My Pursuit of Knowledge

I will admit that I was a super geek when it came to back-to-school season.  Specifically, shopping for the supplies and getting ready for the first day of school.  I loved this stuff then and I continue to have a little obsession with office supplies.  The thrill of fresh notebooks, the excitement over choosing exactly the right pen, the seemingly-limitless possibilities of backpacks.  I would plan and organize and label everything.  My pencil case was well stocked and every subject had a notebook.

Fast forward to my junior year of high school, when I decided I wanted to become a teacher.  I loved accounting and finance and management strategies, so Business Education was the only logical choice to me.  I didn't even entertain the idea of a degree in Business Administration, because I had no real interest in working in an office.  I was fascinated by the act of learning concepts and putting pieces together to make sense of something.

Jumping forward again about ** years, I had finally got into what I thought was my dream job.  I was teaching Business and Marketing at a large high school in North Dakota.  From the outside looking in, it was exactly what I had been working toward.  But after just a year or two, I became restless.  I wasn't feeling the excitement over planning and reinventing my classroom.  I was feeling the pull toward research in exciting teaching methods, in curriculum redesign, in technology integration.  I felt that we were at a turning point in education and I didn't think I was in a position to have enough knowledge, experience, or influence to shape it.

That is when I found my true passion.  I took a position where it was my job to research and share innovative ideas around technology integration.  With this position was a requirement to learn about other subject areas, different building cultures, district policies, standards alignment, and core technology.  I felt like I was coming home.

Looking back, my excitement over school supplies had very little to do with the actual paper in the notebook and ink in the pens.  It had everything to do with the potential of a new school year.  It all signaled that more learning was about to begin.  That empty notebook would be filled to the brim with new knowledge and that backpack would enable me to take my learning with me wherever I chose to travel.

My teachers had done the job promised in the school’s mission statement.  They had created a life-long learner.  In the NESC Report, Opportunities, Challenges and Capacities for Choice, they define life-long learning as "....All purposeful learning activity, whether formal or informal, undertaken on an ongoing basis with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competence" (p.170).  I think there are two keys in this definition.  The first is the phrase undertaken on an ongoing basis and the second is that it is both formal and informal.  

It is my hope that all of us in the education field internalize and model this concept to our students.  They need to see us as learners and as teachers.  They need to understand that we learn in so many ways, formally and informally, inside the classroom and out.  They need to hear that we learn and seek to understand so many different concepts, not just those most often discussed in the classroom.  They need to be taught the value in learning about things we do not yet understand, even if (or especially if) it might not be on a test.  The need for all citizens to be learners and critical thinkers is vitally important in this information-rich era.  

So my challenge to you is to do something today that fills your knowledge cup.  Go buy a new notebook and fill it with stuff.  Get yourself a really good pen and start journaling your thoughts.  Reach out to someone with an expertise that interests you and ask questions.  Start your Twitter PLN. Whatever you do, do it now and don't stop learning.

For more reading on why I consider myself a geek and not a nerd, visit this blog post by geektyrant.  

Defining Innovation

Innovation is one of those buzz words floating around right now.  "We should be innovative!" "We need innovative ideas!" "Our kids should be innovators!"  But what does this word mean?

In his book, The Innovator's Mindset, George Couros states that "...innovation is a way of thinking that creates something new AND better."

For many, innovation is synonymous with change.  Changing routines or methods can be innovative because it requires a conscious deviation from the status quo.  This change can be mandated from our superiors or by law, but it can also be the result of an internal need to fix something that isn't going quite right.  Whatever the catalyst, change is the first step in innovation.

Doing something for the sake of change has sometimes given education initiatives a bad rap.  When we look at change (innovation or initiative), it is important to identify how this new thing will give us a better outcome.  So what happens when we try it and we don't get the spectacular results we were anticipating?  For most of us, it means the outcome wasn't worth the change so we revert back to the status quo.  I think this is where the breakdown happens.  So far, this isn't innovation.  It was just change.

The next step must be reflection on the process used to create the change.  It is important to remember why the change was implemented in the first place.  There was something that wasn't quite right and somebody was looking for a way to make it better.  It may not be better yet, but that doesn't mean that we haven't taken the first step toward true innovation.  Taking risks and learning from mistakes are crucial to true innovation.

Without this process, we are simply left with what we have always had and a series of failed experiments in our wake.  And when we talk about this in the education context, our wake includes students who deserve better.  They deserve a system that continually strives to do better, be better, and make change that results in better learning experiences in the classroom.  We don't get that by trying and then giving up, or worse, never trying at all.

So, what is the value in attempting to innovate our practices?  By challenging the status quo, you enrich your understanding of why things are they way they are.  It might turn out that you have a new or renewed appreciation for the process or product.  But if you try, and reflect, you will be better prepared to innovate in the future.