Learn, Think, Write

Organizing myself online

Where are you looking?

Look into my eyesphoto © 2008 Look Into My Eyes | more info (via: Wylio)
The UPS truck slowed down in front of my house today. I listened for the “Knock, knock.”

My books had arrived. Though I often choose to read on my Kindle App, sometimes I really want THE Book. Like the Complete Artist’s Way, all 700 pages of it, which I will dive into tomorrow.

Another one in the stack today was Practically Radical, by William C. Taylor, co-founder of FAST COMPANY magazine. I picked it up, starting from the back. This chapter jumped out at me:

Where you look shapes what you see

Isn’t that true? We strive to make changes, but if we look where we have always looked, if we listen to voices we have always heard, we can’t see the possibilities.

I have chosen to add a variety of blogs to my RSS feed over the years. They are not all about education. Some I read for the message, some for the fabulous writing, some for the inspiration.

Take a look:

Re-educate Seattle: A blog written by an administrator at a charter school. He wants to change the world.

Harvard Business Review: Speaks for itself

Buried in Wires: Teaching writing in the digital age

Full Circle Associates: Nancy White’s company about connecting and learning, collaborating online. Much more.

15 Axioms: leadership

White Hot Truth: crazy stuff

Life is a Verb: inspiration- she asks: what would I be doing today if I only had 37 days to live?

Beth Kanter: because I learn a lot from her about nonprofits and social media

sacha chua: I like her transparency

Brene Brown: researcher with an authentic voice who talks about imperfections and strength

These are among the 307 blogs I currently subscribe to. The variety keeps me thinking about how the rest of the world works. We all need to look beyond our comfort zone, don’t you think? And sometimes, we still come back to where we started: read Study for the Essay Questions

Being Aware

And the walls came tumbling down…

industrial age institutions will continue to expand blindly, unaware of their part in a larger whole or of the consequences of their growth. Presence, Peter Senge
Our church Vestry retreat was this weekend, and I spent time at Roslyn, a quiet Episcopalian retreat center. A speaker yesterday has me thinking more about institutional change, one of my favorite topics. Though he spoke of change in the Episcopalian church, he could have been talking about institutional change in education.
As we talked about ways to build community in our church and offer experiences to meet the needs of our congregation, I also made connections to how we need to change our schools.

Peter Senge, who speaks and writes about systems change (The Fifth Discipline: School That Learn 2000), explores further the role of learning in one of his books, Presence. An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society (also by O. Scharmer, J. Jarworski, and B. Flowers .) In the introduction he writes:

When any of us acts in a state of fear or anxiety, our actions are likely to revert to what is most habitual: our most instinctual behaviors dominate, ultimately reducing us to the “fight-or-flight” programming of the reptilian brain stem. Collective actions are no different. Even as conditions in the world change dramatically, most businesses, governments, schools, and other large organizations continue to take the same kinds of institutional actions that they always have. This does not mean that no learning occurs. But it is a limited type
of learning: learning how best to react to circumstances we see ourselves as having had no hand in creating.

So often our institutions want to do more of the same. We find ourselves trying to react to, find solutions to, problems that are beyond the scope of what we’ve always done. Instead, we need to find ways to do things differently. In church, it might be trying to meet the needs of parishioners who can’t make Sunday morning worship. Our speaker talked of focusing on Weekly Average Touches rather than Daily Sunday attendance. He talked of early morning discussion groups, evening speakers, online workshops, and even a Saturday morning Farmers Market held at the church.

In schools, this means meeting individuals’ needs where they are, focusing on deeper thinking, and integrating disciplines across the curriculum to  create moments of authentic learning. It means thinking holistically instead of in parts. For both church and school, we must let go of our “past-driven mentality.”

Senge says:

All learning integrates thinking and doing. All learning is about how we interact in the world and the types of capacities that develop from our interactions. As long as our thinking is governed by industrial, “machine age” metaphors such as control, predictability, and “faster is better,” we will continue to re-create institutions as we have, despite their increasing disharmony with the larger world.

Senge says he and the other authors began to see “presence” as “deep listening, of being open beyond one’s preconceptions and historical ways of making sense.We came to see the importance of letting go of old identities and the need to control…”

And so it is with the church, too. Are we open to these shifts? Are we prepared to let go of preconceived ideas?

The end of the introduction closes in this way:

In the end, we concluded that understanding presence and the possibilities of larger fields for change can come only from many perspectives—from the emerging science of living systems, from the creative arts, from profound organizational change experiences—and from directly understanding the generative capacities of nature.
Virtually all indigenous or native cultures have regarded nature or universe or Mother Earth as the ultimate teacher. At few times in history has there been a greater need to rediscover this teacher.

I’ve simplified his book, but the connections I made between our struggle to shift both education and church, the importance of community in both, and our need to think using the Theory of the U (more on that later) have me thinking.

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What are you afraid of?

I’m not a rule-breaker. I wish I were.

But at 58, I don’t think I’ll be changing.

So I’ve had to learn to live with my fear, occasionally challenging myself to break the mold, let go, and take a leap of faith.

Heights, disappointing people, boats on choppy water. These give me constant struggle.

But believing that schools often damage children? Knowing that the way we “do school” is wrong? I’m not afraid to make those changes. These are questions I’m grappling with these days:

  • The importance of writing and how the teaching of writing needs to change
  • Whether college as we know it matters
  • How to maintain a curious mind
  • Whether the institution is the problem or the size of the institution

I suppose my own school experience contributes to my need to improve what we do. Because of my dad’s military career, I attended 13 schools in 12 years. I have only one positive memory of a teacher who mattered to me in all those years, and she changed my future.

I have no easy answers, but I continue to study and research the possibilities for change. Being afraid to rock the boat will mean calm waters but no movement. And I don’t want to stand still.

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Finding Kindred Spirits

We don’t need to convince large numbers of people to change; instead, we need to connect with kindred spirits. Through these relationships, we will develop the new knowledge, practices, courage, and commitment that lead to broad-based change. (Berkana, Wheatley & Frieze)

In my work with PLP (Powerful Learning Practice), I find this thought resonates with me time and again. I find support in The Berkana Institute ‘s mission: Whatever the problem, community is the answer.

I’ve known this for a long time. Years ago, a colleague and I started a group at school called “Faculty Club.” We knew the idea of community would be the answer to some of our issues at school. At that time, I hadn’t done much research about community; it was more of a gut feeling. (I do tend to listen to my gut.) Without too much preparation, we began meeting with like-minded teachers from school–at lunch, after school, during breaks–to talk about and reflect upon our teaching and learning. We learned from one another, both experienced and novice teachers, in many ways. This valuable experience has helped shaped me as a teacher and community leader.

We can’t learn in isolation. The connections we create help strengthen us and give us power to do the work in schools we need to do. Systemic change happens in stages, according to Berkana.

Stage One: Networks. We live in a time when coalitions, alliances and networks are forming as the means to create societal change. There are ever more networks and now, networks of networks. These networks are essential for people finding likeminded others, the first stage in the lifecycle of emergence. It’s important to note that networks are only the beginning. They are based on self-interest–people usually network together for their own benefit and to develop their own work. Networks tend to have fluid membership; people move in and out of them based on how much they personally benefit from participating.

Stage Two: Communities of Practice. Networks make it possible for people to find others engaged in similar work. The second stage of emergence is the development of communities of practice (CoPs). Many such smaller, individuated communities can spring from a robust network. CoPs are also self-organized. People share a common work and realize there is great benefit to being in relationship. They use this community to share what they know, to support one another, and to intentionally create new knowledge for their field of practice. These CoPs differ from networks in significant ways. They are communities, which means that people make a commitment to be there for each other; they participate not only for their own Communities of Practiceneeds, but to serve the needs of others.

In a community of practice, the focus extends beyond the needs of the group. There is an intentional commitment to advance the field of practice, and to share those discoveries with a wider audience. They make their resources and knowledge available to anyone, especially those doing related work.

The speed with which people learn and grow in a community of practice is noteworthy. Good ideas move rapidly amongst members. New knowledge and practices are implemented quickly. The speed at which knowledge development and exchange happens is crucial, because local regions and the world need this knowledge and wisdom now.

Stage Three: Systems of Influence. The third stage in emergence can never be predicted.Systems of Influence It is the sudden appearance of a system that has real power and influence. Pioneering efforts that hovered at the periphery suddenly become the norm. The practices developed by courageous communities become the accepted standard. People no longer hesitate about adopting these approaches and methods and they learn them easily. Policy and funding debates now include the perspectives and experiences of these pioneers. They become leaders in the field and are acknowledged as the wisdom keepers for their particular issue. And critics who said it could never be done suddenly become chief supporters (often saying they knew it all along.)

Will you be a pioneer? Will you be courageous? Will you be intentional in your approach to teaching and learning?

Myths: Can we move forward?

L&S Rules for Students 3photo © 2009 Michael Stout | more info (via: Wylio)I’ll have to give @pcwoessner credit for sending me to Allison Zmuda. I was not familiar with her work, but her latest book is something I wish I’d had in the classroom.

Breaking Free from Myths About Teaching and Learning takes her research from 2008, using her format of essential questions, to make us think about this:

Is fundamental change possible given the myths our culture holds related to schooling?

I like the way she thinks.

In this article (I haven’t gotten my hands on her book yet), Zmuda lists the myths and expounds upon them:

Myth #1: The rules of this classroom and subject area are determined by each teacher.

Myth #2: What the teacher wants me to say is more important than what I want to say.

Myth #3: The point of an assignment is to get it done so that it’s off the to-do list.

Myth #4: If I make a mistake, my job is only to replace it with the right answer.

Myth #5: I feel proud of myself only if I receive a good grade.

Myth #6: Speed is synonymous with intelligence.

Myth #7: If I get too far behind, I will never catch up.

Myth #8: The way I want to be seen by my classmates affects the way I conduct myself as a learner.

Myth #9: What I’m learning in school doesn’t have much to do with my life, but it isn’t supposed to —it’s school.

Please visit her article for the discussion on each point. Her conclusion echoes Carol Dweck’s research,

The discussion of the nine myths above calls attention to those ways of thinking that may be familiar, but still jeopardize the power and joy of learning for teacher and student alike. Change your thinking; change your experience.

She encourages us to look beyond the myths, to “be free to imagine a better way.”

I think it’s a rather  hopeful way to start the year. Don’t you?