School Transformation - The Why, What, and How

Outline

The presentation will have three main chapters - the why, the what, and the how. Each chapter will have intentional opportunities for them to self-reflect and discuss with small groups to check and expand their thinking. At the end of each subsection, participants will be spend time completing their game plan for transformation.

Half of the time will be spent learning and half will be spent reflecting, planning, and sharing. Again, this will happen throughout the entire presentation.

The process will include completing their paper or online game plan, peer-to-peer interaction with partner and table sharing, and whole group discussion.

1. (10 min) Introduction, framing, and community and culture building - This activity allows everyone to think of their personal "why's" for transformation and begins to set the stage for a collective why for each school site. This will be done through individual reflection and writing and small group discussions and sharing out.

2. (10 min) Exploration of the “why” and the “what” of school transformation - Through guided discussions using one high school’s journey to illustrate the ideas, everyone will walk through each aspect of the “why” and the “what” and have time to reflect on their school, process what they are learning, and begin to share out ideas as they prepare to create their own game plan.

3. (10 min) Game planning for the “why” and the “what” - Everyone will work together (either by school site or table group) to create a clear plan with next steps for the “why” and the “what”.

4. (15 min) Exploration of the “how” of school transformation - Exploration of the “how” of school transformation - Through guided discussions using one high school’s journey to illustrate the ideas, everyone will walk through each aspect of the “how” and have time to reflect on their school, process what they are learning, and begin to share out ideas as they prepare to create their own game plan.

5. (10 min) Game planning for the “how” - Game planning for the “why” and the “what” - Everyone will work together (either by school site or table group) to create a clear plan with next steps for the “how”.

6. (5 min) Reflection and debrief of next steps - Everyone will have the opportunity to reflect on what they have learned and the feedback they received in order to work through their game plan. In groups, they will each share one concrete next step that they will make when they return to their school sites. We will also do a quick one-word reflection activity with the whole group to close out the session.

Supporting research

NGLC Transformation Design and Contributors
https://www.transformation-design.org/who-we-are/about-the-project
https://www.transformation-design.org/who-we-are/contributors

Podcasts
https://future-of-smart.simplecast.com/episodes/applying-ecological-design-principles-to-rebuild-education-post-covid-V_Eh4v3B
https://www.arevolutionineducation.org/season1/episode5-wm6gk-cfhkp
https://www.teachlabpodcast.com/subtraction-in-action-admin/

Blogs
https://www.nextgenlearning.org/articles/students-as-stakeholders-and-co-designers
https://www.nextgenlearning.org/articles/distributed-leadership-wigs-school-to-classroom
https://www.nextgenlearning.org/articles/partnering-with-families-for-learner-success-and-wellbeing
https://www.nextgenlearning.org/articles/learning-from-the-wider-world-school-districts-and-community-partnerships
https://www.nextgenlearning.org/articles/are-we-transforming-our-education-systems-fast-enough-to-save-the-human-species
https://www.nextgenlearning.org/articles/when-humans-not-systems-run-schools
https://www.nextgenlearning.org/articles/next-gen-learning-requires-next-gen-change-management