Chapters seven and eight.

Hello again. Today, we are going to share with you chapters seven and eight of the innovator's mindset by Gearges Courous. In chapter seven, he speaks about how achievement is preceded by big thinking, but what does it mean? It simply means that for setting goals it is necessary to involve evrybody in the community. Moreover, when his school did a survet about what the school needs were, the world compliance did not appear but the words creativity, innovation and exploration certainly did. His satement was that everybody who makes part of the school is encouraged to reach their dreams. he also affirms that a vision statement should be clear and direct enough to memorize. He considers eight foundational things  we have to promote in our classrooms. These are: Fisrt, he emphazies voice, which has to do with have the opportunity of learning from each other, as well as to share learning in the process. Second, he underlines choice, which is determined by how students learn and what they learn. I mean, we must allow our students to build from their sthrengths and interests to make learning relevant and fulfilling. The third one he highlights is time for reflection, which is closely related to John Dewey's maxim: "We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience" and the author adds: "reflection time should be a regular part of both student and educator practice". The fourth component he prioritizes is opportunities for innovation, which simply addresses the school to be familiar with creating better and newer things as a norm, not just as an event. The fifth one is critical thinking, which has to do with giving students the chance of posing questions whenever and about all subjects they are interseted in, as well as letting them questioning our ideas because we are supposed to be willing for the benefit of the community, not just for ours. The sixth base he remarks is problem solving/finding, It is the policy of pursuing students lead projects that empower them to make an impact on the world right now. The author says that we must start asking kids not only to solve problems but to find them to obtain a sense of purpose when solving them out. The seventh characteristic he notes is self-assessment, which has to do with teaching our students how to assess themselves due to this provokes new opportunities to reflect. he also adds that looking back helps kids be aware about where they have been, where they are and where they are going. And the last one he mentions is connected learning, which is linked to technology use and opportunities to be in touch with lots of people all around. Never before interchange of information has been that relevant an easy as nowadays and our students must be connected with other students in other countries as well as teachers and experts outside the classroom. 

The author ends this chapter with a serie of questions that he calls what if? I have selected two of the to share with you:

1. What if  schools operated as if we should be learners as opposed to students being the only learners?

2. What if people were always our first focus, as opposed to stuff?

Now I start commenting chapter eight, which is about setting a strengths-based leadership. The author remarks that most of the teachers prefer to emphasise their practice in students' weaknesses instead of students' strengths. The author says that when we push our students to succeed in what we consider they need instead of letting them to show us their talents and skills, we just get they do things just begrudginly. He also gives an example based on research about employees' efficacy.  This conlcudes that when the employer prioritizes employees' weaknesses instead of strengths results are not that good. Those results are even worse when employees are not considered in their needs or opinions. We need to remember that the human being should be always over whatever at schools. The author says as well that "We only get better when we find those who truly elevate us. And adds that "leaders are meant to unleash talent by bringing their people's strengths to life, not ignoring them". 

When teachers lets students feel cared of, it goes a long way toward creating a great culture. The problem is that compliance is that fixed (fixed mindset) that we still believe that the proverb. "Something bad and known is better than something good and unknown". This kind of thinking has blocked up education and progress as well. It just reflects the fear of failure that is being hidden with compliance, which impedes empowerment, creativity and innovation.

We can conclude with the author that focusing on individuals' strengths helps to move us from pockets of innovation to a culture of innovation. But this requires that each individual is recognized for his/her unique qualities as well as the way they can be used to support school vision. Our work has to do with weaving the best with the talents we have and this could be just got when we are meant to unleash the talents our students and all members of the community have.