Unwritten: The Story of a Living System- Excerpt- Chapter 1

        

 

 

 The System Story

Imagine yourself walking into any public or private school in our country. It does not matter what level the school might be, an elementary, middle, or high school.  Imagine just wandering around the school.  Walk down the hallways, visit the cafeteria, go in the gym, visit the library, and move in and out of the classrooms.  As you wander around, you may begin to notice that the majority of the places we call schools are very similar.  For the most part, they all look and feel the same. Students have teachers that teach various subjects. Students are grouped by their age, subjects are taught separately, class begins and ends during a specific period of time, bells ring, and students move on.  Tests are taken, report cards and grades are given, students are sorted and ranked, and children that fall behind are placed in special programs to be remediated. 

It really would be difficult to tell what state you are in simply by walking around a school.  They are all arranged in a very similar manner.  Principals are in charge of the buildings and often times; the assistant principal continues to posit “discipline,” as grade level teachers are sorted by their “content expertise.”  The state standards and curriculum guides all look very much the same.  The lesson plans teachers write all look similar.   Apart from some novel technologies such as computers, smart boards, flat screen televisions, hand held devices, and a host of ever changing new devices and platforms for teachers and students,  there is not that much different in our schools today than there was three decades ago. Even new technologies have not changed what occurs in most schools and classrooms.  How can this be?

Writing A Book !! Excerpt- Introduction

Unwritten
“The Story of a Living System”

 By Michael McKnight and Lori Desautels

Umbutu-“I am because we are".

Learning is the most natural thing human beings do.  Yet, it seems the “harder” we work in schools helping our students to acquire the learning they need, the academic performances stay stagnant or lessen.
 Schools are not machines. Schools are a network of human beings who feel, think, behave, and function within a human system that is alive and never static.  Schools are living systems!  This living system of sentient beings are neuro-biologically wired to feel first; to  think, to love, to connect, and to experience deep joy as well as deep disappointment and pain. This system is wired to thrive, even through difficult times.   Have we lost our way through the primordial landscape of our innate purpose and genius? We can begin to think and to feel differently. Deep learning is profoundly relational and connection to one another is a prerequisite for our collective emotional, social, spiritual and cognitive growth and development.
Please join us in dialogue as we question, remember, strategize, and rewrite the story. The story of a living system that knows compassion, that feels the joys and suffering of humankind; but often times, loses its way in an industrial robotic environment where people are unable to thrive.