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