Dialogue or Discussion - What's fit for purpose?

It feels refreshing to post my first blog for 2011 on a strategy that has certainly helped our staff make some important decisions in the last few days. I hope I acknowledge the source correctly - Joan Dalton talks about being clear about flagging the type of conversation you intent to have. A dialogue is used when surfacing everyones ideas and are wanting to have an open conversation around a topic,problem or decision to be made. A discussion is about arriving at a decision.
An example of how we have flagged whether we were entering into a dialogue or discussion last week was when we attempted to collectively agree on what the dispositions would be under the School vision principle of 'Building Learning Capacity'. We began by using open ended questions to surface individuals ideas around what makes a good learner? We started the conversation by saying that this was a dialogue and that it would continue over the next few days before making a decision on the dispositions for Stonefields School. Today we flagged that the conversation had transformed into a discussion as it was decision time.
A helpful strategy as we continue to move forward in ensuring the conversations we need to have, have the airtime they require and deserve.
I think this could be used just as well with our students.

More food for thought! Sir Ken

Great food for thought! Go Sir Ken

Mobile Technology - So easy! Testing pix from phone

Progress continues on site. We are set to open 3 February, 2011

Learning

We recently took our foundation staff on a retreat to begin the induction process. It was a fabulous few days. The sense of team was apparent as we began to collectively make sense of the vision principles and define what learning is going to be like at Stonefields School. Jeremy Kedian would argue that Doctors, Dentists and many other professionals are clear at defining what that do. Gaining this clarity is as essential as activators of learning I believe. Jeremy Kedian has played a critical role in challenging our leadership team. He took the three of us through a process of defining our core business of learning. We each spent 15 minutes defining what learning is ... and then came together to analyse and synthesise a definition we were each happy with.
As learning is our core business we believed it was important to collectively define this as an essential piece of our educative purpose. We worked through a similar process with our entire staff to arrive on the third day with a definition we were all happy with.
The definition stands;
“Learning is a dynamic, fulfilling process of actively building on what we know; by questioning, thinking and connecting to make meaning, expand knowledge and deepen understandings.”

We look forward to reflecting on our definition in January where we continue our professional learning together and watch it evolve as we set forth on our exciting journey together.

How story telling has changed

21st Century Story Telling. Interesting change through the years. Worth a look.

Haven't Things Changed

I enjoyed seeing this clip again at John's session on 21st Century Learning Spaces. Haven't times changed!

Worth a watch! thought provoking.

Future Dispositions Required?

What Core skills do we need to develop in our students to ensure they are future fit?
The team enjoyed a reflective and provocative session with Jeremy Kedian today. The following core skills were deemed essential
*Ability to communicate – interpersonal skills
*Need to develop entrepreneurial skills
*Managing here and now and future. Know how to learn and be equipped with a process of learning
*Adaptability, attitudinal open mindedness

What are your thoughts? What should we be equipping our students with?
We were challenged by a colleague recently to think about the language that had started to emerge within the team to highlights what we stand for and believe in. Interesting as a team how often the words 'mindfulness' and 'learner centred' have bubbled up today. Fascinating observing this shared language emerge quite organically.

Future trends

What education will look like in ten years time: Andre Malan from terrytalks on Vimeo.

Interesting to reflect on the implications of these messages for the primary sector. What stood out for me is that education will be more social, open and real. What is very much on my mind currently is how do we design the school environment to allow for this? How do we design the environment so that it becomes the third teacher or enabler of learning.