Friday, 13 April 2012

Connectivity in the School Context


Connectivity in our context is defined as the synergy created through interconnected relationships. In the school context, through the learning process, the goal is to ensure students have compassion and empathy as tools in their decision-making toolbox.  The goal of creating, fostering and nurturing connectivity is grounded in the belief that relationships serve as one of the corner stones to success. You can master the use of a tool, you can master a skill, you can even master rote detail, but all this mastery is nothing is you don’t have the connectivity of relationships. The current state of technology in education provides a great example. A child’s mastery of a computer is only as great as the depth of the programs learned. As Alec Couros (2012) would support, opening the doors to world wide connectivity and open learning, leaves no stone unturned in terms of what can be learned. The synergistic connectivity created through relationships and an open learning environment is the goal.

So where do we start? We know that somewhere along the line, children lose what adults often call naivety. They go from trusting everyone to being more closed and guarded. Yes, of course this is a self-preservation mechanism at work, but can it be taken too far? Very young children foster relationships void of cultural, gender or socioeconomic bias. At what point do they begin to avoid relationships because of learned bias? As we stated in a previous blog, is this just another example of an ingrained CODE in action. If we’re going to promote connectivity we need to get to the root of relationships and build trust within our system and building.  

“Trust impacts us 24/7, 365 days a year. It undergirds and affects the quality of every relationship, every communication, every work project, every business venture, and every effort in which we are engaged. It changes the quality of every present moment and alters the trajectory and outcome of every future moment of our lives -- both personally and professionally. I am convinced that in every situation, nothing is as fast as the speed of trust.”
(Covey, LeadershipNow.com, 2009)

Once trust is established, connectivity can take over. What we aim to achieve through connectivity is the development of emotional connections for our students to provide them with empathic self-regulation and understanding when they make decisions.  It seems easy to rest on the rhetoric mission statement of “creating the 21st century citizen that is capable of functioning in this new world”; but what does it really mean? We have written about the need to develop “educational” skills and mastery, but as we previously stated, mastery of skill or concept falls short if not connected through relationships and emotional learning. 

If you ask an adult what they value, what would the answer be?  Most typical answers might include family, friends, other relationships, jobs and probably money.  If you ask children or teenagers what they value, they might have similar answers albeit with different emphasis.  The child might see the family as very important whereas the teenager might see personal items as more “valuable”.  We are asking our students the question: "What do you value at our school?".  

This question directly ties into last week’s blog entry and the work we are doing in supporting student success. This conversation began with some key focus groups within our student body.  For several lunch hours, we have been interviewing students in relation to the development of a new code for our school.  The existing "Code of Conduct" at our school is respect yourself and others, respect the environment and respect learning.  We believe this falls short of what we’re trying to achieve. Where is the buy in from students and staff?

When we asked our students the question “As a student, what do you value?”, the answers for most students were related to them feeling safe, having a sense of worth and knowing that they will get acknowledgment for success.  Herein lies the reason why we want to venture down this path. In fostering trust, we will promote connectivity and look forward to providing an environment that is valued by all our students.

Stay tuned for next week’s blog when we define the narrative of our journey.



Identify the stakeholders…       Trust the process…      Trust the people…




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