Innovation vs. Expectations

My podcast diet typically consists of the fun kids' science podcasts my kid can't get enough of, like Wow in the World and Brains On. On a rare solo drive this week, I listened to Rough Translation, a more mature offering, and it has filled me with questions. I strongly recommend listening to it (or reading the transcript) before you read the rest of this post.

What does this mean for all of the changes and innovations that are necessary to keep improving my practice as an educator? When I know that I am making improvements for my students, I need to have the courage to stick with it. I can't let the questions and scrutiny that comes with change cause me to roll back into the old way of doing things.

A few years back, I ran across a quote from Brian Tracy that basically said one hour of professional development reading per day could make someone an expert in their field within seven years. Most Americans spent seven hours a day going to school for at least 13 years. After all that time, they feel like experts in schooling and have definite expectations of what education should look like.

Innovation, by definition, doesn't conform to expectations. Education stakeholders are going to ask questions and have conversations about the innovations that don't conform to their expectations. Even if it isn't the intention, this scrutiny can lead teachers to have cold feet with their new ideas. In the case of Ghana's preschools, teachers continued to put up colorful posters and move out of the traditional rows of seats, but they stopped asking students the important questions that led to the gains in personal expression.

Students investigate
the concept of area

I've seen it in my community, too. All Idaho teachers are required to take a mathematical thinking course. Although teachers have been taking the course for around a decade, there hasn't been a big shift to the type of mathematical learning that the course advocated. I think a lot of this is due to subtle pressure from parents and the community to teach kids math in a familiar way.

Educating parents is difficult. My school hosted a math night last fall where I gave an opening talk to the families that attended. The big messages of my presentation were that anyone can learn math, counting on fingers is positive and helpful, and it is good to make mistakes. As soon as I was done talking, I sent the parents off to their children's classrooms. I now wonder what type of conversations happened in those classrooms as a result. It leaves me wondering how to best involve parents without creating anxiety about new approaches.

How can we engage all of our stakeholders in a way that allows innovation to thrive? Communicating with parents is an important part of the job, but all of the change and innovation over the last few years makes their expertise and expectations from their time as a student obsolete. I think this dichotomy between outdated expectations and moving forward quashes a lot of innovation in our schools. What is the balance between expectations and innovation? How can we honor all of our stakeholders while trying new and unproven ideas?

If you have thoughts and answers, I would love to hear them. I will continue to experiment and refine as I seek answers to my questions.

Connecting and learning: #IMMOOC Week 3, Post 2

"What if we focused on connecting and learning, both globally and locally?" -George Couros, The Innovator's Mindset

Quote by Bill Nye
Image from The Good Men Project

Learning is a social pursuit. Every conversation, every book read, every YouTube video watched is an opportunity for learning from someone else. Occasionally we make an absolutely brand-new discovery, but the value of those discoveries increases once they are shared with others. This has been on my mind near-constantly since joining Twitter and making a point to share my learning online.

I encourage my students to learn from each other by sharing their thinking, engaging in Quality Boosters to improve their work, and looking to each other for help. There is a lot of connecting and learning that can happen within our own classroom.

If we can learn so much from the people within our classroom, think how much we can learn when we look for ways to connect beyond our classroom walls. We've connected with other classes to play mystery location games, share our thoughts about The Global Read Aloud Books, and learn from experts working in other places. We've also read and commented on blog posts while sharing ours with a larger audience. This is a good start, but how can I truly make connecting and learning a focus for my students?

Everyone learns, everyone teaches: #IMMOOC Week 3, Post 1

Image courtesy immooc.org

Why is there a divide between school and learning? How can we bring them closer together? A good place to start is recognizing everyone in the classroom as both teacher and a learner. I am proud to be a learner. When I try something new, I tell students. where I learned about it and that I am still figuring things out. My students know I learn in and out of school.

My students teach me and each other by sharing their thinking. Math classes begin with number talks or Estimation 180 challenges. These always put student thinking front and center. We learn from each other as we listen and consider different approaches. Throughout my classes, students share.

As I think about what I’m doing, I wonder how I can make it better. Do my students see themselves as teachers? I honestly don’t know. Even though they share their thinking, they look to me to bring it all together and make sense of it. How can we better share the responsibility of making connections and drawing conclusions from what happens in class? I guess I have a lot to learn as I head back to school this week...

This post is part of the Innovator's Mindset MOOC blogging challenge. You can find my other posts related to #IMMOOC here.

A letter to me on my first day of teaching

One of the first things I saw this morning was the great Edutopia and SoulPancake collaboration, "If I Knew Then: A Letter to Me on My First Day of Teaching." It made me think back to my first days in the classroom.  Man, they were rough! There were so many things I could have done better. What would I be able to tell myself? I knew I had to give it a try.

 Dear Mr. Windisch,

I don't know if you realize what you've gotten yourself into.  You are in for a challenge!  Being a teacher is more difficult than you imagined.  Each of the 30 students who will walk through that door later today is an individual: a complicated, growing, and changing individual who is colored by all of the triumphs and disappointments he or she has experienced in the last ten years.  It is your responsibility to determine how to reach each of these students and help him or her learn and grow this year.  Right now, that is an abstract concept, but it will become more real to you each and every day you spend in this classroom.

Here's my biggest piece of advice for you: be yourself!  Your students are ready to connect with that guy who loves the Muppets, brings his tuba to school, and is always cracking jokes.  That isn't their idea of how a teacher acts, but they will love you for being genuine. I know right now you want to play the role of a confident, veteran teacher because you're scared to make mistakes.  You are going to encourage your students to learn from the mistakes they make - give yourself permission to do the same.

There will be times when it feels like the other teachers working here have your back and there will be times when you feel isolated and alone.  Don't let the ideas in this building limit what you can do. Reach out to teachers in other places, listen to their ideas, and use the ones that work for you. Maybe you can find a community of like-minded educators on-line (that will be all the rage in about ten years using something called Twitter - try it as soon as it becomes available). If you can honestly say that the things you are doing will help the kids in your class grow and improve, you are doing the right thing. Don't let others' negativity get to you.

The Coeur d'Alene Press printed a story about my first week

Notice the amazing moments in your classroom. Jeff is going to actually write, respond, and
participate this year because you refuse to believe his Asperger's diagnosis means that he should spend the whole day drawing and playing games on the Internet. Karen is going to find her voice in your classroom. In fact, by the end of the year you'll have to stop her from turning everything into a classroom debate. In a few years, she'll proudly tell you that she received a full-ride scholarship to college and a coveted position on her school newspaper. And she'll thank you for all the encouragement you gave her in fifth grade.

You'll survive each day. Over time, you'll move from surviving to thriving! Someday, you'll be seeing your former students every time you go to the grocery store. Many of them will be able to tell you about amazing things they've done since being in your class. Others will be having a tough time. But they will all be happy to see you and each one will remind you of something great that happened in your classroom.

That bell is about to ring. Go meet your first class. You've got the first day of school ahead of you. For that matter, you have years of teaching ahead of you. Just remember, you will keep improving as long as you make it a point to experiment and refine.

Go get 'em,

-Jim