Finding Inspiration and Creating Urgency

As the African proverb goes, “It takes a village…”  At the Inspired Learning Project, we are believers that the work to reimagine our schools isn’t a one-person or one school job.  Throughout our work, we have emphasized the need to include our entire community, school and beyond, in our vision and our journey.  Just as each of you is inspired by a sense of purpose in this work, it is our job to help create this same sense of urgency with our students, parents, and community members to support our work as we reimagine school. ​

“[Urgency] comes from a lot of places... It certainly doesn’t happen naturally in organizations. Organizations have a general tendency to want to stabilize and just kind of stay there. And urgency goes like this, even with good people. That has nothing to do with it. So you have to understand its importance, you have to be dedicated to wanting to create it, because you see what it can do for you, for the organization, for society. And then you provide the leadership no matter where you are in the organization, to make it happen.” - John Kotter

While we can often find a sense of urgency in some members of our communities, the challenge becomes creating a wide spread sense of urgency across our communities to support this work.  With that in mind, the Inspired Learning Team is excited to launch its Inspired Learning Library, designed to help explore these ideas, spark conversations, generate excitement and maybe most importantly build a sense of urgency that will fuel our work as we reimagine what school can be. 

​You may have seen the new tab added to the website!  The Inspired Learning Library is a compilation of books from forward-thinking authors that hold the potential to evoke a sense of urgency about the need to reimagine school.  As a living library, the books enter our school and community and are passed from person to person. Check out the Inspired Learning Library tab to learn more about this grant-funded project and how to kick-off your own Inspired Learning Library in your community.

Have suggestions for books that have helped to develop your sense of urgency and fuel your work to reimagine school?  Add your ideas in the Padlet below to share your favorites with the Inspired Learning community.  

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