A wonderful educator, Mildred Middleton, taught us that it is very appropriate to “M” around in school work. Education is not static work, she told us. Everyone and everything is changing, some appearing as revolutionary and but most feeling as evolutionary, but it all is changing. Dick, Jane and Spot left the reading shelf replaced with trade books. Now, graphic books, anyone? Anyone? New Math upset the apple cart and then the apples were collected, the cart arighted, and New became one of several approaches to math instruction. Common Core made everything more academic and accountability made everyone more antsy. Change is always at hand somewhere around the schoolhouse.
Mildred helped us to understand change and, to steal a line from Apollo 13, to “work the problem”. While we wanted to apply a single strategy to understanding the phenomenon of change, she used the M’s to help us work the problem even when we don’t know how.
M-ing is valuable for adults and children alike. Instead of watching people give up because they don’t know what to do or run around with their hair on fire chasing the solution of the moment, we can teach adults and children to be meddlers, muddlers, modelers, and to never accept middling.
Let’s define our terms.
Meddling is being a Thomas Edison and trying dozens of viable options seeking the best option of all. Meddling is active engagement, hands-on action, and continuous commitment to the work. Meddling is inquisitive and inventive. Meddling is an itch being scratched.
Muddling is observant cognitive and emotional inaction. Muddling is saying to oneself and to others, “I don’t know what to do at the moment. I need to stop the doing and push the observing and thinking and talking with others.” Muddling takes personal strength in a world that expects immediate action and results. Muddling is taking the problem apart to best understand where and how to start and this requires emotional patience. Muddling can lead to meddling and modeling when a person has sorted things out.
Modeling is the creation and development of a focused result or set of results when a person has committed to an idea or plan. Modeling is working the plan. Modeling is shaping the variables at hand so that they contribute to making the plan work or the idea come alive. Modeling is how a lump of clay becomes a piece of art or an idea becomes a cogent argument or a social problem is addressed to mutual satisfaction. Modeling is inherent in the teaching of a successful lesson plan and in a child’s personalization of what is learned from that lesson plan.
Middling is mediocre. Middling is “any answer will do”. Middling is meeting the minimal, just passing, just above the grade of F. Middling is not good enough for those who engage in meddling, muddling and modeling.
The M’s are an intersection of knowledge, skills and dispositions about learning and self that are valuable for children and adults in every area of life. To work the M’s, a person must know things, have skills to manipulate things, and accept the dilemma of not knowing what to do and the liberation of knowing what to do but having the patience to observe until then. The M’s are acquired not innate.
When we engage in the M’s, we need to careful. Modeling is the most attractive M. It produces the showcase and salves the ego. Most people grade and reward the results of modeling because modeling typically results in something we can see, touch, hear, read, or smell. Care needs to be given to also value good meddling and good muddling. What if we also assessed and graded the quality of meddling or the quality of muddling? A good modeled result can only be produced after good meddling and muddling.
Mildred gave us one more pearl that assists us apply the M’s. When we understood the value and the strategies of each M, she said, “Now, pull up your socks, young man, and get to work”. And, we have been M-ing in school ever since.