For those that don’t know I work to support 21 school districts in my area in STEM. As an AEA, we work to provide support to schools in any capacity that they need to help them enhance the systems thinking and day to day realities of teaching and learning.
With the new ESSA federal mandates(Every Student Succeeds Act) that is replacing No Child Left Behind, schools are finding out on October 15th whether or not their school is targeted or comprehensive or in good shape. Regardless of the status placed on schools, the goal is to keep this from being another item that schools just check off boxes and don’t use to make necessary improvements. While I am not usually a fan of any of this type of work, I have found that what we need to do is find ways to take advantage of the systems in place to create the best quality change we can implement. There is some opportunities for schools to take an honest look inwards and make some changes that will best serve students and staff.
In Iowa, many schools will be using the SAMI, Self-Assessment of MTSS Implementation, which I believe schools will have very tough and honest conversations about where they rank themselves using the provided rubrics. I am not going to go into great detail about ESSA or SAMI, but the SAMI has school leaders, educators, parents, and admin as part of this team to have conversations about where they rank in several items categorized into the following fields:
- Leadership
- Infastructure
- Data Based Problem Solving
- Universal Instruction
- Intervention System
Woven throughout all of this are the Universal Constructs of the Iowa Core. Regardless of whether or not you live in Iowa, I think the Universal Constructs are something we all hold as important. For a recent workshop that I helped develop, we focused on the two in bold for this particular workshop.
- Critical Thinking
- Complex Communication
- Creativity
- Collaboration
- Flexibility and Adaptability
- Productivity and Accountability
Recently, I was part of a team to lead my colleagues in some training that was different and designed to shake things up while also connecting to our training and learning around ESSA to help support schools.
Right away, I instantly went to my two passions
- Purposeful Play
- Engagement
I wanted to lead by example with how we can infuse humor, excitement, laughter, connections with humans, hands on play, abstract thinking, and fun into this serious work that most of us don’t enjoy because it is difficult and tough. I had to be very focused on ensuring that the story I created in the workshop connected to our full day of ESSA learning, questions we formed, and practical tips and applications that anyone in the session could use in their own work out in the field working with all of our schools.
During the two hour workshop I built a storyline around the concept that we need to think carefully about the words we use and the perceptions we have created around our vision of reality and the work we do. Through that lens I challenged them to put aside their perceptions about play and instead focus on how could we strengthen the work and insights we already have by infusing some of these elements into the work.
I lead them through a series of hands on builds and creations usnig LEGO. Not all activities were LEGO based, but a majority of the small challenges were because LEGO is easy to purchase, organize, travel with, and use in any location. The challenges work in board meetings, small rooms, rows, desks, etc.
To start, we did some brain warmup excercises that were designed to keep a limited goal(nothing too wide open to build confidence) and to rekindle the spirit of play. We built tricky towers, structures, hanging around under a table, and eventually a free build. From there we dove into the LEGO duck activity and explore some research about brain function and how we can do a lot with very little.
After this we move into the concept of symbols and perception to understand that we each see the world a bit different. We have different ideas and we must work together to communicate and collaborate on a common vision. I lead them through two challenges that are similar to the old game of telephone that have key learning moments. One of the powerful moments is visually seeing how miscommunication can happen so easily and without intent.
Over the course of this journey we talk a lot about how we can use these ideas to help building leaderhsip teams work better, school boards gain a better understanding, and just the community as a whole having real conversation about the realities of the present by focusing on what happens with each activity.
In the end, if we cannot figure out better ways to communicate and collaborate none of the work and tools we use will matter. The culture is everything. Sometimes we have to play in order to get comfortable in examining and being honest with what is and what is not working.
This was a blast to do and for me really empowering to see how the work I believe in can fit so nicely with federeal mandates and issues that so many schools are dealing with in their own cultures.
All this being said, I have decided to host an online webinar to share the activities and connections to this type of work. I am interested if you would be interested in something like this where we do a realtime session? We could do the builds, share our builds, discuss connections, etc. If this is of something of interest, then pleasell out this form and if enough interest is there I will work to conduct an online meeting space to make it happen.
I will be running the workshop along with teaching tips and pointers along the way so you can take the ideas back to your school to use to strengthen your culture.
If interested on being in the panel and live video please fill out this form so I can organize the details properly
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