Notes from
Academia
A Quarterly Newsletter from the Office of the Assistant Head of School for Academics
Spring 2016
In the 1950s, anthropologist Victor Turner wrote about Ndembu milk tree rituals in way that insisted that he, the impartial observer, knew far more about the meaning of these rituals than the Ndembu people themselves. This set off a wave of controversy in the ensuing decades about the degree to which the observer’s frame of reference colors the representation of what is being observed. By the mid-1980s, a post-Foucault world was hungry for what would become the seminal text on this subject, a collection of essays by leading thinkers entitled Writing Culture. The thesis was that any recorded observation is the result of a dialectic, a reflection of both the observer and the observed, essentially a collaborative product that tells you as much about one as it does about the other. That’s a lot of nerdspeak, I know, but bear with me. Here at Fort Worth Country Day, we were one of the first schools in the country to adopt Folio, a cloud-based system for goal-setting, observing teachers, and offering feedback. It creates a record in which the teachers, who are observed, have direct input into what they are trying to achieve in a given year and the reporting of how well they feel they are doing it. That input is then recorded alongside the observation of the teachers’ Folio supervisor (typically an administrator) and their department chair. The premise is that instead of rotating through which teachers get observed in a given year, every teacher gets direct, formal feedback every year as part of a consistent process. The architecture of the system essentially holds the administrator accountable for holding the teachers accountable. The end result is a record not only of the teacher’s year, but also what we, as a school, value. Goal-setting in this context is an art, as Folio participants are expected to make clear action plans delineating the steps they’ll take to achieve each goal and setting a timetable for doing so, a process vetted through a formal goals meeting. As the year progresses, we learn as much during the observation as we do talking about the observation, examining the rationale for the choices the teacher makes, understanding the motivations, the risks, the rewards—even the small good-intentioned failures. My role in Folio is primarily in Upper School and Middle School, in working with department chairs, team leaders, counselors, and specialists there. I have a few people under my purview in Lower School, but as I continue to grow as a K-12 educator, I am still in sponge mode down there, soaking up all I can. In this edition of Notes from Academia, please ride along with me on two of my formal Folio class observations, along with a special non-Folio visit, my day spent as a kindergartener last month to better learn the rhythms and demands of a day in primary education.
Lower School Kindergarten is tough. I’m not kidding about that. I’m not saying I can’t do the math (crushed it) or reading (like a boss), I’m just saying that the pace is dizzying. A few weeks ago I showed up, as prearranged, in Lisa Davenport’s kindergarten class in my light blue FWCD polo and navy pants, ready to conquer kindergarten, but I’m afraid it conquered me. The day started off easily with Morning Movement, and some pretty standard primary stuff, like the calendar and some turn and share activities. Then came time to write about what makes us different and illustrate our stories. I’m not saying my handwriting is of fourth-grade caliber, but for kindergarten, my fine motor skills are not too shabby. My story is still up on the wall down there. I’m not bragging, just stating a fact. We shared our stories with each other, then began rotating through some activities—reading quizzes on the iPads, handwriting activities with Kris Johnson, and math activities with Legos.