I am sketchnoting my way through George Couros's The Innovator's Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent and Lead a Culture of Creativity using the Paper app and Musemee Notier Prime stylus.
Chapter Two had a good refresher on Growth Mindset - a school-wide goal we adopted a couple of years ago. We did quite a bit of reading from Carol Dweck (and others) about the elasticity of our brains and the ability to develop our intelligence, talents and abilities with hard work and practice. We did a lot of teaching around Growth vs. Fixed mindset with our staff, students and parents - including strategies on how avoid having a fixed mindset. Here are some examples of anchor charts I made with my kiddos in previous years.
I appreciate how George has added the element of innovation to the idea of Growth Mindset. It isn't enough to just learn - but let's take our intelligence, abilities and talents further by creating something new and better.
I like the idea of the Innovator's Mindset. I also know, that we have a lot of work to do with our students around Growth Mindset. There are still many students (and teachers, and parents) who are not convinced that they are able to develop their skills, intelligence, abilities and talents any further. As well as those who already "know it all" and think they are the smartest in the class.
Do you think that we need to develop a Growth Mindset before we can develop an Innovator's Mindset? Or do they work hand in hand? Is innovation the reason we want to develop our abilities, intelligence and talents?
One of the key ideas from this chapter that stuck with me was the importance of failure. Failure is important for the process, but failure cannot be the final outcome. High Expectations are still important. It is crucial to come back from failure with resiliency and grit: two traits that are difficult for many young people who haven't had to wonder, investigate or create - as everything has been done for them. Although failure is important, it cannot be accepted as the final outcome. This will cause tears of frustration, anger and disappointment (by students and teachers). It will cause parent phone calls with many concerns and questions. This will cause excitement and creativity and innovation.
I will continue to teach my students about brain elasticity and Growth Mindset. I will to add the element of an Innovator's Mindset - and build in lessons about resiliency, perseverance and grit. We will create new and better ideas.
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Did you miss my sketch note for Chapter 1? Check it out here.
Innovation is not about the stuff. It is a way of thinking. #innovatorsmindset
