What if we could design a human-centered system of education?
I know exactly what’s going through your head right now…. THAT’S JUST NOT POSSIBLE!
Or…THAT’S SO MUCH WORK!
Parent expectations.
Those operational challenges--I’m out 11 teachers today and not one sub..
The new math pacing guide.
So much grading!
Yeh, Yeh….I was at a point where I was ready to just give up on the dream of a human-centered system, too….and for a long time, I didn’t think I could change any of it either.
Like you, I led a conflicted life...my well-intentioned heart and soul just trying to survive in a battle with our dehumanizing, standardized system.
And… after years of things like teaching in a music classroom, leading schools through technology implementations, collaborating with others to design a human-centered micro-school, and interviewing many, many learner-centered educators on the Shift Your Paradigm podcast, I discovered something that made me free and powerful…no longer trapped and powerless…
The answer that gives me hope….?
Mindsets. I discovered that my mindsets were the key to moving from feeling trapped and powerless to feeling free and powerful.
So what’s the deal with these mindsets?
Simply put, mindsets are what we think in our heads.
They’re often invisible and can feel vague.
They drive our feelings…
What we think and what we feel….and those thoughts and feelings drive our behaviors...what we do…our actions.
The good news….?
We can grow and shift our mindsets by making them explicit and exploring new possibilities.
You’ve heard this before…It’s what we call the growth mindset.
And when we do the deep and sometimes uncomfortable work of surfacing our beliefs, biases and assumptions, we become self-aware, grow as educators and human beings, and can make our dream of The Human School a reality.
I discovered that when I shifted my mindsets…shifted the way I thought about schooling and education…I could change just about anything…especially the defeating feeling of being trapped and powerless…
And over the next few posts, let’s dive into discovering how you too can uncover your mindsets and see new possibilities…shift your mindsets….I call these mindshifts.
We’ll use The Human School Compass as our guide..
So what’s The Human School Compass?
The Human School Compass is an idea that consists of four compass points…four actions and a set of core mindshifts that are the fuel for change in our classrooms, our schools, our districts…
The actions….the four compass points are…
Be an objector.
Be an inventor.
Be a curator.
Be a storyteller.
These 4 compass points and their mindshifts lead us in a direction...a direction rare and remarkable…. toward The Human School where we’re all SEEN, HEARD and VALUED.
Before we dive into The Human School Compass and its mindshifts, what are you most curious about?
