Developing New Leadership Pipeline

Yesterday in a Twitter discussion with my #clmooc network I posted this Tweet, in response to something Sherri Edwards had posted:

I wonder if anyone has created an archive, using #cmap or other tools, showing a) every university that trains future teachers, or, b) that provides on-going coaching to current teachers, who point to affinity groups like #clmooc or #ds106 , to encourage learning about this.

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 9, 2019

That and following responses got me thinking about an idea I've proposed in various ways for many years, and talk about in this TippingPoints pdf.

"What if colleges were preparing people to lead and support constantly improving tutor/mentor programs, schools and other organizations, by reaching youth as young as middle school and keeping them continually engaged, all the way through college, into work, and for the rest of their lives?"

So, I created a ppt slide to try to visualize this idea. It's shown below:

I immediately recognized that this slide is packed with information and while I understand it, most viewers might take one look, then move on.  So, how do I get a few people to spend some time on the graphic, and perhaps help unpack and share it's meaning.

So, I went to NOWCOMMENT, and posted my graphic, then highlighted different sections with questions.

View this on NOWCOMMENT

While I posted a couple of graphics on NOWCOMMENT a few years ago, I'm a novice at using this platform.  Thus, if anyone is interested in helping unpack the slide, I'd welcome a Skype conversation during which we do some unpacking together, and where I am mentored in using the platform more effectively.

Normally, I'd now go on and create a bunch more graphics and unpack the slide myself in the rest of this article. However, I'm going to wait a week or so, to see if anyone else takes a look first.

In the #clmooc group we're doing a collective reading and discussion of "Affinity Online: How Connection and Shared Interest Fuel Learning". We're talking about Affinity Spaces, and what it is that keeps us #clmooc folks connected and learning together.

I saw this Tweet this morning:

Something to think about, from the Affinity Network book being read in #clmooc — no online space can “rest on its laurels” if it hopes to remain viable and active, particularly in a time of “do I have attention?” But that doesn’t mean the interaction has to be shallow, either pic.twitter.com/2KTr2nzdWJ

— CLMOOC (@CLMOOC) March 10, 2019

Since I formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) in 1993 I've continually been looking for people to spend time, talent and dollars discussing, interpreting and sharing the ideas I launched via print newsletters in the 1990s, and web sites, then blog articles since 1998.

Over time, many have joined in this effort, but few have stayed involved for more than a few years, at most. Thus, I've constantly looked for partners to help share this vision, and the work involved. Universities are an obvious place to look, and my interest in universities is expressed in this series of blog articles.

As I read blog posts from the #clmooc network, I have come to believe that this work could be done at high school, or even middle school level.

Since colleges and universities serve different geographic regions, each could have a Tutor/Mentor Institute team of students, faculty, alumni and community members working to collect and share information in an on-going effort to fill the area around the university with programs that reach youth when young, then support them through school and into careers and adult lives.

One of those careers could be in non-school youth tutor, mentor and learning organizations serving youth in high poverty areas.

What I add to this vision is that such a college based program should attract and engage students who WILL NOT choose careers in non profits, or education, but will become lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs and successful business people.  These students will learn the value of youth tutor/mentor programs and sophisticated education programs and will also learn how long it takes to raise a child, and how difficult it is for each non profit to attract the resources that enable them to become great, then stay great for many years.

These students will learn to become proactive in how they work to support existing organizations where other alumni may be on staff or involved as volunteers. They will learn to use maps to understand where programs are reaching youth, and where more programs are needed. They will learn to start new programs, and improve existing programs, by borrowing ideas from working programs throughout the world, not just from one city.

Darn!  I have already given some of the ideas that are included on that slide.  Please go and look for yourself.

Join me, in my Tutor/Mentor AffinityGroup, on line at Twitter, or Facebook, or on LinkedIN, or in new spaces that you might help create.

Note: one role that any can take is to be a contributor to help me pay the bills and keep doing this work. Click here to learn more.