13 Leaving Knowledge Legacies

Urban Luck Design, urbanluckdesign.com

We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do that. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.

—Ron Edmonds

Unrealized dreams come back to haunt us. Ron Edmonds wrote the opening quote in 1979, almost forty years ago, and it is still germane. We use this quote to challenge the reader. The question is no longer “Can we?” but rather “Will we?” Our answer is, unequivocally, “Yes, we will. Let’s get started.”

First and foremost, quality conversations matter, and this book is your launching pad to start authentic, practice-based learning conversations. The hard work is left to you, the dedicated educators who will make a difference in how our teachers develop the knowledge for teaching and learning, which will be passed on as knowledge legacies.

This book is about learning—it is both that simple and that difficult. Learning is a dynamic process with continual cycles of reengagement at deeper and deeper levels. The job of all—leaders and participants alike—is to serve as catalysts to provoke this profound way of learning. Purposeful attention to how we learn is even more important, as the knowledge bases of our world both explode and implode.

The job of all—leaders and participants alike—is to serve as catalysts to provoke this profound way of learning. Purposeful attention to how we learn is even more important, as the knowledge bases of our world both explode and implode.

This way of being, which seeks collective transformation, is the gold standard of learning and establishes important role models for our students. Ask any student over ten years of age, and she or he can usually articulate examples of excellence and how it made a difference in the classroom. One fifth grader described how her teacher never let the students off the hook—she’d keep nudging their thinking until they had an answer that made sense. As this wise fifth grader put it, “Now that’s good teaching!” A high school student described how his history teacher differentiated on so many levels. Not only was he culturally sensitive, always including role models from diverse historical perspectives, but he also had a way of making the history come alive so that students wanted to read the textbook and other supporting material. The tests were all open book, but students needed to have studied it to do well. He remarked, “I do not think anyone ever got a failing grade—he just wouldn’t let you fail.” Learning legacies leave lasting impacts on students.

The Unrealized Dream—Knowledge Legacies

Our Professional Conversation Arc reminds the dedicated professional to seek options and to expand possibilities for building knowledge coherence. Your challenge now is to step up and respond to new ways. Trying these new strategies to change the context of learning will determine the quality of your leadership experiences. Will they be renewing? Or will they continue to sap energy and create burnout?

Kegan and Lahey (2016) state, “The single biggest cause of work burnout is not work overload, but working too long without experiencing your own personal development.” In their book An Everyone Culture (2016), they chronicle how three businesses sustained the cultural focus on learning and progress. They argue for a radical idea—that the culture that stakeholders create is the strategy. This is so important that we yell it out here: THE CULTURE WE CREATE IS THE STRATEGY. Drucker (1990) also reminds us, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” How the culture embraces the need for transformation makes all the difference.

“The single biggest cause of work burnout is not work overload, but working too long without experiencing your own personal development.” —Kegan and Lahey

To this end, all of us must find our own personal truths—those honest and deep understandings about teaching and learning. And together, we must forge professional partnerships to establish knowledge coherence—knowing how we agree and disagree. No one new to the profession ought to start from scratch; instead, those new to the profession should be assured of inheriting robust knowledge legacies—the best of all that the previous teachers gleaned through experience. Indigenous cultures have always privileged learning from a wise elder. Let’s learn from our elders and our experiences to contribute to our legacy. The African proverb we quoted in an earlier chapter reminds us: “When an old person dies, a library burns.” Let’s not let the library burn. Let’s keep adding to our learning and repertoire to reach more and more students.

Reflection

A Place to Pause

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• ■ As you reflect on this book, what has most convinced you that it is time to change the conversational paradigm?
• ■ How could these conversations presented in this book have served you in the past?
• ■ Reflect on past conversations and then mentally rehearse new patterns.
• ■ What are some of the models that you might try in future collaborations?
• ■ How might you introduce changing conversational patterns, and how will you take action to change the culture?

Create Leadership Teams—Bricoleur Buddies

This book, Nine Professional Conversations to Change Our Schools, offers a mental map for acting in “real time.” Do not delay—jump in and try a few different ways of conversing—and as confidence grows, try more. Ask others to join you and support you in changing the conversational dynamics and professional interactions. When practitioners respond effectively and authentically, they model learning and grow in confidence and competence. In writing this book, an aha moment came when we realized that we often intermixed the various conversations, pulling in what was needed at any given point in time. When we work with educators, we are always tinkering, trying to stretch and learn more. Bill christened us “Bricoleur Buddies.” Bricoleur was a term used by Marsha Sinetar years ago that means “someone who tinkers with ideas.” We are Bricoleur Buddies who are constantly trying, talking, and taking note of how our learning bridges to action in classrooms, schools, and districts.

Practice-based knowledge draws information from both outside experts and personal, internal resources. This melding of the internal and external ways of knowing bridges the knowing–doing–learning gap and allows educators to speak up for the profession about what matters and makes a difference. This agency is what will give the profession an authentic voice and the professional efficacy to stand for what matters.

This proactive stance creates a coherent voice and builds collective efficacy, creating school cultures that embrace any dilemma as a problem to be solved. When groups embrace learning in this way, it is a gift to behold. It can be a single teacher telling a student, “In my class, students do not fail; it’s my job to help you figure out how to learn. And I will need your help to figure it out.” Soon, a noncommittal student is talking with his teacher—another conversation that matters. Or an intake team that tells a parent, “We know you may have had bad experiences at other schools, but we do not intend to let that happen here. The minute you perceive a problem, we want you on the phone to one of us.” Starting an invitation to converse on any level opens doors that have typically been shut.

Paraphrasing from a poem by William Stafford, there is a thread we follow toward collective efficacy as we learn that anything is possible. Indeed, the possibilities often exceed expectations, and others wonder how we did it. Collective efficacy to the uninitiated is difficult to see or even understand. Our strength is in knowing that when we hold that thread, we will never lose our path; despite it all, we always come back to our own capacity to adapt and learn. In the end, strategies that do not change culture become fixed and nonadaptive. Adaptive strategies always expand. Look around at your own situation. Who are the “learning omnivores” at your site? Who do you hang with—people who sap your energy or people who zap and energize you? Where you place your attention sends major signals about what you find important.

As always, we wish the wisdom imparted through this book had come to us sooner. We learned much of what we share through the school of hard knocks—trial and error. This means we made many mistakes; yet each one pushed us to learn more. Years ago, Art Costa asked, “What do you do when you don’t know what to do?” Let’s choose adaptive learning rather than acquiesce.

As school administrators, we dealt with teachers at their best and also at their worst; teaching is not an easy job, and the stresses of the classroom are challenging. Early in our careers, when we observed these stress responses, we felt helpless and often did not know what to do about it. Bill laughs, “When I heard teachers blame the students, I used to privately say to myself ‘Bullfeathers, there has to be a better way!’” This frustration certainly propelled us to both spend our careers figuring out better ways to meet the needs of students. It is one thing to try to reduce the stress by making organizations work more efficiently; it is yet another to engage all stakeholders in becoming responsible for the solutions and creating cultures of collective efficacy that renew.

When school cultures evolve and focus on positive futures, they value the power of the conversation to puzzle through problems. They begin to appreciate differences and to seek out those different viewpoints to both support and challenge belief systems. They report that their school culture transports them beyond personal biases and assumptions that inhibit capacity and toward understandings that open up possibilities. Through these experiences, staffs demonstrate a collective empathy gleaned from the capacity for deep listening. They stand tall for the profession and speak with the voice of coherence: “Yes, we do know how we make a difference.” These schools appreciate the value of knowledge coherence and use this as a way to introduce newcomers to knowledge legacies. This is a tall order; yet it is not optional. Our schools depend on the collective mission to survive, thrive, and renew the spirit—knowing that we are collectively strong.

When school cultures evolve and focus on positive futures, they value the power of the conversation to puzzle through problems. They begin to appreciate differences and to seek out those different viewpoints to both support and challenge belief systems. They report that their school culture transports them beyond personal biases and assumptions that inhibit capacity and toward understandings that open up possibilities.

To change cultures takes courage. Dr. Dennis Peterson, superintendent of Minnetonka (Minnesota) Public Schools, told us what he looks for in principals: “They have to be willing to have the hard conversations if they want to work for me.” Dr. Peterson holds his leaders to the same high standard he holds himself. That is why there is a directive side to our Dashboard of Options to use when needed. When schools are failing, leadership has the responsibility to find out what is going on and take necessary action.

Collective Efficacy Is of Service to Students

An even larger issue is at stake here. Now, as we write this book, more than ever, students need adult role models that demonstrate the value of collective empathy, efficacy, and legacy. Kids watch every move we make and notice how we respond. Bill again hits the nail on the head: “Yikes, I really am responsible for my behavior.”

An example comes from one young man who reminded his mother of these values and turned a tough conversation around. Early in a school year, a new teacher lost his cool and swore at this student. Knowing he had done wrong, the teacher immediately contacted the principal, and together, they sat down at the end of the day with the student and the parent. Initially, the parent was angry and unforgiving—that is, until the student said, “Mom, in my last school the teacher would have lied. My teacher didn’t lie; he apologized.” This turned the conversation around. This mother became one of this teacher’s biggest fans, and the student worked hard to manage his impulsive behaviors. Kids intuitively know when school cultures support their growth and development; they also know when schools care more about protecting turf and live in a “culture of complaint.” Paraphrasing St. Francis of Assisi, if your walking isn’t your preaching, there is no sense in walking anywhere to preach.

Effective schools understand that the conversations must ultimately return to three questions:

1. What impact does our work together have on student learning?
2. What impact does our work together have on adult learning?
3. More importantly, how can we make this impact visible to students, parents, and the community?

When we ask educators about successful leaders and their schools, they repeatedly report a focus on continual learning and human growth and development. They also report that these schools and the leaders in them challenge them beyond expectations; and despite the hard work, they feel renewed. Excellence builds renewal; failure creates burnout.

Early in Bill’s career, Art Costa challenged him with a question. We repeat it again here: “How are you creating a mentally stimulating environment for this staff?” Bill still says, “I have to do that, too?” This question continues to drive our thoughts and actions. Now, we ask you as the reader, how would you answer that question? In what ways do you support this goal of creating a mentally stimulating environment in schools? How do you work to expand the conversations so that those engaged want to linger and go even deeper into the collective understandings?

While slowing down to have more meaningful conversations can seem time-consuming, in the end the efficiencies brought by healthy communication far outweigh the alternative. Our goal is to reduce the amount of time spent on managing drama and direct our time and energy to individual and organizational learning as a system. This book was written to add repertoire to your skill set, to help you be more efficient and effective in the day-to-day interactions, and to help you sustain a long-term focus on learning through meaningful conversations. Culture affects the leaders. Leaders affect the culture. Everyone is responsible.

Culture affects the leaders. Leaders affect the culture. Everyone is responsible.

Finally, we are optimistic because we were able to experience the great gift of being part of many diverse, learning-centered communities. Through these experiences, we learned new ways to think and act to find alignment and coherence; when this happened, we experienced joy—the joy of working with those who care and who make all the difference. Who are your most treasured learning omnivores that increase your learning and are catalysts for the learning of others? When was the last time you thanked them? Thank them TODAY.

We leave you with a message of hope. As difficult as it seems, we are hopeful for a better future for kids, colleagues, and community. We have seen, at close range, how cultures can be shifted. It is NOT easy, and it is IMPORTANT. Box 13.1 holds one last gift, another of Bill’s favorite acronyms, which he published earlier in 2006 in the Journal of Staff Development.

Box 13.1 HOPE for the Future

H = Honesty & Humility

O = Openness & Options

P = Persistence & Patience

E = Enthusiasm & Empathy

So let’s add to our repertoire to create leadership efficacy and to become the catalysts that create the positive fractal that ripples out by changing the culture and the world. Educators deserve it, the kids deserve it, and most importantly, you deserve it.

We close with a quote from Angeles Arrien, a dear friend who passed away several years ago. She is literally calling us forth from the grave. “If your job is to wake up the dead, GET UP—TODAY IS A WORK DAY.”

Namasté.