The Story of the Positive Change Corps

1
The Story of the Positive Change Corps
Conversation on the Future of Education
A Leap of Faith Rediscovering the Wonder-full
World of Education
November 6-7, 2003   Weatherhead School of
Management Case Western Reserve University
(CASE) Cleveland, Ohio U.S.A.
2
(No Transcript)
3
A Note From Positive Change Corps Executive
Director

• Out of the ashes of the 9-11 disaster in the
  U.S.A, a group called the Positive Change Corps
  (PCC) was created from the question, What if
  there were a group of committed change agents,
  ready to contribute their knowledge of
  strength-based innovation and change to school
  systems and youth programs around the world?
  PCC worked with CASE Weatherhead School of
  Management and many others to convene a global
  Appreciative Inquiry (AI) called A Leap of
  Faith Rediscovering the Wonder-full World of
  Education.
• What brought over 120 of us together was the
  irresistible invitation to identify whats
  working within our schools and education systems
  and to discover, dream, and design the best kind
  of schools and youth programs. We wanted to
  locate, explore, and learn from those seeds of
  innovation and excellence that are pointing the
  way to a transformational approach to education
  -- education for a global village where schools
  and youth are recognized agents of world and
  community benefit.
• Marjorie Schiller, Ph.D
• Margeschiller_at_yahoo.com

4
Introduction

• This is a story about a diverse group of people
  interested and involved with youth and the
  educational community. Students, teachers,
  administrators, parents, and consultants from
  across the United States and England, Canada,
  Brazil, and Australia came together at CASE
  Weatherhead School of Management to share, dream,
  and dialogue about whats best, whats possible,
  and whats next for education and youth across
  the globe.
• The following drawings capture the spirit and
  energy of the two days participants spent
  together discovering the positive core of
  education and our youth, dreaming of the most
  preferred future, designing the best systems,
  structures, and programs, and extending and
  elevating this conversation to help move
  education and youth toward a wonder-full destiny.

5
Day 1

• After a welcome from Dr. Charleyse Pratt,
  Executive Director of Appreciative Leadership in
  Education Systems Change (ALESC) and co-convener
  of the conversation, our first speaker was Dr.
  Mohsen Anvari, the Dean of CASE Weatherhead
  School of Management. He noted that business
  schools dont normally enter into the education
  equation, but that his universitys belief is
  that the future of business is in becoming an
  agent of world benefit. He welcomed us in that
  spirit.
• Next, the Deputy Chief of the Cleveland Municipal
  School District, Rasool Jackson, welcomed us on
  behalf of Dr. Barbara Bennett, Superintendent of
  Cleveland Public Schools.
• Dr. Marge Schiller, Executive Director of the PCC
  and conversation co-convener, spoke about how so
  much of what we read about education is
  problem-focused. Our job here was to lift the
  positive core of education and youth to the
  light. She encouraged us to live in the
  questions, identify new possibilities for using
  strength-based methods for change, and make new
  connections with each other.

6
Discovery

• In the spirit of learning by doing, the framework
  of our two days together was the 4-D process of
  Appreciative Inquiry Discovery, Dream, Design,
  and Destiny. Dr. Jackie Stavros, Professor at
  Lawrence Technological University and Dawn Dole,
  Executive Director, TAOS Institute, launched the
  collective conversation by pairing up the group
  to interview one another. The inquiry began with
  conversations about peak moments in our
  experiences of education and youth and our hopes
  for the future.
• When had we found the most joy in learning?
• When had we been part of a change effort that
  made a difference?
• What did we most value about our roles in working
  with schools and youth?
• And what were our wishes for how education could
  be even better in the future?

7
(No Transcript)
8
Mapping the Positive Core

• After the interviews, we gathered in small groups
  to share our stories and meet each other.
  Through our stories we created maps of the
  positive core of education. What is present in
  peak moments when we are most alive and effective
  as learners?
• A community can help ignite and sustain the spark
• Education that works for all to create a world
  that works for all
• Respect
• Students active in their own change
• Learning as lifelong and community-wide
• Relationships
• The power of one
• Trust
• Safety
• Diversity Valued
• Diana Arsenian, a graphic recorder from Boston,
  Massachusetts, captured the conversation
  highlights and was assisted by Christopher Lee, a
  Canton, Ohio, high school student trained in
  graphic recording.

9

10
Dream The Heathside School Story

• A team of people from the Heathside School in
  England shared how they used Appreciative Inquiry
  with 1350 students and staff to strengthen their
  school. The school had doubled in size and they
  needed to rethink many things.
• Their stories and a video of their journey,
  filmed by their own students, inspired us all to
  do our own imagining of a possible future for
  global education.
• Id forgotten how much I wanted to be here.
• The idea of having 300 students with no
  structure it was quite frightening!
• When we started I thought this was about money.
  But I realize now its about whats in our heads
  and hearts.

11
(No Transcript)
12
Our Dreams

• In the afternoon of Day 1, we returned to our
  small groups and talked about our dreams for the
  future of education and our youth. What would
  things look like by the year 2013 if the positive
  core of education and youth were present?
• Each group prepared a short creative expression
  of the dream they had developed. Each had
  important and inspiring ideas about whats
  possible.
• What is inside of you that wants to come out?
• Stepping to your own beat, walking in cultural
  harmony
• From the school of hard knocks to soft schools
  out of the box.
• The day ended with the inspirational Cleveland
  Boy Choir singing songs that began to make our
  dreams feel real.

13
(No Transcript)
14
Design at Shaw High School

• On the morning of Day 2, Dr. Charleyse Pratt and
  a group of students from Shaw High School in
  Cleveland illustrated how Appreciative Inquiry
  (AI) helped their school invent a program called
  Global Leadership and Excellence in Academics,
  Mathematics and Science (GLEAMS).
• The GLEAMS program created a new vision at Shaw
  to empower, enlighten and enrich for excellence
  in education. AI was used to help prepare a
  proposal for a Knowledge Works grant from General
  Electric. The program has been extraordinarily
  successful in helping scholars pass their state
  proficiency exams, go on to bigger and better
  dreams and move deeper into their learnings.
• Her core message included a key lesson learned
  about the Design phase of Appreciative Inquiry.
  In Design, its important to be authentic about
  creating our vision of the future and the steps
  to get there. This is where we can trip over
  those things we want to hang on to. Remember
  that its the things that trip me, not the
  people.

15
(No Transcript)
16
Our Design Step

• The small groups were invited to come up with
  possibility statements (PS). These statements
  describe in words, the future we imagined in
  pictures, dance, and music in the Dream phase.
  Here is a sampling
• PS1 The learning process shimmers and vibrates
  with adventure, fun and excitement and
  
• generates energy, exploration, and
  risk taking. There is a chain of teachers and
• learners sharing their wealth of
  resources.   Relationships are fostered and
• celebrated as the center of learning.
  Conversation of self-respect and mutual
• respect with meaningful dialog are
  actively encouraged amongst all. We are having
• fun!
• PS2 Our school has no walls the community is
  a resource for the school and the school
• is a resource for the community.
• q  We are open 24/7 as a community center.
• q  We mine the resources of the community to
  provide the best learning experiences for
• each individual student.
  
• q Teachers are released one day per month to
  design cross-curricular activities, make
• community contacts, and build
  relationships.
• q School dollars are allocated to encourage the
  use of community resources and our
• school actively pursues alternative funding
  sources.
• q  Students are involved in planning, learning,
  and teaching.

17
Several More Possibilities

• PS3 Our learning spaces are centers in
  communities that draw individuals and families
• into collaborative relationships. In
  these centers you see scholars and lead learners
  
• of all ages engaging in lively
  learning and spontaneous and creative
  interactions.
• Laughter, fun and joy are evident in
  faces and voices of everyone in the learning
• community. As a result everyone knows
  where they are, where they want to go, and
• what they need to get there.
• PS4 Our schools are characterized by courage.
  Every single person in the community is
• 100 at choice and holds themselves
  fully accountable for their choices. They speak
• from their hearts unafraid to take
  chances and to speak their truths respectfully.
• Underpinning it all is self-awareness
  and heart.

18
Several More Possibilities

• PS 5 The learning process is composed of the
  flow of energy exchange between and
• among individuals, groups, and
  systems, embracing the whole person/whole system
• perspective.
• Patterns of ENERGY MOVEMENT that promote the
  learning process as Positive and Affirmative
• q       Freedom and autonomy
• q       World as a classroom
• q       Learning is directed by individual,
  groups systems (collaborative)
• q       Persistence and determination
• q       Supports a culture that accepts mistakes
• q       Redesign our perception of time usage
• q       Promotes an experience of renewal
• q       Views crisis as opportunity

19
Several More Possibilities

• PS6 As our environment continues to be resource
  rich, physically and
• emotionally, it fosters this type of
  setting
• q       Positive atmosphere where everyone has a
  sense of belonging
• q       Learning is safe, respectful, and
  encouraged
• q       Learning facilities built in places
  surrounded by less distractions peaceful
• q       Mutual trust and respect
• q       Diversity is accepted and celebrated
• q       All students are scholars who want to
  go deeper
• q       Teachers adjust to students needs,
  beliefs, values and how they need to
• be taught
• q       Schools are known as places where
  scholars want to go and are welcomed
• A complete list of the possibility statements are
  available on the AI commons
• http//ai.cwru.edu/practice/organizationDetail.cfm
  ?coid4210sector25

20
(No Transcript)
21
Destiny

• We realized that taking this step is very
  challenging. We shared stories and reflections
  on how possibility statements can be used back in
  our homes, schools and programs to enrich our
  individual work.
• Sometimes people just want to create plans for
  OTHERS to do, not themselves!
• This reminded me of the importance of owning and
  remembering the vision.
• The experience of dissonance is important. It
  tells us something is not clicking so we need to
  work on it.
• Its all about bringing all the stakeholder
  voices in and drawing on strengths, wherever they
  emerge.

22
(No Transcript)
23
Transforming the Destiny

• Dr. David Cooperrider, Professor at CASE
  Weatherhead School of Management and lead learner
  in Appreciative Inquiry, shared his thoughts
  about how as humans we thrive under conditions of
  love, in a setting where people take the time to
  know us at a deep level. In living systems, the
  fundamental dynamic is conservation. As humans,
  we can act knowing whether what we do conserves
  or destroys the loving biosphere around us.
• In Destiny we talk about co-construction of an
  evolving future. Illuminating the positive core
  of the past, present, and future creates a
  trajectory and opens up new choices.
• We then met in small specific interest groups to
  develop practical steps we could take to move
  projects forward, using what we had learned and
  the connections we made at this Leap of Faith
  conversation.

24
(No Transcript)
25
Sustaining Our Destiny

• Appreciative Inquiry teaches us that we discover
  the seeds of success in the past. Then the sun
  shines on the seeds as we Dream together. We
  create possibility statements about how we want
  our aspirations to look once theyre grown. The
  Destiny phase is how we bring intent into the
  world.
• The specific interest groups came together to
  develop next steps and commitments to transform
  school and youth programs cultures, systems and
  processes by amplifying strengths and aligning
  actions with missions, visions, and values.
• To read more information about the Leap of Faith
  Conversation, The Positive Change Corps and other
  school youth AI initiatives visit the AI
  Commons at
• http//appreciativeinquiry.cwru.edu/
• and the PCC List Serve at
• http//mailman.business.utah.edu8080/mailman/list
  info/pcc-l

26
(No Transcript)
27
New Beginnings

• Alyse Smith Cooper, a minister, story teller, and
  staff member of the Black Alliance for Health
  Care, wove our closing story, giving us time to
  reflect and deepen our experience of the
  collective conversation.
• Having gathered your attention, the story must
  come forth.
• You are right on the edge of changes you cant
  even imagine.
• Conversations lead to relationships. You reach
  out. You cant stay inside yourself.
• To take that leap of faith, you cant take excess
  baggage with you. You have to be light.
• People were invited to address the group in
  parting. We delighted in the sense of connection
  and healing that we all experienced over the two
  days together. One of the student participants
  had the last word
• I didnt know so many adults cared about us.

28
(No Transcript)
29
Heartfelt Thank YouTo all of those who worked on
bringing this conversation to life through this
special gathering and booklet, we thank you for
your time, words, and images
Everyone who participated in Leap of Faith The Canton Public Schools The Utah Teachers Association Everyone who has contributed time, talent and tithe to the Positive Change Corps Foundation Diana Arsenian Dr. David Cooperrider Dawn Dole Leslie Evers Dr. Gina Hinrichs Christopher Lee Joyce Lemke Debbie Morris Dr. Charleyse Pratt Dr. Marge Schiller Jane Seiling Alyse Smith Cooper Dr. Jackie Stavros Kathy Hazelton Sara Mierke Cleveland Boy Choir Cleveland Public Schools McDonalds Corporation The Positive Change Corps Weatherhead School of Management, CASE