Category Archives: Conferences

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – Lovett’s 2012 American Studies Institute #ASI2012

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Are we Americans currently living through revolutions in art, politics, music, journalism, economics, and education (just to name a few)? What is the nature of a revolution? Are there common characteristics and traits among revolutions? Are we teaching our students about the foundations and aspects of revolutions in American history and around the world?

“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” breathed rhythmically as the theme of this year’s American Studies Institute at The Lovett School in Atlanta, GA. As participants gathered on Thursday morning, June 7, Gil Scott-Heron’s poetic stoker was playing on an audio loop (lyrics). Then, after brief opening remarks from conference organizers, a Lovett senior recited the piece in a beautiful and surprisingly personal reading.

Over the course of nearly two days, through hour-long lectures from a variety of speakers, we were exposed to select individual’s perceptions of what we have experienced, and are experiencing, in the way of revolutions in American art, music, politics, economics, journalism, and education. Normally, I am not too keen on “sit-n-get” instruction for an entire conference, and I have grown disenchanted with this pedagogy as a primary means of schooling. I find it ironic that progressive educators talk of revolutionizing education by subjecting conference attendees to quintessential, industrial-age methodology. Nevertheless, Lovett’s #ASI2012 organizers made this lecture format work, at least for me. I was drawn in, turned on, and engaged deeply.

To try to summarize all that I thought and learned would prove impossible and short-selling of the event. My recap would do as much justice to #ASI2012 as a family slide show would do of a week together exploring some European city. Snapshots often fall short of deep, meaningful experiences. However, a few interesting themes did emerge for me, and I want to open the door to exploring these more fully in future thinking and posting:

  1. As explained by Dr. Cobb in the opening lecture, revolutions are rarely instantaneous. Rather revolutions are incremental. Moreover, revolutions rarely, if ever, sweep away all that was there before. I am curious how this theory and view relates to Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point.
  2. People seem to believe that many current-day revolutions involve the democratization of previously elite-controlled activity and removal of gatekeepers. For instance, through technology now, individuals who used to be resigned to the role of “consumer” may now also contribute as “producers” – through music production, like on Garage Band; through journalistic contribution, like on Twitter or long-post blogs; through video creation, like on iMovie and YouTube. I am curious how this ties into thinking such as that exposed on NPR’s TED Radio Hour featuring the Power of Crowds.
  3. Related to #2, there was a theme of curiosity about revolutionary veracity and integrity when just about anyone can remix, touch-up, or enhance a recording, image, or piece or writing. Interestingly, I got the sense that folks did not question Cindy Sherman’s creativity as presented by Jordan Clark, but they did wonder about a musical artist remixing a set of tracks on a piece of music as teetering on the edges of honesty (as presented by Stutz Wimmer).
  4. As Dr. Cobb and Patrick Hastings and Jay Bonner expressed in separate talks in different ways, revolutions are often returns to things of the past. Jay Bonner expressed it with elegant articulation about the meaning of “revolution” as something turning, revolving, and cycling through phases. This built on earlier foundations laid by Hastings as he compared Outkast to Homer and demonstrated the historically appreciated literary forms of poetry in more modern rap, hip hop, and slam poetry. I am curious how all of this cyclical, incremental, return-to-the-past nature of revolution makes revolution different from and similar to evolution.
  5. As Mary Louise Kelly detailed in her case-study approach to revolutions in media and journalism, revolution often involves searching for truth, discovering where facts and opinions merge and diverge, and improving evolving iterations. And, of course, real-life truth seeking and iterative prototyping naturally involves failure and learning from mistakes – something we need to explore much more purposefully in school proper.

I am not yet the writer to do any necessary justice to the closing presentations, but I will try to shine a spotlight on the brilliance of how Lovett closed the #ASI2012. In the penultimate session, participants walked through an art installation by Lovett students who had completed the school’s American Studies program. Through a combination of visual-and-audio mixed media, the Lovett artists invited us into their expressions of American Studies that could not be captured by mere essays or stereotypical reports in English or history.

In the final session, Asheville School highlighted integrated studies as a revolution in education by showcasing the work of nine faculty and administrators, many of whom work in teaching pairs in such courses as American Studies, European Studies, and Ancient Studies. In a brilliant Prezi visualizing the cyclical, turning, RPMs nature of “revolution,” the major-league Asheville School team demonstrated how lines artificially erected between the disciplines need to be re-blurred, permeated, and blown up so that school might model the integrated nature of the real world in which we live. Like Lovett’s art installation, Asheville utilized dance, art, and music to create the threads that could weave together English, history, science, politics, economics, etc.

What genius for Lovett to save its own student installation and Asheville School for the finale – to migrate from hour-long lectures on possible content and current events in American Studies to the already-being-done examples of how these two schools are implementing revolution in the too-often siloed nature of American schooling. For any naysayers, they could see, “Oh, that’s what it could look like, sound like, smell like, and taste like.”

May more of us go and do likewise…may we “revolutionize” schooling by making it more like learning and education, in which content and skills are integrated and mixed in true-to-life human-ness of exploration, truth-seeking, discovery, artistic expression, and problem solving.

#NAISac12 Helping me clarify thinking about EduInnovation

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In terms of transforming schools, there are obviously degrees of transformation. How far we educators are willing to travel along that spectrum of possible transformation will determine a number of things, including: 1) if we will transform schools, 2) when we will transform schools, and 3) how fast we will transform schools.

While attending the 2012 National Association of Independent Schools Annual Conference: Innovation (Twitter hashtag #naisac12), I believe I have clarified my own thinking about EduInnovation. To an even greater amplitude than I previously felt, I think we should be pushing harder and farther and faster down the spectrum of transformational innovation in schools and of schools.

In the keynote this morning, Bill Gates advocated for four primary means to leverage technology to transform schools:

  1. Reimagine textbooks
  2. Scale our best teachers
  3. Connect through social networks
  4. Personalize learning

While I certainly agree with these tactics for improving school, I don’t think Gates pushed hard enough for the kind of deep innovation that would truly transform schools for our learners. To me, the issue rests in the fact that Gates seemed to imply that adults would continue to be the producers and students would continue to be the consumers of school. Yet Gates said himself that school eventually got in his way as a learner and as a doer and as an innovator. When Bernie Noe, Head of Lakeside School, introduced Gates, Noe told a story of asking Gates and Paul Allen what Lakeside did to help them be so innovative at such an early age. Gates and Allen both answered something to the effect that, for awhile, school got out of their way and let them pursue their passions and interests. My interpretation: school, for awhile, permitted Gates and Allen to “study” that which interested them and fulfilled them most – building computer systems. By permitting Gates and Allen to be producers, not mere consumers, Gates and Allen created some amazing innovations at school age. Of course, Gates later dropped out of undergraduate school…because it was getting in the way of his learning and producing.

Later in the day, I was treated to two new views of school. In one after-lunch session, I listened to a team from Hathaway Brown (OH) describe their Centers for Learning and the Institute for 21st Century Education.

In addition to studying the core, in what I interpreted to be the more “traditional” component to HB, the girls choose to engage in the Centers for Learning. They can spend one day in a center, or they can spend four years in a center…or they can enjoy any amount of time in between. The girls are not graded, and they pursue deep learning and engagement in these areas of knowledge and understanding. In all cases, the girls are engaging in “real-world” issues and matters through these centers for learning. Like Kiran Bir Sethi indicates in her TED talk that I reference ad infinitum, learning in this age should blur the boundaries between school and life. By doing so, young learners are much more likely to catch and spread the positive contagion known as the “I CAN” bug. [see this HB video about student space scientists]

According to one of the shared quotes of an HB graduate, she is sincerely grateful for what her experience provided her…

Just after the Hathaway Brown session, I learned with CEO (Chief Excitement Officer) Saeed Arida from NuVu studio and Head of Beaver Country Day School (MA) Peter Hutton. While I was blown away by the concept and design of the partnership between these learning entities, I was also reminded of my friend Gever Tulley’s Brightworks School in San Francisco. NuVu is putting student learners in the driver’s seat as producers of knowledge, design, and understanding. The adults are serving as guides on a fun course of scenic exploration and iterative prototyping.

In similar fashion to Hathaway Brown, Beaver Country Day School has a traditional component to its schooling, but it also offers a school within a school via its NuVu partnership. During a trimester, students can spend time in two-week iterative cycles of creative design and product development. How I wish I could be a student at Beaver Country Day and/or Hathaway Brown.

Despite being a presenter on Wednesday (with Jamie Baker, Grant Lichtman, and Lee Burns) on the topic of moving from “why innovate” to “how to innovate” (see our resources at http://bit.ly/WhytoHowNAIS12), I remain deeply curious about the notion of whether an existing school can completely and wholly innovate. Does an existing school practically have to create a school within a school to seed innovation and grow a tree of fresh design within its existing forest of trees? Could this explain why so many new start ups seem to be emerging on the school landscape? Are those innovators at existing schools essentially creating micro start ups within their current cultures?

What interesting times these are for schools and educators and parents and students. How thankful I am for Hathaway Brown, NuVu, Beaver Country Day, Brightworks, Presbyterian Day School, and the many others who are pushing harder and farther and faster down the transformational and innovative spectrum of school change.

View the story “Contemplating EduInnovation” on Storify

[Note: I look forward to continuing to develop these unfinished and emerging thoughts and ideas with my colleagues and peers at #NAISAC12.]

 

#EduCon, Shawn Achor on happiness and work, Gratitude, and Action

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Typically, during an intensive moment of learning and growth, I try to be expeditious in my reflecting and blogging. Particularly in the last two years of my life, I have practiced to make writing a daily habit of mind and hand. Nevertheless, for whatever reasons, I have been slower to reflect in writing and in pixels about my recent experiences at #EduCon 2.4. I think I needed (and perhaps still need) more time and space to let this fine wine of an experience breathe and bouquet.

What’s more, I just discovered, thanks to a tweet, that Shelley Krause archives the reflections from #EduCon attendees. Now, in addition to my “excuses” above, I think I want to read more of those reflections as I work to weave my thinking into the tapestry of others’ thoughts.

Shelley Krause, @butwait, archives the reflections from #EduCon 2.4
http://bit.ly/educon24archive

Then, this morning, I watched a 12 minute TED talk – “Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work.” While watching, I resolved myself, at the least, to record three gratitudes that I feel from attending #EduCon.

Gratitude #1 from #EduCon 2.4

I felt that I was with “my tribe” and I could hear the speaking of my native tongue. At times, I do feel a stranger in a strange land. Occasionally, as I speak and work for school change and formal educational transformation, I perceive glances that communicate to me that I might as well be speaking a rare dialect from a single island in the Solomon archipelago. At EduCon, however, I felt a sense of “coming home” to folks who spoke my native tongue. We spent no time really on the “why’s” of school evolution…instead we spent our tribal time working through the “how’s” and the “what’s.” Our purpose was, and is, unified, and we workshopped constantly on details of implementation. I felt a sense that all accepted already a deep understanding that traditional schooling is imbalanced, at least a bit, toward adult convenience…when we should be working diligently to blur the lines between “real life” and school – to ensure that students are creators of understanding, not mere consumers of already-processed information.

Many people there were familiar to me, yet I had met only a couple face to face. Through blogging and tweeting – really practices of thinking out loud and learning in public – I built on top of foundations already constructed online. First-time face-to-face meetings were often accompanied by hugs – we felt we knew each other to a considerable degree, and we could start from that comfort of connectedness.

Be clear – we did not always agree. Healthy disagreement and variety of perspective was pervasive. Yet we started on a platform of already-constructed shared values, shared vocabulary, and shared respect. And the sharing was a fundamental attribute of those present – “learn, share, repeat.”

Gratitude #2 from #EduCon 2.4

I appreciated that the conference lived in a school, rather than in a conference center. On Friday evening, a panelist remarked that environment is not a strong determinant of being able to learn. While I understand his intended message – that learners can learn anywhere – I believe strongly that physical environment and surrounding play a huge role in learning. EduCon took place almost entirely at Science Leadership Academy. I think this setting played a huge role in my first gratitude – I feel at home in schools where students and teachers and parents are meandering and pursuing understanding of our world. Moreover, the SLA students essentially ran the show. When I entered the building for the first time, Jeff, a senior, asked if I would prefer a paper or e-copy of the program. When I said I wanted an e-copy, he asked if I wanted PDF or e-pub on iBook. After downloading the iBook version and perusing, I asked Jeff who made this beautiful piece. “We did. The students. It’s been a project of ours.” Jeff was the chief EduConcierge. Cameras and webcasts were peopled by students, and adults seemed to shy away from doing anything that could be lead by a student. Several of the sessions (conversations) were led and facilitated by students. Bravo! Learners were learners, regardless of age, and the school environment made for an intimacy of learning that, I believe, would have been less rich in a conference center.

Gratitude #3 from #EduCon 2.4

I am thankful that the conversations are purposeful, ongoing, and action oriented. These EduCon folks are DOERS. At times, I feel immersed mostly in talk at other professional-development sessions. EduCon was about bringing DOERS together. Most sessions ended with calls to action…”Write down one or two things you will do differently on Monday, next week, next month. Then, tell a table mate. Then, stay accountable to the connections you are making here at EduCon. Go do something.” Web 2.0 tools were employed purposefully and intentionally to propagate the conversations.

The sessions are termed “conversations,” and it seems expected that the face-to-face time at EduCon will serve to catalyze ONGOING conversations and actions. Meet-ups galore geared towards ways to keep the dialogues, discussions, and DOING alive. Use of existing and developing online connections provide means and motivation to “myelenate” these axons and dendrites of networked action and implementation. The proteins of the innovators’ DNA were double-helixing without pause.

Steve Goldberg encourages us to be resolved to DO after #EduCon
http://educonres2012.wordpress.com/

Liz Davis reflects on #EduCon 2.4 and reminds us to ask, “What if…?”
http://edtechpower.blogspot.com/2012/01/educon-24-reflections-2012.html

More reflection will come from me. Next, I need to read others’ reflections. I was in numerous spaces with people smarter, wiser, and more experienced than I. They helped me level up. They motivated me. I want to keep learning from them and with them. Yes, I will have much more on which to reflect. I have much more to do.

And I am grateful.

Synergy2Learn, #EduCon 2.4, #Synergy8 – Questions are the way points on the path of wisdom

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How are you engaging learners in community-issues problem solving? Is your school contemplating and implementing more project-based learning? Do you find it challenging to dig into high-quality PBL? Do you wish you could share stories (like around a campfire) about how to utilize real-world issues to guide instruction, curriculum, pedagogy, and learning? Wish you were elbow-to-elbow with a tribe engaged in a project about PBL?!

On Saturday, January 28, Jill Gough and Bo Adams will be facilitating a conversation at EduCon 2.4: “Synergy – Questions are the way points on the path of wisdom.” We hope you can join the conversation. We plan to 1) share our stories about Synergy 8, 2) elicit others’ stories about how they engage in deep-level PBL at their schools, and 3) ask and respond to a big “What if…” question – What if we built a network of people who were taking on the challenges of community-issues problem solving with adult learners and student learners alike?

We might even start a blog to help connect us all…Synergy2Learn. Let’s build something together…It’s About Learning and Experiments in Learning by Doing!

Learner-preneurship and Innovation – PLEASE share your thinking! #NOV8 #NAIS #NAIS2012

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What are the conditions necessary for “learner-preneurship” in schools? How can we establish, maintain, sustain, and promote entrepreneurial-type innovation in the strategic designs, daily operations and purposeful activities that define “school?”

On December 28, I was blessed to receive a Twitter DM from Jamie Baker (@JamieReverb). Jamie has invited me to co-present at the NAIS 2012 Annual Conference, along with her other teammates Grant Lichtman (@GrantLichtman of The Falconer) and Lee Burns (@PDSHeadmaster). I am thrilled to join such a team of inspired educators and dynamic, innovative thinkers and doers.

W8. Move from “Why Innovate?” to “How?” — Become an Entrepreneurial School
Entrepreneurs know how to innovate. Discuss how to innovate at your school by developing the entrepreneur’s mindset in the board, head of school, administrators, teachers, and students. Cultivate understanding in the entrepreneur’s innovation process, building capacity by moving through resistance, and developing organizational habits of innovation.
PRESENTERS: Jamie Baker, Reverb Consulting (TN); A. Lee Burns, Presbyterian Day School (TN); Grant Lichtman, Francis Parker School (CA); Bo Adams, The Westminster Schools (GA)

For the next several weeks, I imagine that I will be writing and thinking even more deliberately and intentionally about innovation in schools. To write is to think, and I look forward to developing my thinking here in this blog and elsewhere.

Given that “WE are smarter than ME,” I am curious what you think about the opening questions in this blog post. Do you have ideas about what makes some schools more “learner-preneurial” and innovative than other schools? Do you have hypotheses, research, thoughts, and opinions about how innovation can become more nurtured in the ways that we work in schools? I hope you will take some time to share your thinking in the comments below – your resources, your ideas, your questions, your own blog posts and writings about the topic of innovation in schools. Here’s to our ideas colliding in a Steve Johnson coffee house of sorts.

Thanks for sharing. WE are smarter than ME!

PLEASE JOIN THE IDEATION HERE (and elsewhere)! On New Year’s Day, here’s to a 2012 full of innovative ideation and implementation!

Happy New Year! It’s About Learning!

[Note: An interesting story about the power of PLNs – I will meet Jamie Baker and Lee Burns for the first time face-to-face at our February 29 NAIS session. While we “know” each other online and while we will certainly video-conference in the weeks ahead, it is the power of “the world’s best faculty lounge” that has brought us together for this work!]