Get going. Then get better. (Ahmed/ Olander)

Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash

Cutting edge, leaders in innovation, the tip of the arrow.

Recently, I've heard those phrases a lot. What do all these phrasas mean and what's needed to attain that status, and stay there? After all - everyone is doing their best to be cutting edge, right?

George Couros is my go-to-guy on innovation in education. 

Here he is on what it is and what it isn't:

To simplify the notion of innovation, it is something that is both new (either invention or iteration) and better. Innovation is not about the “stuff”, but about a way of thinking. 

For example, it is not the iPhone that is innovative, it was the thinking that created it in the first place. Innovation is about mindset more than anything. In fact, if you made an iPhone that looked more like the first version than the current one, it would no longer be innovative, but simply replication. There is no new thinking, nor is it better than what we have now.

What qualities are needed to be innovative?

The Velocity boys (Ajaz Ahmed and Stefan Olander)  are still my go-to-guys on this.

This is what they have to say:

It takes 'courage, focus and determination, but gives back efficiency and rewards intuition, iteration and gutsiness'.

Their warning is always one I aim to keep in mind:

For organisations with structures that sand down all rough edges and desiccate anything juicy, something terrible will happen: nothing.

Carpe diem

What do the 13 most innovative schools in the world have in common?

Well, for a start, they don't look like traditional schools with separate classrooms and siloed subjects and they do deal with the real world and they do change the role of the 'teacher' forever.

In short they don't look like 99% of New Zealand schools.

And that's a worry. And it needs to change. And it needs to change now.

Visions of paradise in cloudless skies I see. Rainbows on the hill, blue onyx on the sea. Come see (The Moody Blues)

Time and Space (maan).

Both elements are fundamental components of school life and both are under seige in education.

Being stretched thin and doing a lot of stuff quickly is not how I operate best. 

New thinking leading to new ways is only possible if time and space is generously applied.

Otherwise the status quo and old ways remain in place.

Andrew Douch is a case in point. Given time and space by his Principal, he was able to radicalise his teaching and vastly improve how he went about things, leading towards uncharted territories for teaching biology and uncalculated influence on his students and education as a whole.

Time and space.

It takes some bravery, some David Bowie like vision and experimentation, and a whole lotta resolve...

...but the rewards are immense.

Let the sun climb, oh, burn 'way my mask (Pearl Jam)

Teacherpreneurs. 

I stumbled on the word while proofing an essay by one of my colleagues - let's call her 'Mandy', who's fighting her way towards a Masters degree in educational leadership/management, bless her little cotton socks.

Anyway - I noticed the word and quietly choked on my peanut butter encrusted crusket. I am NOT a fan of these buzz words.

For a sec I thought she may have coined it herself but, no - she assured me that it was a thing. To prove it, Mandy gave me a book called 'Teacherpreneurs -Innovative teachers who lead but don't leave'.  Oh my.

Coincidentally, I read an Edutopia piece on it and, lo - it does, alack alas, appear to be a current thing.

What is a T*r? Well, according to the three people who co-wrote this book, it's a teacher (doh) who has 'time, space, and incentives to incubate big pedagogical and policy ideas and...execute them'.

These lucky t*rs spread new ways and approaches as mentors, action researchers, blah blah blah. While still teaching. 

Really? As a concept, it all sounds a tad forced to me. 

While reading the book, it was tough to get a feel for how a T*r is different to a decent Specialist Classroom Teacher (shout out to Greg) or a Director of Innovation (shout out to Toni) or an expert teacher who has cool ideas (shout out to Ange, Mandy, Greg, Amy and on and on).

I guess their definition wipes out a lot of worthy teachers who don't have the luxury of 'time, space, incentives' to innovate. Of course provision of these things can allow expert teachers to shine, to be innovative. Not rocket science, is it!

Ultimately, it appears that t*r is a bit like mercury - just when you feel like you have a bead on it, it changes shape on you and becomes liquid - like that quicksilver like dude in Terminator 2 who goes about morphing into other things.

I suppose I just don't see the point in the label. 

Maybe I'm being too harsh. After all, I guess it doesn't do any harm. If you are involved in thinking how things can be done better while putting in the hard yards as a practitioner, frinstance: maybe you're part of a change action group in your school, then - hurrah - you may very well want to give yourself a teacherpreneur label.

Or you could be really innovative, and just get on with it.

Just what makes that little old ant think he'll move that rubber tree plant? (Frank Sinatra)

Not everything is a BIG initiative in life. Mostly it's all incremental small steps, both forwards, backwards and forwards again!

Recently, our staff has been discussing ways we could implement some of the initiatives that were suggested at the Leading Remarkable Learning conference.

We came up with five things we want to see implemented at our campus:

• Innovative learning environments (inspired from Mark Osbourne's keynote)
• Coaches (a buddy/ reciprocal sounding board) (from Sir John Jones)
• Self-Organised Learning Environments (SOLEs) (from Sugata Mitra)
• Assessment for the future (also Sugata Mitra) Where do we want to head? What does success look like for our Westmount students? How do we get there in our context?
• All the while following the concept that 'Relevance and context is everything' (Frances Valintine) (This may involve Mindlab's Postgrad Cert in Applied Practice – digital and collaborative practice; taking students to Mindlab facility; Self-directed learning (SDL); and innovation – what is next?

'What is next?' indeed! Anyone wanting to lead innovation must travel via this question.

Well here are some thoughts gleaned from Dan Rockwell's blog about our next moves and what initiatives need:

1. New initiatives need to inspire energy to survive and thrive. Does the new idea generate enthusiasm in current team members?
2.  New ideas need committed champions. Who on the team is ready to lead the charge? 
3. Look for champions who aren’t already leading. Include new employees and people with untapped potential when exploring new ideas. See who steps up.
4.  Listen to the concerns of dedicated doers. People who are already getting things done, understand what it takes to get things done.
5. Cut stretch goals in half and move forward. Small choices are easier than big.
6. Keep everyone in the loop. People on the fringes grab the rope after first-movers generate a win or two.
7. Give life to new initiatives by giving them flesh and bones. Give enthusiasm a job. 

I could tick quite a few of these five initiatives for these seven principles of success (or needs).

Our five initiatives came from group choice and they each have their champions. Possibly the next stage, for me, is to discover the doers and the champions and see how they match the ideas. 

The loop sounds easier than it is in practice - some people like to know everything and the other end of the continuum are those on a need-to-know basis. All up, that one sounds like one for me to look after as Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Giving flesh and bones is well placed at number seven. If the other things happen then meat and potatoes...erm...flesh and bones, will flow (that all made much more sense in my head).

Anyway, FORWARD!

Imagine all the people living for today (John Lennon)

Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value.

Imagination is the root of creativity.

Creativity is putting your imagination to work. It is applied imagination.

Innovation is putting new ideas into practice.

Sir Ken Robinson

You know we've got to find a way to bring some lovin' here today (Marvin Gaye)

The big buzz word around our school at the moment is INNOVATION.

We've spent time defining what we mean by innovation. As I'm a less-is-more guy I think mine was along the lines of -  new ideas/ways of doing things for changing times.

I like that this is a focus and I'm lucky to be at a place that even has a Director of Innovation.

Recently we had an interesting session looking back at how much innovation has taken place in the last few years (coincidentally, pretty much since I joined the staff four years ago). I was left with the feeling of, "OK - what next?".

For me the big three new ideas in education are - removing subject 'silo's (where subjects are taught in isolation to others), cracking open the timetable ('passion studies' is a new one on me), and changing the physical spaces.

With that in mind I came across this article from the Mind/Shift people about giving students choice during the day to create unstoppable learning. 

Sounds pretty groovy to me!

Mr Blue Sky, please tell us why (ELO)

Sun is shining, a blue sky day, and stinking hot!

Must be a NZ school day in February!

Time to get cool with some sites (see what I did there?).

1 It's okay to date new technology, don't marry it.
A snappy title will go a long way huh! This article had one and was a friendly overview of tech trends in education. 

2 Innovation 1
We now have a Director of Innovation at Woodford House - the wonderful Toni! I applaud that idea - which is an innovation all on its own. Toni and I are fans of Hobsonville Point - a school with stacks of ideas. Clare Amos at that school is a driver of ideas and this little taster is pretty darn cool.

3 Innovation 2
Apparently you can teach innovation! Not only that - there are ten ways to do it! Wahoo!!

4 The bus
Not to be outdone, Leadership Freak comes up with 12 ways to rise after being thrown under a bus (not literally).

5 A cranky question
I love this question - are we too busy schooling? I also love that the writer admits to being a bit cranky - there's nothing wrong with a bit of crankiness from time to time.

I'm a flame, you're the fire (Kygo)

Micromanagement drives me nuts. I'm not alone.

I read a nifty little article about how we should bring an exciting corporate sensibility (think Google, Facebook) to schools.

Imagine a space where students weren’t shuffled off from room to room by the signaling of a bell. A place where students still had to be at school by a specific time and leave school at a specific time, but in between could spend their time in an environment where mental wellness was a priority.  

We want our schools to breed curious and innovative students but our environment shouts of the opposite. We sit children in rows on rows and instruct according to the minutes in the week, day or period, yet we hope that this type of instruction will breed innovation. Part of creating innovative and creative students is teaching content that will allow for it. But I think another part of fostering this capacity is in the very environment in which we force these students to learn. This is an area that often gets overlooked in discussions pertaining to education reform. If we want our students to think “outside the box”, we have to acknowledge the box that education currently sits in.

Our students are conditioned to believe that sitting in rows as an industrial production line is the 'right way'.

I have used a university seminar styled setting arrangement for decades. I have never received much comment about this...until I came to Woodford House.

Suddenly I'm the radical and my seating approach completely unsettles many of my students who hate not sitting in rows.

No week goes by without some negative banter about my desk arrangements. 

I don't really get it. Yes, our girls hate change but our teachers are innovative in all sorts of ways (except desk arrangements) and we are into creativity and collaboration. Industrial rows smack of control and that's not what should be our over riding concern. 

Anyway, the desks are staying put!

Now, how about those timetable issues?

This is my true freedom (Alter Bridge)

A recent conversation with my youngest daughter went along these lines: she wanted me to build her a coffee table for her new house and I pointed out that while I was okay with big projects that involve a crowbar, hammer and a skill saw, I was NOT adept at cabinet making. My skills are not fine enough. 

I told her I could make a rough table out of 4x2 but not a presentable table for her lounge.

She completely failed to understand that and has kept asking and I have kept trying to explain my difficulty with the finesse required to successfully become a cabinet maker.

I remembered this conversation while reading a section of Dr Ian Hunter's excellent book Imagine.

He uses the example of Thomas Chippendale to explain his third pillar of innovation - knowledge.

Dr Hunter says: Intellect alone will not maximise your knowledge. Knowledge of others, knowledge of yourself, knowledge of your culture- while not academic pursuits, these are vital for innovation.

It's this self knowledge that Dr Hunter explores.

Chippendale had sideboards full of it and, in my fifth decade, I like to think that I have a fair dollop too (and, b.t.w. I also know my daughter).

Dr Hunter again - The innovator MUST have a cultivated knowledge of themselves: their strengths, their weaknesses, their abilities, and their limitations. 

Chippendale knew he was a cabinet-maker and designer, but he was no businessman so he hired a succession of smart business partners.

Back to me - I know my building strengths, and I know my limitations. Given the tools, the resources, a good teacher, and a motivation to make a fine product I'm pretty sure I could make that coffee table. 

But until then I'll aim not to be a hindrance to the cabinet making profession and stand over here.

A man's got to know his limitations ('Dirty' Harry Callahan).

Holding on is like the ways of the wind (Pm Dawn)

Feel in a wild and crazy mood? Have a butchers for 'Process of Innovation chart' in Google Images - you'll get some amazingly convoluted beasts.

I found myself doing just this after reading a section of Dr Ian Hunter's Imagine. He had a great chart that I was looking for without success (hence the scanned version below).

I particularly like this chart for its simplicity (the wiggly line is deliberate - it's not a straightforward process).

For me it was interesting to overlay the chart on my inquiry into new pastoral care systems at school this year.

We are right at the application moment and so the bit that naturally intrigues me is the resistance wall.

Not surprisingly there has been a small degree of resistance already as we moved to set up for the application in term 1 next year. Small needs emphasis as the staff is generally keen to embrace change in general and keen to embrace this change in particular.

Made me wonder where the resistance comes from, and no - it's not Muse (good album though The Resistance is). Dr. Hunter has the answer!

Resistance, according to him, comes from people preferring their existing way of doing things.

People are funny creatures. Although we may profess a general enthusiasm for change, often, when change means altering what we do or how we do it, we resist. It is human nature to prefer the known to the unknown; to seek comfort over discomfort; to side with the proven...rather than the possible, because we like the comfort that certainty gives us, not the risk that uncertainty produces. The irony is, of course, that progress only comes through change. (Imagine page 43)

I must be (shock horror probe) a bit weird. Like Ted Nugent in my previous post, I am not content with the status quo - ever.

It doesn't take me very long to start looking around and thinking up ways to change things up. This has applied to jobs, places to live, and systems and processes in schools. I also admit to being a mass of contradictions - I've been happily married for over 30 years, but let's leave that particular status sleeping quo dog lie.

Anyway - back to that chart - it was a timely reminder that resistance is very likely next term. Forewarned is forearmed.

It’s so hot, looks like you have three beaks crow (Captain Beefheart)

Meh to 'challenges'.

Challenge is such an overworked word in educational circles - most times it's used as a synonym for 'problem': as in 'she's a challenging student' or 'we will be facing a few challenges next year' or ' implementing vertical deaning in such a short time will certainly be a challenge'.

It came into vogue to eliminate the negative connotations with 'problem', but as a weasel word it has just shifted the 'challenge' sideways - it also has negativity attached to it.

I think we need to reclaim the word and use it in a different, more positive way. 

After all, aren't we talking about daring ourselves to embrace something different or difficult?

Is there even a single word for that?

How about 'opportunity'? As in 'she's a teaching opportunity' or 'we will have some real opportunities for improving learning next year' or 'implementing vertical deaning in such a short time will certainly be a great opportunity'.

For challenges read opportunities - they bring out our best when they:

Inspire humility.

Motivate preparation.

Drive connection.

Fuel growth.

[I got those four from Dan Rockwell's Leadership Freak blog - I think they're perfect for that last vertical deaning thing, don't you?]

An opportunity provides a more straight forward pathway to innovation and I'm big on pathways and innovations.