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By: Ryan Steuer, CEO
Magnify Learning
Dallas, TX
When you think of the type of learner that your school or district has produced, what qualities do they have? How did they end up that way? It wasn’t by accident. They are a product of their genes, their home environment, and their school and community environment. Some of those factors you can control, and others you can’t. As a school or district leader, let’s optimize your school environment to produce more of the five-star students that the world needs.
Every visionary leader can define the ideal educational environment. By facilitating The Ideal Graduate Protocol with your staff or leadership team, you can start to build a consensus around what your learners should think, say, and do by the time they graduate. Once a common vision is in place, you’ve got the ingredients to build a grassroots movement around school reform that will instill Employability Skills and so much more in your learners.
Before you roll this out to your leadership team or staff, take the litmus test by trying the protocol on your own. Set up three categories on chart paper, asking:
What do we want our ideal graduate to think?
What should our ideal graduate be able to say?
What should our ideal graduate be able to do?
What do you want the ideal graduate to say?
There are a couple of different paths that teachers often take with this prompt. The first tends to be of the empathy variety; you’ll get responses like, “We want them to say things that show empathy for their fellow man.” This whole idea is empathy and just the persona that we want our learners to have.
The other thread relates to employability skills. “We want them to be able to shake someone's hand and make small talk.” It's a huge part of business, actually. I was an engineer at a Fortune 50 company and much of the work was really done on smoke breaks (fresh air breaks for me since I don’t smoke). I took fresh air breaks because small informal conversations are where a lot of the work gets done.
What do we want the ideal graduate to be able to do?
This is where you will still get some content answers. Maybe the slope-intercept form doesn't always come up right here, but being able to write well, being able to speak intelligently, solve problems and work in groups – these behaviors often emerge as the most desired skills. That’s because industry partners are asking for those things. They need people that can work with different groups and different departments, solve problems on the fly, and communicate well across departments or entities.
Here is an example of how this process can play out. I worked with the science department in a middle school that did very well on standardized tests. But there was a dissonance; there was something that was not quite adding up.
“What do you want your middle schoolers to remember about science when they leave?” I asked.
“We want them to be able to problem solve and think of different solutions.” They had great ideas for getting there, and everyone was behind them. The next question was, “How many of these mindsets are you moving towards in your classroom? Are you moving kids towards these mindsets currently?” We found out quickly through this process of self-assessment, that they were not.
It started by developing awareness through defining the ideal. They saw where they were. We showed them the ideal (they actually came up with the ideal themselves… that's how we start building grassroots movements even when we're nudging people in that direction.) They wanted their learners to have scientific minds. They wanted and needed to bring more of this into their classroom. They started to make changes by bringing in Project Based Learning, because it moves them towards the defined ideal graduate.
How do we create an environment where our learners will be able to do those things? I'm going to claim that defining the ideal is where it all starts. Next, defining the dissonance reveals the gaps. Maybe your learners can't really work in groups. Okay. So, how do we start to get there?
Once you define the dissonance and the ideal, your brain almost immediately starts thinking of solutions. And if you're doing this in groups, you see the solutions come out of your staff or even yourself. The key is that you want them to come from your staff more than you.
That's how you start to build the grassroots mindset. That's why the collaborative environment is so important; it's not you speaking to your staff and telling them what to do. Even if your own ideas are really great insights, your staff needs to discover those insights on their own. The double magic is that they in turn start to provide that same environment for their learners. Then learners start to become empowered and they discover solutions on their own. We see it again and again. This process works.
It's in the process of helping you define the ideal graduate that you start to come up with grassroots solutions. Suddenly, you've got 30 people thinking of solutions instead of just you. That's where it's really leadership and not just “doing ship.”
Visit the Magnify Learning website and complete the PBL Leadership Training interest form. It's a fantastic way for school leaders to get the support they need to implement their school vision for academic success and a thriving school culture.
As we continue on this journey, we'll engage your learners, tackle boredom, and transform your classrooms. Go lead inspired!
I’m Ryan Steuer – author and thought leader who specializes in Project Based Learning training, coaching, community, and content to help educational leaders fulfill their vision of deeper learning in their schools. I’ve worked with leaders in school districts of all sizes, from 400 students to 100,000 students. These visionary leaders care about their students, but they are often stressed, overworked, and overwhelmed with the work ahead of them. That’s where I come in! I help leaders achieve their PBL vision, lead their staff, AND stop working weekends.
When I’m not guiding school leaders through Project Based Learning mindset shifts, I am outdoors with my wife and 5 kids - canoeing, hiking, biking, and traveling the US in our RV.
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