Read the assigned Price & Nelson (Chapter 5) in the e-book text (ATTACHED) Write your reflections by selecting an i

15 Sep Read the assigned Price & Nelson (Chapter 5) in the e-book text (ATTACHED) Write your reflections by selecting an i

Posted at 04:11h in Uncategorized by admin

Read the assigned Price & Nelson (Chapter 5) in the e-book text (ATTACHED) Write your reflections by selecting an idea from the reading, describing your thoughts and feelings about it. Along with a title page in APA format, write 2 pages of double-spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman text.

Reference:

Price, K. M., & Nelson, K. L. (2019). Planning effective instruction : diversity responsive methods and management. Cengage.

Chapter5RuleBreaker.pdf

Chapter 5

Rule Breaker

Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.

—The Dalai Lama

MTV, among the most-watched cable channels in the 80s and 90s, didn’t invent video or records, but it pulled them together in an entirely new format. CBS, in contrast, owned both a record com- pany and a television network, but followed conventional wis- dom and kept its companies separate, never experimenting with the video/music combination. When Fast Company first debuted as a business magazine in 1995, it represented a dramatic shift from typical business publications. Everything about how the magazine was designed—the font, the artwork, and the layout— was different. Within six months, other business magazines were copying Fast Company’s format, and it became a leader in the industry. Brian Chesky, founder of Airbnb, intentionally set out

Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-09-13 04:01:45.

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Rule Breaker • 89

to challenge the status quo in a constructive way. Airbnb is now the largest accommodation provider, and yet they own no hotels and are slowing down the growth of hotel revenues.

Innovation requires disobedience. Unfortunately, you can’t follow someone else’s blueprint to innovate. As you look at the history of school reform, it is easy to see how many efforts have actually been copied from those creating change elsewhere, yet the results don’t scale and have only led to small adjustments. It seems schools have mastered the art of incremental change, but these incremental changes have not gotten us to where we need to be. In fact, these incremental changes are likely to be obso- lete over time. For years, we have been improving and changing educational systems and yet, in many ways, they remain largely the same.

Think back to your own educational experience as a student. Let’s imagine it’s the first day of 6th grade. You walk into your classroom wearing your new back-to-school outfit and carrying your backpack full of supplies. Sadly, you can pretty much pre- dict how the day will go. Why? Because it will be like every other first day of school you have experienced. There will be some sort of get-to-know-you activity, the sorting of supplies, and the label- ing and sectioning of binders. Then there’s the passing out of textbooks and workbooks. In between, there are the rules: class- room rules, homework rules, hallway rules, playground rules. You quickly learn that school is a series of rules and events, all driven by the teacher, and you are just along for the ride.

When you were a teacher, you likely planned the first day of activities based largely on what you experienced as a student and acted in accordance with what you believed was expected of you. Now, as the educational leader, whether principal or super- intendent, your first-day activities are likely dictated by past practices and perceived school and community expectations. In education, we take many things for granted and just assume “that’s the way it has to be,” because that is the way things have always been done.

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90 • Design Thinking for School Leaders

As creatures of habit, we rely on our assumptions and past practices to guide most of what we do in a given day. We can reduce the amount of conscious thought required by relying on developed habits that help us accomplish all sorts of things. Put more simply, it is just plain easier to keep doing things the way we have always done them. This is true in both our professional and our personal lives.

Have you ever asked your child, “How was your day at school?” only to have them say, “Fine”? Alyssa became inspired by an article she read on Huffington Post, “Twenty-Five Ways to Ask Your Kid, ‘So, How Was School Today?’ Without Asking Them, ‘So, How Was School Today?’” She was determined to change the daily conversation she had with her two school-age boys. So she armed herself with 25 new questions to ask them. The first day of her new mission went great. She asked both boys, “What word did your teacher use the most today?” and “Where were you the happiest today?” Surprisingly, both boys had stories to share, and she earned a new glimpse into their little worlds. You would think that this success would motivate her to continue with new questions, and yet the next day she found herself sitting in the carpool lane at school, both boys loaded into their booster seats, asking, “So, how was your day at school?” Habits can seem nearly impossible to break.

For most of us, the rituals and routines of schools have become well-established habits. We don’t question them or expect school to be any different than it is—especially when we are talking about making changes to a system that so many of us are products of. Too often we hear, “I survived school . . . . It worked for me, what’s wrong with it?” Yes, that system worked for us, too. Everything we needed for research could be found in the Encyclopedia Britannica and we relied heavily on our ability to memorize content. In this traditional system, we “learned” at school, and then we left to “do” at home. This approach no longer works. Learning and doing have become inseparable. If

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liz-evans/25-ways-to-ask-your-kids-so-how-was-school-today-without-asking-them-so-how-was-school-today_b_5738338.html

Rule Breaker • 91

we continue with the same habits, are we preparing students for a world that no longer exists? Thankfully, habits can be broken. Old habits can be discarded and new habits created. As Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit, points out, “Once you understand that habits can change, you have the freedom and the responsibility to make them. Once you understand that habits can be rebuilt, the power becomes easier to grasp and the only option left is to get to work” (Duhigg, 2014, iBook Location p. 531).

What if by breaking rules with intention and rebuilding new habits, we were able to change the first-day experience for stu- dents? What if the first day was about the learner? What if teach- ers didn’t explain the rules, but encouraged students to create them? What if, instead of handing out textbooks, students were handed an idea to explore or a problem to solve? What if students were encouraged to pursue topics that interested them? Or even better, what if teachers were encouraged to pursue “interesting”?

Breaking rules with intention is really a mindset of thought- fully challenging the way we always do things. Some of these might be written rules, but more than likely, many may just be common practices that have existed at our school sites forever. Why do we require students to walk in straight lines? Why do we give spelling tests every Friday? Why do we use bells to signal time at schools? Why do we attend school for 180 days a year? Is that really the magic number of learning hours needed to master the content? Unfortunately, many of our accepted practices were created over the years for the convenience of the adults and have very little to do with what is best for students and learning. Some of these rules or practices may have been created for a good reason, but many have outgrown their usefulness. This is especially true when we consider how learning has changed over time. New skills are required of students; former constraints no longer apply or serve. The World Economic Forum released a report in January 2016 on the future of jobs that has indicated how important these new skills will be in the Fourth Industrial

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92 • Design Thinking for School Leaders

Revolution: “Most existing education systems at all levels pro- vide highly siloed training and continue a number of 20th century practices that are hindering progress on today’s talent and labor market issues” (World Economic Forum, 2016c, p. 32).

The world clearly has changed drastically, and yet many of our educational institutions are embracing practices of the past that have become so much a part of us, we no longer question why we do them. This is further exasperated by the fact that most of our teachers and parents are also a product of the educational system and, as a result, are accustomed to the rou- tines, rules, and rituals of school. We are all fish swimming in the ocean, having a hard time describing what the water is like around us. And yet, in order to change practices, we must first become uncomfortable with the status quo.

The 10 Skills You Need to Thrive in the 4th Industrial Revolution, Alex Gray, World Economic Forum Report, 2016

In 2020 1. Complex Problem

Solving 2. Critical Thinking 3. Creativity 4. People Management 5. Coordinating with

Others 6. Emotional Intelligence 7. Judgment and Decision

Making 8. Service Orientation 9. Negotiation

10. Cognitive Flexibility

In 2015 1. Complex Problem

Solving 2. Coordinating with

Others 3. People Management 4. Critical Thinking 5. Negotiation 6. Quality Control 7. Service Orientation 8. Judgment and Decision

Making 9. Active Listening

10. Creativity

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Rule Breaker • 93

Refuse to Accept the Status Quo Rule Breakers dare to look beyond the status quo with a posi- tive mindset, confident that they have other options available to them. Rule Breakers give you thoughtful headaches, as they don’t accept the default options in life. For example, Adam Grant, author of Originals, uncovered some new insights about what your web browser says about you. When you purchase a computer, it comes with a default browser installed: Internet Explorer if you own a PC, Safari if you own a Mac. The actual browser you use doesn’t matter; what does matter is how you acquired it. Sixty-seven percent of computer users stick with the default browser without ever questioning whether or not there is a better option. Those who select and download Chrome or Firefox display some initiative and take steps to personalize their browsing experience. Choosing the default system is certainly easier. It is a stance that says, “The world is supposed to be this way; therefore, I don’t need to be dissatisfied with it.” This default stance also keeps us from considering alternative and, in many cases, better solutions. What are the default settings at your school? Below are a few ways to move beyond the “default settings” of education.

Dare to Imagine

If you don’t know what you could do if you could do whatever you

wanted, then how on earth can you know what you would do under

constraints?

—Russell Ackoff, pioneer of systems thinking

What is the biggest difference you could make? What would learning look like if you had no constraints? It is healthy to spend some time in the world of possibility. If we don’t know what we would create without any constraints, then how can we create once we have the constraints? Spend a few minutes dreaming big

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94 • Design Thinking for School Leaders

and imagine what your school could be without any constraints or rules. Alyssa recently worked with an elementary school staff in Los Angeles helping them dream big, and it was important for us to play with possibilities. It is interesting to see how difficult this is for people. It took the team quite a while to suspend judg- ment and play, but eventually we played with ideas like “What if we created a makerspace in the middle of campus? What if every student had the luxury of spending time every day learning about something they loved? What if teachers had the ability to learn during their workday?” Once the team got rolling, they realized the possibilities were endless.

Stop Worrying About Being Right

As hard as it sounds, don’t be afraid to let others be closer to the solution and final outcome. Position yourself within your community as a learner. With all the shifts happening, leaders no longer have to be the only experts. Embrace this. Be confident in what you do know and open yourself up to new possibilities by admitting you don’t have all the answers. Shakespeare famously wrote: “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” It’s human nature to want to be right. It feels good. It is validating, but at the end of the day, being a leader who is a learner and is able to suspend certainty feels even better than always being right. Try starting from the assump- tion that you don’t know all the answers. The next time you are asked something you don’t immediately know the answer to, try starting with, “I don’t know . . . .” While working with one dis- trict on the exploration of competency models, not surprisingly, the question of age and grade levels surfaced. Do all students need to be grouped by age for their school day? As educational consultants, we certainly have our opinions; however, it was more powerful to respond, “I’m not sure, let’s investigate.” This simple shift—of not having the answers—allowed us to facilitate an exercise imagining “a day in the life of a student,” exploring

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Rule Breaker • 95

all the possible options and configurations of student groupings together. Had we offered an expert opinion, the conversation would have likely been much narrower in scope.

Take Inventory

When problem solving or designing, you have likely heard the phrase “think outside the box.” Before you can effectively do that, you need to take careful inventory of what’s in the box. There is a reason why the box exists, and understanding the current constraints that make the box function is key to knowing how to bend, break, or stretch those existing lines. Try setting some time aside each day to simply take notice of the rules, ritu- als, and routines that guide everything about your organization. Are they serving students well? Why do they exist? Who created them? What was the rationale for the genesis of the rule or prac- tice? By starting to take inventory of these rules, you will gain greater understanding of how many daily practices and behav- iors are ingrained. Armed with an inventory of rules, routines, and rituals, you are now ready to consider why these rules are in place and whether or not they should continue.

Don’t Allow “Yeah, But . . . ” In this next phase of exploration, you will likely come face-to-face with many “yeah, buts.” People don’t necessarily like to question the rules they have come to embrace and may respond with “yeah, but . . .” if they feel pushed outside their comfort zones, want to justify their behavior, or want to avoid having to make any changes. It is a deceiving response, as the “yeah” makes it sound like there is agreement, but then the “but” negates any movement forward. How many times have you found yourself having a conversation that requires an openness to new ideas and new ways to do things, only to have the first response be “yeah, but . . .”? To help avoid this natural response, you may

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96 • Design Thinking for School Leaders

want to declare your staff meeting area as a “yeah, but . . .”–free zone. The simple act of calling out “yeah, but . . .” will help draw awareness to our reluctance to change and may help you instead create a culture where risk taking begins to feel more natural. Try to extinguish “yeah, but . . .” in conversations by offering replace- ment language instead. Challenge yourself and others to replace any “yeah, buts” with a simple, “yes, and . . .” (which allows you to build on the idea being offered) or a “what if?” (which allows you to question the idea that is being presented in a positive light).

Habits, constraints, lack of time, and fear of the unknown are all “yeah, buts,” or common excuses that contribute to complacency in the way we do business in schools. “There just isn’t enough time.” “We don’t have the budget for that.” “It’s too hard.” “I don’t know where to start.” These reactions are not unique to education; they are common responses to change in general. They aren’t just lame excuses, but powerful forces that we must understand if we are going to help our staffs turn “yeah, but . . .” into “yes, and . . . .” Our world is full of increasing constraints, driven by an overabundance of choices and connec- tions, as well as a scarcity of time and resources. What if we were able to embrace constraints and allow these limitations to guide us to creative solutions? Constraints can actually be advantages in disguise. For more tips see “Turn a ‘Yeah, But . . .’ into a ‘Yes, And . . .’” in the Appendix.

Adam Morgan and Mark Barden (2015) write in A Beautiful Constraint: “Ten years from now, we would like to search Google for a definition of constraint and see it include this: ‘a limitation or defining parameter, often the stimulus to finding a better way of doing something’” (p. 10). Constraint-driven problem solving can lead to innovative solutions.

It is exciting to discover educational leaders who are actively turning “yeah, but . . .” into “yes, and . . . .” On our journey, we met leaders who aren’t just challenging the status quo, they are

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Rule Breaker • 97

intentionally breaking the rules and bringing along an army of teachers who feel empowered to do the same for their students.

Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.

—Pablo Picasso

Design 39: Poway Unified School District When you arrive at Design 39, you can’t help but be impressed by the building itself—a magnificent new multistory building in Poway, California—but the real wow happens inside. Sonya Wrisley, now retired, was the principal of Design 39, a K–8 public school of 860 students that opened in September 2014. While Sonya was always accessible, you would never find her in her office, as she didn’t have one. The traditional principal’s office was abandoned and replaced with collaborative meeting spaces to be used by any of the employees of Design 39. Use of space at Design 39 is one area where many “rules” are intentionally being broken. Learning spaces around campus are designed with what is best for students in mind first and, as a result, teachers don’t have their own classrooms. Teachers may teach in a variety of classrooms within their pod, depending on the groupings of stu- dents within a multi-age span. Multiple teachers share a “Design Studio”—think collaborative office space—where they store their personal belongings and collaborate with their colleagues during planning time every morning from 7:45–8:45 a.m. Learning spaces are large, relatively uncluttered, and varied depending on the learning activity: large group spaces, interactive screens to display student work, makerspaces, and more. This redesign of space, combined with a new approach to scheduling, creates the opportunity for students at Design 39 to be truly immersed in what they are learning. The day is structured with fairly large chunks of uninterrupted instructional time. In the morning, stu- dents work on integrated learning of major content areas, such as language arts, math, and science, which they term “Awesome

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98 • Design Thinking for School Leaders

Learning Time.” After lunch, depending on the day, students work on an investigation, often math- or science-focused, fol- lowed by an hour of “Minds in Motion,” a new take on PE. Picture kids doing Crossfit, dance, and basketball; it doesn’t matter what class students choose, what matters is that they engage, get sweaty, and have fun! On opposite days, students are engaged in “Deep Dives.” These are student-chosen areas of interest where students develop their learning plan and goals, which they then pitch to their teacher for approval. As one student said, “If it isn’t deep enough, we’re just asked to revise it and try again.” Bells never disrupt learning; even body breaks, formally known as recess, are taken when it makes sense for that particular group of students. This type of schedule requires much more collabo- ration on the part of the adults at school; however, it results in a much better day-to-day learning experience for students.

Both space and schedules are big changes that can make a positive impact on students, but don’t underestimate the impact of breaking other rules that may seem smaller. Believing that lan- guage matters, Sonya led the charge to rename various aspects of school, including commonly known locations and roles. “The School Office” was renamed “The Welcome Center,” “Teachers” are referred to as “Learning Experience Designers,” and “Noon Duty Aides” are called “Motion Managers.” These may seem like small shifts, but they are intentional ones that communicate the beliefs of Design 39 and highlight how the language we choose contributes to the overall culture of the school.

Having the opportunity to challenge all the rules at once can be overwhelming, so don’t underestimate the importance of challenging and questioning even the most basic of rules. Dr. Eric Chagala, founder and principal of Vista Innovation and Design Academy in Southern California, is actively building a school cul- ture that encourages all learners, students, and teachers to push the boundaries, not for the sake of being a maverick, but for the sake of opening new doors and opportunities for learning. Eric

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Rule Breaker • 99

understands the importance of creating a culture that supports this type of risk taking and models the behavior for others. There is an unspoken “rule” in education that educational leaders dress professionally, which for many male leaders means wearing a suit and tie Monday through Thursday. Most can get away with a more casual look on Fridays, especially if the school embraces school spirit days at the end of the week. No matter what day it is, you will never find Eric at school in a suit and tie. He has cho- sen to break this rule, as it signified a hierarchical organization and did little to foster the spirit of collaboration. Eric’s attire most days is a polo shirt or school T-shirt, and reflects his belief in a flattened hierarchy. He feels more effective at getting into th

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