Strategic+Personal+Planning

=Strategic Personal Planning=

Source: http://www.faculty.umb.edu/peter_taylor/StrPersPlanning.doc

A. In order to complete a satisfying project you need to focus on something tight and do-able. Strategic Personal Planning allows you to find this focus by first opening out and acknowledging a wide range of factors and wishes that your work could (should?) take into account.

B. Strategic Personal Planning is based on the Strategic Participatory Planning workshop process developed by the Institute for Cultural Affairs (ICA). The basic propositions of the ICA workshop process include:
 * Notwithstanding any initial impressions to the contrary, everyone has insight (wisdom) and we need everyone's insight for the wisest result.
 * There is insight in every response. (There are no wrong answers.)
 * We know more than we are, at first, prepared or able to acknowledge.
 * When a person is heard, they can better hear others and hear themselves. This causes us to examine decisions made in advance about what the other people are like, what they are and are not capable of.
 * the step-by-step workshop process thus aims to keep us listening actively to each other, foster mutual respect, and elicit more of our insight.
 * Your initial conclusions may change -- be open for surprises.
 * What we come out with is very likely to be larger and more durable than what any one person came in with; the more so, the more voices that are brought out by the process.
 * In particular, we will be engaged in carrying out/carrying on the plans we develop.
 * In sum, the workshop process aims for the "greatest input, with greatest commitment and the least confusion, in the least time."

C. Adapting these principles to Strategic Personal Planning means you should hope to come out with a plan for your project that is richer, deeper, and has more dimensions than what you came in with. The more angles on yourself that are brought out by the process, the more likely you are to create something you did not anticipate. The experience of that creativity, in turn, leads you to be more likely to carry out the plan you arrive at.

D. The Strategic Personal Planning Process begins with the Practical Vision stage. This is meant to generate a larger vision of your work, something that informs the specific project you do for this course. In that spirit, do not focus on for now on what your project topic. Instead, consider a more global question: What's needed for your Personal & Professional Development in [insert general area required to be addressed by the project]?

=Steps= =Post-it brainstorming= 1. Imagine yourself some time after the course is over looking back with a sense of accomplishment on how far you have come in the area of [insert general area required to be addressed by the project]. (Construe “accomplishment” broadly so it can include your own reflection and growth.) What different kinds of things do you envisage having gone into that personal and professional development? =To prepare for this brainstorming, note:= a. These things can span the mundane and inspiring; tangible and intangible; process, as well as product; relationships as well as individual skills. (By mundane, think of all the different tasks on your plate -- over and above those for this course -- that potentially affect your ability to carry out your project in a way that is satisfying.) b. Reread the syllabus for course description, objectives and expectations. c. For other ideas—but feel free to depart from these—review handouts from previous post-it brainstorming by students in CCT693 (photocopied handouts).

2. Keep in mind the question in 1. above, brainstorm your 3-5 word answers onto post-its in block letters.

3. Pair up and get more ideas from hearing about the kinds of things the other person came up with. Make more post-its.

=Clustering (once you have about 30 post-its)= 4. i) Move post-its around into groups of items that have something in common in the way they address the question; ii) describe the groups using a phrase that has a verb in it or, at least, indicates some action*; iii) group groups in pairs or threes and give these descriptive active names; iv) group the groups and name them, until you arrive at a descriptive active name is achieved for the vision as a whole. (*E.g., instead of "Holistic Artistic Survival Project," an active name would be "Moving holistically from surviving to thriving as artists." For more examples of clustering and naming, refer to http://www.faculty.umb.edu/peter_taylor/693visions.doc.)

5. Pair up again and discuss your overall vision.

6. After the class, redraw the groups in a neat form (without the original post-its) so you can refer back to it as you define and undertake your project.

D. With your vision in mind, now freewrite (for 7-10 minutes) on the specific actions you might take so as to complete a project that fulfills your objectives and expectations. Keep these in sight, together with your vision as you plan the remainder of your work.

E. You might pursue the other three stages of Strategic Personal Planning, starting with brainstorming on the obstacles to your realizing this vision. Re-vision those obstacles until you see the underlying issues and a gateway through to new directions, and then to specific actions.



=Freewriting and Write-and-Pass= Source: Vanderpool and Robinson (2003)

In addition to using writing to reinforce and integrate new information, writing can be a way of discovering existing knowledge. Many critical thinking experts advocate beginning any new learning by identifying what learners already know, but often don’t know they know, about the topic. This strategy promotes critical thinking and active learning by allowing learners to establish a context for new information and share ideas with others. Two writing strategies that can assist in this discovery process are freewriting and the “write-and-pass” exercise:

Freewriting
1. You cannot stop writing during the 10-minute exercise. 2. You are forbidden to think. Write whatever comes into your hand. You must keep on writing, even if you say “I don’t know what to write” write that. You cannot think about it, you must simply write. You are not responsible for what you say, say anything, but keep writing.

With unfocused freewriting, you write about what ever you want. With focused or directed freewriting you are given a topic to write on. . Write-and-Pass Another informal writing assignment to get you to discover what you already know is to spend a few minutes writing everything you can think of about a given topic or question (for example, “what is critical thinking?”). After several minutes, pass what you have written to the next person and that person reads and expands on the original response. The process is repeated a few more times; generally, with each pass, adding new information becomes more challenging. The exercise provides a way for learners to focus their thoughts on a particular topic and to benefit from one another’s stores of knowledge.

(Original page by Mary Frangie)