This Fall I am excited to participate along with over 1000 other educators in the third #IMMOOC. This experience is focused around George Couros' book “The Innovator’s Mindset”. I read the book last summer, but this is an opportunity to reflect and learn alongside educators from across the globe through a series of Twitter Chats and YouTube Live sessions. Additionally, participants are encouraged to write weekly blog posts from prompts that are provided in the days leading up to each session. This week's prompt: Why is innovation in education so crucial today? .
Innovation in education is crucial because traditional practices in education are failing today's students. Couros defines innovation as "creating something new and better". Change has to address both facets of the definition. Changing to change does not produce something better for learners. The change has to make the learning go deeper/richer. The hard part is that to get to better, we have to embark on change that sometimes isn't neat. The change doesn't necessarily make us better immediately in a measurable way. However, simply initiating change can produce an energy and an idea cycle that moves the depth of learning forward in a way that cannot be predicted. And many of the changes begin as small pivots contributing to the mindset of innovation.
Many traditional classrooms require a high level of student compliance for the classroom to operate. These same classrooms are also usually teacher centered. The role a teacher plays in learning directly affects the level of ownership that a student invests in his/her own learning. I use to struggle with expecting teachers that are already good and getting measurable results to take on the risk of change. I don't struggle with that any more. I have seen the very best teachers in my building change their practices and create innovative learning experiences. They know curiousity is a necessary ingredient to make them think and go beyond what has been done in the past
In chapter one Couros shares, "it is becoming increasingly clear that we don't need to transform the role of teachers, rather create a culture that inspires and empowers teachers to innovate in the pursuit of providing optimal experiences for their students." If this remains our focus, and we invest in empowering teachers, innovation will follow. I work on a campus where this focus is spreading through our culture. By listening with genuine curiosity and empathy, we are beginning to build a foundation of trust and an environment in which our teachers feel safe being vulnerable. Innovation, creativity and collaboration occur on the flip side of vulnerability. We need to encourage the teachers we work with every day to push themselves into being uncomfortable. Not because we want to add to the difficult job they have, but because we want to see them grow. Few things are more rewarding than seeing teachers and students reactions when they complete and create something they never thought was possible. I'll end with what our principal, @m_squaredBHS had on our leadership meeting agenda last week. He simply had written "Affirm-Cubed" under Student Learning, conveying his expectation that those taking on growth, new learning and risk to move student learning forward need affirmation for the work and learning they are taking on. Culture can breed "new and better" creating innovation in education.
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