Unlike most educators, I did not start out as a teacher. My goal as a child was to be a doctor and I achieved this goal almost thirty years ago and ultimately ran a highly successful sole-practitioner health practice treating thousands of patients at a rate almost 300 patients per week.
So why did I become a teacher? First, the word doctor comes from the Latin word, teacher. All doctors are teachers and I had always dreamed of one day teaching in a classroom setting. Second, I ran a highly data-driven, statistically managed office and staff until around 1998 (and most doctors will tell you this as well) when the insurance industry began to change, and not for the better. We were spending more time doing paperwork (sound familiar?) and just as much time treating patients. I never left the office. Something had to be sacrificed, either my practice, or my family. The data made the choice for me and told me it was time to move into my next career of teaching science. So for you teachers reading this who want to hear from someone who practices what he preaches, here I am. I left a very lucrative practice as a doctor to become a teacher based on a data-driven, statistically analyzed decision.
It was not easy at first. There were so many new things to learn and so many approaches to classroom management that I had a difficult time getting my “sea legs” and “bearings” in this new and very exciting field. I was lost, just as I was lost my first year in practice. (A must read blog.)
But I soon realized that running a classroom full of children – all with different strengths, desires for achievement, as well as weaknesses and concerns – was no different than the practice I had just sold. Once I realized this, I had a brainstorm. Why couldn’t I begin using the techniques and skills I used to build a successful practice from scratch in my classroom – and get my students to use them as well. (Please read why it is never too early to have students setting goals.)
The idea took off and the kids did as well! Next thing I knew other teachers were asking me where did I get my forms from (formats I used in business) and how do I implement my programs (through similar scripting I used in my practice.)
This led to the creation of The Business of School Teacher Practice Management Consultation. What I give you are the same ideas successfully used in business, tested in hundreds of classrooms and produced students with a greater appreciation for measuring success than ever before.
Dr. C,
This is an awesome model and most educators are terrified at applying successful business techniques to reform teaching and learning. Kudos!
Many thanks Donna! Yes, terrified is the word, but I believe this will change. Please forward a link to your website. Dr. C
I’m fascinated by your approach and relieved to discover that there are other people out there who believe we need to be using data to drive practice, rather than ignoring it. My frustration (beyond Principals who insist I change student results to fit a normal curve when my syllabus and the Board of Studies insists I use criterion referenced assessment) is collecting the kind of data that really tells me where the problem is. I teach English and have done so for 22 years. I have used data in different ways and with varying degrees of success for all of that time. Mostly I’m a good teacher, better at some things, worse at others but I love my job and I love working with students. Often my data ends up being too general, but generating really detailed ‘item analysis’ data, for student writing for example, can be both time consuming and unwieldy. I can’t see a positive ROI! Is this a problem you had to address? How did you solve it?
Thanks so much, Michelea,
Thank you for your interest to my approach. Yes, it is unique, and no it is not time consuming. In fact, using this program we are taking in and recording the same data that we always have. The only difference how it is analyzed and what decision making steps are make following an analysis (which takes but minutes). Don’t fret about the “item analysis” as you will have the students doing much of the heavy lifting using these strategies. Kids are smarter and more capable than we give them credit for, so let’s give them a little more to carry! I had over 200 students this year (about 165 were “core” and therefor were more closely watched.) I was able to “consult” with them each at least 5 times (some more!) – with documentation – over the course of the year and I did it in school, before classes began, and I never even had a single student sitting in front of me. This is how consultants work – smarter not harder – and they get better results than anyone else.
Stay registered for more components of the program and thank you once again, Michelea!
Best Regards,
Mike
Very interest approach! Like you, I was a practitioner before becoming an academic. I work with many pure academicians, who have never practiced in their field or specialty, and as a result don’t have the same appreciation for what I think of as “the real world.”
Thanks for sharing your knowledge AND experience as a means of helping us reduce our individual professional learning curves!
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EM
Dr. Cubbin, I admire your radical views on education and learning. I was following your post on LinkedIn “Do You Pass Failing Grades.” At first I thought you like any other common teacher or school administrator with a common and ancient views and approaches in education, but not until I read and learned where you are coming from. I have a radical view of education too. i was trying to drive my point through the infographic about learning.(https://www.pinterest.com/pin/254312710180779506/) at the right lower part of the picture, I was asking indirectly whose the last and sole authority to say this student passed, say all data considered and and qualitatively computed.
Keep posting, I am learning.