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<DIV>I'm forwarding this invitation from another list-serve, in the event anyone
on the OS list-serve is interested.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
href="mailto:art@well.com" title=art@well.com>Art Kleiner</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A href="mailto:learning-org@world.std.com"
title=learning-org@world.std.com>learning-org@world.std.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, September 21, 1999 4:07 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Schools That Learn / Contributions from Students and
Teachers LO22706</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Dear members of the Learning Organization list-serv: <BR>This
message is a request for contributions to a book in production called Schools
That Learn. As some of you know, we've been working on this book for a while and
it's entering its last stages -- and we're discovering that we don't have
everything we need. <BR>I'm writing either because you may know (or be) someone
who is the kind of contributor we're looking for. We are looking, specifically,
for informal emails from two groups of people. <BR>====<BR>1. Students (junior
high school, high school, or university) who have had some experience trying to
change their schools for the better.<BR>(For example: A lot of students are
feeling the pressure of overwhelming amounts of homework, not necessarily with
any increase in learning. Has any student succeeded in raising this issue in a
way that made a difference for the better? Or in changing schools in some other
way?) <BR>====<BR>2. Classroom teachers (K-12, or university) who have directly
used the "learning disciplines" popularized by Peter Senge in their work --
either in the classroom, or in trying to change the school for the better. These
are Systems Thinking, Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Vision and Team
Learning.<BR>====<BR>At this point, these are the only two groups of people we
are looking for. We are trying to give students and teachers a visible presence
in the book that would otherwise be missing.<BR>We already have an oversupply of
articles by administrators, consultants, and people trying to change the schools
from the outside. We think students and teachers, in particular, need to be
heard in a book like the one we're trying to produce.<BR>=====<BR>We're not
looking for formal essays. We're looking for people who have some authentic
experience that they have thought about, and who are willing to write me an
informal letter about your experience (successful or not) and what you made of
it.<BR>What did you do or try? What were you thinking when you started? What did
you learn in your effort (that isn't obvious)? What would work if you tried to
do it again? What would you avoid? Who are the most effective allies? What
unexpected challenges arose? What did you get out of it?<BR>I'll reply, and out
of the give-and-take between us, a short article will hopefully emerge for
Schools That Learn (by Peter Senge, Nelda Cambron-McCabe, Tim Lucas, Janis
Dutton, Art Kleiner and Bryan Smith). I suspect that there are both students and
teachers whose articles would mean a great deal to other people, in other
schools, trying to do similar things. <BR>Schools That Learn is subtitled "The
Fifth Discipline Education Fieldbook." It is a follow-up to a prominent
management book of ten years' back, The Fifth Discipline. It will be published
by Doubleday. The last three books in this series were bestsellers, so this one
may be as well.<BR>Our premise is that schools and other institutions of
learning can be more like "learning organizations" - organizations that
continually improve by tapping into the hopes and dreams of everyone involved,
and continually helping people talk authentically, even in bureaucratic or
rigidly controlled situations. If you take the idea seriously, it's a lot of
difficult work -- but it means you're directly involved in the school rather
than a passive recipient.<BR>We're interested in public and private schools, in
junior high school, high school and in universities -- anywhere in the world.
<BR>----<BR>Our deadline is December 1. Material we don't use in the book will
still appear (if the writers so wish) in our website, <U><?color><?param 0000,0000,00FF>http://www.fieldbook.com<?/color></U>. In
either case, contributors retain final cut and copyright to their work. <BR>I
invite anyone interested to get in touch with me by email at:
art@well.com.<BR>For more information, see our previous books -- The Fifth
Discipline Fieldbook and The Dance of Change. Or check out the website. <BR>Feel
free to copy this message to anyone who might be interested. <BR>Thank you for
your consideration. <BR>Yours,<BR>Art Kleiner <?/fontfamily><BR>-- Art Kleiner,
art@well.com, http://www.well.com/user/art -- <BR>Art Kleiner
<?art@well.com><BR>Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash
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