Escape the Magic
As luck would have it, our staff’s
kickoff to the year started in the auditorium of our pyramid’s highschool
. There, we had the privilege to listen to Ted Dintersmith, producer of
the film Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE5XRrfetu4) and author of the book, What School Could Be. Ted’s background is in Venture Capital and the technology world and he considers himself (rightly so) as an expert on innovation. He makes no claim to know how to be a good teacher; rather he takes his experiences evaluating innovation and his observations about the world we live in to create some compelling arguments as to why we must adjust the way we deliver education if we are to prepare children for the world they will face when they leave school.
As I read
Harold Benjamin’s voice this week in the The Saber-Tooth Curriculum, I was taken by the connections the two authors shared even though many decades separate these two books. The message is eerily similar: educators must be innovators if we are to prepare students for the society they will face when they finish school. As the professor
in Saber-Tooth said, “we started with a system of purposeful education and...that education was degenerated through the years into a system of red-tape, magical culture.” It’s time for a shift in the entire education landscape.
So how do we, as teacher-designers,
escape the magic and create a new culture where all the purposes of 21st
century education we read about can flourish? How do we “become open to uncertainty
and failure” as Henriksen and Richardson write about in their article when we
are still constrained by the structures of time and accountability? This
week as I read Saber-Tooth and the assigned resources, I reflected on Ted Dintersmith and his ideas on how we develop human potential in our students. It is our job to make them into the innovators they will have to be in order to be successful in the workforce. I also reflected on the obstacles we face as teachers. Designing good instruction is no easy task. Making kids into the future thinkers of our world takes re-thinking about how we view our roles as
educators and our place in the vast system we are a part of.
Hi Juilana!
ReplyDeleteWow! You really connected to what Ted Dintersmith shares in his book. That is so cool you got to hear him speak!! Have you ever read any books by George Couros? He wrote The Innovator's Mindset and just came out with a new book called Innovate Inside the Box with Katie Novak. I'm reading his new book now and here's what I have to take away. I think it really connects with what you are explaining. We have to be ok that the journey each of us are on is going to look and feel different. You have to put innovative teaching practices into the context of what you know. Being an Innovative teacher is going to look different for everyone.And if that’s ok for us then it’s DEFINITELY ok for our students!! Trust & challenge the journey you’re on, trust & challenge the journey your students are on! We, as educators, must strive to meet our students where they are so we can encourage & push them to move forward
Hi Julianne,
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how The Saber-Tooth Curriculum was written so ling ago and it connected so well with the speaker you just heard. I think as we are starting to really ask ourselves the questions you have above, the more aware we are, and the more risk we may be willing to try. I think as many of us shift our thinking, we will be more willing to take those chances. Might we fall once or twice? Maybe, but I think getting back up and trying again will only teach the students that resilience can really pay off.
Innovator. I have found that word means different things to different people. How would you define the word "innovator" for educational purposes? Would you definition change based on the grade level you were addressing?
ReplyDeleteJoyful Janelle
DeleteThe same questions came to my mind as I was reading Julianne's response. Teacher-designers need to consider their relationship with students, students' abilities, the grade level standards and the ability of students to use 21st century skills. I feel like some students are more innovative then others based on their experiences and background knowledge. I think differentiation at the elementary level plays a big part in how students will respond. In fourth grade we are working on listening to each other and building our responses, thoughts, and ideas.
Vicky I agree that every teacher and student will go on a different journey and it will look different. As long as students are given opportunities and teacher-designers are altering and improving their design throughout the lesson and year.
I love what Vicky said when she stated that innovation will look different for all of us. I think we are often so hung up on the "right" way to do things that we forget to look around and see our students needs as individual learners. There is value in so many approaches, and each student will take away something different from each.
ReplyDelete"Making kids into the future thinkers of our world takes re-thinking about how we view our roles as
ReplyDeleteeducators and our place in the vast system we are a part of." As educators, it seems like we might need to take some time investing in "re-thinking" and creating a paradigm shift within out practice.