This week I had the chance to talk with David Monaco (@dmonaco), Head at Parish Episcopal in Dallas. He used a phrase that I am going to totally steal and promote and want to give him credit first. He said “I want to get my faculty up into the jet stream” of what is going on in innovative schools.
I can’t think of a better image, and I have used a lot: brushfires, bright lights, strokes on the canvas, pieces of the puzzle. But the jet stream is what school innovation is all about. There is a current, a flow of ideas that is moving swiftly. It is part of our learning ecosystem but out of reach for many educators. It is always changing, only somewhat predictable, dynamic, fluid, and moving quickly. It is already bypassing those who are not in the flow. Just like the atmospheric jet stream, we don’t see it, but it drives the weather on the ground every day. It circles the globe of learning, the cognitosphere, and is always there. It is not going to disappear.
This jet stream will carry anyone along with it once they have entered the flow. There is so much connectivity, energy, communication across boundaries of geography, age, discipline, and grade level.What are you doing to get up into the jet stream? What are you doing for your teachers to help them get up into the jet stream? Or are you and your school rooted firmly and safely on the ground just watching that flow pass by overhead, pretending it really does not impact you?
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