Fluent Essays

PLEASE POST EACH ASSIGNMENT SEPARATELY Read the assigned Price & Nelson (Chapter 6 and Chapter 7) in the e-book text (ATTACHED) Write your reflections by selecting an idea from the reading, describing your thoughts and feelings about it. Along with a title page in APA format, write 1 page of double-spaced for each chapter, 12 pt. Times New Roman text for each chapter.                                                                       Reference: Price, K. M., & Nelson, K. L. (2019). Planning effective instruction: diversity responsive methods and management. Cengage.                                                                            PLEASE POST EACH ASSIGNMENT SEPARATELY   Read the assigned Gallagher & Thordarson (Chapter 6 Producer and Chapter 7 Storyteller) in the e-book text (ATTACHED) Write your reflections by selecting an idea from the reading, describing your thoughts and feelings about it. Along with a title page in APA format, write 1 page of double-spaced for each chapter, 12 pt. Times New Roman text for each chapter.                                                                             Reference: Gallagher, A., & Thordarson, K. (2018). Design thinking for school leaders: Five roles and  mindsets that ignite positive change. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. ISBN# 1416625941 114 Chapter 6 Producer A producer takes on any work that needs to get done to move the project to the next phase. —Lisa Kay Solomon, thought leader in design innovation If you have ever watched the Oscars and found yourself wonder- ing, “Why don’t the A-list celebrities accept the award for Best Picture?” you aren’t alone. It can be easy to think that the Holly- wood stars, the big names we know and love, should be front and center when collecting the awards. Yet the reality is that the film wouldn’t have been made, much less be up for an award, without a quality producer and director. A Producer plays a critical role in many industries, including music and film. In fact, without a producer, the latest film you watched or album you listened to wouldn’t have been created. Producers are responsible for putting together a creative and talented cast and crew and all aspects of a film’s production, including coming up with solutions on the spot. Producers must 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:57:19. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . Producer • 115 facilitate all the individual actions, then pull together the neces- sary components to deliver an outstanding performance. They are not only responsible for shipping a final product, they are responsible for all the iterations and pivots in the production cycle. Producers wear many hats. In the words of Hana Shimizu, executive producer, and Zack Kortright, head of business devel- opment for Hornet in New York: “Sometimes we are therapists, wranglers, negotiators, coaches, cheerleaders, translators, con- flict resolution, bean counters, bad cop, paper pushers, spin doc- tors, food runners, naysayers, and problem solvers. The truth is, we are all those things and sometimes all in the span of a day” (Motionographer, 2017). Producers are the connective thread that moves a project forward from start to finish. They must also protect the line, which means staying true to the vision, working within constraints, and taking care of their talent. Most of us have seen the movie classic The Wizard of Oz. During the production of that film, the original Tin Man, Buddy Ebsen, was hospitalized and had an iron lung put in after the powdered silver makeup coated his lungs. It took 12 weeks to get the dog, Toto, to follow actors down the yellow brick road, and the film changed directors five times. In the end, the producers were able to pull the production to completion and created a movie classic that debuted in 1939 and is still loved today. Pro- ducers must practice innovation and agile thinking at all times. In education, we need our leaders to embrace the talents of Pro- ducers, an idea shared by Lisa Kay Solomon (2015) in “The Rise of the Producer,” to push learning from the industrial era into the innovation era. Hustling and Looking Around Corners Within one week, Alyssa had the opportunity to attend two very different education meetings. The first meeting she attended was at her local elementary school, as a parent representative on the curriculum committee. The group meets monthly with a Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:57:19. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . 116 • Design Thinking for School Leaders set meeting time and vague directives. At this particular meet- ing, the committee gathered with a loose agenda focused on discussing whether or not Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop was the right direction for the school. Ideas were thrown around and discussions were had, but at the end of an hour there was no real clear plan for what would happen next. Two teachers even left prior to the meeting officially ending, as it had run over the allocated time. Thankfully, a teacher volunteered to arrange an informational learning session on Readers’ and Writers’ Work- shop for the staff to see if there was broad interest, but it was clear that there was no real rush to get the information or to make a decision. Two days later, Alyssa found herself at another education-related meeting. This time the topic was much more global, focused on building a national grassroots campaign to provide tools and information for parents that would support them in demanding better performance from their local schools. The team was assembled from a cross-section of industries and, apart from this one face-to-face meeting for a few hours, they weren’t geographically close to one another. All their future work together would happen remotely. This meeting felt very different from most education meetings. From the beginning, there was a clear bias toward action and a sense of urgency that underlined the importance of the work. Within the first hour, the group had clarified its purpose and created tangible action items with due dates and expected follow-ups. Alyssa left the meeting excited, inspired, and ready to take on big challenges. Having these two meetings so close together provided a clear comparison, and she couldn’t help but wonder, “Why is there less hustle in education?” Traditional education conditions students and teachers to wait. In a classroom, we ask students to wait to be called on, to wait for all the directions, and to wait for everyone to catch up to them. We train teachers to wait for the right curriculum, to wait for a district decision, and to wait for permission to try something new. While we encourage and instill wait time, hustle Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:57:19. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . Producer • 117 requires movement. Hustle has impact when it comes from the top. Creating a sense of urgency can be difficult in education, and the leader must show that change is needed and not just wanted. Oftentimes, educators and the general public use standardized test scores to make a success judgment. In schools that score well, with students measuring at or above average, complacency reigns. Why make changes when things are working? In his book The End of Average: How to Succeed in a World That Values Same- ness, Todd Rose writes: “Most of us know intuitively that a score on a personality test, a rank on a standardized assessment, a grade-point average, or a rating on a performance review doesn’t reflect you, or your child’s, or your students’, or your employees’ abilities. Yet the concept of average as a yardstick for measuring individuals has been so thoroughly ingrained in our minds that we rarely question it seriously” (Goodreads, n.d.). This view of average, and the assumption that we are meeting the needs of the “average” student, leads to a total lack of urgency to correct any problems or make any significant changes. This lack of urgency may ultimately undermine public education as we know it. Most of us remember the days of developing film, when Kodak was the go-to brand name for the film and paper you would trust with your memories. Even with the strong emotional connection Kodak had with its customers, they filed for bankruptcy in 2012, shifting from the world’s largest film company to a has-been company beaten by the digital revolution. After 128 years of suc- cess, you would think they would have been positioned to “look around corners” and predict the innovations on the horizon. What you may not realize is that Kodak actually developed the world’s first consumer digital camera in the early 1990s, but they couldn’t get the approval to launch or sell it because of the orga- nization’s fear of the effects on the film market and their inability to hustle. They were worried that digital cameras would kill their film business, and they would have to hustle to promote the new digital way forward. So essentially, their true enemy came Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:57:19. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . 118 • Design Thinking for School Leaders from within. Like Kodak, many schools are so inwardly focused that teachers are not aware of the changes happening in their own industry. While change in education is painfully slow, there are big shifts happening in the K–12 school space. Consider Alt School, “a partnership between educators, entrepreneurs, and engineers who are driven to deliver whole-child, personalized learning so that every child can reach their potential” or Big Pic- ture Learning, an organization with the sole mission of putting students directly at the center of their own learning. Without the hustle and ability to look around the corners, are public schools in danger of going the way of Kodak? School leaders who see the importance of hustle and looking around corners actively engage in behaviors that support these actions at their school site. They are aware that, at the end of the day, you need to get stuff done and deliver. All the talking and planning in the world doesn’t matter if you don’t ship something, which means there are times when you need to pull the lever and act. Eric Chagala, principal of Vista Innovation and Design Academy, experienced the lack of hustle in education firsthand when his entire district had been talking about implementing makerspaces at every school for months, with no action. Not one to wait around, Eric led his staff to learn about makerspaces and they grounded the experience in their why, planned training, and went for it—building the first makerspace in the district. Eric also hustled to get the staff to switch from rule-based to rubric-based grading. Eric admits it wasn’t perfect, but he is able to help his staff see how their “bias to action” is helping them learn while doing. The school is in its third year of existence and its third iteration of grading. Eric’s ability to hustle has led the teachers to act, learn, and iterate, a cycle that producers implement and replicate. Following are a few ways to provide hustle at your site. Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:57:19. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . Producer • 119 Schedule a Wake-Up Call Provide your teachers with a healthy dose of reality. Bring the outside in by showing them how fast the world is changing and what we need to prepare our students for. Once you truly under- stand the changes coming, you can’t help but be intrigued by schools or districts that are making giant leaps ahead. Learn from these schools. Are you providing the same type of experiences at your school? If not, why not? Excuses aside, find a school to use as a benchmark, cross-pollinate, and start moving in that direc- tion. Don’t just limit yourself to schools; find ways to visit or bring experts from innovative businesses, design studios, architecture firms, and museums into your work. After each experience or interaction, ask the question, “What can we bring back from that visit or exchange that can inspire us to push further with our stu- dents or within our school?” One school we worked with reached out to alumni for their wake-up call. Through community con- nections, they were able to reach out to former students, many of whom had graduated college and were working in innovative companies, and invite them to reflect back on their learning expe- riences in school. What were the most powerful learning experi- ences? What did students wish they had more of in school? Every student who responded remembered learning experiences over textbook lessons, and all wished there had been more focus on how to work together to to solve problems and think outside the box, and increased opportunities to collaborate. Unsurprisingly, not one student cited lectures or content knowledge sharing as being instrumental in their current success. Create a Ripple Effect Remember that small steps lead to big changes. Challenge yourself to take one daily action that will get you and your school moving in the right direction. Share an article on student- centered learning with your school community. Try a Twitter chat (#dtk12chat, #edchat, and #leadupchat are worth checking Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:57:19. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . 120 • Design Thinking for School Leaders out). Pose a provocative question to your staff. Challenge your teachers to do the same. Consider providing your teachers with a daily action that will slowly move your school or organization to a more student-centered learning experience. Inspired to create more connected educators, Amy Romem, an elementary principal in Northern California, created a 20-day Twitter challenge, with one action every day for the staff. The daily asks weren’t huge; they included actions such as sharing a book that inspires you, sharing a photo of the favorite part of your classroom, and introducing your colleagues to three new people on your personal learning network. All Tweets were shared using the #LASDpower hashtag. By the end of the challenge, not only had teachers built a more robust personal learning network, they had found new ideas and were inspired to continue the practice. The simple act of challenging her teachers to Tweet one thing daily led to much bigger results for their school—the biggest two being a dramatic increase in the amount of learning exam- ples being shared publicly and the number of new possibilities teachers were now being exposed to. While Amy’s intent was to challenge and inspire her staff, she reflects that the simple act of hosting the challenge pushed her beyond her comfort zone. During the challenge, she hosted her first Twitter chat, got skep- tical teachers to join Twitter, and got a lot of positive feedback for validating teachers’ work using social media. Amy said the experience was tiring, nerve-wracking, and totally invigorating, so much so that she can’t wait to dream up the next challenge that will push both her and her staff. What daily action will you challenge your staff to take? Look Around Corners Become a student of the future and use this information to prepare you and your staff to be nimbler with the changes that are coming. There are publications and organizations that spe- cialize in the future of learning. A few to check out include the Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:57:19. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . Producer • 121 NMC Horizon Report, Institute for the Future, and Singularity Hub, but don’t limit yourself to educational publications. Try reading Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Inc., Wired, and Fast Company. Could it really be that in just a decade, intelligent machines will have surpassed biological humans in almost every capacity? Read about the future you are preparing kids for. Find things that excite you about the future and bring back those things that give you energy. A positive future outlook is important, as the future is unlikely to be changed by people who aren’t positive about it. Once urgency has been established, Producers act. They ensure that everything they do and their team does moves them one step closer to the end goal. They jump in and go with the current, not allowing anxiety to paralyze them and prevent them from getting ready for the future. This isn’t easy, but incorpo- rating play helps. Play is one of the greatest cures for anxiety. One of the reasons design thinkers have embraced the tenets of improv, mentioned in Chapter 2, is that it allows your team to interact and be silly within a prescribed and safe space. We incorporate short improv games and activities throughout every workshop or professional development event that we lead and, although there may be a bit of eye rolling at the beginning, by the end you’ll hear comments like, “I usually hate that stuff, but this was fun and I totally get why we do it.” It’s hard to worry when you are laughing and playing. Don’t forget to play. The Ultimate Power Switch Little by little, a little becomes a lot. —Tanzanian proverb Producers are the ultimate power switches; they are constantly toggling between the big picture and the practicality of getting it all done. They work to make the impossible seem not only Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:57:19. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . https://www.nmc.org/nmc-horizon/ http://www.iftf.org/home/ https://singularityhub.com/ 122 • Design Thinking for School Leaders possible, but within reach. Donna Teuber, Innovation Program Designer in Richland School District Two, is constantly toggling between the big picture of scaling innovation across a large school district and the practicality of starting and supporting new learning at the teacher level, one team at a time. While tog- gling between the two can be challenging, Donna sees how each of the individual practical pieces start painting a picture when they are put together. It’s not easy, but Donna believes that embracing the paradox between the big picture and the daily details contributes to long-term success. Producers have the ability to zoom in and out, much like the wordless picture book of the same name, Zoom, by Istan Banyai. Zoom recreates the effect of a camera lens zooming out. The book begins with an illustration of a boy on a cruise ship, only to learn with a few zooms out that the ship the boy is standing on is actually an advertisement on the side of a bus. The perspective continues to recede, until the final picture shows a view of Earth from space. Zoom also highlights some of the challenges leaders face as they toggle between the up-close and big-picture views. When leaders zoom in, they get a close look at the details, but they may then be too close to make sense of them. When leaders zoom out, they are able to see the big picture, but they may miss some subtleties and nuances. Problems arise when leaders get stuck in either perspective. To be most effective, leaders need to zoom in and zoom out. To improve your ability to operate as a Producer, analyze your ability to zoom. Where do you find yourself getting stuck— in the details or in the big picture? Figure 6.1 includes questions that may help you get unstuck and change your perspective. Embrace the Paradox: Big Picture and Details The most effective leaders are able to quickly toggle back and forth between the big picture and details, so how do you improve your own ability to do so? If you are constantly working in the Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:57:19. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . Producer • 123 day-to-day details, you may find yourself wondering how to Figure 6.1 Perspective-Changing Questions Too close; need to zoom out Too far out; need to zoom in • What is the context? • What matters most? • What is our purpose? • Where do we want to be in five years? • Does this fit the end goal? • What details matter most? • What are the most critical small steps to take to make progress on our vision? • What steps can I take to support someone (a teacher or leader) in moving forward? make sure you aren’t losing sight of the big picture. If big-picture thinking comes more easily to you, you may need to spend some time zeroing in on the practicality of getting the work done. As you work through the “zooming” questions, consider allocating meaningful time to think through them. Too often, we expect ourselves to do the hard work on the fly and don’t carve out time to think and reflect. Try setting aside some time to work through the perspective that doesn’t come as naturally to you. Build a Team Another strength of Producers is their ability to put together a creative and talented cast and crew. They are able to do this by leveraging their network and the relationships they have built over time. Producers are relentless about putting together the best team and will work across all silos, even reaching outside the team to secure resources if necessary. When Alyssa was getting ready to launch a blended learning prototype in math using Khan Academy, she knew getting the right team together Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:57:19. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . 124 • Design Thinking for School Leaders was critical for the success of the project. This wasn’t a situation where she would be hiring a new team, but instead was looking to tap into the existing expertise within the school district. With blended learning being such a new strategy in education, she wasn’t looking for teachers who had experience in these areas, but rather teachers who had the right mindsets, math teachers who were already questioning and experimenting with the best ways to meet the individual needs of their students. Alyssa was intentional in her choices, selecting three math teachers from three different schools, which would allow them to learn across sites and grade levels. All three of the teachers jumped at the opportunity to learn. The team met bi-monthly after school, but soon the three of them were meeting far more frequently, excited to share, compare notes, and learn from each other. The success of the initial blended learning pilot using Khan Academy was directly linked to the team that was identified for the proj- ect. We’ll take a closer look at how to build your dream team in Chapter 8. Create Rapid Learning Cycles Producers are masters of creating rapid learning cycles for their teams. Because there is constant hustle and urgency, producers help their teams learn through quick and dirty proto - typing of potential solutions. They are constantly cycling through the stages of prototyping, testing, and iterating. This runs counter to the culture in many schools, where the use of com- mittees is prevalent. In committee culture, small groups are given a task and tend to work on it for an extended amount of time. Often, committees are created with a Noah’s ark approach, making sure that there are two of each type of constituent rep- resented (e.g., two teachers, two parents, two administrators), and in some cases committees are formed by including everyone who has a vested interest in protecting the status quo. Then, at the end of the designated time, typically a semester or a year, Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:57:19. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . Producer • 125 the committee unveils their solution to the problem they were solving. Unfortunately, at this point, each of the committee mem- bers is emotionally invested in the work they have done. While they may take feedback and tweak their solution slightly, it is unlikely that they will scrap their work based on feedback they receive. The way in which a Producer works is completely differ- ent. Once an idea is formed, a Producer may gather together a small group of people to quickly create a low-fidelity prototype that they could use to share their best thinking with others. They would then share the prototype with teams and users, asking for feedback. Because the prototype was thrown together quickly with their best thinking at the moment, they are not emotionally invested in the product. It is simply “Here is our best thinking; what might be improved?” At this stage, creators of an idea are more receptive to the feedback they may receive and will likely make changes based on that feedback. A Producer may take their team through this process several times until they get a solution that has received multiple rounds of feedback and is ready for implementation. Producers understand that part of prototyping is building to learn. If you are inspired to create rapid learning cycles for your team, school, or organization, following are two things to try. Take a Break from Committees In schools, committees tend to protect the status quo. Instead, think about creating Action Learning Teams that meet for a specific purpose, do their best thinking, and quickly get feedback from others. Not ready to go all the way and move away from committees? Then change their structure. Don’t have committees meet for the entire semester or year; instead, have them meet as few times as possible to accomplish the task at hand. Encourage a bias toward action. The principal of a local elementary school was interested in creating a new vision for the school. With less than two months to go before the end of Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami … 135 Chapter 7 Storyteller Every great leader is a great storyteller. —Howard Gardner, psychologist, Harvard University There are two ways to share knowledge: you can push informa- tion out, or you can pull people in with a story. As a classroom teacher, one of the first things you learn in working with stu- dents is that story matters. Students have trouble remembering a list of facts written in their notebooks, but at the end of the year, they can retell in detail the story a teacher shared about a whitewater-rafting trip that included a fall out of the raft. Stories are sticky. They are one of the most effective and underutilized tools for learning. As a leader, you are required to step into a storyteller role and, as with any skill, it is one that can be practiced and honed Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:58:31. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . 136 • Design Thinking for School Leaders to inspire and create change. If no one tells the story, the story becomes lost. The efforts and progress that we made toward our shared goals and vision never happened. Without storytelling, our progress simply does not exist. As a leader at any level, it is within your power to craft and design the story that shapes your direction. You can inspire people and students to do great things, or you can zap the creativity and inspiration right out from under them. Storytelling is probably the most important and powerful tool that you have available. How you wield the tool greatly influences the outcome. We are surrounded by stories, all being told in a variety of ways. Schools tell stories through newsletters, websites, and social media. We tell intentional and unintentional stories in our classrooms and in meetings. Every time we pull people together, we have an opportunity to build and tell a story. Humans naturally create stories through experiences, and leaders can help shape the stories told. When leaders don’t intentionally craft the vision or direction with story, we tell our own stories, filling in the missing pieces with our own interpre- tations, biases, perceptions, and experiences, which may lead us to different places. Think about the possible results of weaving stories into a traditional meeting. Crafting your story can help set a different tone and produce a different outcome. At your last dis- trict or staff meeting, were you listening? How engaged were you throughout the meeting? Did you leave the room feeling inspired, full of energy, and ready to explore a problem? Or did you leave feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and disheartened because of the giant to-do list and confusion around the why? We could ask our students the same question about how they leave their class- rooms at the end of the day. Intentional, thoughtful storytelling can make all the difference between these two outcomes. Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:58:31. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . Storyteller • 137 Tell a New Narrative The job of an educator is to teach students to see vitality in themselves. —Joseph Campbell, American mythologist, author, and lecturer What makes a great story? What inspires the hero inside you to step forward and take notice? Great myths and stories have been used as teaching tools since people discovered language, partially because of the great power they hold. Stories have the power to pull you into adventures. They take you through the pain of loss, let you experience defeat, and most importantly, allow you to experience answering the call to adventure while helping you find the strength to rise after failure. You become the hero and carry those feelings of heroism with you, even after the story ends. It’s why everyone loves a good book or a great movie. For a few hours, we lose ourselves in the life and adventures of someone else. We leave at the end having changed just a little, with new ideas and experiences that we didn’t have before. Great stories make us feel, connect, and learn. Though not always apparent, the greatest stories have a similar structure supporting them. Understanding this structure and how a story is built can help you craft your own heroic story. Joseph Campbell, an American mythologist and professor, is known for identifying “The Hero’s Journey,” a narrative pattern that is found in our most compelling and dramatic stories. Camp- bell’s lifelong research helped uncover and identify common patterns that run through hero myths and stories from around the world. He defined several basic stages that almost every hero-quest goes through, no matter what culture the myth is a part of, which he calls “the monomyth.” The hero travels from a known world through the unknown world, and returns to the known world having changed. Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:58:31. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . 138 • Design Thinking for School Leaders Cha lle ng es a nd T e m p ta ti o n s Atonement Transformation The Hero’s Journey KNOWN Supernatural Aid (Gift of the Goddess) Threshold Guardian(s) Call to Adventure Return UNKNOWN Threshold(beginning of transformation) Mentor Helper Helper Abyss (death & rebirth) REVELATION Beginning The ordinary world. Heroes exist in a recognizable world, but often feel out of place with their current surroundings. They may be questioning the status quo, they may feel unfulfilled by their current work, or they may have unrecognized talents that they are unable to share. Call to adventure. For heroes to begin their journeys, they must be called to leave their ordinary world. There is often some discovery, event, or danger that takes them from their ordinary path into a new world of adventure. Refusal or acceptance. At this point, the hero must accept the challenge to travel or refuse to leave the Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:58:31. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . Storyteller • 139 familiar. Those who refuse to leave are usually met with consequences. The arrival of a mentor or mentors. Every hero needs help and people to guide them along the way. There is often a timely arrival of support. Middle The unknown world. The hero is now headed into an unknown world with unpredictable outcomes. Trials and failures. Our hero has many opportunities to learn and be tested, usually culminating in a final epic battle. Growth. The hero grows in both skills and knowl- edge and, after the final battle, has a revelation that creates major change, transforming them into new thinking and being, which then produces a reward. End The known world. The hero returns home to the known world. Because the hero has changed, they return to change those around the hero, creating a better world and saving the day. The hero’s journey is important because of the commonali- ties discovered in stories across the globe. These are the stories that drive our societies and inspire change. The hero’s journey is very much about humans and how we view the world. Each of us wants to be a hero. We want the opportunity to travel through that epic journey of discovery. That’s what makes learning so much fun. As leaders, we need to create our hero’s story. Our teachers need that sense of urgency and call to action to create change in education. Our students need that sense of relevance and importance about what they are studying in their classrooms. As we start to put all our pieces together, we can Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:58:31. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . 140 • Design Thinking for School Leaders craftily apply the hero’s journey to create our collective story. Where are you on the journey? If you look at the many initiatives and challenges that you face as an educational leader, can you define where you are in the story? • Are you at the beginning? Your call to adventure might be that you’re planning a one-to-one technology rollout, or you need to build community partnerships. Take a moment and think about which opportunities or needs are at the beginning phase. These initiatives will need a good why story, grounded in context and relevance. • Have you already departed? Maybe you’ve secured funding and bought all those Chromebooks, but you’re not sure how to deploy them. Maybe your school has embraced the idea and need of project-based learning, and you need to move it forward. This story is an action plan. • Have you hit a crisis? Is the ship sinking? Perhaps your teachers are letting the Chromebooks sit in the carts at the back of the room, or there is student mayhem due to free rein on the Internet. This story carries a sense of urgency, acknowledgment of missteps, and a recovery plan. • Success! You have arrived. Are you ready for the next phase? Where will this new practice or transformation take you? This story focuses on celebration and reflection that also allows you to continue looking forward. Knowing where you are in your story can help you craft the right messages and deliver them at the right time. Crafting Your Story On a beautiful, sunny California day, we decided to hike up Temescal Canyon Trail for some inspiration. The trail is fairly steep, but takes you to the top of an amazing overlook, where you can see a good chunk of the Southern California coastline. Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:58:31. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . Storyteller • 141 Breathtaking views. As we arrived at the top of the trail, we were quickly shepherded off the path by a young man with a camera and a large group of friends, who were clearly eager to surprise someone. Once we were out of the way, we noticed another young man toward the edge of the cliff. He was nicely dressed, standing on a white blanket set with red rose petals and cham- pagne. Friends were crouched behind bushes and excitedly awaiting the arrival of someone. We deduced that a proposal was in the making. Sure enough, a young woman arrived with more friends, looking only slightly surprised; music started playing, and the man proceeded to get down on one knee, ring in hand, and ask the big question. She said yes. As we watched this event unfold, it was interesting to note the number of cameras and the specific shots that were created to tell their story. After the proposal moment, the group went back and recreated different moments to echo views and to get just the right reactions on camera. They captured a photo with rose petals floating down around them, one with champagne corks erupting, one with everyone cheering. It was a genuine moment that was surrounded by production. Every element was clearly thought out, the experience was carefully architected, and many artifacts were collected for sharing and remembering. Within the hour, they had probably posted photos and a carefully edited video to a variety of social media sites. And if you hadn’t been there, you may have imagined a very secluded and romantic moment that went perfectly. You wouldn’t have thought about all that went into the creation of it. The storytelling work is likely invisible to most. Social media has given all of us an opportunity to share every moment at the click of a button, essentially creating sto- ries on the fly. People can achieve instant fame, either positive or negative, within a moment and the ease of a few clicks. Social media has also given us new ways to interpret the stories that we see and hear. Did it really happen if not fully documented on Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:58:31. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . 142 • Design Thinking for School Leaders Facebook, Snapchat, or Instagram? How are we documenting and telling our stories of learning in schools? Before embarking on a new storytelling journey, you must first understand the current story being told at your school. Whether you are aware or not, every person who walks onto your campus or visits a classroom leaves with a story to be told about your school. This story comprises the actions of students and staff, overheard conversations, and artifacts, such as art- work and student work hanging on the walls. Everything taken in by the senses weaves together to create an impression and essentially become the story. Do you know what unintended sto- ries your school or classroom might be telling? Kami was in a classroom recently and noticed this sign posted on the teacher’s desk: “If I’m talking, you should be taking notes.” While we are guessing this was meant to be funny and there’s probably a great background story that explains why it’s there, to a casual observer, it sent a clear message of who was most important in the classroom. We’ve walked around school campuses that were full of negative messages, where every classroom rule started with the word “Don’t” and where most outdoor sign postings started with the word “No.” Rules are certainly necessary, but how might we reframe them in a more positive context? A director of instruc- tional Technology was reviewing their district’s Acceptable Use Policy. It was a two-and-a-half-page document that parents review with their student at the beginning of the school year and then sign to show that they are aware of all of the school’s technology use policies. It’s comprehensive and important for online work with students; however, it was a bit language dense and writ- ten in a “thou shalt not” manner. Their team decided to create a classroom Digital Learning Pledge that was more positively worded. It was a short, one-page document that had statements such as, “At our school, we value communication and respect; therefore, I will use appropriate language in all my academic work Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:58:31. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . Storyteller • 143 and communication with others.” Teachers were able to lead a discussion with students around expectations, and students were able to easily understand what was being asked of them, with the focus being on values that were important in their classrooms. It became more about how to build a community of responsible and respectful learning than a list of rules with consequences. It’s not uncommon to walk through elementary classrooms and see cookie-cutter projects that are almost identical lining the walls, except for an occasional crooked shape that a student was able to glue into place while the adult at the table was help- ing another student. While these “projects” are often cute, they show up every year like holiday decorations with little learning value. What story does this tell? Does it reflect and align with learning values? Artifacts are important to your story, as they capture a snapshot of your culture and reflect what’s important to your story. How might we evaluate our campus or classroom for its unin- tended stories? Following are two ways you might learn more about your current story. Define Your Intention What do you want to hear and see as you walk around your campus or listen to your students? If you could write a story about your district, school, or classroom, what would it be? Take a minute to sit and write or picture the story you want to tell. Define what students would be doing and saying. Think about what teachers are doing, and what parents might be saying in the hallways. Visualize your campus or your classroom. Know what your story should sound like, feel like, and look like. Perform a Story Audit Walk it. Take a purposeful walk through your learning spaces to see what artifacts are lining the walls. Better yet, invite some- one from outside your school to take the walk with you. Walk Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:58:31. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . 144 • Design Thinking for School Leaders with a parent. Walk with a student. Different perspectives will offer different points of view. They will often be able to notice more than you might, as we often miss things that we see every day and that have become part of our landscape. Note what evi- dence of learning you see. Can you see students’ process as well as the end product? Is their thinking visible? Can you see individ- ual students in their work? Pay attention to what posters are on the walls, what signs line your hallways or are posted outside on your buildings. Are they negatively worded? Do they encourage a positive culture? Do they reflect your vision and values? Do all the things you see tell your intentional story? Talk it. As you walk through a classroom or school site, stop and ask for a story. Ask students to tell you about what they’re learning—not what they’re working on, but what they’re learn- ing. Ask teachers to tell you a story about the lesson they’re cur- rently teaching. Better yet, simply listen to the learning stories that teachers are using in classrooms. Are they inspiring learn- ing? Ask a parent to tell you a story about their child at school. What are you hearing in their stories? Are their stories reflecting the culture you are building? What stories might you encounter that you didn’t ask for? Some stories are crying out to be told. Listening carefully to the stories around you can give you insight. Most schools run on tradition and habits, which often make those of us who are part of that story unaware of what it’s become. We stop noticing the details of the world around us as we immerse ourselves in our environments. Our settings become familiar, and we are unable to clearly see the story that is being told. Stop and take notice. Audit your current story. By being aware and intentional in our storytelling, we are rescued from telling bad ones. (A story audit template and a template for the leaders’ version are included in the Appendix.) Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:58:31. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . Storyteller • 145 The Importance of Connection The connection economy thrives on abundance. Connections create more connections. Trust creates more trust. Ideas create more ideas. —Seth Godin, American author, entrepreneur, marketer, and public speaker Part of getting others to hear your call to adventure is first cre- ating a culture that encourages the risk. Wanting to venture out into the unknown can make others feel nervous, confused, and fearful. Building connections with all stakeholders lessens the risk and is critical to taking others with you. Creating a connection is often thought of as making an emotional connection or showing emotion, but it’s really about making a human connection, one person to another. Our stories carry emotion and connect us through empathy. A well-told story gives us something that we take with us. Our social inter- actions are full of stories. When you meet a friend for coffee, you tell a story about what happened on your way there. Sometimes, leaders are seen as unapproachable or discon- nected from those around them. They may appear distant or unaware of others’ realities and find difficulty creating connec- tions with those they lead. During Kami’s time in the classroom, she remembers all too well how teachers would talk about administrators as “having crossed over to the dark side.” Once they stopped being in the classroom on a daily basis, they appeared to have lost their connection to and empathy for the daily struggles of teaching. As you move to an administrator role, your worldview suddenly shifts to a much larger picture, and the responsibilities of management become more focused on the day-to-day running of a larger organization. No longer responsi- ble for a single classroom, you may lose sight of that experience. Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:58:31. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . 146 • Design Thinking for School Leaders How do you balance the big picture with the daily struggles of all your stakeholders? Many leaders emphasize their strength, credentials, and com- petence in the workplace. However, those who project strength before creating trust risk eliciting fear, along with negative behav- iors that undermine the organization. Leaders who work from a stance of “I know more than you, look what I’ve accomplished” often create an environment that produces parking-lot meetings, which are focused on complaints. Kami’s high school calculus teacher spoke in a very loud voice. He had specific protocols for when you walked in the room: no talking, assigned seats, home- work placed in a designated spot on your desk where he could walk by and check it off on his clipboard. He then lectured with a quick “Any questions?” moment, followed by an assignment. Questions were barely tolerated, and Kami was afraid to offer any new ideas or create outside of the structures that were given. When she walked through the doorway, her goal was to stay as inconspicuous as possible and survive the hour. She had a similar experience at her first real job. It was in an advertising agency, which was fueled by creativity, yet the leader believed that leadership strength meant he was always right and there was no room for discussion or ideas outside of his own. She lasted eight months before deciding that perhaps she had landed in the wrong career. Her creative confidence was down to zero. Fear under- mines learning, creativity, and problem solving, often resulting in people getting stuck and disengaged. Why does this matter, and how does it relate to storytelling? A leader can intentionally use story to create an open environ- ment that allows others to grow and learn. Telling the story of struggle, challenge, and overcoming can connect you with staff, establish trust with them, validate their perspectives and feel- ings, and build relationships. It shows that you’re not only strong, but also a friend, reassuring them that you’re there to empower Gallagher, Alyssa, and Kami Thordarson. Design Thinking for School Leaders : Five Roles and Mindsets That Ignite Positive Change, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/amridge/detail.action?docID=5437456. Created from amridge on 2021-10-05 20:58:31. C o p yr ig h t © 2 0 1 8 . A ss o ci a tio n f o r S u p e rv is io n & C u rr ic u lu m D e ve lo p m e n t. A ll ri g h ts r e se rv e d . Storyteller • 147 them to tackle any challenges that you may face together and do big things. This connection with staff is so critical because, before any- one can decide what they think of your message, they decide what they think of you. By first showing a willingness to under- stand and share their worldview by sharing stories with them, you give them space to hear your version. Continue building on the exercises shared in Chapter 2 to further develop your empathy muscle. Finding balance in leadership, whether you’re standing in front of 30 children or in front of 30 adults, is always a challenge. However, taking the time to connect with those around you and building trust will allow you to lead them to places you thought they might not go. Heroes need support. Establish your purpose, connect your team, and begin your journey. Pull over Push Branding and marketing are not traditionally thought of when we think about a school district or a classroom. In today’s media-rich atmosphere, however, they are important elements to consider when building your story. Push-pull strategy is most commonly referred to as a marketing strategy. Think of pushing as the stick and pulling as the carrot. Pushing is setting something in front of someone and telling them they need to buy it now, while pulling is creating a need and building a relationship that brings people to your product and increases loyalty. Many companies create a need for their product through a pull strategy. Apple is an excellent example. Apple has created a brand with a cool factor. Their advertisements are innovative and emotionally connect people to a want. Social media is highly utilized to create interest and curiosity, and speculation abounds over new features. People line up outside of Apple stores before the release of every new product, even though …