the check-in 1.in teams of 4 brainstorm a list of what challenges we face in terms of student...

The Check-in

1. In teams of 4 brainstorm a list of what challenges we face in terms of student learning.

2. Place the top 3 on the board.

3. Each group will share why they chose these top 3.

“I am here”

Timothy R. Lucas and AssociatesThe Fifth Discipline Fieldbook Project - Schools That [email protected] 201-236-8696

mailto:[email protected]

A Systems Thinking View of Schools



To this. Shared Vision

Current realityTimothy R. Lucas and AssociatesThe Fifth Discipline Fieldbook Project - Schools That [email protected] 201-236-8696


"The significant problems we facecannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at

when we created them.

Albert Einstein

Tools for Navigating Change



Shared Vision: goals; achievement; positive climate; lifelong learners; community

Team Learning: strengths; weaknesses; professional development

Personal Mastery: say it, do it demonstrate it…MODELING

Structures of Learning: SAS

Take two minutes and build a

story that could explain how

these footprints were made.

Share your story with a friend.



Mental Models

1. You can clarify your thinking by understanding your own mental models.

2. By discussing mental models we can better define what other people mean and think. Leading with inquiry.

3. Realize we see or screen events and data based on our mental models.

4. We can represent our mental models using maps and other systems thinking tools.



“In the research on human cognition…

Information relayed from the outside through the eyes accounts for only 20% of what we use to create a perception.

We each create our own worlds by what we choose to notice… ...to enact our particular version of reality.”

Margaret Wheatly



How do we capture and better understand other people’s mental models?



The process of designing questionsfor use in our schools creates meaningfuldialogue. Questions for:

• administrative meetings• policy and committee work• curriculum review• parent meetings• student conferences• program evaluation


Lead with Inquiry


As you lead with inquiry andstart building clearer images of

the mental models you are exploring - you can use maps to

capture your thoughts and insights.



What Are Some of the Specific Tools That We Can Use To Build Learning

Communities?


What tools do you use to help capture and

explore mental models In your

school?

There can be a wide range of mental models in your school, district, and community?


Child'sName

Developmentally

Strengths

Emerging

Yet to Develop

Academically

Work Habits

Performance Attitudes toward School

Socially

Peers Siblings

Families and

Friends

Consistency Between Home

and School

Self Regulating

Skills

Expectations for Behavior

Responsibilities



Shared Vision

Tools used to build a collective senseof organizational purpose by developingshared images of the future work we seekto create.

Building a Shared Vision



The Iceberg




The Iceberg Discussion Questions

Step One - The EventName a critical event or issue that has emerged in the last few months in your classroom or school. Tell the story of the event.

Step Two - The Pattern or TrendWhat is the history of the event you described? When has it happened before? Chart the course of related events over time on a graph. What patterns do you see emerging?

Step Three - Systemic StructureWhat forces seem to create the pattern of behavior you described in step 2? How do the systemic elements seem to influence each other? What fundamental aspects of the school need to change if you want the pattern to change? (Policy, culture, attitudes, environment…)

Step Four - Mental ModelsWhat is it about your thinking and everyone’s thinking that causes this structure to persist? How can you these mental models be safely brought to the surface for inquiry and dialogue with the larger group?



Systems Thinking Tools and the IcebergEvents - Ladder of Inference

Story Telling

Patterns - Causal LoopsArtifact HuntBehavior Over

Time Learning History

Systemic - ArchetypesStructuresStructured Diagrams Feedback and Delays

Mental - MappingModels Leading with Inquiry Deeper Structures


EVALUATION - "To Place Value"

1. Masteryof

Knowledge

2. Applicationand

Performance

3. LongitudinalExperiences and

Wisdom

Bena Kallick, 1998

Factsand

Events

Patternsand

Behaviors

Systemand Structure

Analogous and

Sequential Thinking

Verbal Reasoning

Knowledge Application Wisdom



Systems Thinking

The tool that gives us a language for describing the interrelationships between complex elements of real-life situations as they evolve over time.



The Forest Problem

A farmer in Maine runs a unique tree farm. Her farm has 1000's of mature trees, treesthat are coming of age, and saplings. Each year she harvests only 100 trees and thenimmediately plants 100 saplings that eventually mature. This is a perfect farm - all 100saplings will come of age and replace the mature trees she harvested. She has usedthis "steady state" system for years and years. The planting rate ALWAYS equals theharvesting rate.

Now suppose that at a point in time, the farmer increases her harvest to 150 trees andcontinues to harvest and plant at this new rate.

1. What pattern do you think will be traced by her trees harvested?

2. What pattern will be traced by the number of her mature trees available over time in her forest?

Don't worry about exact numbers, speculate on the pattern that the quantity of maturetrees will trace in response to this one time, step-increase in harvesting.



A Systems View of Learning in an Organization

VisionCreate Ideas

VisionarySees Over HorizonEmbraces Change

IntuitiveSees Patterns

LeadershipCreates Paths

ProactiveRisk Taker

Take ChargeIndividual

CommunityCreates

InterdependenceRelationships

NetworkReservoir

Connections

ManagementCreates Output

ProductionOutcomes

AdministrationRefinementConsistency

All of these areas are nurtured and balanced in a learning community, school district, or

organization.

Systems Thinking offers a set of tools that:

Allow you to capture other peoples’ mental models.

Ask people to tell compelling stories that build understanding and relationships.

Foster team learning.

Help you develop a comprehensive view of the interrelationships that exist in classrooms, schools, the community, and in the world.



Systems Thinking as a Tool for Growing

Where we have been: Where we want to go:

an emphasis on school an emphasis on reallearning world learning

an emphasis on an emphasis on learningacquiring knowledge how to learn

teacher-directed learning learner-directed learning

specialization is valued an interdisciplinary perspective is valued

a view of the world as a view of the world asthe sum of discrete a dynamic inter-dependentcategories of knowledge systems



Resources for Curriculum Materials, Tools for School Leadership, and Personal

Growth

The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook Projectwww.fieldbook.com

The Creative Learning Exchangewww.clexchange.org

Society for Organizational Learning www.solonline.org

Crisis Management Institutewww.cmionline.orgTimothy R. Lucas and Associates

The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook Project - Schools That [email protected] 201-236-8696

http://www.fieldbook.com/

http://www.clexchange.org/

http://www.solonline.org/


Developing a Systems Thinking

Approach in Schools

3 PersonalGrowth

2 Leadership Opportunities

1 Curriculum Applications



A Ritual to Read to Each Other

If you don't know the kind of person I am,and I don't know the kind of person you are,a pattern that others made may prevail in the world,and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break,sending with shouts, the horrible errors of childhood,storming out to play through the broken dike.

And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail,but if one wanders the circus won't find the park,I call it cruel and maybe the root of crueltyto know what occurs, but not recognize the fact.

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,a remote important region in all who talk;though we could fool each other, we should consider - lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

For it is important that awake people be awake,or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;the signals we give - yes or no, or maybe -should be clear; the darkness around us is deep.

by William StaffordAmerican poet 1914 -1993



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