A Summing Up. Robert Eaker
the title of this book is inspired, in one of his most famous short stories, relates the tale of the father who admonishes his son not to gamble, carouse, or explore the wider world. The son, of course, defies all three commands and, confounding the father, wins at the table, finds love, and learns lessons from exploration that his father could never have taught him. So, in the spirit of Maugham, I offer the following foreword to this wonderful book: gamble, carouse, and explore.
Gamble
Take a chance on Bob Eaker’s lessons. I’m not asking you to buy in, and I’m not asking you to believe. Every leadership decision, as world champion poker player Annie Duke (2018) has demonstrated, is a combination of strategy and chance. You may not yet believe in his work on Professional Learning Communities at Work® (PLCs), but take a chance. Even though the probabilities are strongly in your favor, Eaker would be the first to admit that you may run into resistance, defiance, and roadblocks. Do it anyway. As Duke (2018) would say, go all in for your students and staff. In this context, gambling is neither a vice nor an addiction but rather the result of the calculated risks that leaders take every day. In our world of education, the risk-to-reward ratio is clear. The risks are criticism and resistance; the rewards are the lives of children. It’s not a difficult calculation to make.
Carouse
Fall in love, as Rick and Becky DuFour did with each other, and as Eaker has done, with generations of students, teachers, and leaders. Just as gambling can be entirely rational, falling in love can be entirely irrational, but it is precisely this irrational passion—loving students and colleagues even when they are not very lovable—that Eaker calls us to embrace.
In chapter 8, Eaker addresses the imperative of passionate persistence. All the research and strategies in the world are not a replacement for passionate persistence. Therefore, like Maugham’s hero, defy rationality and passionately pursue those values that drive you, and fall in love with the futures that your students and colleagues have, even when your students and colleagues don’t necessarily believe in those futures.
Explore
We hear the voice of authority in Maugham’s story: stay close, don’t stray, don’t take risks, don’t explore. But Eaker takes us beyond our comfort zones. Along with Rick and Becky DuFour, Eaker asks us to consider how we can improve, from our first years in the profession to the twilight of our careers. My best days as a researcher are when I hear teachers in their thirty-ninth year of work seek, in the context of their PLC, to make their fortieth year even better. I watch new teachers take risks in trying professional practices that were omitted in their undergraduate training. I watch twenty-year veterans defy conventions of tradition to have dramatic impacts on student achievement. I watch leaders who are inclined toward safety and convention explore new ways to engage students, faculty, and staff. Read this book and follow their example.
So, take it from Bob Eaker and W. Somerset Maugham: gamble, carouse, and explore. The journey in the pages ahead will be richly rewarding.
INTRODUCTION
Accidental Friendships
Titles, especially titles for books that are autobiographical in nature, can be tricky. Gore Vidal thought Palimpsest was the perfect title for his 1995 memoir. Curious to learn more about the word, I turned to the dictionary: “Something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form” (“Palimpsest,” n.d.). Since my professional life has taken any number of distinct—and often unexpected—twists and turns, always retaining elements of previous events, people, and experiences, palimpsest provided a strong possibility for my title.
But, alas, W. Somerset Maugham provided another possibility. In 1938, Maugham’s The Summing Up was published. At sixty-four years of age, after a career that had earned him widespread critical acclaim as a playwright, novelist, and writer of short stories, Maugham (1938) undertook to sum up his reflections about writing, his career, influences on his work, and to some degree, the journey of his life.
After a career in education that has spanned almost half a century, I can relate to Maugham’s desire to sum up what one has learned and come to believe. And, like Maugham, I recognize that my beliefs and what I’ve learned have been shaped by events, experiences, and especially people I’ve encountered. As I approach the end of my professional journey, it seems natural that I sum up what I have come to believe and know about teaching, effective schools, and school improvement. So, A Summing Up it is!
I must admit, however, a feeling of trepidation. There is something inherently narcissistic about a book that is, even to a small degree, autobiographical. Although my overarching intent with this effort is to provide readers with information and insights regarding what I’ve learned about school improvement, instruction, and student learning throughout my professional journey, I believe context matters. So, I am placing what I’ve learned within the context of my life during various stages of my professional journey.
And, there is always the risk associated with not providing appropriate recognition to those who have helped along the way. I have never believed in the idea of the self-made man. Each of us has received support in one way or another, and my goal is to put what I’ve learned within the appropriate context of those who helped me, supported me, taught me, and in many cases, became my dearest friends. However, I acknowledge it is impossible to recognize everyone. Any errors of judgment in this regard should not be viewed as a lack of recognition and appreciation.
I have been blessed with a wonderful and fulfilling personal life. That being said, I have chosen to write about my personal life only to the degree that there is a direct connection to what I have learned professionally. I would be remiss, however, if I did not recognize that in a few cases it is impossible for me to separate my personal and professional lives; this is especially true regarding Rick DuFour.
Rick was my professional partner and close friend for nearly four decades. Our friendship and our professional lives became intertwined and inseparable. Readers will quickly discover that a summing up of what I’ve learned and come to believe is, to a great extent, a summing up that includes Rick. There have been both high and low points in my personal and professional journey. Certainly, the death of Rick in 2017, followed by Becky’s passing in 2018, was a staggering loss—not only for me, but also for the countless number of people whose lives they touched. After the losses of Rick and Becky, my journey has continued, but it will never be quite the same. A huge part of me is missing.
A Few Caveats
A few caveats are in order. Since attitudes and beliefs are a result, in part, of experiences, I fully recognize that what follows is based on my own unique history—both personal and professional. Others who have had different experiences may have entirely different views. This is perfectly understandable. While I acknowledge that people have differing views, I also think that one’s beliefs (and the resulting practices) must be measured against the standard of what works. When it comes to improving learning for all students, I have tried to filter my ideas through the prism of Does it work, and is it doable? In retrospect, I think this pragmatism behind an evidence-based way of thinking and ultimately doing explains, to a great extent, the popularity of the Professional Learning Communities at Work® (PLC) approach.
In short, for me, the proof was in the pudding; the value of ideas was found in the impact they would have on school improvement and student learning. Few things influence the attitude and behavior of others as much as evidence of results. Seeing results in actual classrooms and schools certainly had a deep impact on my commitment to action research, especially within a culture reflective of a PLC. While I recognize others have had different experiences and, therefore, see the world of education differently, it comes down to this: everyone has a right to an opinion, but all opinions do not hold an equal promise of effectiveness.
Upon reflection, I realize