Learning and Leading - March/April 2013

Here’s what other ISTE members had to say about this topic. Participate in our reader poll at iste.org/LL.

YES 28%

NO 72%

comes from staff decisions based on their understanding of their students.

There will always be obstacles for educators. But we still have power to make choices about what happens in our classrooms, libraries, and schools and to try new ideas, with the chance to fail, reflect, and even blog or tweet about it. We can add value to education by moving beyond the obstacles to invent and implement different and more effective ways for our students to learn.

—Selena Ward is a technology integration teacher at Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, Maryland, USA. She is also a Discovery Educator Network Star, Google Certified Teacher, professional development chair for the Maryland Society of Educational Technology, one of ISTE’s 2012 Emerging Leaders, and @thetechtiger on Twitter.

something that can be taught with a single project or class.

The American celebration of individuality, the nation’s intellectual and cultural diversity, and our admiration of those who try, fail, and try again has made the United States the world’s most innovative nation. And yet, as we turn our educational focus toward more efficiently creating “standard” students learning “common” knowledge, we work directly against a culture that develops innovators.

—After a successful career in the software and startup world, Pete Welter co-founded The Cooperatory ( thecooperatory.com), where he coaches teens in starting businesses and becoming entrepreneurs.

Producing Innovators’ Assistants

The principal thrust of current school reform efforts is taking us in the wrong direction. We are directing our efforts at producing a group of graduates who would make good assistants to innovators—not the Steve Jobses we need, but those who could do grunt work for them. Not inspired creators and explorers, but their support staff. The pity is that our policies seem to be set by those who don’t understand the difference.

Mark Gura Professor Jupiter, Florida, USA

Evidence of Innovation

It is difficult to say that the U.S. government doesn’t support innovation when it is constantly trying to improve our education community. The i3 Innovation Fund is a prime example. Schools as we know it are embracing lectureless classrooms and bringing students to the forefront to create more individualized learning tracks. Many school systems are also leaping forward with the use of BYOD and mobile devices.

Blake Skidmore IT Manager Houston, Texas, USA

Revolutionary, Not Evolutionary

Significant change in U.S. education is constrained by politics, money, parent expectations, teachers, administrators, and other factors (see my blog post: bit.ly/Uq YT98). Innovation that is game changing is revolutionary, not evolutionary. The U.S. education system is not set up to encourage or accept revolutionary changes. Only by acting outside of this system can real innovation occur.

Steve Taffee Education Blogger/Consultant San Francisco, California, USA

Scale the Pockets

American teachers are losing control of what they teach to the standards movement, but there remains great freedom in how they can teach. In every school and district are pockets of innovation where teachers are using new technology to imagine new ways of learning. The challenge is in scaling these pockets.

Justin Reich Ed Tech Teacher and Researcher Arlington, Massachusetts, USA

How We Train Students

We do not support innovation. Instead, we train students to follow clearly marked paths of predetermined pseudo-thought. We train them that there is one correct answer that is known by the teacher and/or test grader, and that there is a simple formula for reporting that answer—a process to solve a given problem, an essay written by formula, lists of memorized terms to bubble in or click. We train them with worksheets, one-answer textbook questions, and lots of tests.

JD Ferries Rowe CIO, Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Innovate in Spite of the System

There is innovation in teaching, but that is because of the resilience and courage of our human capital, our teachers. I have witnessed excellent teachers give to the system what it values—improvement on test scores—while devoting as much of their time as possible to truly educating their students. But they do it in spite of the system, not because of it. That, in itself, is an indictment of the system.

Ralph Maltese Coach Mentor, Pennsylvania Department of Education Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Teach for Life, Not Trivia

After reading Steve Jobs’ biography, I am confident that a student of his caliber would have folded his standardized test into creative origami rather than sit obediently bubbling in answers with his number-two pencil. These types of methods teach our students one thing: endurance. They are not asked to produce, but to consume. Consumption may help students succeed at Trivial Pursuit, but not at life.

Melissa Herring Technology Integration Specialist Houston, Texas, USA

The Problem with Grade Levels

Our nation’s education by grade structure artificially limits innovation. It does not accommodate individualized learning, differences in development, unique learning challenges, or learning rates. It is individuals who need educational focus, not entire grade levels.