The past month has been a time filled with lots of opportunities to learn and reflect on the work we are doing in Salisbury Township School District. I’ve not only been kindling my curiosity through reading, but have attended Education Reimagined’s Pioneer Lab Training, the AASA Legislative Advocacy Conference, the AASA National Superintendent Certification Program, and the Future of Education Finance Summit.
As I’ve been drawn deeper into the educational transformation movement, particularly through co-hosting the Shift Your Paradigm podcast and reading the Pioneering publication from Education Reimagined, I’ve become more sensitive to the distinction between the dominant “school-centered” conversation and the non-dominant “learner-centered” one. As I discovered at the recent professional learning opportunities mentioned above, while many of us profess to be “learner-centered,” we too-often define the boundaries of that phrase within the traditional history and context of school. Basically, we really haven’t yet shifted the paradigm. (If you are interested in learning more about the distinctions between school-centered and learner-centered, check out the resources here, here, and on the Shift Your Paradigm podcast.) Conversations between the two different paradigms are frustrating, as I’ve discovered. When we’re “in the same paradigm,” possibilities for creating something new are endless.
So you’ve joined the “learner-centered” community – you’ve shifted your paradigm. How do you manage to engage those skeptical or even moderately interested in this key to educational transformation – the learner-centered paradigm? At the Pioneer Lab Training, we learned about “enrollment” from the lead presenter, Allan Cohen.
Enrollment is not about arguing. It’s not about selling. And it’s not about getting somebody to do something. It is about creating the conditions for someone to “see” something different through inquiry and listening. As Allan shared, “You’re trying to put something in the lenses they are using to see the current situation.” In this case, the current situation is the context of education. Allan shared two approaches to help us alter the “lens” so as to enroll others in the “learner-centered” paradigm:
With an interested person:
- Ask/listen – What are your concerns about? What are you concerned about education?
- Invite imagination – What would it be like for you if…? What would it be like for your child if….?
- Share – What got me committed to this way of educating is… (You are being vulnerable here!)
- Share – What I can be counted on for is…
- Request – Would you like to get more involved? One way you can support this in our community is…
With a skeptical person:
- Ask/listen – How do you see things? What are your concerns? What is it that I’m not understanding about your point of view?
- Share – What got me committed to this way of educating is…
- Share – What I see to be possible is… (You’ll get reasons it won’t work….)
- Agree, and… – I agree. That is a real challenge and it is worth tackling…
- Invite imagination – What would it be like for you if…? What would it be like for your child if…?
- Return to your stand – I am committed to… You can count on me to… (Bring it back to your stand…it’s easy to lose sight of your stance if you don’t reiterate it.)
- Request – Would you be willing to…? (Leaving them with an “ask” they can’t refuse.)
The protocols are powerful and very learner-centered. It’s not about forcing the paradigm on someone – we all know that kind of leadership never really works. It’s about doing what we want to see happen in the classroom – creating conditions whereby learners come to their own understanding of a complex idea.
During the Lab Training we had the opportunity to practice. Of course, I need to step up to the future opportunities as they present themselves, but I suspect there will be more as I connect with people not in the same paradigm. The protocols can work in any situation where you are trying to enroll another in embracing a particular idea, initiative, way of thinking, etc.
Are you ready to enroll others in the learner-centered paradigm? To what other areas of your practice might you apply the enrollment protocols?
Connect with Randy on Twitter, the TLTalkRadio podcast, and the Shift Your Paradigm podcast!
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