Coloring Outside the Lines

I was fortunate to attend the #PowerfulPractices conference in San Francisco recently, where George Couros was the Keynote Speaker. The keynote wound up being the highlight for me, hands down!

In his speech, George was not only engaging but he empowered us to participate through a back channel via Today's Meet, as well as on Twitter (check out #PowerfulPractices to see some Tweets). George barraged us with personal family photos, his personal background, and entertaining anecdotes

​ which quickly established credibility, rapport, engagement, and empowerment. Couros asserts that if we want to

inspire meaningful change, we must make a connection to the heart before attempting to connect to the mind. What a great lead-in to the #IMMOOC (Innovator's Mindset Massive Online Open Course) that is certain to continue paving the way for transformation in FSUSD.

I​n my endeavor to make meaningful change within FSUSD, our students, teachers, and leaders, I​
look to my colleagues, including my invaluable PLN (Professional Learning Network), for inspiration on a regular basis (whether some know it or not!). I find that collectively they are communicators, innovators, critical thinkers, risk-takers, and they maintain a global perspective of learning and its purpose. These are all qualities that have driven each of them to function successfully and intentionally within their various capacities. I'd presume that those qualities are success indicators across career-fields; in fact I can't think of a single situation where communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and innovation would be frowned upon. When we look at our students and teachers in classrooms, we may see content-heavy direct teaching practices that once were praised as the standard of education. Shifting a mindset can be difficult​; ​as George Couros pointed out in his keynote​, "i​t is often nostalgia that holds us back from change.​" ​
Are we nostalgic for teaching that unit on pilgrims, or for teaching cursive handwriting​, or running a sage on the stage model of staff meeting?​ Or do we honestly believe that cursive handwriting will make that student a better problem-solver as an adult​ and that lecture will build staff capacity? Couros made two more excellent points that stuck with me: 1) "If you're standing still, you're falling behind," and 2) "If you do not know what a hashtag or handle is, in this world today, you are becoming illiterate." We should be ensuring that our students and teachers are provided ongoing opportunities for innovating, collaborating, thinking critically, and risk-taking at school; if not, we are doing them a disservice. I remember when my niece was in kindergarten she colored inside the lines on all of her assignments, but at home she always scribbled outside the lines. When my sister asked her why she scribbles outside the lines at home, her response was wise beyond her years: "because at school we have to color inside the lines, so sometimes I just like to scribble when I can."

                                                                           Photo Credit: http://karenoakleydesigns.com/color-outside-the-lines/

"The world only cares about--and pays off on--what you can do with what you know (and it doesn't care how you learned it)" - Thomas Friedman

Are we providing students and teachers opportunities to innovate, communicate, collaborate and to think critically? Or are we boxing them in to the world of academia and compliance thereby forcing students to leave school less curious​​
than when they started?

​According to Liz Wiseman, Lois Allen, and Elise Foster's book, The Multiplier Effect, leaders who bring out the genius in others, thus building collective, viral intelligence within organizations, are called multipliers. Multipliers focus on building capacity by tapping into and extracting the genius of others, which is akin to doubling staff size at no cost; as you may have guessed, this is called the Multiplier Effect. Imagine the innovations and successes that could be accomplished from staff operating at more than twice their current output!

Disruptive innovation is imperative for societal progress. If we are standing still, we are failing our students by holding them back from creating a future that exceeds status quo. If we are forcing our students and teachers to color inside the lines, then we are demanding compliance instead of fostering innovation. It's up to us to create an environment for innovative thinking and relevant learning through risk-taking​ and to create a multiplier effect within FSUSD. ​
What is one thing you will do tomorrow, as a result of today? Scribble on.

Follow me on Twitter: @A_Klein09