Skip to main content

EdCamp Still Rules

  Looking Back at 10 years of EdCamps Oh how the time flies, EdCamp Madison is turning 10 this year!  It will be held Saturday, February 3rd at Sun Prairie West High School. Which can be found at 2850 Ironwood Drive in Sun Prairie Wisconsin from 8:30 am - 3:00 pm.  Get more information and register here: https://sites.google.com/sunprairieschools.org/edcampmadwi/home   I will always remember sitting in my first EdCamp opening session at the very first EdCamp Madison and having no clue what I was in for. So, I’d like to take this space to go over some of the basic rules of EdCamp. No One Will Pitch It for You EdCamps are unconferences. By this I mean that they have a blank slate of sessions for the day. There may be a few predetermined sessions, but ultimately the session topics are determined by attendees during the pitch & plan session that opens the day. If an idea gets pitched there will be a session on it. If a topic doesn’t get pitched, there won’t be a session on it. So, it i

What Is an Innovator's Mindset: Book Study Part 1


As a part of a summer book study, I have the fortune of reading George Couros’s The Innovator’s Mindset.  I am using this post to reflect on Part 1: Innovation in Education which covers chapters 1 - 3.

Like with any good vision for change, Couros states the purpose, or the “why” of his strategies.  He advocates that today’s learners should be encouraged to become creators and leaders. This will then create a better world.

The title phrase Innovator’s Mindset is the what we want to advocate for.  But what is the Innovator’s Mindset? The Innovator’s mindset is one in which the individual is not only attempting to increase and ability or skill.  The innovator’s mindset is one in which the learner looks to create new ideas and understandings with this ability or skill.  

This pushes the idea that learners should not simply be consumers of content, but creators.  The business leaders of today are not looking for workers who simply bring them problems.  The desired workforce of today (not just tomorrow) is one that is full of problem solvers.  Those that aren’t simply looking to verify that they got the right answer, but answer new questions.  In the innovator’s mindset, learners start with what they know about a problem,  find out what they need to know, and find an innovative way to synthesize this information.

Couros is clear about the term innovation.  He states that innovation is not simply something new.  It is something new and better.  The process of innovation does not always lead to something better at each step.  Couros is clear to state that innovation requires failure.  By that he means, each iteration in the process may not be a step forward.  Some may be a step backwards.  But, each step provides an opportunity for learning via reflection.  An innovator’s mindset is one in which the learner is reflective about the failure and perseveres.  The innovator’s mindset tells us that we can’t get better unless we are willing to take the risk of failing.  It is only by choosing to risk failure again that will lead to the path of a successful innovation. The path without risk is not the path of new ideas or innovation.

Couros is clear to state that innovation is not about dealing in the realms of stuff.  I have lots of cool tech stuff and it is great, but it doesn’t lead to innovation on its own.  (In fact, new stuff means I have to find new ways to innovate.)  Innovation deals in the realms of ideas.  That is why being a networked learner is so important.  There are only so many understandings and ideas a learner already possesses. The ability to seek out new understandings is an essential part of the problem solving process.  An innovator builds on what she already knows by finding new information and creating new understandings.  True networking is a two way process, though.  Too many times learners simply become consumers of knowledge.  The innovator takes time to share innovations with their network.  The bigger the network the better. An innovator’s mindset looks to share ideas with an authentic audience, the bigger the better.  Sharing innovations with the world is the only way those ideas will change be able to change it.

If a learner innovates on an island, will anyone hear it?  Yes, if she has wi-fi.

When a learner connects with her network, she needs to be observant.  Observant in realizing that the best ideas to help innovate don’t simply come from a Wikipedia article.  A learner with an innovator’s mindset sees with eyes that don’t see learning confined to the walls of the classroom.  The innovator’s mindset sees the connections between the content and skills in the classroom and their lives away from the classroom.  The skills learned in math class can be used to gain new understandings in science class or a walk through the park.  The understandings of rhyme schemes  can be used to inform their favorite songs.  It goes both ways.  A lyric in a song they hear can inform vocabulary in science class or history class.

True innovation starts with two aims.  They are they the ultimate goals of the innovation and the interests of individuals involved.  In education, this means the focus is on a learner’s goals and interests.  Couros states this element as empathy.  Simply asking the following question, “What is best for this learner?”  The best educational practices find a path that allows learners to reach their goals and addresses their interests. It finds a ways to leverage each individual’s passions.  Just as importantly it looks at each student’s goals.  It understands that all students have different goals based on where they are starting and where they are going.  Empathetic instruction is instruction that is relevant to each student.

The Innovator’s Mindset is for all.  By that I mean, it is a model that is just as powerful for educators as well.  Let me walk through the 8 characteristics again as put forth by Couros through my educator lens.
  1. Empathetic - Implementation of Personal Learning Projects
  2. Problem Finders - Finding a way to make physics accessible to all students
  3. Risk-Takers - Trying to bring elements of personalized learning into an AP Physics course
  4. Networked - Presence on Twitter and Google+ where I get great ideas from the world
  5. Observant - Games that may be for play such as Angry Birds, have great applications to physics classroom.
  6. Creators - 15 year old course text has required creation of new instruction using great tech tools such as Pear Deck
  7. Resilient - I’ve been teaching for 15 years and I’ve grown leaps and bounds, but have fallen flat on my face many, many times.
  8. Reflective - The blog you are reading right now.

As far as the professional development portion of the innovator’s mindset, Couros is ardent in pointing out that it requires “clear guidance and support”.  It needs to be understood that educators, just like learners, have different goals and interests.  Professional development needs to take into account that all educators start at a different point of entry with their own problems they are looking to solve.  Great PD will allow for the Innovator’s Mindset to flourish.

That’s a lot to take away from the first ⅓ of the book.  Getting ready for more.  

To George Couros: If you happen to read this, I really enjoy the book so far.  Also, would it be impolite if I called you George in future posts?  After a while, typing Couros seemed a bit impersonal for such a personal book.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Twitter Cards for Blogger

So, I’ve been seeing people with beautiful Twitter Cards in my Twitter Stream. They make it clear that there is a web page to visit and give a quick preview of what would be found. Something like the one below: I’ve been wondering how to get one of the cards to appear when I tweet out a link to my latest blog post.  Since I use Blogger, there is not a simple button to click to turn this on.  I had to find a way to paste new code into the HTML code of my blog.  It took some searching from multiple sites to get a completely functional.   This site though was quite helpful.  But, I’d like to walk you through my process and hopefully it helps a few out. There are a few types of Twitter Cards.  Two that at most frequently see are the basic summary card and the summary card with large image.  Below you can see the layout of each, but realize that they both have the same content pieces. This is going to look like a lot more work than it will actually be

Pear Deck 101 + Q&A

  Last week, I presented as a part of Pear Deck’s Pear Fair 2020. My presentation was Pear Deck 101 for Google Slides. During the presentation, there was a live chat. Many people said it went too fast for a 101 Session. Luckily, it was recorded so it can be rewatched.  Also, many said that they wanted to know how to build a Pear Deck first. I structured the presentation to show what Pear Deck was before showing how to make one. Perhaps that wasn’t the best structure. But, I’m going to stick with my philosophy of showing what something is before showing how to make it. The presentation, which can be watched below, was structured in several different sections What is Pear Deck? Providing an overview of the experience from the Teacher and Student perspectives. How do you build a Pear Deck in Google Slides? How do you start a Pear Deck presentation? How do you end a Pear Deck presentation? Here is the Slideshow I shared during the session bit.ly/pearfair101 Time really flew in the sess

Using Infinite Campus to Give Grades Meaning

At Brookfield Central High School have just passed the three week grading period and are approaching the first parent teacher conferences of the year. My thoughts are turning to clarifying my grading practices to students and parents as more scores are being entered into the gradebook.  I have completely restructured the grade reporting in my online gradebook this year.  This was due to struggles I had last year in trying to implement what I believe to be best grading practices into my grade reporting.  Much of my grading philosophy has been informed by Robert Marzano and Marzano Research, specifically the wonderful book Classroom Assessment & Grading that Works .   Traditionally, as I prepare for teacher conferences, I use a student summary report I print from our online gradebook to guide the discussion with parents.  Our grading program in my district is Infinite Campus (IC).  I really like the software and find it extremely easy to use.  Below you’ll see a sample st