Going to the Spaces Where You Can Inspire Change

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I was recently participating in a FlipGrid book study on “The Innovator’s Mindset” and was asked this question by one of the participants:

In writing a book on innovation, did you ever struggle with the idea that you were using a very “traditional” format?

I loved the question, and here a couple of thoughts.

1. “Traditional” does not equal bad. If one learner benefits from reading on an iPad and the other benefits from reading from pages on a book, both are reading.  Whatever the learner needs to be successful is where we should begin.

2. The second thing I thought about was that I was already using digital spaces such as blogs and Twitter at the time when I wrote the book. I was reaching many people who were ready to take the leap with some of the ideas I shared or were already excelling at them.  I also wanted to reach people that weren’t in those online spaces and perhaps, through the text, encourage them to explore for themselves. Some of the most refreshing tweets I have ever been mentioned in are ones where someone says something similar to, “I just read The Innovator’s Mindset and decided to jump in and try Twitter! Thanks, @gcouros!”  I reached someone in a space where they were learning, and that was what mattered.

I discuss this in “Innovate Inside the Box“:

“The only way to help move people forward is through building relationships and understanding where their journey begins, not focusing solely on where you want them to be.”

The participant’s question was a great reminder that if we want to reach people and help push their thinking, we have to go to the spaces where they are most comfortable to start. It is not about them jumping to you, but you going to them.

“I hate doing school things, but I love learning.”

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This blog post by a student was something that really resonated with me and challenged my thinking. I did an accompanying podcast to talk about some of the ideas here, but you can also check out the full post below.  Karen’s (the student) post is a must-read for educators. 

Check out the podcast on iTunes or on SoundCloud.

I was happy to be tagged in this post, “I’m a Loser Because of School,” written by a student named Karen. I was honored to be referenced, which is why I was tagged in this tweet from the teacher Sean Ziebarth in the first place (great job in your class, Sean!). There is so much to go through in this student’s post who discusses how they are a “loser” because of their focus on doing school and being schooled.  She referenced my “School vs. Learning” blog post and used the following image:

She makes a powerful statement on how she looks at school and learning that I feel many students feel:

When I say I hate school, I mean I hate school itself. I hate doing school things, but I love learning. I love those “aha!” moments that make my brain feel big and adrenaline course through my body, but they usually don’t happen in school for me.

When I read this, it reminded me of this Michael Wesch video from 2011 where he tells a story (starts at 2:11) of doing an informal survey with students and asks them, “How many of you do not like school?”, to which he will usually receive over 50% of them raising their hands.  When he changes the question to, “How many of you do not like learning?”, no hands raised.  Karen brings this point home in her own experience.

Although the above point from Karen comes in later in her post, the first paragraph alone jolted me:

Almost all of my teachers go crazy about homework and projects and exams. I spend at least four hours a day doing homework, and I’m already at school for six hours. I’m taking eight classes this semester, six of them being high school classes. I don’t really know what’s going on half the time, but I guess I’m doing well because I have almost all A’s.

Work ethic is essential to develop in students but a) what about work/life balance and b) what about enjoying youth?  

Karen then goes on to make comparisons to school in the current day compared to the past.  

As students, our goal is to pass school like those kids. The only difference between them and us is that they’re less miserable because the standards today are unrealistically high and the pressure is extreme.

As a student, I do not remember the pressure that I am seeing students face today. Of course, we wanted to do well, but what Karen is discussing (and what many educators and students share as a concern as well) is that this is something entirely different in today’s education system.  I do not know if this is a relevant comparison, but when I was a high school student-athlete, I had the opportunity to play different sports in different seasons. I am so glad that I had that opportunity as I feel it made me more well-rounded.  But now, you are seeing more of the single-sport athlete with “year-round” basketball (or whatever sport).  Wayne Gretzky, considered by many to the best hockey player ever, actually believes that most kids who play sports benefit from playing in different activities throughout the year. Yet, the belief for many (and I think this comes mostly from adults) is that how could you compete playing a sport for only a few months to others who do the same activity year-round?  This mindset seems to be similar to school and a deep focus on “academics” that often starts in Kindergarten, or even in pre-school.

Karen then goes on to discuss “three reasons why I’m a loser because of school, and what schools can do about it.”  What I love about the points she makes (“I’m obsessed with my grades,” “I’m not resilient,” “I have no time to do anything but school”) is that she provides solutions and different ways of thinking about each area.  It would be easy to complain about what is right, but to offer ideas and points of discussion for each item is pretty powerful and compelling.  I am not sharing any of her thoughts and/or solutions for these three points because I think it is imperative to read the whole article. 

At the end of the article, Karen makes a powerful statement with some essential questions for her peers:

Why do I go to school? Am I learning? Is everything I do for a grade? For myself? Do I want to be well-schooled or well-educated?

Every student needs to take a step back, reflect, and do something about their loser-ness if they realize that they are one (or partially one).

Karen, if you ever read this, understand you are NOT a loser. Just by reading this one post, I can tell you are an amazing and thoughtful individual. The advice you give at the end of your post is pretty powerful, and one all educators and students should consider:

So, just as schools need to put learning first, students also have to want to learn and make it their priority.

The second part of Karen’s above statement is not as powerful unless schools consider the first.  I could go on and on about how much I learned from this post, but I think Karen’s entire article would be an excellent piece for discussion in any school.  I encourage you to check it out.

You can check out the full podcast below!

Playing Slow to Become Better

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I have been trying to play guitar more as of late, and I was watching a video on playing guitar by Paul Davids. 

I love listening to his content, and you will see people refer to him as the “Bob Ross of guitar,” and I get the comparison. I often listen to his video to relax and aspire to get better.

I was reading the comments in a YouTube video (sometimes it isn’t horrible!), and one comment stuck out to me, although I can’t seem to find it.  Paraphrased, it went something like this:

The best advice I have ever received on playing guitar is to have the patience to play slow and do it right, as opposed to playing poorly, faster. With this approach, you will quickly get better at doing the wrong things.

This reminded me a lot of the Karen Lamb quote:

Becoming really good at something not only takes time but dedication to the process.

I thought a lot about this quote and how true it is for playing guitar if you want to get better at the art.  Yet, I often hear the opposite message in learning and innovation in the focus on “failing fast.”   The emphasis on being “first” or coming up with the newest idea, is often celebrated, but to become exceptionally good at something, time and patience are essential to growth.  This doesn’t mean that “new” or being “fast” can’t be good; it is a reminder that those qualities alone do not make something of value.  I am focusing more on the patience of playing slow to get better long term.

It is also a reminder that “easy” does not equal “good.”  I have written about this before and how technology has become much easier to use over the years, but it doesn’t mean we have created more depth in learning:

Technology may give the glitz and glamor, but the focus should always be the learning.  In many cases, I have been guilty of pursuing the “easy app” that would appeal to my students when I should have been focused on learning and long term goals for learning.

Technology will continue to become easier, but that doesn’t mean the learning will always be deeper with its use without a teacher or learner’s thoughtful intervention.  Technology has removed many barriers, but thinking should not be one of them.  We can do many things now with technology that we couldn’t do before which is why I am such an advocate of meaningful use of technology in learning. It is essential that we are aware our focus is always on the depth of learning, not only on the cosmetics of the process.

To truly get better at learning, in or out of school, it is not about speed, but depth.  If we are willing to commit to this process, it might not look glitzy, but long term, it will be so much better.

4 Ways To Not Let Others Dim Your Light (#Podcast)

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In October 2017, I posted the article “4 Ways to Not Let Others Dim Your Light.”  Often, when I share articles like this, it is an opportunity to use my struggles to help others.  I decided to revisit this post in the form of a podcast and talk it through, but I also wanted to share the original article.

You can check out the podcast and/or read the article below.

4 Ways to Not Let Others Dim Your Light (Podcast on iTunes) |  SoundCloud

 

I had a great conversation with a new principal with huge aspirations on how they were going to help their school move forward.  Very quickly, she seemed to have detractors that were more focused on her than the hopes she had for where she would lead her school.  To be clear, this wasn’t even people that were in her school, but outsiders.  My advice to her was that the more greatness you strive for, the more people will come out of nowhere to hate on you.

The reality of our world is that people get threatened when other people shine their light on the world.  This bothers me even more so when it is educators doing it to educators, as our jobs are to empower those we serve, not try to bring them down.  If you are doing this to a colleague or peer, would you do it to a student? Would you do it to my daughter if she was in your classroom?  In education, this is unacceptable.

Some people believe that if you shine bright, it somehow gives them less opportunity to find their success. Instead of learning from what others do, they choose to find ways to undermine others.  There is room for all to be successful. Although we all have different obstacles to overcome, some more daunting than others, I believe that we ultimately determine our path and destination.

From one of my favorite pieces:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.”
-Marianne Williamson

So how do you deal with those trying to dim your light?  Here are a few ways that I have learned from others that have helped me tremendously.

1. Be kind, always.

When being seemingly attacked, it is easy to want to strike back.  Often when people are doing this, there are things that they are dealing with that may not be about you.  It can be easy to attack immediately, but in the end, how does that make you look?  I once heard from a comedian that if you continue to be kind to those that hate you, and they continue to be cruel while you are kind, everyone will see who is the mean one in the situation.  People believe that attacking back shows strength, but being kind even while someone is going after you, shows strength on a different level.

2. Ask questions. 

Not all criticisms are wrong.  People are sometimes genuinely trying to help out, and if we are not open to being challenged, we never grow.  By showing humility and trying to learn from the criticism of others, it creates an excellent opportunity to learn not only from success but from mistakes.  By asking questions, you also can find common ground.  That being said, if you find common ground and then people disagree with you still based on what you both believe, you start to realize that the criticism is less about the idea, and more about the person, which leads to the next point.

3. Move on and ignore.

Time is the most precious currency we have, and how we spend it is what leads anyone to be successful.  Who you surround yourself with is often who you become. If you spend time with people always trying to deter you from your aspirations, you will spend more time being frustrated, and less time making things happen.  This is not just during interactions, but when we dwell in our minds on the words and actions of others. A favorite quote:
Give people a chance to share their thoughts, but don’t allow them to take away to deter you from your dreams.

4. Give back.

If you want to be empowered, empower others.  Be the example. As stated earlier, there is room for all people to be successful, and I make it a personal rule to invest my time in people who are willing to invest in themselves.  Although our work ethic, mindset, and what we do with what we have are factors that lead to success, not one person I know has ever been successful totally on their own. People always help out, even in the smallest ways, to help others achieve their goals and dreams. Our legacies continue when they live in others.  If you hate others trying to bring people down, don’t just complain; be the opposite.

Success does not happen by accident, but by habit.  We have to be intentional in our interactions not only with others but ourselves.  It is okay to be hard on yourself and have high expectations, but that is much different from beating yourself up.  It is normal to let the criticisms of others get to us, but do not let it stop you from doing something great.

The world needs your light to shine.

Making an Impact on One Person (#Podcast)

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I have released episode 1 of a weekly podcast that I have planned for years but, finally, have taken the initiative to put together and release it to the world.  Each podcast is meant to be 10-20 minutes long and discuss something I have been thinking about, and hopefully provide some inspiration or challenge thinking for the week. There is no script; it is just me talking about some points and sharing ideas.

This week, I posted about the importance of “risk-taking,” which seemed to be a relevant topic to the release of the podcast.  I have loved blogging for the past ten years, but reflection just became such a habit for me that I wanted to try something else to push my learning.  But the reason that I didn’t start the podcast sooner was because of the same excuses that I would roll my eyes if others used such as, “I don’t have time” or “who cares what I have to say.”  For me, these were a way out more than a way forward.  So I pushed myself to start, put a schedule together, and started playing around. I am not happy with the sound quality of the first episode, but I have been playing around with mics and testing things out.  If I were waiting for perfection to happen, I would have never started now or in the future.  So I decided to jump.

So why now? The simple answer was I needed to push myself. The best way I can explain it is through an exercise analogy. If you do the same routine with lifting weights and continue to lift the same amount of weight, this will not lead to a maintenance of your current state, but a regression.  For me, I was feeling this effect mentally, so I decided that I would change things up.  Here is one of the points that I made in the podcast:

In “Innovate Inside the Box,” I shared the following:

I hope I never grow tired of learning, but if I do, I hope that I have the courage to leave the profession before I stand in the way of anyone else’s learning and growth.

If I am going to continue to ask people to push themselves in their learning, I know that I am going to be able to point to examples where I am doing the same.  The discomfort of the process is something that I am learning to not only get through but enjoy. We always say that if “we can just make an impact on one person, we will have made a difference.” Sometimes, it is essential that “one person” is ourselves as we can inspire many others through our example.

If you want to check out the podcast, you can subscribe on iTunes or check it out on SoundCloud.

#InnovateInsideTheBox Instagram Book Study! (Starting January 22)

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I am excited to announce that Katie Novak and I will be starting an Instagram book study on January 22, 2020, on my co-authored book, “Innovate Inside the Box: Empowering Learners Through UDL and the Innovator’s Mindset.” There are three main goals of this book study:

  1. To dig deeper into the ideas of the book and learn/model UDL learning strategies.
  2. To encourage different multimedia creation to actively reflect and create meaningful learning opportunities. 
  3. To use spaces like Instagram to build networks with other educators who are interested in the top of innovation in education.  

The book study will begin on January 22, 2020, and finish on February 12, 2020.  The hope is that participants would post 2-3 creations of their learning (photo, audio, video) from the book per week and/or comment on questions posed from the @gcouros account for the book study.  Katie and I will also be hosting a couple of Instagram live sessions discussing the book and interacting with participant questions.

Having a copy of “Innovate Inside the Box” is beneficial for the process but not necessary as the questions are pretty open-ended.  Other than the book, the process is free, and if you already own a copy, you are good to go!  If you are interested in previewing the book, you can get a preview of Chapter 1 by signing up for my email subscription list here.

Each day of the book study (or as you see fit), participants will be asked to share a reflection in some form on what they have read. It can be a video that they talk or share something, a visual they create, or whatever you can think of that can be represented through Instagram like a “Booksnap” (information on that from Tara Martin here).

There are many ways you can share your learning through Instagram, so please do not limit it to my suggestions.

I encourage participants to share in the following manner:

  1. Share your post to the hashtag #InnovateInsidetheBox and the applicable chapter reading.  For each chapter, the second hashtag will be the following:

    Intro – #IITBIntro + #InnovateInsideTheBox
    Chapter 1 – #IITBCH1 + #InnovateInsideTheBox
    Chapter 2 – #IITBCH2 + #InnovateInsideTheBox
    Chapter 3 – #IITBCH3 + #InnovateInsideTheBox
    (Continued for all 14 chapters)
  2. Each post should have #InnovateInsideTheBox AND the appropriate chapter hashtag. You can share any other hashtags that you see fit for the process as well.
  3. Tag me (@gcouros) and Katie (@katienovakudl) on your Instagram post.  I will do my best to see as many as possible and comment. You are more than welcome to follow me on Instagram as well, but my account is open, so you do not necessarily have to do so.
  4. Write as much as little or as much as you want in the subject line on your reflection.
  5. Feel free to use the story feature to share your learning as well.  I will be sharing many of the creations to my own Instagram story from participants.

(*Please note that if your account is private only people that follow you will be able to see what you share.)

This process is something that I am still learning, but I learned so much from the group last time, and it was hugely beneficial. My ultimate hope is that this endeavor opens new and better doors for learning in the classroom that participants create for themselves.  Bear with me as I am growing through the process as well.

The dates for the reading are the following:

Date Chapter
January 22, 2020 Introduction and Chapter 1
January 24, 2020 Chapter 2
January 27, 2020 Chapter 3
January 29, 2020 Chapter 4
January 31, 2019 Chapter 5, 6
February 3, 2020 Chapter 7, 8
February 5, 2020 Chapter 9,10
February 7, 2020 Chapter 11, 12
February 10, 2020 Chapter 13, 14
February 12, 2019 Final Reflections

 

As well, please sign up here so I can try to follow all of the accounts that are taking part.  This is the only place you will need to “register”:

Sign up here!

Thank you for your interest in this process.  I am looking forward to connecting with educators through the Instagram platform to push my own learning and connect with others.

(PS…If you are interested, there are some shirts available here that some have already purchased for the book study and/or their schools. Below is a sample.)

20 Inspirational Quotes to Start off 2020

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For the last three years, I have shared some of my favorite quotes from the past year that have inspired me or made me think deeper about a subject. I wanted to provide some for this year as well.  Have an amazing year and beyond!!

2017  |  2018   |  2019

“Students should have rich, relevant, and authentic experiences at school, across the board. If every educator in every school pursued excellence instead of allowing excuses about what students can and cannot do, we would meet the needs of all students. Our goal has to be
to create schools where excellence is the standard.”

Sanée Bell

“If you look for problems, you will find problems;
if you look for solutions, you will find solutions.”

Andy Gilbert

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the
candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

Edith Wharton

“Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful
things humans can do for each other.”

Randy Pausch

What is life, if not the sum of a hundred thousand daily battles and tiny decisions
to either gut it out or give it up?” 

James Clear

“We should strive not to have an answer for every question,
but a question for every answer.” 

Robin Pendoley

“All it takes is one person to change the world and that person
can be you with a simple act of kindness.”

Natalie Hampton

“You cannot change your destination overnight, but you
can change your direction overnight.”

Jim Rohn

“Balancing goals with inner peace is hard to
achieve, but worth pursuing.”

Trupti Patil

“The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can ask his pupils that
they will answer readily, but how many questions he inspires
them to ask him which he finds hard to answer.”

Alice Wellington Rollins

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere
with what you can do.”

John Wooden

“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the
best place for the next moment.”

Oprah Winfrey

“A year from now you may wish you had started today.”

Karen Lamb

“The only thing holding you back from where you are and where you want to be
are the perceptions you hold about yourself, others, and reality.”

Jonathan Heston and Dane Maxwell

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so
long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”

Helen Keller

 “Human interaction is the key force in
overcoming resistance and speeding change.”

Atul Gawande

“You cannot expect to achieve new goals or move beyond your
present circumstances unless you change.”

Les Brown

“We rise by lifting others.”

Robert Ingersoll

“If you don’t like something, change it.  If you
can’t change it, change your attitude.”

Maya Angelou

“The key to effective feedback lies in our intentions, not our methods.
Your intentions must be about helping others, not just yourself.”

Misti Burmeister

And as a continuing tradition from 2019, I will end with a bonus Michael Scott (The Office) quote:

“Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both.
I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.”

Michael Scott

Have a great 2020 and beyond!

5 Strategies for Improving Mental and Physical Health

In the past year, I have tried to focus on bettering my mental and physical health. I have had ups and downs for sure, but I can say that I have made strides that I am proud of in the process.  I want to share a few things that I have done that I have felt have helped me in the process.  Part of the process is writing this all down right now, as journaling the past year has improved me significantly.  Some of the strategies are broader, and some are relatively specific, but hopefully, there is something that can help someone else in this process.

1. I have become more focused on gratitude and being grateful.  It is easy to get a focus on things that you don’t have or play the comparison game with others.  But focusing on what you do have and what is essential in your life is not only a good practice, but according to this article, there is evidence to support it is beneficial to both mental and physical health:

“Grateful people are generally more grateful for their lives, and they often view their lives as a gift that should be appreciated,” Allemand says. Accordingly, when a person is more grateful for domains like one’s health or social life, they invest in those things. Previous studies have found that grateful people tend to report less anxiety, greater vitality, better emotional stability, and optimism. Furthermore, studies have found that grateful people report less stress and better sleeping habits.

It makes sense, Allemand notes, that if you’re experiencing all of those things, you’re more likely to be physically healthy as well. Psychological health is a predictor of physical health, and gratitude significantly predicts better mental health in the general population. It’s also known that gratitude motivates people to engage in positive behaviors that are linked to self-improvement.

I wrote about three simple questions you can ask yourself daily, that I modified from this Tim Denning article.  They are as follows:

1. Did I learn one new thing today?
2. Did I help or inspire one person?
3. Did I show gratitude to someone who has had a positive impact on me?

The practice of gratitude has been beneficial to my past year, and I am going to continue with it as best as I can. I am not 100% regarding these questions every day, but I am trying.

Image result for quotes on the importance of gratitude

2. Being more thoughtful of social media use.  I can tell you that I have been way more thoughtful about my time on social media.  There is tremendous value in the medium, and I am so grateful to the many connections I have made through the process, but I have lessened my usage, and I have seen a huge benefit in both my mental and physical well-being. For example, I do not look at any social media or email until after I workout in the morning.  I used to get sucked into the “only a couple of minutes” practice in the morning, which turned into an hour, and sometimes I would miss my workout entirely.  Now, I do not get to look at anything on my phone other than music and my Aaptiv app until I get a workout done in the morning.  I also do not look at social media a couple of hours before I go to bed.  A few other things I have done is use Buffer to schedule tweets, turn off ALL notifications on my phone, schedule blog posts that I write, and have stayed off social media for the most part on weekends.  Like I said earlier, I still see tremendous value in the medium, but I am trying to be more present for others and myself.

3. Read the book the “Dare: The New Way to End Anxiety and Stop Panic Attacks Fast.” I have anxiety, and I don’t talk about it that much.  This book helped. A lot.

4. I focused more on consumption, not just creation.  I am a massive advocate of learners sharing and creating ideas from what they know. But it can be easy to fall into a trap where we are so focused on creation that we don’t spend enough time consuming information and content that may inspire new ideas or feed our soul.  This year, I spent more time reading books, really watching movies (with no phone in hand), laughing at TikTok videos, and watching tutorial videos on playing guitar and just strumming along.  I always think of the John Medina quote (paraphrased), “Creation without consumption is the equivalent of playing the air guitar. You might know the motions, but you don’t really know how to play.” Everything I used to do was about getting myself to grow as a learner and to spark new ideas. Now, I am finding more material that is just about bringing joy to my life.

5. Being more thoughtful of how and who I spend time. My daughter’s life has flashed by in a minute. She is not 20 years old, but she is not two months old anymore.  When I am around her, I want to have energy and enjoy every moment I can.  She is three years old, and she will come to “play” guitar with me when I am playing, she has no idea what she is doing. But I know she wants to play guitar because I am playing guitar.  She also will ask me to play a song, and although I am terrible, I will play and we will sing together.  It is everything. Everything.

I have a lot of development to do in my life (I always will), but she makes me want to be better.  So, that is my (Kallea) standard. Surround myself with people who make me want to be better because they want me to be better and are cheering me on.

These are just some of the things that I have used this year and I know they have helped. Although most of these strategies are focused on mental health, I have learned that is a lot harder to be well physically when you struggle mentally.

As stated earlier, I still have a lot of growth to do in all of these areas. Hopefully, there is something listed here that can help someone else.

Thanks for the support this year!  I am going to take a little mental health break from blogging and will start posting again in 2020. I hope you have a great end to 2019 and an amazing start to 2020! See you soon!

On the Path to “Purpose”

Just some thinking out loud…I have no idea where this is going, but I am “writing to learn” not only to share my learning.

This excerpt from my book, “The Innovator’s Mindset” was just reshared with me on Twitter, and it sparked some of my thinking.

An artist had his easel set up on a street when a person walked by and asked how much it would cost to have a portrait drawn.

“Fifty dollars,” said the artist. The patron readily agreed, and the artist began to draw. Ten minutes later, the artist completed a beautiful, creative piece. Even though the patron was very happy with the creativity and the high quality of the piece, she challenged the agreed upon price.

“Something that took such a short time to create should not have the high price tag,” she said.

The artist responded, “It took me ten years to be able to do it in ten minutes; you have never seen much of the work that I have done to be able to draw this picture so quickly.”

This story is an excellent reminder for all of the things that go into success. We often celebrate the product, but we don’t identify the process as much as we should. It reminds me of this quote that has many variations but is often attributed to Eddie Cantor:

Image result for it takes years to become an overnight success

What work did it take for someone to get to their current place? Am I willing to do that same thing consistently over time?

But there is another factor here that I have started to think about a lot more. We often talk about the things you “need” to do to get to a particular place, but what about the things you may have to give up, at least to some extent?  On a path to get to the place the “artist” shared, what time was given up with family, friends, and doing things that may have made that person happy at the moment?  On the path to “purpose,” there are a lot of things that must be done, but there are often many opportunities that are lost.

I would love to say, “the moral of the story is,” and then provide some profound thought.

I don’t have one.

I guess for me, I’m just reminded that in every opportunity gained, some things are lost along the way. Every person’s journey to finding their path comes with some gain and some cost.

That’s the blog.

Learning to Learn Beyond the Test

My good friend Katie Martin, author of “Learner-Centered Innovation,” and I were having a conversation about the importance of focusing on going beyond “test scores” in education and focusing on providing powerful learning opportunities for students.  Standardized tests are a reality of most education systems, and I am not sure they are going away any time soon.  I am not against “tests,” as I have seen educators use them to provide useful feedback to lead to the growth of students, but I am against over-testing.

My concern is when focus on whether a school is good or not based solely on test scores.  Talking to Katie, I was reminded of this quote she wrote in the foreword of “Innovate Inside the Box“:

So if “tests” are the reality, which is often determined by people outside of education, what do we do?

I believe that if we focus on helping our students become great learners, they will be fine on the tests.  But if we help students become good at tests, that doesn’t mean they have become good learners.

Years ago, I wrote about the idea of “School vs. Learning,” (which I discussed at length in “The Innovator’s Mindset“) and I know (based on the image below) that A) so many schools are doing a great job of bringing the “learning” column into their classrooms and B) the ideas on each side are not meant to be an “either/or” scenario. The image is intended to spark conversation.

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As a moment of serendipity, after my conversation with Katie, I read this passage from “Atomic Habits” by James Clear that discussed the importance of developing habits over the laser-like focus on “goals”:

If you completely ignored your goals and focused only on your system, would you still succeed? For example, if you were a basketball coach and you ignored your goal to win a championship and focused only on what your team does at practice each day, would you still get results?

I think you would.

The goal in any sport is to finish with the best score, but it would be ridiculous to spend the whole game staring at the scoreboard. The only way to actually win is to get better each day. In the words of three-time Super Bowl winner Bill Walsh, “The score takes care of itself.” The same is true for other areas of life. If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead.

What do I mean by this? Are goals completely useless? Of course not. Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress. A handful of problems arise when you spend too much time thinking about your goals and not enough time designing your systems.

Could the above passage apply to “learning” and “tests?” I believe so.  The way I think of it is that sometimes there is a reinforcement on memorization of content, that doesn’t lead to a deep understanding. But if you focus on understanding, the “memorization” will be easy.  I know all tests are not merely about the memorization of information, but when we develop learners, not only will our students be fine on tests, they will be able to deal with any new learning that comes their way long after their time in school.  That is always the goal.