Main Ideas: Chapter 5 and 6

Chapter 5: Learn, Lead, Innovate

Technology: Two Ways to Consider It

Innovations in Technology: Two Ways to Consider It
NEGATIVE	POSITIVE
The student’s ability to be constantly connected distracts children and interrupts the way we teach.	The student’s ability to connect with people, anytime and anywhere, creates many new opportunities for learning.

*The following is a common theme in which the author reiterates throughout the book:

“The way you view change- in education, technology, and life- shapes the way you lead.” (p. 131) 

The author mentions several times how as teachers we need to be willing to change and continuously do so. This creates a positive example for our students who need to be willing to change and adapt to be successful in the future.

Referring back to the characteristic of empathy (chapter 3):

• Think about what you really know about your students’ experiences while in school.

o How often do you make assumptions about what is happening in your school?

o   Are those assumptions possibly inaccurate or incomplete?

• As mentioned in previous chapters, teachers need to keep asking themselves the following question: Would I want to be a learner in my own classroom?

o   Looking at education from the viewpoint of a student might raise awareness to the fact that some of the expectations put on our students are not something you could handle.

o   It makes you aware of how students have almost no autonomy and very little opportunity to directly choose their learning experiences.

Advice to or Information for School Leaders

The following key points the author highlights are geared toward the school leaders or administrators like principals and superintendents for example. There are some things that the teacher can follow as well to benefit themselves and their students. However, it seems this chapter in particular is geared more towards the leaders.

Be Present, Lead People, Manage Things

• Be in the classroom or school in general in order to support your educators as much as possible.

o   This allows you to stay connected to the work the teachers are doing.

o   It allows you to immerse yourself in the learning environment to make more informed decisions that impact the classrooms.

o   It will allow you to be able to discuss the realities of teaching and learning.

o   It will help you to remove barriers that challenge the teachers in their day to day work because you witness it firsthand.

o   Your teachers will feel your support more so in creating an environment that you would want to be in as learners.

Master Learner, Innovative Leader

•  It is your job, as a leader, to learn first if you want to lead well.

o   Being able to learn and then teach from experience helps to build credibility and gets things moving.

o   You are able to make visions become reality because you are able to break those visions down into smaller steps having done it yourself already. As these small steps are accomplished, this helps to develop confidence and competence along the way.

o   It helps you to connect with your staff.

The diagram below lists the characteristics of an innovative leader. Possessing these characteristics allows the leader to better create a culture of innovation in their schools and promotes the innovator’s mindset in both teachers and students. You will find that some of the characteristics are the same as that of the 8 characteristics of an innovator’s mindset that were highlighted in chapter 3 of the book. (See pages 142- 145 for detailed explanations and examples in regards to these characteristics.)

Chapter 6: Engage Versus Empower

“The power we have at our fingertips to learn and create is awe-inspiring.” (p. 150)

Before delving further into the topic of compliance, the author references Seth Godin’s 2012 TEDx Talk entitled “Stop Stealing Dreams”. Please find the link to the TEDx Talk as follows: http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/STOP-STEALING-DREAMS-Seth-Godin

Engagement is often talked about in education and its importance in the world today is continually brought up. However, while engagement is a good think, educators must also empower students and equip them with the skills to learn. It is of the utmost importance that educators teach learners to be self-directed and guide their own learning rather than relying on others to just engage them. “This does not mean that empowerment happens instead of engagement. People (students) do not feel truly empowered unless they are engaged with their learning.” (p. 156)

ENGAGEMENT	VERSUS	EMPOWERMENT
Means getting students excited about the content, interests, and curricula.		Means giving students the knowledge and skills to pursue their passions, interests, and future.

*When students take part in teaching to and sharing with their peers, deep learning occurs. They understand and remember what they teach each other. The atmosphere of the classroom changes when students take ownership of their learning.

*”Our job as teachers and leaders is not to control others but to bring out the best in them.” (p.158)

*Empowerment, and therefore innovation also, has to be more than a single event.

School Versus Learning

*The author states that the ideal situation in which we are empowering our learners would look like the following rather than one or the other in regards to the first aspect listed in the above chart:

“School promotes developing your own questions and finding answers.” (p. 164)

The World Our Students Live In

• Compliance will not effectively prepare students to be productive citizens today. It will not prepare them for their futures.
• Since we all live in the same world, it is not just the fact that we have to prepare students, but rather that we all need to develop the skills and mindsets that will help us survive and thrive in our daily lives.
• We have to teach students “soft skills” as well for their future. What the author lists as “soft skills” are as follows: leadership, humanity, collaboration, adaptability, and the love of learning and re-learning.