10 Perspectives on Innovation in Education

Jimmy Casas, Todd Whitaker, Jeffrey Zoul, Jimmy Casas, Todd Whitaker, Jeffrey Zoul

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138598829
• eBook ISBN: 9780429941962
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

How do great educators bring about real change to make a difference in students' lives? In this first volume of the Routledge Great Educators Series, 10 of education's most inspiring thought-leaders come together to share their top suggestions you need right now to innovate in your school or classroom. You will gain fresh insights and practical strategies on these essential topics:

• Personalizing professional learning (Jeffrey Zoul)

• Promoting a positive school culture (Todd Whitaker)

• Improving our hiring practices (Jimmy Casas)

• Designing spaces that maximize learning (Thomas C. Murray)

• Empowering students in their learning and assessments (Starr Sackstein)

• Flipping the classroom to reach each student (Kirk Humphreys)

• Positioning libraries as learning hubs (Shannon McClintock Miller)

• Helping others embrace technology changes (Katrina Keene)

• Developing personal, not just professional, skills (Dwight Carter)

• Embracing each student's passions and strengths (LaVonna Roth)

Filled with inspiring stories throughout, the book will leave you feeling motivated to take risks and try new things in your own school or classroom. As the authors say, if we want to make a real difference, it's not enough to do the things we do better; we must also do new and better things!

1

Innovative Professional Learning

Jeffrey Zoul

An obvious characteristic of a successful school is that its students are learning at high levels. The more students learn, the better the school. Perhaps the best way to ensure that students are continuously learning and growing is to ensure that their teachers are also continuously learning and growing. There exists no greater variable impacting student learning than the quality of the classroom teacher. Schools get better when teachers get better. School leaders must embrace the responsibility of providing professional learning opportunities for all staff members designed to help them get better.

Unfortunately, in recent years, much has been written about traditional professional learning experiences suggesting these experiences result in little, if any, actual improvement. In fact, a 2013 report on professional learning by the National School Boards Association’s Center for Public Education noted that most teachers are not provided the kind of professional development that would actually help them (1). Too often, the professional learning they receive arrives in the form of one-size-fits-all, one-time workshops. Even in the best of these instances, there is often little or no follow up or implementation in the classroom of what was “learned” in the workshop. The good news is that this is not necessarily a “time and money” problem which so often seems to be the lament of educators everywhere. Each year, $2.5 billion is spent on professional learning for educators at the federal level alone (2). In terms of time, we can always use more, of course, but every school and district in existence already dedicates a certain amount of time each school year to professional learning opportunities for its educators. Without increasing the money or time currently devoted to professional learning in our schools, we can do much better than the status quo. And we must. Our kids’ learning depends on it; the time has come to invest in innovative professional learning experiences that respect adult learners.

Innovative Professional Learning Leads to Innovative Classroom Instruction

Somewhat ironically, it seems that we constantly hear about the need to innovate in terms of the instruction we provide students in our classrooms. Many teachers by now have likely sat through a workshop imploring them to become more innovative in the ways they teach their students. Unfortunately, most of these workshops have been delivered in decidedly non-innovative ways. If we want our teachers to innovate in their classrooms, they need to learn in innovative ways. Telling them to do it will not suffice; we must show them the way. Fortunately, I have witnessed several significant bright spots in districts around the country in terms of innovative professional learning practices, almost all of which are rather easily replicated. We can and should learn from these examples as a starting point for personalizing professional learning for educators just as we move to personalize learning for our students. It is important to note, however, that there is no single “best” way to provide learning for teachers any more than there is a single best way to design learning experiences for students. Moreover, not every type of professional learning experience we currently use needs to be eliminated from the menu of learning opportunities we provide staff members. Although I am a huge advocate for student-centered learning in our classrooms, I also recognize the importance of whole group, direct instruction learning experiences and believe these should be incorporated into any innovative 21st century classroom. Similarly, there is nothing wrong with every staff member in a school district attending a keynote presentation in which the presenter simply shares his or her thoughts on how we can become better at what we do. The problem in both instances occurs when that is all we do or when we fail to follow up on the whole group instruction with targeted next steps and differentiated support for all learners. Not everything we are currently doing in our classrooms is bad. The same holds true for traditional professional learning. There are many things we should continue doing. At the same time, however, there are some things we should stop doing and many things we should start doing.

If we want our teachers to innovate in their classrooms, they need to learn in innovative ways.

Two Frameworks for Thinking about Professional Learning

One thing we should start doing when planning professional learning is to adopt an overall framework and philosophy for the adult learning experiences we offer in our schools and districts. We should then develop our long-term professional learning plans with these overarching guiding principles in mind. Let me suggest two such frameworks. First, whenever I think about professional learning experiences for professional adults, I like to keep the work of Daniel Pink in mind; specifically, his thoughts on what motivates people to engage. Pink has written extensively about motivation (3), suggesting that the three key drivers of motivation are Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. Let’s look at each briefly and how each might apply to professional learning for educators:

Autonomy: Autonomy is about giving people real control over various aspects of their work – including their professional learning. Pink recommends giving people autonomy over these four “T’s”: Time, Team, Task, and Technique. This is a powerful starting point for changing our approach to professional learning in our schools and districts: When designing innovative professional learning opportunities, we should strive to allow teachers a certain amount of choice in terms of when they will learn, with whom they will learn, how they will learn, and what they will learn.

We should strive to allow teachers a certain amount of choice in terms of when they will learn, with whom they will learn, how they will learn, and what they will learn.

Mastery: A sense of progress, in our work and in our capabilities, contributes to our inner drive. When designing professional learning experiences for educators, we must calibrate what people must do by looking at what they can do. If the must-do tasks are too difficult, people will become worried, frustrated, and feel out of their league. If the must-do tasks are too easy, they will get bored and disengage. Making progress in meaningful work is the single greatest motivator of human beings, according to Pink. When designing innovative professional learning opportunities, we should strive to design experiences that are meaningful to the learner and which challenge them to get better while also taking into account their current level of capacity.

Purpose: People can be inspired to meet stretch goals and tackle impossible challenges if they care about the outcome and if that outcome is something much bigger than themselves. All schools and districts face their own unique rollercoaster of ups and downs during the course of every school year. True purpose in the work allows these swings to create less distraction for educators on the team. When designing innovative professional learning opportunities, we should strive to connect the learning to something larger than teachers themselves. Although data are important, we must move beyond mere measurement, connecting these numbers and figures to people – most importantly, to students – and to values. We must strive to help those we serve view their work as not merely making a contribution, but making a difference.

A second framework for designing innovative professional learning experiences for educators is one I created using the 4 “C’s” of 21st century learning as a starting point. In fact, these 4 C’s have evolved into the 6 C’s (4): Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Citizenship, and Character Education. When designing professional learning experiences, I suggest we focus on “The Six C’s” of Innovative Professional Learning and keep these in mind as we try to become more innovative: Choice, Connection, Context, Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture. Let’s look at each briefly, examining how each might apply to professional learning for educators:

Choice: This is directly related to Pink’s focus on autonomy, but stated simply, teachers should have a certain amount of choice about what they learn, when they learn, how they learn, and with whom they learn. In recent years, we have heard quite a bit about student voice and student choice, investing in their perspectives when designing learning experiences. We need to push just as passionately for raising teacher voice and teacher choice when it comes to professional learning. A good starting point when designing innovative professional learning experiences is empowering teachers to own their learning. Choice is one way to accomplish that goal.

Connection: Teachers need to connect with other teachers, in particular, teachers who share their professional passions, interests, responsibilities, and goals. Although I have written extensively about the importance of connecting with educators around the world (5), connecting with others to grow professionally is more than merely connecting through social media outlets. Teachers also need to connect in person, within their own school on teams, grade levels, and departments of which they are members. They need to connect with colleagues at other schools in their district and teachers in neighboring districts. When teachers connect with teachers, they learn new ideas and perspectives from people who are facing similar challenges and experimenting with new and different solutions to achieving better results. Innovative professional learning rarely, if ever, happens in isolation. There must be some aspect of professional discourse which moves beyond mere collegiality and into meaningful connections.

Innovative professional learning rarely, if ever, happens in isolation. There must be some aspect of professional discourse which moves beyond mere collegiality and into meaningful connections.

Context: Just as we seldom learn when we are isolated from other professionals, we are also less likely to experience authentic learning when what we are learning is isolated from any practical context. Once again, what holds true in the classroom for our students holds true for us as adult learners. In the classroom, learning facts and knowledge about a topic may well be an important prerequisite to understanding that topic and then developing mastery of and expertise with the topic. The key to gaining this true understanding and expertise, however, is providing a context for the information students (of all ages, including educators themselves) learn. The context becomes the glue to connect the dots along the path to applying the learning in real-world settings – such as our classrooms. Innovative professional learning requires context; authentic and relevant settings in which educators not only know something, but do something with what they know.

Coaching: The most-read blog post I have written in the past several years is a short piece I titled, Teaching Should Be More Like Coaching (6), in which I make the case that our students will grow more and truly acquire more knowledge and skills if we coach them to proficiency as opposed to teaching them to proficiency. When it comes to professional learning, we need to coach our teachers, not just teach our teachers. Coaching includes allowing time for the practicing of new skills, offering frequent, but brief, “mini-lessons” about new teaching techniques, circling back to previous learning and increasing complexity of the learning when we do, and, most importantly, providing feedback based on observation, letting teachers know what we have noticed and brainstorming together possible next steps for improvement. Innovative professional learning includes opportunities for educators to coach and mentor each other. These roles need not be static, either: the teacher who coaches one day can be the mentee the next.

Curiosity: One of the most important components to learning – at any age – is the actual desire to learn. In our classrooms, we need to cultivate curious students. In our professional learning endeavors, we also must strive to instill curiosity within our adult learners. Albert Einstein once suggested about his own learning, “I have no special talents; I am only passionately curious” (7). Teachers who are passionately curious are far more likely to discover new and better ways to solve problems we face in our profession. How do we cultivate curiosity in our teachers? We can start by being openly curious ourselves, asking teachers for whom we are designing professional learning questions about their content, their instructional techniques, their challenges, their successes, why they think as they do, and any number of honest queries to which we would welcome their insights. We can also encourage curiosity by allowing teachers more freedom in their own learning, providing them space to explore, wonder, and ask questions. Carving out specific time for wondering will affirm teachers in their desire to learn. Innovative professional learning requires curious learners – which will only happen when they are supported by curious leaders who invite questions and encourage exploration of new ideas and thinking.

Culture: Without the proper culture in place, we need not worry about the preceding 5 C’s because they are unlikely to occur. School leaders must work together to create a culture of curiosity, connection, and choice. They must work together to ensure the culture promotes learning in context and allows for coaching among all staff members. The culture within a district and school largely determines the amount of professional learning and growth that will occur. Innovative professional learning requires an innovative culture; one in which commonly shared values are explicit and adhered to, one in which risk taking is encouraged and celebrated, one in which transparency and vulnerability are the norm rather than the exception, one in which hopes and dreams are fed rather than squashed, and one in which all adults in the organization know that the more they grow and learn, the more their students will grow and learn.

The culture within a district and school largely determines the amount of professional learning and growth that will occur.

10 Ways to Design and Deliver Innovative Professional Learning

Now that we have established a working framework for what undergirds innovative professional learning, let us take a look at ten practical, specific ideas for designing and implementing innovative professional learning experiences. The following list includes ideas I have either implemented myself in schools and districts at which I have served or seen other school leaders implement in person when visiting schools. These ideas take into account one or more aspects of Pink’s theory about what motivates us and my own belief about the importance of “The Six C’s” of Innovative Professional Learning.

Twitter Chats

My guess is that most people reading this book have participated in at least one Twitter chat for educational purposes. Although I suspect my hunch is correct, we also must remember that the vast majority of staff members in the vast majority of schools have not participated in a Twitter chat. Moreover, they likely never will if left to their own devices. We can remedy that by scheduling Twitter chats into a professional learning day. The worst case result of doing so is that every single staff member will now have participated in one version of a Twitter chat. The best case scenario is that after doing so, at least some teachers will now have their curiosity piqued, will have learned something, and will continue to participate in similar chats on their own time to learn even more.

One way to do this: There are infinite ways to incorporate Twitter chats as part of an overall professional learning plan...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Information
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Meet the Authors
• About the What Great Educators Do Differently Conferences and the Routledge Great Educators Series Books
• 1 Innovative Professional Learning
• 2 Innovative Ways to Impact School Culture
• 3 Innovating Our Hiring Practices
• 4 Innovative Learning Spaces
• 5 Innovative Assessment that Amplifies Student Voice
• 6 Innovating the Math Classroom
• 7 Librarians: Champions of Innovation!
• 8 Sparking Innovation from Failure
• 9 Innovating Personal Skill Development
• 10 Taking Risks and Pushing Boundaries