I need to start by mentioning that my entire classroom teaching experience was at the high school level. When I left the classroom, I became a technology integration specialist in the same district in which I had taught for 22 years; I was a known commodity! At first I was working primarily with the high school and junior high, but now I work with all levels EC-12.

Ok…let me get to the point! I have worked really hard to gain an understanding of what it is like to teach at the lower grade levels. I follow just as many elementary teachers as upper level teachers on Twitter, read more books about that age level, and spend just as much time in elementary classrooms as high school and junior high. There is no question that to have a true understanding of the elementary classroom one needs to have taught at that level, but I am trying to understand. Side note…one thing that I have learned is that I think I would have been a good 4th/5th grade teacher…I love those kids! I think/hope that I am gaining the respect of teachers from all grade levels and they see me as someone who is willing to help them plan and implement innovative ideas into their classroom. When teachers and/or principals have a “beef” with me, I tend to hear concerns about whether what I am suggesting or pushing for is “age appropriate.” Self reflection is one of my strengths so this concern does keep me up at night! Obviously I understand the term (I have two grown children), but when does that concept get in the way of innovation? That keeps me up at night more than the fact that someone might disagree with me! If we think that it is age appropriate for young children to read a “real” book because they have to feel the pages, does that not negate some of the innovation that might come from introducing e-books? If we say that children must handwrite on paper because it is age appropriate, does that not limit what a teacher is willing to introduce into his or her classroom? I could provide other examples, but I truly think about this idea a lot! If we always say something isn’t age appropriate will things ever change? Am I the only one who struggles with this idea? Seriously, how do you balance the two?? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Don Sturm

This will be the third time reading The Innovator’s Mindset, but I am really looking forward to this new experience of a MOOC. I am currently in a book study with the leadership team in my district, so it will be interesting to see the differences between these two very different ways of exploring the book. I am hopeful that the MOOC experience of having access to so many people (1200+) will allow me to add to the in person discussions that we have about our district. It is also my hope that I will have many new ideas added to my toolbox that I can use in my role as a technology integration specialist.

So, the questions for this initial blog… Why is “innovation” so crucial in education? What impact do you see it having on our students and ourselves long-term?

I think that innovation is the way that schools will stay relevant in the lives of students. Being able to come up with new and improved ways of doing things will prove that education is not a passive profession. We cannot be passive! The world has changed from when I was in school in the ’70s and ’80s, but schools still outwardly function the same way. I say outwardly because there are still bells, grades, rows of chairs, etc. present in most schools. Don’t get me wrong, there are those educators and schools who have encouraged innovation and are seeing the benefits in the general level of engagement of students. Innovation is the lifeblood and future of our schools. While that sounds melodramatic, think about a discussion about innovation within a profession like medicine. A surgeon saying that he/she used to successfully perform heart surgery a certain way in the ’80s so it should be good enough for today sounds absolutely ridiculous. We would never send a loved one to that doctor, but we think that educating students in ways of the past is okay! It truly does sadden me to think of a day when public education is completely irrelevant to what students choose to do later in life. I am hoping that this experience is a two-way street of others sparking my thought process as well as me providing food for thought for others!

Don Sturm