By Dr. Harry Tennant
Show posts with most recent comments
Keywords:
7 Habits of Happy Kids (1)
ads (3)
Aeries (1)
after action review (1)
after-action review (1)
API (1)
Behavior Manager (26)
behavior policies (1)
Behavior Questionnaires (2)
blogs (1)
carrots and sticks (3)
challenge (2)
change (1)
character builders (1)
check for use (1)
Check In/Check Out (1)
checklist (1)
child-driven education (1)
classroom management (1)
classroom mangement (1)
coaching (1)
code of silence (1)
collaborative learning (6)
confirmation bias (1)
continuous improvement (79)
cost savings (7)
creativity (1)
deliberate practice (3)
discipline (2)
Discipline Manager (2)
Dragon (1)
duty to warn (1)
Edclick (1)
Edison (1)
education (1)
email bankruptcy (1)
email-to-SMS (1)
enthusiasm (2)
entrepreneurship (3)
evidence-based practices (1)
experiments (1)
FAQ: Behavior Manager (63)
FAQ: Community Service Manager (1)
FAQ: Intervention Manager (7)
FAQ: Lesson Plan Manager (2)
FAQ: Testing Manager (6)
FAQ: Tutoring Manager (3)
function of behavior (1)
funding (1)
getting started (24)
habits (3)
improvement log (1)
info hub (1)
Innovation (1)
Intervention Manager (1)
interventions (1)
Isaac Asimov (1)
ISV Partner Program (1)
Jamie Oliver (1)
knowedge work (1)
lesson plans (1)
liberal education (1)
measurement (1)
mentoring (3)
merit points (1)
mission (1)
mitra (1)
motivation (1)
motivations (1)
NCLB (1)
nutrition (1)
one-click merits (1)
online instruction (1)
online learning (2)
parental involvement (4)
PBIS (10)
PBL (3)
PDCA cycles (1)
Pearson (1)
perfection (1)
planning (1)
positive feedback (1)
PowerSchool (1)
Practice Classroom Management Skills (2)
Practice in Classroom Management Skills (1)
prevention (11)
process improvement (1)
processes (1)
Professional learning communities (1)
progress (4)
projects (1)
punishment (1)
reflection (4)
Responsible-Motivated-Engaged (14)
Restorative Discipline (1)
restorative justice (1)
rewards (1)
RtI (1)
rubric (1)
run chart (2)
School Safety Manager (12)
school violence (11)
science of education (1)
self-serving bias (1)
service and fees (11)
small groups (1)
social skills club (1)
star chart (1)
STEM (5)
student imports (1)
success (3)
success story (3)
sucess story (1)
super rich educators (1)
supports (1)
surprise success (1)
surprises (1)
tardies (1)
teach expectations (1)
teaching effectiveness (1)
Testing Manager (1)
thank you teachers (1)
time saving (3)
tips (18)
tweak (2)
using discipline manager (8)
using School Site Manager (7)
values (1)
virtual classrooms (1)
volunteers (3)
waste (2)
wealth (1)
weightloss (1)
wikis (6)
Archive:
2010
November (4)
December (4)
2011
February (8)
March (13)
April (12)
May (4)
June (2)
July (12)
August (12)
September (8)
October (9)
2012
January (5)
February (12)
March (10)
April (12)
May (11)
June (5)
July (1)
September (2)
2013
January (22)
February (29)
July (6)
August (14)
November (1)
2015
July (2)
August (5)
September (4)
October (1)
2017
October (2)
November (7)
December (2)
2018
January (3)
February (12)
March (4)
April (1)
August (11)
2021
February (1)
Wednesday, May 30, 2012 Continuous improvement is persistent improvementI was working on a relatively technical task today. A process that seems as though it should be virtually automatic is taking about three hours per item. When I'm in the thick of trying to get the job done, it's hard to keep focused on improvement. It is tempting to put off the improvements for another time. But it isn't a good idea. The task is going to come up again and I'd be no better off then than now. That's the way to get stuck in a rut of poor performance. One of the things that helped for improvements is that each time that I finished doing one of the items, I stopped to make a list of the unexpected inefficiencies that appeared while doing the work. Making the list made solutions and improvements come to mind, which I then implemented. Those improvements made the next item go more smoothly. Over the course of the day, I improved the process significantly. But I continued to find more issues. The key to success is persistence. Keep improving, even when you don't feel like it. Remember, the job isn't just to do the job, it's to do the job better. Posted at 12:00 AM (permalink)
3 Comments View/Leave Comment
|
Monday, May 28, 2012 The process of educationWhen we're copying someone else, we can simply watch what they do and then do it ourselves. And, in many cases, that's exactly the right thing to do. The reason that McDonalds and other franchises are so successful and that there are so many of them is because they have described exactly how to cook a burger, exactly how to clean the fryer, exactly when to clean the restrooms and so on. They've found a process that works and if you adhere to it, you will also be successful. Our schools could benefit from learning a few things from McDonalds and turn education into more of a science and less of an art. The reason is that lots of people can successfully follow a script, but not many are successful artists. In the same way that we don't want every car to be made by an artist (it would be incredibly expensive and would take another artist to maintain it), we don't need every classroom run by artists. Posted at 12:00 AM (permalink)
3 Comments View/Leave Comment
|
Friday, May 25, 2012 Paring down motivationsSix opportunities for motivation and improvement.
Posted at 8:29 PM (permalink)
0 Comments View/Leave Comment
|
Friday, May 18, 2012 Revisiting continuous improvement in knowledge workWhat constitutes continuous improvement in knowledge work?
Posted at 12:00 AM (permalink)
0 Comments View/Leave Comment
|
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 Lessons from games: Motivations and reflectionIn my last post, I discussed video game motiviations. How can they be applied to the practice of daily reflection for improvement? Why not simply use the list of needs as a checklist of things to consider in the reflection? Not only is it likely to improve my performance, but is also a roadmap to making my days more personally rewarding.
Posted at 12:00 AM (permalink)
2 Comments View/Leave Comment
|
Monday, May 14, 2012 Creating habits for improvementIt's easy to say that you would like the folks in your organization to have a habit of continuous improvement. It's harder to make it happen. The end result we are looking for is for everyone in the organization from the bottom to the top to have a habit of looking for opportunities for improvement and making those improvements. So, how do you build such a habit? Let's say you're going to encourage folks to reflect daily on their day to think of opportunities to improve. You create a cue. In this case, it's a time cue: 15 minutes before quitting is reflection time. Now, create a routine. What is supposed to happen during reflection time? Perhaps it's to list the major activities of the day and consider improvements for each. What's the reward? If reflection time is mere compliance to an administrative directive, that's not much of a reward. Or maybe the reward is to avoid the wrath of one's supervisor if the work is not done. Again, not much of a reward. Or perhaps the reward is the feeling of well-being one gets from seeing his performance get better and better. Possible. That's a long shot, but the odds can be enhanced through measurement and tracking so improving performance can be easily visualized. But it's still a long shot. Video game makers want their games to become habitual (addictive, actually), so what rewards to they provide? An interesting article on The Theory of Gaming Motivation puts it this way: There are 11 basic psychological needs that people can fulfill by playing video games. ... The 11 basic needs are gaining knowledge, gaining and improving skills, feeling competent, persevering through hard times, creating tools, managing danger, regulating emotions, competing for rewards, cooperating for rewards, caring for loved ones, and satisfying the senses with pleasant inputs (sights, smells, sounds, etc.). In the model they will each be referred to by their relevant nouns. Only “satisfying the senses with pleasant inputs” is called “Optimal Choice” because that is the purpose of satisfying our senses. They help us make the best choice by making us feel attracted to “good” things and repelled by “bad” things. We do not always feel the 11 basic needs for what they are. Most often we simply crave the rewards that they offer and intuitively do the right things to fulfill neglected needs. The three types of reward we feel are achievement, recognition and satisfaction. And here are the needs and their rewarding feelings in games:
In a work situation, there's one more need that's not relevant to gaming: meaningfulness. Games are enjoyable but playing them doesn't help our fellow man. But teaching, contributing to useful products or activities that benefit others can feel meaningful. We have to remember, however, not to rely too heavily on the long-term rewards of meaningfulness. It is much more effective to incorporate the 11 more immediate needs and rewards listed above. Posted at 10:41 AM (permalink)
4 Comments View/Leave Comment
|
Friday, May 11, 2012 Improvement logsIf you want to improve something, measure it. Obviously some things are easier to measure than others. One of the easiest things to track for continuous improvement is the improvement log. Posted at 7:45 AM (permalink)
0 Comments View/Leave Comment
|
Wednesday, May 9, 2012 Voice dictation: a near-universal improvement opportunityI have used Dragon NaturallySpeaking for several years. I've used it to dictate two books, and a lot of the documentation for our products. It is really easy to compose text this way. (I am currently dictating through Dragon as I write this.) It feels a little awkward to me to get started with dictation. I had the same feeling of awkwardness years ago when I would dictate letters and reports for transcription by humans. But with a little practice you get over that. The big advantage of getting over that awkwardness, is that you can generate text a lot faster than you can type thing. Recently I bought a wireless headset. It's easy. It just sits on my desk until I'm ready to put it on, and then I start dictating. No papers get knocked off my desk in the process, no wire gets tangled up in things when the headset is not in use. Posted at 12:42 PM (permalink)
0 Comments View/Leave Comment
|
Monday, May 7, 2012 You have a mission statement. Now what?Having a mission statement does not necessarily have anything to do with what the organization actually does. Although a mission statement may be the result of management blood, sweat and tears, it means nothing until the folks in the organization start living by it. How do you get from here to there? Exposure Your crew needs to know that the mission is. It must be short enough to be memorable and it has to be repeated frequently. It would be nice if we learned things by being told once, but we don't. You know your times tables because of repetition, you know about McDonalds because of repetition and you'll need repetition for your crew to know what your mission statement is. Understanding Exposure can get your crew familiar with your mission. That doesn't mean they understand it. Understanding comes from using the idea. Edclick makes web-based data products for continuous improvement in education. That's our mission statement. Does the crew get it just because I say it? They get it better when we pay attention to the idea, when we work with it. When we challenge it and it has to defend itself. For example, when we discuss a possible new product idea, we have a perpetual question: how will this lead to continuous improvement in education? Asking questions and discussing the answers gets us closer to understanding what the mission statement means. But we still aren't there. Belief Beyond understanding the mission, you want your crew to believe in it. You cannot create belief by decree or intimidation. It's going to take some convincing and may take some compromise. Convince your crew that you believe in the mission by making it a central feature in what you do. Have it be front-and-center and a touchpoint that you frequently return to to resolve questions of priorities and values. Show that you're serious about your mission by making it central to discussions with the crew about how their value to the organization correlates to their contribution to the mission. Your mission should have real consequences on your organization's activities. Similarly, it should have real consequences to your crew. Enthusiasm Your organization is obviously at an advantage if everyone in it enthusiastically embraces the mission. How is that going to happen? First, by having a meaningful mission that all hands find worthwhile. Second, by making progress toward the serving the mission. That means not only doing the work but measuring your progress against the elements of your mission. Enthusiasm comes from making progress toward a worthy goal. Posted at 12:00 AM (permalink)
2 Comments View/Leave Comment
|
Friday, May 4, 2012 10 Things to know about the products you sellOne of the great things about providing software as an online service is that we can know how our products are being used in real time. That is great for identifying imperfections and addressing them as quickly as possible. It is quite different from supplying software as a product. Once a product is sold you may never know if it is being used or how it is being used. Here are ten things companies very much want to know a about how customers use their products. Seven can be detected automatically with online products.
|
Wednesday, May 2, 2012 Creativity and improvementI was reading an interesting article today about how geniuses differ from the rest of us. It lists eight strategies for creativity that are common among geniuses. This one is particularly interesting to me: GENIUSES PRODUCE. A distinguishing characteristic of genius is immense productivity. Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents, still the record. He guaranteed productivity by giving himself and his assistants idea quotas. His own personal quota was one minor invention every 10 days and a major invention every six months. Bach wrote a cantata every week, even when he was sick or exhausted. Mozart produced more than six hundred pieces of music. Einstein is best known for his paper on relativity, but he published 248 other papers. T. S. Elliot's numerous drafts of "The Waste Land" constitute a jumble of good and bad passages that eventually was turned into a masterpiece. In a study of 2,036 scientists throughout history, Dean Kean Simonton of the University of California, Davis found that the most respected produced not only great works, but also more "bad" ones. Out of their massive quantity of work came quality. Geniuses produce. Period. Why should we make such a conscious effort to continuously improve? Doesn't that get in the way of actually getting our real work done? Well, it probably does get in the way of our routine work to an extent. But I would suggest that our real work is to get better and better. And the more improvements we make, the higher our chances for really significant change. Posted at 10:16 AM (permalink)
0 Comments View/Leave Comment
|