I have two learning intentions:

The first is to transform our language

and the way we speak about education.

The second [...]

Walter

[...] So, using what Dave has to say… let’s go out there and transform education!

I like the point George makes that we want progress, not just change.

Bruce,
I looked back to the post I did of a pro-d session with you on Promoting Inquiry and found this:

Positive Presuppositions
Finding and focusing on the positive aspects of the message being communicated… it encourages an “on-going willingness to engage with each other and with ideas”.

The fundamental question you asked does indeed remain. I wrote a post a while back asking if we shouldn’t look to ‘Edupunks’ as our Eduleaders… it does seem to be the ‘outliers’ that are leading the way, but even there I think we can start to frame our language a bit better. I think ‘we’ can focus more on asking:

‘What works really well?’ instead of ‘Why is this taking so long?’; and,

‘How do we replicate what’s working?’ instead of ‘Why doesn’t this happen in more places?’; and,

‘What professional freedom do I have to make this work?’ instead of ‘Why is the system working against me?’

Innovation usually happens on the fringes, that’s not new, so how do we frame our language to promote (and scale) positive changes in a more efficient and effective way?
And that’s sincerely a question I’m grappling with, as I think even my own language on this blog has sometimes been framed with frustration and even futility as opposed to possibilities and promise.