Structure of the Book
Chapter 1 presents two views of education. The first is directive and is based on the assumption that education is a hierarchical process of knowledge transfer. Most of us are already familiar with the directive perspective because it is the model that many of us experienced as we grew up. The second view of education is based on an assumption of transformational growth through co-creation. It suggests that education is an organic, adaptive process of knowledge creation. The second perspective does not deny or negate the first. The need for the directive perspective never goes away. The co-creative perspective includes and enlarges the first, making it possible to both broaden and deepen learning.
Chapter 2 proposes that a person must transcend conventional assumptions and operate from an expanded set of beliefs to obtain extraordinary outcomes. Those beliefs may, by conventional standards, seem almost paradoxical. The chapter introduces the BFK•Connect Framework for thinking about how differences can be connected and become mutually reinforcing. It suggests that performance increases as we learn to adapt and that as we learn to adapt we become more complex, that is, more able to see differences and integrate them in generative ways.
Chapters 3 and 4 reflect on how to leverage our strengths without being limited by them. Building on our strengths while recognizing their limitations helps us leave our comfort zone, have new experiences that challenge our working assumptions, and move toward excellence. Each teacher’s developmental path is unique, but the journey is facilitated by understanding the framework introduced in chapter 2 and elaborated on in chapters 3 and 4.
Chapter 5 explores how teachers can empower themselves despite the challenges they face. HETs claim to experience the same barriers and feel the same frustrations as their peers, but they seem to respond with unusual resilience. Rather than focus on the barriers, they tend to focus on their higher purpose and they keep learning. That purpose is to liberate the potential that already exists in students. One aspect of this strategy is to model the change they wish to see in their students.
Chapter 6 examines the empowerment of students. In some classrooms students are assumed to be recipients of information. In others they are expected to be creators of knowledge. In the latter case, the students are still recipients of information but they are more fully empowered and engaged. Engaged people tend to learn more than unengaged people. This chapter discusses the emergence of communities in which unity and individuality become mutually reinforcing.
Chapter 7 explores the structures and the processes we use in our approach to teacher professional development. We do this by sharing the stories of the teachers who have joined with us in these attempts to liberate potential and pursue excellence.