rOCKING THE BOAT REFLECTIONS
Task Zero, Review: Rocking the boat is a book about strategies used by professionals to change the culture of their workplaces without getting in too much trouble or even losing their jobs. The book has many interesting anecdotes of people who are mostly in relatively high status positions and who the author dubs tempered radicals. According to the author, these tempered radicals take subtle yet planned and effective actions to make their workplaces more inclusive, tolerant, environmentally aware or socially aware. Through these stories, the author makes the case that there is a science to being a tempered radical and that we all can become such agents of change. She even goes on to insist that for us to live with ourselves, we have a moral obligation to be tempered radicals who quietly fight for what’s right. My feelings about this book are mixed. I agree that we have to strike a balance between job security and our sense of morality. In fact, many of the stories are uplifting and inspiring. The story of the junior executive who quietly made accommodations to help working parents under her balance work and family struck close to home since this is an issue my wife and I are going through now. However there were too many times when the gunky social science language of the book made my head spin. As an example, here’s a gem of a sentence that left me with a headache: “Whether one experiences one’s (or other’s) social identity as a neutral distinction or a source of systemic differential treatment shapes one’s likely response to the “difference.” - p 46. In conclusion, I think this book has a solid premise, and many good stories to support that premise but it packages itself as a profound scientific idea when it really is nothing more than a book about standing up for what is right...only diplomatically.
Task One, How am I different? The three ways one can be different from the majority are 1. having a different social identity that you perceive as setting you apart and excluded from the mainstream, 2. having a different social identity that you see as merely cultural and not excluded from the mainstream, or 3. having philosophical differences that you see as setting you apart from the mainstream. I can identify with the second difference, I am a first generation Irish-American which I feel is a cultural distinction that doesn’t exclude me from the mainstream and even endears me to the mainstream - despite the occasional irritation that I feel when people treat my heritage as some stereotypical irish joke. When I think about the specific culture at my workplace I would have to say I fall into the third category...philosophically out of sync with the mainstream. I feel that there is a significant culture of resistance to any change at my school. Many staff members bristle at any mention of change or new methods of instruction. I have a very different outlook on education, and am always open to learning new strategies and improving my instruction.
Task Two, Becoming a Tempered Radical: Looking at the continuum of how tempered radicals make a difference, I think I fall at the stage of leveraging small wins. I generally don’t directly take on colleagues who are angry with the changes that are going on in our school, but I do make a point of sharing my successes with implementing these changes. For example, Kennedy has been developing an International Baccalaureate program over the last 3 year. This program has been meet with some resistance from some staff members who resent the implementation of “another new” curriculum. At the same time, the program has been embraced by the community, the students and the teachers who are part of its instruction. As a result of this combined effort, the program has found great success at Kennedy and has begun to attract students to Kennedy who normally would only consider attending private schools or elite selective enrollment schools. In practice, I have made a point of talking up the program to teachers who initially rejected the IB while making sure to present it as an invitation to join and embrace a great opportunity. My goal moving forward is to continue pushing for the success of the IB program at Kennedy through my own actions in the classroom, but also by encouraging other teachers to recognize how this program has the potential to transform Kennedy into a top-tier school in CPS.
Task Three, Facing Challenges: The challenges that Meyerson describes have been real for me in my time at Kennedy. The one that rings most true is the struggle with ambivalence and loneliness. In the book, Meyerson describes ambivalence as a state of being torn between two feelings - usually attraction and revulsion or love and hate. She went on to detail how being a tempered radical can lead to feeling lonely when you have few colleagues around who you feel comfortable enough to open up to. While I don’t have that strong of emotions about my work conditions, I can certainly say that I simultaneously feel frustrated and proud of Kennedy while feeling stuck on an island trying to bring change to the curriculum. Dealing with these mixed feelings have been challenging, but one of the most helpful strategies has been seeking out colleagues who share my beliefs about education and Kennedy’s future. By finding people who share my values, I am able to run ideas about lessons or curriculum past people who will be open to ideas that may frustrate and challenge other colleagues. This has meant branching out past my own subject area, but it has lead to rewarding relationships that have sustained me professionally.
Task One, How am I different? The three ways one can be different from the majority are 1. having a different social identity that you perceive as setting you apart and excluded from the mainstream, 2. having a different social identity that you see as merely cultural and not excluded from the mainstream, or 3. having philosophical differences that you see as setting you apart from the mainstream. I can identify with the second difference, I am a first generation Irish-American which I feel is a cultural distinction that doesn’t exclude me from the mainstream and even endears me to the mainstream - despite the occasional irritation that I feel when people treat my heritage as some stereotypical irish joke. When I think about the specific culture at my workplace I would have to say I fall into the third category...philosophically out of sync with the mainstream. I feel that there is a significant culture of resistance to any change at my school. Many staff members bristle at any mention of change or new methods of instruction. I have a very different outlook on education, and am always open to learning new strategies and improving my instruction.
Task Two, Becoming a Tempered Radical: Looking at the continuum of how tempered radicals make a difference, I think I fall at the stage of leveraging small wins. I generally don’t directly take on colleagues who are angry with the changes that are going on in our school, but I do make a point of sharing my successes with implementing these changes. For example, Kennedy has been developing an International Baccalaureate program over the last 3 year. This program has been meet with some resistance from some staff members who resent the implementation of “another new” curriculum. At the same time, the program has been embraced by the community, the students and the teachers who are part of its instruction. As a result of this combined effort, the program has found great success at Kennedy and has begun to attract students to Kennedy who normally would only consider attending private schools or elite selective enrollment schools. In practice, I have made a point of talking up the program to teachers who initially rejected the IB while making sure to present it as an invitation to join and embrace a great opportunity. My goal moving forward is to continue pushing for the success of the IB program at Kennedy through my own actions in the classroom, but also by encouraging other teachers to recognize how this program has the potential to transform Kennedy into a top-tier school in CPS.
Task Three, Facing Challenges: The challenges that Meyerson describes have been real for me in my time at Kennedy. The one that rings most true is the struggle with ambivalence and loneliness. In the book, Meyerson describes ambivalence as a state of being torn between two feelings - usually attraction and revulsion or love and hate. She went on to detail how being a tempered radical can lead to feeling lonely when you have few colleagues around who you feel comfortable enough to open up to. While I don’t have that strong of emotions about my work conditions, I can certainly say that I simultaneously feel frustrated and proud of Kennedy while feeling stuck on an island trying to bring change to the curriculum. Dealing with these mixed feelings have been challenging, but one of the most helpful strategies has been seeking out colleagues who share my beliefs about education and Kennedy’s future. By finding people who share my values, I am able to run ideas about lessons or curriculum past people who will be open to ideas that may frustrate and challenge other colleagues. This has meant branching out past my own subject area, but it has lead to rewarding relationships that have sustained me professionally.