Today, the Shift launches the first in a series of videos that we are calling “Call to Action”! Here is how we picture it working: with each “Call to Action”, we are asking you to take on a small challenge, reflect on how it’s goes and share your reflections, either here in the comments, or on Twitter using #HDSBInnovates. We are hoping to spark some thinking and sharing on specific topics as we delve deeper into how to innovate and improve our practice as educators here at Halton.
So, without further ado, here is this week’s Call to Action. Have a watch, we’ll be here for you when you get back:
So? What do you think? What would you like to improve? This isn’t about change for change sake. If innovation is about “creating new and better things”, within education, we have to assess if what we have done is truly better. If you simply do different things that are not better, this is change for the sake of change. This is why asking WHY is important.
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| Click HERE to bring you to a doc to work on your goal |
Setting a goal and sharing it is a small and monumental first step. Try to visualize what your class might be like after making that improvement, and share that with colleagues. Sharing that goal with others is the greatest predictor of whether you are going to achieve that goal.
Here is some pseudo-mathiness for you:
Setting that goal for yourself ＜ Deciding why you want to achieve that goal ＜Sharing your goal with friends.
Matt
Putting my money where my mouth is, this is my goal and my “why”? I am an art teacher, and I am working with my teaching partner (shoot out to Jennifer Smallwood!) to restructure the final 30% in that course. After the PD day on Friday, we had some great discussions about how to structure the creative process to provide structure to students while offering them huge choice and freedom to demonstrate their learning in their own way. WHY? Students love having choice in how they express their learning and the also appreciate having structure at the beginning of a project, because simply saying “you have total free reign, be creative aaaaand GO!” is terrifying.
Jamie
I don’t want to be left behind so I’m going to throw my hat in the ring too! What do I want to improve? I want my students to move more often during a period. Why? Because like we’ve mentioned, it is tough to sit in one place for 75 minutes. I know this is going to be a challenge for me this week, given what’s coming for my classes, but that’s not going to stop me from trying!
Shift Conference
We can’t wait to meet some of you Shifters tomorrow at the Shift Conference. We’d love to meet our fellow innovators in the board and hear about what interesting work you are doing! It will be a fun and invigorating day
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