Thompson says, as we awaken wonder in ourselves, we awaken it in others; as we research, we become inspired; as we journey we are empowered as meaning-makers; once you feel the power of a DiG, you can’t unfeel it.
Since our inception at Griffin, we have envisioned writing a 'new story' of school and journeyed tirelessly in its pursuit. We've wondered and researched, we've been inspired and shifted practice. Our DiG experience only amplified this vision and our momentum. The difference was in experiencing the learning framework as a learner, not an educator. Instead of simply learning about the framework, we experienced the framework.
Following our leadership team DiG, it became clear that explaining the framework and experience to our teachers would be difficult. 'Telling' would never match 'feeling'. The best way to share the DiG learning framework with teachers, then, was to let them feel it, to experience it themselves – so we did. In order to bring the DiG learning framework to our learners, our staff needed to experience this powerful learning journey first.
Within a week, our twelve Year Four, Five and Six teachers embarked on their own DiGs. Much of the same emotion and uncertainty arose as it did during our leadership DiG, yet our teachers walked courageously into their uncertainty, leaned into vulnerability, followed their curiosity, and became Comfortable Being Uncomfortable. They created artefacts that unleashed their creative genius, they shared with vulnerability and trust. Our teachers felt what we had felt. They too felt something that they couldn’t simply unfeel.
Our first teacher DiG further ignited our desire for our learners to experience learning reimagined, to experience a fast-paced journey that leads to a deep feeling of empowerment. Noticing and naming the dominant themes that had emerged for us as learners undertaking a DiG was a powerful, reflective exercise that began to illuminate our pathway forward.
Within a few days, we connected in year-level teams. We reflected on being positioned as learners and being deeply seen and heard during our DiG journey. We again practiced deeply listening to each other and bravely shared our voice as we articulated the elements of the DiG that we each valued. We named the collective themes that emerged as we discussed - Trust, Personal Connection, Authentic Voice, and Mindset. These were the essence of the DiG journey for us, our way of articulating the feeling that we couldn’t simply unfeel.
Undertaking a DiG as an educator allowed us to experience and feel learning reimagined. Our core experiences were transmutative, seeing shifts in our narrative identity. Noticing and naming our Dominant Themes allowed us to pinpoint our shared truth. These dominant themes became our focus for bringing Designed inGenuity to our learners.
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