Bias to action
We love simple solutions to complex problems or "hacks". The "hack mindset" encourages us to avoid paralysis by analysis, to attempt a solution, learn from our mistakes, and embrace trial and error rather than perfection. Check out the video below from School Retool that shares the spirit of the hack mindset.
Bias to Action from School Retool on Vimeo.
Challenge yourself + YOur faculty
It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the scope and scale of school-wide change. Rather than focusing on the complexity of the challenge to reimagine, redesign, and reinvent - embrace the hack mindset. A coordinated series of simple action steps can create momentum, inspire change, and influence a culture. Included below is a brief overview of eight hacks you can share with your faculty or try yourself. As we provide a 4 minute overview of these strategies, keep track of the ones that you want to try or learn more about. At the end of our 4 minute overview, we'll ask you to vote for the hack you'd like to put into action as a group.
Have you read your program of studies lately? When you finish reviewing a course description, does it make you excited to take the class? Take a look at the following lines from a grade 9 English course: "The Freshman CPS class is designed to introduce students, who learn at a more moderate rate, to various forms of writing and analysis and to strengthen existing skills in writing, literature, and vocabulary development." Sounds rough, right? Address this with a challenge. Make your Program of Studies a Google Doc and use 15 minutes of a faculty meeting to collaboratively rewrite the descriptions. Watch what happens as teachers tap into their beliefs about learning and the curricular experiences that make the courses engaging. Need an exemplar? Check out a description of an aspirational course from the Apollo School in York, Pennsylvania. Click here to give this activity a try.
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A simple way to make sure that the learning in your courses is relevant, meaningful, and engaging is to get back to basics with essential questions. Challenge your teachers to retitle courses based on their essential questions. This simple exercise will encourage teachers to find the relevance and real-world connections of their courses. Imagine how geometry instruction would change if the course became, "What can we learn from a ferris wheel?" Traditional history courses could become, "Is there ever 'just' war?" English courses could become, "Why do people tell stories?"
We know that these titles don't read well on transcripts but as a 10-minute exercise in a faculty meeting, this exercise prompts reflection about why and how students learn. |
Most of us are guilty of telling stories of traditional achievement. We highlight standardized test scores, college acceptance rates, rankings, AP programming and more. While these stories of achievement are not ill-intended, they might be quietly limiting your capacity for change. Students who aren't at the very top of their classes are left out of these stories. Parents feel pressured to encourage completion and compliance. Teachers fear taking chances in their curriculum that don't directly support traditional stories of high achievement. Break this paradigm by telling a new story. Consider what single message you could share with students, parents, or teachers during the month of September that would change the narrative of success in your school.
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Do you embrace a culture of teaching or a culture of learning? The language we use is powerful in shaping and determining our actions. Do you teach math or do you teach students? Do students cover material or do they explore concepts? Are you testing before the end of the term or are you asking students to show what they've learned?
Challenge your faculty to update their glossary of professional language to make a shift from a culture of teaching to a culture of learning. |
A diploma is more than a piece of paper. It carries a symbolic meaning of accomplishment - and rightly so. Ask yourself, though, to be more specific about that accomplishment. What skills does your graduate have? What values does she possess? How does your graduate differ from the graduate of the community next to you? These are powerful questions that we simply don't ask frequently enough.
You can change this with chart paper, markers, and a few minutes in a faculty meeting. Ask faculty members to group themselves with teachers across all departments. Give them 20 minutes to discuss and draw a graduate. Without using any words, ask them to show you the skills, mindsets, traits, beliefs, and values of your school's graduate. Allow enough time to share, identify commonalities, and build consensus. |
Think back to your years in high school and identify your most powerful learning experience. It's likely that this is going to take you a moment. Standardized tests, studying for finals, and completing worksheets don't fit the bill. Some of you will think of moments of collaboration or times when you built something. Others might be lucky enough to have experienced authentic learning: real work for real audiences. Others might not be thinking of school at all. Learning to drive, interviewing for a job, or learning how to ask someone on a date are certainly more memorable than multiple choice questions. Collect and share your faculty's most memorable learning moments, then let the educators identify the common threads that define these experiences. Finally, ask them to imagine how their kids would answer this question about their courses.
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There's a stigma attached to change that suggests that all change is bad and that it must be endured rather than celebrated. That's simply a false narrative. It's likely that some change - even transformative evolutions - can take place in such an iterative manner that it goes under the radar. A simple way to adjust the discussion about change and norm the reimagination of learning is through the "I used to _____ but now I _____" exercise. Ask teachers to reflect on their practice and fill in the blanks, using a tool like Mentimeter, Padlet, or PollEverywhere to make everyone's thinking visible. Identify common themes and celebrate the progress they've made. Even more powerful, share the answers back with them on a regular basis highlighting and norming best practices and prompting people to leave behind outmoded teaching and learning. Click here to give it a try it.
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Do your teacher job descriptions capture the aspirational parts of the job that align with your beliefs about learning? In posting for a school nurse recently, I came across our posting from about ten years ago. It read, "High School Nurse: Must have valid license to practice as an R.N. in Massachusetts, minimum of Bachelor’s degree from accredited nursing program, current certification in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, meet continuing education requirements for Department of Education licensure." Not very inspiring, is it? Would you want that job? What story does this tell about our school?
Ask faculty members to collaborate (collaboration is key!) to rewrite the description in a way that introduces candidates to the values, beliefs, and mission of the school. Click here to give it a try. |
Pictures tell powerful stories. Snapshots of the activities that take place in our schools provide insights about school culture. They also can provide educators with an access point to close the gap between beliefs and practice. In this simple activity, ask educators to view a set of images and have them share what they learn about that school's culture. Once you've facilitated a conversation about what beliefs look like in practice, challenge your faculty to picture their own beliefs in action. Ask each of your faculty members to share at least one picture that aligns with their beliefs about learning. Collect them in a slide show and repeat the activity in 10 minutes of shared meeting time. Ask your faculty members to lead the discussion and show how to picture your beliefs in action. Click here to access a sample activity.
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Teacher hacks
In the activities above, we explored leadership hacks that you could put to use in your practice or your work with faculty members. Now, let's focus on simple solutions that you can give to your teachers to try with their students. How exciting would it be to share this list in a faculty meeting and then use an edcamp model to explore these ideas (and more that your teachers suggest)?
As we take the next five minutes to review this list, use the Padlet below to ask any questions you have and to share any other hacks that should be on the list. All are encouraged to share and respond to each other. Let's build our understanding and our bank of options to give our teachers!
As we take the next five minutes to review this list, use the Padlet below to ask any questions you have and to share any other hacks that should be on the list. All are encouraged to share and respond to each other. Let's build our understanding and our bank of options to give our teachers!