I'm currently reading
Jeff Jarvis's book
Public Parts. I'm not that far into it, so I don't know yet if I'd recommend my future principal read the book, but this quote from p. 45 is one that I'd like that person to ponder:
"Businesses used to be hierarchies of business units whose assets were called customers and products." Now "they are changing into networks of business units whose assets are called relationships and capabilities." Turning that perspective into an investment strategy, I'd bet money on start-ups that put relationships at their center so they can disrupt old, closed industries (later we'll look at what social car companies and airlines look like; imagine, too, the social store, restaurant and school). I'd buy the stocks of companies that know me well and play well with others. I'd short the companies that build walls around themselves. In a linked world and a relationship economy, isolation costs too much. (emphasis mine)
I'd like my future principal to ponder, and lead the staff in discussion around, the idea that an isolated school, a non-social school, a "closed" school that isn't actively reaching out to others and building those relationships (including letting students build those relationships as an integral part of their learning), is a school that is ripe for
disruption. I think they should also lead a discussion about how well such a school would be preparing their students to live, learn and work in a networked world.
In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists. - Eric Hoffer
I'm reading Public Parts also. I wonder if Mr. Jarvis realizes how much his book applies to the education world.
ReplyDeleteI have to say my principal is acting a little to much like Zuckerberg - changing the privacy rules in the middle of the game and not informing the users/teachers.
We didn't have a RIF last year, but we are repeatedly being told that if we don't cut here and there we face a RIF next year.
So last semester the core team started showing up as a group in grade level pods. They would go into rooms walk around - walk out - get in a huddle - talk - hit another room.
People were completely freaked out. It wasn't till Jan 2 that they explained what they were doing. They stonewalled any question before that.
They don't understand why people have a bad taste in their mouths about these "learning walks". Even those of us, who had been asking for an opportunity to observe different classes and share ideas, have a negative view on these walks.