Tag Archives: innovation

10 Ideas To Move Innovation Forward

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by -= Bruce Berrien =-

Through a lot of conversations on social networks, face-to-face opportunities, and reflection, I have been thinking about some of the things that I have seen to create new and better (innovative) opportunities for learning. This is not only in the context of student learning, but as well as opportunities for staff and their own professional development. Below, I would like to share some of my thoughts as well as some corresponding quotes from people both in and out of education. (I have written about this topic before, but I really wanted to focus on people specifically.)

1. Have a clear vision.

Although the term “innovation” talks about continuously developing new ideas, I really believe that it is imperative that the notion of risk-taking and continuously developing better learning opportunities for students. The other idea is that leaders should have some clear notion on what learning could look like in today’s classroom, not simply having a vision that is not clear. Once those ideas become clear to others, trust that those you serve will take off and make amazing things happen. Give them the autonomy to make the vision come to life.

“If you do a good job of teaching your values and mission to the people at the bottom of your organization, then once you give them control, they will do the right things with it.” Charlene Li

2. Model what you want to see.

It is really easy to go say, “do this”, but it is more important to say, “let’s do this together”. If you think about the way many run staff meetings, they often talk about “21st Century Learning” but do not model it when educators are present. People rarely change because they hear something, but are more likely to grow if they experience something. How are you making those learning opportunities something people experience?

“Meaningful change ain’t gonna happen for our kids if we’re not willing to invest in it for ourselves first. At the heart, it’s not about schools…it’s about us.” Will Richardson

3. Break it down into smaller steps.

When we have a giant vision of what “better” looks like, it often becomes overwhelming to people who are nowhere near an “endpoint”. To help people move forward, skill and confidence have to be built along the way. Every step closer to a vision, is great progress.

For example, if you want people to become more connected, show them ways that they can benefit immediately as opposed to focusing on all of the amazing ways they can bring experts into the classroom, help them find one single resource. Once they see the value of that, they are more likely to make the next step which could eventually lead to the giant leap.

“The path to success is paved with small wins. Even the grandest and most glorious victories rest on a string of modest but constructive steps forward.” Robert I. Sutton

4. Help people move from their “Point A” to their “Point B”.

Everyone is at different points in their learning journey. This is not just students, but educators as well. Too often we offer workshops and expect people to be all at the same point by the end, but is this really honouring where people are at? I really believe that once a teacher quits learning, they will become ineffective. It may not happen tomorrow, but it will happen. That being said, I can easily work with anyone that is wanting to learn and get better; they don’t have to be at the pinnacle. Start where people are at, as opposed to focusing on where you want them to be.

“Multipliers invoke each person’s unique intelligence and create an atmosphere of genius—innovation, productive effort, and collective intelligence.” Liz Wiseman

5. Work with people 1-on-1.

One of the best things that I have done this year (in my opinion), was offer “office hours” that gave teachers the opportunity to ask me about whatever they wanted to learn. Large group sessions give ample amounts of information, but can also be ineffective for many. Much of the time, teachers would come to me with questions of things that they were interested in learning about, and I led them to initiatives in our division that would help them. The big “light bulb moment” for me was this; it was not about what I wanted to teach them, but about what they wanted to learn. It is much easier to work from that point when helping others move forward.

“To sell well is to convince someone else to part with resources—not to deprive that person, but to leave him better off in the end.” Daniel Pink

6. Promote champions.

In education, no matter the level, it is never about “us”, but it is always about others. It would be really easy to maintain a space where you are always seen as the “expert”, but it is more important to build systems and capacity if we want long term growth. Sometimes, even when you know the answer, it is better to be a “connector” and show that you value the people who are already doing great stuff. A system should never be dependent upon one but should tap into many.

“…the world changes by dint of small groups of dedicated people.” Margaret J. Wheatley

7. Share, share, share!

“And then one day, you look up and realize that all those individual trajectories have turned into a wave.” Stephen Johnson

One of the neatest things about many of the initiatives that we have within our district is that we really focused on a few things to get to that transformative level in our work. When sharing became the default with many educators, we were learning from so many others and really pushing the limits of our work.

A simple analogy. Most people know that we do not use something simple like Microsoft Word past ten percent of it’s capacity (not the innovative type of software I am promoting, but the example is used for familiarity). What happens when everyone’s ten percent is different, but we all share? Our learning grows so much when we all share what we know with one another.

“The smartest person in the room is the room.” David Weinberger

8. Model and promote risk taking.

We often talk about “promoting risk taking”, but do leaders model it? People will not feel comfortable unless we openly share the things that we are trying to do to get better. Every time I write a blog post, I am taking the risk of looking stupid or saying something that someone would take offensive, yet I focus on clarifying my thoughts openly since I want our community to do the same. How can I ask it if I do not model it?

Once people see that you are doing this, they are more likely to try their own ideas and push what is happening in their own situations. Giving people license to take risks, will more likely lead to some amazing things.

“if you want innovation, it’s critical that people are able to work on ideas that are unapproved and generally thought to be stupid. The real value of “20%” is not the time, but rather the “license” it gives to work on things that “aren’t important.” Jonathan Fields

9. Find the balance of “pressure and support”.

I have talked about this to a great extent in my blog, but I think it is important to create a sense of urgency in our work while also ensuring that people are supported. If it is important, you will find money, and make time for people. This sense of urgency and support will help people to move when combined, much more than if there is an abundance of one and lack with the other.

“I believe that managing is like holding a dove in your hand. If you hold it too tightly, you kill it, but if you hold it too loosely, you lose it.” Tommy Lasorda

10. Always remember that we are in the “people” business”.

No matter how urgent things are, it never helps when we make people feel incompetent. We can have great ideas, but it is important to understand that we often do not know situations that people are dealing with in their personal lives, and what is happening outside of their work. Ensure that you show you value what they already do, before you start pushing where they should be. Once a person knows they are valued, they will go to much greater heights than if they never felt cared for in the first place.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

Concluding Thoughts

As we continue to work on growth and change management, working where people are and caring about them, makes them not only more open to change, but eventually want to embrace it. It is a process that needs patience, but with each small victory, many get closer to the big goal.

“Rather than viewing change as a threat and something to be feared, we will find ourselves embracing change, recognizing its potential to drive us to even higher levels of performance…”John Seely Brown

3 Important Trends That We Should Focus On in Schools

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Esparta

In our world, parents and students now have access to the same information that educators do, and the hope is that this would improve the learning that happens in school. The reality of this is though, that educators have access to information outside of schools and we should be looking towards different organizations and industries, and what they are focusing on and improving their practice. Many educators are doing this now, and you will see things like Google’s “2o% Time” implemented at both the classroom and organizational level with great success. As educators, I really believe we need to look both inside and outside of schools to create the best opportunities for our students.

Here are a few focus areas outside of education, that we should be looking at in schools and make more explicit in our practice.

1. Research and Development

Having a conversation at a recent meeting, the presenter continuously talked about “R & D”, while many sat in the room curious to what the initials stood for. Why is that? Why do we put such little emphasis on “Research and Development” in schools, while others organizations put a much larger emphasis in this area:

“Anthony S. Bryk, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, has estimated that other fields spend 5 percent to 15 percent of their budgets on research and development, while in education, it is around 0.25 percent. Education-school researchers publish for fellow academics; teachers develop practical knowledge but do not evaluate or share it; commercial curriculum designers make what districts and states will buy, with little regard for quality. We most likely will need the creation of new institutions — an educational equivalent of the National Institutes of Health, the main funder of biomedical research in America — if we are to make serious headway.” (From “Teachers: Will We Ever Learn“)

Obviously, research is a component of what we do in our classrooms, but are we creating from that process or are we simply reporting? Teachers should be continuous learners and active research should be a component of this (obviously administrators should be finding time to ensure that this happens), and we are more likely to create this experience for students if we experience this ourselves. Actively researching best, new and innovative practices, would only improve our schools.

We spend a lot of time having our students look back at the past, but how much time do we give them to create the future?

2. Entrepreneurial Spirt

The term “entrepreneurial spirit” is something that has been a focus for Alberta Education:

“Entrepreneurial Spirit: who creates opportunities and achieves goals through hard work, perseverance and discipline; who strives for excellence and earns success; who explores ideas and challenges the status quo; who is competitive, adaptable and resilient; and who has the confidence to take risks and make bold decisions in the face of adversity.”

Or their simple definition for students:

“I create new opportunities.”

I have seen many amazing things that have been created in schools only because I happened to be in the school. If students are able to develop an “app”, should they not also have some understanding of how to market it as well? This just not go for the “business minds” in school, but in any and every aspect. A student can be the most amazing artist, but if no one ever sees their work, could they ever end up doing this for a living? I am a firm believer that we should try to give opportunities for students to follow their passions and hopefully make a living from what they love.

Dan Pink shares his belief that all people are in some capacity need the ability to be able to “sell”:

“Physicians sell patients on a remedy. Lawyers sell juries on a verdict. Teachers sell students on the value of paying attention in class. Entrepreneurs woo funders, writers sweet-talk producers, coaches cajole players.”

If you think back to your own post-secondary experience in becoming an educator, were you ever actually taught on how to get a job? This is more important than ever with “digital footprints” becoming a large factor in how people in all areas are getting jobs.

We want our students to be able to create amazing things; how do we help them share those creations?

(Check out SCH Academy’s “Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership” to see a very innovative program that is really trying to push the envelope in this areas.)

3. Leadership Development

This is probably a no-brainer for many, but still something that schools need to focus on for their entire community. When I talk about “leadership”, I am not thinking of “being the boss”, but the ability to empower others and be a part in creating a positive culture. I also believe that leadership has to do with ownership, and things that we do in isolation also help us in this pursuit (Sir Ken Robinson is considered a “leader” in education but how many of you know of any affiliations that he has with any single organization?).

Developing leaders should be something that we continue to focus on, or the first two areas that I have discussed will end up being moot.

Although there are “electives” in schools in the above areas, should there not be elements of each in the work that we do everyday? As stated before, this is not just about students, but for it to be successful, these are initiatives that should be available to educators as well. Experience is the best way to create new learning, and if our staff does not understand this, how will our students? We should also look at what we do already in these areas and make some of these initiatives more explicit to our public. Changing the terminology from “staff days” to “Research and Development Day” (or whatever the time length), better communicates the work that we are trying to do, and perhaps creates a better focus for ourselves on what we are trying to do with our professional learning time.

Although a lot of these terms are related to “business”, I see them as valuable opportunities for learning and to create opportunities for our students, not only in their future, but also their present.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Innovation in Isolation

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by jhoc

One of the magical “C’s” that is emphasized over and over again is collaboration. I am a big believer in the power of teams coming together to build something greater than what is possible creating alone, but I sometimes wonder if this (as other things) is sometimes overemphasized. Collaboration is important, but what about isolation? Do we teach the ability to work on our own?

With the massive amounts of information that surround us at all times, we need time alone to be able to collect our thoughts. As I continue to do workshops and connect with people, I have come to appreciate the opportunity to sit in an airport and be anonymous at some points. This gives me a break from all of the things that we do in our world, catch up on my own thoughts, reflect, and clarify. Is the ability to be alone something all people possess or are comfortable with?

Lately, leading workshops, I have really focused on the implementation of time for people to simply have time to reflect and give them a space to share their thoughts, whether they choose to or not. Sometimes working within the group is implemented in full force that we do not have an opportunity to be with our own thoughts, and people start to check out anyway. From what I have seen, people are at first thrown off by the time I give for them to think about some big questions, but are later thankful for the chance to be within their own head. Admittedly, a full day of group talk can be overwhelming for myself.

In the article, “The Power of Lonely“, being alone, the author believes, is extremely beneficial for our spirit and mind:

But an emerging body of research is suggesting that spending time alone, if done right, can be good for us — that certain tasks and thought processes are best carried out without anyone else around, and that even the most socially motivated among us should regularly be taking time to ourselves if we want to have fully developed personalities, and be capable of focus and creative thinking. There is even research to suggest that blocking off enough alone time is an important component of a well-functioning social life — that if we want to get the most out of the time we spend with people, we should make sure we’re spending enough of it away from them. Just as regular exercise and healthy eating make our minds and bodies work better, solitude experts say, so can being alone.

If we are truly to become “creative and innovative”, we have to be able to individually bring something to the table. The ability to connect with one another is no more important than the ability to connect with ourselves. Many of my ideas come from sitting in Starbucks by myself, or going for a run on my own. Is being in isolation not a skill we should be modelling and teaching our students?

Gladwell and Innovative Leadership

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One of the school boards that I spoke to this year (Sir Wilfrid Laurier), has an interesting focus on the objective of “Leadership and Innovation”. The description is below:

Objectives:

1. To promote, support, and increase the implementation of innovative approaches in teaching, learning, and problem solving through leadership

2. To recognize and celebrate innovative approaches

The first point to me is imperative, as in my travels I have come to believe that innovative schools or districts are a reflection of leadership. If the “leader” is not innovative or does not believe in challenging the way things “have always been done”, the ceiling for innovation is much lower. If leaders are not comfortable with the inherent risk that comes with “innovation”, that will be reflected in organizational practices.

As to what “innovation” is, I love the definition provided by Notter and Grant in their book “Humanize” (one of my favourite books I have read this year):

Definitions of innovation vary by guru, but they revolve around two words: change and new. Innovation implies change and doing things differently, but it has to achieve some new level of performance, or create some kind of new value. It is not enough just to be different; it has to be better. It is about creation, not copying.

As I talked about this notion with Jesse McLean as his school undertook “Innovation Week“, I thought back to Gladwell’s book “The Tipping Point“, and thought about some of the key people that he describes that push forward “social epidemics”, I wondered how they fit into our notion of innovative leadership in schools. The three people listed by Gladwell’s “Law of the Few”, as described in this Wikipedia article, are described below:

Connectors, are the people in a community who know large numbers of people and who are in the habit of making introductions. A connector is essentially the social equivalent of a computer network hub. They usually know people across an array of social, cultural, professional, and economic circles, and make a habit of introducing people who work or live in different circles. They are people who “link us up with the world … people with a special gift for bringing the world together.”

Mavens are “information specialists”, or “people we rely upon to connect us with new information.”^[4] They accumulate knowledge, especially about the marketplace, and know how to share it with others. Gladwell cites Mark Alpert as a prototypical Maven who is “almost pathologically helpful”, further adding, “he can’t help himself”.

Salesmen are “persuaders”, charismatic people with powerful negotiation skills. They tend to have an indefinable trait that goes beyond what they say, which makes others want to agree with them.

As we are seemingly are at the “tipping point” in school reform, I wonder if leadership has to not only possess one of these characteristics, but essentially all three? If we are actually moving to a place where people don’t just accept change but embrace it (as change is always the constant), I see all three of those elements being crucial in school leadership. To effectively “promote, support, and increase the implementation of innovative approaches in teaching, learning, and problem solving through leadership”, those characteristics would be essential.

Thoughts? Obviously there are other essential characteristics that make a good leader (value on relationships and building trust being the most important), but where do Gladwell’s “Law of the Few” now fit in where a world is more social than ever?

The Need for Innovative Leadership

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I asked the following question today on Twitter:

If the mandate is for innovation, how much should “best practice” drive that?

This question has been stuck in my head from while I have been reading the book, “Humanize“, which has really challenged and pushed my own thinking on “innovation” and how the culture of social media should be a culture that is embedded into our organizations. Here is one of the quotes from the book that started to create that connection:

“Almost overnight, it seems, the world has become social, and the work world, too. Markets are conversations. Social media has enabled us to connect with individual people inside organizations and brands. We’re leaping over corporate hurdles imposed by PR and marketing departments and the chain of command; customers are being heard in ways that ignore traditional channels. Content is being created that blurs the line between the “professionals” and the “amateurs.” Rules are defied. People are demanding truth, honesty, transparency, and openness from the brands and organizations they deal with every day. The companies that are winning are those that are listening—and social media makes it easy to listen (though maybe not so easy to manage the work of listening and responding), so the rest have no excuse anymore. And why is all this so disruptive? Because we like it. A lot.”

So if we “like it” so much, why are many organizations struggling to import so many of these ideas into their everyday operations? Many talk of the notion of transparency, yet is the process transparent or simply the products that we share? As Clay Shirky discusses, we live in a “publish, then filter” world, yet are we comfortable sharing our ideas as they progress? There is so much that are able to learn from tapping into the wisdom of the community but as Notter and Grant share, many of our old mindsets are obviously stopping us from moving forward:

Organizations and businesses have mechanisms in place to stop progress, to stop themselves from evolving. Mainly because of an inherent fear of change and fear of losing control, they have an interest in maintaining the status quo. We feel strongly that such an approach is becoming increasingly less viable. Mark our words: If you think your organization is behind now, just spend a year or two treading water, and you’ll see how much ground there is to make up. There’s no time to waste. It’s up to you, if you care about your organization, to help it not only survive this transition but to also flourish.

As a result of an open world, more people are starting to question the “principal” position not only how it is done, but even if the position is need at all. My guess and gut feeling comes that some very innovative and forward thinking teachers that are coming into contact with principals and organizations that are not ready to truly move forward, although the terms “21st Century Learning” and “risk taking” often come into the narrative that administrators are sharing about their school.

While I have worked with many organizations that are keen to push “innovation” (or that is the word that is being used), through my travels, I have noticed again and again, that it starts and stops with leadership. As I have heard this quote attributed to Todd Whitaker, “If the principal sneezes, the school gets a cold.”, it is shown continuously that the principal or leader of an organization always has a huge impact on the culture, whether it is positive or negative.

So what now? First of all, if we are truly open to a world of innovation we have to be able to take risks not only in our learning but in our practice. Focusing on “best practice” is a way to look backwards, but is it an effective way to move forward? We can always learn from what we have done in the past, as there are many things that we have learned from our journey that we know we must maintain (the focus on the “whole child”, building relationships with the community). We can also learn from other schools such as SCIL and watch how they are embedding teacher research and innovation into practice. Still we know that something with many schools and education is just not working. Watching a student speak last night on a Ted Talk, discussing how school is not working for her, she said something that really stuck out to me:

“There is a direct correlation between our old fashioned system, and our scarcity for a love of learning.”

#Yikes

So as we move forward we have to truly be open in our practice, share the process, and be comfortable with the mistakes that we will make along the journey. We have to not only give permission for things to not work perfectly, we have to push and encourage our teachers to go out of their comfort zones to improve student learning based on the needs of today’s learner.

Currently in Parkland School Division, we have started an project called the “Mobile Learning Initiative“, where we give educators the opportunity to have an iPad for each student in their class, in hopes of transforming the classroom and seeing what can be created that you could not before without the device. Is the iPad the best device in this instance? To be honest, I don’t know. Through the process, we are more focused on project based learning yet we are seeing what the device can do through the eyes of the educators that will use them. Within our schools, we will be sharing this “cart” amongst our schools to give different opportunities to different teachers, while they actively share their learning, both the negatives and positives, with the rest of the school division and the world.

As I worked on this initiative with Jesse McLean and our Learning Services team, we explicitly told the first group to not worry if things “didn’t work” they wanted it to, but to see what the kids would be able to do with the device in their hand. Similar to SCIL, we want that active research while pushing the boundaries of innovation. I was extremely excited to read the initial installment of their research, I was thrilled to see what educators Jenna Wilkins and Brad Arndt wrote about the beginning of this project:

Understanding that this pilot project is about exploring opportunities the iPads offer to help further our learning, both inside and beyond the walls of our school, we are going to have to take some risks. We are not going to have all of the answers or a foundation of knowledge and experience to guide us, which is somewhat daunting when we think about handing the students their iPads first thing Tuesday morning. What we do know is that we are open and committed to the learning that we, alongside our students, are going to experience during this process. And it is just that, a process.

First and foremost we hope to inspire our students to reach beyond the boundaries of our school to access, use, create and share their learning in ways that they may not otherwise be able to accomplish without the constant accessibility of an iPad. Second, we as learners hope to gain knowledge and skills that will help us incorporate mobile learning resources for the benefit of our students through consistent reflection and sharing of the successes, challenges and further learning opportunities of the project.

The notion of continuous learning, growth, and taking risks is not only going to be experienced by our students in this project, but our teachers as well. As we continue to strive and grow in all levels of our organization, we are seeing that enthusiasm to take risks in learning happening with educators, which in turn will trickle down to our students.

As I read their statement regarding their commitment to learning and this “process”, I could not help to think that even if things don’t work out and the project “fails”, is there truly a lack of success when students, teachers, and organizations take risks to further their own learning? To have this happen though, it has to be modeled continuously and consistently by leaders to create an “innovative culture”.

“It is high time we start applying the principles of innovation to the way we run our organizations. Innovation is not just about creating new products (or new social networks, for that matter). It is about change, creation, and new pathways, so it is just as applicable to management and the way we run our organizations as it is to products or social media. Management, after all, is really just a tool—a technology we use to help run our organizations.” Notter and Grant

Learner Focused

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We are into the second year of the “Learning Leader” project, and I have constructed the program differently this year as I continue to reflect on my practice. There have been some great posts from the participants (which is a component of the program) and there have been ones that have been the equivalent of a tweet. What I am impressed about is the vulnerability of teachers to be willing to put themselves out there and learn openly. I started off the sessions telling them that I am not going to give them a bunch of teaching strategies to work with their students. What I am going to do is help them focus on themselves as learners, which will give them the opportunity to find whatever they need. Teaching to fish, right?

As I read one of the posts, it struck a chord on how I have shifted my “teaching”:

When I first left the Central office after our first session of Learning Leader Yesterday, I was a little disappointed, and felt it was a little unstructured. But after a day of reflection, what George did with us yesterday was exactly what I did to my students when I got back. He made us curious and encouraged us to discover.

A few years ago, if you would have asked me what I would be doing in the classroom at 2:25 of that day, I could have pretty accurately told you where I would be at with students. In fact, if you would have asked me in September what I would be working on with students in February, I could have also told you that. Teachers would expected to have a course outline of where the classroom would be in the curriculum at what time of the year. If kids didn’t really understand, well, you would have to move on. Getting through the curriculum seemed more important than the kids actually learning.

I don’t do that anymore.

Learning should take on a life of it’s own and my focus is to push people to learn about what they are interested in and help guide them in the process. The process of learning, to me, is much more important than the product of learning. My workshops usually have 2-3 things that we are going to focus on in a day, but I don’t set times anymore because I don’t know where we will be. How could I accurately determine the learning of people if I have never met them? I am not totally there as a teacher, but I am growing and hopefully getting better.

The interesting thing is that many educators are still not comfortable with the seemingly unstructured setting of this type of work. It is often that they have to be fed the information because they have become accustomed to this. I remember starting in a very progressive school and trying to focus more on helping the students to “learn” as opposed to focusing on simply teaching them. They were in grade 7 and it was a struggle because they were so comfortable with “the old way”. It felt like they were saying, “just tell me what I need to know.” To be honest, on somedays that was the easier thing to do. But easy is not always right. It may feel right at this very moment, but later on, it will catch up, and the creativity, curiosity, and yearning to learn will be sucked right out of kids. I don’t want to be responsible for that. In fact, I want them to ask more questions and start figuring out how they can find answers and build their own connections. The connections THEY create in their learning will give them a stickiness factor, not the connections I create for them.

This video from Dan Brown, entitled “An Open Letter to Educators”, he shares some powerful thoughts:

Education isn’t about teaching facts. It is about stoking creativity and new ideas. It is not about teaching students to conform to the world as it is. It is about empowering students to change the world for the better.

If we are unable to experience that learning as teachers, how would we ever do that for our students? Hopefully I can continue to spark this with others as I experience it myself.

“Stray Away From the Direct Path”

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The things happening in this video are amazing (embedded at the bottom of this post) , but it is the words, especially starting at 1:51, that inspire me. They could easily become my mantra:

“Stray away from the direct path. Take risks. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, because it is only from the mistakes that we learn, and it’s from the mistakes that the really interesting things happen. We may not always create or invent, but we always learn when we try.”

As leaders, it is not simply enough to say “take risks”, but it is essential to show that you are willing to do the same. This is a cultural shift from what we are used to so simply encouraging people to be courageous and creative is not enough. You need to embody it. Eddie Obeng talks about this in his Ted Talk:

All the CEOs around me, my clients, they want innovation, so they seek innovation. They say to people, “Take risks and be creative!” But unfortunately the words get transformed as they travel through the air…entering their ears…what they hear is, “Do crazy things and then I’ll fire you.” Why? Because in the old world…getting stuff wrong meant you’d failed, and how should you be treated? Well, harshly, because you could have asked somebody who had “experience.” So, we learned the answer and we carried this in our heads for 20 or 30 years…so, how should you be treated [when you fail]? You should be treated better than the people who succeed.

Changing yourself is the first step to changing a culture.

What is being creative? from Kristian Ulrich Larsen on Vimeo.

Caine’s Arcade Project (October 6, 2012)

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I just wanted to share something that have recently shared on my Division Principal blog. I think it is worthwhile for schools to do and I am hoping that others jump on board. Take a look at the storify I created below.

You Should Read…(August 12, 2012)

What Schools Can Learn From the World of Photography

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The best camera you have is the one with you.

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Nico Kaiser

I have taken a big interest in visuals and photography as I have found some amazing photo sites on the web, as well as simply enjoying using apps such as Instagram (along with a large chunk of the world). Recently, I was struck by this quote:

“(On digital photography) No wasted film, slides, or prints. And we are aware of this relationship between mistakes and consequences when we pick up the camera—so we click away, taking many more photos digitally than we would have in a world of costly film. Because we know failure is free, we take chances, and in that effort we often get that one amazing picture that we wouldn’t have if we were paying for all the mistakes.” John Hamm

When I thought about it, I wondered about the photography industry and how it has probably changed a great deal in the last ten years because of the evolution of digital photography. As I am admittedly no more of an expert on the field of photography as I am a strong photographer, I still wanted to share some observations and thoughts on what we can learn from photography and how it applies to what we do in school. The field of photography has grown and schools could probably learn a few lessons from the field.

1. The technology is better and cheaper which changes everything. When I first started teaching in 1999, one of my first purchases with a “grown up” cheque was a $600 digital camera that was considered to be “top of the line” at the time. There was still at this time a huge divide in the “digital” camera camp and those that still used traditional cameras. At the time, I used the technology to upload to my computer so I could print it off on bad photo paper. The quality was terrible and I get much better images now from my iPhone, while also being able to take a lot more pictures.

Now, do we still focus on “digital” cameras as this technology has become the norm? You can create some amazing images with even an iPhone and most people now literally carry a camera in their pocket. With this access, the quality of images overall are not necessarily better, but more people have the opportunity to take part in this activity, in a meaningful way. It is not just about developing pictures to post on a wall, but sites like Flickr, have made it easier to share our lives through visuals and have changed the way we even think about photography. The biggest strictly “mobile” community is now Instagram and it is growing more every day.

When technology gets better, we must rethink the way we do things. With more access to more people, the way we do things will obviously change.

A low quality photo from a “top of the line” camera in 1999. Still has meaning though since it is showing me and the kids

A higher quality pic of “the kids” in 2012 from my phone.

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by gcouros

2. Communities make us (or force us to be) better. Because of communities like Flickr and Instagram, there is more sharing that leads to more innovation. I have seen some amazing wedding photos, some hilarious ones, and some that you probably wouldn’t post in an album. With all of these wedding photos are being done, do you think that the “traditional” ideas are still used in such a widespread manner? With this access to so many different ideas, it is not only the photographer that benefit, but it is also the customer that can share what they have seen to get the perfect picture. The idea of looking through a “book”, or even website, at some of the best pictures one photographer has done limits the customer to only the mind and work of that photographer. These communities can inspire everyone with new ideas that they can all use or build upon.

When we share ideas, everyone benefits.

An awesome and unique wedding photo…professional or amateur? Any idea?

cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo shared by kelly niemann

3. Create a culture where risks are accepted. This idea was sparked by the initial quote at the beginning of this post and has resonated with me. As a child, I remember using my parents’ camera and each image was like valuable currency. You did not want to waste those images on any picture that could have turned out to be of a poor quality, and once the film roll was done, it was done. Trying something different was out of the question at the fear you would literally run out of the opportunity to try it again. Digital has changed that. If we don’t like the picture, we can simply delete it and try again. Don’t like the next one? Delete it again. The idea that there is little risk involved in our efforts, can lead ultimately to a better product although that it may take time. Are we patient and comfortable enough with this mindset in schools?

Do we have schools that promote this type of culture where risks are encouraged? The “digital photography” mindset is something that we should look to adopt more with both our staff and students.

4. The more access, the more we have to rethink the way we have always done things. With the progressions in the field of photography, do you think the “professional” photographer has not had to adapt to the way things have always been done? I have many friends who have jobs and do wedding photography as a hobby on the side. No formal training, no formal schooling, but simply an interest in photography.

I will never forget when my sister was married and seeing the price of the actual prints and thinking how outrageous the cost was. People are doing quality work for a much lower price which will ultimately have people that are industry rethink the way that we have done.

School is in this same boat. Some educators are very hesitant about the “Sal Khan’s” of the world that are not trained educators, yet people like him are influencing the way many others outside of the profession think about education. You don’t think it has impact? Look at how many teachers are talking about “flipping the classroom” or “flipping the faculty meeting“. It is not that Khan invented the idea of “flipping”, but did he help to make it mainstream?

With all of the options out there for education, we have to really think about the way schools do “business” or we are going to be “out of business”. Just look at the music industry and how much they lost but they were only dealing with money. We can’t afford to lose our kids.

“If you don’t like change, you‘ll like irrelevance even less.” ◦ – General Eric Shinseki

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Byflickr

The Principal of Change

Stories of learning and leading