March Pre-requisite
“Nothing is as it appears to be.” Unknown (ironic)
Before I continue I.School’s 10 themes in 10 months, I’d like to at least attempt to explain. Lay some ground work of a few overall concepts. How about we call this “the 5 before 10” pre-requisite of I.school.
One: Motivational Distractions. Dilemma. How to motivate students feeling stuck in school. Give facts without debilitating overwhelm-etude. Goldilocks Lessons- not too soft, not too hard. Make lessons basic enough, but with infinite levels of personal possibilities. Appeal to anyone who has a genuine desire to learn. If you get this lesson, you pass. You are in.
Here is what- Hierarchy- use of economic and political power systems (Triangle) Dilemma. How to get masses in public school to do what you want. (Trapezoid). X= Public Education + Social Media monopolies. Politics- enforce mandatory attendance from ages 5-18. Social Media is an escape from mandatory servatide.
Possible solutions? School’s textbooks, curriculum, school board agendas regulate Information. Stories of Literature, and Quantites of math classes. Ages 5-18, Eight plus Hours a day. Media- Screens, audio- tells stories of literature (movies to music) and stories of Cultural Norms- how to behave- regulates information. And then copy-rights it. Owns it.
Questions- Yes or no. Say two triangles- political and entertainment- hierarchies, have the same plan. Would said triangles want the Trapezoid-population to 1. get along with each other? 2. to think for themselves? 3. to be well rested and wide awake? 4. Chaos?
Test. What do you talk about? Say 8 hours at school and 8 hours not. How much of those hours do you talk about School (tests, teachers, classes, school gossip); When not mentally in school what do you talk about? or spend your time? How much screen time talk is there? After the screens, what do we talk about? How much is then spent talking about the screens? (movies, news, media, tv….)
Do conversations help us to get along?
Do conversations help independent thinking or derivative dependent thoughts- we talk more about what other people talk about, rather than where it derived from?
Does it keep students more In or De- pendent on hierarchies- (more or less?)
Chaos. Y. Because from Triangle P and Triangle ai perspective, they have the right to govern, and Own. In-service.
Two: PpSSST! My newly invented acronym of (pssssst!) Personalized, or Private- Secret, School (for the) Self- Taught. (and hopefully self-explanatory). See, I’ve discovered a threshold of conversation. A block, a wall. Like the top of our trapezoid flattens, so do conversations. Any Talk Outside of Triangle P and Triangle AI, gets tackled. Example- Ever ask a teacher why we have to learn this stuff? Ever get a satisfactory answer? When asked of you “what are you going to do for the rest of your life, ever give a satisfactory answer without someone telling you what your future is. Flattens. Stops. End of story. Tackled in mid sentence. My personal example is- During a Faculty Meeting on Professional Development. Specifically “Concise Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About Professional Leaning Communities at Work.” Copyright. Book article placed before us educators.
My verbal violation that led to a tackle and silence- benched in future faculty meetings- was this: I asked a question. (pause, see book title.) What is a PLC? Answer- read page 5 in the…
“The official definition of a professional learning community is ‘an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring styles of collective inquiry and action research to active better results for the students they serve’ (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker,& Many, 2020). More simply stated, the PLC process is a never-ending process in which educators commit to working together to ensure higher levels of learning for every student.” Best practices, proven, learning, applying… end of page.
So, after I asked “What is it?” read page 5. I then raised my hand and said: “I don’t get it.” I was sincere, but this statement got some chatter. Meeting moved on. Small groups, more indiscernible jargon- to me. I’m slow, but I want answers to frequently asked questions- like what is it?
Inquisitive by nature, I started looking up authors, publishers, and the origin of PLC’s. Quietly, on my own but during collaboration. So the PLC coach pulls me aside and says I am going to be her new project. I later read Page 65 of the FAQ of the PLC’s. Titled “What if a teammate purposely, willingly, and consistently breaks team norms?”
If the violation persists the team leader should meet with the individual in an attempt to have that person recommit to the team and its norms.
Coach may-Opt for an intervention to seek and explanation for the behavior to articulate the concerns regarding behavior and ask to honor team norms.
Make it clear that any further violations will result in disciplinary action.
“Nothing will destroy the PLC process faster than unwillingness to address- behavior that violates the process.”
Check, Check, and Check. And just for the record, my record has always been unmarked by ANY Violations. And when my violation was asking a question.. in school. The response was chilling. “Should Collaboration Optional?” (page 71). I’ll tell you the answer. No. “Educators will be required to..collaborate.” Group work. No individuality. Also for the record, I place no blame on my colleagues-none- they are lovely. I DO see a bigger picture, but my voice is silenced by mandatory meetings and punishing response to Basic questions. So, PSSSSSST. I’d Keep I school to yourself. Or select a small- self chosen- safe- trusted collaborative team. Focus on meaningful conversations, then shut up. Or face verbal Violations. Like taking up more time and telling your story.
Three: Alice in Wonderland
A Motivational Distraction. Thematic Learning. Familiar subject. Educational Learning Standards. ELS? No, the NAEP- the National Assessment for Educational Progress- the Nations “Gold Standard.”
Math: Rabbit Hole. Circles. Radius. Diameter. Circumference.
Science: Reproduction. Rabbits.
Literature: Genre. Archetypes. (Names, Colors, Animals, Settings)
History: Victorian Era.
Four: Time
Fact- There are 24 Hours in a Day. 8+8+8+ 24 right? Let Us Say-
8- Hours For Sleep.
Null and Void- X that one out for now, Sleep has it’s own sacred stories.
8- Hours of Work. School, for the purposes of I.School
8- Play/ Recreation. “Fun.”
Imagine this- PSSSST, pretend I had a Magic Wand… I would grant I/U:
One Hour Every Day Times Three (sleep, work, play) =
Imagine. One Hour a day 3, sitting on a boat- a Planck, if you will- looking back over time. What would you do for one hour of free time every day, over time? What Action would you take every day if it meant a better or, I guess worser you- whatever that means? 7 Days a week, conditioning. Over a span of time. What future I… would U like? Which habits would you like to grow into, or not? Put a big Hat on- future U. Who are you? Now imagine this with variable scenarios. Adjust accordingly.
Five:
I don’t know what you want per se. And if it is ok with you, what I want- for you is- You (I) want to be (more) comfortable in your own skin, brain, emotional state (yes, all) and act on what will leave a (more) self-propelling legacy. Good memories. Or at least interesting ones.
What I hear is- people are lonely. I think kids are suffering in schools. I want to help. Come on down the Rabbit Hole with me.
Like Alice in Wonderland- One Hour a Day of - Wonder. What is outside the daily conversational Trapezoid? Oh the places we could go. Like disguise learning with learning. No? Back to the drawing board.
Base 10
Ten Themes in 10 Months. To Learn. Self-Learn. Base. Basics. What do you need today?
In the Mean Times- Let I.School serve you. A distraction. With Purpose and learning.
