Lyceum begins every school day of the year at BOMLA. It is hard to imagine that taking part in so rich and interactive a daily experience does not impact, not just a “brother’s” academic learning, but his sense of self and his purpose in life. There is something remarkable here that other schools need to be studying and applying to their own programs. Below are my detailed notes and some speculation about where those interested in school reform might go with it.
Visit Date: February 20th, 2014
The Lyceum was convened, as it is every school day, at 7:55 AM. I was ushered to a seat in the back of the assembly hall and watched as the brothers, all in uniform (dark blue v-neck sweaters or blazers) gradually filled seats in designated areas, by grade. There was a good deal of informal conversation, mostly between pairs or among small groups of students. The boys in general seemed animated; many were smiling. The noise level was lower than what one expected from a room full of pre- and adolescent boys-- a sort of busy murmur. I saw a number of cell phones being looked at, but no one appeared to be phoning.
The Lyceum was convened, as it is every school day, at 7:55 AM. I was ushered to a seat in the back of the assembly hall and watched as the brothers, all in uniform (dark blue v-neck sweaters or blazers) gradually filled seats in designated areas, by grade. There was a good deal of informal conversation, mostly between pairs or among small groups of students. The boys in general seemed animated; many were smiling. The noise level was lower than what one expected from a room full of pre- and adolescent boys-- a sort of busy murmur. I saw a number of cell phones being looked at, but no one appeared to be phoning.
At 7:50, a student went up onto the stage and began up on a piano
behind the curtain. A minute or two later, another student called the assembly
to stand for the Pledge to the American and Texas Flags. Following this, in
what seemed to be a standard order of business, the Principal, Mr. Douglas, led
recitation of the school mission statement, the creed, and a singing of the school
song, supported by slides projected over the stage. The final line of the
school song was a repeated chant of the school motto: “Believe. Achieve. Succeed”. Mr. Douglas called for a moment of silence before introducing the
presenter for this lyceum, one of the math teachers.
Feeding the intellect--the lesson of the day
The main event was a 20-minute demonstration of a rapid multiplication technique based on certain properties of the Fibonacci series. After introducing the concept of the series (the progression of natural numbers, ordered in sequential, 2-integer, sums: 0,1, 1,2, 3,5, 8,13, 21, etc.) he had a few students work a problem using the technique, then challenged all to work as teams and solve for various large numbers. Everyone I could see was engaged in the process, while the first to get right answers were applauded. This was no derby—where only the swiftest can win—but a collective exercise, where all were expected to get the point and win the “prize” eventually. In the Fall semester, we were told, Mr. Douglas presides at all the lyceums and that his talks center more on personal ethics and social issues. I’ll plan to return for one of those, as I’m sure they would be quite interesting as well.
Cueing good order
At one point in the assembly, the presider evidently sensed some restlessness in the audience. He raised his arm and said in a loud voice, “BELIEVE, ACHIEVE, SUCCEED” This set off a cascading repetition of the school motto by everyone around the hall and quickly brought the room back to order. At another point, when Mr. Douglas was speaking to the assembly, he got the attention he desired with the command “SLANT!” (derived from the Advancement Via Individual Determination or AVID program) recollecting everyone's attention by delivering an explicit command by referencing a revered norm, the BOMLA motto. The gestures and responses, as used here, appear to be well-practiced and effective in re-establishing decorum.
At one point in the assembly, the presider evidently sensed some restlessness in the audience. He raised his arm and said in a loud voice, “BELIEVE, ACHIEVE, SUCCEED” This set off a cascading repetition of the school motto by everyone around the hall and quickly brought the room back to order. At another point, when Mr. Douglas was speaking to the assembly, he got the attention he desired with the command “SLANT!” (derived from the Advancement Via Individual Determination or AVID program) recollecting everyone's attention by delivering an explicit command by referencing a revered norm, the BOMLA motto. The gestures and responses, as used here, appear to be well-practiced and effective in re-establishing decorum.
After the math demonstration, Mr. Douglas returned to the stage for a few announcements, including recognition of a spelling bee winner and several recent athletic victories. He reminded all that at BOMLA, "we are student athletes, not athletic students". He read out names of some students who were to stay seated after dismissal, which then proceeded by grade level, with the upperclassmen first. I decided to stay behind to watch what I later learned was a “Success Hall” I’ll save that for another post.
The function of the lyceum
The BOMLA lyceum I witnessed clearly reinforces a particular set
of values (see creed and school song texts below). It uses repetition, in
multiple media, of the value set and calls for diverse behavioral responses
from the participants. It equates academic achievement with overall success,
and suggests that effort, not talent is the critical factor in achievement. It
places the responsibility for success on the individual youth and accepts no
excuses for failure, other than his decision not to try. This is an optimistic
set of values; it implies that one can control one’s fate, and that misfortune
is indifferent to persons, merely something to be overcome. BOMLA places this call to individual
striving in the context of a brotherhood, where one is obliged to help his
fellow classmate and by metaphoric extension, improve his community.
Learning is social.
Much of our current assessment of schooling outcomes focuses on individual performance and individual choices. We gather and aggregate this data to evaluate our educational efforts and re-design them. The aggregate of individual behavior, however, is not the same as the data we might derive from more ecological approaches, such as ethnographic observation and assessment. Recent thinking across the behavioral sciences and neuropsychology looks at all forms of behavior, including teaching and learning, in a particular context. Another way of saying this is that kids don’t learn in a vacuum. They learn, or fail to learn, in a particular collection of settings that organize behaviors over time. While we do pay a lot of attention to one particular school setting, the “lesson”, we may be overlooking the power of other settings, some very intentional, and others seldom acknowledged, in generating long-term learning effects. Perhaps what happens in chapels, club meetings, playgrounds, study halls, and on the athletic fields is worth looking into for a deeper understanding of places of learning that work, or don’t to further the school's aims.
Much of our current assessment of schooling outcomes focuses on individual performance and individual choices. We gather and aggregate this data to evaluate our educational efforts and re-design them. The aggregate of individual behavior, however, is not the same as the data we might derive from more ecological approaches, such as ethnographic observation and assessment. Recent thinking across the behavioral sciences and neuropsychology looks at all forms of behavior, including teaching and learning, in a particular context. Another way of saying this is that kids don’t learn in a vacuum. They learn, or fail to learn, in a particular collection of settings that organize behaviors over time. While we do pay a lot of attention to one particular school setting, the “lesson”, we may be overlooking the power of other settings, some very intentional, and others seldom acknowledged, in generating long-term learning effects. Perhaps what happens in chapels, club meetings, playgrounds, study halls, and on the athletic fields is worth looking into for a deeper understanding of places of learning that work, or don’t to further the school's aims.
Lyceum is a tool for teaching values.
What is going on here at BOMLA is, I think, more than a mere collection of schoolhouse rituals, none of which is unfamiliar to us. However, when viewed as a coherent event, and given its frequency, participation levels and content, I think the “lyceum” warrants careful study as an instrument for a certain kind of learning, a strategic element in the design of the academic program, and in particular, to the constellation of "non-cognitive" traits, like resilience, persistence, and "grit" that many educators agree are as predictive of success, if not more than achievement test scores. Many educators are struggling to find ways to instill these traits into students. Clearly, some schools are "outliers" in their ability to project students successfully in college and other rigorous post-graduate programs. My hunch is that lyceum, as practiced here, is worth careful study for replication in other settings. The trick, I think, will be to deeply understand the practice, and not merely copy its superficial form.
How can we better understand settings?
Lyceum fulfills the requirements of a “behavior setting” as described by social psychologists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior_settings) , as a recurrent, stable set of interactions within specific time and space boundaries. These are the ecological units of a culture, driving a complex of self-reinforcing, interactive behaviors within a particular time and place, and giving those behaviors meaning beyond it. Roger Barker, the pioneer of "ecological psychology" in the 1940's, suggested eleven dimensions of a behavior setting (below). These present a reliable and objective way to compare analogous settings in different schools, and determine their "robustness", or relative importance within the larger setting of the school.
What is going on here at BOMLA is, I think, more than a mere collection of schoolhouse rituals, none of which is unfamiliar to us. However, when viewed as a coherent event, and given its frequency, participation levels and content, I think the “lyceum” warrants careful study as an instrument for a certain kind of learning, a strategic element in the design of the academic program, and in particular, to the constellation of "non-cognitive" traits, like resilience, persistence, and "grit" that many educators agree are as predictive of success, if not more than achievement test scores. Many educators are struggling to find ways to instill these traits into students. Clearly, some schools are "outliers" in their ability to project students successfully in college and other rigorous post-graduate programs. My hunch is that lyceum, as practiced here, is worth careful study for replication in other settings. The trick, I think, will be to deeply understand the practice, and not merely copy its superficial form.
How can we better understand settings?
Lyceum fulfills the requirements of a “behavior setting” as described by social psychologists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior_settings) , as a recurrent, stable set of interactions within specific time and space boundaries. These are the ecological units of a culture, driving a complex of self-reinforcing, interactive behaviors within a particular time and place, and giving those behaviors meaning beyond it. Roger Barker, the pioneer of "ecological psychology" in the 1940's, suggested eleven dimensions of a behavior setting (below). These present a reliable and objective way to compare analogous settings in different schools, and determine their "robustness", or relative importance within the larger setting of the school.
- Occurrence
- Duration
- Population
- Occupancy Time
- Penetration
- Action Patterns
- Behavior Mechanisms
- Richness
- Pressure
- Welfare
- Local Autonomy
Our next step would be to train a set of observers to apply these in comparative studies of the "non-classroom" settings across a number of schools, then to compare the content and robustness of such settings to their schools' performance in post-secondary placement and eventual success.
JEC
___________
Setting Dimensions
There are two temporal attributes: Occurrence (O), the number of days in a year the behavior setting is capable of occurring, and Duration (D), the number of hours the behavior setting functions during a year. Population (P) is the number of different persons who inhabit the behavior setting during the year. These three basic attributes allow for a calculation of Occupancy Time (OT), the number of person-hours spent in the behavior setting. It is the product of the occurrences (O), the average number of inhabitants per occurrence (P/O), and the average duration per occurrence (D/O).
Penetration (Pe) is the degree to which an inhabitant is involved in the setting and consists of six incremental zones, ranging from onlooker to leader. Using these divisions, the average depth of penetration can be determined for population subgroups (e.g., frequency of minority students being leaders in a club).
Action Patterns (AP) are the functional attributes of the patterns of behavior (e.g., religion, education, and recreation). For each action variable, researchers note the activity’s frequency (participation subscale), its production of materials for use in another setting (supply subscale), and whether the activity is evaluated (appreciation subscale). Behavior Mechanisms (BM) are the modalities through which behavior is implemented in the setting, such as gross motor activity, talking, or thinking. Researchers note each mechanism’s frequency (participation subscale), the speed of the behavior (tempo subscale), and the expenditure of energy (intensity subscale).
Richness is a composite measure of the variety of behavior within the setting. It is computed from the prior attributes using the following formula: (∑Pe + ∑AP + ∑BM)OT/100
Pressure is the degree to which external forces act upon a person to approach/enter or avoid/withdraw from the setting. For example, a setting can be required (a child is for a class at school), invited (a child welcomed to a Sunday School class), or prohibited (a child is excluded from a bar). Welfare is the relevance of the setting to a particular group of inhabitants; that is, whether the group is served by the setting, whether the group serves others in the setting, or whether the setting instigates and supports other settings relevant to the group. Finally, the Local Autonomy of the behavior setting is the geographic level at which the setting’s operations are determined (e.g., town, district, county, state).
_________________
Motto of BOMLA: “Believe. Achieve. Succeed”
Motto of BOMLA: “Believe. Achieve. Succeed”
BOMLA School
Song
We are the brothers of BOMLA
With
the goal of becoming the best in U.S.A.
We
believe perseverance, not chance, is the way to achieve.
Our
activities are governed by character, honesty, humility.
Excuses
don’t exist!
We
are loyal to our family
Committed
to our community
Servants
of mankind and humanity
We
have the audacity to HOPE and SUCCEED
We
are the brothers of Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy
We
have the audacity to HOPE and Succeed
We
have the audacity to Believe, Achieve, Succeed
We
are the brothers of Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy
(Chant)
Believe, Achieve, Succeed!
Settings: Measurable Dimensions (after Barker, et al)
· There are two temporal
attributes: Occurrence (O), the number of days in a year the behavior setting
is capable of occurring, and Duration (D), the number of hours the behavior
setting functions during a year. Population (P) is the number of different
persons who inhabit the behavior setting during the year. These three basic
attributes allow for a calculation of Occupancy Time (OT), the number of
person-hours spent in the behavior setting. It is the product of the
occurrences (O), the average number of inhabitants per occurrence (P/O), and
the average duration per occurrence (D/O).
· Penetration (Pe) is the degree to
which an inhabitant is involved in the setting and consists of six incremental
zones, ranging from onlooker to leader. Using these divisions, the average depth
of penetration can be determined for population subgroups (e.g., frequency of
minority students being leaders in a club).
· Action Patterns (AP) are the
functional attributes of the patterns of behavior (e.g., religion, education,
and recreation). For each action variable, researchers note the activity’s
frequency (participation subscale), its production of materials for use in
another setting (supply subscale), and whether the activity is evaluated
(appreciation subscale). Behavior Mechanisms (BM) are the modalities through
which behavior is implemented in the setting, such as gross motor activity,
talking, or thinking. Researchers note each mechanism’s frequency
(participation subscale), the speed of the behavior (tempo subscale), and the
expenditure of energy (intensity subscale).
· Richness is a composite measure
of the variety of behavior within the setting. It is computed frm the prior attributes using the
following formula: (∑Pe + ∑AP + ∑BM)OT/100)
· Pressure is the degree to which
external forces act upon a person to approach/enter or avoid/withdraw from the
setting. For example, a setting can be required (a child is for a class at
school), invited (a child welcomed to a Sunday School class), or prohibited (a
child is excluded from a bar). Welfare is the relevance of the setting to a
particular group of inhabitants; that is, whether the group is served by the
setting, whether the group serves others in the setting, or whether the setting
instigates and supports other settings relevant to the group. Finally, the
Local Autonomy of the behavior setting is the geographic level at which the
setting’s operations are determined (e.g., town, district, county, state).
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