Sunday 29 January 2012

What kind of Learner is in your head when you do your Planning?

A few days ago, I joined a group of District Management Team (DMT) members, on a walk up the Silvermines mountain range in Cape Town.  This group of people is a highly motivated and committed team in education, based on my engagement with education officials across the country.  What was so remarkable, is the sense that they allowed my in a deliberate way, to influence their thinking and understanding about education, their district, and their work in particular.  The brief was to 'take them to a higher level' in order to ensure greater success for their learners.  I am pleased to say that they must be the only DMT in the country who decided to make 100% success for their learners as their target (goal).  There will therefore be no deliberate planning for some to fail, even if is only 12%, as expressed when they started out the hike.

More specifically, during a conversation with the head of curriculum planning, my question to him was: What kind of learners and/or schools are you planning for?  Meaning, when you do your planning - What kind of learner is in your head when you do your planning?  At first, he responded that "all learners and/or schools are taking into account when he does his planning.  Well, that is actually not true, otherwise one will have to have at least four different kinds of planning - One for Chaotic schools (they have a COMMITMENT problem), another for Dysfunctional schools (they have an adhering to RULES and REGULATIONS problem), and another for Under-performing schools (they have a PEOPLE RELATIONS problem), and finally one for High Performing schools (they have SYSTEMS problems).  If you don't have four separate planning tools, you will end up 'choosing unconsciously' one of these.  Because PLANNING (the way you will do or implement things) only follows DECISION MAKING (what is important and how will you allocate your resources), which in turn will follow THINKING.  So, the question was never, 'What is your planning?, but rather 'What was your thinking?

Although this engagement took place with an education district official, it is equally important for all teachers as to the 'child in their head', since it sets the tone for what they will expect and what they will accept in your classroom.  If you HOPE that all your learners who walk through your door are 'top performers', then you will have very little tolerance and/or patience for those performing below a 'top performer'.  The REALITY is that not all our learners are 'top performers' when they enter our classroom.  But, we have to opportunity, every day, of every week, of every month, of every quarter and of every year, to move them along the pathway towards greatness, and therefore our job is to add value to their lives while being in our presence.
(Source: http://fulfilledcouple.com/blog)
In most of our schools, the 'chaos child' will enter our classroom.  And this is not a reflection of the child's ability, but rather the situation which they were born into, and often is still living in.  It is our privilege, as teachers, to 're-arrange' their live puzzle, since all the piece are there - they just need re-arrangement and good role models (good examples), and caring teachers.  Caring about what they can become, and not judging them based on what they are.

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