For many we know that change can be difficult. People get comfortable, cozy and “it works.” Sometimes, though what we deem as working is more existing. Sure, compliant students leave the K-12 system reading, writing, doing basic math, knowing some level of facts in their other classes, but is this really all we want from our students?
Our schools need to take a hard, deep look at themselves. Reform is one thing. Transformation is something entirely different. For our schools to truly meet the needs of the world that our students are graduating into, we need adults who are ready to innovate in every sense of the word. We all know that schools are one of the only industries that look and function much like they did 100 and 200 years ago; neither the business world nor the medical profession does –can you imagine? Yet we continue to tweak here and tweak there. Trade a white board for a chalk board. Trade a tablet for paper. Without changing the functionality of these, it’s just not enough. We need true innovators to wipe the slate clean and dream up a system that will work in 2016 to prepare our students for their present and future.
The impact will be students who are ready for the world.
Students who can think.
Students who are not compliant but are creators and innovators themselves.
Our world cannot wait. We must innovate.
Innovate * Inspire * Lead Change 
I agree — it is not trading one “thing” for another newer flashier “thing” (thus, Interactive Boards remain very passive in many classrooms). We need to shift out thinking. But, given the state of standardized testing and top-down mandates, our ability to push at the edges is getting trickier for many teachers. A lot depends on their administrators. Are they pushing for innovation? If not, the hill gets mighty higher, quicker.
Thanks for sharing your post.
Kevin
@dogtrax
dogtrax brings up a good point – at times it feels teachers are handcuffed by what administration allows. I am taking some courses in leadership right now and one of the topics we are exploring is change. Turns out – effective change and lasting change most often happens when it comes from within and bubbles up to the leadership rather than from the top down. So if teachers can, in their own way, however it looks, innovate from the classrooms and push these ideas up, the evolution of teaching in that school would be more likely to stick around. Great thoughts!
Brady & Kevin-
So true! It takes teachers, administrators, and district people all working together to make change happen. Teachers need to feel trust from those other people in order to feel secure in taking risks in their classrooms -and we all know that without risk-taking there isn’t real innovation. At the core of it all is those solid relationships between the administrators and teachers for this to come together and be successful.