Rumi's Garden – The Best Place For School Development

Rumi’s Garden – The Best Place For School Development? Author: Armin Sieber, integral‐learning.ch, Switzerland Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 1 Rumi’s Garden – The Best Place For School Development? “Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing, there is a garden. I would like to meet you there.” Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, 13th century By Armin Sieber Foreword Following is a report on one effective, Spiral Dynamics Integral (SDi) based model we have developed to improve our teaching and learning environments in Switzerland. As in many places in the world Switzerland is experiencing people and collectives from the whole Spiral, all at once. The integration of Swiss society’s vMemetic diffusion greatly influences the school system. While individual schools try to adapt accordingly, the dynamics of change in school boards and school administrations make continuity of effort problematic. The relation between the different actors in the system suffers; there is an increase of misunderstandings and conflicts due to the broad range of vMemes present. More specifically, the following report summarizes the dynamics and the challenges in the Swiss school systems. Schools tend to operate mainly in Green on the managerial level, flattening or even reversing hierarchical structures. • In contact with students and parents the vMeme center moves from Green in preschool and grades 1 to 3 to a more Green-Orange/Orange from grade 4 upwards. • While mission statements throughout the whole span of schools are based in OrangeGreen and Green, schools mainly operate in Blue by enforcing rules. • Due to an increasing number of families with a migration background sometimes combined with a post-war trauma, the vMeme span among pupils has expanded to a challenging range from Purple to Green, while the system still clings to the practice of separation by age. Classrooms become multicultural, multi-vMeme melting pots. Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 2 • The nation-wide efforts for a best possible inclusion of children with special needs or disabilities adds to the already great vMeme span. • A growing number of teachers suffer from burn-out symptoms and quit their job before reaching retirement (research shows that about 30% of teachers are affected by burn-out symptoms in Switzerland and in Germany). Schools As We Know Them Are Obsolete Excerpt of Sugata Mitra’s talk at TED2013 conference in February 2013 (www.ted.com ) “I tried to look at where did the kind of learning we do in schools, where did it come from? …… It came from about 300 years ago, and it came from the last and the biggest of the empires on this planet (The British Empire). Imagine trying to run the show, trying to run the entire planet, without computers, without telephones, with data handwritten on pieces of paper, and traveling by ships. But the Victorians actually did it. What they did was amazing. They created a global computer made up of people. It's still with us today. It's called the bureaucratic administrative machine. In order to have that machine running, you need lots and lots of people. They made another machine to produce those people, the school. The schools would produce the people who would then become parts of the bureaucratic administrative machine. They must be identical to each other. They must know three things: They must have good handwriting, because the data is handwritten; they must be able to read; and they must be able to do multiplication, division, addition and subtraction in their head. They must be so identical that you could pick one up from New Zealand and ship them to Canada and he would be instantly functional. The Victorians were great engineers. They engineered a system that was so robust that it's still with us today, continuously producing identical people for a machine that no longer exists. The empire is gone, so what are we doing with that design that produces these Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 3 identical people, and what are we going to do next if we ever are going to do anything else with it?” There is an increasing awareness and consensus about the fact that the current education systems in western civilizations are not functioning to answer the demands of a society that is caught up in a highly dynamic transformation process. Unaffected by the growing number of books, keynote speeches, tools, online courses, etc. by amazingly competent authors around the globe, the robustness of the system is so powerful that a great number of schools almost seem to stand still, immobile like giant erratic rocks transported by a glacier that has long since disappeared. One reason for this inertia originates in the uniqueness of the system: educational systems are the largest coherent/interrelated subsystem in a society. They are based and built on an incredible span of up to 20 distinctive hierarchical levels, from a minister of education down to the individual teacher in his/her classroom. No matter the number of hierarchical levels, the structural power of impacting the actual learning activities ends on the doorstep of a classroom. In the process of the secularization of education during the 19th century teachers in western democratic civilization were granted the freedom of choosing any method as long as their teaching was in accordance with the official curriculum. From an SDi perspective it may be regarded as a logical consequence that whenever Blue/Blue-Orange/Orange authorities intervene in a school system there is high risk of open or passive resistance from the side of the teachers caused by the vMeme mismatch. There is a clash of differing core values and communication strategies. To foster an evolutionary momentum, a central role is assigned to principals: if they are able to act as vMeme interpreters, they can bridge the mismatch without risking their credibility in their own school or in the administration system. Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 4 “In times of rapid change, experience can become your worst enemy.” Jean-Paul Getty You can hear calls for “best practice” from many different directions ignoring the fact that the past cannot be the inspirational source for tomorrow’s solutions. An actual OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; the OECD promotes policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.) research project shows that today about 80% of the job profiles that will be important in the year 2020 are not even defined yet. So how can a school possibly prepare young people to fit into this not so far future by maintaining strategies rooted as far away as the 19th or even 18th century? “I am constantly astonished and disappointed at the assumptions people make about education: how to achieve it, how to measure it, how to accelerate it where it exists and how to create it where it does not. The default model that most people use is called “school,” and that includes yet further assumptions. The most universal and blatantly false of them is that age segregation is a good idea. The idea that all 7-year-olds should study together, and then the next year do the same with 8-years-olds, is just a bad idea. It was designed only for the convenience of the institution. It is like public toilet stalls not going from floor to ceiling, for the convenience of the janitors.… Ask yourself what education means. We measure children on what they know. By and large, they have to memorize useless content to meet that test. Because measuring the result of rote learning is easy, rote prevails.… What kids know is just not important in comparison with whether they can think. Learning math and spelling is far less important than learning the art of learning.” Nicholas Negroponte in: Mitra, Sugata. Beyond the Hole in the Wall. TED Books, 2012 Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 5 What Kind Of Business Are We In? To elaborate on Don Beck’s fundamental question, let’s start with a quote by Christa McAuliffe, the schoolteacher who died aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger when it exploded in 1986, “I touch the future. I teach.” With this statement McAuliffe opens an impressive resonance room, nevertheless it might be interesting to add more specificity and guidance within this room: • Schools are the most important and most influential place to shape the future of a globalized society. • Schools are where all participants, including teachers, parents, etc. learn to transform ideas, dreams, talents and opportunities into practice, knowledge and experience. • The complexity and dynamics of changing Life Conditions are accepted and dealt with constructively. • Teachers become Wizards who design and continually coevolve a learning framework informed by a 2nd Tier intelligence. • Participants become empowered and thrive. • Schools become true learning organizations. If this realignment gradually takes place, the old wording may disappear and schools” become institutions for the facilitation/acceleration of collective and individual growth. And when the time has come a new simple word will emerge as a replacement for “school”. Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 6 Through An SDi Lens: The Potential Of Edward De Bono’s Thinking Tool “PMI” Or The Seed For Organizational Change If the organizational maturity of a school can be assessed as Orange-Green/Green, there is a high chance that decision making procedures resemble grassroots democratic circles. While this is suitable for some teachers, Orange centered teachers regret the absence of efficacy and Blue centered teachers are longing for a headmaster’s clear guidance. To meet all needs, holacratic (http://holacracy.org ) or sociocratic (http://www.sociocracy.info ) procedures could be installed and thus, spark an organizational change process. However, this step can be a bit too ambitious with a risk of failure if there is not enough Yellow leadership. At that point, de Bono’s first tool of the CoRT thinking program comes in preparing grounds for later developmental steps: • The PMI is a powerful thinking tool that is so simple that it is almost unlearnable because everyone thinks he or she uses it anyway. The letters are chosen to give a nicely pronounceable abbreviation so that we may ask ourselves, or others, to “do a PMI”. • P stands for Plus or the good points • M stands for Minus or the bad points • I stands for Interesting or the interesting points • The PMI is an attention-directing tool. In doing a PMI you deliberately direct your attention…. This is done in a very deliberate and disciplined manner over a period of about 2 to 3 minutes in all…. • Carrying out the process is quite easy. What is not easy is to direct attention deliberately in one direction after another when your prejudices have already decided for you what you should feel about an idea. It is this “will” to look in a direction that is so important. Once this is achieved then the natural challenge to intelligence is to find as many P Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 7 or M or I points as you can. So there is a switch. Instead of intelligence being used to support a particular prejudice it is now used to explore the subject matter. • At the end of the exploration emotions and feelings can be used to make a decision about a matter. The difference is that emotions are now applied after the exploration instead of being applied before when they would prevent exploration. (de Bono, 2004, p. 18 – 21) The PMI resonates with Blue because of the clear structure and the built-in discipline elements, with Orange because of the highly efficient and intelligent use of time as well as the chance for innovative solutions and finally with Green because all participants can contribute equally, all voices are heard without valuation and emotions are important and welcome. After a very short introduction a PMI can be done even in teams of up to 50 people. Often times participants are amazed with the inherent collective ability to evaluate a matter profoundly even when it seemed to be highly controversial in the beginning. If intelligence is not used to defend a personal point of view but to openly explore as many aspects as possible participants experience each other’s wholeness and humaneness in a new light, and sometimes for the first time. PMI is easy to learn and easy to teach and so teachers can introduce it in their classes to ignite new qualities in thinking. Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 8 From Insight To Impact: How Can SDi Tools And Processes Foster Personal And Organizational Growth? Getting in contact with SDi and gradually adopting its awareness and consciousness can be an extraordinary and life changing experience. By going deeper and deeper it becomes natural to recognize the active vMemes in specific situations, in organizations and in people. When Clare W. Graves says, “Damn it all, a person has the right to be who he is.” he reminds us that it is not sufficient to have the analytical skills to decompose vMeme stacks. He invites us to continue the journey to a point of humbleness from where any Memetic constellation can be acknowledged as a valuable way of dealing with the given Life Conditions. Feedback from teachers who attended one day SDi introductory trainings in Switzerland showed a very high acceptance of the approach and high expectations that the newly gained way of looking at “realities” may open up their spectrum of helpful reactions in difficult situations. An often mentioned effect of the training was that getting in contact with SDi resonated with their intuitive wisdom and helped them to orient and express themselves in a new and explicit way. After a follow-up training the participants reported the initiation of new and meaningful activities, more efficient decision finding processes and new ways to address the challenges of the growing heterogeneity in student groups or among staff members. The evaluation of the culture-scan of illustration 1 teachers who participated voluntarily in these trainings showed high acceptance in Green and Yellow and partly in Orange, and a very high rejection in Red and Blue, while the rest varied Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 9 without further significance (see illustration 1 for a sample scan). While certainly not representative of the vast majority, these teachers were able to identify precisely what they regarded as their main challenge: dealing in a constructive while efficient way with students who are in a Red operating mode. Their Green readiness to understand the circumstances that “made” the student act in a difficult way and therefore seeing him/her as a victim clearly blocked them from a healthy Blue/Blue-Orange intervention. Finding ways to be authentic and powerful while meeting their own expectations of being deeply humanistic turned out to be a challenging process. If criticism arose among participating teachers, then it mostly addressed the aspect of time. They found that the model per se was “very interesting” but, for them, not all aspects seemed to be of functional importance. They would have preferred ready-made projects and tools to be applied in their classes, at best without any further adaptations, a Blue-Orange/Orange reaction to an overwhelming pressure in their professional lives. So what could be an alternative to shorten the training in order to meet this need for a best possible use of time? Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 10 A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words The first step to improve the efficacy of SDi trainings and implementation was found in the use of graphic representations for each level’s core qualities. The goal was to design elements that support the understanding and could also be used when working with kids. Every symbol can be accompanied by one word referring to a positive aspect of the level (illustration 2). Since the original language was German, the translation proved to be quite challenging: for example the word used with Purple is “Geborgenheit”, a word that doesn’t exist in English and illustration 2 that combines the qualities of safety, security, home, family and shelter. Such accommodations, while not always exact vMeme definition equivalents, were proven to be “good enough”. Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 11 The SDi Scaling Board In coaching situations, especially with adolescents, it is often very helpful to have a three point communication setup. Coachee and coach sit beside one another and focus their attention on something in front of them. Since scaling questions used in solution-focused coachings (Berg/Szabo, 2005; Iveson/Georger/Ratner, 2012) prove to be a powerful approach, we designed a tool to combine SDi and the scaling questions. We printed the color symbols on magnetic paper, cut them out and used them on a simple metal base plate. Illustration 3 shows an example using separate symbols for acceptance and rejection, illustration 4 is a comparison between the status quo and the desired future So, while talking about personal situaillustration 3 tions, preferred futures etc., coachees can move the symbols to match their assessment of the status quo or their ”perfect future”. This offered the coach opportunities to ask questions like: “What exactly will be the first small signs that tell you that Orange has moved one step higher? What else? And what will you do differently then? illustration 4 What would your colleagues notice as a result of this change? In what ways might this change interact with other aspects (colors)?” In a teacher training situation, we used SDi Scaling Boards for every participant, inviting them first to reflect and assess their actual situation and then find someone to exchange and discuss the similarities or differences in their scaling results. It is truly amazing to witness the activated deep wisdom that surfaces when it is triggered by a few color symbols. The given Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 12 structure of 6 magnets and a simple board really helps to address complex facts and circumstances in a self-competent way. Is There A Helpful SDi Lite? We find ourselves on “terra incognita”, in a cultural landscape we’ve never seen before. No rules, no reports from courageous discoverers can help us here. This landscape didn’t exist before and as long as there are no maps something like a vMeme-positioning tool for our orientation might be of essential value. Maybe an SDi Lite format could can provide such an orientation device thus facilitating vertical growth into 2nd Tier. The following is one confirmation that an introductory level SDi can be fashioned that makes a difference and provides an entry point for those who will want more. Matthias Varga von Kibéd and Insa Sparrer designed a Systemic Structural Constellations format “Belief Polarity Constellation” (BPC). This constellation format offers a huge potential to address questions about core values and core beliefs in a very effective way especially when working with groups of great diversity. Varga/Sparrer use an equilateral triangle as a representational frame or space. The three corners are defined as inexhaustible sources and, in accordance with the cultural/Memetic environment in which the format is applied, one of the variations shown in illustration 5 can be selected. Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 13 illustration 5 Varga/Sparrer use the distinctive resources as completely equivalent with no developmental order or other qualification. Instead they use neutral marks on the floor to define the triangle’s area or space. The variations in illustration 5 show the author’s way of combining BPC and SDi in one format and thereby introducing colors and a developmental sequence from Blue to Orange to Green. In the Pestalozzi variation (Hand, Head, Heart) there is an only vaguely drawn direct connection from Blue to Green, signaling that this is a rather shaky bridge and therefore needs special attention when crossed. Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 14 These three levels cover the main operating levels of adults in most school systems. The sometimes prominent Red in students is preferably addressed by healthy Blue or BlueOrange. The SDi-Trigon By combining the color symbols with the reduction to three levels we get the “SDi-Trigon” (illustration 6) that can be used in a systemic structural constellation mode: People answer questions about their personal preferences, their values, their needs, … by positioning illustration 6 themselves within a big triangle on the floor. This can be a fast and quite funny way to have a group’s simplified values scan within 10 to 15 minutes. To get in contact with the full potential of the BPC format, please refer to the work of Varga/Sparrer (Sparrer 2007). Another way to make use of the SDi-Trigon is to draw/print it in a useful size for the group and then let everyone define his/her position with adhesive dots. An arrow on the dot can depict the desired direction of personal development (illustration 7: a real life example of a team of secondary school teachers). Whatever the use of the SDiTrigon, very soon there is a growillustration 7 Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 15 ing awareness that standing and staying in one of the corners cannot be a competent answer to the world’s complexity. It is quite easy to show the incredible vMeme shifts within the last 40 years by asking them to answer the question, “How did your parents or did you as a parent ask students about school?”: • Blue: “Did you do what the teacher said?”, “Have you been a good girl/boy?” • Orange: “Did you have a test today?”, “Was your mark above or below the class average?” • Green: “Do you like going to school?”, “Do you feel at ease in your class?” For the first time in human history we have up to three fundamental developmental shifts in the lifespan of one generation. Almost everyone can agree that appreciating this complexity is not about which is “right or wrong” but about how do we “include and transcend” these differences? Forming Teacher Workgroups Using The SDi-Trigon With a group of secondary school teachers the idea of a new way of forming workgroups emerged: Before the SDi intervention, the teachers used to form groups mainly based on sympathy and/or personal interests. Usually, when they presented the group’s results, they were confronted with resistance and criticism. During the SDi intervention they wanted to try forming groups with at least one person per color in the team. They designed their presentations in a way that the person who resonated the most with Blue values presented the Blue aspects of their findings and so on. The supportive reactions and the appreciation clearly showed them that diversity in teams can be seen and used as a powerful resource. Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 16 SDi-Trigon As A Positioning System After a short introduction, the SDi-Trigon can be used as a universal positioning system that even works beyond the shared meaning of words. For example, the word “respect” is often used in schools and everyone including parents, students, janitors, etc. nod their head in approval to the postulation that the school needs more “respect”. If there is plenty of time and energy, the group of people may start a clarifying discussion to find the one definition to which everyone can assent. Or, everyone is invited to position her/his understanding of the word “respect” within the triangle. To be able to do so, the participants begin to reflect on their own value system. Because the result does not need verbal justification, this approach offers a safe space for everyone to contribute. It is rather rare that the results will be at a more or less congruent single place. Rather you will find a rich variety in the positioning that lends a hand for further exploration in an appreciative solution focused way: “What would be the first signs telling you that “respect” - as you understand it - has improved? What else?” In a similar process, it is possible to position a whole school, a department, an administration, the school development process, etc. and start fruitful exchanges keeping in mind that a school or an organization that wishes to act in a balanced manner needs to consider all three elements equally. Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 17 A Teacher’s Multiverse Once teachers are familiar with the triangle and its background, they can explore the more active and the more passive - or even the rejected - aspects of the three elements in their personal teaching styles (illustration 8). Furthermore, they can position their students accordillustration 8 ing to what they think the students need for their learning. And, maybe teachers feel encouraged to start the journey to become a vMeme-adaptive instructor, motivator, travel guide or spiral educator, choosing the naturally fitting role consciously from a broadening palette. ”Add lightness!” Colin Chapman, Lotus To strengthen their resilience, teachers may not have to learn something new but rather to unlearn something old. That is, if they find ways to lessen some of their rejection energy in contact with heavy Red or heavy Blue they can experience a lot more flow energy in their job, a crucial element for job satisfaction and burn-out prevention. In fact, the difference in values scan profiles between teachers who are successful in managing challenging situations and those who are not can be located in the level of rejection of Red and Blue. This seems to be quite logical and easy to understand but difficult to change. We need a new way of looking at problems to succeed. If problems stop being “problems” but instead become “training opportunities” then “problems” start being truly welcome. Left out from the “Greening” in schools, Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 18 important parts of the self-image of teachers still reside in Blue/Blue-Orange. The inner voice that comments on experiences that can be seen as failures reliably comes up: “If you are not successful, you must try harder, you didn’t give your best!” And, “trying harder” means to do more of what was not successful, expecting that there will be a different outcome when more of the same is applied. This is the exact place, where one of the entrance doors to Rumi’s garden is located: by stepping through this door, you leave behind your ideas of right and wrong and you enter a realm where there are only opportunities and experiences. There is no fault, no mistake, no blame. There are experiences that help you to choose, to act in exactly the same way or to act in a new way. SDi In Everyday Situations With Students Dealing With Conflicts The colored symbols, combined with an appropriate wording and meaningful examples or stories, can encourage even young children to grow into the consciousness offered by SDi. Since conflict situations are a predominant source for stress, addressing conflicts in an SDi informed way can have a great positive impact. The Red vMeme is almost always triggered when conflicts arise, therefore it seems helpful to find a Blue procedure to channel the Red energy. The first thing after a clear and powerful “stop” signal (if necessary), is that the children concerned are instructed to choose one of the symbols that depicts their actual state (illustration 9). illustration 9 Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 19 Sometimes, the request to choose the suitable volcano already de-escalates the situation. Thinking about which symbol is the “right” one, children direct their focus inward and thus quit the state of “being out of their mind”. Accompanied by a question like, “What do you need right now in order to feel better?” the de-escalation can be further stabilized. The healthy Blue aspect in this intervention resides in the assurance for everyone involved, including the teacher, that in case of a conflict there is a known and blame-free procedure. It is based on the presupposition that even younger children are self-competent and able to communicate their needs if they feel safe enough. Teachers who are trained to handle a conflict and feel comfortable with the procedure tend to intervene proactively at an early stage when conflicts arise. This is one possible approach how teachers can learn to lessen their rejection of Red and Blue and therefore experience the healthy aspects of both of these two levels. The SDi Dashboard From grades 4/5 upwards, students who are familiar with the SDi-Trigon can use it to reflect on their personal values, their needs, their strengths or their actual goals. With the aid of an SDi “dashboard” (illustration 10) the pupils can evaluate their schoolday in a moment. They can use the scales as a means for selfevaluation, as an opportunity to get feedback from a classmate or to give the teacher feedback. illustration 10 Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 20 SDi - Mini Scale Board For School Development To assess school development projects in a larger scale students, parents, teachers, administrators, etc. can make an overall assessment of the school from their point of view using a reduced version of the Scale Board to assess the actual state. The second Scale Board is used to define the desired changes (Delta indicators). In a Green school with a rather high amount of classroom disturbances the final result from the pupils’ council looked like this (illustrations 11, 12): illustration 11 illustration 12 Please note that the relevant and helpful activity lies in the dialogue about the expected results of the changes and not the scientific exploration of an exact position on the scale. SDi Rubric For Self-Competence In a more sophisticated way, the use of a rubric for self-competence (illustration 13) can foster self-awareness by bringing self-evaluation, peer evaluation and teacher or parent evaluation together. To match with the age of the students, the wording may need adaptation or even be replaced by graphic representations. The intended target level for self-competence is 3; level 4 is meant to be an opener for the developmental horizon. Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 21 Rubric • Self-Competence 2 4 excellent I am on time and ready to work. My school materials are all there and I am reliable in all matters. ready for use. Generally I complete my tasks and assignments completely. I complete my tasks and assignments reliably and when it makes sense to me, l will work more than what is expected from me. To support my learning process, I look for opportunities to deepen my knowledge and skills. I know the most important school Normally I follow the rules. Only in rules but follow them only when I feel like it. Clear instructions from rare cases it is hard for me to adults I follow unwillingly and only obey an adult's clear instructions. partly. I am reliable when it comes to rules. I can follow instructions even if it takes willpower to do so. I realize/recognise that following rules serves both the community and myself. In discussions with others I can comprehend and figure out which actions are both helpful for me and the others. I am often inattentive. I only rarely actively take part in class. Generally I am attentive and I regularly participate in class. I am almost always attentive. I participate in class. I have good ideas and show initiative. I support others during cooperative learning times and help others as a coach. I can only bring myself to do or learn something when a clear consequence or a reward follows. I can engage myself in school subjects which interest me or are easy for me. I can find pleasure while learning and discover things that motivate me. Challenging tasks give me pleasure and motivation even if they seem unsolvable at the beginning. I only start to work when someone summons me. I rarely ask for help. Occasionaly I can reach the minimum criteria of the goals set in my LRP. After the teacher has asked me, I start my tasks almost at once. I often reach the goals I set in my LRP. I can concentrate myself persistently and don't need any instructions. I know what I have to do and use my LRP to plan and reflect on my work. I recognise what is important for my own development and give meaning to my work. I find my own ways to work more efficiently and with more joy. I rarely engage in groups but don´t disturb the others. I can only work together with certain students from my team. In my team, I can work together with all the other students and I can adopt the role that was given to me. When I am asked to, I can take on tasks that serve the entire school. I can work together with all the students in my school. I can engage myself, respond to others and envolve them actively. I take on tasks for the entrire school without needing to be asked. I recognise what the team needs to reach a goal and therefore take on responsibility and leadership. I rarely respond to what others say. Only after direct questioning will I shortly motivate or justify my opinion. I listen actively and I am able to summarize the most important aspects. I can support my opinion with different arguments. I can respond to others actively and adapt to other views and perceptions. I can put different arguments in relation to one another and support my own viewpoint. I can lead a discussions, summarize different points of view and offer solutions. In conflict situations I need clear advice from others on how I could react in an appropriate way. In conflict situations I find ways to control my reactions in a way that will not influence others negatively. In conflict situations I can chose from different options and decide which option is most suitable to contribute to a solution for me and others. In conflict situations I can recognise which needs have not been met and I can find possibilities of how to do justice to everybody. Attentiveness and Rules and cooperationn participation Tasks/ Assignments I am on time and have my school materials ready so that I can start working immediately. Commitment good Motivation/ Autonomy 3 Teamwork I am often on time. My school materials are sometimes there but not ready to use. satisfactory Conversational skills unsatisfactory Attitude towards conflicts Reliability 1 28.10.14 Assignments and tasks are only made from time to time and not always completely done. LRP = Learning, Reflecting and Planning instrument adhesive dots are used to keep track of achievements and progress illustration 13 Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 22 BlueChips – A Multi-Level Tool One way to strengthen Blue qualities in students is to provide them with 4 aluminum roundels engraved with their name (illustration 14). They may keep them safe in their purse, their pencil case or on a keychain. Whenever they do something that contradicts important Blue agreeillustration 14 ments, they hand in one of these BlueChips. If all four BlueChips are spent, the teacher fixes an appointment for 90 minutes of individual extra working time within the next 5 schooldays. The student decides autonomously what kind of school work he/she is doing during this extra time. After the successful completion, the student is entitled to get back the four BlueChips – new game, new luck. There is no written record about how many times a student decides to run through this procedure. At first glance, this approach may appear to be plain flatland/First Tier; so where does it become three-dimensional/Second Tier? • The teacher clearly knows what to do when Blue agreements are not respected; the procedure helps to accept and assert healthy Blue. • Students actually operating in Blue hand in their BlueChip on their own initiative; the procedure is in full memetic resonance meeting their need for fair and working consequences. • Students operating mainly in Orange prefer to have their complete collection of BlueChips openly visible on a keychain, incidentally asking classmates whether they, too, didn’t have to hand in any BlueChip this term; they have an opportunity to make their positive learning/working attitude visible. • Students in Red/Red-Blue may not voluntarily hand in a BlueChip at the very moment Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 23 the instance occurs. Following the slightly altered proverb “One should strike while the iron is cold.”, the teacher decides to get back to this student in a quiet moment or at the end of the lesson; no show-off event in front of the class. If this cooling time doesn’t work sufficiently, the teacher only states the student’s decision without any further discussion and hands over a written message to the person who is in charge of coaching this student. This option is an important element to take pressure off of specialist subject teachers. These teachers rarely have the chance to establish sustainable personal relationships. Nevertheless, they are expected to enforce rules and procedures as well. If they can rely on the system’s ability to deal with Red/Red-Blue, these teachers may experience less impuissance and paralyzing solitude and therefore, start to intervene more powerfully and more reliably. No more showdown-invitation-threats like, “If you … then I will …”. Only clear promises “You know that you are responsible for your decisions and you know the consequences. Whatever you decide, you can rely on me (and on this school). It’s your choice.” In working with Red/Red-Blue transition phenomena (see also Albert, 1990) it is primordially important that there is a consequence, consistently. The severity of the consequence on the other hand is much less important. And, it is necessary that the consequence is applied immediately (e.g. Hand in the BlueChip) or within a narrow timeframe. Any accumulating records that will have an effect in a time further than a couple of days away risk missing the goal completely. In accordance with class or school culture, students themselves can keep track of important Blue successes on a record sheet (like handing in a substantial essay on time). Blue-Orange is triggered in students when they can win back BlueChips with a certain number of Blue success reports while achieving freedom from mandatory extra time. Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 24 Design New Wine-Skins For The Old Wine? „We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.“ R. Buckminster Fuller The most prominent meta-meta-analyst in education, John Hattie, concludes, “Teachers are the most important chain link to improve the outcome of education (Hattie, . And teachers really would love to change, if they only had time and the required personal resources. As a way of reverse engineering, why not begin with reallocating existing resources and postpone the change?” Honoring this advice means teachers wouldn’t have to increase their workload nor learn new ways of teaching. The teachers would experience the smallest possible impact while providing the positive impact on students of accelerated learning. Some examples follow. Nano-Level Change 1 The smallest change to improve the effect of teaching is to just add five seconds after the teacher asks a question. The probability that every student starts to look for an answer dramatically increases when everyone gets a chance to contribute, not only the fast thinkers (Blue rule to activate Orange). Nano-Level Change 2 Five seconds after the student finishes his/her answer the teacher continues with a question like, “Do you agree with what you just heard?”, “What would you like to add to this answer?”, “Which new questions come up when you hear this?” and so on. Only if absolutely necessary the teacher will offer the “right” answer or evaluate what is being said. Instead, he/she can be relied upon to focus on the process and the timing. With no extra preparation or tools the collective learning field is induced in a way that accelerates learning (BlueOrange/Green). Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 25 Micro-Level Change After instructing the class to do a specific task, the teacher doesn’t ask if there are any questions. Instead she/he initiates a “Ready-to-take-off” procedure, a 1 to 2 minute student dyad to reiterate and/or clarify the instruction (Orange – Green). Questions that arise are clarified preferably without the teacher’s help (Green). When the dyads break into individual or group work time, the teacher doesn’t answer questions concerning the instruction (Blue rule). However the teacher might decide to ask coaching questions to facilitate self-efficacy (Orange – Green – Yellow). Teachers are not competent because they can answer all the questions. They are competent by being able to coach their students to become “independent learning entrepreneurs”. Meso-Level Change If teachers agree on the overarching goal that students should get the best possible environment to improve their cognitive capacities, the teachers might start by doing less instead of doing more. In solution focused coaching one rule says: the activity is with the client. In order to intensify cognitive multi-level activity, teachers offer know-how and training opportunities so that groups of students learn how to assess cognitive skills altitude (Stein/Dawson/Fisher, 2010) and mindset (Dweck, 2006) aspects in their own work. Almost every teacher is exposed to the work of Jean Piaget or other developmental psychologists during their training. Unfortunately this training impacts their everyday work with children only marginally, if at all. Students would benefit greatly, if teachers gained competency in the state-of-the-art work of Stein, Dawson & Fisher and made use of the Lectical Assessment System© (LAS). According to John Hattie the effect size of Piagetian programs is about 1.28 (an effect size of 1.0 or better is equivalent to advancing the student’s achievement level by approximately a full grade). Still, this approach wouldn’t meet the idea of doing less in the Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 26 first place. With the help of a reduction to a very simplistic level (illustration 15), students can be taught to assess their own cognitive skill levels. This way, the focus is not on the accuracy of the assessment but on the activity of assessing itself, the open dialog about similarities and differences in the assessments and the reasoning behind. The endeavor to facilitate cognitive development may primarily originate from Orange. The aspect of assessing answers in small illustration 15 groups and discussing the results with another group opens up to Green. Finally the combination of Green and Orange comes into play when the teacher asks something like: “Suppose, you would like to improve your answering next time – with whom would you prefer to team up for the preparation?” In a similar way, the students can assess the effort someone puts into his/her answer thus opening another important strand that can help students to strengthen their budding assessment capacities. Finally, students can evaluate the correctness of the content as well. The teacher’s role in this setting is just to secure the process and provide a positive working atmosphere. It can turn out to be quite challenging for teachers NOT to support or intervene during group work but research clearly indicates that any intervention from a teacher disturbs the collective flow in the group and leads to poorer results. However teachers can seize the chance to observe and take notes of everything that functions well which they will share in their feedback at the end of the sequence. If this activity becomes part of the teaching-learning culture the accelerated learning may have effect sizes of 0.8 up to 1.44 (deliberate attention to learning intention and success criteria) on Hattie’s scale. Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 27 Concluding Thoughts “More complex, self-reflective, organic ways of thinking will be vital in re-shaping education so young people are better equipped for the complexity, paradox and unpredictability of life in the twenty-first century.“ Jennifer M. Gidley By sharing some ideas and practical applications of SDi in education I hope to encourage people to go out and design their own way to “enSpiralize” schools, to become “Spiral educators” or “Spiral administrators”. SDi offers powerful ways to understand the dynamics of change even of an extremely stable system. Teachers, students, parents, administrators can learn to look at their version of reality through an SDi lens and discover new ways of understanding. As we find ourselves on the verge of global shifts we are called to provide our schools with vMeme-adaptive innovation and a sense of deep respect for who and where we are. In my experience, the reduction to the SDi-Trigon can be a door-opener for teachers because it acknowledges the resonance rooms they find themselves in. Furthermore, it includes a temporal progression from left (Blue) to right (Green) with a representation of the teacher’s own gravitational center on the right. This may seem to be a tiny detail. However the introduction of all 9 levels in a vertical form sometimes triggered open resistance. Deep Green people were fighting against a new form of hierarchy where they wouldn’t find themselves on the top. They felt somehow disempowered and definitely not invited to take the next step in their personal growth. It was possible to soften this reaction to a certain degree when the 9 levels were presented as a horizontal progres- illustration 16 Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 28 sion (illustration 16) and it disappeared completely with the SDi-Trigon. Instead of direct explanation of the 2nd Tier levels the participant’s curiosity was welcomed and their questions gave opportunities to introduce meaningful portions of 2nd Tier accordingly, mainly Yellow. If we really “walk our talk” we will be able to respect the dignity of every individual person. And instead of knowing or telling what the “right” way of personal or organizational development would look like, we will co-create a field where taking the next step of growth becomes natural – we will meet in Rumi’s garden and we will work together for schools to become places where young people are prepared for their future and not our past. Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 29 Bibliography ALBERT, Linda. Cooperative Discipline: Classroom Management that Promotes SelfEsteem. 1990. DE BONO, Edward. "Edward De Bono's Thinking Course.", 2004. BERG, Insoo Kim; SZABO, Peter. Brief coaching for lasting solutions. New York: WW Norton, 2005. DWECK, Carol. Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House LLC, 2006. HATTIE, John. "Visible learning." A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-analyses Relating to Achievement'. Routledge, 2009. HATTIE, John, and Gregory CR Yates. Visible learning and the science of how we learn. Routledge, 2013. HATTIE, John. Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. Routledge, 2012. IVESON, Chris; GEORGE, Evan; RATNER, Harvey. Brief coaching: A solution focused approach. New York, NY: Routledge, 2012. MITRA, Sugata. Beyond the Hole in the Wall. TED Books, 2012. SPARRER, Insa. Miracle, Solution and System: Solution-focused Systemic Structural Constellations for Therapy and Organizational Change. Solutions Books, 2007 STEIN, Z., DAWSON, T., & FISCHER, K.W. (in press). Redesigning testing: Operationalizing the new science of learning. In M.S. Khine & I.M. Saleh (Eds.), New science of learning: Cognition, computers, and collaboration in education. New York: Springer, 2010. Web ressource: http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud (accessed 10/14/2014) Vol 1: Innovative Development: Emerging Worldviews and Systems Change. 30