CHANGEd: What if school leaders practiced the change they preach…and developed a people strategy? 60-60-60 #57

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Thinking about CHANGEd 60-60-60: PEOPLE STRATEGY and re/pre-flecting…

In Pat Bassett’s TEDx St. Georges School talk, he reveals seven big shifts in the larger world that are changing the landscape of education and schooling:

  • Knowing…Doing
  • Teacher-centered…Student-centered
  • The Individual…The Team
  • Consumption of Info…Construction of Meaning
  • Schools…Networks
  • Single Sourcing…Crowd Sourcing
  • High Stakes Testing…High Value Demonstations

If we administrators expect teachers to proactively respond to these big shifts for the futures of their students, mustn’t we do so ourselves?

  • Shouldn’t we be transforming faculty meetings (and other “PD”) into faculty doings? Shouldn’t we be experimenting with PBL with adults…and with projects that are relevant and meaningful to teachers? Are we even asking them what they want and need?
  • From the admin view, how can we make school more “teacher-centered” so that teachers can, in turn, make school more student-centered? Shouldn’t we admin be modeling “student voice and choice” by providing such to our faculties?
  • How are we un-silo-ing our schools to facilitate teachers working in teams?
  • How are we facilitating the construction of meaning among our faculties, instead of asking them to consume information? Do decisions feel top-down or bottom-up? Or inside-out? Or outside-in?
  • How are we admin employing and engaging learning networks and advocating for OPEN and SAFE and THOUGHTFUL use of such endless learning resources in the network…outside our school walls?
  • How are we crowd-sourcing our collective wisdom within our faculties and among our faculties from school to school? How are we refusing to re-invent the wheel and instead partnering with the crowds of other doing schools…I mean networks?
  • How are we refusing the high stakes testing of teachers and engaging high value demonstrations of professional practice?

A people strategy begins with EMPATHY. It moves along the stepping stones of the Golden Rule. A people strategy refuses to commit the fundamental attribution error (see the Heath Bros’ Switch).

Be the change you want to see in others! Show the way; don’t just tell the way. Blur the lines among “admin,” “teacher,” “student.” In fact, any of us should be all three. It’s not about the titles. It’s about learning…together.

CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 Project Explained

[This post was cross-published on Connected Principals on September 14, 2012.]