Deviants

I’d like to be honest about something. I am a deviant. When I was in upper elementary, I tested the patience of every teacher. When I sat in school between the ages of 10 and 14, I engaged in deviant behavior. During high school I conformed enough to graduate with honors and enter the college of my choice, but this wasn’t easy for me. I found that even in college, I excelled at deviating from the norm. As a young teacher, I wanted to deviate even though my students would need to pass “the” test. Seriously, what self-respecting content specialist would teach science through a fictional book, paint t-shirts to save the Earth, begin a compost pile in the classroom, make art depicting the human heart with only masking tape, or have the students develop a dichotomous key for make-believe monsters. Honestly, what was I thinking?

Yet, the idea of being a deviant intrigues me. I’m not a big fan of labels, but I see many student behaviors in this office that certainly would classify as deviating from the norm. In looking to see if there can be a positive side to deviant behavior, I came across the phrase, “Positive Deviants.” The writer-physician Atul Gawande has written about the phenomenon of "positive deviants" in the medical profession, that small set of players who are mired in the same environmental conditions as everyone else but stubbornly refuse to allow themselves to be constrained by conventional wisdoms, and as a consequence are able to identify fresh and often counter-traditional ways to address seemingly intractable problems. Retrospectively, many of the students presenting the deviant behaviors are also displaying characteristics which would be admired in leaders in many situations. Was my deviant behavior as a student positive? Well, I wouldn’t have to ask my teachers to know the answer to that. Was my deviant behavior always a negative? No.

In speculating the aversions to deviant behavior, I think it comes to the root of change. Deviants desire change – for both good and bad, but change nonetheless. Conformists seem to balance out the deviant behaviors. This occurs in all realms of life, but it comes front and center in education. Education is grounded in tradition and change is slow at best. Conformists have more of an upper hand in this field than in most; let’s say compared to business or industry, where change occurs in the blink of an eye.

Maybe I’m being unfair to this field, but in understanding the effect that relationships have on learning I feel that we all need to display some positive deviant behaviors. To help explain this statement and since we recently completed the bulk of our state testing, I’d like you to contemplate these two related questions concerning all students.

• Will a student perform poorly on a test if you didn’t give them the information?
• Will a student perform poorly on a test if you didn’t provide them with an opportunity to analyze, synthesize, and share information?
  

One fact that I enjoy about AAK is that ideas are not met with pragmatism, realism, and skepticism; which would be common in education. That may be a factor in our designation as a School to Watch. I have witnessed many of you deviating from tradition this school year, allowing the students to create their own concept map instead of traditional notes, debate and construct the rules for a society, race like the Olympians, care for others through their actions, role-play, and collaborate. I’ve also seen some specific deviant acts committed by some of our professionals, such as crashing into a cardboard box, blowing little plastic bottles up in the hall, cheering for the students (pompoms included), having fun, debating policy and philosophy, creating an experience, listening, and collaborating. You deviants make me proud.

Enjoy the weekend.