Two Questions On My Mind – How We Spend Our School Time

For some time, I’ve been contemplating more than a couple of questions. Yet these two keep emerging for me in the past few days and weeks…

  1. If most life is project-based, is it too much to devote ~10% wk in project-origin in school? (3.5 of 35 hrs.) 2.5 hrs is pass time! ON TWITTER
  2. Interesting to visit schools July-Aug, and on Sat/Sun. Lots of sports practices. I wonder… why we feel we cannot “practice” academics too ON TWITTER

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Solution Seekers, TMB Panyee Football Club, HT @MikeyCanup

What if we never said, “It can’t be done?”

#GrowthMindset

#SolutionSeeker

HT @MikeyCanup

PROCESS POST: Contemplating innovation, homework, practice…and their intersections. +Awe. Iteration Two.

We have a responsibility to awe.

What if the molten foundations of K12 “homework” – if we must give it – were poured into and formed by the molds and casts of the Innovator’s DNA verbs?

  • Observe
  • Question
  • Experiment
  • Network
  • Associate

How might we better nurture our learners’ responsibility to awe? Our own responsibility to awe?

[Hat tip to David Cannon for the video!]

What’s our balance like, as educators…as schools, for utilizing homework to “go through the motions” vs. “inspire awe” at our condition as humans? How might we rebalance our scales?

#PuttingOurPracticeWhereOurPurposeIs

+ + +

PROCESS POST: Contemplating innovation, homework, practice…and their intersections. Iteration One.

The Balance (mini)Series

PROCESS POST: Contemplating innovation, homework, practice…and their intersections. Iteration One.

There is much talk of “innovation” in schools and education these days. (There’s much talk of innovation in just about every sector and industry.)

I wonder if we – those of us in schools – are really facilitating the experiences that student learners need to practice, to be and to become innovators.

Now, upon a great deal of my research and study about innovation, when I hear the word innovation, I think about the five traits and characteristics outlined in The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators.

And, I also think about homework. Yep, homework.

Innovators DNA - 5 Skills Slide

What if we simply assigned those five verbs as homework for our student learners?

  • Observe
  • Question
  • Experiment
  • Network
  • Associate

What if the student learners came to school each day with stories and inquiries about how and what and whom they…

  • Observed
  • Questioned
  • Experimented with
  • Networked, and
  • Associated?

What if these organizers were the strands by which learners weaved their archives and documentations via their eportfolios? What if more of the time in school ignited from the fuses and sparks generated by these verbs and developing habits of mind?

How might we facilitate the engagements, the curiosities, and the pursuits that compel learners to be and become innovators….by, well, practicing the five skills of innovation?

How might we homework our way to better learning and to enhanced schooling?

How might we educate for the innovation we expect and need in our world?

Could it be that simple?

#PuttingOurPracticeWhereOurPurposeIs

BLACK: My journey to yo-yo mastery #TED #GrowthMindset #PlayPassionPurpose

A wonderful story of the Growth Mindset and the power of making room to pursue passion through play…

When I was 14 years old, I had low self-esteem. I felt I was not talented at anything.

One day, I bought a yo-yo. When I tried my first trick, it looked like this. I couldn’t even do the simplest trick, but it was very natural for me, because I was not dextrous, and hated all sports. But after one week of practicing, my throws became more like this. A bit better. I thought, the yo-yo is something for me to be good at, for the first time in my life. I found my passion. I was spending all my time practicing. It took me hours and hours a day to build my skills up to the next level.

= = =

As a result of these efforts, and the help of many others,it happened.I won the World Yo-Yo Contest againin the artistic performance division.I passed an audition for Cirque du Soleil.Today, I am standing on the TED stagewith the yo-yo in front of you.

(Applause)

What I learned from the yo-yo is,if I make enough effort with huge passion,there is no impossible.