Unlearning to Become an Innovator

Am I an innovator? I would like to believe that I am. Here is a look into my mindset as an innovator: I believe that every kid deserves a chance to do their best work in their own way. I believe that best practice is always evolving and therefore what I do in the classroom should be too. I know that I am not the content expert and I don’t have to be. As an educator I am facilitating learning. I want to help students take control of their own learning. I want to constantly be developing my professional skills and knowledge.

As I read George Couros’s article about innovation in education many of his ideas of what an innovator should be resonated with me. His number one goal is to ask what is best for learners? This is different that asking what is best for students. It encompasses a wider group of people that includes educators, parents, students, and the community. I saw a big connection in his beliefs as an innovator and a growth mindset. He said, “I will focus on what is possible today and where I can push to lead towards tomorrow.” That is growth mindset.

Being an innovator is directly linked to Will Richardson’s thoughts on unlearning. Unlearning is, “learning to see things differently”. As I read his article I felt like everything he mentioned in his unlearning list were things that would make me get up on my soap box. When I think of unlearning I think of all the things that we need to get rid of and move past in education. When we unlearn we are able to move forward in education and become innovators. Here is my list of things I want educators to unlearn:

• Creating a curriculum and teaching the same year for 30 years is the way to go. Plus is saves you a lot of work.
• Paper and pencil tests are the way to go.
• If I teach 4 sections of the same class, they should all be doing the same thing.
• Once I have tested on the content, I move on. It doesn’t matter if the student has not reached proficient in that area and will need that knowledge to do the next section.
• Lecture, reading assignment, worksheet, test. Repeat.
• Lectures may not be the best way to learn but college students are adults so they can handle it.
• I hate this field trip but we do it every year. We will go but I’m not going to do much with it in the classroom.
• Reading, writing, and math are so important that we can put off teaching social studies and science until middle school.
• Content needs to be separated.
• I don’t have enough time to teach science and social studies.

Well I think I could keep going on this for a while but I’ll stop here and save you from all of my rants. As we are able to unlearn we start becoming an innovator moving education forward.