This is an exciting time in education. We are being asked to challenge the status quo. We are expected not only to be great, but instead to be ELITE. It is easy for educators to continue to instruct students the way they were taught 10, 15, 20 or even 30 years before. It is easy for educators to do things like give spelling tests or worksheets for homework because parents expect it, even though we know that these practices are not best for kids. What isn’t easy is to stand up and stop it. It isn’t easy to be the early innovator; the one who is out ahead of the curve disrupting the status quo. And sometimes, it’s even harder to be the first follower or early adopter of those new innovative ideas. But, we must decide who we want to be. We have the choice to lag behind and wait or we can choose to be out ahead of the curve, disrupting, creating a movement. In the following short TED Talk by Derek Sivers we learn the importance of having the guts to stand up and be the first one to join in.
This school year, my staff and I have been invited to be disruptive educators. We have been charged with the task of redesigning elementary education. And, we’ve been given a timeline to adhere to. By August of 2017 we will be ready to give children a different, innovative, personalized elementary school experience. And, we have accepted the challenge. In order to accomplish our goal we must overcome our fears, we will need to unlearn and relearn new skills; we will need to be early innovators…disrupters!
In this post by Dr. Sanee Bell the qualities of disruptive educators are outlined. Disrupters innovate. Disrupters find their people. Disrupters move beyond the conversation. As we are thrust into an innovative experience that forces us to disrupt it will be important that we reflect on ourselves. Do we possess the qualities of disruptive educators? How can we build the skills within us to disrupt education in a positive way? Our time is now! Here is your staff update for November 6.
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