TRANSFORMING

SCHOOL CULTURE

Everyone has a
Strength, and it was
utilized.
Paul Conroy, Envision
Graduate

IN THE HANDS OF A MASTER, THE SIMPLEST

TOOL IS THE MOST POWERFUL.
Mr. Harriss entire teaching practice and philosophy
are embodied in a single, simple artifact: a yellow
pencil, tucked behind his right ear.
Let us paint the picture of what surrounds this
pencil. Most immediately, it is a mane of brown hair,
which swoops into a thick, Grizzly Adams-style
beard. Only half the pencil emerges from this wooly
thicket, which somehow hardens and softens the
mans presence simultaneously. The contradiction is
echoed by the uniform: invariably a button-down
shirt and tie (the professor) belted over a pair of
jeans and leather work boots (the craftsman). Like a
bear, Mr. Harris straddles the line between endearing
and intimidating. The students love him for it.

The focal point of the room, the baton that

conducts the orchestra, is the pencil, tucked behind
the ear. A small group of students approaches Mr.
Harris, carrying a storyboard for a documentary
(always a required step before they can touch the
video camera). The student work is placed on the
table. Mr. Harris leans over. The students huddle in.
Up goes a hand to the pencil, and all eyes trace the
pencils trajectory as it descends to the paper.
Will the pencil land on the upper right-hand corner?
Will they get coveted check mark? Have they met
the expectations for this important benchmark of
the project?

The pencil comes down midpage,

circumscribing a frame of the storyboard. The
students already know what this means. I told
you guys this needs more detail, Mr. Harris
says, This is an improvement, but its still not
there. He elaborates and off ers a few
suggestions.
Looking disappointed but determined, the
students make their way back to their project
table. Theyve been here before. They know
that a Mr. Harris check mark is not easy to
come by .

ENVISION SCHOOLS CULTURE

The story does not talks about the pencil but
what it represents.
What Mr. Harris did was very exceptional. The
approach he use is to create a culture that is
sustainable in transforming a student to
become an achiever.
He masterfully used the yellow pencil to help
orchestrate a culture of learning through
failure, growth, revision, inquiry, coaching,
caring and joy.

The culture build by envision school

reminds all other schools that the
nature of an academic institution must
be a transformative.
School culture encompasses beliefs,
values, and assumptions that drive
behavior what we think, what we say,
and what we do.

7 KEY BELIEFS THAT DRIVES DESIGN,

DIRECTION, DECISIONS AND DAILY
ACTION
1. Ability is not fi xed; through eff ort, it
grows.
2. Failure is essential to learning
3. Revisions is the route to mastery.
4. Knowledge deepens and expands
through inquiry.
5. Teaching is coaching.
6. Caring is essential to accomplishment.
7. Learning can (and should) be fun.

 ABILITY IS NOT FIXED; THROUGH

EFFORT, IT GROWS
According Carol Dweck, success determines
by what people believe about their ability to
change and improve.
If we believe that ability is fi xed it will limit
our potential.
Believing that ability can change and grow
will enable success it is somehow called as
growth mindset.
Growth mindset is powerful, people believes
that they can improve their abilities through
eff ort and hard work.

It tends to embrace challenges, persist

through setbacks, learn from criticism, and be
inspired by he success of others.
Mindset, like our intelligence, is not fi xed; it
is infl uenced by the messages we receive
from the people and the culture that surround
you.
Growth mindset does not solely what a
teachers belief or what a student belief but
must live in both the teacher and the student.

 FAILURE IS ESSENTIAL TO
LEARNING
Failure is inevitable part of learning as
a learning organization, we will
experience failure, as surely as a
toddler will fall while learning to walk.
It is an opportunity to receive feedback
on strengths and areas of improvement
in order to get better.
Failure is a master teacher.

At Envision Schools, failure is an

intentional part of the school design
and consequently the culture.
To master competencies and leadership
skills, students have to learn receive
feedback and use it to improve.

HOW DO YOU MAKE FAILURE STUDENTS

FRIEND?
Set a high standard and dont be afraid to tell
students that they havent met it. But in the
next breath, give detailed suggestions on
what can be done to change that.
Most important though so often given short
shrift allow students the time, space and
support to make the revisions.
In such a culture, failure does not mean You
lose; it means You can do better. Here is
some feedback; revise and try again.

 REVISION IS THE ROUTE TO

MASTERY
In a culture of revision, students produce
multiple drafts of papers, work products, and
presentations that are critiqued by the
teacher, peers, and/or outside experts.
At Envision, students are working to achieve
mastery. Which they eagerly await feedback
on their work so that they can incorporate it
into the next draft on the road to mastery.
Revision toward mastery is a systematized
part of the culture and language.

They push their students to achieved mastery in the

core content, core competencies (inquiry, analysis,
research and creativity), and the four Cs (critical
thinking, communication, collaboration and
completing projects).
Creating a culture of revision puts schools in step
with the work world and prepares students for
college, where they will need to revise their work
independently or with their peers prior to submitting
a fi nal draft to a professor.
Failure for Envision students are just simple shrug of
shoulders and followed by a question, what do I
need to improve? They learned to take feedback
(both positive and negative) and use it to get better.

WAYS TO INFUSE A CULTURE OF REVISION INTO

YOUR PRACTICE, WHETHER SCHOOL-WIDE OR
IN A CLASSROOM:

Use Rubrics, But Use them Formatively, Not

Summatively.
Give Students Tasks That Require Multiple
Steps to Complete.
Demand Lots of Public Speaking.

 KNOWLEDGE DEEPENS AND

EXPANDS THROUGH INQUIRY
We respond to our natural curiosity about the
world through inquiry and we use our senses to
answer our own questions about our environment.
Learning's we get from the fi rst step of our
schooling often includes a rudimentary level of
inquiry, called hands-on learning.
As we stepping-up to a higher level of education
there are changes occurs when we inquire, it
becomes random and sporadic. It is based mostly
on teachers initiative, skill level or philosophical
leaning.

In high school, students lean most to the right

answers to teachers own questions. They ask
questions not to satisfy their curiosity but to
clarify what it is the teacher wants them to know.
In Envision, they try to reconnect students to
their own curiosity. Teachers frame courses,
projects and lessons around provocative essential
questions that explore big ideas in subject
disciplines and life in general.
Through inquiry, students learn to investigate,
fi nd solutions, and ask new questions.

 TEACHING IS COACHING
Teachers need to be coaches. As coaches, they
are master of learning, aligning curriculum and
instruction to assessment.
Just like athletic coaches, there work must be
highly structuralized in implementing strategies
and techniques to improve the performance of a
student.
Bob Lenz emphasize the use of PBL in facilitating
the students learning because it is highly
structured unlike the traditional instruction is
often structured to support student compliance.

Teachers are keen observers of student

learning who ask just the right questions to
provoke student refl ections that lead to
improvement.
Envision teachers create a vision of the
students performance plan fi rst. They design
highly structured projects aligned to the plan.
With guidance from envision instructional
coaches, teachers plan their assessment fi rst.
Working toward desired student outcomes,
teachers determine the prerequisite skills and
knowledge required to complete a project.

 CARING IS ESSENTIAL TO
ACCOMPLISHMENT
For any of us, whether student or teacher,
child or adult, to do our best, to achieve our
higher potential, we have to care. Many of you
have, at some point in your life, accomplished
something you never thought you could do. Had
you not cared enough to try, you would never
have accomplished the goal. Your amazing
accomplishment began with caring.
-Kyle Hartung-

How can we teach students how to care?

We can begin by providing students with
experiences and opportunities to care about, that
allow them to shine and excel, that give them a
real and deep sense of accomplishment for their
hard work.
Teaching students how to care goes even deeper
than the kinds of project and assignments we ask
them to do. We must give careful consideration
to the way we act with students and to the way
we build community in our schools.

Amazing accomplishments are born from a place of

caring, and we must care enough to teach students
how to care as well.
When students care, school becomes personally
meaningful and relevant to their lives, and students
can paint a portrait of who they wish to be.
Embodiment of our own care in all we do as teachers
and leaders is necessary so that students can truly
experience their education.
But if we lose sight of our need to care, we lose our
reason for doing what we do.

 LEARNING CAN (AND SHOULD) BE

FUN
Learning and fun are not mutually
exclusive only for students it is also
essentially celebrated by adults.
Having fun at school has to start with
adults. As models for students, we can
shape a risk-taking culture for students
by having fun with one another and
with students.