Assigning myself a learning challenge…CHANGEd: What If…60-60-60 #0

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Last week, at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Annual Conference, someone I deeply respect and admire essentially expressed to me that I blog too much. She told me that I, and a few other educational bloggers, overwhelm her with too many posts in a particular period of time. That comment has been bouncing around in my mind since that post-session conversation last week.

Ironically, for quite some time, this colleague and I have been discussing the nature of innovation, especially innovation in schools, and we agree that habits of questioning, experimenting, sharing/networking, and practicing are essential, necessary, iterative components to innovation. Among other purposes, I see my blog as a means to raise questions, experiment with ideas, practice ideation, and share/network with other educational thinkers and doers. During my brief blogging history, I have experienced periods of rapid ideation, and I have experienced periods of slump…frozen-fingers-on-the-keyboard. I imagine a frequency diagram of my blogging would be fairly sinusoidal, with some moments of high frequency and some moments of low frequency. So, maybe I do have some responsibility to monitor more carefully the idea-rich moments and my desire to share. I wonder what his responsibility is to develop a comfortable method for tracking the blogs that she likes to follow.

On another line-of-flight thought, I really like daily blogs like the 3six5 and edu180atl, but these daily collectives restrict their authors to a certain number of words in each post. And I really like the concept and practice of 50-word mini-sagas, too. Hmmm….

As I have continued to ruminate on my colleague’s comment, my love of short dailies, and my appreciation for a well-turned mini-saga, I have made myself more aware of others’ blogging practices, especially one blogger that I hope to emulate – Seth Godin. Particularly since the collegial comment last week, I have paid even more attention to the fact that Seth Godin blogs almost everyday, and he packs a lot of punch into brief, concise packages of posts.

So, in the spirit of learning out loud and learning in public, I have issued myself a learning challenge. I am going to try to synthesize a few of the contemplations summarized above, and I will attempt to do the following – I will post 60 ideas for educational change in the form of “what if” questions, I will do so for 60 days straight, and I will constrain my posts to around 60 words each (and maybe an image, an embedded TED talk, etc.).

I am thinking that I might set 60 drafts to autopost at a certain time each day. As I find a few minutes, I will enliven the template with an idea each day. Each post will start with the title, “CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 #X.” I plan to insert at the beginning of each post the logo that I designed for fun this morning. And I’ll add a new category to house just these 60 posts. More scaffolding may evolve along the way, but that’s my basic framework for now.

I imagine that I will strike out and fail miserably on a few days. I hope that I will hit a few homeruns in 60 days and 60 attempts. What I know for sure – I will learn from the experiment. I dream of helping others to learn and inspiring others to do. After the 60 days, I cannot wait to revisit with my admired and respected colleague – we’ll have so much to talk about.

See you tomorrow for “CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 #1.” It’s already in the hopper!

#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.]

 

To #Unboundary

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Unboundary
(n.) strategic design studio, located in Atlanta, GA, which helps companies “define their purpose and pursue significance.” [from the Unboundary web site]

(v.) to remove limits of an area, subject, or sphere of activity [adapted from Apple’s spotlight definition of “boundary”]

In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

– Eric Hoffer

As you walk into the former Atlanta-roundhouse space that is now inhabited by Unboundary, the Eric Hoffer quote greets you near the door. This is a door, in fact, that draws me in; this is a door that greeted me daily during my sabbatical (see two of many sabbatical posts here and here); this is a door that will mark my coming and going much more frequently beginning on July 15. Through this door, Hoffer reminds me that I am, indeed, in times of profound change, and he reminds us all to be learners embracing change.

During my almost twenty years as a professional educator, and certainly during my almost nine years as a school principal, I have found myself immersed in countless discussions concerning the pace and nature of change in our world. In the most recent years, I have concentrated my efforts to be one who enables and empowers schools to maintain pace with this never-ending change, so that we might help people of all ages serve and lead in our changing world.

Joining the conversations and communities on Twitter and other world-connecting blog media, I have similarly surrounded myself with hundreds and hundreds of professional educators and others who are contemplating and implementing school change so that schools remain deeply significant in an age defined by ubiquitous access to information and learn-anytime-anywhere technology. In so many conversations, both those that happen online and those that happen face-to-face, it seems that we educators are striving to unboundary the areas typically referred to as “school” and “real-life.” During her TED talk, Kiran Bir Sethi beautifully espouses the notion of blurring the lines between school and life so that students can be infected with the “I can bug” and realize their ability to make a positive difference in our world – not when they graduate to their real life, but now, because now is their real life.

On September 19, 2011, I announced that the 2011-12 academic year would be my last as principal of The Westminster Schools Junior High School. I took a leap of true faith. Then, I began to piece together and design a potential next chapter of my educational career as something akin to an innovation strategist and synergist for 21st century school change and development. In the months of October, November, December, and January, I benefited immeasurably from the wisdom, questioning, advice, and guidance of about two dozen individuals who graciously engaged me in countless conversations about how to create a job serving as a hub to the various spokes of this learning-in-the-21st-century wheel. To each and every one of you – THANK YOU! And to my wife Anne-Brown, BLESS YOU for your faith and support, and thank you for being the first and foremost of this tribe who helped me discern my next steps.

As of Tuesday, February 21, I officially have my new, dream job…my next chapter…my ideal, “plan A” role that will allow me to continue and to expand my service as an educational leader in these times of profound change. In his announcement to the Unboundary team, president and chief executive Tod Martin explained my future work in the following way:

Bo joins us in a hybrid role. He will be integrated into existing client work, particularly in workshopping, and will also play an instrumental role in expanding Unboundary into a new arena. Over the past year, you’ve heard me talk about the vision of us developing new kinds of clients — other than corporations — where our skills at transformation design would be valuable. One of the “new kinds of clients” we’ve talked about is education. Bo will help lead our efforts to build a practice and develop clients in education.

Already I am indebted to the visionary leadership of Tod Martin and to the team that he has fielded at Unboundary. So much synergy potential exists at the crossroads of corporate leadership and educational innovation, and I believe that Unboundary works at this exciting crossroads. Likewise, I am forever grateful to Westminster for eliciting and developing in me the vision and the skills that this fine school declares for all learners in its community – to serve and lead in a changing world.

To love what you do and feel that it matters – how could anything be more fun?
– Katharine Graham

I do love what I do, and I feel that it matters greatly. I am excited for this next chapter, to which I take a great deal of learning. Yet, I dare not consider myself learned. I am a continuous learner, and I intend to do all that I can to serve and lead in this changing world – to play my role on the team that strives to define purpose and pursue significance.

Our children – our leaders of today and tomorrow – deserve nothing less.

PLCs, Westminster JH, Randolph, and Learning Together

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On Friday, February 17, Jill Gough and Bo Adams worked with The Randolph School faculty to share the story of PLC (Professional Learning Community) development at The Westminster Schools’ Junior High, as well as to facilitate a small piece of Randolph’s continuing, multi-year efforts to transform their school with the PLC ethos. Below, Bo and Jill have embedded the slide deck that they used during the Friday morning keynote. As usual, though, a slide deck cannot capture the rich conversations and invaluable discussions that surround and permeate professional work based on shared experience.

Randolph has been piloting PLCs for two years, and they are making formidable steps to enhance their teacher teaming and learner strategizing. Westminster and Randolph are imagining different ways to stretch time and embed regular teaming. There is no one-size-fits-all structural approach to PLCs, but there are universal ideas and questions that must guide our work:

3 Big Ideas:

  1. Learning is the focus.
  2. Collaboration is the culture.
  3. Results guide our decisions.

4 Key Questions:

  1. What should be learned?
  2. How will we know if “they” have learned?
  3. What will we do if “they” already know it?
  4. What will we do if “they” aren’t learning?

What a privilege and bright spot it is to collaborate among schools and learn with and from each other. Could our institutions and organizations actually stretch the PLC ethos to include more such collaboration among our schools? Could we model being PLCs among schools, like we model forming PLCs among our adult learners?

PLC Randolph Slidedeck 2-2012.

[Cross-posted at Experiments in Learning by Doing]

#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.