I did not start the 180 journey because I had the answers. I started down this road because I wanted answers. I wanted more and better out of education. I wanted more and better out of my students. And I wanted more and better out of myself. So, I set out to make some discoveries in the hopes that when I returned I would arrive more knowledgeable and better suited to give more and  better to my profession and my kids. I’m a long way from home.  And while some days, I fear I’m lost out here on this lonesome road, I find hope in knowing that when I return, despite the challenges both faced and yet to come, I will return, and I will have learned.

And so, I walk. I march forth, seeking to learn from my mistakes and my successes, looking for ways to learn and grow. A few days ago, I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of John Hattie’s work around influences on student achievement. It caught my attention as I was scrolling through the Twitterverse, and I paused to take a look. Essentially his years of work is a super-mega meta-analyses of the research literature, which presents the effect size of practices that influence student achievement. Intrigued, I looked a little further and followed a link to his site, Visible Learning, which presented the top-ten influences (by effect size) on student achievement.

1. Student self-reported grades

2. Piagetian programs

3. Response to intervention

4. Teacher Credibility

5. Providing formative evaluation

6. Micro-teaching

7. Classroom discussion

8. Comprehensive interventions for learning disabled students

9. Teacher clarity

10. Feedback

At the bottom of the page, was a link to buy the book. So, duly intrigued, I clicked, and the book arrived Monday. Last night, I cracked it open. And while it certainly reads like a textbook–as the reviews indicated–and is sufficiently stat heavy, it presents a comprehensive look at statistically significant practices that influence student achievement. And this morning my head is buzzing  with the fresh dissonance of newly discovered information. Noise. But necessary noise, for I know when it settles, I will have learned. I will have made progress. I will have gained more to be better.

Importantly, Hattie doesn’t offer the book as a prescription or program; he offers it as means to develop a frame of mind, a way of thinking about practice and how it influences that which matters most: student achievement. And I am all in. And I am learning. And that is what 180 is about in the end. Not to arrive. I’ll never arrive. But to journey. To boldly go. To learn. To grow. That’s my journey.

But, I am not alone. Lonely, yes. But never alone. I have my supporters, and I have my critics, and I couldn’t do it without either. To my supporters, thank you for seeing me  and believing in me. You give me heart. To my critics, I am sorry that you can’t see me. And I think it is not that I hide. Truly, I put myself out there every day. I am not hiding in the woods. I am walking down the middle of road. I want you to see me. I need you to see me. You feed me. Fire away. I grow stronger every time you do. Thank you.

Happy Wednesday, all.