Connected Learning with #IMMOOC

This week I am gearing up for my very first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on The Innovator’s Mindset by George Couros.  This book was by far the very best of all of my professional reading this summer and I am excited to connect with other educators in conversation about the powerful ideas around innovation in education.  I actually blogged about my top takeaways in a previous post this summer.  In fact, this book was the inspiration for creating my own blog to share my reflections.  You can read more about that here, Embracing the Innovator’s Mindset, if you’re interested.  The purpose of my post today is to start my thought process on why innovation is crucial to education.

It’s often said that we are educating the leaders of the future.  One of my favorite quotes along this same vein is, “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” (Margaret Fuller)  If we as educators truly believe this assertion that we are responsible for educating our future leaders then it is imperative that we embrace an innovator’s mindset.  We cannot teach our students today as we were taught in years previous.  This is not to discredit the instruction we received as students.  Rather, we must acknowledge that if we are to cultivate students who are ready for the careers of the future we must look toward the future with regard to our instructional practices.  Our students must see us trying new practices and methods in our classrooms.  Students benefit from seeing adults taking on the role of learner on a daily basis.  I love walking into classrooms and seeing teachers working alongside their students in collaborative groups; the teacher as facilitator of learning rather than purveyor of knowledge.  Likewise, students and teachers need to see me taking steps to innovate my practices as a school leader.

We need to seek out opportunities to connect with other educators to learn about innovative practices and we must be willing to take risks in experimenting with new methods.  Opportunities abound via social media to connect with other teachers and principals to participate in shared learning.  I love this quote from Couros, “Sometimes the most valuable thing you get from the network isn’t an idea, but the inspiration or courage to try something new.”  I look forward to the reflections and new learning I will gain from participating in the Innovator’s Mindset MOOC over the next six weeks.  I’ll be posting throughout the experience, so stay tuned!

-Beth

https://twitter.com/bcohen411/status/775347068659441664

Tweeting to Reflect

Educators often speak about the power of reflection on teaching and learning.  I ran across the quote below by Peter Drucker and immediately made a connection to the classroom walkthroughs I conducted last Friday.  I decided to capture photos of the learning that was taking place as I made my way through the English pod during Block C and Tribe Time (our lunch and tutoring period.)  I then took some time to tweet out the photos and short descriptions of the learning that was visible in the photos.  I saw teachers working one on one with students as they worked to provide feedback through peer writing review.  I heard students posing questions to one another regarding a piece of text they had been closely reading and analyzing.  I also observed teachers conducting individual writing conferences with students.  

By documenting the learning that is taking place in our classrooms via Twitter, I can later go back and reflect on the evidence of our classroom practices.  I have never really thought about Twitter as a platform for reflection, but that is exactly what it can be for teachers and students alike.  In the days ahead I plan to tweet more regularly about the positive things happening in our classrooms and then reflect intentionally on what I’ve learned.

https://twitter.com/bcohen411/status/771749284408594432

https://twitter.com/bcohen411/status/771780416831262720

 

Embracing the Innovator’s Mindset

Of all the professional reading I’ve delved into this summer, none have impacted my thinking as much as George Couros’ The Innovator’s Mindset.   Couros’ work has an incredible number of takeaways, but I want to focus on my top three insights from the book.  Before I delve into those, let’s examine Couros’ definition of an innovator’s mindset.  Couros builds upon Carol Dweck’s growth mindset (the belief that abilities, intelligence, and talent can be developed) and asserts that the innovator’s mindset is “the belief that the abilities, intelligence, and talents are developed so that they lead to the creation of new and better ideas.” School leaders must endeavor to foster a school culture that serves as a springboard for innovative thinking and invigorates the minds of all stakeholders to create ideas, connect to the ideas of others, and improve on the ideas of others.

 The three most powerful ideas of The Innovator’s Mindset that resonate with me are:

• Connection- to students, other educators, to learning
• Empowered Learners
• Learner is Driver, Technology is Accelerator

We are presently living in a connection economy in which our connections to others and connections to ideas are interwoven throughout our daily lives.  One of the most powerful assertions in Couros’ work is, “If we want meaningful change, we have to make a connection to the heart before we can make a connection to the mind.”  Wow!  We know that students are profoundly influenced by the positive interactions they have with us and we know how important it is that we take that knowledge to heart, but how often do we really remind ourselves of the monumental impact our relationship building is on all aspects of our work as educators?

School culture has an incredible influence on the ability of educators to engage students in innovative learning opportunities and encourage them to become innovators themselves.  We must work to foster a spirit of collaboration among our leaders, teachers, and staff members so that our students have a model for their own collaborative work.  The school community must be supportive and nurturing for all stakeholders to provide an optimal environment for innovative thinking to thrive and expand.

A key component of this community is the shared belief that individual growth leads to collective growth.  Couros contends that, “effective leadership in education is not about moving everyone from one standardized point to the next but moving individuals from their point “A” to their point “B.”   Leaders must meet teachers where they are and likewise, teachers must do the same for their students.  When we make demands of our teachers that can be overwhelming for some, they may be more apt to cling to the “old way” of doing things or to that which is familiar.  However, if we come alongside them and seek to personalize an approach that is manageable for where they are in their thinking, the results will be positive for all involved.  The same is true for students.  Incremental, personalized growth is empowering.

Another key takeaway for me is Couros’ discussion of empowered learners versus engaged learners.  Educators often talk about the need to develop instruction that engages students in meaningful learning opportunities.  Though engagement is a huge piece of the work we do, we should put our focus on developing instruction that empowers our students.  Couros cites Bill Ferriter’s definitions of engagement and empowerment in his book.  Ferriter indicates that, “Engaging students means getting kids excited about our content, interests, and curricula.”  While empowering students “means giving kids the knowledge and skills to pursue their passions, interests and future.”

We must spend time getting to know our students’ strengths and tailoring instructional tasks that allow them to thrive while challenging them to higher standards.  We must also ensure that we are connecting with students as individuals and empowering them to become passionate learners. Our students must be able to make meaning, construct, and create learning.  To engage and empower our students to become innovators we must provide them with rigorous instructional tasks that require evaluation and creation.  Couros identifies eight things to look for in today’s classrooms to promote a vision for innovation.  Today’s classrooms should be learner focused, providing students with voice, choice, time for reflection, opportunities for innovation, critical thinking tasks, problem solving tasks, self-assessment, and opportunities to connect their learning with real world application.

My third powerful takeaway from The Innovator’s Mindset is the notion that “learners are the driver and technology is the accelerator.”  Sometimes we can be tempted to incorporate technology simply for the sake of being tech-integrated.  We need to intentionally embed technology in meaningful ways so that student learning is maximized.  According to Couros, when considering a new technology resource or instructional practice that utilizes technology or in the development of instructional technology policies, we should ask ourselves the following questions.  What is best for kids?  How does this improve learning?  If we were to do______, what is the balance of risk vs. reward?  Is this serving the few or the majority?

Couros’ work is full of many other rich ideas that I plan to further explore and experiment with in the coming school year.  His ideas resonate with me and challenge me to become a leader who embodies the innovator’s mindset and most importantly, empowers students to become passionate learners.  You can learn more about George Couros and his work here: George Couros’ Blog

Twitter: A Platform for PL

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been intentionally trying to soak up as much professional learning as I can from Twitter.  My focus is now shifting to that of a contributor of ideas as I’m becoming more comfortable with putting my thoughts out there for the world to see.  If I had to sum up the benefits of Twitter in one word, it would be CONNECTION.

Just this morning as I spent about ten minutes perusing my Twitter feed I came across a tweet from a director of professional learning for a district in a neighboring state, whom I had the privilege of meeting this year at the annual conference of the Institute for Learning.  He retweeted the tweet of one of his district’s principals who was sharing her experiences in transitioning her school to a 1:1 digital learning environment over the past school year.  I then viewed her social media story on Storify to learn about this digital learning transition in her school.  In the span of about five minutes I was able to gain tremendous insights into how this initiative unfolded and started thinking about how I could use Storify to share ideas, student learning, etc. in my own school.  Thus, I gained content and also a different approach to presenting content in the few minutes I took to follow the link in my new friend’s tweet. Connections… starting with an in-person connection at a conference and continuing through connected learning via Twitter that begets even more connections to other educators.

One method for connecting to professional learning through Twitter is by following prominent educational authors and thinkers.  When I start a new book I always look to see if the author has a Twitter presence.  Following authors allows you to see more of their thinking through their tweets and gives you access to others with which to connect as you can see who they are following.  It’s also rather exciting to tweet your thoughts about the book and tag the author by including their Twitter handle in the tweet.  You may get a reply or a retweet and trust me, it’s rather thrilling!

One of the most powerful methods of connection for educators through Twitter is through the variety of Twitter chats tailored to content areas, specific educator groups, and special topics in education.  I spend most of my time with #satchat, which is a network specifically dedicated to educational leaders (principals, assistant principals, district leaders, and teacher leaders) that convenes on Saturday mornings at 7:30.  The beauty of the Twitter chat is that you can participate in real time or check in when you have time by searching for the tweets associated with the hashtag assigned to the chat.  I recently discovered a chat for new teachers (#ntchat) and plan to explore this one further to share with the new teachers at my school.  To further dive into the variety of Twitter chats available for educators, check out the following link.  Twitter Chats & Hashtags for Teachers

As you begin to explore the opportunities available through Twitter chats keep in mind that you don’t always have to engage in the discussion to glean benefits from the learning.  If you’re more comfortable as a “lurker” you will still be able to soak up tons of information and new ideas to take back to your colleagues.  I encourage you to begin with small steps and then venture out to become a full participant in a chat that interests you.  Oftentimes, the moderators of the various chats will designate certain topics for discussion and publish those in advance to give participants the time necessary to come to the table with their own perspectives and insights.  Start by following a chat as a lurker and then when you see an upcoming topic that you can contribute to, jump into the conversation and start building those connections.

As you begin to tweet, retweet, like, and participate in Twitter chats you will find that your professional learning network will organically expand.  Participants in Twitter chats will reach out to you by following you, retweeting your tweets, and responding to your tweets.  For example, a couple of years ago I connected with a principal through #satchat who started a Twitter trend for educators called #CelebrateMonday.  He encourages educators to tweet about the positive things that are happening in their schools on Monday, so that we can transform the first day of the work/school week into a positive learning experience for our students.  Mr. Gaillard is great about responding and retweeting all #CelebrateMonday tweets.  What a great way to connect with other educators and illuminate the amazing things happening in our schools!

 

The connection possibilities afforded by Twitter are endless.  Educators can connect with each other to share new learning, innovative ideas, and positive student learning experiences.  I encourage you to join me in continuing to learn and explore through Twitter and most importantly… make connections.  Happy tweeting!

-Beth