“Change is an opportunity to do something amazing.” How are you embracing change to spur innovation in your own context?

When I reflect back on four decades in education, I see a long and winding road that was encountering innovation at each turn. My father was a tremendous innovator in the electronic engineering industry so I grew up listening to out-of-the-box ideas. I began my journey in education thinking I was not very bright and if I just listened to those around me I would get better at crafting my passion to help children. That quickly dissipated after the initial few years and my period of “wondering” began.

As a teacher of special needs students, I wondered if the exclusive, limiting, and isolated learning experiences for children would always continue. I understood a great deal about students with special needs from having an older brother who my parents tried to help maneuver the public education system in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Learning from these challenges was fraught with signs similar to the one’s that follow:

Becoming a school principal, after seven years of being a teacher, provided the audiences with other educators to begin discussions of moving toward inclusive practices.

When other educators are asked to describe my strengths they immediately mention being innovative, creative, and thinking toward the future. I spend a great deal of time researching information about a new idea and following this with listening to the thoughts of others before moving forward. I am certain that for any innovative initiative to be sustained over time the “runners” in the building must be involved in a team approach to “building the snowball.”

Many thanks to George Couros, Dave Burgess and Katie Martin for beginning this #IMMOOC initiative. I look forward to learning from others as the weeks spin by.