the story of Dick Fosbury<\/a>.\u00a0 What is interesting about the story is that Fosbury was not so much interested in improving the sport, rather he wanted to find a way of participating that was better for him.\u00a0 In doing so, he changed it for everyone.<\/p>\nWhen i first started teaching at PC i was asked by a department chair why i had no exams on my syllabi.\u00a0 i stated that i don\u2019t give exams.\u00a0 i was told that, at Providence College, policy (the rule) dictates that classes have exams.\u00a0 i asked where i could find that policy.\u00a0 The chair said he would find that for me.\u00a0 That, of course, never happened because there is no such rule.\u00a0 But the fact that classes do mostly the same things seems as if there are rules.\u00a0 Classrooms – as well as many other aspects of college life – provide wonderful examples of rule-governed behavior (which, of course, means that there are SO many aspects of college life where things can be changed by people who understand that the rules don’t really exist).<\/p>\n
i do not give exams because i found better ways of assessing student learning.\u00a0 But if i would have simply taken-for-granted that exams are always given in college classes, i never would have asked the question: \u201cWhat are better ways of assessing student learning in the classroom?<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 We come back to right answers again.\u00a0 If we take-for-granted that something is right, it never occurs to us to ask about alternatives.<\/p>\nIn situations characterized by the two conditions cited above (things always done the same way and the environment never changes), rules establish order and facilitate the flow of activity.\u00a0 However, rules create<\/strong> problems when either of the above two conditions does not hold.<\/p>\nHere is the real problem:\u00a0 We live in a world where there are fewer and fewer situations where those two conditions hold, especially the second one.<\/p>\n
It gets worse:\u00a0 unless you know how to deal with uncertainty, unless you know how to innovate, your only response in VUCA situations is to create more rules!\u00a0 Increase the amount of control.\u00a0 Which is a major factor in why the rules aren’t working in the first place.\u00a0 To most of us, following rules (whether they exist or not) creates certainty and predictability so we are continually making – and following – them since it is all we know.\u00a0 But in volatile situations, having rules just makes things worse.<\/p>\n
On breaking rules<\/strong><\/p>\nThe same is true of adults as it is of toddlers:\u00a0 We learn the most from breaking the rules.<\/p>\n
What i am not talking about is breaking rules simply just to break them.\u00a0 i am talking about breaking them in a specific way.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 A rule for breaking rules????\u00a0 Huh?<\/p>\n
What we will cover in class, and practice continuously, is a process for rule breaking.\u00a0 And that process itself must be questioned and improved.\u00a0 The following is an overview of our initial process:<\/p>\n
Step One:<\/strong> It always starts with questioning.\u00a0 Given anything that we do in class, we ask, at minimum, the following two questions:\u00a0 1) What are the objectives, what are we trying to accomplish in this activity?, and 2) Are there more effective alternatives for accomplishing those objectives?<\/p>\nThere are other questions to ask that define the parameters of the activity.\u00a0 For example, what is the deadline for completing the activity and Whom should be involved?<\/p>\n
Step Two<\/strong>:\u00a0 In the spirit of play, determine alternatives to the activity, ones that we believe may better accomplish our objectives OR accomplish the objectives but allow us to achieve other objectives.\u00a0 In this step the idea is not to come up with something we know is better, rather something we think might be better, that we can try.<\/p>\nPlay through experimentation works best under the following conditions:\u00a0 1) It is something we can try in a short period of time, and 2) using very few resources.\u00a0 This sometimes means that – even though the activity would be adopted by the whole class – a small group in the class can \u201cpilot-test<\/em>\u201d our idea.<\/p>\nStep Three<\/strong>: Individuals and\/or groups in charge of these experiments will report back to the class with preliminary results on the experiments and recommendations on next steps (which can include making improvements), then trying again, trying a completely new experiment, or going back to the original activity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhat is critical is continually focusing on how well our objectives are fulfilled.<\/p>\n
This process of continual improvement through challenging rules and playful experimenting is a large part of the kind of management organizations today are seeking.\u00a0 That management style is called entrepreneurship<\/em> which, rather than simply being associated with creating start-ups, is increasingly sought in organizations as a management style with emphasis on creativity, innovation, and dealing with the constant change from a VUCA world.<\/p>\nWhat am i getting myself into?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nSo am i really saying that almost all of the “rules” of this class can be broken?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 There are a very few that exist that we really can’t break.\u00a0 The major one is that, at the end of the semester, i have to submit a grade for each one of you.\u00a0 Man, how i would love to break that rule!\u00a0 But breaking that one would create problems for you.\u00a0 However, as with the Fosbury Flop, how we determine that grade, including who is involved in creating it, is not rule-bound and – if you learn the material in this class well enough – we will find ways of making the grade you receive in the class truly meaningful.<\/p>\n
Whether we are dealing with assessment, assignments, or anything else in this class, the one guideline for breaking a rule, practice, or policy, is to find a more effective way of doing it.\u00a0 And “effective<\/em>” means learning management and organizations through practice.<\/p>\nGiven the need for experimentation, learning from trial and error, the way that we will approach rule breaking is the same as when we were children:\u00a0 through play.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_testimonial author=”Mackenzie Saitta” _builder_version=”3.12.2″ quote_icon_background_color=”#f5f5f5″]<\/p>\n
. . . nothing is off the table in this class, find your voice and be a leader, fight for what you want to happen in this class. It may be cheesy but if you start to fight for what you want in a class environment, you\u2019ll start to change the things you cannot accept in the world around you.<\/em><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_testimonial _builder_version=”3.12.2″ author=”Kristen (Sepe) Urban” quote_icon_background_color=”#f5f5f5″]<\/p>\n
My advice to you . . accept nothing and challenge everything. Using this phrase as a guiding principle will take you far both inside and outside of the class. Think outside of the box. There is not only one answer to every problem. Break the norms that you have been accustomed to over the course of the last 18 plus years of your life and you will find a whole new world of opportunity.<\/em><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_testimonial][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider divider_weight=”5″ height=”5px” _builder_version=”3.12″ \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.12.2″ border_width_all=”2px” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_post_title date_format=”j M Y” categories=”off” featured_image=”off” _builder_version=”3.12″ title_font_size=”20px” title_font_size_last_edited=”off|” title_font=”|700||on|||||” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/do_not_read.jpg” show_bottom_space=”off” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.12″ \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_testimonial author=”Ruth Messinger” _builder_version=”3.12″ quote_icon_background_color=”#f5f5f5″] It\u2019s not rebels that make trouble, but trouble that makes rebels. [\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_divider divider_weight=”5″ height=”5px” _builder_version=”3.12″ \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30582","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30582"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31091,"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30582\/revisions\/31091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/radicalteacher.com\/playbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}