Tonight I'm going to practice what I preach. The purpose of the lesson is for students to understand the role of program planning models, to consider how different models reflect different beliefs and value systems, and to begin to develop their own model. Instead of teaching anything up front though, I'm going to start by putting information about different models, old and new (some by fancy theorists and some by former students of mine), around the room. I'm going to give some basic instructions and some basic questions, and then let students wander around the room discussing what they see. At the end, we'll have a discussion about the models. I have no idea where it'll go, but I trust that no matter where they go with it, it'll be relevant. I'll tackle whatever arises.
This is emergent lesson planning, but how does this link with emergent program planning? I think if I can get students to understand the interconnectedness of the pieces, then they'll be better able to see the whole. If they see program planning as a continual discovery of options, not the rigid carrying out of a predetermined process, then they'd be prepared for some of the chaos that is inevitable in program planning. That ability (capacity?) would allow them to approach a program planning task with greater openness.
Ie. is teaching how to plan programs really about helping people develop a process-based mindset? Is gaining comfort with emergence and the unpredictable, transformative aspects of the work as important as the technical-rational piece of "how to"?
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