INTENTIONAL INTERRUPTION
by
Steven Katz & Lisa Ain Dack
In Intentional
Interruption – Breaking Down Learning Barriers to Transform Professional
Practice, Steven Katz & Lisa Ain Dack set out to explain how school
leaders can best facilitate “true” professional learning - that is, teacher
learning that has real impact on classroom practice and student achievement.
In Chapter 2: The
(Very) Hard Work of Learning, they provide a “psychological perspective” on
learning and explain why learning is difficult.
They define learning as “... a permanent change in knowledge or behavior”. (14)
They posit that learning is hard because people have a “natural predisposition
to preserve and conserve their existing beliefs, understandings, and
behaviours” and to maintain the status
quo. (15) When presented with learning
that challenges one’s beliefs, the result is a cognitive dissonance. People deal with this discomfort by either avoiding
it altogether, or altering the new learning to conform with a pre-existing
belief (a form of assimilation).
However, real learning occurs when people alter their beliefs to
accommodate new information.
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| Humorous example of dealing with cognitive dissonance by ignoring new learningthat challenges one's beliefs |
Chapter 3, The
Problem With Professional Learning, opens with a recognition of the
disappointing research finding that there is often only a very small impact of
teacher professional development on student achievement. The co-authors maintain that there are two
inherent problems with the current vertical capacity-building model of PD that
account for its minimal effect on student learning. In this model, teachers gather in a ballroom-type
setting for workshops and presentations.
However, this type of PD neither addresses the just-in-time
differentiated learning that individual teachers need nor ensures a that
teachers incorporate the new learning into their classroom practice.
The authors also point out the problems associated with
alternate forms of PD. In classroom walkthroughs, teachers tend to imitate the
practices they observe but without developing an understanding of the underlying
knowledge on which these practices are based. They illustrate this point by way
of the humorous example of a kindergarten walkthrough situation in which other
teachers simply imitated a teacher’s practice of sitting on an inflatable ball! Networked professional learning
communities (both within and among schools) also don’t always lead to improved
student achievement since they emphaisze
doing things together at the expense of focusing on an understanding of
effective teaching practices.
The how of
professional learning is collaborative inquiry that challenges thinking and
practice. Collaborative inquiry will be
effective when a disciplined approach is taken, involving the use of a
framework which includes: developing an inquiry question, developing a
hypothesis, determining success criteria, implementing and then analyzing the
plan, and reflecting on the learning to determine next steps. |
| John Hattie's summary of research reveals the poor effect size of traditional teacher trainging |
Three enablers of professional learning are identified in
chapter 4. Enabler one is a learning
focus for teachers and leaders that supports what students need to learn (as
determined by evidence). Essentially,
the specific content and practices teachers need to learn should be determined
by the urgent student learning needs, and the content and practices school
leaders need to learn are driven by the teacher learning focus. Focus is the what of professional learning.
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| Two important shifts in stance that principals and other educational leaders should make |
Katz and Dack explore in Chapter 5: The Barriers: How Our Minds Get in the Way a number of biases that
prevent people from engaging in deep levels of thinking. First is the tendency to move too quickly
from problem to solution without engaging in a thorough problem analysis to
consider all the possibilities. There is
also the confirmation bias – our
tendency to look for evidence that confirms our beliefs rather than challenges
them. This bias is particularly
problematic because the things that challenge our beliefs are what lead to new
learning. The illusory superiority bias – our tendency to overestimate our
strengths and underestimate our shortcomings in comparison to others – is, a
particularly “big” mental shortcoming. The
omission bias refers to the belief
that greater harm will result from taking action than from not taking action.
In the final chapter, the co-authors present strategies
for intentional interruption of the cognitive biases that get in the way of
real professional learning, and hence, preserve the status quo. Protocols which compel people to follow steps
to describe, interpret, and reflect upon teaching practices can help break
through the culture of niceness and challenge these practices. Another strategy is to ask teachers to
explicitly identify their preconceptions related to new learning and have them
intentionally think about whether the new information confirms or challenges
their preconceptions. Avoiding the
confirmation bias involves actively recruiting contradictory evidence – that
is, encouraging people to deliberately consider ideas that run contrary to
their beliefs. A critical friend can be used in this regard. Developing an error-friendly school or
district culture, in which mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities, will
also encourage professional learning. |
| Confirmation bias Humour |
