“The idea of this work is that you are part of something bigger than yourself . . . You’re not helpless. You have an enormous amount of individual power and collective power . . . ” ~ Anthony Iton The quote above comes from Anthony Iton. Iton’s story is featured in the book Upstream. In 2010, …
Upstream Thinking . . . How to Change the System Read More »
“So the first step, as in many upstream efforts, was to surround the problem — to recruit a multifaceted group of people and organizations united by a common aim”. ~Dan Heath A multifaceted group of people united by a common aim. That sounds like teacher collaboration. If we want to succeed in meeting the learning …
Upstream Thinking . . . Uniting the Right People Read More »
“When you spend years responding to problems, you can sometimes overlook the fact that you could be preventing them.” ~ Dan Heath In Chapter 1 of Dan Heath’s book, Upstream – How to Solve Problems Before They Happen, he writes about being fascinated by how upstream efforts reflect humanity at its best and worst. Heath …
A staff with a collective belief that what they do CAN and WILL make a difference in student achievement provides the greatest chance of student success. As with any busy group of talented people, we can often find ourselves living in our own silos based on our roles, on our assigned projects, or just our own interests.
How might we apply the concepts of Appreciative Inquiry and Appreciative Leadership in the classroom? How might we use inquiry by asking powerful questions to support students in taking ownership of their learning? Appreciative Inquiry identifies the strengths of a group and then pushes the group to develop ways to capitalize on those strengths. We …
