Leading for Change through Design
Creative Summer Institute 2019 Reflections
Have you ever wondered what might happen if teachers and school leaders embarked on a design journey in their schools together? We’re very excited to expand our Chapters program this year, bringing teachers and school leaders together to design solutions towards more equitable outcomes for all students. To launch the work, we hosted a phenomenal group of Teachers Guild Chapter Leaders and School Retool Coaches at IDEO San Francisco for three days of collaboration, inspiration, and community building.
At this Creative Summer Institute, we convened a national community of like-minded educators who are inspired to design new solutions for their students, driven by optimism, creativity, and purpose. They are embarking on a year-long design journey to lead the collaborative Chapters program in their own communities. Follow along with their progress by following @TeachersGuild on Instagram and Twitter!
You can design for your school community, too! Gather a design team at your school, and get inspired with our Top 3 Tips & Reflections from the event:
Define your why: Start with purpose and identify the reasons you’re interested in designing learner-centered solutions for your school. Inviting people to design together requires a clear, shared vision. During the Creative Summer Institute, we developed Public Narratives by creating stories of Self, Us, and Now. Want to learn more about Marshall Ganz’s Public Narrative process? Check it out here!
Creative cultures encourage play: Asking people to take risks in their schools and try new things requires courage! Trying something for the first time is a vulnerable act, and integrating elements of play can make this an easier process. Our friends from IDEO’s Play Lab shared some inspiration to encourage creative risk taking. We invite you to take a risk and start your next school meeting with a creative warm-up, like creating a logo for your design team or a designing a new-and-improved fitness tracker. Add a bunch of these warm-ups to a “Grab Bag” and choose a new one each morning!
Relationships are the foundation of change: Building cultures of trust through relationships helps to create spaces for meaningful collaboration. Kristen Brohm, a Chapter Lead in St. Vrain Valley School District in Colorado, shared how she is building a professional learning community across her district. We were also inspired by guest speaker Kaleb Rashad, Director of Creative Leadership at High Tech High’s Graduate School of Education, who spoke about the possibilities that exist at the intersection of equity, design, and leadership. He reminded us that leading change through design happens by co-designing alongside your community. “The genius is in the people,” he noted. “It always has been.”
