Education Innovation

Education's 21st Century "Double Down"

The 18th Century was the time of the "Enlightenment."  In response, education created the essential subjects.

The 19th Century was the time of the "farm." In response, education calendared and timed itself to planting and harvesting.

The 20th Century was the time of the "factory." In response, education became a system and process to be managed and measured.

The 21st Century is the time of the idea. In response, education doubled-down on the previous three centuries with common core and national standards, committment to limited school day and summers off, and nationalized standardized testing (NCLB, RTTT)

Here's to innovation!

"Typography"...you know?

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun

Having Fun? 11 Questions For Analyzing Your School’s “Levity Effect”

Are you having fun at work? Is your school a fun place to be? According to Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher, authors of the book The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up, “If people are having fun, they’re going to work harder, stay longer, maintain their composure in a crisis, and take better care of the organization.”

The following questions were adapted from the book.

Grade the following questions on a scale of 1 to 5

1= never
2= hardly
3= neutral
4= most of the time
5= almost always

1. Are new teachers and staff are made to feel welcome?

2. School meeting are positive and light?

3. Does your school have fun activities at least once a month?

4. Is it common to hear teachers and staff laughing at school?

5. Can you be yourself at school?

6. Does your school have a lot of celebrations for special events?

7. When brainstorming ideas, do teachers like to have fun?

8. Is your principal usually optimistic and smiling?

9. Would your students say you are fun be in class with?

10. Do you have friends at school that make you laugh?

11. Do the teachers and staff at your school have a good time together?

According to Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher, a score of 40 or above indicates your school has a great environment. A score of 30-40 means your school needs to lighten up. A score of 30 or below means you have “terminal seriousness.”  Remember, we are working with kids. You need to have some fun.

Unstandardized

From Jessica Hagy's blog Indexed

9 Ways To Show You Are A “Know It All In Control” Principal

Adapted from “Ten Great Ways to Crush Creativity” by Paul Sloane

1. Criticize
“When you hear a new idea criticize it. Show how smart you are by pointing out some of the weaknesses and flaws which will hold it back. The more experienced you are, the easier it is to find fault with other people’s ideas.

“Furthermore, every time somebody comes to you with an idea which you criticize, it discourages the person from wasting your time with more suggestions. It sends a message that new ideas are not welcome and that anyone who volunteers them is risking criticism or ridicule. This is a sure fire way to crush the creative spirit in your staff.”

You’re the principal. You get paid to know more than teachers do anyways. It is important that they see you as true leader, one with all the good ideas. Criticizing their ideas keeps them in their proper place and ensures they view you as the true leader.

2. Ban brainstorms
“Treat brainstorming as old-fashioned and passé. All that brainstorms do is throw up lots of new ideas that then have to be rejected. If your organization is not holding frequent brainstorm sessions to find creative solutions then you are not wasting time on new ideas. Instead you are sending a message to staff that their input is not required. If people insist on brainstorm meetings then make them long, rambling and unfocused with lots of criticism of radical ideas.”

After all, you get paid the big buck to come up with ideas on your own. They need not worry their little minds with ideas. Just keep them focused on teaching.

3. Hoard problems
“Strategic issues are too complicated and high-level for the ordinary staff. After all, if people at the grass-roots knew the strategic challenges the organization faces then they would feel insecure and threatened. Don’t involve staff in serious issues, don’t tell them the big picture and above all don’t challenge them to come up with solutions.”

You are paid to be a problem solver. All problems are yours to solve.

4. Focus on efficiency not innovation
“If we concentrate on making the current system work better then we will not waste time on looking for different systems.

“After all, if the makers of horse drawn carriages had improved quality they could have stopped automobiles taking their markets. The same principle applied with makers of slide rules, LP records, typewriters and gas lights.”

Change is hard. The current system has worked pretty well for the last century and a half. Why change what has and is working so well.

5. Overwork
“Establish a culture of long hours and hard work. Encourage the belief that hard work alone will solve the problem. We do not need to find a different way of solving a problem – rather we must just work harder at the old way of doing things. Make sure that the working day has no time for learning, fun, lateral thinking, wild ideas or testing of new initiatives.”

Hard work is key to success. If you have a problem, you just need to work harder and longer. Don’t worry about new ways of doing things, research, and new strategies. Just work longer and harder, everything will work out.

6. Adhere to the plan
“Plan in great detail and then do not deviate from the plan regardless of circumstances. ‘We cannot try that idea because it is not in the plan and we have no budget for it.’ Keep to the vision that was in the plan and ignore fads like market changes and customer fashions – they will pass.”

Why would you change the plan after you spent so much of your own time coming up with it? Changing the plan might show weakness on your part.

7. Punish mistakes
“If someone tries an entrepreneurial idea that fails then blame and retribution must follow. Reward success and punish failure. That way we will reinforce the existing way of doing things and discourage dangerous experiments.”

Students get punished when they make mistakes. They get detention for behavior mistakes or bad grades for mistakes on tests. Why should teachers be any different? They should be punished for their mistakes too, to teach them a lesson, and show that you are being consistent with students and teachers.

8. Don’t look outside
“Other industries are fundamentally different and just because something works there does not mean it will work here. Consultants are generally over-priced and tell you things you could have figured out anyway. We need to find the solutions inside the business by working harder.”

Just because other industries are focused on data, creating great ideas, innovation, connecting with the public, and customer service does not mean those idea will work in your school. Just stick with what you know.

9. Don’t waste money on training
“Talent cannot be taught. It is it a rare thing possessed by a handful of gifted individuals. So why waste money trying to turn ducks into swans? Hire our kind of people and let them learn our system. Work them hard, keep them focused on our business model and do not allow them to fool around with crazy experiments. Workshops, budgets and time allocated to creativity and innovation are all wasteful extravagances. We know what we need to succeed so let’s just get on with it.”

Some teachers are going to learn what they need on their own, and others will not. Spending money to train teachers is just a waste. They can learn it on their own, if they are going to be able to learn it all. Let them figure it out. You have better things to spend your money on than helping teachers to get better.

:-)

The Life of a Principal in 4 Easy Steps

How Did I Get Into This Mess? From Leading Blog

Education's Sacred Cows

Is there anything wrong with Sacred Cows? Well it depends. Maybe yes and maybe no. We need to question if our Sacred Cows are useful, relevant, and correct for the needs of the educational system. If they have outlived their usefulness then those “cows” need to be questioned. According to the authors of Death To All Sacred Cows: How successful business people put the old rules out to pasture, if education only looks to the past, it is putting itself at risk because schools or districts that, “...only look to the past to guide their futures can be doomed to failure. In a rapidly changing world, anything dated tends to be dangerous.”

“If the world was a stagnant, predictable place, then steadfast rules would be okay. They would guide us and keep everyone honest. But the world in which we live changes constantly.”

Change is the new normal.

“If we don’t question why we do things the way we do, we’ll never be able to do them better. If we resist new approaches, we’ll be stuck with more of the same all the time.”

When was the last time you questioned why you were doing what you were doing? 

^{by TerData}

So here is the Education Innovation list of Sacred Cows.

All students can learn at high levels of achievement
All kids should go to college
Teaching takes place at a school
Teaching takes place in the classroom
Students should sit at a desk
Students learn from teachers
Students need to learn what teachers are teaching
Always put the needs of the student ahead of everything else
The government knows what students should know
The government knows best what teachers need to know
We need a Department of Education
The best way to measure learning is to give a test
The best way to show what you know is to take a test
Books are necessary
Paper is necessary
Homework is necessary
Students should not have cell phones
Always do what is best for students
Research based instructional practices
Data based decision making
Principals should be “instructional leaders”
Only the best teachers should become administrators
Administrators are out of touch
Private schools, charter schools, and home-schools are in competition.
Schools don’t have enough money
School waste too much money
Teachers are underpaid
Teachers are overpaid
Unions are good for teachers
Unions are good for students
Smaller class sizes are better
Class size does not matter
Other countries are doing it better than we are
We need to teach more math and science
Art, music, drama, dance, etc, are nice to have, but not necessary
Howard Gardner is always right
Robert Marzano is always right
The DuFours are always right
There is nothing you can do about bad teachers
Standardized test scores matter, and they matter a lot
Teachers are better when they work as team or a Professional Learning Community
The more experience a teacher has the better they are at teaching
Teachers should not be compared to other teachers
Schools should not be compared to other schools
Mistakes are bad.
Parents are always right
Parents don’t understand
Put the most resources toward the lowest students
Technology is not important for learning
Technology must be in the classroom

Some of these "cows" should stay "sacred" and some of these "cows" need to be put out to pasture.

What Sacred Cows would you add?

Teachers can save the economy

From Jessica Hagy's Indexed blog

Education: 1959 vs. 2009

Someone sent me this email. I thought it was humorous and thought I would share with all of you. In education, sometimes we just need to laugh!

HIGH SCHOOL -- 1959 vs. 2009

Scenario 1:

Jack goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into he school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck's gun rack.

1959 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.

2009 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.  

Scenario 2:

 Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.

1959 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.

2009 - Police called and SWAT team arrives -- they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged them with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario 3:

Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.

1959 - Jeffrey sent to the Principal's office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2009 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The school gets extra money from the state because Jeffrey has a disability.  

Scenario 4:

Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1959 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.

2009 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has an affair with the psychologist. 

Scenario 5:

 Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1959 - Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock.

2009 - The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.  

Scenario 6:

Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed.

1959 - Ants die.

2009- ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates his parents -- and all siblings are removed from their home and all computers are confiscated. Johnny's dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.  

Scenario 7:

Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary.  Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1959 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2009 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison.  Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy .  

If you can't laugh at this crazy world, the crazy people in it, and the crazy education system we all care about and love, then you end up just crying. ;-0