Embracing the “Innovator’s Mindset” as a Pre-Service Teacher

Critical and creative thinking: necessary elements in any classroom. As a pre-service teacher, I have heard these terms repeated from one methods course to the next. “Teachers need to require their students to think critically,” and, “Teachers must inspire creative thinking,” (Although we hear less about the later type). These are required elements for true learning to occur. Sometimes, it is difficult to prescribe exact formulas to see these desired outcomes. We’ll come back to that in just a minute.

Often, there is a disconnect between my college courses and what is actually happening in my field of study. This could be for multiple reasons, which, for the purposes of this blog post, do not necessarily matter. Rather, this is a story about a course that made a significant impact on my educational philosophies and overall future career in education. I arrived to my Educational Leadership 325 class (Better known as “Ed. Tech” class) with the expectation that my professor was going to “teach” me about the same old things that I have been doing since I was about twelve-years-old. Skills like using a computer or maybe a SMART board (In the dark ages, it could be comparable to taking a class that simply taught bulletin board design.) However, as you may have guessed, I was happily surprised and challenged as a learner in my #EdLdrsp325 class, and, I have managed to condense my very long list of takeaways into three main points for those of you who may appreciate them.

  One of the first and greatest takeaways from this course had to do with technology use. On day one, Mandy Froehlich (@froehlichm), the adjunct professor teaching this course, introduced the class to George Couros’ (@gcouros) book, The Innovator’s Mindset. College kids don’t get particularly excited over required texts--we’re usually just wondering if there is any possible way we can make it through a class without having to purchase them. I, however, am a self proclaimed bibliophile and like reading textbooks. So, I bought the book. I assumed, since this was an Ed. Tech. course, that this would try to shift my ideals about technology use in the classroom. Which, it certainly did, but not in the ways that I expected.

Pre-service teachers are constantly hearing opposing views on technology in the classroom. We hear things like, “It’s too hard to keep up with,” and, “Screen time isn’t good for kids,” or, “Find a way to fit technology into your lesson plan.” It is hard to know what exactly we are supposed to do with technology. Should we use it minimally? Not at all? Or should class be a total instructional video? The answer is, none of these. Rather, technology needs to be used efficiently and intentionally as a tool to reach higher learning. In his book, George Couros stressed this idea that technology is a tool, not an outcome. “Squeezing” tech into a lesson plan happens when you just have students slap a prezi or slideshow together for no particular reason--thus, technology is used as an outcome as opposed to a tool used to encourage the learning process. Prior to his book, I planned multiple lessons with the mindset of just squeezing technology in because that seems to be the expectation these days. This use of technology is not creative, and does not help students reach higher level learning. However, not using technology in this world is almost like being an illiterate now. Technology is so common, that it is nearly necessary to understand it in order to function within society. Teachers need to offer technology experiences to their students--what better way to utilize such a tool than through learning? I’m not convinced that there is a higher purpose for tech than that of learning!

The next aspect this course stressed to me is the importance of forming relationships and pursuing professional development within one’s field of expertise. Mandy Froehlich introduced the class to utilizing Twitter professionally. I was extremely skeptical about this at first. The young adult age group is known for utilizing Twitter as a way to complain about almost anything. I had actually stopped using this form of social media a number of years ago because I got tired of seeing negativity on my feed. But, I gave the idea of a Professional Learning Network (PLN) a shot. I was amazed by how many excellent educators were connecting through this medium, and how many were utilizing Twitter chats as a way to learn through inquiry and discussion. It has actually blown my mind! I started joining in on some Ed. Tech. Twitter chats (#edtechafterdark), and I could not BELIEVE the kind of excitement involved in participating in an hour-long chat. I started to discover other chats of interest (#ntchat, and #wcchat), and I have already learned so many practical philosophies and creative approaches to multiple aspects of education! Seriously, let go of the scepticism for a minute, and give a Twitter chat a shot--if nothing else, you will be encouraged by the obvious passion demonstrated by so many teachers all around the world!

 As the title suggests, George Couros’ book had a lot to do with innovation. Innovation, what a fun buzz word! But, what does it mean? George defined it as, “a way of thinking that creates something new and better” (p.19). Much like the aforementioned critical and creative thinking, innovation is necessary within a classroom. I am a critical thinker. I like logic, questioning, philosophy, and research, but it is much harder for me to think creatively. For years, I have wondered if I could be good teaching students to be creative thinkers. I realized that often times, I provide myself too much structure to think creatively. This book taught me that innovation--which requires one to think both creatively AND critically--can be fostered by one’s environment. That is, teachers need to create a classroom environment that doesn’t punish students for trying something new--one where failure can, and will, safely happen and where risk-taking is highly encouraged. Creative thinking grows when someone has direction but also has freedom to pursue that direction through his or her own ideas. This is one reason why choice is so unbelievably powerful for students.

So, how do we get students to think critically and creatively? What does that look like? There is no exact method--it will not be the same for every group, in every subject, but we can start by implementing some of these ideas. We intentionally and efficiently utilize the tools (like technology) we have around us to reach relevant, higher learning. We learn from other professionals in the field in order to maintain our own passion for teaching, learning, and to offer our students the best learning experiences we possibly can, and we create an environment where innovation can THRIVE by being open to new ideas, allowing for choice, and by continuously questioning how we can make our own practices better. If we want our students to learn, we should also be modelling learning. Critical and creative thinking will flourish when we all choose to learn together.

Jessica Anderson
@jfandersong
Pre-Service Teacher Candidate
Dual Education & Psychology - University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

References
Bill Ferriter/
Edutopia - Willingness to Learn Correlation (Image)
George Couros - The Innovator’s Mindset (Print)