefront for me is how collaboration can permeate through team sports. This may seem like a contradiction and that many would argue that the two are mutually exclusive, however in the experience witnessing how some amazing educators have worked tirelessly to create a sense of collaborative competitiveness, I believe that it is possible. I believe it is completely dependent on the framework and presentation of the competition, and if it is done correctly can lead to an amazing atmosphere; one of enthusiasm, motivation, encouragement, growth, comfort, and a consideration of the feelings of the participants.
The scenario where I have witnessed this the most is during my practicum in the basketball program led by teachers and coaches from around the district. The structure for this is that the students are learning, and let me stress that they are LEARNING, how to play the sport. Inherit in this is competition as it is indeed a sport, however there are many other aspects to it that cross over with competition, most noticeably is the idea of cooperation. They are acting together as a team, communicating with peers, and working towards achieving a goal (winning the game). This is the definition of cooperation and one that is prevalent throughout team sports. However, more rare than this is collaboration within team sports. This is a much loftier goal as it requires collaboration among all participants, not just “your team”. Communication, working towards a goal, and trust are all elements that need to be shared between your team, your coaches, the other team, the other coaches, the referees, the spectators, everyone! Now how could this possible exist in such a competitive, no-holds-barred, free-for-all world like elementary basketball? Well it can, and here’s how. In watching the students engage in the sport, the coaches/referees conducted the game in a very unique way and one that didn’t reflect the “traditional” nature of competition. During the play, whenever there was a foul, the coaches/referees called the foul but didn’t simply continue on with the game. They stopped, drew all the players in regardless of which team they were associated with, and took the time to explain the play, what went wrong, and how to correct it next time. They demonstrated the concept and checked for comprehension with all the players. They then restarted the game and play continued with the coaches/referees continuing this trend of stop, collaborate, start, compete. This is a system that the students really responded to. It allowed them to participate in the traditional, competitive environment, however still leaving room for collaborative reinforcement of areas to improve on. Through this, you could really see the impact collaborative competition can have on the students. They were engaged yet exhibited sportsmanship, motivated to do their best yet respectful, honoured the process but showed that drive to succeed.
So can collaborative competition work? Absolutely! Is it effective? You betcha! Is it dependent on the framework you set up at the beginning of the activity and a prerequisites of skills the participants need to have before starting? Also yes. Regardless, it is a system that incorporates the best of both worlds and one certainly worth of exploring.
(Side Note: I know “play ball” is most often associated with baseball and this reflection was on basketball, but the title was too good to pass up)
The Difference Between Winning and Succeeding: A TED Talk by John Wooden
Wooden, J. (2001, January). John Wooden: The difference between winning and succeeding. [Video file]. Retrieved 21 February 2016 from https://www.ted.com/talks/john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_success?language=en
Something that resonated with me in this talk, which was given by an incredibly successful coach who spent years teaching, coaching, and educating students and athletes, was about how when you are competing for a goal, what that goal actually is changes how you “play the game”. And what is significant is that this goal, whether it be in academics or athletics, is determined or framed by the facilitators. Achievement of that goal or “success” in the given task and the worth that people surrounding the participants place on this success varies. The idea that John Wooden brings forth of “Never try to be better than someone else, always learn from others. Never cease trying to be the best you can be — that’s under your control” is a concept that isn’t always in line with what we witness in competitive scenarios. The idea of measuring success in this format, of whether you achieved the best you could, regardless of others, is in line with intrinsic competition. This is directly linked to the question of “How do we make competition positive?” and “How do we make it a situation of learning and growth for all participants?” We could argue that this is the case all the time and that we strive for this in any competition. Well that is false. Whether it is caches, parents, spectators, or other participants, more often than not a certain expectation to win is placed upon them. Not succeed. Win. The framework of us vs. them, me vs. you, winners vs. losers, is the reason many people have such negative feelings towards competition. This baggage has stuck with them and they never had competition framed for them in a way that set them up to be successful. Not necessarily winners, but successful nonetheless. The ability to see yourself as achieving a goal, regardless of the outcome is an essential skill that needs to be taught, and yes it most certainly is not something that comes naturally. We as educators have a responsibility to teach our students this skill and competition can support that learning and growth. When they leave school and enter the “real world”, employers, administrators, and all sorts of people will be looking for individuals that can exhibit this kind of success, and again that doesn’t mean winning. John Wooden summarized it in an excellent way about what he looked for in a player that he would call a “perfect player”:
“Well, I’d want one that knew why he was at UCLA: to get an education, he was a good student, really knew why he was there in the first place. But I’d want one that could play, too. I’d want one to realize that defense usually wins championships, and who would work hard on defense. But I’d want one who would play offense, too. I’d want him to be unselfish, and look for the pass first and not shoot all the time. And I’d want one that could pass and would pass.”
These qualities translate off the basketball court, off the football field, off the ice rink, and directly into our classrooms. They are qualities and skills that stick with our students and will be essential for the rest of their lives.
Competition and Collaboration: The New Odd Couple
So I have come to an impasse in my inquiry process. The more and more I work to investigate how I can include competition in a positive way in my future classroom, the more and more I realize that to do so is going to require a great deal of careful framing. This framing is going to come in the brand new form of a specific component of competition that I have uncovered, through research, observation, and reflection. I am going to coin this term “collaborative competition”. I have briefly examined the relationship between the two seemingly dissimilar concepts in a previous blog post (see: Competition and Social Relationships), so from here I will look to deepen my investigation of their relationship. So I now pose two questions that hopefully will serve to further my understanding of how the two are interconnected:
- How can we bridge the gap that exists between competition and collaboration?
- In what situations, scenarios, activities, or environments will a collaborative competition serve to motivate and engage students?
Now I can hear voices screaming out “Does this mean you’re changing your inquiry topic?” No. My question remains “How can you implement positive competition in classroom?” Collaborative competition is simply an avenue that I have discovered possible can answer my inquiry question. Therefore, to truly understand how a relationship can be built between collaboration and competition, I need to examine the elements of collaboration that will work to serve this purpose.
Below is a link to an infographic that was created with the purpose of demonstrating some of the impacts of a collaborative work environment in the business world.
PGI., (2015). From Me to We: Teams drive innovation, productivity and growth [infographic]. Retrieved 21 February 2016, from http://blog.pgi.com/2015/03/infographic-benefits-of-teamwork-collaboration/
Now these statistics may seem non-applicable to an elementary school classroom, but the essential elements of collaboration are exhibited and the importance of collaboration is also shown. It also shows some key areas that are connected to my fancy, new (but probably not) idea of collaborative competition.
- The benefits of a collaborative work environment include better productivity, an expansion of ideas through innovation, and an increase in morale.
- Technology plays, and will continue to play, a huge role in how people (and in this case, students) engage with their peers and communicate ideas.
- The rising trend of collaboration OVER competition.
So how does competition relate to these ideas? Well I will be exploring each one in depth over the next few posts in an attempt to connect these trends in collaborative work to a motivating, positive, engaging competitive environment.