Defining The Change We Want
2 min read
In talking about education, it's very easy to get bogged down in the rabbit holes of policy debates, who supports what and how fervently, and other details that circle around education, but aren't directly tied to education.
To break that pattern of thought, I started asking myself these questions relative to some of the work we do, related to how learning and teaching environments are created and sustained:
- What does an hour of learning look like? How about a day?
- What does teaching look like, and is "teaching" even the right word to use?
- What does school look like, and is "school" the right term to use?
- For someone supporting learners, who do you talk with while planning?
- For learners, who do you talk with while learning?
- If someone asks you to explain why you are doing a specific thing, or what questions you are trying to solve, how would you respond?
- If someone asks you to prove that it works, how would you respond?
- How does this type of learning support people from/with different cultural backgrounds, different levels of affluence, different religious beliefs, different educational goals, different racial identity, LGBTQ populations, special learning needs, different physical abilities, and rural or urban settings?
- If you were setting up this program for 30 people, what would you want to set up? Would it differ if the setup was for 300, or 3000, or 30,000?
- If you were stepping foot as a learner into this program, what would you want to do?
As you think about this, use action-oriented language whenever possible. What would people be doing? What types of interactions and experiences shape the day? How do these interactions unfold over a week? A month?
Avoid using any of the language that roils and derails ongoing discussions. Avoid references (pro or con) to the Common Core, testing, etc, etc. Keep the conversation grounded in what people do, and avoid buzzwords and jargon.
While I recognize that there are multiple systems that approach learning in this way, avoid adopting the vernacular of any one system.
In the interest of actually defining the change we want, instead of defining the things we oppose, how can we describe the ideal type of learning we'd like to see, experience, and support?
