Educator Reflects on The Journey:
Rebecca Singley
Stratford High SchoolWhat does innovation mean to you?
Innovation means never settling for the status quo. What I mean by that is, that an innovative mind is always looking for new and better ways (emphasis on the “better”) to do things.
I think this is particularly true in education, especially since our kids are living in a time when innovation is the standard. One of the best things I’ve done as a teacher is to invite my kids to an open conversation about not just the content of my course but also how it is delivered.
They know that it is valued when they tell me that what I might think is working is actually not. My only two requests for this feedback is that they have to help me better my practice by providing me with specific suggestions on how I can change how I teach, either on an individual level or as a group, and that they are respectful.
I believe that this not only helps me grow but also provides them with the real world skill of communicating respectfully, as well as self-advocacy.
Why do educators need to embrace innovation?
Again, we are living in an age of innovation where it seems everything is an improvement on an earlier model and the idea that each iteration is not the final iteration. This holds true for education, particularly if we want to truly reach all of our kids.
Of course, the most obvious manner of innovation is technology – by allowing kids to have the opportunity to see their phones, for example, as not just a vehicle for figuring out what they will do over the weekend but, also, as an educational tool, we are expanding the four walls of our classroom to a much wider array of opportunities for applying what they are learning to the world.
However, I don’t believe that this is the only way we can innovate education. Innovation is also simply looking at how we have taught something before and asking ourselves the question, “How might I tweak this to make it even better? To meet all my students’ needs? To be more relevant for all of my students?”.
It’s moving beyond the “one-size-fits-all” mentality to a belief that one concept may be taught in multiple ways, with those ways driven by each of our students. To fully innovate our classrooms, we need to be sure that we are pulling our kids into their learning as active participants who determine what works best for them, while insuring that they are learning what they need to progress to the next level.
I firmly believe that, by doing this, we are not only doing our jobs as teachers by helping them to master our content, but, just as importantly, we are allowing them to learn how they best learn, which will help them far beyond the four school walls.
Do you sense a culture of support or one that’s driven by compliance ‘in the system’ or on campus? Why? I am very excited about the changes I see at the district level, particularly the “spirit of innovation” that seems to be spreading through the district. I feel empowered by the district to try new things and greatly appreciate the seemingly daily opportunities that present themselves!
What ‘walls’ or challenges have you seen removed in this past semester about learning environments? (Learning for kids. Learning for adults.)
Probably one of the biggest challenges is access to technology. While many of my kids have phones that they may use, the Chromebooks I recently received have been a “game changer” for my students.
On a related note, itsLearning has allowed my kids to experience a new level of learning connected to English and has allowed them a new (and exciting) way to share what they’ve learned with their peers.
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