Another challenging and inspiring day at the first annual GOCSD Innovation Summit. Here are my takeaways:
1. Our current structure of school limits us in meeting kids needs. Schools have changed very little in the past 100 years. However, students and their needs have changed significantly. As educators, we must evaluate the purpose behind our practices to ensure they align with our beliefs about education. We do many things that are for efficiency and convenience that have minimal impact on student learning. We must find ways to unlock the passions our students have if we want to truly motivate them to learn.
2. Learning must go beyond what is needed for the test. If we truly want to change our system, we must reduce the reliance on tests as the end goal and make MORE LEARNING the end goal. When a student begins learning something, our goal should be for them to have a passion to learn more about it. To do this, learning must have relevance, context, and meaning to the student doing the learning. We tend to focus on the TEACHING process when we should be focused on the LEARNING process.
3. Are schools doing the right things, or the wrong things right? We have focused on improving our current system for the past 100 years. What if we have reached the maximum potential of the system as currently designed? What if we were to put student learning at the forefront and design our schedules, buildings, technology, and other things around what works best for students?
4. We have students using tools that they will never use outside of the classroom. What does that really prepare them for? We need to become much more authentic in the tools that students use in our schools.
5. 'Routine' jobs are disappearing and 'Non-Routine' jobs are replacing them at a rapid pace. Anything that can be automated using technology is heading that direction. To help students prepare, we must have them asking questions that are meaningful to them, solving real problems in their community, and trusting them to think on their own.
As educators, we must re-evaluate our current practices, structures, etc. to ensure that they are preparing students for THEIR future. We must structure our time so that it serves students. We must structure our buildings so that they serve students. We must give some choice and freedom to students if we truly want them to own their education. No longer is it good enough for students to sit in rows for 50 minutes and learn prescriptively from teachers.
Thank you to GOCSD (@GOCSDMO) and Will Richardson (@willrich45) for providing a space in which I could re-ignite some passions for innovation that serve students.
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
GOInnovate 16 - Reflections from Day 1
I was fortunate to take part in the first-ever Innovation Summit organized by the Greater Ozark's Cooperating School Districts (GOCSD) today. Over 700 educators from across Southwest Missouri gathered to hear a keynote address from George Couros and share best practices from their districts. As I reflect on the day, these are the items that stuck out to me.
1. Compliance never develops creativity. As educators, we like it when students are neatly following directions and completing tasks according to our specific instructions. However, we must encourage students to step outside of those directions and tight structures if we want to develop creative thinkers. Students need freedom to solve problems and generate ideas that are not teacher-directed. How can we shift our expectations from the convenience of compliance to the chaos of creativity?
2. We don't need problem solvers, we need problem identifiers. We work hard as educators to teach kids how to solve problems. Much of our instructional design centers around teaching students the skills to solve problems. To do this, we tend to use problems that have already been solved by someone else - simply having students walk through steps that have been pre-determined. If we want students to be highly engaged, we must teach them to identify problems that are meaningful to them. Once they are identified, students will be excited to work through them and find solutions. The result is highly-engaged students, participating in meaningful and relevant learning, and contributing to their community in a meaningful way.
3. Our job as educators is to inspire students to do things that inspire us back. We generally don't do this through standardized tests and with students in neat rows facing forward. We need to develop relationships with kids, find out what inspires them, and use it to 'light a fire' under them. Once we do this, we will be amazed at how kids can inspire us back.
4. The PROCESS is more important than the product. When we work with students, we tend to focus on the outcome - the final product of a project, the answer to a math problem, the final draft of the research paper. But in focusing so intently on this final outcome we miss allowing students to make mistakes, try new ideas and methods, and explore on their own. The product is easily measured, but it is the way that we get there that is where the magic of learning happens.
1. Compliance never develops creativity. As educators, we like it when students are neatly following directions and completing tasks according to our specific instructions. However, we must encourage students to step outside of those directions and tight structures if we want to develop creative thinkers. Students need freedom to solve problems and generate ideas that are not teacher-directed. How can we shift our expectations from the convenience of compliance to the chaos of creativity?
2. We don't need problem solvers, we need problem identifiers. We work hard as educators to teach kids how to solve problems. Much of our instructional design centers around teaching students the skills to solve problems. To do this, we tend to use problems that have already been solved by someone else - simply having students walk through steps that have been pre-determined. If we want students to be highly engaged, we must teach them to identify problems that are meaningful to them. Once they are identified, students will be excited to work through them and find solutions. The result is highly-engaged students, participating in meaningful and relevant learning, and contributing to their community in a meaningful way.
3. Our job as educators is to inspire students to do things that inspire us back. We generally don't do this through standardized tests and with students in neat rows facing forward. We need to develop relationships with kids, find out what inspires them, and use it to 'light a fire' under them. Once we do this, we will be amazed at how kids can inspire us back.
4. The PROCESS is more important than the product. When we work with students, we tend to focus on the outcome - the final product of a project, the answer to a math problem, the final draft of the research paper. But in focusing so intently on this final outcome we miss allowing students to make mistakes, try new ideas and methods, and explore on their own. The product is easily measured, but it is the way that we get there that is where the magic of learning happens.
5. Learning is messy - failure is not fatal. Thinking about the previous four points, it is clear that the learning process is truly messy. Learning is not linear - instead it is a winding, unpredictable journey along which many mistakes and failures happen. What is critical is that we continue to encourage kids through the struggles and help them to 'fail forward'. It is only when failure becomes an endpoint that learning stops.
Thanks to George Couros (@gcouros) for the insightful and inspiring address today that encourages us to innovative educators.
For those of you that attended today, I'd love to hear your takeaways. For those of you that didn't, what would you add to this list?
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
What 3 Minutes Can Do....and a big Thank You!
Just over a week ago our area experienced a fast-moving winter storm. In my role as Assistant Superintendent, I spent the morning (while the weather was still ok) checking out forecasts, checking in with other area districts on their plans, and discussing our plan with the Superintendent and our bus contractors. Things seemed to be holding steady and in good shape until about a 3 minute stretch of time around 1:15. In that three minutes, we went from dry with excellent road conditions to icy with very slick roads and sidewalks. That three minutes of frozen precipitation set off a long afternoon/evening of work for all of us in the district.
Almost immediately after that three minutes, we made the decision to dismiss school early. Hindsight being 20/20 I wish we would have made that decision earlier. It would take about an hour for bus drivers to get in, complete pre-trip inspections, and get to schools to pick up the kids. We set the dismissal plans in motion and began working to get kids home safely. It would take about 6 hours to do so, but ultimately we succeeded.
This couldn't have happened without the dedication, caring, and hard work of many, many groups of people. First and foremost, our bus drivers worked diligently to get students home safely. We had some slide offs and places we couldn't get to, but every student got to a warm house for the night. Many of the drivers worked supervising, driving, and caring for kids until late into the evening. Our bus company owners worked tirelessly too - getting stuck buses moving again and delivering students home in 4-wheel drive vehicles when a bus couldn't get them home. Many of our students had to wait at school for quite some time for a parent to get them or for one of those 4 wheel drive rides. These students were cared for by secretaries and administrators until they were all safely delivered home. Central office staff members spent the evening receiving and making phone calls in an effort to keep parents up to date on the progress of their child's bus. The list could go on and on.
It was not an easy night. Not for school employees, bus drivers, students, or parents. But, ultimately, every child - over 2,300 of them - made it to their destination safely. If you see a bus driver, secretary, principal, or other person that works with kids in any way, take some time to say 'Thank You' for all the hours they put in during times of difficulty and in times when things are going well. It is these individuals that make sure our kids - our future - are well taken care of each day.
So from me to all the employees of our district and our bus contractor - THANK YOU for a job well done in a difficult situation. Your efforts did not go unnoticed.
Almost immediately after that three minutes, we made the decision to dismiss school early. Hindsight being 20/20 I wish we would have made that decision earlier. It would take about an hour for bus drivers to get in, complete pre-trip inspections, and get to schools to pick up the kids. We set the dismissal plans in motion and began working to get kids home safely. It would take about 6 hours to do so, but ultimately we succeeded.
This couldn't have happened without the dedication, caring, and hard work of many, many groups of people. First and foremost, our bus drivers worked diligently to get students home safely. We had some slide offs and places we couldn't get to, but every student got to a warm house for the night. Many of the drivers worked supervising, driving, and caring for kids until late into the evening. Our bus company owners worked tirelessly too - getting stuck buses moving again and delivering students home in 4-wheel drive vehicles when a bus couldn't get them home. Many of our students had to wait at school for quite some time for a parent to get them or for one of those 4 wheel drive rides. These students were cared for by secretaries and administrators until they were all safely delivered home. Central office staff members spent the evening receiving and making phone calls in an effort to keep parents up to date on the progress of their child's bus. The list could go on and on.
It was not an easy night. Not for school employees, bus drivers, students, or parents. But, ultimately, every child - over 2,300 of them - made it to their destination safely. If you see a bus driver, secretary, principal, or other person that works with kids in any way, take some time to say 'Thank You' for all the hours they put in during times of difficulty and in times when things are going well. It is these individuals that make sure our kids - our future - are well taken care of each day.
So from me to all the employees of our district and our bus contractor - THANK YOU for a job well done in a difficult situation. Your efforts did not go unnoticed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)