Developing the Innovators Mindset

In George Courous’ presentation at ISTE 2015 he spoke of developing the innovators mindset and thinking in terms of what kind of learning takes place in traditional classrooms. The notion that over time, we build students to become less curious and more compliant when we should be developing strong relationships and encouraging collaboration and creation. Courous reminded that working together is best and that "…the smartest person in the room, is the room."

The Innovators Mindset is the belief that abilities, intelligence, and talents are developed leading to the creation of new and better ideas. Educators that are innovators will likely be the biggest game changers in education. Teachers should ask themselves, “would you want to spend the whole day learning in YOUR classroom?”

Albert Einstein once said that “…the measure of intelligence is the ability to change." We need not just a generation of problem solvers, but of problem finders. This year in Canyons, let’s work to inspire students and find ways that technology can help open doors or make the work easier. Teaching students how to not only use, but leverage technology to their benefit is a change we must make. A 16 year old student pointed out that "…social media is like water; you can either let us drown or teach us to swim." Check out Courous’ page bit.do/innovatorsmindset or follow him on Twitter @gcourous for more ideas, resources and inspiration!