"Please stop waiting for a map. We reward those who draw maps, not those who follow them.“

Seth Godin,Poke the Box

Innovative Schools, Innovative StudentsJonathan E. Martin

Head of School, St. Gregory College Preparatory School (AZ)www.21k12blog.net

Why Innovate?

Why innovate? 

Richard Florida: “Human creativity is the ultimate source of economic resource.”

percentage strongly agreeing

20

45

My Job requires I be creative

1977 2002

Source: Jerald, Defining a 21st century education

Win the Future

Flow

“the prep school tradition is, in fact, traditional.”

Visiting Schools

• Picture– bored kids

The good high school project

Innovation: It’s not that complicated

“Think about the path of evolution as the continual exploration of the adjacent possible.” (SBJ)

“Good Ideas are not conjured out of thin air–

they are built of a collection of existing parts.” (SBJ)

Less Actually, More UncertaintyLess Actually

More Uncertainty

Ellen Langer, The Power of Mindful

Learning

When we teach as if there are absolute truths to be learned, we leave little reason to think about them. Then, there is little chance that the information will lead to any conceptual insights or even be rethought in a new context.

Comfort with notion of no right answer

14

37Superintendents Employers

Source: Craig Jerald, Defining 21st century education

Ms. Taylor constantly told the class how little she knew. “Sorry, sometimes I jump to conclusions too quickly.”

She stressed the importance of collecting conflicting information before making up one’s mind, of calibrating one’s certainty level to the strength of the evidence, of enduring uncertainty for long stretches as an answer became clear, of correcting for one’s biases.

Ms. Taylor constantly told the class how little she knew. “Sorry, sometimes I jump to conclusions too quickly.”

She stressed the importance of collecting conflicting information before making up one’s mind, of calibrating one’s certainty level to the strength of the evidence, of enduring uncertainty for long stretches as an answer became clear, of correcting for one’s biases.

discussion

discuss with a neighbor:

how would you promote less actually and more uncertainty at your school?

Discuss with a neighbor: how would you promote less actually and more uncertainty at your school?

The Norm

Less Autonomy

More Mastering

“the urge to master something new & engaging is the biggest predictor of productivity.” Dan Pink, Drive.

Dweck’s Growth Mindset: “when applying knowledge to new situations, those with learning, rather than performance, goals, are much more successful.”

Discuss: How can our Schools promote more mastering?

Less Solitude

More Networking

Solitude and

Leadership-

William Deresiewicz

the answers to our dilemmas are not to be found on Twitter. They

can only be found within—without

distractions, in solitude.

Twitter is a “coral reef” for nurturing creativity. Steven Johnson

only_point_five

“the most creative individuals consistently had broad social networks that extended outside their organization.”sjcockell

RSA Animate, WGICF: 2:54-3:54

• Johnson:

• “The question is how to push your brain toward more creative networks. The answer is delightfully fractal.”

“The question is how to push your brain toward more creative networks. The answer is delightfully fractal.”

Image, Prokoviev, Wikipedia Commons

“To make your mind more innovative, place it inside networks that mimic the neural networks of a mind.”

No medium in history has ever offered such unlikely trails of connection in such an accessible form… An online newspaper, [compared to a dead-tree paper], is ten times more serendipitous. (SJB)

“Google strives for new ideas: everyone is expected to have ideas.” Baker/Burns

“You can track innovation online by looking at the moment a community was first able to share its talents digitally.” Chris Anderson, Crowd Accelerated Innovation.

The Flip

Discuss: How can our schools promote more networking?

“Environments that block or limit those new combinations– by punishing experimentation, or by obscuring certain branches of possibility, will, on average, generate and circulate fewer innovations than environments that encourage exploration.” SJB

Less Isolation

More Collaboration

“Decades of educational research have demonstrated that unstructured group discussion has the potential to teach students the sort of group creativity that the new economy demands.” Keith Sawyer, quoted in Jerald, Defining a 21st century education

Discuss

Less Perfection

More Error

“Being right keeps you in place. Being wrong forces you to explore. Leaving some room for generative error is important. Innovative environments thrive on useful mistakes.” Steven Johnson

“it is better to get out there with an early product, even before all the kinks are worked out, and to listen to what its users say about how the product should grow and change… relinquish control and accept a risk-taking and good enough for now mindset.” Google, in Baker/Burns.

“Innovation, Not Instant Perfection”

Awards and Rewards

Discuss

STG 2009 STG 2010 All Schools (Averaged)

8690

75

I have opportunities to be creative in the classroom

Percentage Strongly Agreeing

Less of their data

More of your data

All Schools St. Gregory 09 St. Gregory 10

7282

92

We regularly discuss questions with no clear answers

Data is apolitical

What Excites & Engages Me?

Lecture Discussion and Debate

Group Projects Projects Involving Technology

28

6560

55

All HSSSE students

Authentically Measuring Critical Thinking & Effective Problem Solving

CWRA/CLA median percentile, College Freshman Normed

Video is the Killer App.

Don’t write me. Tell me.

Show me.

More video

Ted Talk, 9:16-11:23

Video

Video