Who Do We Serve?

 We created the Arete Academy for people who are dissatisfied with the current school structure and wanted a way to make their learning matter. To give them a way to use their learning in a real way that will connect with other people. We also created it because we feel that the current format of education is not giving students skills that will lead to success outside of school. Seth Godin states that a group should figure out who their customers are and then create a product that they will connect with (in order to help "others become who they seek to become" (Godin 2018, 6).

I think we think we created the Arete Academy for others, but did we really create for ourselves to resuscitate or reinvent our careers? I know we were dissatisfied with what we were doing and how we were doing it. What ended up happening was that we had a group of adults we could rely on, bounce ideas off, combine ideas with and pull together rather than all pulling individually, which makes everything seem easier, even though we chose the harder way to do things.

Godin, Seth. This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See. Portfolio Penguin, 2018.

Pre-Yes

Saying yes opens us up to things that one would never encounter by not jumping forward. Sitting and waiting to be chosen with a hopeful look on one's face is not enough. In fact, doing something before anyone asks for it is an even bigger advantage. Then the idea maker gets to make the rules and set the course. In the course of the 2019 winter in Wisconsin, we had four snow/cold days in the course of two weeks. Our school district went to the Wisconsin Department of Instruction and told them we were going to count the days we didn't meet at school because we can do school remotely with the technology every student has. We implemented the idea almost without permission as an experiment and now all other school districts seem to be saying, "Wow, how did you guys get to do that?" Well, we weren't chosen, we chose ourselves.

To take it to a student level, we were wondering how successful the Digital Learning Days were and we took it upon ourselves to ask our district office if we could do some surveys to see what others think about those days. We have had over 1000 responses from parents, teachers and students regarding the days and which we will use as a problem analysis test. They were thinking about doing it, but we just did it.

Being the person to say "no" also has its advantages, although it takes a special person to seek out that type of interaction. Saying "no" is to be critical. To examine ideas from all angles and poke holes in them. In saying "no," the person shows "the strength to disappoint you now in order to delight you later" (Godin 2010, 75). Most people want to be told how great their ideas are, but without someone who will ask vital questions, things can be too vague when put into practice and may not end up as well as one would have liked.

In 2020, everyone had to go to that model when the coronavirus and “Safer at Home” orders went out. No one planned for Covid to take us out of school, but because the elements had been put in place early, “our students were less affected with learning loss then elsewhere” according to Chad Buboltz, assistant Superintendent of the Neenah Joint School District in Neenah, Wisconsin. How can students, or the general person,  create that same sort of preparedness for a situation they cannot currently imagine happening?

Godin, Seth. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? Portfolio, 2010.

"I'm the Kind of Person Who..."

The idea of rebranding Arete has bedeviled me for the last couple of years because the Arete concept, while great, does not resonate with people. When you have to teach them how to say it and what it means, that is two steps too many. John Ernst of Kinnektor asked me, what is your program about? Who are your people? Capture your program in one sentence. After giving him a paragraph, I realized that we are trying to be all things. We want our message to resonate with people who are dissatisfied with current school structure, and who want to use their learning to make a difference, and who want to be contributors, and who want to do advanced work and who are creative, and who work hard and who want to do hands on learning and who want to solve problems and who want to get things done. We want our program name to effortlessly connect with middle schoolers, their parents, and community members without explanation, but in a way that communicates who we are and what we are about.

Ernst gave the example of Jeep. When one sees a person in a Jeep (the CJ-5, Wrangler, doors-off type), immediately a concept of who the person is and what they are into leaps to mind. The same thing is the case with a Suburu or a Prius. They don't haul lumber or pull a boat. Generally, they are not what a wedding party will ride in, but people who see them know what they are for because, as Seth Godin may say, "People like them drive things like that." Steve Sims, author of Bluefishing: The Art of Getting Things Done writes prestige brands "set out from the very beginning to create an experience for someone" (Sims 125). What is the experience we create, or are aiming to create in Arete?

What would our students say when completing the sentence "I'm the kind of person who..." They may say (or mean): gets things done, invests in themselves, believes in themselves, wants to change the world, wants to help people, wants to do hands on learning, makes connections in the community, revolts, is contrary, is different, is advanced, makes my learning matter, learns my passions, uses my skills, learns new skills, etc. Which of these things is it our intent for them to respond?

Learn to Be Disruptive

Seth Godin is one of my favorite authors. He is a disruptive force in the world of business and marketing, but I see his writing as directly applicable and disruptive to education as well. Depending on the situation, clients may be students or parents, bosses might be students, parents, or actual bosses. It is really all a matter of being able to see the connections.

Recently I have started Godin's Freelancer class on Udemy, a place for online learning. The classes on Udemy are not for college credit, but are for general learning of any kind. People make their own courses based on their expertise.

Because we are only in the second year of the program, by my way of thinking as members of our PBL program,  Arete PBL Academy at Neenah High School, all teachers and students are freelancers because we do not have an automatic clientele. Students often join us based on student or parent word of mouth, our presentations at other schools or our public displays of learning.

In the last three days, teachers and students in the program have presented at both Neenah High School and at Shattuck Middle School to inform families about our program. It really struck the  teachers in our program, Suzy Weisgerber, Emily Bennett, Tara Meinke, Lynn Heyn and I how impressive it was that students were willing to give up hours of free time to go to school and talk about how important our program has been to their lives.

One of the most effective lines that our students used while talking with families was, "Do you like tests?" The question usually stopped every kid in their tracks. Every student knows that for most classes and for most tests the goal is to get the highest grade possible and then forget the information as quickly as possible. In response to Godin's suggestions of how to increase demand, by asking that one question our students initiated a need in younger students. I feel it is the need for a way to do school that doesn't include tests.

Students followed that question by telling the story of our program, the way they learn, the learning outcomes both in terms of the academic expectations which all students have and the "soft skills" that they learn as part of how they are learning and showing the evidence of their learning.

Another element of Godin's (@thisissethsblog) freelancer course is to be an instigator, which is someone who decides what they are going to do rather than waiting for something to happen. Our students have instigated change in their lives and are encouraging others to do the same. It will be interesting to see how many students eventually join our program based on the student storytelling and instigation.