Great Teachers Are Innovators
Posted on | March 26, 2012 | No Comments
I had the chance to hear from some incredible leaders in Silicon Valley this past week. Leaders from Dust Networks, eBay, Facebook, Pandora, Siluria Technologies, IDEO, and Oracle Racing of America’s Cup fame. It was an amazing and inspiring week. Again and again, we heard about the importance of failing early and often, of taking risks, and of innovating.
Everyone’s advice got me thinking about teachers. If the process of innovation involves taking risks and failing, then step into the classrooms of some of the best teachers. We fail every day. We innovate every day. Why? Because we work hard to reach every student and, no matter how hard we try, we can’t. It’s just a part of the profession. What’s amazing, though, is that we keep on trying. We keep risking and failing. Just when we think we’ve got the perfect lesson planned, we find out our students aren’t getting it. Guess what? We innovate? We pivot – to draw from start-up jargon – and we use another approach. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Then we go home and reflect and plan some more, and we try it all again the next day.
I read so much about what teachers and school aren’t doing. I want to make sure the amazing, incredible teachers I know hear this this loud and clear: You are risk takers. You are innovators. You fail every day, and you take that feedback and pivot and try all over again.
How do I know? Because that’s what I’ve done as a teacher. It’s what I’ve loved about the profession. It’s the challenge of trying to reach your students, of finding the best ways to learn with them, and to connect them to concepts, ideas, and, as part of that process, to their passions.
Teaching = Failure + Innovation + Learning
China and U.S. Schools
Posted on | February 1, 2012 | No Comments
Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The Economist announced in their January 28, 2012 issue that they’ll be “launch[ing] a weekly section devoted to China.” To prove how momentous an occasion this is for the publication, they add
It is the first time since we began our detailed coverage of the United States in 1942 that we have singled out a country in this way. The principal reason is that China is now an economic superpower and is fast becoming a military force capable of unsettling America. . . . China will both fascinate and agitate the rest of the world for a long time to come.
When I read this, I immediately thought about U.S. schools. I wonder how many leaders, teachers, and students are talking about this. As educators, we need to be.
Schools and school leaders need to be doing more than talking. I would argue that they need to be doing at least the following (and kudos to those schools and school leaders I know – public and private – who are doing all this and more):
- including Mandarin as part of the world language offerings
- partnering with schools in China for exchanges and cultural immersion experiences
- offering courses on Chinese culture and history
- connecting students via Skype and other social media to Chinese students and adults, especially adults working in one or both countries in all types of fields
- establishing satellite campuses in China
Here’s what I hope we’re not doing:
- burying our heads in the sand and taking a U.S. vs. China stance (I love Rome and Roman history, but we all recognize that the Roman Empire is no more)
- operating out of complete ignorance that this shift has happened (notice I’m using the past tense)
- ignoring the fact that learning all we can about China – from language to culture to business – will only help our young people as they move into the work force
What are schools doing that I haven’t listed?
Changing the Syllabus
Posted on | January 30, 2012 | No Comments
Every year for the past 5-6 years, I’ve had the privilege of teaching a graduate course at Teachers College (TC), Columbia University, where I earned my doctorate. I’ve taught curricular design courses, action research courses, and courses on teaching and learning.
It goes without saying that I learn more from my students than they could ever learn from me. These are incredible social activists, often teaching in challenging urban school environments, and working full-time while taking evening classes at TC. And . . . many are New Yorkers . . . it means you better “bring it.”
One of my former students – he taught prisoners and is a music educator and one of the founding teachers of the Bronx Expeditionary Learning School – recently asked me how my experience at MIT would change my syllabus for teaching at TC (I’m signed up to teach a course there this summer).
It didn’t take me long to reply. It’d include
- topics from macroeconomics – what do teachers need to know to help their students gain a sense of how the world, and the U.S.’s place in it – is shifting (and has shifted)?
- leadership topics – we are all leaders; our leadership may look different person to person, but it’s there and we need to embrace it and shape it our way
- marketing strategies – we are our profession’s best marketers and spokespeople; we’ve got to get our ideas out there – using social media, government channels, etc.; what are the strategies successful marketers use to get their ideas out in the world and influence consumers? we can learn from them and . . . if time permitted . . .
- innovation – what does it look like in teaching, learning, schools, and education? what paradigm shifts are we already experiencing with online and blended learning?
- disruption – how can we “disrupt” the field of teaching and learning so that teachers and students feel empowered and find the process and the experience relevant and meaningful?
That’s a good start . . .
Dream Big. Dream Fierce.
Posted on | January 30, 2012 | No Comments
Viola Davis: “Dream big. Dream fierce.” (SAG award ceremony, January 29, 2012)
I came into this year at MIT with lots of excitement and lots of fear.
I was excited to learn things I’d been curious about – the mindsets of business leaders, the underpinnings of corporations, the skills of marketing and finance, to name a few – and to see how integrating these different ways of thinking into my current mindset might help me approach my life and work with different insights.
I was also afraid that I was making a bad decision. What would I do when I left the program? Would the program help me pinpoint what I wanted to do next? Will I end up unemployed and unemployable?
Guess what? I’m still excited and, at times, I’m still afraid. I know why people stay where they are and keep doing what they’re doing, even if their heart tells them they’re unhappy, want something bigger, and/or want to break out of the same-0ld. Simple answer. It’s hard to change, and it’s scary when you don’t know exactly what you’ll do next.
But here’s what I’m learning . . .
- it’s worth it
- you’ll experience lots of self-doubt, especially when you talk to friends and colleagues from previous jobs who are still “in it,” while you’ve had the luxury of being “out of it,” with time to reflect and learn new things
- you’ve got to get comfortable feeling uncomfortable and unsure; consider it a new way of being; otherwise you’ll lose courage and go back to what was; that’d be disappointing
- let go – of who you’ve been, how you’ve thought, how you’ve lived, where you’ve lived, and all the judgments that get attached to those things; shed your “skin”
- be kind – to yourself and to others – there is a wonderful space for reflection and bigger perspective taking in kindness
- get to love emotional roller coasters – the highs and the lows are part of the process
- keep focusing on what makes you come alive – what softens and excites and energizes and heartens and feeds you; be willing to consider everything – block out the voices of judgment and reproach
- have goals but realize the process of change isn’t linear
- take risks – emotional, intellectual, psychological, physical, etc. – whenever you can
- share your feelings with good friends and loved ones – you’re not alone even when you think you are; others can help and others have been there
I love teaching. I love learning. I love writing. I love designing learning experiences. I love to travel. I love connecting people to ideas, to other people with whom I think they’ll click, and to resources. I love big ideas. I love bringing people together to learn and to share perspectives. I love working on behalf of a mission I believe in. I love strategy and goal setting. I love feedback. I love good food and good friends. I love new challenges. I love asking questions. I love listening to the answers. I love seeing how little I can say and ask in relation to how much I can learn. I love cities.
What do you love? What do you really want to do and be? What’s stopping you? Are the obstacles real or imagined or just too hard to face right now? Who can you connect with to support you?
10 Questions to Ask Yourself
Posted on | January 27, 2012 | No Comments
I just read this and couldn’t help posting it. Geoffrey James, in a recent Inc. article, asserts that real success – the kind that’s built on our relationships and the emotions we feel on a daily basis – can be cultivated by asking ourselves the following 10 questions at the end of each day. I’ll admit I wish there were 3 instead of 10 (let me see if I can do some pruning), since I find habits are easier to cultivate when the to-do list is smaller.
Here they are:
- Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?
- Have I done something today that improved the world?
- Have I conditioned my body to be more strong flexible and resilient?
- Have I reviewed and honed my plans for the future?
- Have I acted in private with the same integrity I exhibit in public?
- Have I avoided unkind words and deeds?
- Have I accomplished something worthwhile?
- Have I helped someone less fortunate?
- Have I collected some wonderful memories?
- Have I felt grateful for the incredible gift of being alive?
He adds, “The questions you ask yourself on a daily basis determine your focus, and your focus determines your results.” I agree. Off the cuff, I might distil them down to:
- Am I making time for those I care about?
- Am I taking care of my health?
- Am I finding ways to do good?
- Am I constantly trying to enlarge my perspective?
Can we get ‘em down to 3?