T.G.I.M. or T.G.I.F.? Which are you?

Posted on July 8, 2013 by boadams1

Are you a T.G.I.M. kinda person or a T.G.I.F. kinda person? If you don’t subscribe to dichotomous views of the world, where are you on the spectrum of T.G.I.M. to T.G.I.F.?

Last Wednesday, I was fortunate to observe a teacher facilitating a lesson for about an hour. This teacher has 40+ years of experience in public and independent K-12 schools, as well as experience as a private tutor and coach. Based on reputation and observation, I’d say this person is a “master teacher.”

At one point, she turned to me and asked the first question from above – “Are you a T.G.I.M. kinda person or a T.G.I.F. kinda person?” She then went on to explain that she had always been a T.G.I.M. kinda person. And she attributed her love of teaching and learning to being purposeful about that mindset.

And it never seemed like just a motto, a catch-phrase, or empty words. I got a sense she lived for Mondays!

I love that.

My next chapter – joining @MVPSchool, a school of inquiry, innovation, and impact #MVPSchool

Posted on May 14, 2013 by boadams1

Beginning June 1, 2013, I will become a full-time member of the incredible team and family of people at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School! Today, on his Design Movement blog, Head of School Dr. Brett Jacobsen announced my appointment as Chief Learning and Innovation Officer.

To say that I am excited to join MVPS would be an enormous understatement. For a number of years, I have been following the transformative and innovative work of the MVPS faculty and leadership team. The number of educators there that I follow via Twitter and long-form blogs has continued to grow and grow as time has gone on. And the face-to-face time with MVPS folks always proves inspiring. In my research and practice, I yearn to find organizations that live on the frontier of engaging education and meaningful learning.

MVPS lives on that frontier.

On so many occasions, I have written about MVPS here on It’s About Learning, and I have tweeted and retweeted about their practices, because I think the school stands out as an exemplar in our current national landscape of educational transformation and innovation. During his cross-country #EdJourney tour of “schools of the future,” my friend Grant Lichtman published this post about Mount Vernon; clearly he sensed and observed the same energy that I have perceived emanating from the school.

At Unboundary, we talk of and partner with organizations that strive for significance – a strong indicator of alignment among identity, character, purpose, and impact. A truly significant organization has all kinds of people cheering for its success because it is making a positive difference in the world, and to a considerable degree.

For quite some time, I’ve been cheering for MVPS and the significant impact it makes in the lives of children, learners, educators, education, and the local-global spectrum of communities. I am deeply grateful that MVPS has invited me and welcomed me to their team and family. And I’m honored and invigorated to join in the work that MVPS forwards through inquiry, innovation, and impact.

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In my most recent chapter, being a part of Unboundary has been – and will continue to be – a life-changing experience. This studio of transformation designers and strategists engages the world with optimistic curiosity and profound wisdom about what it takes to purposefully design and successfully implement organizational change. Unboundary, its people, and its transformation-design work are in my blood, and I am thrilled to weave together this chapter with my next chapter at MVPS. How thrilling that design connects Unboundary and MVPS in such significant ways. I am eternally grateful to both places and teams of people. Thank you.

Empathy and Empowerment – critical “Es” of 21C learning and educational innovation

Posted on May 9, 2013 by boadams1

From Chris Thinnes (@CurtisCFEE) at Curtis School and the Center for the Future of Elementary Education:

We find it ironic – and we think the students do, as well – that for all the focus “the education system” receives in the national media, input from students is rarely ever sought. We wanted not merely to give ‘permission’ to students to talk about their shared experience, but to invite them openly to offer their input of how best to improve our schools and our system.

In two blog posts (here and here), Thinnes shares an incredible, transformative experience made possible through a partnership between sixth graders at Curtis School and Cortez Middle School. In the sharing, Thinnes offers a fabulous model and case study for inviting collaborative voice and awareness and action from students – to help empower them to be deeply involved in ways that education and schooling can innovate and reach higher trajectories.

When we see student learners as the core solutions seekers to issues – especially those in which they are primarily immersed – we not only stand better chances at successful transformation, but we also facilitate active citizenship that will likely prove essential to the continued enhancement of our national democracy and global opportunities.

Bravo sixth graders and faculty facilitators at Curtis School and Cortez Middle School!

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Triangle Learning Community #NewSchoolModels @SteveG_TLC

Posted on May 2, 2013 by boadams1

Two years ago, at EduCon 2.4, I was privileged to meet Steve Goldberg (@SteveG_TLC). Steve is a visionary educator and activator. In August, Steve and a team of others will open Triangle Learning Community in Durham, NC.

The three-minute video below overviews the form and function of TLC. And it also serves as a catalyst for re-thinking some of our assumptions about how “school” has to be structured. I appreciate so much that Steve lives out a profound idea – humans created “school,” so we can also re-imagine it, recreate it, and remodel it.

Along with new start-up schools, though, I deeply hope that long-standing schools with lengthier histories are also re-imagining school, recreating school, remodeling school. At the very least, I hope that we are engaging in such design exercises. If they reveal that our current structure and system is the best, then so be it. But what if school could be even better?! Shouldn’t we be willing to do that research and design, so that we can know more certainly, more confidently. Not let habit and assumption blind us to possibility.

You can also learn more about TLC at the school website and Steve’s great blog.

“An overlong list of ‘really important priorities'”

Posted on March 20, 2013 by boadams1

“An overlong list of ‘really important priorities'” (see quote below).

From my experience in schools, an overlong list of really important priorities names a major struggle for many school leadership teams. Not enough time and effort and concentration are spent on creating clarity and shared understanding of the school’s differentiating organizational capabilities. Too many leaders and too many teams allow the time and effort and concentration needed for such identity work to be crowded out by other things.

Perhaps it’s that overlong list of really important priorities that keeps us from focusing more purposefully on our own identity within a school. Maybe we should make that investigation of identity and purpose the #1 really important priority and recreate the list once we have that critical foundation built of knowing who we really are and what we intend to concentrate on as a learning community.

I have no intent or desire to corporatize education. However, I think that schools can learn a lot by studying other sectors, industries, and organizations that have undergone periods of monumental change and transformation, particularly corporations.

The article cited below has been a recent piece of that study for me. I hope you school leaders find it helpful, too.

Therefore, it is crucial to be clear about the capabilities your organization most needs to stand apart. Too often we see functional leaders and staff struggling because this is not well defined. Imagine trying to use the objective of being “innovative” as a criterion for the multitude of investments a company must make around product launches and R&D.

Unfortunately, when the company isn’t coherent — when its strengths are not linked explicitly to its strategic focus — most functions end up trying to keep up with an overlong list of “really important priorities.” This is an unwinnable proposition.

from “Rethinking the Function of Business Functions,” Harvard Business Review, by Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi | 12:00 PM February 8, 2013