The Innovator's Mindset...It's Only the Beginning

This is the final blog post inspired by my participation in IMMOOC 2, a Massive Open Online Course inspired by the The Innovator's Mindset and facilitated by the author of that book, George Couros. A colleague of mine encouraged me to read the book when I let her know I was applying for a new job: Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Innovation. I think it was no coincidence that the day I ordered the book, I came across a tweet announcing the beginning of IMMOOC 2. Being a passionate learner and educator, and wanting to prepare for a possible job interview, I joined the group.

Participating in IMMOOC 2 has been an innovative experience for me in and of itself. I had never done an online course. When I saw that part of the MOOC would be weekly blogging, I knew it was the push I needed to make this practice more consistent. Putting myself out there in the weekly Twitter chat was another opportunity to share. As expected, it has been an amazing experience! I have learned so much more than I would have if I had just read the book on my own. Reflecting, listening to others' thoughts, writing about my own ideas are all practices that have deepened my learning about developing an innovator's mindset.

In the last few weeks of the IMMOOC, my participation slowed, and then came to a stop. This is not because I lost interest or didn't see the point. It's because I got an interview for the new job. And then I got another interview and another and another. I had lots of preparation to do for each of these. After this last interview, I was unanimously appointed to the position of Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Innovation. What a cool title to have, right? I'm not saying that the book and IMMOOC got me the job, but I'm sure that the ideas about which I was reading, reflecting, and writing combined with my previous experience and passion as an educator helped me form responses to questions that led me to the job of my dreams.

Thanks to you, George Couros, and to all of my fellow IMMOOCers for an enlightening experience that has literally set me on a new path in a position where I am a leader of innovation, something I know our students will love and already need.

Measuring Innovation

It seems impossible, measuring innovation. And yet we must find a way to show its impact. Proof is powerful when you are trying to convince a community to trust in the unknown, something new that has never been tried at your school or maybe ever. The question becomes: What does that proof look like?

I think we need to be innovative here (pun intended). Before we can decide on which proof we need, we should decide on what we want students to know and be able to do. This is not easy in the complex, connected world in which we now live and for which we need to prepare our students. I like the 4 Cs of 21st Century Learning from P21: collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity. These skills all require innovative thinking in order to be practiced, and they will require educators to be innovative in measuring them. The work is worth it as the 4 Cs are essential to success in an ever-changing economy and society.

For sure, the old A, B, C method will not work. What do these letters mean? What do they tell us about where students are in their development of these critical skills? Standards-based report cards that include various sections such as literacy, mathematics, social skills, and work habits come a little closer as they break larger subject areas down into smaller skills. However, teachers still give students a rating compared to others their age and in their grade level. This only tells parents how close their child is to being like all the others and not how much their child has grown in the given time period since the last report.

What is needed is a new method of capturing growth that includes a student reflection. Given the technology that is available to us now, this new method could take on many shapes and forms. In The Innovator's Mindset, George Couros offers digital portfolios and blogs as a possibility. He makes a strong argument that videos, text, pictures, audio files, Podcasts, slideshows, graphics, and more, all chosen by and reflected upon by the learner gives a true view of learning that is taking place. He also argues that sharing such a portfolio or blog with a larger audience beyond a classroom teacher or even a school provides a learner with authentic feedback. Finally, he suggests that since teachers are also learners, they should be compiling such a portfolio or blog themselves to model the process and gain a better understanding of what they are asking their students to do.

This has inspired me to imagine such a portfolio for myself. Now that I am blogging more, the reflection is happening. How to add work samples to my blog is the next idea to consider for me. Just like looking at student work/creation is key to understanding their learning, looking at my own work will help me connect my ideas with my actions. This is a crucial part of my leadership journey.

Strengths-Based Leadership

Can you imagine asking your staff at the end of the school year, "If you could describe your dream position next year, what would it be?" What would response would you get? What could you learn? How would people feel about being asked? What would you do with the information you learn?

I have a few ideas...

• You would go a long way to build relationships with your staff just be showing interest in what they think and how they feel;
• You would be able to personalize PD for your staff by searching out resources that could help them grow in their areas of interest;
• You would help staff reflect on their practice and lead them to a focus area for the year;
• You could provide support that would help and encourage them to pursue a goal;
• You might make staff adjustments to help people do what they want to do;
• You might develop new courses of study, clubs, or PLCs based on interests.

One thing about which I am sure is this: if you ask staff to share their passions and goals and you work to help them engage in those passions and reach those goals, you will have a staff that is invested in their school and willing to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Teachers Must Also Be Learners

In the same way that George Couros asks us to imagine inquiry based learning for staff as well as students, I'm imagining substituting "schools" for "classrooms" in the center of Sylvia Duckworth's visual of 8 Things to Look for in Today's Classroom.

If today's schools were learner-focused and teachers were learners just as much as students, then we might see teacher voice and choice in terms of topics they are exploring and would like to share with colleagues for feedback. Also, we would see time for reflection and innovation built into faculty meetings and professional development days. We would see teachers being encouraged to ask questions, challenge ideas, and identify problems to be solved in school. Finally, we would see teachers welcomed as part of the evaluation process in assessing themselves based on goals they set. In addition, teachers would be connected to a professional learning network both in their local community and also globally.

This mindshift for teachers to see themselves as learners would require support, openness, and a risk-taking environment which can only be fostered and modeled by the school's leaders.