Monday, April 4, 2016

Tribes- Seth Goodin

Tribes-Seth Goodin


Main Ideas:
"A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate."
This really tells us what a tribe is, important is that they need to be able to communicate. Without communication it is just a group.
"By challenging the status quo, a cadre of heretics is discovering that one person, just one, can make a huge difference."
"Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes, who create movements."
People who take chances.
"...there’s a difference between telling people what to do and inciting a movement. The movement happens when people talk to one another, when ideas spread within the community, and most of all, when peer support leads people to do what they always knew was the right thing."
With only one person involved, a movement is just an idea.
"A passionate mission, not just a common idea."
"Senator Bill Bradley defines a movement as having three elements:
  1. A narrative that tells a story about who we are and the future we're trying to build.
  2. A connection between and among the leader and the tribe.
  3. Something to do - the fewer limits the better.
Too often organisations fail to do anything but the third."
"Three steps; motivate, connect, leverage."
"They switched for the journey. They wanted to be a part of someone that mattered."
"Too many organisations care about numbers, not fans. They care about hits or turnstile clicks or media mentions. What they're missing is the depth of commitment and interconnection connection that true fans deliver."
Even in your own life you can get caught up with numbers.
"What people are afraid of isn't failure. It's blame. Criticism."
"We hesitate to create new innovative movies, launch new human resource initiatives,designs menu that makes diners take notice, or give an audacious sermon because we're worried, deep down, that someone will hate us and call us on it."
We are always telling the kids that making mistakes is how we learn, but the majority of teachers are afraid of making mistakes ourselves.
"Great leaders focus on the tribe and only the tribe"
Stop worrying about others things outside of your control and focus on those in front of you.
"Leading someone to giving up their own world view and embracing yours isn't easy and it's not always comfortable."
"Not all leadership involves getting in the face of the tribe. It takes just as much effort to successfully get out of the way."
"The safest thing you can do feels risky, and the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe."
"Tribes are increasingly voluntary. No one is forced to work for your firm or attend our services. People have a choice of which music to listen to and which movies to watch... So great leaders don't try to please everyone. Great leaders don't water down their message in order to make the tribe a bit bigger. Instead they realise that a motivated, connected tribe in the midst of a movement is far more powerful than a larger group could ever be."
"The new thing is rarely as good as the old thing was. If you need the alternative to be better than the status quo from the very start, you'll never begin."
Things take time to build up, don't expect too much too soon.
"Tearing down others is never as helpful to a movement as building your followers up."
"The secret of leadership is simple: do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow."
"The elements of leadership:
  • Leaders challenge the status quo
  • Leaders create a culture around their goal and involve others in that culture.
  • Leaders have an extraordinary amount of curiosity about the world they're trying to change.
  • Leaders use charisma (in a variety of forms) to attract and motivate followers.
  • Leaders communicate their vision of the future.
  • Leaders commit to a vision and make decisions based on that commitment.
  • Leaders connect their followers to one another."
Great basic summary of leadership.
"Remarkable visions and genuine insight are always met with resistance."
Have to expect and work through and/or ignore resistance


How it Relates to Haeata- Learners- Community
The ultimate legacy will be if we can create something that isn’t dependent on us and doesn't change without us guiding it. Do people really buy into the vision. Got to hook them in with narrative and connections.
Incite, excite


Do what’s right for the kids in front of us on Day 1 and others will come.


A good summary of leadership to aspire to.

How it Relates to Haeata Values


Alofa-
Love what we do, and who we do it for- the rest will fall in place- relationships at the heart


Service-
Creating something that is bigger than any of us individually


Manaakitanga-
Sense of belonging- Building a passionate mission


Hanga Whare-  
Building connections an important part of growth


Success-
Developing the ability to innovate and to process and deal with failure















Monday, February 15, 2016

The Third Teacher

THE THIRD TEACHER


My Favourite Quotes:
Education must shift from instruction to discovery to probing and exploration


If you really want to shift a culture, it’s two things: its habits and its habitats- the habits of mind and the physical environment in which people operate


Most of today’s clasrooms are designed with the teacher at the centre, But if the classroom is focused on the learners instead, then learning becomes paramount


We use a guideline for all our school furniture: Educators and students have to be able to adjust or reconfigure it themselves without calling in a facility manager, and they have to be able to do so within three minutes


The rich cultural traditions of a school’s students offer design opportunities. Embracing them is a mark of respect that tells students that where they come from matters as much a where they’re going to.


Children of all ages need places where they can learn by touching, manipulating, and making things with their hands


Open the doors- give students places to exhibit their work as it it were in a public gallery
Universal design- creating an environment for all learners
We introduced a cafe into each of the four academies, so the students can take a break and go get a snack when they are hungry or thirsty, rather than when the bell rings
Survey students about what they would like to study, then design spaces that let them learn what they want to learn
Make sure each classroom has the capacity to link into learning opportunities beyond its four walls- even beyond the Earth
Main Ideas:
  • DREAM BIG AND BE BRAVE
  • Incorporate cultural traditions into learning design
  • Changing the physical environment helps people to change their habits
  • The number 1 priority for furniture is that it is flexible
  • Learning environments and learning space (classrooms) need to be learner centred not teacher centred. Resources learners need shouldn’t be gate-kept by adults.
  • Making is an important part of learning for ALL ages.


How it Relates to Haeata- Learners- Community
  • DREAM BIG AND BE BRAVE
  • Move learning design into a base of probing and exploration rather than discovery
  • Learning centred-learning communities. Putting learning and learners at centre
  • Flexible furniture- adults prepared that furniture is constantly being reconfigured by themselves and students
  • Build nests- soft, quiet areas- within larger spaces
  • Use culture and cultural tradition as an integral part of designing learning not an add on
  • Reveal how stuff works- Sensing Schools??
  • Making stuff is important for ALL ages
  • Think, pull apart, the need for things like set eating breaks and bells. How can we organise for learnig wihtout these tools that schools have alway relied on?
How it Relates to Haeata Values


Alofa-
Learner Centred all the way- schools are for learners and learning, not the comfort of teachers
Service-


Manaakitanga-
Cultural identity integral- design incorporating it rather than as an ‘add-on’
Hanga Whare-  
Hook into learners natural curiosities and design from there
Success-
Dream Big. Be Brave. What are all the definitions of success we could/should consider?






Saturday, December 19, 2015

Monday, August 24, 2015

Learning to be a New School

The report


Literature that discusses transformative change in schools typically draws on experiences of renewal and change in existing schools. This report explores the shaping of a new school with the intent, established at the very outset, of offering a curriculum for the 21st century. The report discusses four key aspects of curriculum innovation at this school, outlining the intent of each and then discussing issues and challenges encountered in bring each aspect to fruition as the school got under way.
In its third year of operation when this report was compiled, this senior high school has dared to be different, in the process riding a rollercoaster of hopes and dreams, expectations met and occasionally dashed, careful planning, ongoing troubleshooting and collaborative professional learning. Through the lens of complexity theory, the report discusses the learning and problemsolving processes the school has set in place, describing how they have acted as a key enabler of the school’s success in addressing challenges it has encountered to date.
The perspectives of all members of the school community are included in the report: senior leaders, teachers, students, parents and some members of the school’s board of trustees.
This report was funded by NZCER's Purchase Agreement with the Ministry of Education