Letter from Viv July 2011
Building a Network
Big Picture is a network of people learning from each other to make education work better. It is a complex but beautiful thing - making education better. It requires a movement, not just a person.
We are doing very well. And we will do better.
Like you, I spend quite a lot of time reflecting on what we do and why. I look to others to help illuminate our path. I read the theories about networking.
You might want to read some too. So, here are a couple of ideas.
Emergence
Meg Wheatley, a writer and thinker about change, has ideas about how to form a learning community, gather ideas, research the work, trial the ideas and share the ideas in order to become a system of influence to make things change.
Meg writes, ‘Emergence is a description of large-scale change. These Systems of Influence have broad reach and affect behaviours throughout the system. Yet emergence doesn’t start big. It begins with small local actions. Large-scale change emerges from connections among these local efforts, from the exchanges of learning and the forging of relationships.’
Meg's article on school change (direct link to download pdf)
Fearless Questions
I also use some of Meg’s ‘Eight Fearless Questions’ to help make sure groups working together are all on the page. The questions lead us to discuss who we are, the change we want to make, fear and ‘dealing with what is’.
They are great discussion starters.
Questions to ask and keep on asking…
- Who else needs to be here to do this work?
- Why are we doing this? Is the meaning still clear?
- How is the meaning changing?
- Are we becoming better truth-tellers with each other?
- Is information becoming more open and easier to access?
- Are we trying to impose anything?
- Are we becoming more alert to what's going on, right now?
- Are we learning to partner with confusion and chaos as opportunities for real change?
Wheatley, M (1999) Bringing Schools Back to Life: Schools as Living Systems in Creating Successful School Systems: Voices from the university, the field, and the community. Christopher-Gordon Publishers.
Tell us if you have been reading great ideas about networks and change.
Students in Action
Recently, I have witnessed three kids showing the power of performance.
Performance is becoming a really strong feature of Big Picture schools.
One young man played a musical piece he composed himself. This was the first time he’d performed it in public. He then came 'up ' to the office to tell some very senior staff and I about what he had done.
And, two girls from Yule Brook exhibited their work. One is studying the human body and is in the process of making an accurate scientific model of the human heart (see picture).
The other is doing a research project on the effects that music has on the mind and body and is designing a number of scientific experiments to test the theories.
Better Learning and Growing Communities
Big Picture is making links with other organizations that are taking on the big issues.
The Stronger Smarter Institute is making a huge difference in indigenous education. It is one our nation’s biggest challenges.
BPEA has something to offer and is making great links to the Stronger Smarter Institute.
Chris Sarra and Sharon Grose from SSI and Viv White and John Hogan from BPEA met and agreed to work together to explore the BPEA model in the context of secondary schools with significant numbers of indigenous students.
Of course, these schools are mainly in rural and remote areas of Australia but there are some in urban settings too.
We have invited several schools have been invited to attend a roundtable on 4th and 5th of August.
You’ll hear a lot more about this.
Tim Fairfax Family Foundation funds these meetings.
A Truly International Experience
One of the best learning experiences we can offer is to put the learners beside practitioners with years of experience: Student and mentor.
The same applies to advisory teachers and leaders.
Charly Adler, a founding principal of Big Picture Learning in the US, has been working with BPEA from one end of Australia to another.
Charly has become part of our network and helps to strengthen our work.
He has worked in Tasmania, ACT, Victoria, flown to Jabiru in NT, and is now with me in Perth working at our new our SMYL School and Yule Brook Colloege.
He visited Montrose Bay, Jordan Rover, City Campus Launceston, St Helens, Brooks, Doveton Learning Centre, Ascot Vale, Yea, Wanniassa, Erindale, Jabiru, Yule Brook, Croydon, SMYL and St Johns Park.
This generates an unbelievable networking opportunity - teachers join other teachers to work with Charly, and new schools join up,
Hunter Sports High from NSW joined with Wanniassa and learnt from the school. The advisory teachers saw exhibitions of student work and did a workshop on internships with Charly.
We have new coaches sit beside him and work with him.
He is a colleague (with more experience) and we are working and learning together.
It is a truly international experience that many of our schools shared. They now have new connections with each other and the US folk.
Learn to be a Big Picture Coach.
One of our key activities is to recruit and develop coaches for every school. Coaches help us make change.
John Hogan is running our first coaching development program.
John writes, ‘The BP coach is a key role in our approach to change and development in our schools and programs. We encourage all schools to have an external and an internal coach.’
A course will start later in the year.
This is a big opportunity for networking and growing together in Big Picture.
Look out for more information.
Big Conference in October.
We don’t have a title yet but the planning for our annual conference is well underway. Eliot Washor will be here, and Mark Thomson and Henry Hoke too.
So, pencil in October 19 to 21 and we’ll get back to you with details.
If you have any bright ideas, please send us a note.
SMYL starts up
SMYL is the newest start-up school in the network.
And we started with a bang.
Last week Big Picture Education Australia signed a Memorandum Of Understanding with our newest start-up school - SMYL in Rockingham. Sometimes it involves a hug.
Charly Adler, visiting US BP principal, conducted a whole day workshop on the Big Picture design with a focus on student interest and designing of strong projects connected to the LTI, the student interest and the learning goals.
It was a great to follow up the work that John Hogan had begun and the wonderful workshop that two Yule Brook students and their teacher did the week before.
Sam, the CEO of SMYL, visited Croydon in Victoria and saw what they are achieving and decided that Big Picture was for them,
Talking the Future
There are many new opportunities for us all. Many people are paying attention to Big Picture.
I have met with senior WA education department folk and there are great opportunities developing in the west.
The University Of Canberra is interested in our model as a University BP Academy and I’ll have more news more next time
New Supporters
We have been busy talking to supporters too. We ask people who care about education to help us move forward. After all, education is everyone’s business.
We have new support Eureka Benevolent Foundation that has funded us $57000 for capacity building. It’s a great gift and we have gained a new partner for our work.
The Origin Foundation will support our work with the NZ Distance Education work $100,000 each year for three years. It is a big project with potential to reach many students all over New Zealand. We’ll tell you more later.