Malcolm Gauld
Log on to the Discovery Process learning management system (LMS) portal and you can feel like you’re sipping from a firehose. For sure, there’s a lot there: 135 lessons organized among 25 Modules bearing such titles as Courage, The Best Possible Me/Us, Embracing Difference, and Right vs. Cool. And that’s just the learning content…
…The extensive training content totals ten hours of instruction with separate components — complete with instructional videos and digital handbooks — broken down specifically for teachers, school leaders, and trainers.
As much work as we put into developing the LMS — not to mention how proud we are of it — we would stress that the LMS is not the core of the program.
“The Core” is all about “The Group.” And “The Group” is all about the Morning Meeting.
Some Discovery Process schools do this meeting every single morning. Some go with once or twice a week. Regardless of frequency, it all boils down to spending deliberate time on a fundamental question: “So, how are you/we doing?” The Morning Meeting sets aside 10 to 15 minutes to give undivided consideration to that question. Then we head off to class. (And class goes so much better!)
One thing for sure: Far too many kids (and teachers!) across our country are bummed. And this feeling is not limited to a specific demographic, socio-economic status, or geographic area. Most of the solutions we see out there are heavy on the adults doing something new or novel to help the kids. That’s not a bad thing, but these solutions seem uniform in their omission of a critical dimension:
The. Kids. Must. Participate. In. Their. Own. Resurrection.
The Discovery Process offers a powerful way to engage that participation. Let’s talk about it!
Onward, Malcolm Gauld
mgauld@discoveryprocess.org
