Why is innovation in education necessary? Or not? #IMMOOC #LCInnovation

This post is the first of a series of posts related to the #IMMOOC Season 4 on Innovation in Education. Here we reflect on the readings (in my case I am reading Learner Centered Innovation by Katie Martin). Each week we receive questions to prompt our reflection, and those will be explored here. So, let's go to the questions related to the Forward and Chapter 1: 

Why is it critical to spark curiosity and ignite passions in learners? 

Katie mentions that teaching to the tests and standards are making kids bored with school, they feel unattached, disconnected from what they do in class in relation to what they do out of school. If you are in a classroom, you probably have felt this as well. Kids distracted, doing the basic to get by and "get a grade", counting the minutes for the bell to ring so they can get out of there. We end up getting caught up in the curriculum and assignments, the bureaucratic tasks of teaching. But we don't want to fall into the trap of getting compliance as Katie says. Here I quote her: "When we empower learners to investigate how to make an impact on the world, we inspire problem solvers and innovators."(p.5)

We want to see our students become successful, happy and to find their purpose. We want them to dream. We want them to make an impact locally and globally. We want them to be ready for any challenge and emotionally mature. We want them to be able to find their place in the world and leave their mark. We want them to be able to look at others in need and find a way to help them. We, as teachers, have many dreams for them. And the school system and curriculum, as is, is not getting us there anymore. 

When you spark curiosity, you teach kids to continue exploring, learning, pushing their limits. When you ignite passions you are on the track for helping them find their purpose. This is the true role of education. We want to look at the whole human being, not just their academic skills. The world today is asking for this. Society has changed. The job requirements have changed. How we relate to people has changed. We need to change as well.  

How have you embraced the evolving role of the educator? What would you add or revise in the graphic shared in chapter 1?

I have been exploring best practices ever since I started teaching. Even though I was a very compliant student, I knew that most of my friends did not learn that way. I saw them struggle and knew we had many ways of learning that were not being explored. Since I always explored the use of technology in my classroom, I was always trying out new strategies to make the best use possible of these technologies that allowed me to have students participating actively in the learning, and not just sitting back and listening to me speak. I also believed learning should be fun, that we remember better experiences that are attached to emotions and fun. 

As I studied more and more the role of technology in education, I realized that it was the teacher who was the most important piece in the classroom.  As Katie says in page 11: "People, not programs or tools, drive change in schools." I also agree with what she says in page 20: "Learning is messy. Today's technology provides easy access to  answers, but if we focus only on the answers and not on thinking, questioning, and solving, we rob students (and ourselves) of great learning experiences. Perhaps, more significantly, we fail to develop the critical behaviors that will empower them (and us) to be life-long learners." This expresses exactly how I see the use of technology in the school.

As for the graphic in Chapter 1, it has been my experience that it captures the most powerful ideas needed for true innovation in a school. When I was designing a new STEAM curriculum at my last school, I was working with 21 teachers who would have to teach the classes. I decided to co-design the course with them. Everyone was involved in the process, from start to finish. And it was truly an empowering process. Everyone felt engaged and took ownership. In the end, I had a team of partners who were as engaged as I was in making the new curriculum work. And it was not an easy adaptation, because we went from classic lab classes with the teacher in front to Project Based Learning where the teachers became partners in learning. They sat down beside the students and modeled learning for them. They also became community developers as the students chose their projects and needed to make connections with the community in order to be able to research and apply their ideas. Parents became more involved. But one of the most powerful ideas this graph brings is the idea of the teacher as an Activator. It took a while for some teachers to understand that the students now needed them more than ever, even though they were not just transmitting information as before. They couldn't just leave the students to struggle on their own, they had to provide feedback, help students set goals, verbalize and monitor their own learning. This, I think, was one of the hardest parts of the new role the teachers were taking on. It's a thin line between empowering students to become lifelong learners and abandoning them in their learning experience. 

Katie's concluding thoughts summarize exactly what my experience has shown me (page 41): "Learners have more access than ever to information through technology. As such, the role of the educator has and will continue to shift. No longer do students need to access teachers for content, but they desperately need teachers to guide them as they develop the skills, knowledge, and dispositions to be lifelong learners and critical consumers. students need teachers to help them make sense of information so that they can create new and better ideas that will move us all forward. As teachers, your greatest power comes from knowing your learners."