The Heart of the Matter

I was at the doctor earlier this week for a diagnostic test of my heart. I’ve had some problems lately and the cardiologist ordered an electrocardiogram so he could get more information about how my heart is performing and potentially, help to better diagnose some of the issues we are working through.

While the technician was going through the process of using the sonogram to take pictures, measurements and audio samples, I watched the screen from the examination table.

I was in awe at his fluency of movement, the speed of the mouse, the accuracy of the markers he placed in the images, and his ability to zero in on the parts of my heart with the small handheld sonogram probe – his ability to take something extremely technical and turn the process into something that resembled, for lack of a better word, a performance was truly artful.

When we finished and I was putting my shirt back on, I asked him how long it takes to become so proficient.? His answer was one I should have expected ---

He said, “It takes two years of classes and training before you are even allowed to begin to practice.”? After that, he mentioned, “year 1, you are just terrible – you are just trying to make sense of all the training and how it really works in the real world.” He continued, “By Year 2, you are a little better, but it’s only in year two that you really have any reference for what you are doing. By year 3, that’s when it all starts to come together.”? He said, “But here’s the deal, to really get good, you have to volunteer a lot!”? I said, Volunteer?”? He said, “yeah, volunteer to sit in with other techs that have been doing this a long time. Heart disease is complicated, it looks different in each patient. The more you can be around those that have the background knowledge, the more you will also have. It’s about growing your experience so you can bring that back to your own practice.”

Hopefully you are making the same connection I started to make while listening to his description of growth and development of expertise.

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Teaching is almost a 1:1 comparison – or rather, should be.

In John Hattie’s research, collective teacher efficacy is the number one contributing factor to student success.? One could make the leap that to have collective efficacy, a teacher would need to have individual efficacy.? The question remains, how do we intentionally grow teacher efficacy?

Here’s another way to look at it.

In The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle, chapter 9 is titled The Teaching Circuit: A Blue Print and describes the four virtues of master coaches. For the first virtue, Coyle references Ron Gallimore, professor emeritus at UCLA and the “matrix”. The “Matrix?is Gallimore’s word for the vast grid of task-specific knowledge that distinguishes the best teachers and allows them to creatively and effectively respond to a student’s efforts. Gallimore explains it this way: ‘A great teacher has the capacity to always take it deeper, to see the learning the student is capable of and to go there. It keeps going deeper and deeper because the teacher can think about the material in so many different ways, and because there’s an endless number of connections they can make.’”?

So, to create deep level of teacher efficacy, to then believe that collective teacher efficacy can change a student’s trajectory, it would require all teachers to continue to grow their “matrix” – or craft knowledge.?

I’ve recently read a superintendent’s post, and subsequent comments, on performance-based pay and their plans for how to change how they evaluate teachers based on student expectations, etc.? Essentially, step increases based on years of service would not occur, only pay increases connected to student performance.? I’m not wholly against this, as Texas already has a Teacher Incentive Allotment, but there was a glaring missing piece in the post and comments – none of them addressed the need to have a clearly articulated plan for professional development and training that is specifically tied to the evaluation.? Essentially – there was no plan on how to grow a teacher’s “matrix”, or craft-knowledge, nor to address the need for collective teacher efficacy.

The concept of performance-based pay, evaluations, and student performance are part of the same ecosystem of professional development, and craft knowledge, that comes from years of experience, content knowledge, and years of additional coaching from experts in the field.

In many ISD’s and Local Education Agencies (LEA’s), there are significant shortfalls in retention and recruiting of teachers.? There are many reasons for this: the pay, student behavior, the administration, etc. But for those teachers that we do retain, and for those that we recruit and hire that are new to the profession, and in some cases, with no background, such as a degree or certification in education, there must be clear pathways to grow their “matrix”. The hard facts are that in Texas, non-certified individuals grew to 34% of newly hired teachers in 2024 – a historic high. If teachers who entered as uncertified were retained in their first 5 years at the same rate as teachers prepared through traditional certification programs, LEAs would have needed to hire 7,735 fewer teachers. (TEA)?

Growing kids is complicated.

Growing adults – is even more complicated.

But like assessing and diagnosing heart disease, we must approach the process of growing teachers in a similar way with building expertise and with a clear understanding that it takes time.

Like Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 hour” rule, or even Josh Kaufman’s “20-hour rule”, to learn a skill takes some level of significant, targeted investment.?

In the midst of all we do to try to grow professionals and provide adequate training and professional development lies the very clear delineation between what James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits, calls the difference between “Motion” and “Action”.? He describes motion as planning, strategizing, and learning.? All are important in making action intentional but are not the action itself.? As Clear states, “Action delivers results.”

Simply planning professional development and engaging teachers is not the whole of the work.? It is distinctly an incredibly important part, but for it to come to fruition, the resultant action must also be defined.? I’ve been calling it, “How does it change my Monday?”? Essentially, what about my training or professional development changes the way I normally do something? What is the expected change? How do I accomplish it with all the other things asked of me?

Without defining the change, it’s nearly impossible to expect any.

It is impossible to design a system of accountability, performance, and growth without expectations, but more importantly, if the actions put in place to drive the change, aren’t actually working toward the change, then it’s simply motion and not really action. Continual motion causes frustration.

I’m afraid, those of us closest to the work of growing others, often struggle with distinguishing between those things we have always done, or the next best thing, and confusing them as action, when they hide right in front of us as only motion.? The value of planning, strategizing, and learning, typically provided in professional development often takes center stage rather than on the action that moves people. It’s easily confused, thus the need to be intentional about the difference. Those new to the profession, and those returning, require it.

Like the medical professional responsible for my test, growing expertise allows for better performance, better insight in lesson preparation, and better discernment when there are no clear answers. The result is better for our kids, our systems, performance, and retention. To grow expertise, professional development must be centered around the actions that are necessary for change.

So, the results of the electrocardiogram came back and there is calcification of the arteries.

A leaky valve.

Things to watch, treat, and work toward correcting. Nothing that is life threatening, but definitely worth life changing.

With expertise, the Doctor went through the motion of identifying the problems, diagnosing, and prescribing the corrective courses.?

The action is now for me to implement.

It’s diet changes.

Medication routines.

Exercise regimens.

My Monday is different now.

And so is Tuesday, Wednesday…

But I have a plan.

It’s at the Heart of the Matter.