"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.” (Where Good Ideas Come From, SBJ)

1. Leverage the Adjacent Possible

2. Exploit Liquid Networks3. Cultivate Slow Hunches4. Seek Serendipity5. Embrace Error6. Employ Exaptation7. Play on Platforms

Solitude &

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

Video is the Killer App.

Don’t write me. Tell me.

Show me.

Chris Anderson: Crowd

Accelerated Innovation

Ted Talk, 9:16-11:23

“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.

6b. Reverse Instruction: Do the Flip

1.Associating2.Questioning3.Observing4.Experimenting5.Networking

Innovation must start at the top, and must be a core value of the organization

Innovation is everyone’s job. “the Think Different campaign at Apple targeted Apple’s employees as much as its customers.”

Steve Jobs explained: “The whole purpose of the Think Different campaign was that people had forgotten what Apple stood for, including its employees.”

Essential qualities of Innovators:

1. Curiosity2. Collaboration3. Associative thinking4. Bias toward action &

experimentation

Play Passion Purpose

Play Passion Purpose

Essential Ed. Elements1.Hands on projects

solving real problems 2.Collaboration:

Working in Teams 3.Creating4.Multi-disciplinary

learning5.Design Thinking6.Trial and Error

Seven Strategies for Innovation1. Be opportunistic2.Take Time to Mess Around3.Learn to Fail4.Think in Metaphors5.Go to Extremes6.Look for Crossroads7.Stand on Other’s Shoulders*8.Provide the Time & Space9.Employ Design Thinking

*TEDx

“Good Ideas are not conjured out of thin air–

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

Suggestions for Innovative Schools & Students

1. Highlight, Spotlight, Model, & Embed 2. Provide the Time & Space

3. Network4. Collaborate5. Inter and Multi Disciplinary Learning

6. Mess about and Play7. Fail, Prototype, and Iterate8. Learn by Doing: Project-Based Learning9. Use Tech, especially Web 2.0 & Digital Video

10. Use Assessments Which Measure Innovation11. Post, Publish, Share

LEAD

CONNECT

DO

DESIGN

MEASURE & REPORT

Lead

Connect

Do Design

Measure & Report

Lead

Spotlight, Highlight, Inform

Embed: The St. Gregory Egg

The Innovation Diploma

Declare your intent, take a core course, accumulate credits, and complete a major project.

Submit a Declaration of Intent freshman or sophomore year.

Complete a core L/I course freshman or sophomore year. Leadership, Design/Build, or other courses to be named later.

Meet quarterly with Program Director. Update on requirements, check progress. Brainstorm opportunities, give feedback.

Earn 5 leadership credits between 9th and 12th grades. Serve in a leadership role in a school extracurricular and reflect on accomplishments. (Required for one

unit). Use things you’d be already doing anyway, but choose to set goals and reflect upon them. Use Academic Experiences for Credit: Write a research paper on a L/I topic; pursue an extra-credit

laboratory project on L/I; etc. (Maximum 2 units)

Complete a “capstone project” junior or senior year.Complete a 20 hour project (can count toward Comm/Serve or be part of another involvement, such as student council) and write a 400 word reflection. This can be, but doesn’t have to be, done as part of the peer leadership program in 12th grade.

Connect

Open the Network

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)

“Environments that block or limit 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

I use twitter to mine for teachable moments, interesting activities, and ways to broaden my thinking about teaching and learning.

If I have questions...there are people in my PLN who can help me. It has been a fun and interesting experiment for me.

“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

Collaborate

Cross Disciplinary Projects

Design

Do

Fail, Prototype, Iterate

Fab Lab and design-build course

Measure, Report, Publish, Post, and Share

STG 2009 STG 2010 All Schools (Averaged)

8690

75

I have opportunities to be creative in the classroom

Percentage Strongly Agreeing

Collect the right data

New Creativity Assessments Coming Soon

Grant Wiggins: Educators sometimes say that they shy from assessing creative thought for fear of inhibiting students, but this is a grave error in my view

All Schools St. Gregory 09 St. Gregory 10

7282

92

We regularly discuss questions with no clear answers

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

Video