Cut Off at Both Ends

If you’re reading someone’s blog or story, you’re considering some type of connection and/or learning point to which you can relate. When we read one about education - our years in school in particular - the connections and relations we can find are universal. It takes each of you less than two seconds to think of your favorite teacher. If you played sports, you’ll remember your most significant game, moment, or coach without hesitation. Without a doubt, naming your best friend(s) from school can happen instantly. I often use this “name your favorite teacher” test with a group of people, and people simultaneously shout out a name without even thinking. School can serve as that foundational time to learn not only about basic math and eventually AP Calculus; not only the alphabet and eventually a foreign language; not only how to stand in line for a standard school lunch to eventually having a coffee bar and a la carte in high school, but so much more. Many people, throughout their lives, talk about the school experience, and this knowledge increases the significance of any educator’s time we have with kids. It’s vital.

I understand this and often look to see when a difference is being made inside the four walls of a classroom. It’s incredible when any of us are afforded the opportunity to see something unique in an educational setting that it is life changing. It makes an impact. I’ve seen it in every district I’ve been in and in many classrooms, but the issue and the struggle continues to be the reality that it’s not in every classroom. In fact, the worrisome point in all of this is that when amazing isn’t occurring for kids, it’s partially because the system hasn’t taught that person to do anything different from the way they were educated. It’s not always the educator’s fault, but it’s a system error that people aren’t always shown how to move past the way that it’s always been into a format or lesson that has kids thinking, talking, and laughing. A teacher explaining sand erosion is much different than a teacher who has water, sand, and a physical structure that slowly demonstrates why erosion happens. A teacher who explains the stock market and then gives a test is a lot different than a classroom that uses monopoly money to play the stock market and then check their stocks periodically. Can you imagine a student walking to a class to read Chapter 6 on the stock market vs. running to class to find out how much money they won or lost overnight?

I heard a story that was relayed by American author and Speaker Zig Ziglar, that relates to this. He tells of a newlywed couple whose new husband wins the prize ham at the county fair. He was so excited to bring the ham home to his wife, and presented it to her proudly. She said to him, “I have a great family recipe for ham! I will get to work and we can eat it for dinner.” When the husband peaked in the oven a little while later, he noticed that the ham was cut off on both ends, and a good portion of meat was missing. He asked his new wife, “What happened to the ends of the ham?”, to which the bride responded, “It’s a family recipe; that’s how we’ve always done it. You cut off the ends of the ham.” Perplexed, the man said, “But why?”. “Because that’s part of the recipe and how we’ve always done it.” The husband was not satisfied, and the wife knew it. For that reason, they called her mother. When she asked her mom to tell them about the ham recipe, they both heard the same response, “That’s our family recipe; that’s how we’ve always cooked it.” He had heard that answer before, and wasn’t satisfied.

He decided to call his new wife’s grandmother, with whom he had developed a good relationship. He called her and asked her the same question about the ham recipe fully expecting to hear a familiar answer. However, what he heard was much different than his wife and mother-in-law, and she told him everything he needed to know. Grandma said firmly to him, “When I used to cook ham, my oven was too small to fit a whole ham, so I cut off both ends to allow it to fit. I don’t know why those two ladies continue to cut off the ends, but that’s why I did it.”

Because that’s the way we’ve always done it.

Yuck, right? Now...if that old way is incredible and the best, that’s a different story, but that’s not usually the case in education. There are some foundational ideas that benefit from good, old-fashioned schooling; however, today’s kids are not yesterday’s kids, and they have too much augmented reality, too many video options, too much instantaneous learning opportunities in their worlds to think that the ‘good ol days’ of school lecturing, note taking, and testing will cut it every day of the year. I reflect on this because our teachers at Norton have thrived in synchronous teaching due to the pandemic. They are simultaneously teaching to students right in front of them and to some at home at the same time. It’s a totally 2021 thing, and we are just now reflecting on how this might possibly change us as we slowly move out of this pandemic. Will remote learning become a reality for every high school? Will Google Classroom become the only place where work is turned in? Will school become a place where students can come and go as they please and less about seat time? Many questions are starting to surface, but one strong statement is being made as well. Now is not the time to return to anything that doesn’t work. If there’s ever a time in any of our professions to reflect on practices, clean up, and move into something for our future, it is right now. After all, we don’t want to cut off both ends of the ham because that’s the way we’ve always done it.