A surprisingly simple idea solves the structural problem of the-one and the-many in public schooling.

IF

we could, and we can (we have evidence)
"make" students (more and more) wise and responsible

AND

able to skillfully plan their own learning

THEN

it would become safe to provide (more and more) autonomy and students could work to their own unique ability.

It makes logical sense.

And, if it could be done (and it can) then it does indeed solve the structural problem of the-one and the-many in school.

Implementing this cause & effect theory

  1. We lead students through a series of very precisely designed inner psychological exercises.

    Functionally, two things happen. (A) Students learn how to ask and better hear the wise part within that we all have. (B) As students discover that not only do they have a will, but with the skill of the will they can do just about anything — and to their surprise achieve something difficult — it feels pretty good! They want to do this again. It becomes a virtuous cycle.

    As this proceeds it does become safe to provide more and more autonomy.

    All we are doing is aiding a very natural process. When did you grow up? When did you become able to autonomously act responsibly? It happened...somehow. The knowledge of how to aid this process is available!

  2. Now the challenge is at the level of the organization. How do we plan the learning differently — uniquely different for each and every student — every day?

    First, get rid of the central planning department. Teachers hate the schedule and the mid-year tests; and they find it painful to be forced to move students forward on the schedule that they know are not ready.

    We still need structure. Replace central planning with a new department made up of all of the students and all of the adults. Then, in little teams of 3,4,5,6 we have students plan their own learning using lean/agile techniques used all over silicon valley.

There is a lot more to the I-o method, but look at what we have achieved already.

  • Those students who before were ahead and bored are now working to their own ability!

  • Those students who before were behind, falling more behind and believing it is their fault, are now catching up and feeling good about it!

And notice, the school district is now orders of magnitude more organizationally intelligent, because thousands of students are planning the learning instead of just a few in central planning.

The I-o method name

The "I" in I-o stands for the inner "I" or self. This is the you that you are.

The "o" in I-o stands for organizing.

Even from this brief introduction you can see the I-o method works by both developing individual human potential and working at the level of the organization as a whole.