Category: education

education, simplicity

Step 34: Moving Mountains One Stone at a Time

Christa Avampato

“The one who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” ~ Confucius

I went to a second training session with Citizen Schools that focuses on building out our final project ideas along with constructing an idea for the apprenticeship fair where the students will visit each possible apprenticeship and note their top choices for the semester. So now I’ve got the hook and the big prize, I just need to build all of the smaller steps that get us through the 10 week program.

If I think about this project too much, it can seem a little bit daunting. There are a lot of small moving parts to consider, specific content that must be communicated, and the communication methods need to keep an active 12 year old mind engaged. Thank goodness for all of the support offered by Citizen Schools. Out of the gate, it would have been tough to do this as my own independent side project. With the staff and resources from Citizen Schools, that mountain of an apprenticeship still looms large, but now appears to be scalable.

With big projects, I like to take the work involved and chop it up into bite-size pieces. Simplicity is the key: I just need to figure out all of the content I want to convey, and Citizen Schools can help me develop a fun method to the madness. I’ve got a blank slate to my right and a lot of material to teach on my left. With each activity and each lesson, I imagine myself picking up one small stone from the pile and moving it from left to right. Small goals and small victories can and will really add up to something beautiful.

The image above is not my own. It can be found here.

books, children, education

Step 31: Whatever It Takes

Christa Avampato

Yesterday on my blogging / computer break, I finished the book Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America, an intimate look at Harlem Childrens Zone (HCZ), a nonprofit run by Geoffrey Canada. If you are interested in the future of public education, this book is a must-read. Author Paul Tough could have easily made it a ra-ra HCZ book, and he would have been justified in doing so. He didn’t. He shows us the good, the bad, and the ugly, the organization’s great successes, the painful choices, and the grave disappointments. It’s a beautifully crafted book about an organization that is changing the odds for poor, inner-city children.

When I finished the last word of the book, I started to think about Geoffrey Canada’s strategy and mission statement for HCZ: “Whatever It Takes”. He is willing to do whatever it takes to not just improve the odds of success for poor children in Harlem, but to change the odds of the game entirely for poor children all over the country. He provides health services, nutritious meals, parent education, and even pays back-due library fines for families enrolled in his program so that they can take their children to the public library and read to them. His list of services strives to be comprehensive of every possible need a child could have so that they can focus on their studies. His unwavering confidence in his approach and his laser beam focus are inspiring, and they’re working in his favor.

What if we could all do that with the area of our life that we are most passionate about? What if we could commit to the “Whatever It Takes” philosophy? How would that change our odds of success and fulfillment? I can’t help but think that there is so much power in those three little words that it would be truly impossible to fail if we took those words to heart. In those three words, the sky ceases to be the limit because they obliterate any limit at all.

education, worry

Step 28: Start. Now.

Christa Avampato

“The difference between getting somewhere and nowhere is the courage to make an early start. The fellow who sits still and does just what he is told will never be told to do big things.” ~ Charles Schwab, entrepreneur

Last night I went to the orientation for Citizen Schools in preparation for my pilot of Innovation Station, an after-school program to teach product development and entrepreneurship to under-served middle school students. I was reminded of my friend, Amanda’s, post about being a beginner. I have taught lessons in public schools, though always with an organization’s planned curriculum. For Citizen Schools, I need to build the content. Citizen Schools offers a lot of support, though ultimately the apprenticeship is only as good as the volunteer.

On my way to the subway last night, I felt an odd mix of determination and trepidation. I feel so compelled to help these kids, and yet I worry that I will not be able to do enough. The lessons won’t be good enough, comprehensive enough. The students won’t fully understand how critical it is that they stay in school and work harder than they ever thought possible. How can 10 weeks, 13 small hours, make enough of a difference?

And then I read this quote by Charles Schwab. I have to get going. Now. I’ve got to start somewhere to make some kind of difference for these kids, these kids who are so much like me in so many ways. Imagine if my teachers or guidance counselors or my mom didn’t have the courage to start encouraging me despite the tough odds, didn’t have the water-tight belief that yes, I could do anything. Where would I be now? What would have become of me? I certainly would not be where I am.

Now is not the time for sitting still and doing what that nagging little voice of self-doubt tells us to do. That voice will never tell us to step out and try. It will never tell us to begin. It will only tell us to stay small. And we can’t do that. Not now. The world needs us too much; we have too many somewheres to be.

books, change, community, education, encouragement

Step 24: Stay Maladjusted

Christa Avampato

I’m maladjusted and happy about it. Last week, Charlie Judy, the author of HR Fishbowl talked about Dr. Martin Luther King’s encouragement of maladjustment. He didn’t want anyone to be happy and content with the way things are. He never wanted us to adjust and accept things just as they are. He wanted us to keep striving to make things better. Our discontent, our maladjustment, improves the condition of the world.

Jerry Sternin of the Positive Deviance Initiative had this same philosophy. He pushed us not just to think different, but to actually act different and learn as we go. With this attitude, he brought better nutrition to millions of people in Vietnam. His small, heartfelt inquiries and actions changed the course of that nation.

Toyota believes the same thing. In business school, we studied the Toyota Production System (TPS), the secret sauce that made Toyota a global brand. Developed by Sakichi Toyoda, two of the greatest beliefs in TPS are the empowerment of the individual to make improvements and the idea of continuous improvement. Nothing is ever perfect; nothing is ever 100% as it should be.

This idea might be overwhelming at first, though let’s take a moment and see if we can find the bright spot. If everything can be improved, then there is always interesting work to be done that is useful and helpful. Incremental improvement is the focus of Dr. King’s maladjustment philosophy, Jerry’s Sternin’s initiative and the TPM, so even small steps are worthwhile. We don’t need to be paralyzed by the pursuit of perfection because perfection is never going to happen. We can instead be motivated by a desire to improve.

I just began reading Whatever It Takes, the latest book about Geoffrey Canada’s triumphant organization, Harlem Children’s Zone. Canada’s work is one gigantic bright spot in the field of inner-city public education. He is someone who embodies the idea of maladjusted positive deviance. In 2009, President Obama put forward funding and support to have HCZ’s paradigm replicated all over the country. Canada’s incremental improvements to Harlem over the course of several decades will now be levered up to create lasting, positive change for children throughout the US. He’s one individual with passion and determination. His is a bright spot worth replicating in our own lives, in our own way.

Jerry Sternin, Dr. King, and Sakichi Toyoda are smiling down on us. We’re living their legacy.

books, change, education, Fast Company, social change, society

Step 22: Seeing Spots

Christa Avampato

“You cannot think your way into a new way of acting, you have to act your way into a new way of thinking.” ~ Jerry Sternin, Founder of The Positive Deviance Initiative

In this month’s issue of Fast Company, there is an excerpt from Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. The book goes on sale February 16th, and this excerpt provides insights into how to find the bright spots, as small and few as they may be, that lead to radical, large-scale, successful change when replicated. The Heaths take a cue from Jerry Sternin, a professor of nutrition at Tufts University, who, along with his wife, Monique (also a professor at Tufts), gave so much to so many around the world. The Professors Sternin founded the movement of positive deviance and advocated for its use around the world.

There is some societal belief that when someone is exceptional, they’re weird. We think that the exceptional do things that no one else can do when really they just do things that no one is doing. William Kamkwamba in Malawi, whom I wrote about earlier this week, illustrates this point perfectly. If we studied them closely, we would find that a couple of key things that they do are different from the majority, and those few differences can be replicated so that the exception becomes the new norm. Jerry and Monique Sternin believed that if we can find the bright spots, we’ll get more understanding of a situation and greater progress than we ever thought possible.

All day today I’ve been looking for bright spots in specific areas of my life. I’m keeping track of them in my little black book. This idea of positive deviance has had me grinning ear to ear all day. Tomorrow, I’ll be back here to talk about some of these recent discoveries. I hope you’ll join me.

The image above is not my own. It can be found here.

education, innovation, invention, product development

Step 20: Design USA

Christa Avampato

Over the weekend I went to the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum to see Design USA, an exhibit honoring the winners of the National Design Awards for the last 10 years. I love the mix of simple and complex innovations, the great variety of industries represented, and the many pains their innovations look to remedy. What they all had in common was a very basic insight into human behavior and emotion. Many of them tapped needs that we think about every day.

I’ve been thinking about building products for most of my life. When I was very young, I was obsessed with clean water. I was always very concerned that eventually we would run out of it. I have always loved libraries and librarians, and fondly remember the librarian at my elementary school, Mr. Compenino. He was a very kind, very large man. He was teaching us about nutrition one day and shared his weight loss story. In order to lose a lot of weight quickly, he went on a 30-day fast when he drank only water. I couldn’t imagine this. How does someone go for 30 days without eating, and live to tell about it? Mr. Compenino told us that people can survive for a long time without food, though only a few days without water. My fear of not having enough clean water was cemented in my mind in that moment.

On the nightly news, I would see parts of the world like Ethiopia that were plagued by drought and others like islands in the Caribbean that experienced frequent flooding. I began to think about a way to take water from places that had too much and give it to places that didn’t have enough. Then everything could be happily in balance and everyone could have exactly the amount of water they needed. I imagined a giant underground system of pipes that every city in the world could just turn off and on depending upon how much water they needed. Wouldn’t it be great if I could build that?

It’s this invention that got me interested in science and in engineering. I originally was admitted to Penn as an engineering student, and when my phsyics and calculus professors told me I didn’t have any aptitude for the field, I believed them. I became a history and economics major, a decision that of course I’m happy I made, though there is always a part of me that wonders what would have happened to my life if I had graduated from Penn as an engineer.

My way of compensating for this thought is by being a product developer. I take simple, basic needs and think of products and services that help to serve that need. I’m doing exactly what I did in that elementary school library. It’s a very logical basis for a career. People who care about innovation and invention want to be helpful. It’s the greatest aspect of design – once you are deeply involved in it, you begin to see how profound an impact you can have in the world.

Africa, children, education, innovation, technology

Step 19: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Christa Avampato

“If the first people to experiment with great inventions such as radios, generators, or airplanes had been afraid of being arrested, we’d never be enjoying those things today. ‘Let them come arrest me,’ I’d say. ‘It would be an honor.'” ~ William Kamkwamba, author of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

I just finished The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba. William elegantly tells the story of how he constructed a windmill in his village in Malawi to provide his family with electricity in order to save them from suffering another famine. With Bryan Mealer, a former Associated Press correspondent, he elegantly explains how the will of one boy can change an entire community, even an entire nation.

Rather than give a recap of his remarkable feat, I want to emphasize the great lesson that William has for all of us: tell the naysayers in your life to “shut it”. (Those are my words, not his.) How many times do we develop an idea only to have it crushed by someone else’s criticism? William faced this many times, from his family, friends, and community members. He refused to doubt himself. He refused to give in to negative energy. He just kept right on building his windmill, despite all of the criticism and mocking. In the process, he inspired millions of people all over the world. Read the book – you’ll be inspired by his energy, curiosity, and determination.

The next time someone even hints that you can’t do something you want to do, I want you to tell them the following:
“A kid in Malawi with one year of elementary school education built a windmill to help prevent his family from starving. He built it by following diagrams in a beat-up, out-of-date science textbook from a local library miles away from his home and using salvaged items from a scrap yard, all while everyone in his life told him he was mad. He couldn’t read English well so all he could do was follow the pictures. So, do I think I can do (fill in the blank)? Yes. Yes, I do. If William Kamkwamba can build a windmill, despite every roadblock imaginable, then I can certainly bring all of my ideas to life.”

To learn more about Williams and his continuing journey, visit his blog: http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/. You can also learn about his project, Moving Windmills, by visiting http://movingwindmills.org/ Follow William on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/wkamkwamba

For more information on Bryan Mealer, visit http://www.bryanmealer.com/

books, education

Book Buddy: Letter 3

Christa Avampato

I received my second letter from Dwight, my 3rd grade book buddy. He and I connected through Learning Leaders, a nonprofit education organization that pairs local elementary school students with business professionals. Dwight and I are reading Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White and then sending several letters to one another to share how we feel about the book.

Here’s Dwight’s latest letter to me and my reply to him:

“December 21, 2009

What I think of Charlotte’s plan is wonderful. Me, too, I like how she chose interesting words, too, because they are good. Me, too, I will wonder if Wilbur will continue putting words into his head. Charlotte has good words, too.

Your book buddy,
Dwight”

“January 18, 2010

Dear Dwight,

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great holiday. I went to visit my family and friends in Florida and really enjoyed spending time with them. I finished up Charlotte’s Web while I was there What did you think of the ending of the book? Were you surprised by it?

I really liked the scenes at the fair, though I was hoping all of that food would make Templeton, the rat, a nicer friend. I bet he would enjoy living at the farm a lot more if he was a little bit nicer. At least he agreed to help Charlotte find the final word for her web. What did you think of the events at the fair?

Losing someone we love it difficult, so I really related with how sad Wilbur was to lose his friend, Charlotte. I was very impressed with his sense of responsibility to care for Charlotte’s children; his actions showed how much he cared about Charlotte and how appreciative he was for her efforts to help him. I was a little bit worried that all of Charlotte’s children will leave. I felt relieved when Joy, Aranea, and Nellie decided to live at the farm. I am sure Wilbur was relieved, too!

Your book buddy,
Christa”

children, design, education, New York City, student

Step 9: Perseverance

Christa Avampato

“With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.” ~ Thomas Foxwell Buxton

I’ve known some people in my life who are so brilliant, so capable, and yet they never seem to reach heights that are well within their grasp. They toil away in jobs that aren’t quite right. They miss the opportunity for love, for community impact, for profound influence because they weren’t willing to put in just a bit more effort. My father was one of these people. He had a truly brilliant mind and could have been the leading clinical psychologist of his day. Unfortunately, he thought the world should reward him specifically because he was brilliant. He didn’t realize the world doesn’t work that way.

And then I’ve known people of fairly modest talent who were just relentless in their efforts, and achieved not only what was within their natural reach, but also successes that no one else thought possible. It’s the people in this latter group who have been my greatest teachers. They showed me that the world rewards those who work as hard as they can and give the best they’ve got everyday. The world rewards commitment, particularly commitment that perseveres in the face of great adversity.

I thought about this ideal this morning when I found out that my after-school education program with Citizen Schools starts the week of February 8th, not the week of February 25th as I had originally planned. This accelerates the time line I now have to work under. I’m going to have to shuffle around some other commitments so that my first few lessons plans are created and edited in time for the class. I’ve been collecting resources for several months and now is the time to just sit down and plow through the work.

And then I paused as I looked at all of these resources, most from designers of incredible talent. I appreciate design and use the tools of a designer in my profession as a product developer, though I am not a traditionally trained designer. I didn’t go to art school and I’m not an engineer. My product development skills have been self-taught. I’m a volunteer teacher, though I don’t have a degree from an education school and I don’t have a teacher certification. My teaching skills have also been self-taught. To top it off, I’ll be teaching in a school in East Harlem with more than its fair share of challenges: it is the lowest performing school in the Citizen Schools portfolio. 87% of the students receive free or reduced-price lunch (this is an indicator that 87% fall at or below the poverty line), 86% read below grade level, and 78% have math skills below grade level.

I leaned back in my chair, and asked myself, “What exactly are you doing, Christa?” But I didn’t ask this question with an air of despair or fear. I asked myself the question to mean, “What is the heart of the matter here? What gifts do you have to give these children who need you so much?” With that motivation in mind, any trace of trepidation disappeared.

I have modest design talents with extraordinary passion, empathy, and determination to back them up. I grew up below the poverty line, and still many adults believed in my talents and abilities. Now its my turn to manifest that same belief in these children. I’m paying forward the great and good gifts that so many people gave me when I was in school.

My idea to use design as the backbone to engage students in the learning process is not revolutionary; many people have thought of this idea, and many of them are far better designers than I am. No matter. There are so many children who need help, so many children who need an adult to show up for them and take a vested interest in their lives and education, that it is impossible for me to not have a profound impact in this field. My own individual commitment and perseverance is the only limitation on the amount of good I can do with this program, and I’ve got both of those in spades.

blog, education, teaching, writing, yoga

Step 8: Yogoer.com

Christa Avampato

With my yoga teacher training starting on February 27th, I’ve been thinking about how to document that journey. I’ve been practicing yoga for 10 years and in 2004 I took a 30-hour weekend course that gave me a very basic certification. I used that certification to teach free yoga classes to my stressed out classmates at Darden Business School. I’ve been wanting to build on that training for several years in the hopes of opening a studio, running a yoga retreat, or using yoga for medicinal purposes and athletic training.

When I moved back to New York in 2007, I started looking around for a studio program that was Yoga Alliance Certified. I found them to be very expensive – far beyond my means – so I had to put that dream on hold for a bit. About a year ago, I stumbled upon Sonic Yoga in Hell’s Kitchen, which runs an affordable program expressly because they feel that many of the current programs are too expensive for most people. They are also incredibly flexible with the timing of the class and off a night and weekend program for people who work full-time. After attending classes and meeting with one of the instructors, I knew the program was the right fit for me.

Now that I am registered for the training, I wanted to share my experience of becoming a Yoga Alliance certified teacher and was struggling a bit with where to do that. On this blog, I really want to focus on my 365 steps toward an extraordinary life. Some of those will absolutely be linked to the yoga teacher training, though I didn’t feel that this was the best venue to record the full process of getting certified. So I went hunting for a better place.

It didn’t take long before I found Yogoer.com, a site run by Erica Heinz, a freelance graphic artist, wellness blogger, and Huffington Post columnist. I will be featuring Erica and Yogoer.com in an upcoming Examiner.com piece. With all of its incredible information about yoga in New York City, Yogoer.com seemed like an ideal place for me to record my training process and connect with other yogis.

My first piece is up on Yogoer.com today and talks about some of the preparation work I’m doing for the training. You will be able to view a full set of my posts here. I will post on this blog each time I have a new post on Yogoer.com. I hope you’ll join me over there as I start this new journey and check out everything that the site and its iPhone app have to offer! Ommmmm…..