Clean Out Your Teaching!

I read a book recently that dealt with Lean Production, a Toyota Production System, where one of the goals is to take useless or wasted items out of the manufacturing system. The Japanese have a term for that cluttered refrigerator and the teaching for which the metaphor stands. Muda (無駄) is the Japanese term for any activity that is wasteful and does not add any value to what you are doing. I encourage you to use this summer and take out the muda in your teaching.

Once a trimester an email was sent warning the staff of the inevitable purge date of the staff room refrigerator. It was always a welcome event, and while there was more room in the refrigerator and a pleasant smell, many unclaimed containers got left on the counter. These containers would be washed and stored in the cupboards, held over because they had some perceived value.

And that is the problem. Perceived value is often of no value. When I saw the containers this year, I wondered what educational items teachers held on to because of perceived value, but, like the unclaimed containers, are just not worth keeping around.

It is now summer. A time when teachers can take pause and clean out their teaching. It is a disservice to students to start another school year with the same, disorganized fridge.

CLEAN our your practice—think back on the school year. Go ahead. You have the time. There are not 180 eighth grade essays to read. In your daily practice, do you have any procedures that you do because you have always done it that way? Taking a critical eye towards one’s craft is not easy, but it has to be done. You need to ask yourself, “Is what I do making an impact on student learning?” “Does it add to the learning process?” “Is it based in educational theory?” If the answer is no, you need to purge. It is wasting time.

I used to spend hours on posters for my classroom walls that I felt added another resource for students. I had done it this way since my student teaching. However, in observing and asking my students, the posters were not used. They were muda in my class. I have since used that time more effectively to make an impact on student learning, using the time for such activities as preparing lessons, having 1:1 conferences, having students create their own “wall resources” for their binders, or setting up a classroom resource that will get used like a web site. Need help finding the muda in your class? Look into peer coaching. The perspective of another colleague is a great way to hone your teaching craft.

CLEAN out your philosophy—why do you teach? What do you have that no one else has to give to the profession of teaching? Put these thoughts into a personal philosophy to help keep a focused purpose in the classroom. Every successful business has a philosophy that makes them unique. So important are these statements that they place them under the company name, on every pamphlet, and on placards about their offices. And if they do not, they probably need to start. It is the mentality that binds the corporation. The meta narrative. What is your meta narrative for teaching? What binds you and your class together? Is it only the subject matter—you as the teacher and the students placed in your classroom? For many teachers it is simply that. Hopefully for you it is something more. When looking at a new curriculum or a miscue in class or a troubled student, return to your philosophy; it is who you are and for what you stand.

CLEAN out your curriculum—the life cycle of a salmon or acrostic poems. I have heard teachers argue their worth for decades. However, at the core, what is the purpose of those two lessons? If you have a reason that goes back to your philosophy and back to your classroom practice, making an impact on student learning that is solid and without muda, then that acrostic poem has worth. Yet, far too many teachers pull out their favorite lessons; lessons they like but do not always help students achieve the goals set forth for the classroom. These pieces of your curriculum need to go and not be kept like that chicken sandwich from last month or that plasticware container with the palm trees.

I have stuffed animals that I use in my classroom when teaching dialogue. On the surface, having stuffed animals does not add anything to the curriculum. However, the way in which they are used, makes the lesson on dialogue stick.

Points to Ponder:
• What is useless in one classroom can be useful in another. Much of it is based on how it is used, or who is using it.
• Is there a time in the classroom for items that do not readily appear to add to the goals? Items like games, puzzles, or other sponge activities.
• It is often what someone has that represents them more than what they do not have, this goes for waste as well.
• Can you use a business system model in the classroom? If yes, are there others?

This post is part of several that deal with actions teachers can take over the summer to improve their teaching and classroom for the fall.

Comments

[Jim]

Wow, Muda, I like that. I used to have two four drawer file cabinets full of stuff, now I am down to a two drawer cabinet that's half full. I agree with you completely.

Great post.

Jim

[Betsy Cornell]

Travis, I LOVED THIS POST. This could be due several factors. . .I'm a crazy gal who loves to purge and throw things out. Also, I'm forever fighting the fight about activity based lessons versus standards based lessons. If you think about 180 days with the kiddos, probably 15 wasted due to early releases, fire drills, assemblies, and many of my students missing 10-30 days, then EVERY SINGLE day is critical. We can only control the bell-to-bell environment. Going through my NB certification hammered this home to me. We better know what the essential nuggets are as there's no time for busy work/fluff. By the way, I loved the metaphor of the staff room fridge. How can that be such a universal pit across so many districts? Thanks for sharing.

[Travis]

Nancy,
Great. I ask because I go round-and-round on this one with teachers and facilitators (NBPTS). I see it as an assessment. It is a Board assessment of Standards.... And as you say, preparing and going through an assessment will show strengths and weaknesses, but that does not make it professional development. Thanks for your perspective.

[Nancy Flanagan]

What's the question? Is National Board Certification an assessment or a professional development experience? (Or is it two mints in one?)

I think it's an assessment, first and foremost--but as with preparation for any assessment, the self-growth *may* be considerable. Construing NB Certification as the perfect professional development is a little wobbly, though. While I believe NB Certification generally reveals areas of practice that need improvement for most teachers, I don't think it should be sold as "the best professional development ever."

Most schools expect concrete changes in practice and understanding in teachers who participate in professional development--they expect them to learn new techniques, strategies and content. But NB Certification doesn't work that way. And--many teachers are gratified to know that their practice meets NBPTS standards without many changes. Call it an assessment with probable benefits?

[Travis]

Nancy,
So here is a question for you. Many people debate over this and, in fact, some of the verbage both on the NBPTS web site and in the NBPTS portfolio imply countering beliefs. I also found my NBPTS experience to be great. For me it was more a matter of proving my NBPTS status (NBPTS as assessment), rather than growing through the NBPTS process (NBPTS as professional development).
Travis

[Nancy Flanagan]

You mean my dinosaur unit has to go? (laughing)

For me, the wake-up call on muda was going through National Board Certification. The only word describing the first comparison of my practice to teaching standards was "horrifying"--worse than four week-old tuna salad. There were huge chunks of standards-based practice missing from my daily work (filled in, mostly, with lessons that could best be described as "the kids really like this.")

Great post, Travis.

[Billy McDermet]

You said it brother!