Learning is Change

Piloting something new can be a natural process. We have the capacity to do it all the time within ourselves. Our ability to see something of value out of the world, pursue it and then to build capacity towards being able to use it should be something we do almost without thinking.

Great teachers are masters of the pilot in exactly this way. When they see a piece of curriculum or a new technology tool, they immediately start to analyze it to see what it might do for them. Then they work to incorporate it in a small way, perhaps within a single project to see whether or not it is effective. If it is, then they really start using it in earnest, transforming their practice with possibility.

One such teacher I met with recently, does this all the time encouraging innovation at every turn. Specifically, his use of Prezi has extensively pulled resources from the AP biology community, curating them into amazing learning objects that guide his students throughout the curriculum. Nate Grover of East High School does not just pilot things for himself, though. He pilots for all of us.

He pilots technologies and ideas because he knows that doing so makes him a better teacher. Then he shares them back to the communities he is a part of. We just need to ensure that we are a part of the same communities of practice that he engages in to gain the same value that his colleagues see in his contributions. Nate and other teachers like him should have easy access to ways of sharing their effectiveness, their best practices and their ability to pilot new things every day in their classroom “laboratories”.

District pilots do not tend to move quickly, which is perfectly okay. We are interested in things like scalability and scope. But the daily pilots going on at East High School and other schools around the district are not fictitious. They are not unimportant or trivial, either. We must learn from them to encourage the district pilots and ensure they actually reach the students they are meant to.

It is also our responsibility to help them sustain these pilots. It is difficult to continue on doing something new and different in the classroom when the only support is in-building. We can connect the dots to make sure that innovative teachers know that there are more people doing the same things they are doing and there is a community that is available to support them. Because while piloting is natural instinct for great teachers, sustained change is not. When you think you are alone, you tend to create and discontinue pilots whenever you like, based upon our own needs or time constraints. Sustained change and growth is something we must support because no one can do it on their own.

In the end, it is so important to talk with, listen to, and learn from people like Nate Grover at East. Making time to do that is what makes sustained growth possible.

Project ownership is hard, mostly because it’s hard to own people or their time. I mean, can you really own someone’s tasks or their ideas? At the end of the day, it becomes struggle to own much of anything.

And yet we have lots of projects that seemingly need ownership. None of them will start or finish or continue without someone propelling them along, ensuring responsibility for their continued efforts.

When we own something real though, we get to know it, inside and out. We see how we can use it and who we can use it with, but it is still outside of us. When we try and own a project it becomes a part of us, almost like a child. And there is a danger in that. The danger is in getting too attached that we are devastated and unable to go on when it fails or is taken away from us.

I met with someone yesterday, however, that doesn’t suffer from this troubling trait. She has handled many projects within DPS, creating project plans and requirements documents. She has done all of this without the need for her to call them her children, without the need for to dispair when situations conspire outside of her control. She takes a look at all of the things she has accomplished, is proud of them and goes about the work of finding the bridge from the old landscape to the new one.

It is the ability to move on and to find continuity between the projects that are foist upon us that gives us the ability to become resilient and to have an Elastic Membership with our work.

And that is what Kristy Briggs (of the Academic Product Team) has. She has an elastic membership to her projects and the projects of others, rather than having a project ownership only for her own tasks. The words she uses to describe her projects are ones of excitement, of pulling resources together, and of talking specifically to schools to learn about their needs. And when it comes down to having a project owner she can fill that role too. She can have those conversations about who does what and when. But, her projects do not define her because she is working on something bigger than herself. She is working for the students, and it is apparent in every sentence she says that the students come first. She is the embodiment of the DPS values that are hung around all of our Administrative hallways and our schools.

I do not begrudge people who want to have project ownership or who treat their projects like their children, but I do think that there is room and space for an elastic membership of many projects and the ability for us to see the connections between them rather than only owning the one that we are trying to drive. This elastic membership, however, requires all of us to be members. It requires a community of people, a collaboration that elastically pulls and pushes and snaps back into place.

So, let us form these collaborations. Let us become elastic members of many projects. And let’s redefine ownership to be participation and engagement rather than project planning.

We wear many hats.

We depend on these hats for our perspectives. We wear learning hats, teaching hats, and even hats that help us see out into the future.

I know each hat I have ever worn, having broken each one in the best I could before trading it in. I could describe each one, but in turn I would be describing who I was at the time I wore it. And so it is with each hat I see on others’ heads. Their hats fit them and help to show us who they are and what they care about. Is the hat well worn but dignified, or is it crisp and never blemished with brow sweat? These are the questions I ask as I inspect each new hat I come across.

And it is in this inspection that intricacies arise. The stains of certain projects come into focus, and we start to see just where they have been. It is almost as if we see directly through the hats to the heads underneath, watching as the thoughts and decisions lead the hats and their owners in new directions.

One of my favorite hats, though, is the one worn by Pete Piccolo, Deputy Director of OSRI. I imagine it has plaid or argyle, stylish and set straight on his head, but perhaps pushed forward just slightly, hinting at his interest to move forward. I see this hat enabling him to, like Sherlock Holmes, know the exact problem he wants to solve. As he scrawls across a page in the meeting creating a diagram to make sense of it all, his “Holmesian” hat allows him to ask just the right questions.

Beyond his hat, I keep coming back to what makes him and his team so valuable. They focus on innovation they focus on ways of doing things that are new or different. But it isn’t in terms of demolishing or destroying things. It is much more about truly seeking and deciphering and understanding and thinking.

And, when he wears his sleuthing hat, he is able to see the root cause of the problem plaguing you, finding the solution somehow from the ether around him. He is a detective with the capacity to open an issue and dig around inside seeking to find what no one else could.

Sometimes, we did not need the things we think we need. Sometimes we don’t need to go down the road with our own hats, brushing away our sweat and tears and straining against what we believe is important. Rather, sometimes we only need a different type of hat, and someone who can wear that hat with integrity.

The whole picture to little bit hard to see sometimes.

There are those of us, though, who see it much better than others. For them, the picture is clear. They have this natural feeling of what should come next and how the pieces fit together. And best of all, they tend to describe what they see in a way we all can understand.

When we find those people we should hold onto them for dear life, as they are articulate and amazing. One such person who sees the whole picture and ensures that things come together is Kipp Bentley, The Executive Director of Interdisciplinary Learning.

I believe it is the moving parts we struggle with most.

The moving parts scare us because there are so many of them and we feel like we could slip in between the cracks of each one. There is no trust in moving parts because you can’t fully believe that something will be there when you need it. So, we make temporary schematics that last for only a few moments while are in the meeting room with other moving parts, until we disperse again and become parts of the different whole.

But, Kipp knows what all of the moving parts are, and because of this, he can navigate them fluidly. He sees them all as systems of support, pushing back and forth, rather than shifting under his feet. He can authentically use phrases like “sides of the house” to describe the way in which teaching and learning, technology and other components all fit. There is a certain art some people like Kipp have for showing the connections, and making them real for us.

Kipp doesn’t just meet, he mentors.

It is the knowledge of where you go from here that is most powerful. I have learned that the easiest way to make a next step is in knowing that you are making the right one. The only way to do that is to have an advocate, and above all Kipp is that. He’s an advocate for things he believes in, and what he believes other should too.

It is in this advocacy that Kipp’s ability to see the whole picture coalesces. It’s only someone who is can advocate, see clearly, and listen for new information that  can truly bring about change and start to think through the implications of our decisions, both the good and the bad.

So I will miss Kipp as a partner when he leaves this summer. One great regret I have is that I did not come to DPS sooner in order to see what he sees on a regular basis.

School Leadership is not a singular thing. It is not simply having lines under you on an org chart. It is not just making proclamations or laying out an agenda for others to accomplish. It is not only having more responsibilities or feeling accountable for other’s actions. No, Leadership exists as a continuum, as a range of what is possible and whom it is possible for.

And it is the “whom” of this equation that is most interesting to me. Traditionally, formalized school leadership has been held within very few hands. Sure, the informal power that exists with administrative assistants and custodial staff is well documented, but in terms of autonomy to make big decisions, the Principal and her surrogates reserved those right exclusively.

One group in DPS is changing that. They are making it so many more people have the ability to lead within a school, and they are actively working to create a culture of Leadership among teachers. In fact, when I met with Justin Darnell of the Teacher Learning and Leadership Department and he outlined what the Leadership continuum looked like, I was struck by just how much of a plurality he was reaching.

By formalizing roles like Collaborative Team Lead and New Teacher Mentor, the picture of leadership across a school becomes more clear. It was refreshing to hear that learning and community was a focus as well, creating networks of Teacher Leaders who can and are supporting one another. After hearing Justin speak, it almost seems obvious. It was like saying, “Why wouldn’t we create additional ways for teachers to think and act strategically? Why wouldn’t we ensure that teachers can level up their leadership skills and take on new challenges as their careers mature?”

It is a testament to how Justin’s team is framing the work, though. Rather than focusing on formal leadership “losing power,” the focus has become creating an Learning Organization. Creating a culture of adult learning and reflective practice is no small task, but I believe by showing the full continuum of what Leadership looks like, we are opening the possibilities for more great teachers to both stay in the classroom with additional responsibilities and freedom to find new opportunities. We also eliminate a top-heavy model and focus our efforts on flattening our schools and tearing down the walls of our classrooms.

I believe that is something we can all find ways to support within our own work as well.

It is unique experience to hear words like Differentiation and Direct Instruction from 14 year olds. There is a strange cognitive dissonance that happens when children are using your “invented” language for their own ends, advocating for themselves in ways that you hadn’t even considered. What do you do when they own the language and it is no longer a barrier between teachers and students, but rather a shared discourse?

Well, that is what I heard from Fernando, Cherry, and Niles yesterday. As 7th and 8th graders at Grant Beacon Middle School, they spoke expertly about their educational experiences. But, it wasn’t as if they were regaling us with stories or parroting something prepared. Rather, it was their actual reflection of how GBMS has changed over time. They spoke of Blended Learning and Enrichment with an authenticity that is so rarely matched by adults. When Fernando said, “My education is both more social and more private,” I heard the power in his voice. He meant that the social and collaborative pieces of his learning were easier for him because he had used Google Docs or Moodle as a structure to build off of. And, he also meant that because his instruction was tailored to his needs, he had a relationship with his grades and his work in a way that many other students do not.

This is not trivial, but it should also not be quite so special. It shouldn’t be quite such a unique experience to hear students speak about their needs for more advanced content when they are ready to move ahead. It shouldn’t seem strange to hear they students want a more personalized and differentiated experience. So, the big question is, “How do we make it less odd and make it less of a singularity for students to own the language of their learning and be given time to reflect upon what has traditionally been ‘done to them?'”

It can’t just be that we use our EduSpeak more with students. It can’t be that we talk about content and student performance in abstract terms, unrelated to what is actually happening. No, the students are living it each and every day and they are forming their own opinions about their school life. So, the conversation has to happen in that same every day manner. Reflection and time to process theway in which they are learning in addition to what they are learning is essential.

It is clear that these students have been given that opportunity. They have taken it too.