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By: Ryan Steuer, CEO
Magnify Learning
Dallas, TX
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness.”
That's the opening line to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Your Senior English teacher hopes that you remember that. But even if you don't, it's going to fit today. Because today we're talking about a tale of two schools. Both are true tales, and we see each over and over again.
The first one we'll walk through is a school that brought in project-based learning. They did some great training. They had a principal who was fired up and willing to lead. She put out a north star and said, this is where we're going to go because it's really good for our learners. And some of her teachers were on board and some were not. They navigated that with Magnify Learning over three years through PBL Jumpstart, PBL Advanced, and beyond. They were doing some amazing things, with a good chunk of their learners being on the autism spectrum. They had some authentic PBL units tied into the school library. They were doing very good work.
Then, the principal left to pursue a different opportunity. This happens all the time, and, naturally, is professionally appropriate. But literally as soon as she left the next day, PBL disappeared.
Now some might say, well, maybe the teachers didn't buy into it. Maybe they weren't fully in. But I say, it disappeared from the administrative level. It disappeared from any of their literature. They were no longer a PBL school. In fact, when I called the new principal, she said, “What is PBL?” We tried to build the relationship, but it was not the direction that the new principal was brought in to take that school.
We've seen that scenario play through way too many times. At Magnify Learning, we're on this journey of bringing project-based learning to the world. And part of that is bringing new schools on board. Part of it, we're finding now, is playing some defense and making sure that our schools that are on board stay on board, and that we make it through a principal succession plan. The principal sets the tone and culture for project-based learning to either thrive, or be pushed to the side or just die and go away. The leaders are just so important to this work.
And it’s hard work, to be very clear. We should all be looking for the “double win”: thriving at work and at home. We don't want you to sacrifice everything for this work. Leaving a district should always be done for the betterment of you, personally and professionally. Life has to work for you and your family.
If a PBL school leader moves on, what does that succession plan look like? What are the systems and processes that are in place that are not just built around a singular dynamic leader? We've seen that sad tale play out again and again. But the Dickens quote starts, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” So I gave you the worst of times. What does the best of times look like?
The best of times looks like a district that is starting at the top. The superintendent knows what project-based learning is, or at least what the results are. They don’t need to know the nuts and bolts of PBL, but they do need to know how to support it. So how do we build leadership that will support a project-based learning environment?
Districts that find sustained success know that the real work is around mindset, which is the work that we've been doing at Magnify Learning forever. That's why we have to have three days in a workshop. It's not a “one day and here's all the resources.” It's three days. Live the culture. Breathe the culture. Understand the mindset. And then, start to think about how you can innovate on your own.
What's the next phase after training? After a core group of educators are trained and have experimented with PBL in classrooms for 2-3 years, what’s next? Successful leaders understand that the next wave of educators coming on board with PBL need to also be volunteers. They need to see “the why” behind bringing project-based learning. Successful district leaders find pockets of innovation in their district and ask the right people, “Would you be willing to look at the mindset work around project-based learning and bring it to your school and your teachers?”
Superintendents and assistant superintendents find that group of principals, create a cohort, and give them training. They're doing their own design days at the principal level…just as they are at the assistant superintendent level. You've got a cohort of principals that has time to think about what it means to create really great learning environments in their schools. They’re having the conversations about what the ideal graduate of their school looks like. Those principals are given time together to create those things specifically for their school. Instead of saying “do these things,” we ask, “What would it look like to bring this to your school?” They start to customize it for their staff. And they say, “This time's been really good for us. How can we give our staff time to start planning and thinking about these things and do the mindset work?”
They know that they've got some innovative teachers and staff members that are ready to start looking at the necessary work around developing a PBL mindset. Administrators get them involved and the process of building up structural and thought processes is born.
There's obviously more to it than this, but you need the dedicated time to think about the plans and the processes for your specific customized environment. I can't give you the answer of how PBL will work in your school, but I can give you inspiration and I can give you time to think it through together. I can facilitate and coach you through the process. The outputs that you desire can come from project-based learning.
When you have an overarching 30,000 foot plan (which, by the way, leaders, how often do you get that time?), remember that your best work is 10 years out. If you move on, don't let your work die. So how do we create systems like this where we know that it's positive to give groups, leadership teams, at the level of implementation, time to dream up this work so that you have a grassroots movement?
There is a north star that's being put out for this district, but then within that, there is grassroots momentum because others have been invited into this vision. And that's super key. Now can you take that and run with it in your district? I hope so. It’s not as simple as a three step district plan for project-based learning awesomeness. But think about the componentry: you believe you’ve hired the right leaders that are passionate about their work. So now let's get them together, give them momentum, give them time, and a north star to move forward.
Everybody wants to be part of an inspiring story. Everybody wants to be a part of something that's bigger than them. Invite them into that. In the “best of times district,” we've got assistant superintendents inviting principals into this inspiring story. They’re saying, “Look what we could do.” And the principals are saying, “Yeah, I want to do that.”
How, then?
These principals crafted plans specifically for their school and then they presented them to an authentic audience. School board members came in. Other cabinet members came in. Teachers came in. Those principals are doing the same thing that teachers would do in a PBL jumpstart, which is the same thing their learners would be doing in a PBL unit: they presented it to the authentic audience. And guess what? They got really great feedback.
What else? Those teachers that showed up said, “yeah, I want to be a part of that. How can I help?” We invited them into something bigger and they said, “Hey Ryan, when should our team meetings be, and what should we do in the third team meeting that we have this year?”
No, they didn't ask me that at all. Because number one, I don't have that answer. That answer is different at every one of those schools. And those principals didn't even have that answer. The teachers had that answer. They said, here's what we're going to need to help the rest of our staff get on board. And that's what they planned out. They had a north star, they had the right people in the room, they had frameworks that allowed for the work to move forward. Live the project-based learning process; that's what we want to do. It engages learners. Guess what? It engages principles and assistant superintendents, too. Live out this process at every level. And now that mindset, which is really the key, goes through every level. And as you have people come in or come out, you now have a succession plan to say, “This is how we do things.”
If you go back to the “worst of times” example, the structures described above aren't there. The central office, nor the teacher leadership teams, had a hierarchy built around the PBL culture, which relies heavily on things like growth mindset, reflection, and a culture of inquiry. When there is no structure or process from administration all the way down, the good work dies, along with the money, energy, passion, and time spent.
Buy-in is key. We eventually want all staff members to be on board. We know we can't just do a top down mandate because those don’t work. People might be compliant, but they're not on board, and we want people to be on board.
You have a vision and that's important. You want to bring that, but now you need that ground swell around you. When you start to feel that momentum, that flywheel that, “Whoa, that just happened and I didn't even think of that or do that,” that is an exciting time. People are moving the school towards your vision and it wasn't you pushing the giant boulder up the mountain. That's when leadership really gets exciting.
I hope this blog inspires you, and I hope it gives you some things to think about related to systems, processes, and the 30,000 foot view.
It might also bring up some new need to knows. If so, go to whatispbl.com, hit that Ask Ryan button and I'll answer your specific need to know on the podcast. Because this is the really important work and we want to live that PBL process. Let’s engage your learners, tackle boredom, and transform your classrooms.
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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