In one of George Couros's keynotes, he talks about the natural curiosity of children. They just DO...until they grow up and just DON'T. When they get older, they start to get boxed in by so many things...parents, friends, society, educational system...so many walls that they need to work in. For some, it can be suffocating. For others it can be freeing! Daniel Pink, in Drive, talks about the three things that motivate people: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Why do young children thrive in autonomy...live with reckless abandon? Yet that changes with age. For this reason, I want to focus on that first one. In education, I have noticed something interesting that is wrapped around "autonomy" I have the pleasure, in my role, to talk and work with a large sampling of educators, and I have noticed an interesting, polarizing phenomena. It seems that there are two camps:
I think the best educators are innovators. These innovators create better, within the four walls of the box. To me, I think having such constraints actually increases creativity. Just like my daughter's carnival: She had an idea, looked at what materials she had and used that to come up with a creation. We, as educators, should be doing the same. Where/what do we want our students to learn, understand. Now let's look at the walls: each student is different, we have board adopted curriculum, we have standards...now let's make the magic, let's be autonomous. let's create an amazing experience for our learners. This is what we want to instill in our students...we want them to find a problem, assess the situation and create...innovate. Let's use that box to our advantage. Check out the video below for a little inspiration:
2 Comments
Melanie Shaw
3/12/2017 03:59:49 pm
Yes, fear creates chains and prevents people from taking risks. For many years I couldn't figure out why some teachers wouldn't try new things, knowing it would be better for their students and it was fear.
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4/4/2017 05:45:10 pm
This a well-balanced and humble look at a very real issue facing educators. I very much appreciate the fact that you validate all teachers' good intentions while providing direction toward a more productive perspective on the subject of standardization. It is refreshing to know that there are like minded educators that both respect the boundaries we are given but are not defined by them. Thank you for sharing your insight. I've added it to the resources section of my sight in hopes that other educators can learn from this as well.
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