Transformational Teachers

Learning@SchoolRotoruaFeb 2009

Transactional

Transformational

Core Beliefs Of Transformation

•Awareness

•Connectivism

•Creativity

•Sustainability

•The Common Good

Your inspirations

1. Introduce yourself to (at least) two people who are sitting nearby

2. Ask (at least) one of them about the most inspiring teaching moment he / she has had in his / her life

3. Recognise how this memory can alter your mood / energy

Altered paradigms of life and learning• It’s not necessarily a ‘financial’

crisis. It’s a sustainability rebalancing.

• World is becoming dramatically more electronic - just over one billion new mobiles in 2008

• Learning is now recognised as a significant contributor to personal and national wealth - Learning communities; Learning cities; online Learning worlds; Learning nations

Transformational Humanities

•Choices made over the next few years will impact on most civilizations for the rest of the century

•We will need people who are solution-focused

•We will need people with a very different kind of mind - creative, inspiring, compassionate

•We will need people who know that they can make a difference

•No Change (no learning; ignorance, denial, or tokenism

•Accommodation (first order learning, adaptation and maintenance)

•Reformation (second order learning, critically reflective adaptation)

•Transformation (third order learning. creative re-visioning)

•Sustainable Education, Stephen Sterling, 2002, Green Books)

Possible learning stages

•Although it’s important, the key question is not: What do we need to teach?

•The key question is: “Who do we need to be?”

AWARENESS

How often are you aware of the daily displays of genius in your school??!

Thinking patterns that develop awareness and

energy??•Be present

•Teaching (and life) can be a mirror - your attitude can be reflected back to you

•Regulate your self-talk (and show students how to do this)

•Consult with your MetaSelf

Your own energy

When and how do you get ‘energy’ from teaching?

What are your real reasons for being involved with education?

How consistently do you engage in positive dialogue about education (100%, 90%, 80% of the time)?

How do you consciously generate your own energy?

Connectivism??

Connecting through

professional dialogue•The quality of everyday teacher

dialogue will determine the professionalism in a school

•The critical skills in dialogue are listening and paraphrasing

•Paraphrasing? Listen first, then:

•Pause

•Then begin with: “So, you’re saying that....”

Academic Controversy1. Form into teams of 4, and appoint two ‘yes’ and two ‘no’ representatives

2. The statement is: Each working adult is to donate 5% of all wages to disadvantaged communities world-wide.

3. In your pairs, brainstorm all of the arguments that support your side of the argument.

And then.....4. Present your arguments to the other pair

5. Now change sides, and present the other perspective

6. Drop the yes and no, and determine your group’s final response to the topic

7. Mark your group’s final decision on a Yes / No line, and justify your team’s stance to others

CREATIVITY

What was your last highly creative

idea?

What will be your next highly

creative idea?

•Develop similar practices to the best-practice companies when attracting the most innovative graduates eg

•Wireless access anywhere anytime

•Money???!

•Demonstrated ethical values-driven environmental / global stances

•Uncompromising opportunity to explore new initiatives

•Deep respect for talent, regardless of age

Attracting creative people to teaching

The rise and rise of creativity

•New Educational Intrapreneurs

• A pending Age Of

•Austerity / Ethics

•Andragogy (Adult Learning)

•New learning delivery mechanisms eg

•Virtual Learning Environments?

•I Tunes U + RateMyProfessor + Second Life?-

Intrapreneurial solution-finding at the personal / community / global

level1. Do your research

2. Work out the real issue / problem

3. Brainstorm solutions

4. Choose one (or several) solution(s)

5. Put it into action

Key Questions

•How intrapreneurial are YOU?•How intrapreneurial is your SCHOOL?

•What’s your perspective on the need to attract highly creative people to teaching?

The SUSTAINER

•Sustainability: The program that lasts and lasts

•Sustainable practices require:

•Concerted visioning and reflective analysis

•A focus on staff and student ‘wellness’

•Supportive coaching / mentoring frameworks

•Ongoing professional learning

Developing sustainable practice

Transforming our beliefs??

A rebalancing of ‘standard of living’, with ‘quality of life’

A profound awareness of one’s contribution to the Common Good - applying the ripple effect

Sustainable practices in personal and professional life - moving beyond ‘being a greenie’

The microcosm of your classroom: The macrocosm of your planet

Some support addresses

•tonyryan.edublogs.org

•tonyryan.com.au

•plotpd.com

•ted.com

Some TED options

•Eve Ensler

•Clifford Stoll

•Dave Eggars

•Johnny Lee

•Sugata Mitra

Hints for sustaining your

conference learnings

• Revisit the notes twice:

• In 2 days from now

• In one week from now

• In your diary, add one special idea / action each day for the next 2 weeks

• Ask questions in team meetings such as:

•What have you put into action? What worked? Why? What didn’t? Why? What will you do next?

Consolidation on this session

1. What three ideas / concepts most appealed to you from this session?

2. What could you put into action?

3. What will you put into action?

4. What’s the 1st step?

5. How will you keep it going? Adapted from ‘The Leadership Coaching Guide’

Final Points

•tony@tonyryan.com.au

•Deeply embed this in your beliefs: Teaching is the critical profession

In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for

something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest

honour and the highest responsibility anyone could have. (Lee

Iacocca)