Big Shift #2: Efficiency to Possibility (Instrumental to Intrinsic): February 2018 Newsletter
Happy Day of Love!
While it's not marketed this way, we adore the idea of using Valentine's Day as a reminder to celebrate all the different kinds of love and moments of joy in our lives and the world.
This fits well with the big mindshift of the month: from Efficiency to Possibility: We need to move out of efficiency frames and into possibility frames when we design school practice and policy. Why? Because designing for efficiency is destroying all the joy and love in school. Read my Medium thought piece and Co-Founder Nicole Hensel's blog post on how this applies to literacy.
In other exciting news, the first month of 2018 has been overflowing with new initiatives! We've moved forward with four school partnerships to pilot our student-driven instructional unit on the role of school in creating good lives, and we hosted our first online book club meeting, which was a resounding success - join us on Feb 26th for our second book club meeting!
We also became a project of the SchlFwd Foundation, which among other great benefits of the collaboration, means any donations you make to support the movement and our work reenvisioning with schools are tax-deductible!
As always, please consider getting involved: become a REENVISIONED educator, join our book club, make a donation, or share the ideas and converse with us on social media. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this month's Big MindShift.
Warmly,
Erin & The REENVISIONED Team
Check out our Medium thought piece:
Organize Schooling for Possibility, not Efficiency
"Instead of asking, “How do we make sure students pass the SAT?” or, “How do we make sure every child goes to college?”, we should be asking, “How do we design environments in which students’ core needs are met so they are able to learn and grow?” and,
“How do we create experiences through which all children have opportunities to practice the capabilities, mindsets, and character they need to be agentive citizens who are able work with others to make the world better?”."
Join the REENVISIONED Book Club
The REENVISIONED Book Club explores key questions and topics related to systems-change and the purpose of school.
Our next book is Why We Do What We Do by Edward Deci, where we will be exploring theories of self-motivation and engagement. We are meeting FEBRUARY 26th @6pm PST/ 9pm EST online. We had a really rich discussion of our first book last month - Creative Schools by Sir Ken Robinson - thank you to all who joined and engaged with us!
Email us for more details or to join.
Tweet us!
We're still learning about the tweeting world - help us get better! Share this month's posts on Twitter! Make sure to tag us @reenvisioned.
Educators: What do your students think it means to live a good life?
We need TWO more awesome educators to help us pilot a powerful REENVISIONED Instructional Unit.
What do your students think about the purpose of school? How do they, and adults in their lives, define a good life?
If you want to connect deeply with your students and make their school experience more relevant to their interests, partner with REENVISIONED to pilot our instructional unit. Geared toward high school students, this 1-2 week unit has students ask meaningful questions and reflect on the purpose of life and school.
For more information, sign up here.
by Nicole Hensel
"...we are neglecting to recognize that it is how literacy is taught – the experience and practice of reading, writing, and communicating itself – not the literacy scores, that will matter for students’ abilities to make meaning, communicate with others, and grapple with complexity in the long-term."
#PeopleofPaly
"I think what’s really important to get out of school is a love for learning. I honestly don’t think that school teaches you that and I think that it just teaches you a system where everyone participates to get a good grade, to get into a good college, and get to where ever they want to go in life without actually caring about the work they are doing."
- Hannah, Student @ Palo Alto High School
Read the full interview here.
This interview was conducted by students of Palo Alto High School for a semester-long project with REENVISIONED. Let us know if your school is interested in parternering!
10,000 Stories. One Shared Vision.
REENVISIONED is a national movement to redefine the purpose of school. We believe schools should foster flourishing individuals and a thriving democratic society. But what does it mean to thrive or flourish?
To answer this, we're building the world's largest collection of stories about what it means to live good lives and the role schools should play in helping create them: 10,000 stories from people across the country. We'll use the stories to learn about our shared values and dreams and to create a new vision for why we send our children to school.
We work with people like YOU across the country: Catalysts - individuals, classrooms, schools, and community organizations - who interview people in their communities and foster empathy nationwide by sharing the stories on our website and social media: Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook (@reenvisioned). Please follow us and spread the word!