“Quality is
everyone’s responsibility.”
W. Edwards Deming
The New York Times described W. Edwards
Deming as an “expert of business management . . . that emphasized
problem-solving based on cooperation.” Deming called for organizations to have
a systematic approach to problem solving, encouraged teamwork and cooperation, stressed
the need for education and leadership, and have an appreciation for a system.
He described a system as “a network of interdependent components that work
together to try to accomplish an aim . . . without an aim there is no system.”
Inspired
by Deming’s work, I have developed a system for my 8th grade American
History class. This system has an aim, which we refer to daily: “The Land of
Choices” that will be reached through continual quality improvement. From the
very first day of eighth grade, we talk about where they want to be four years
down the road. The discussion is not so much on what they will specifically do
after high school, but rather what choices will be open to them. I want all of
my students to develop the intellectual confidence necessary to complete a
rigorous high school curriculum. We work to develop the knowledge, skills,
abilities, and confidence to take challenging courses. This, in turn, will open
up many opportunities for them. They will have successfully reached “The Land
of Choices.”
We
begin each unit with a capacity matrix. A charting technique used to break down topic areas into steps for
achieving a specific result, a capacity matrix identifies tasks, knowledge
levels, and understanding of the topic area. Students know from the beginning,
what specific information they will need for the unit assessment and use the
matrix to chart their personal growth toward the understanding of that
information.
The
system of our class, which is graphically displayed for students in a detailed
flow chart, is made up of three main pieces. We regularly have “Big Shows,”
which are used as direct instruction for the entire class. Here, key concepts
and connections are explained and examined. Additionally, students use the “Big
Shows” to practice listening, note-taking, and summarizing skills. These “Big
Shows” are put on my Youtube channel for students to view and review as needed.
There
is also an online component to our class system. Using moodle as our
platform, students go to my online page to take practice tests, access and
share information, download assignments, watch videos, access podcasts, and post
to forums. Students have visited my page as early as 4:00 AM and as late as
1:00 AM – and everything in between. We have thousands of page views each and
every month.
The
third component of our class is the heart of the system. I employ Situational
Leadership to differentiate the daily work done by students. Situational
Leadership focuses on the specific readiness level to be successful for the
student in a given task or unit of study. I adapt the daily work given to the
student to best fit his or her readiness level. Using the capacity
matrix as the roadmap, students may take differing paths, but they all end up
at the same destination. This differentiation allows me to challenge students
at a level most appropriate for them, thereby maximizing their growth
potential.
The
focus of our system is not about hurriedly covering the material. We seek
continual quality improvement . . . for all students. We strive to not only
improve the class average but also shrink the gap between the most successful
and least successful students. Quality work and quality learning is the goal
for all students. Quality is everyone’s responsibility.
