WHY IS DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP HARD?

The broad classification of leadership can be done on these three types wherein the scale of freedom can be measured between ‘Autocratic’ and ‘Laissez-faire’. Decisions are faster in both Autocratic and Laissez-faire types of leaderships, however, distributary leadership is about building a team and working together with shared values.  Obviously, this becomes difficult.  The major block is when we require all members of the team to work towards a committed and convicted job.  Human mind definitely searches the easy way out.  The main concept of distributary leadership thus, is a cyclic process of analysis, discussions and finalisations with guaranteed arguments and lots of conflicts.  Here is the cyclic process discussed.

This leadership values every individual in the team, the conviction of its team members leads to success.  The question then is – How to achieve this conviction and why is it so difficult?

Well the values behind such leadership are themselves, for and against the leadership.   They are

The leadership warrants respect among its members.  The members need to believe in the values of the organisation or the team.  They should mutually trust in building a positive culture and environment within the organisation.  Every argument, every conflict should be towards the value built for achieving the goal rather than individual interests.

Building respect, belief and trust among members is the most difficult task within organisations.  The major reason being ‘individual interest’ and ‘selfish attitude’.  Within a given work environment, the transparency of the nature of work, positives and profits are rarely discussed openly.  This leads to unequal distribution of workload, hidden agendas and unwarranted benefits for a few.  Once the ‘sense of doubt’ enters the mind automatically, the value and culture of the organisation moves towards its downfall.  Unfortunately, this is what predominates in todays organisations. 

This being a part of the difficulty of distributed leadership another major aspect is – it is easy to handle things when one dictates and others follow or to allow them to do on their own.

 

“When the boss says – we just follow, no questions asked.”

The easy part is, if, anything goes wrong, the boss should take the blame.  However, is this a perfect solution for problems or issues at hand - ‘NO’.  A single person will not be able to analyse the given problem/issue in all dimensions (or), in the other case of leadership: If each individual handles the problem or issue in their own way, the direction of organisational value is totally destroyed.  The multidimensional approach of handling issues as in Laissez-faire, may lead to engineering parts which do not connect perfectly with one another.   

Schools and organisations are partly to be blamed for this attitude developing among the members of the society.  Learning has always been competitive and the select few are provided with provisions unimaginable.  The rest discriminated on their learning potential.  Well, it is obvious that ‘we judge a fish by its ability to climb trees’.  The innocent minds are provided an opportunity to start differentiating ‘the awarded and not awarded conditions’ which stress them to insecure corners. Thus, begins the downfall of values like -Respect, trust and belief. 

Trust begins when we feel safe, when respect and security is not provided the leadership calculations for a better world is only a Utopian dream.

LEARNING - HOW AND WHEN?

`Learning is an achievement, when done by self it becomes an achievement.  Teachers, students and parents wonder about  learning.  The frequent questions asked are

• Is it achievable? 
• How is it achievable?
• Why is it difficult?

  

Learning is not a process to build talent.  Each and every one of us learn some things fast while others slow.  Some have the ability to read and remember words while others have ability to remember incidents better than words.  Some have more practical approach to learning. It is now understood better than ever that individual tastes differ when it comes to learning.  It is scientifically also understood that when learnt concepts’ move back and forth between working memory and long-term storage, the more is the ability to recall and, builds more divergent thought process. 

How can one throw their learning towards this swing to achieve long term learning?

Considering a typical slow learner of a class, it is astonishing sometimes that the learner, who is considered ‘slow’, surprises us now and then with their fast understanding.  It is observed that they learn certain aspects faster than others.  The label ‘slow learner’ does not indicate that they ‘do not learn’.  The very fact learning happens slowly can also be the fault of the instructor or the context of learning. Some other varied reasons that affect learning can be – interest, time, teaching or the abstractness of the curriculum.  Learner’s learning variation is not a constant with time.  The multi-fold variation in the learning curves as studied in researches validate the same.  

Then, what should be the strategy for a long-term learning?

Learning researches may have produced astonishing results.  The learning cycle to remember however follows a simple cyclic process.

Before looking into the details of the cycle we need to reflect on a basic query of 

‘why do we need learning?’

‘Learning is to remember’.  Facts without meaning are difficult to remember.  However, teaching students’ connection of facts may not be possible within set classroom scenarios.  Today, though many other possibilities to look into application of knowledge is available.  Learning happens only when the learner applies and analysis the learnt as required. Spaced learning is an emerging method for learning and remembering.

The site given below provides a step by step approach to remember forever also gives a graphical scenario on spaced learning – www.ncase.me/remember

This website also shows a progressive building of memory with the time required to recall and remember. The use of ‘flash cards’ to recall and recollect is also emphasized here.   The graph clearly shows small gaps between recall for a long-term learning.

Another research work on the spaced time approach which combines various strategies to remember is the ‘ANSWER’ method to recall and remember.  The video gives a clear explanation of the same:

Thus, the key to learning looks as simple as the given points to follow

1. Space learning
2. Maintain key notes
3. Build connections
4. Explain connections to oneself
5. Recall

Though the methods have been proven through long research studies, it is individual’s pace of learning which enable them to work out a schedule and a plan to learn.  The major difference between remembering and forgetting being ‘practice’.  It is the simplest of the terms which make the most difficult to practice. After all, ‘the process of learning is also the process which of habit forming. ‘

Class VI - Sample questions

1.  Baloo is Mowgli’s friend.   What do you think he will eat as his food?

2. Honey bees collect honey.  We take this honey as food. Why is honey considered as a vegetarian food?

3. Vicky return from Dubai after summer holidays.  He brings some dates as snacks to school, he is interested in finding out what it contains.  What test should he carry out and what results do you expect?

4. A ‘South Indian thali’ is considered to be a wholesome food.  Elaborate why?

5. Lord Krishna was known as ‘makan chor’.  How do you think the ladies of Vrindavan would have prepared ‘makan’?

6. Why does the person stand on the stool to do winnowing in the given image?

7. When salt is added to ice it melts, however for drinking, ice is preferable heated to get water.  Why?

8. Bamboo and teak are used by man for making furniture.  However, both have different types of leaves and stem.  Specify the differences.

9. Why do plants generally have flat stamen and rounded pistil surfaces?

10.  It is said that ‘muscles work in pairs’, that is when one pulls the other relaxes.  What happens if both muscles pull or relax at the same time?

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Contact: puthenvarriem@gmail.com

LEARNER BLUES - A STUDY

Peeping into the learner's mind is the biggest problem for the teacher.  Once teacher understands this, learning becomes a solution.

What process does one adapt to understand the learner’s mindset?

Well! Let’s see some.

The fundamentals of differentiating the subject is of primary importance – The learner’s difficulty may be in

       1.      Language

a.       Confusing alphabets

b.       Confusing words

c.       Deciphering sentences

d.       Meaning of words

e.       Correlation of words in sentences

       2.      Numeracy

a.       Identification of Numbers or operators

b.       Multiplication tables

c.       Mathematical terms and their relations

d.       Properties and their applications

e.       Volume of theorems

       3.      Sciences

a.       Clarity of concepts

b.       Absence of visual thinking

c.       Correlation to abstract thinking

d.       Language influences

e.       Practical nature of minuscules

        4.     Social sciences

a.       Confused concept of time and money

b.       Absence of Community awareness

c.       Ignorant of cultural functionalities

d.       Lack of spatial awareness

e.       Overprotective care and nurturing

Excellent students lack clarity in thought due to the fault of both parents as well as teachers.  Students are born thinkers, they are tuned to question everything that helps them learn. Unfortunately, both schooling and parenting puts a full stop towards this inquisitive growth.  This is not intentional, this happens along the with the process of formal learning which promotes only ‘silent listening’.  When questions become difficult to answer, parents either ignore or ask children to ‘shut up’, resulting in hideous attitude among the children.  Shunning away from student questions or more focus on academic input without providing scope for thinking leads to ‘listening without understanding’ behaviour among students in classes. The concept of ‘flipped classrooms’ emerged a long time ago. However, its actual implementation has met with lots of blocks among teachers as well as parents.

The current teaching-learning methods, the student loses both interest and curiosity in learning.  The main two reasons for this are non-adaptability of teachers into the learning process and the loss of glamour towards the teaching field. 

Those in teaching profession do not provide scope for learning and learner conditions.  The lessons designed is for providing the knowledge rather than understanding the learner ability to decipher the knowledge provided.  How many such learner problems are addressed in your classrooms?

Earning has become the key note of an average adult who is into ‘job-seeking’.   The terminologies like ‘patience’, ‘experience’, ‘step-by-step growth’ are too rudimentary for today’s job seekers.  The end result being competition for lucrative job offers, money-making and luxurious life style.  This tradition results in a major loss for the next generation.

Where passion takes the back seat and finance, the driver the route leads to depression.  This is phenomenally observed in today’s world.  Education driven by the hypothetical theory that ‘money leads to happiness’ directs the system which is bound to build ‘future healthy citizens’ of the world towards more ‘money-mindedness’ rather than living with ‘interest’ and ‘curiosity’.  Learner blues become more predominant in such a learning system. 

Diversion of passion towards learning is a more intelligent system. Creative works are adaptive, however, when teacher is unable to correlate and build learning on learner interest, learning tends towards failure.

Building the curve towards interest is where the learner blue nullifies.  Education needs to build the positive curve.  The base line ‘Education for life’ is to be promoted rather than ‘Education for earning’.   When the focus changes learner blues become greener towards learning.  Building greener pastures for a better world is the prime focus of the 21^st century.  

Learner blues

How many of us think about the learner when we design our lessons?
What attributes would you consider for your lesson design?
Do you believe that technology can solve all learner problems?

Let me know your response in the comments......

CHALLENGES IN EDUCATION

Education is formally a challenge for – Parents, Students and Teachers.  Each has their own perception of the same challenge.  Each argue that their view is correct while none take the consideration of the protagonist in the scene ‘the student’.

Source: https://www.taazatadka.com/cartoon-6-9-web/

Parents feel teachers are not doing enough.   Teachers feel that students and their parents are not doing enough while students feel teachers and parents are making their life difficult. Whose is at fault?

A short survey from those directly involved in schooling is as follows

Education system refers to the collaboration of various systems that include – Curriculum, Management, Teaching and Parenting.  The members involved in these systems should work towards the common goal of ‘achieving learning’ rather than ‘identify the flaws of each other’.  The right question to ask will we ‘How to ensure the working of all these systems towards achieving learning?' 

Building a network is easier said than done.  The intricacies of human mind play havoc in building such networks.   Attributes like Individualism, Ego, Jealousy, prominence and Identification - rules in networks leading to doubtfulness, distrust and non-participatory attitudes within them. 

To overcome such detrimental thoughts, building positive, keeping an open mind towards learning and performance becomes mandatory.  The trust building process in networks is essential to lay foundation towards a successful learning process. Networking is not about all acting as ‘single unit’.  Networking is about various units approaching from different dimension with the focus of ‘achieving learning’.  It is about setting boundaries and providing scope for the learner to understand the norms within the set boundaries towards learning.  Parents and management should support teacher in their effort towards learner achievement and teachers need to openly communicate about the learner performance variation to both parents and management.  Confidentiality is crucial from all directions on learner direction.  Achieving everything without confidentiality can lead to loss of trust from the learner.

Learning is more about the intermediary process between input and output.  However, it is still not sure as to what input initiate the right learning to deliver the expected output.  That is why, it is all the more important to focus on working together rather than as a mutual fault finders in ‘achieving learning’

WHY I CHOOSE POWERPOINT?

Technology has become part of today’s classrooms.  Technology allows teacher to provide in-depth analysis to virtual field trips around the globe within the frameworks and boundaries of the classroom

   1.  Recall or revisit previous connectors:  

    Teachers build connections while developing the concept to their students in the classroom.  What better than a technology tool which provides all options of linking to textbook, or an image or an incident for a better correlation.

   2.  Sequence of the lesson:  

    Classrooms are dynamic and students change their pattern of listening and understanding every day.  Teacher struggle in coping up and succeeding in playing along with the classroom dynamics may just be an ideal philosophy.  The larger truth is, as a human being, the teacher is bound to skip or overdo their part.  To check and keep them in control, PowerPoint provides a good scope.

    3. Step by step procedures of solving problems or experiments: 

    Sequential approach for solving mathematical equations, science experiments or social events is essential in classrooms or laboratories.  Story narration without an order would be haphazard and jumbled up leading to confusion and misunderstanding.  PowerPoint is the simplest tool with animation designs to go ahead in sequence.

    4. Picture or video enabling in classes:  

     Critical thinking, Observation and Collaboration are skills essential in 21^st century learning.  Picture based discussions can develop empathy among the learning community.  PowerPoint provides the option of ‘insert’ picture or video links to make the class more interactive and dynamic.  Moreover, in the era of ‘differentiation in learning’ the addition of ‘media’ in any form is appreciated and attractive to the various types of learners present in a class.  Historical events, to nuclear process may not be viable for student because of the time of occurrence and severity of the situation.  However, any media form of such important events fetch a complete understanding of the situations at hand.

    5. Data tables and analysis:  

    Scientific and statistical measurements are always a part of learning.  In the era of sustainable development and with the promotion of ‘go green’, textbooks have become more monumental, while the data it contains will only be a record of the past.  Live data analysis is a part of today’s classrooms which is thoroughly enabled through PowerPoint presentations. On the spot, population analysis or election analysis using insertion of excel sheets and graphs within the presentation gives the actual view of the process and its extensions.

    6. On spot assessments:  

    Learning does not happen till the learner questions.  It is now become a hectic task for the teacher to design assessments to suit the learners’ aptitude.  Designing and changing assessments as per the learners’ learning environment is difficult without the aid of technology.  The simplest and the smartest tool for such assessments would be the use of ‘ppts’.

   7. Synopsis at the end: 

    A quick recap on today’s lesson is a dream come true for students as well as teachers.  The last slide when emphasizes on the taught gives immense satisfaction to the learner on the days learning goals.  PowerPoint slides are used for textual synopsis recap at the end of any session.

How to make such presentations?

The seven points that I have mentioned are a regular routine of my classrooms.  The tool is free and available with 'Windows Office'.  

What better option, than to do something which gives me a world view on my window!