Leadership and Technology

In chapter 13 of the Innovator's Mindset, George Couros writes about the limitations of assessment in education, and challenges us to re-imagine. What student outcomes do we value? How do we define success? How shall we identify and track evidence of learning in our schools? Image source Bill Ferriter ( @plugusin ) sums up the paradox of assessment brilliantly. Outcomes that are meaningful are not easily measurable; measurable outcomes are rarely meaningful. The prevailing mindset in assessment in education is to define data only in quantitative terms. What if we acknowledged that the most important, most meaningful outcomes are qualitative? The long-standing practice in education has been to let the tail wag the dog and define outcomes within the quantitative assessment bubble, thereby entirely excluding meaningful qualitative outcomes. What if we elevated qualitative research methods to equal stature in our conversations and practices in assessment? Students would doc...

In chapter 7 of The Innovator's Mindset , George Couros outlines eight things we should see in today's classrooms. It was sobering to reflect on my own teaching, and to try to identify these eight elements in my own classroom. In an effort to practice a strengths-based approach, I'll begin by outlining the few that I believe are visible in my classroom. Voice Student voice is a strength in my classroom. My students are regularly engaged in scientist meetings and group dialogue as they work together make meaning. Students produce, share, and learn from each other's work. For example, my students recently produced posters and videos to communicate relationships between genetics vocabulary. Critical Thinking We have a culture of critical thinking in my classroom. Students ask questions of each other, and respectfully challenge each others' ideas. Students critically evaluate each other's claims and reasoning about evidence. When new evidence is discovered, or...

In Chapter 2 of Innovator’s Mindset, George Courous lays out some critical questions for the innovative educator. Here some reflections on those questions. Would I want to be a learner in my own classroom? This question is important because it requires us to approach our work from a place of empathy. By considering the learning experience through eyes of each of our students, we can better understand and meet their needs. Further, I believe we must strive to imagine students’ perspectives that may be very different from our own. Would I want to be a learner my classroom as an EL student? A student with trauma? A student of color? A student of non-binary gender? What is best for _this_ student? This question gets at the individual nature of learning. Each individual leans slightly differently. We must not blame the student when they do not succeed in learning what we set out to teach them, we must innovate to meet the learning needs of that individual. What is _this_ student’s p...

When I was first starting out as a new educator, I labored over my "Philosophy of Education" statement. It was first assigned to me as coursework, I'm sure. Later, I massaged it into my professional portfolio. Ultimately, I worried over it in the (many) applications I would submit before landing my first teaching job. Despite all of the energy and time I spent with that statement of teaching philosophy, I don't remember much of what it said – no doubt because it was too long and replete with the platitudes of a new teacher fresh out of college, and the buzz words of the day. Now, after ten years of teaching immersion, I have less to say about my philosophy of education, or at least I can summarize it in fewer words – one, actually. I've rebranded my philosophy of education as my purpose, my 'why' in Simon Sinek's model of organizational leadership. The purpose at the center of the work I do as an educator and leader is to cultivate dignity in my stu...