The Three Major Approaches to Changemaking.
You can approach change indirectly (by changing the situation to change behavior), through groups (especially in turning them into teams) and/or directly (by addressing students’ mindsets, values and sense of belonging). You also may want to approach change by combining some of these approaches.
What are changemakers’ points of entry? Taking our cue from social entrepreneurs in the field of education, they take the following forms: A direct approach, which involves changing individual students’ mindsets, values and social belonging through classroom activities; An indirect approach, which involves changing the environment (i.e., challenging situations), which benefits both the organization that houses these situations and the individuals within these organization; A group approach, through which negative peer pressure can be turned into positive peer pressure through both groups and teams.
The Direct Approach focuses on the students themselves, especially on their mindsets, their values, their social skills and their habits. It takes its most powerful form as social psychological interventions in education, “developed by the current generation of “social psychologists, who are now developing on-line ways of delivering them. Older persons are well suited for taking the lead in this approach, for we can bring keen insight into what what’s going on within the minds and hearts of students and serve as “psychological engineers,” those who can serve as ground troops.
The Group Approach involves turning negative peer pressure into positive peer pressure and forming teams that can become agents of change themselves. Groups can be extraordinarily powerful in improving academic performance for those student who participate within them, such as study groups. Student peer groups functioning as teams are especially effective helping others (addressing bullying and in seeking “restorative justice”), not to mention the residual benefits they get from their participation.
Older persons are well suited for this approach, for we bring with us sound judgment, especially on how groups can polarize us as well as how to turn groups into teams. Kurt Lewin, the founding father of social psychology (and to whom this book is dedicated), said it best, “Group dynamics can be the biggest barriers and the biggest motivators for change.” We older persons understand these sentiments intuitively.
The Indirect Approach focuses on improving the places and the times through which energy flows. They go at it through improving the organizational or institutional resources within a school or its surrounding community, particularly by attending to those situations where students gather on a regular basis. Older persons are well suited to approach problems from such an angle, for we are able to bring with us our broad perspective. In particular, we’re good candidates for combatting what Malcolm Gladwell calls the basic human tendency to “privilege the person and discount the influence of the situation.
Combined Approaches. Most successful change making involves more than one approach. A direct approach is made even more powerful when it is coupled with those events and rituals that are naturally repeated within the school calendar, that is situational approaches. A group approach, such as student peer groups to address bullying, is strengthened by direct teaching. Perhaps the most powerful example of a combined approach is Mary Gordon’s baby-in-the-classroom project.
You can approach change indirectly (by changing the situation to change behavior), through groups (especially in turning them into teams) and/or directly (by addressing students’ mindsets, values and sense of belonging). You also may want to approach change by combining some of these approaches.
What are changemakers’ points of entry? Taking our cue from social entrepreneurs in the field of education, they take the following forms: A direct approach, which involves changing individual students’ mindsets, values and social belonging through classroom activities; An indirect approach, which involves changing the environment (i.e., challenging situations), which benefits both the organization that houses these situations and the individuals within these organization; A group approach, through which negative peer pressure can be turned into positive peer pressure through both groups and teams.
The Direct Approach focuses on the students themselves, especially on their mindsets, their values, their social skills and their habits. It takes its most powerful form as social psychological interventions in education, “developed by the current generation of “social psychologists, who are now developing on-line ways of delivering them. Older persons are well suited for taking the lead in this approach, for we can bring keen insight into what what’s going on within the minds and hearts of students and serve as “psychological engineers,” those who can serve as ground troops.
The Group Approach involves turning negative peer pressure into positive peer pressure and forming teams that can become agents of change themselves. Groups can be extraordinarily powerful in improving academic performance for those student who participate within them, such as study groups. Student peer groups functioning as teams are especially effective helping others (addressing bullying and in seeking “restorative justice”), not to mention the residual benefits they get from their participation.
Older persons are well suited for this approach, for we bring with us sound judgment, especially on how groups can polarize us as well as how to turn groups into teams. Kurt Lewin, the founding father of social psychology (and to whom this book is dedicated), said it best, “Group dynamics can be the biggest barriers and the biggest motivators for change.” We older persons understand these sentiments intuitively.
The Indirect Approach focuses on improving the places and the times through which energy flows. They go at it through improving the organizational or institutional resources within a school or its surrounding community, particularly by attending to those situations where students gather on a regular basis. Older persons are well suited to approach problems from such an angle, for we are able to bring with us our broad perspective. In particular, we’re good candidates for combatting what Malcolm Gladwell calls the basic human tendency to “privilege the person and discount the influence of the situation.
Combined Approaches. Most successful change making involves more than one approach. A direct approach is made even more powerful when it is coupled with those events and rituals that are naturally repeated within the school calendar, that is situational approaches. A group approach, such as student peer groups to address bullying, is strengthened by direct teaching. Perhaps the most powerful example of a combined approach is Mary Gordon’s baby-in-the-classroom project.