Chapter 8: Networked

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“Social media is like water. You can either let us drown or teach us to swim.”  -High School Student

This quote starts off the chapter, Networked, because it speaks to the needs of our learners from a student’s perspective. How powerful is it when we can bring the ideas of our entire learning network to our school site or work place? In this chapter, you will explore ways to be a digital leader for your learners. After reading this chapter, you will have a better understanding of the positive power that being networked can have on your learning environment.

Further Reading

Further Viewing

Questions for Discussion

  1. How can you use cogen dialogues to collaborate with students about how to create more opportunities for them to work collectively and network in meaningful ways?
  2. Families provide an amazing resource to foster collaboration and networking. What strategies can you implement to network with families and provide opportunities for students to learn and share the best of the people who are closest to them?
  3. How can you design learning experiences that empower students to take action to create their own networks?

Chapter 7: Risk Takers

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We have to ‘jump first!’ As educators, how powerful would it be if we modeled risk-taking by doing things that are new and better than what we were doing before? In this chapter, you will see examples of educators who are taking risks and removing barriers!

Further Reading

Further Viewing

Questions for Discussion

  1.  If you knew you could not fail, what risks would you take to improve teaching and learning for all students?
  2. What will you give yourself a “risk-pass” to do in order to improve teaching and learning for all students?
  3. How will you “jump off the cliff” to ask for student feedback about your teaching and learning environment?

Chapter 6: Problem Finders-Solvers

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How empowering would it be to find a meaningful problem and explore ways to resolve or respond to the problem? When we care deeply about a problem, we are more likely to find a meaningful solution and enjoy the learning process. In this chapter, you will learn new ways to help your students become problem finds and problem solvers!

Further Reading

Further Viewing

Questions for Discussion

  1. Think of one problem that is meaningful to yourself as an educator. How can you model the practice of problem-finding to your students while solving something that is significant to your own world?
  2. If you asked your students to identify the most heartbreaking aspects of school, what do you think they would say?
  3. How could you design learning experiences that would help students to solve the problems that prevent them from being successful in school?

Chapter 5: Empathetic

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This is the first chapter that begins to describe the eight characteristic of an innovator’s mindset. Empathy is more than simply feeling sorry, or being sympathetic, empathy is about understanding how someone else feels, recognizing their view on life and understanding what they want for their future. In this chapter, you will learn about how to create opportunities for students to develop empathy and what we can do to be more empathetic educators.

Further Reading

Further Viewing

Questions for Discussion

  1. How can you increase moral courage by providing students with opportunities to speak out so they experience the importance of taking action when they feel empathy?
  2. How can you use Brené Brown’s list of core emotions to help to create a foundation of emotional literacy and empathy in your students?
  3. How can you design an assessment, like the Summer Language Exploration, where students work toward rigorous standards while also immersing in perspective-taking?

Chapter 4: Master Learner, Master Educator

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This is the last section of The Core! Here, we explain the difference between knowing and learning. Both attaining knowledge and being capable of learning are important to our success. This chapter covers the three types of learning that are crucial for educators. Throughout this chapter, you will learn ways to learn about your students, for your students and from your students.

Further Reading

Further Viewing

Questions for Discussion

  1. Growth is essential to our work as educators. What is something you used to do as an educator that you no longer do? Why did you stop doing it?

  2. In what ways do you learn about your students and how does that shift your practice?

  3. Share an area where you received feedback and used it to improve. What was beneficial about the feedback and how did it spark your growth?

Chapter 3: Creating Empowering Learning Experiences

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There is a difference between engagement and empowerment. When we talk about empowering our learners, we mean that we are empowering them to develop the skills and motivation to find and solve meaningful problems. This chapter explores what it means to empower learners and gives specific examples that can be applied to your school, classroom and workplace.

Further Reading

Further Viewing

Questions for Discussion

  1.  If we look at what students are doing in the classroom as a sign of effectiveness of their teacher, what are some examples of things you would look for from students to signify great learning?
  2. What are some examples of “empowering learning” in your classrooms for students and in your school/organization as professionals? How are you empowered as an educator, and how does that empower students in learning?
  3. Curiosity and questioning are keys to empowered learning. What are some ways you can help students develop powerful questions to spark their curiosity?

Chapter 2: Learner-Driven, Evidence Informed

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There is a difference between being data-driven and evidence-informed. When we think of data, we think of numbers and tables of information; when we think of evidence, we include those numbers and tables and also consider ideas and thinking that has been shared, interactions that we have had, and overall growth that has been achieved. In this chapter, we provide innovative strategies that can be used to help our students see the larger purpose of learning. 

Further Reading

Further Viewing

Questions for Discussion

  1. What might a wider definition of success be for your students or your community? How can you get your students involved in defining success for themselves in short- and long-term planning?

  2. What evidence can be used to inform student goals and progress beyond scores? Share with others how you use this evidence to create better learning opportunities for your students.

  3. How do you leverage the strengths of the learners you serve in your classroom, school, or organization?

Part I: The Core of Innovative Teaching and Learning

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There are certain components that, when in place, make truly successful learning possible and more likely. These four elements make up what we have decided to call “The Core” (as seen to the right):

  • Relationships
  • Learner-Driven, Evidence Informed
  • Creating Empowering Learning Experiences
  • Educators who Serve as Master Learner

In this graphic, relationships are at the center because without them, anything we attempt to achieve will be much more difficult. Starting at the core, relationships, and working our way outwards, we can unleash powerful experiences for all of those who we choose to foster strong relationships with. So, moving forward with Innovate Inside the Box, remember to read, reflect, connect, share and shine!

Chapter 1: Relationships

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Positive interactions only take a few seconds and can be the best part of someone’s day. How do we show others that we care? What impact does this have on others? How has the caring of others impacted us? While boundaries are important, they can still be enforced when we create positive interactions and develop strong relationships. The purpose of this chapter is to give examples of how strong relationships are built and how every interaction matters. Consider the next two questions as you read this chapter on relationships…Who was the best part of your day? How will you be the best of someone else’s day?

Further Reading

Further Viewing

Questions for Discussion

  1. How do you build relationships and know your students as individuals inside and outside of your classroom?
  2. Think of two or three who influenced you as a student, either positively or negatively. How has that made an impact on you today?
  3. Share a story on social media (blog or video) on a time that you saw an impact of “relationships” as a learner or teacher. Please share to #InnovateInsideTheBox.

Introduction

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Educators who not only have ideas but are able to put them into action are the ones who challenge learners, reaffirm their progress and support them as they move forward. Teachers, whether it be a librarian, custodian, a teacher at a school site or even someone not necessarily connected to education that supports a growing learner, have influenced and inspired many people who have gone on to do what we would consider great things with their lives.

We empower others through the interactions, both big and little, that we share. Our students will not always remember that lesson that we spent hours after school planning and prepping for, instead, what they will remember is how we speak and act towards them, those micro-interactions that we do without all the prepping and planning. This introduction is not saying that the prepping and planning is unimportant or that we can forgo all those after-hours tasks, what it is saying is that the relationships we create and the positivity we spread is often remembered more than the details of a lesson that we allow ourselves to stress over. What we can do to ensure that our lessons are heard is to create strong relationships and provide empowering learning experiences to all of our learners.

Three questions should be kept in mind as you read Innovate Inside the Box:

  1. What has challenged you?
  2. What has been reaffirmed?
  3. What will you do moving forward?

Further Reading

Further Viewing

Questions for Discussion

  1. Think of one educator who had an impact on you as a student in a positive way. What did they do that made an impact? I encourage you to reach out to them or share how they made a positive difference in your life.
  2. Think of a challenge in your lifetime, be it personal or professional. How did you learn and grow from that experience?
  3. What was a constraint you have faced in education and how did you overcome it?
  4. What lessons did you learn from that process?