Techy Thoughts and Random Ramblings
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Techy Thoughts & Random Ramblings

The haphazard thoughts et réflexions of a French teacher-turned-Tech Coach finding her own definition of success. 

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Learning to be a leader and an innovator

14/9/2016

2 Comments

 
Last spring, I made myself a "summer reading list" that consisted of all the most popular books I had seen discussed on Twitter over the past few months. I knew that I was way behind the curve, but I didn't want to stay there. So I bought books like Teach Like a Pirate, Kids Deserve It, Hacking Education, and The Innovator's Mindset...and then let them sit on my Kindle. I would open one, read a chapter, and then get distracted with all that has to be done at the end of the school year. 

Finally, I decided to just dive in and chose The Innovator's Mindset as my pool. Looking back at what I highlighted, I had four points that resonated with me even before I got to Chapter 1! No wonder it wasn't difficult after that to keep swimming. 
As I read, what resonated the MOST with me and the situation in which I found myself was this:
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I have always been somewhat leary of change. But like the opposite of déjà vu (vuja de: it's a real thing, watch the TED Talk here!), suddenly with that statement, I saw change differently. While the changes that were about to happen were still INCREDIBLY scary to me, maybe I would be able to take advantage of change and change the role that I felt stuck in to make it my own and enable me to do the things that I dreamed of doing.

None of that means that I suddenly embraced change in a way never done before. But I am trying to learn more about how to be the type of leader that I want to follow: one who embraces change, who encourages innovation, and who makes it safe to fail. Since I've always seen myself as a right-hand woman, the #2 to whoever is my #1, that's a hard change to make. But I'm working on it. 


My hope with this MOOC is that I can expand my PLN to find others who feel like me, or who have already gone before me and can help get where I want to go. Innovation is so important in today's education landscape: we have so many rich opportunities to be better, to do better. And yet we spend a lot of our energy making technology replicate what we already do without it. 
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What good is doing something in a new way unless it also produces better results?
                                                                                               Tweet this!

​So let's do something new and BETTER together! Let's learn together, from and with each other, in an effort to change the world...because aren't we all trying to make the world a better place, even if for only one student?
2 Comments
George Couros
14/9/2016 07:40:22 pm

Awesome post! Here is one thing I want you to think about in this statement:

"What good is doing something in a new way unless it also produces better results?"

What are the "better results" we are looking for as educators? This is a VERY important question that would need to be able to articulate.

Looking forward to your thoughts :)

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Angela Burgess (@MmeBurgess) link
17/9/2016 07:46:56 pm

Thanks so much for reading and commenting! For me, I think that "better results" depends upon the individual educator - a lesson that goes better than it used to, students being more excited about a project than in the past, teachers feeling more energized or more productive or more connected than before.

In other words, when choosing to do something different, WHY are they changing? What do they hope to accomplish? And in the end, what did that change bring about? If the change is only the a different way of getting to the same goal, then nothing has been accomplished. But if the change results in an improved destination, then THAT is the goal.

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