The challenges of instructional leadership school renewal

Focus on Learning Problems in Mathematics, Wntr, 2002 by Roland G. Pourdavood, Lynn M. Cowen, Lawrence V. Svec

TL: Let him finish. I am interested. There is fast time and slow time?

S VIII: Yes.

TL: I never thought about time this way. What does everyone else think?

S I: Time does go fast and slow. Like waiting for Christmas or my birthday, times goes slow. Vacations go fast.

S IV: Yeah, I agree with you. Sometimes school goes fast and slow, especially lunch! [Students laugh and smile to show agreement.]

TL: So, let me understand. You're saying that time is measured in hours but sometimes those hours go fast or slow. So what about the earth's spin? Does the earth spin faster one day than another? [Students think about the question.]

S I: I think it spins slower in spring and summer than in winter and fall because the days are longer in spring and summer.

S III: Yeah, that's right. My bedtime is 8:30. In the summer I hate going to bed when it is still light outside. In the winter; it is dark. That's because of fast and slow time.

TL: Well, if hours go fast and slow, do months also go fast and slow?

S IX: Yes, look at the months, some are thirty days, some are thirty-one and February is 28 days.

S X: Sometimes it is 29 days.

S IX: Yeah, but only once every four years.

TL: This is most interesting. Fast and slow hours, days and now months. I guess I always thought that an hour was always the same Length of time. It didn't speed up or slow down. Now you are telling me that February is "fast" for most of the time but every fourth year, February slows down and takes one extra day.

S XI: That's right because that's "Leap Year." One extra day is added to the calendar. Instead of 365 days, there's 366 days that year.

TL: What makes this happen?

S XII: Probably the earth just stands still in its orbit.

TL: Who then "jump starts" earth moving again? [Students are quiet.]

Later that day, the teacher-leader and her mentee met after school to debrief the lesson and to plan instruction.

Mentee: Why did you let them continue with that nonsense about "fast and slow" time? Where did they get that notion? It was so painful to listen to. Eventually, you should have told them how wrong they were.

TL: I couldn't tell them they were wrong because I didn't have a way to change their thinking that would make anymore sense to them. I didn't find the situation "painful." I found it intriguing how they built such elaborate misunderstandings to make sense of time.

Now, we've got to figure out how to dismantle these perceptions and help them construct it differently. Before I do this, I have to revisit science concepts and make sure I understand orbits, rotations, revolutions and seasons. Then, I suggest we create experiences to let them see that time is measured in a regular constant rhythm. Erasing misunderstandings will probably be more difficult than building new.

T: You've got that right. Just think, we've got to explain "leap year!" [Both teachers laugh.]

Two levels of mentoring took place simultaneously. On one level, there was ongoing communication between teachers and principals about changes in teaching, learning and assessment suggested from the NCTM Standards (1989, 1991, 1995). On another level, there were collegial relationships and sharing between teacher-leaders (selected by principals because of their interest and commitment to reform) and new teachers. Sometimes meetings were scheduled with principals, teacher-leaders and new teachers to talk about learning theory and teaching/learning philosophy. Other meetings were scheduled for teacher-leaders and principals to share new methods with the entire teaching staff, middle school, secondary and university mathematics educators. New teachers were always assigned a teacher-leader as a mentor for their first year. These multi-layers of connectivity and interactions significantly facilitated teacher professional development.