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Perceptions, not Rules

By Anonymous
One of the most important ideas to consider from How to Innovate: The Essential Guide for Fearless School Leaders, is the constant asking of both "Why" and "What if".  We are far to often bound as teachers and school leaders to preconceived notions of what school should be, how we allocate our time, when and where learning should happen, who should be doing the teaching and who the learning.  Many times these notions come don't come from written policies but from our past experiences in other schools or when we were in school.  If we are to truly begin to change how our schools work we must continually ask "Why" and then creatively "What if".

-Why can't a teacher who does not teach during the first 3 periods on Thursday come in at 10:00?
-What if we included into our professional development expectations a personal wellness provision, and that teacher uses that morning time to go for a run in the park
-Why do we separate new language learners into classes by grades?
-What if we organized them into classes by ability level regardless of age?
I was recently at a conference on innovation and the panel of experts that kicked off the weekend, in business and education alike, agreed that innovation is a process.  It doesn't just happen by chance of having a great idea pop into your head.  The process that has been identified here always starts with:

Is it a rule a rule or is it a perception?
 


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