“The
wrong people meet regularly in our schools. Instead of meeting by department,
what if we were to meet around problems? What if we were to meet strategically
with the best people to address the problem?” So asks Heidi Hayes Jacobs in her book Curriculum 21: The Essential Education for a Changing World.
Begin
with “why” and the “who” takes on new meaning.
Heidi explains, “For
example, if issues arise related to poor performance on 8th grade
math tests regarding balancing an equation, then the group that is most likely
to meet are 8th grade math teachers. A more strategically planned
group would be the teacher in grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 who would meet virtually
to examine curriculum maps and consider the requisite building of skills;
furthermore English teachers should be involved to help determine if, in fact,
the test results reflect a reading problem rather than a math problem.”
Teams
need to be scalable. Teams need to break through silos. Teams need to be
strategic in their thinking. Teams need to network.
It
is for the very idea that Heidi Hayes Jacobs describes above that a
Professional Networked Learning Collaborative is the model of the future.
The
ability to configure unique teams virtually, physically, or both; the ability
to scale up membership and break out of pre-configured and or assumed silos,
combined with the strategic thinking, will meet the challenges of the future
and leverage the network effect that virtual technologies have made possible.
Start
with “why” and then determine the “who.”
With
the PNLC the “who” is anyone in the network and not necessarily those who are
we assume must be a part of the team or whom we have organizationally pushed
onto the team. The PNLC pulls from the edge of the network and
assembles a team based on the need, the strategy, and the knowledge needed.
The PNLC "pulls" together those we need-- "who"--and their ability to share and or co-create the needed knowledge-- "what"--that addresses the need--"why."
Instead of the "wrong people" meeting, the right people connect and network to strategically solve problems and meet student needs. We question assumptions about what we think team or group must be or is pushed to be, and pull from the network to create what should be.
Curriculum 21
edgerati: People Exploring the Edge
Education’s Big Shift: Institutions of Learning to Learning Institutions
the problem I see is that teachers will happily discuss the curric maps, but they won't share instructional strategies. Jacobs tried to link everything to maps but instruction is more important. The "how" instead of the "what"
Posted by: rob | May 18, 2010 at 10:37 AM
I think the point is that why we meet should control who is part of the team and not just assume our typical team formations are what is needed.
Posted by: Rob Jacobs | May 18, 2010 at 07:09 PM