I am the bowling ball picking up speed. Misguided. Spinning. Curled up, heading towards a gutter, a crash. Helen is the steady hand, the guiding rail. She redirects and corrects my course. Even when I am at my lowest, I am reminded of the support. Who do you turn to…

Tuckman’s Group Development Model — In 1965 a psychologist called Bruce Tuckman was working for the U.S. Navy. He was a member of a small group of researchers at the Naval Medical Research Institute. Their job was to study small group behaviour. Tuckman was given access to a collection of 50 articles by the research…

Recovery Rhythms — It’s that time of year again in the Southern Hemisphere. The end of term is fast approaching, and the pressure is mounting. As educators, we often put our wellbeing on the backburner in favour of our students. But if we’re not taking care of ourselves, how can we expect to…

Self-sustaining spider-worts — My weekly email helps educators and innovation leaders enhance their practice by sharing provocations, ideas and mental models. Join today, and get your copy this week. In 1960 David Latimer placed a small spiderwort plant in a 10-inch glass terrarium with some soil and water. He sealed the glass bottle…

Earlier this week, I tuned in to a public lecture from Laureate Professor Marilyn Fleer and her team. They presented their latest findings from the Conceptual Playlab at Monash University. The Conceptual PlayLab is a research group. They investigate play-based models for teaching young children science, technology, engineering, and mathematics…

How to balance, flexibility and structure in coaching conversations Coaching is unique because no two coaching conversations are ever the same. Each individual brings their unique perspective to the table. This makes coaching so interesting — every interaction is an opportunity for learning and growth. Each person has their own…

The Pacific concept of Talanoa — This week I learned about the Pacific concept of “talanoa”. This is storytelling that leads to consensus-building and decision-making. It is a collective or community intelligence process deeply rooted in the Pacific way of life. With parallels to Australian Aboriginal yarning and Hawaiian talkstory, talanoa is a conversational mode of…

Research into what motivates teams — In today’s issue, we explore recent research into what motivates teams. This research can help us design better teamwork by understanding team dynamics and what motivates different people. It got me thinking about a group or teamwork in a school or academic setting, so I have shared some guidance and…

Hello there! Welcome to the Dialogic Learning Weekly. It’s Friday, February 20. I’m Tom, writing to you from Melbourne, Australia. Thanks for spending part of your day with me. Reach out with comments, questions and feedback at tom@dialogiclearning.com or on Twitter at @tombarrett. …