The Idea of a School That Learns

1
The Idea of a School That Learns

• -- Schools can become vital by accepting a
  learning orientation, not by regulations or
  commands.
• -- Everyone in a school system works together and
  learns from one another.(Learning Organization)

2
The five Learning disciplines

• Personal Mastery The results that you want to
  create in your life through your personal vision.
• Shared Vision Teachers, administrators, and
  staff in a school working together towards common
  goals.
• Mental Models Reflection and discussions among
  all members of the community without feeling
  uncomfortable or scared.
• Team Learning Collective thinking and group
  interactions which draw forth from all members
  individual talents.
• Systems Thinking People learn to deal with
  change that leads to growth and stability over
  time.
• -- Schools must continue to meet the current
  needs of society.
• -- Building a school that learns involves a
  learning classroom, a learning school, and a
  learning community.

3
The Learning Classroom

• a. Teachers They are continuous and lifelong
  learners who promote learning in students lives.
• b. Students The ones who are co-creators of
  knowledge and participants in the development of
  the school.
• c. Parents They are crucial to the success of
  their children by getting involved in the
  schools. Often, parents see school as an
  uncomfortable place just as it was when they
  attended to school.

4
The Learning School

• A. Superintendents Possess more formal authority
  than anyone else in the school system. However,
  he is the leader who can effectively shape a
  learning school system.
• B. Principals, School Leaders, and Higher
  Education Administrators The people who set the
  tone for the school. Not just a supervisor, but a
  lead teacher and lead learner.
• C. School Board Member, Trustees, and University
  Agents Policy setters who can model
  organizational learning through their own
  practices.

5
The Learning Community

• Community Members A community and its schools
  are reflections of one another.

• Lifelong Learners Schools and communities are
  always learning from one another.

6
Core Concepts About Learning in Organizations

• Every organization is a product of how its
  members think and interact Encourage
  collegiality and positive staff morale. Learning
  is connection.
• You are teaching students as well as the
  subject.
• Good teachers bring students into community with
  themselves and with each other. Learning is
  Driven by Vision.
• Most critical to a schools success.
• Vision is more than just improving test scores,
  increasing graduation rates, or increasing
  attendance. It is about developing personal and
  shared goals and relating them to needs of your
  students, your school, and your community.
  
  
  

7
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

• The Strategy of Organizational Change A.
  Introduce organizational learning in the
  classroom,school, and community.
  B. Focus on one or two new
  priorities.
• C. Involve everyone in learning and change.

8
Entry points ( for Successful Educators)

• Create a learning classroom
• Systems thinking in the classroom
• A schools shared vision
• I want my child in a learning school
• Personal vision
• The ethical dimension
• From the outside in
• Guiding ideas.

9
Industrial Age System of Education

• Observations, Assumptions, Public Demands
  (standardized testing), Responses A. Student
  Alternatives Cope or Disengage

10
Industrial Age Heritage of Schools(product
efficiency Vs. quality learning)

• A. Scientific Revolution of the 1600/1700s fuels
  Industrial Revolution
• B. Machine Age and Organizational Management
• C. Assembly Line image Grade levels, Uniform
  schedule/bell/curricula
• D. Problems created included
• labeling students
• uniformity of products
  
• teacher-centered learning
• student self-discipline Vs. teacher discipline

11

• Problems are dealt with by the educational field
  by speeding up the line to increase output, not
  necessarily learning, not new solution presented

12
Educators feel trapped and disempowered

• A. Change because of crisis
• B. Change without crisis
• C. Change cannot occur
• D. Change is seen as the enemy

13
Education as a product of the age

• a. Lack of competition
• b. Roots to Industrial age too strong to change
• c. Students and teachers follow the game plan
  and learn behaviors, not material
• d. Students develop into pleasers and non risk
  takers
• e. Students sense of self and commitment for the
  future is mostly not developmental

14
Industrial Age assumptions about learning

• Children are deficient and school fix them
• Learning takes place in the head, not the body as
  a whole
• Everyone learns, or should learn, in the same way
• Learning takes place in the classroom, not in the
  world
• There are smart kids and dumb kids

15
Industrial Age assumptions about school

• Schools are run by specialist who maintain
  control
• Knowledge is inherently fragmented
• Schools communicate the truth
• Learning is primarily individualistic and
  competition accelerates learning

16
Conditions for Innovation

• Radical Change has not been sustainable
• Innovation takes decades, not years
• Signs of breakdown in assembly line school
  concept
• Stress
• Haves and Have Nots disparity
• Growing inequity
• Conditions that no longer exist
• Women have broader career choices
• Traditional family and community structures
• Monopoly of information
• Number of industrial workers had dropped

17
An alternative to the Machine Model of Schools

• Revolution is slow in education
• Machines vs. Living systems
• Schools should be organized around appreciation
  of living systems, not machines

18
Traits of Educational Process tied to Active
Learning and Living Systems

• Learner-created learning
• Encouraging variety/multiple intelligences
• Analyzing the interdependent and changing the
  world
• Linking social relationships to friends, families
  and communities
• Continual research and questioning

19
CHAPTER IIA PRIMER TO THE FIVE DISCIPLINES

• 1. PERSONAL MASTERY
• 2. MENTAL MODELS
• 3. SHARED VISION
• 4. TEAM LEARNING
• 5. SYSTEMS THINKING

20
1. PERSONAL MASTERY

• Personal mastery is a set of practices that
  support people in keeping their dreams whole
  while cultivating an awareness of current reality
  around them.
• It is an individual matter through solo
  reflection which represents a lifelong process.
• Rubber band analogy - most natural desired
  resolution of the tension is for our reality to
  move closer to what we want.

21
PERSONAL MASTERY

• Schools should set a context where people have
  time to reflect on their vision.
• Reflecting on the vision establishes an
  organizational commitment to the truth wherever
  possible.
• Schools should avoid taking a position about what
  other people should want or how they should view
  the world.

22
2. MENTAL MODELS

• Our behavior and attitudes are shaped by the
  images, assumptions, and stories that we carry in
  our minds of ourselves, other people, and the
  world.
• Exercise from text
• Differences between mental models explain why two
  people can observe the same event and describe it
  differently.

23
MENTAL MODELS

• They limit peoples ability to change.
• It has a direct relevance for challenges in
  schools.
• Reflexive loop
• Two types of skills are central to this practice
• Reflection - slowing down our thinking process
• Inquiry - holding conversation.

24
3. SHARED VISION

• It will foster a commitment to a common purpose.
• It is a set of tools and techniques for bringing
  aspirations into alignment with common goals or
  purposes.
• In building shared vision, a group of people
  build a sense of commitment together.
• Visions based on authority are not sustainable.

25
SHARED VISION

• It requires time, care, and strategy.
• It spreads through personal contact.
• To accomplish the shared vision, members must
  meet in person to talk about what they really
  care about.

26
4. TEAM LEARNING

• It is designed to get the team thinking and
  acting together.
• They do not need to think alike but they will
  learn to be effective together.
• It regularly transforms day-to-day communication
  skills.

27
TEAM LEARNING

• It is based on the concept of alignment.
• Group members must function as a whole by having
  a common awareness of each other, their purpose,
  and their current reality.
• It starts with the ability to respect each other
  and to establish some common mental models about
  reality.

28
TEAM LEARNING

• The most effective practice we know emerges from
  dialogue.
• The practice of dialogue is to pay attention, to
  not only the words, but to the tone and the body
  language.

29
TEAM LEARNING

• Dialogue encourages people to suspend assumptions
  by reflection.
• There are three types
• Surfacing assumptions (making yourself aware of
  your own assumptions)
• Displaying assumptions (making your assumptions
  visible to yourself and others)
• Inquiry (taking a new look at all assumptions)

30
5. SYSTEMS THINKING

• It provides a different way of looking at
  problems.
• It involves looking at components as a large
  structure instead of isolated events.
• It is the study of system structure and behavior.

31
BUILDING BLOCKS OF SYSTEMS THINKING

• Reinforcing processes - when small changes become
  big
• Balancing processes - pushing stability and
  resistance
• Causal-loop diagrams - shows influence from one
  element to another
• Stock-and-flow diagrams - shows
  interrelationships in a mathematical way

32
Creating Classrooms That Learn

• Class derives from the roman word classis
  meaning a summons or call.
• Room comes from an old English word meaning
  open space.
• Classrooms are environments of continual openness
  where people are called together to study the
  world around them.

33
Teacher As Designer of the Learning Environment

• The classroom is primarily a product of the ways
  people think and interact.
• Methods for improving the quality of thinking and
  interacting can make everything more powerful in
  the classroom.

34
Teacher As Designer

• Book presents a variety of teaching techniques
  and classroom designs from all disciplines and
  teaching methods.
• Representation of ways to develop better
  capabilities by redesigning the way teachers,
  students, and parents think and interact in class.

35
All Children Can Learn

• Research suggests everyone has potential to
  achieve something significant if conditions
  support learning and if each individuals
  capabilities are valued.
• Mental models in educators and parents affect
  ideas about human potential.
• Winners vs losers.
• Advanced vs disadvantaged / dumb.

36
All Children Can Learn cont.

• Recognizing that students learn in multiple ways
  and that abilities are not fixed at birth is
  imperative.
• Concentration on changing ways people think and
  interact is a must.
• Hope draws many people to teach in the first
  place Remembering that all children can learn
  helps keep that hope alive.

37
Designing a Learning Classroom

• The following steps aid in the design of the
  classroom as a learning environment that makes
  your presence, your relationships and everyones
  learning process more effective.

38
Step 1If I Had a Learning Classroom.

• Imagine a classroom that learns, dont worry
  about the curriculum or arrangement of time.
• A series of questions is used to guide the
  educator through this visualization process
  (p.106).
• Be specific and express details.
• There is no right or wrong.

39
Step 2Enhancing The Definition

• Broaden your idea by considering statements that
  other educators and writers have made envisioning
  the learning classroom.
• Page 107 has some useful statements to help
  further develop your classroom image.

40
Step 3What Would It Bring Me.

• Once your classroom image has been developed,
  consider the following questions.
• What sort of benefits would happen as a result?
• What would it bring to the students?
• What would it bring to me personally?
• How would it be different from the classroom
  where I teach now?

41
Step 4Selecting and Refining the Top 5.

• Choose the five characteristics of a learning
  classroom that are most compelling to you
  (whether or not they are plausible).
• Include one or two that you think you may never
  be able to do.

42
Step 4 continued

• Refine the abstract into more specific detail
• What conditions are necessary?
• What is an example?
• How might it address a students learning need?

43
Step 5How Would We Get There?

• What would you have to do to achieve each
  component of your vision?
• What practices would you follow?
• What capabilities would you build-in yourself and
  in your students?
• What policies would be put in place at
  classroom, school, community, and even state
  levels?

44
Step 6What Stands In the Way?

• Consider opposing forces you might face from
  students, parents, other teachers, the school,
  community and state.
• Consider the innate challenges that would arise
  as a natural consequence of your making the
  change.

45
Step 6 continued

• Opposing forces are a natural consequence when an
  established practice is threatened. Consider the
  following
• Where might these forces come from?
• How might you accomplish your goals without
  provoking the opposition?

46
Step 7Ill Know Im Making Progress If

• Consider each of the five characteristics you
  chose in step 4 and the obstacles you described
  in step 6. Name one or more indicator (piece
  of evidence that would signal that you have made
  some progress) for each set.

47
Step 8First Experiments

• Design an experiment for yourself that might be
  effective in creating a learning classroom.
• Arrange in a couple of weeks to conduct an
  evaluation of the experiment.
• Based on the experience, add further design to
  your framework to work towards the learning
  classroom.

48
I. A Five Disciplines Developmental Journey
49
Background Childrens Capabilities

• System thinkers
• Iceberg concept
• Memorize the names of arteries, but may not
  grasp the concept of the blood flow
• Children must have higher order thinking skills
• Most of the time schools are asking students to
  memorize

50
II. Teaching Structural Tension
51
What is the point of education?

• To help young people learn how to create the
  lives they truly want to create

52
The key to the creative process is STRUCTURAL
TENSION.
53
STRUCTURAL TENSION is established through
contrast between our desired state (goals,
desires, aspirations) and our current reality in
relationship to those goals.
54
Tension is resolved by taking actions that bring
the goals and reality closer together.
55
It takes DISCIPLINE to define the end result you
want to create, and to define reality objectively
outside of distortions of our assumptions,
theories, and concepts.
56
It takes DISCIPLINE to

• Confront frustrations, disappointments, and
  setbacks
• Learn from mistakes and successes

57
THINKING ABOUT WANTS

• What do you want?

58
Parental and educational protection inadvertently
censors young adults not only from trying to
create what might matter to them, but also from
even thinking about trying.
59

• Because of this protection, people never develop
  the discipline for going the extra mile.
• They never learn the lessons so important to
  developing character or the ongoing learning
  skills needed to accomplish anything difficult.

60
IT BEGINS WITH A QUESTION

• What do you want to create?
• Define your goal

61
The habit of defining goals, visions, and
aspirations develops a true skilla skill young
people need to learn if they are to master their
life-building process.
62
Once one knows what he/she wants, then education
takes on a focus and purpose.
63
JUST THE FACTS

• People distort reality because reality often
  includes things one doesnt like.
• Children lie to avoid criticism and punishment.
• Children lie because they see it as socially
  acceptable.

64
DONT lie to children- TELL THE TRUTH!
65
Learning requires the ability to evaluate our
actions.
66
One must be able to separate who they are from
what they do.
67
THE LESSON OF ACTION

• Action produces results that are evaluated, which
  leads to adjustments of future actions.
• How well did we move toward our goals ?

68
Actions are choices

• Fundamental basic values
• Primary choice major results in life
• Goals, aspirations, ambitions (structural
  tension)
• Secondary choice support primary choice

69
III. A SHARED VISION PROCESS for the CLASSROOM

• Open discussion on first day of school
• Out of this comes a vision for classroom
  etiquette and procedure how one wants to be
  treated, and how one feels class should run.

70
VI. ASSESSMENT as LEARNING

• Formal knowledge
• Applicable knowledge
• Longitudinal knowledge

71

• Assessment should make individuals aware of all
  three types of knowledge.
• The result should spark reflection and suggest
  approaches for further development.

72
We dont need less judgments, we need more
informed judgments.

• We need assessments that are designed for
  learning, not assessments used for blaming,
  ranking, and certifying.

73
How do we make this shift possible?

• Timeliness
• The closer students are to the learning
  demonstration, the more meaningful the feedback.
• Suggest school schedules so that teachers have
  regular conference times with students to review
  and give feedback.

74

• Honesty
• Face the data seriously or there wont be a need
  to change.
• Reflection
• Set up a system where students assess themselves.

75

• -Much of the reflection will take place in a
  conference with the teacher. The hard part is
  listening to what the students have to say and
  letting what the students say design instruction.
• -Now grades are an evaluation process. Students
  manage their own judgments about progress.
• -If started early, by the time a student is 17,
  he or she should be responsible for, and skilled
  at, presenting evaluations to parents.

76

• This will communicate to everyone that the school
  believes assessment is a process for learning,
  not just for accountability.
• Teachers should also reflect on their own
  teaching. Its important to not just assess
  teaching, but also to assess the assessment.

77
VII. Intellectual Behaviors
78
Intellectual Behaviors

• Persistence
• Decreasing Impulsivity
• Listening to Others (with understanding and
  empathy)
• Flexibility in Thinking
• Metacognition (Awareness of our own thinking)

79
Intellectual Behaviors

• Striving for Accuracy and Precision
• Questioning and Problem Posing
• Drawing on Past Knowledge and Experiences
• Creativity
• Precision of Language and Thought

80
Intellectual Behaviors

• Gathering Data Through All the Senses
• Displaying a Sense of Humor
• Wonderment, Inquisitiveness, and Curiosity
• Cooperative Thinking and Social Intelligence

81
VIII. A Pedagogy for the Five Disciplines
82

• Who is stuck in Ferris Buellers Day Off?
• Generative Knowledge
• Transmitting Knowledge
• Transformative Knowledge

83
Productive Conversation
84
Check IN

• Check in provides students time to make a very
  brief statement and focus their attention on the
  task at hand.
• Many variations and few rules.
• Some will talk about problems and share
  experiences. Others may only say Im here.
• Teacher participation is important.

85
Opening Day

• Introducing mental models in the first session of
  a course can open up an atmosphere of trust and
  inquiry throughout the course.
• Emphasize We learn together.
• Listen to each other.

86
Cue Lines

• Conversational lines to use in impasses and other
  difficult situations.

87
Cue Lines

• When
• Strong views are expressed without any reasoning
  or illustrations.

• You Might Say.
• You might be right, but Id like to understand
  more. What leads you to believe?

88
Cue Lines

• When
• The discussion goes off on an apparent tangent..

• You might Say.
• Im unclear how that connects to what weve been
  saying. Can you say how you see it as relevant?

89
Cue Lines

• When.
• You doubt the relevance of your own thoughts.

• You might say.
• This may not be relevant now. If so, let me
  know and I will wait

90
Balancing Advocacy and Inquiry

• Lay out your reasoning
• Heres my view and heres how Ive arrived at
  it. How does it sound to you? What makes sense
  to you and what doesnt? Do you see any ways I
  can improve it?
• Shared perspectives yield more creative and
  insightful realizations.

91
Protocols for Improved Advocacy

• What to do

• What to say

• State your assumptions, and describe the data
  that led to them.

• Heres what I think, and heres how I got there.

• Make your reasoning explicit.

• I came to this conclusion because...

• Even when advocating listen, stay open, and
  encourage others to provide different views.

• Do you see it differently?

92

Protocols for Improved InquiryAsk others to make
their thinking process visible

• What to do

• What to say

• Instead of What do you mean? or Whats your
  proof? say, Can you help me understand your
  thinking here?

• Use unaggressive language, particularly with
  people who are unfamiliar with these skills.

• Explain your reasons for inquiring, and how your
  inquiry relates to your own concerns, hopes, and
  needs.

• Im asking about your assumptions here because..

93

Protocols for facing a point of view with which
you disagree

• What to do

• What to say

• Make sure you truly understand the other persons
  view.
• Explore, listen and offer your own views in an
  open way.

• If I follow you correctly, your saying that

• Ask, Have you considered and then raise your
  concerns and state what is leading you to have
  them.

94

Protocols for when your at an Impasse

• What to do

• What to say

• Embrace the impasse, and tease apart the current
  thinking on both sides.

• What do we both know to be true? Or, What do we
  both sense is true, but have no data for yet?

• Look for information that will help people move
  forward.

• What do we agree on, and what do we disagree on?

• I dont understand the assumptions underlying
  our disagreement.

• Dont let the conversation stop with an
  agreement to disagree.

95
The advocacy/inquiry palette
The Advocacy/Inquiry Palette
96
Reframing the Parent-Teacher Conference

• Strive to confer not conference.
• The conference should be influenced by each
  person, and each participants views, including
  the students.

97
Reframing the Parent-Teacher Conference

• Educator can ask
• What strengths do you see in you child?
• What does your child say about school?
• What kinds of activities , at school or
  elsewhere, seem to frustrate your child most?
• What goals do you have for your child?

98
Reframing the Parent-Teacher Conference

• Parents can ask
• How does my child interact with you and other
  adults?
• How does my child interact with classmates?
• How does my child work in teams?
• Who do you pair my child with and why?

99
Mapping

• Set goals and monitor them.
• Brainstorm everything you can think of that
  represents an aspect of the childs life.
• This activity needs to include the parent.

100
Dont eat the pizzaExercises for taking stock
of the classroom experience.

• Invite alumni back from the next school level as
  guest speakers.
• Let 9th graders tell 8th graders about high
  school, and 6th about 5th, etc.

101
Dont eat the pizza...

• The Time Capsule
• At the end of the year or semester, students
  design a time capsule of advice and
  perspectives for the students who come after
  them.
• Minimal teacher input Offer constructive
  critique, but resist making changes in content.
  This is an exercise for kids by kids.

102
Check Outs

• Similar to Check Ins, provide a sense of
  closure.
• At the end of a unit allow every individual a
  chance to speak
• What did you find particularly interesting?
• What would you like to know more about?
• What are you still confused about?

103
Retrospective Reflection

• Questions to aid a group in reflection
• Have we been open to other peoples ideas?
• Did everyone get a chance to speak?
• Did we move toward our common goals?
• Did we model the kind of behavior we would like
  to produce?
• Were we in flow? Did we feel the conversation
  move forward with its own creative momentum?

104
The Classroom Reflective Journal

• A weekly journal kept about
• class discussions,
• papers and assignments being worked on
• any other reactions to the course.
• Turned in weekly and read by the teacher.

105
Objectives of Systems Dynamics
in Education

• To understand the complex nature of the systems
  in which we work and live
• To Develop Personal Skills in Clarity,
  Consistency, Courage, and the ability to see
  interrelatedness of concepts
• To shape an outlook and personality to fit the
  21st Century

106
Systems Thinking in the
Classroom

• Applying skills to predict, examine interactions,
  and relationships
• Vision and The Big Picture
• Causal relationships
• BOTG (behavior over time graphing)

107
Systems thinking in the classroom

• Causal loop diagrams
• System archetypes
• Stock and flow diagrams
• Simulations and Stella Models
• learner centered grouping
• interdisciplinary bridging
• Concept Mapping

108
Benefits of Systems Thinking

• Drawing inference skills
• Specialization of knowledge
• Complexity of thinking
• Vision
• Interrelated dimensions of thinking
• Higher order processing
• Depth of knowledge expanded

109
Disadvantages to SystemsThinking in the Classroom

• Confidence required with basic mathematical
  skills
• Easily frustrating
• Learning styles vary
• Time consuming
• Loss of discussion and brainstorming

110
Implications for School Leaders

• Systems thinking develops forces students to
  become more critical thinkers
• Improved skills for employers of the 21st century
• New concept for learning to break traditional
  learning patterns
• Teachers create better thinking lessons
• Overall impact on school is to create higher
  standards for thinking and problem solving which
  can lead to improved test scores

111
Objectives of Systems Dynamics
in Education

• To understand the complex nature of the systems
  in which we work and live
• To Develop Personal Skills in Clarity,
  Consistency, Courage, and the ability to see
  interrelatedness of concepts
• To shape an outlook and personality to fit the
  21st Century

112
Systems Thinking in the
Classroom

• Applying skills to predict, examine interactions,
  and relationships
• Vision and The Big Picture
• Causal relationships
• BOTG (behavior over time graphing)

113
Systems thinking in the classroom

• Causal loop diagrams
• System archetypes
• Stock and flow diagrams
• Simulations and Stella Models
• learner centered grouping
• interdisciplinary bridging
• Concept Mapping

114
Benefits of Systems Thinking

• Drawing inference skills
• Specialization of knowledge
• Complexity of thinking
• Vision
• Interrelated dimensions of thinking
• Higher order processing
• Depth of knowledge expanded

115
Disadvantages to SystemsThinking in the Classroom

• Confidence required with basic mathematical
  skills
• Easily frustrating
• Learning styles vary
• Time consuming
• Loss of discussion and brainstorming

116
Implications for School Leaders

• Systems thinking develops forces students to
  become more critical thinkers
• Improved skills for employers of the 21st century
• New concept for learning to break traditional
  learning patterns
• Teachers create better thinking lessons
• Overall impact on school is to create higher
  standards for thinking and problem solving which
  can lead to improved test scores

117

• A SHARED VISION FOR SCHOOLS
• A vision is NOT
• Developed from a two day retreat
• Developed from a two hour assembly
• Taking peoples input, selecting some of it and
  discarding the rest.
• A vision IS
• Establishing a series of forums
• People working together
• Developing the future direction of the school
• The result
• All will get outcomes they respect and can make a
  commitment to.
• The relevant choices are better than those that
  any individual could come up with on his own.

118

• The Overall Process Design
• First The process addresses tensions over
  current problems and concerns.
• Second A shared vision is generative People
  talking about their deepest hopes and
  desires for their children and community.
• Third Action re-creating the school
  teacher.
• Components
• The nine-year conversation
• Parents and administrators meet at the school or
  community building
• They are not permitted to talk about a specific
  teacher
• No hidden agenda
• They meet to listen and learn together
• Everyone introduces themselves
• Start with concerns?

119
Components Continued

• Mental models
• Pre-meeting ask a group of students, What
  would you like to learn in school this year?
  Ask a group of teachers What would you like your
  class to accomplish this year?
• Step 1 Parents What would you like your
  children to learn this year in
  school? What would you like your childrens
  experience to be?
• Step 2 Student
• Step 3 Teachers
• Step 4 Making connections-display all three
  mental models check off
  similarities talk through the differences
• The truth about kids is
• Was your life as scheduled as your
  childs life? If youre like me, you used
  to play more on your own. Theyre more used to
  structure.

120

• The Ramifications
• Parents will form their own networks
• They will often go on meeting without us
• We can become learners from parents
• Parents can learn that we are open to their
  concerns
• The twenty-five year conversation back at
  school
• Teachers and staff
• Report the major themes
• Divide into subgroups curriculum, resources and
  money, school climate, technology
• Consider key problems
• Prioritize the results to set the course of
  direction
• Talk about vision for the school as
  educators-past and future

121

• Community vision meetings
• Groups parents of older children with parents
  of younger children
• People introduce themselves
• Select the five most critical concepts and record
  on separate cards
• Each idea, answer with two questions
• What should be the role of the school in
  addressing this issue?
• What should be the role of the parents?
• Discuss and present to the whole group
• Group now sees one anothers priorities and
  problems
• They now know that their critical concerns have
  been raised
• The are ready to talk about a shared vision for
  the school system
• New session, same groups, teamed differently
• Imagine that they have created, three years from
  now, the school they most want
• Consider the questions on p. 298
• Prioritize results (select 5-10)
• Bring vision process to the school teams and
  committees to incorporate the new visions into
  the work theyre already doing

122

• Implementing and refining the vision
• The central vision team (administrators,
  teachers, parents and sometimes students) develop
  key strategic priorities for the school.
• Checklist
• Vision school vision, goals, and curriculum
• What are the critical aspects of a school vision
  called for by the schools?
• How do they fit together?
• Create a description as a starting point for
  further dialogue.
• If these components were in place, what would
  that get you?
• If these components were in place, what would
  that get you?
• You may never reach the goals you set here, but
  you need them to help you, and others, chart your
  direction.

123
Checklist Continued

• Current reality
• What processes and programs work best for your
  school?
• How have these assessments changed over time?
• How has student performance changed, year by
  year?
• How has the quality of instruction changed over
  time?
• Compare demographics.
• Look closely at teacher training, school goals,
  educational philosophy, and school climate.
• Strategic priorities
• How can staff and curriculum development be
  improved?
• How can the school environment be improved?
• Consider security, community relationships,
  facilities, student needs, parking, and traffic.
• Where can parents drop off and pick up their
  children with less fear of traffic?
• What resources are available?

124

• Accountable teams
• Set up accountable teams to develop the points
  into new projects.
• They should develop a vision for one particular
  area of the school, establish a few critical
  first goals, and experiment with reaching those
  goals.
• Teams school climate, assessment committee,
  technology
• The teams should develop two measurable goals,
  create pilot programs, evaluate the pilots, and
  report the results at the end of the year
• Find a Partner
• Teaching is a lonely profession. Find a partner
  to share new ideas with. An innovator needs
  someone to talk with for encouragement and
  perspective-and someone to grow with as an
  innovator.

125
EDUCATING ALL THE CITYS CHILDREN

• Gerry House, Superintendent. Moving from Chapel
  Hill to Memphis City Schools
• Plan
• -Apply the same principles of leadership that
  had worked in Chapel Hill.
• -Arrived two months early to get to know school
  board.
• -Visited churches and schools to get to know
  community leaders and the
• people in the community.
• Developing the mission statement
• What do we want our school district to be?
• Memphis City Schools will educate all children
  to become successful citizens and productive
  workers in the twenty-first century.

126

• Goals adopted by school system and community
• Higher achievement for all students.
• Community support for the schools.(Site-based
  management)
• Greater investment in staff.
• A new kind of accountability for student
  achievement.
• Promise Street School-A vision of what can be
• Same demographics as system
• One percent dropout rate
• All students would learn through discovery and
  pursuing answers to questions
• Attendance rate and student achievement
  improvement
• Children learn to read from 6-8 years in order to
  master other subjects
• Technology and staff development to allow all
  administrators to evaluate their own schools

127
A Bridge to the Next Century

• CROSSING THE BRIDGE TO THE NEXT CENTURY
• 1. A new belief system
• Academic performance
• Responsibility and accountability
• 2. Higher standards(community developed and
  owned)
• Capabilities-reading, math, writing, technology,
  and citizenship
• Content standards(set by teachers)-courses
  required for graduation Algebra I, II,
  geometry, chemistry, physics, biology, foreign
  language, and the arts.
• 3. School reform
• Redesign schools to achieve goals
• New American Schools (NAS) design
• Partnership with outside organization
• Must meet all aspects of school
• Heavy investment in staff development and self
  accountability for student performance

128

• Crossing the bridge continued
• Thirty-two schools (of 162) adopted a new design
• Increased state test scores
• The following year all 162 schools adopted
  reforms
• Scores improved during the first five
  years
• Parents were more interested in schools
• Open enrollment
• Superintendent works closely with
  principals
• Principals Academy every August and
  seminars
• 4. Support for families and children (years
  6-8)
• Provided children with high-quality pre school
  experiences from birth to age five.
• Work with teenage mothers to develop parenting
  skills and reading skills.
• Helped adults in the community to earn GED.

129

• What is Our Core Purpose?
• MIAMI UNIVERSITY AT OHIO MODEL
• Organization must know the importance of having a
  clear understanding of their fundamental purpose.
• Why do we exist?
• What do we want to accomplish?
• What do we believe about teaching and learning?
• GUIDING IDEAS-SHARED VISIONS THAT SHAPE AND
  RESHAPE THE ORGANIZATION.
• What do we stand for?
• What do we desire to create?
• What pushes our thinking?
• How can school leaders transform schools?

130

• REFLECTIVE/TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP-The Process
• Valued dialogue and skillful discussion-
• team learning on small basis.
• Deliberated on the definition of leadership.
• Talked about the cultural, political, and moral
  contexts of schools.
• Discussed school leadership as a moral and craft
  practice.
• Utilized outside facilitators.
• Resolved mental models and articulated deeply
  held beliefs.
• PROCESS EXEMPLIFIES THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SHARED
  VISION THROUGH TEAM LEARNING.

131

• END RESULT OF MIAMI OF OHIO PROJECT
• Two year lengthy process.
• Only doctoral program in Ed. Administration in
  Ohio to receive exemplary rating.
• Teaching is more powerful and transformative.
• Teaching practices considered within context of
  the community.
• GUIDING PRINCIPALS IN SUMMATION
• Educational leadership must be reconstructed so
  that transformation of schools becomes its
  central focus.
• The primary goal of public schools is to educate
  children for the responsibilities of citizenship.
• School leadership is an intellectual, moral, and
  craft practice.

132
Guiding Principles Continued

• Educational practice must be informed by critical
  reflection.
• Leadership is not equated with positions in a
  bureaucracy.
• Diversity is a necessary element of education.
• There must be a commitment to community.
• MAKING A DANGEROUS SUBJECT SAFE
• The Goshen Central High School-Learning
  Activism
• How do students foster a shared vision for a
  school and galvanize a school community?

133
Current Reality

• Triangle Of Design, Circle of Culture
• Predetermined Uncertainty
• The 19,000 Question
• Success to the Successful
• Shifting the Burden
• A System Diagnoses Itself
• The Great Game of High School

134
1. Triangle of Design, Circle of Culture

• Culture is rooted deeply in people. It is
  embodied in their attitudes, values, and skills
  which stem from personal backgrounds, life
  experiences, and communities in which they
  belong.

• How can culture be changed?
• Change the structure!
• Policies
• Practices
• Rules
• By-laws
• Channels of authority
• The relationship between culture and structure
  produces change in people.

135
School Culture
136
High Performing Schools

• Teachers feel
• Invigorated
• Challenged
• Professionally engaged
• Empowered

• School Communities are marked by
• Reflective dialogue
• Unity of purpose
• Collective focus on student learning
• Collaboration and norms of sharing
• Openness to improvement
• Deprivation of practice and critical review
• Trust and respect
• Renewal of community
• Supportive and knowledge leadership

137
Domain of ActionEfforts you can make to create a
culture of learning.

• Focus your action by
• Guiding Ideas
• New Organizational Arrangements
• New Methods and Tools

138
Guiding Ideas

• Statements of principles and values that an
  organization stands for.
• Purpose
• Direction
• Articulate in an understandable language.
• Talking evokes change.

139
Organizational Arrangements

• Means in which resources are made available.
• Decision making structures
• Allocation of space and time
• Feedback and communication mechanisms
• Planning processes

140
Builders of Learning

• The following arrangements have been found to
  facilitate the development of professional
  community and collective accountability for
  student success
• Scheduling time and space for teachers to talk
• Interdependent teaching structure
• Physical proximity
• Communication structures
• Teacher empowerment and school autonomy
• Rotating roles

141
Methods and Tools

• Learning classrooms, schools, and communities can
  be built.
• Tools help to
• Foster aspirations
• Promote reflective conversations
• Develop capability for conceptualizing complex
  issues

• Valuable tools for building learning communities
• Collaborative assessment conferences
• School quality review
• Visual dialogue

142
Collaborative Tools

• Triangle will collapse without the three domains
  working together.

143
2. Pre-Determined Uncertainty

• Looking into the future and predicting various
  outcomes through scenario planning helps
  organizations develop strategies to handle any
  situation that may arise in the future.
• The scenario planning process is time consuming.

144
Cultural Capital

• The prevailing curriculum and the processes by
  which it is taught is geared to an
  upper-middle-class, white, male, Anglo-Saxon, and
  verbal/analytical pattern of thinking.

145
Strategies for escaping the vicious spiral

• Do everything possible to join the virtuous
• spiral group
• Break the rules
• Raise awareness of the dynamic as a whole

146
Shifting the Burden

• Begins with an urgent problem
• Two calls to action

147
Variation1 Addiction (Losing our Capability)

• A system becomes addicted to solutions that dont
  really work.
• They become addicted to the quick fix and unable
  to escape it.
• Ex. Limiting services and programs in order to
  help students pass the test

148
Variation 2 Shifting the burden to the
Intervenor (The Professionals)

• The people with the problem become dependent on
  the intervention and never learn to solve
  problems.
• The insiders or the people are the only ones that
  can sustain the changes needed to solve the
  problem.
• Ex.Classroom teachers that depend on special area
  teachers to solve the problem.

149
Variation 3 Eroding Goals (Isolating the Poor
Performers)

• When the gap between desired performance and poor
  performance grows so great, that instead of
  trying to improve performance people settle for a
  lower level of achievement.
• Ex. Schools that prohibit students from
  extracurricular activities because of poor
  grades.

150
Communities of Practice Theory

• Organizations tend to conduct their work less
  through a hierarchical chain of command and more
  through informal networks of people who pass on
  messages and values in thousands of subtle small
  ways throughout the day.

151
Measures That Make a Difference in Burnout

• Dialogue about the great game of high school
• Offer a variety of extracurricular activities
• Recruit burnout faculty
• Set up representative elections for student
  council
• Consider multi-grade classrooms
• Link the shared vision process to shared vision
  efforts
• Involve everyone

152
Toward A New Model of Educational Leadership
Four components to leading without
control Engagement - Diagnosing -
Reflecting - Identifying Systems
Thinking Leading Learning Self-Awareness
153
2. Peer Partners Benefits Set
agenda. Cultivate relationships. Bring
insights and resources home. Encourage bold
initiatives. Set examples. Give change
time. Create a safe place.
154
3. The Superintendents Progress (PM,
SV) Phase I. Lone Ranger Phase II.
Relationship Builder Phase III. Emerging
Learner Phase IV. Leader The most critical
role of the central office is supporting
learning about learning.
155
4. A School Board That Learns (SV, TL) The
school board in Alameda, CA Developed a vision
statement of what the district should look like
in 2004.
156
The Barriers Built Into The System Command-an
d-control budgeting Board members influenced by
the constituencies. Parents want things the way
its always been. Constant turnover. Limited
team learning. Media critical of mental modes
discipline. Physical setup of the meeting room
not conducive.
157
Toward a Learning School Board
Create a public record of private
conversations. Resist the temptation to invoke
business examples. Keep returning to the
observable data. Set up alternative meeting
formats. Practice talking about values. Model the
behavior you want from the schools.
158
5. Feet to the Fire (SV, TL) NAU revamped its
liberal studies program. All courses had to
be - coherent - relevant -
sustainable Plans were shared and
modified. Faculty members were slow to embrace a
new program.
159
Under the Gun
Implementation Commitment and mutual respect
Building a shared commitment Key to building
commitment - setting some ground rules -
establishing a set of group guidelines.
160
Establishing Ground Rules
Utilize the ladder of influence (p.
68). Balance advocacy and inquiry (p. 222). Honor
confidentiality.
Overcoming Resistance
Met with departments. Assumed conflict presents
opportunities.
161
Teaching As An Intellectual And Community Activity
Involved conversations among students and
teachers. Focused on teaching as opposed to
learning. Shift from being teaching
organizations to learning organizations.
162
6. Learning as Governing and Governing as
Learning (PM, SV, TL, MM, ST) The Chelmsford
Public Charter School story In 1995 a group of
parents in a middle class Boston suburb used the
five learning disciplines to design a public
school that all the constituents -
administrators, parents, teachers, and students
- could cocreate together.
163
Co-creating A Vision For The School
School Board Set up a school where all were
continual learners. Teachers Attended
conferences and were trained. Principal Modeled
the learning disciplines. Students Learned by
practicing in real-life situations.
164
Sharing The Governance
The school board and staff met and reached a
consensus. The students present ideas to the
school board/staff members. The students help
solve problems.
165
You Dont Get Letter Grades, Do You?
Graded as novice, apprentice, proficient, or
distinguished. Marked not yet successful,
successful, highly successful, and very highly
successful. Given a set of objectives for
projects. Do real-life skill work. Do quality
work. Make up work. Assessed with rubrics. Given
pop quizzes. Check in homework.
166
Sustaining The Effort
Every year the school examines whats been
done. It asks the question What can we improve
on and where do we need to go now?