Tribute to Grant Wiggins

As many in the education field, I was shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Grant Wiggins today.  The twitter post captured what he represented to so many people:

“Grant Wiggins, of brilliant mind and dearest heart, died yesterday. The world has lost a true champion of learning. Carry on the work.-Denise”

I, like many others, was a great fan of Grant's work.  I attended his sessions and conferences, I received his blog, and I followed him on Twitter.  His brilliance and inquisitive mind provided so many insights into the work of educating children.  He had a solid understanding of the research, and an excellent perspective on system needs.  As many have pointed out, not only was he a wise person, he was also generous in sharing his work with others--the ultimate teacher.  His networking helped us all learn and benefit from his wisdom. His blogs, comments, and responses made me (and many others) feel like we knew him personally.  Thus the loss cuts deeply, both on a professional and personal level.

Below are some of my favorite blog posts--it was hard to choose, and going back and reviewing these was a learning experience in itself.

There is so much political rhetoric around the standards, so I appreciated this post that reminds us that we as educators are the ones who bring the standards to life.  They are what we make them, and he inspired me to make them awesome!

The Standards and creativity – compatible by grantwiggins Why do people insist on viewing the Standards as inconsistent with teacher creativity and choice? I am baffled by such uncreative thinking. That's like saying the architect cannot be creative because every house has to meet building code (as I have often said before). Indeed, the whole point of mandating standards as opposed to curriculum is to free people up to create innovative curriculum that addresses the standards. You're an architect: your clients are students. Your job is to develop client-friendly learning that also meets code. How does this restrict freedom? Here is an obvious illustration of our failure to think imaginatively now. When I started teaching in 1972, the legacy of the '60s was still in full force in my school. There were all sorts of creative courses: Death and Dying, The Wilderness, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Why Do We Do What We Do? etc. More importantly, many of these cool courses met the English requirement. In other words, back in the day there was no English 9, 10, 11, 12. rather, there were electives - real freedom of choice for teachers and kids! So, you could meet your English 10 obligations by taking Satire or American Fiction or Shakespeare or Cinema, on a trimester system (so you were not stuck with a year-long course you might hate). There is NOTHING in the Common Core ELA Standards that prohibits you and your colleagues from inventing a similar system of choices. All you would have to do, like the architect, would be to ensure that no matter the choice it was addressing the relevant 9-10 and 11-12 standards. How hard would that be, people? When I hear everyone endless whining from educators about what harm the Standards are doing to creative teaching it has the opposite effect on me that you intend. I think: boy, how unimaginative those teachers are. Glad my kid doesn't have them. I liked this post because in true Grant Wiggins “tell it like it is” fashion, it was clear, concise, and relevant.  It gives some excellent starting points for discussion and change. 8 Reasons that today’s high school is poor preparation for today’s college by grantwiggins Meanwhile, this occurred to me on my walk just now, after pondering recent chats with my college-bound kids: 1.     The schedule. No college has any class meet every day; no college schedule requires a student to be in class every hour of the school day. Many classes meet for 2 or 3 hours at a time. 2.     Homework expectations. It is assumed in most colleges that for every hour in class a student is expected to work at least an hour outside of class on reading, writing, research - often more. 3.     Writing. In all but the least demanding colleges, students are expected to write serious academic papers of at least 3-4 pages every few weeks in courses other than Languages or Math. 4.     Online work. In most of today’s college courses, there is a significant online component to the course. 5.     Primary-source reading. The expectation in all courses in the sciences, history, philosophy, and social sciences is that students will have to do some significant primary-source reading (and writing on it). 6.     Close reading. The expectation in all courses is that students know how to read analytically and critically - and take effective notes. 7.     Self-regulation and self-advocacy. Professors will not seek you out if you are doing poorly. The expectation is that you will go for help, find study partners, seek assistance from tutors and special programs, etc. on your own. 8.     Choice. There are hundreds of courses and programs that a high schooler has never heard of, and elective begin in the Freshman year. Students need to be prepared to self-assess, experiment, get inside information, consider their interests and talents, etc. before they face the course catalog.

Wiggins’ work on curriculum design, both at the unit and classroom level was monumental in influencing how I think about my work.  Not only is this post foundational and timeless, the post below shows how he continually reflected on his practice and revised his thinking.  An invaluable lesson in professional growth.

How do you plan? On templates and instructional planning

by grantwiggins

·       What content standards and program- or mission-related goal(s) will this unit address? ·       What kinds of long-term, independent accomplishments are desired (transfer goals)? ·       What thought-provoking questions will foster inquiry, meaning-making, and transfer? ·       What specifically do you want students to understand? What important ideas do you want them to grasp? What inferences should they make? What misconceptions are predictable and will need overcoming? ·       What facts and basic concepts should students know and be able to recall? ·       What discrete skills and processes should be able to use? ·       What criteria will be used in each assessment to evaluate attainment of the desired results? ·       What assessments will provide valid evidence of transfer and understanding (and other Stage 1 goals)? ·       What other evidence will you collect to determine whether Stage 1 goals were achieved? ·       Are all three types of goals (acquisition, meaning, and transfer) addressed in the learning plan? ·       How will you pre-assess and formatively assess? How will you adjust, if needed (as suggested by feedback)? ·       Does the learning plan reflect principles of learning and best practices? ·       Have you considered how to fully engage everyone and hold their interest throughout? ·       Is there tight alignment across all three stages? A later post with some revised thinking….. Planning questions. Here are the current UbD template elements framed as questions, for idea-generation and double-checking one’s draft plan: ·       Bottom line, what should learners be able to do with the content? ·       What content standards and program- or mission-related goal(s) will this unit address? ·       What thought-provoking questions will foster inquiry, meaning-making, and transfer? ·       What specifically do you want students to understand? What inferences should they make? What misconceptions are predictable and will need overcoming? ·       What facts and basic concepts should students know and be able to recall and use long-term? ·       What discrete skills and processes should they be able to use, with good judgment and on their own? ·       What criteria will be used in each assessment to evaluate attainment of the desired results? ·       What assessments will provide valid evidence of the goals? ·       What other evidence will you collect to determine whether goals were achieved? ·       How will you pre-assess and formatively assess? How will you adjust, if needed (as suggested by feedback)? ·       Does the learning plan reflect principles of learning and best practices? ·       How will you fully engage everyone and hold their interest throughout the unit? ·       How must the plan be tweaked, in light of recent results (and based on ongoing student needs and interests)? ·       Is there tight alignment across goals, assessments, and learning? And finally, a prophetic post on good vs. great teaching.  Never satisfied with adequate, he was always challenging the status quo, his own thinking, and the thinking of others.  There is no question as to how we will remember him.

Good vs. great teachers: how do you wish to be remembered?

by grantwiggins

·       Great teachers are in the talent-finding and talent-development business.

·       Merely good teachers think they are mostly in the business of teaching stuff and helping students so that it gets learned.

·       Great teachers are aiming for the future: are these students better able to succeed on their own after me and without me?

·       Merely good teachers look mostly to the past: did they learn what I taught and did they do what I asked of them?

·       Great teachers decide what not to teach to ensure lasting emphasis and memories

·       Good teachers cover a lot of ground while making the content as interesting as possible.

·       Great teachers delight in smart-alecks and skeptics who clearly have raw but undirected talent.

·       Good teachers are often threatened or bothered by smart alecks and skeptics.

·       Great teachers know us better than we know ourselves, especially in terms of intellectual character.

·       Good teachers merely know us as students of the subject.

·       Great teachers get more from us than we thought possible to give

·       Good teachers have high expectations and passions, and think that the rest is up to us.

·       Great teachers sometimes bend the rules and fudge the grades on behalf of raw student talent.

·       Good teachers uphold standards and grade according to the scores students earned.

Godspeed, Mr. Wiggins.  Thank you for always pushing my thinking, and may you rest in peace.