Learning environments that are safe and trustworthy would support innovative thinking. If teachers and learners are afraid to make mistakes, divergent thinking, creativity, and innovation go out the window. In this world of assessment accountability, divergent thinking has gone by the wayside. What standardized testing has accomplished instead, are schools teaching to the test and educators following along for fear of state and federal sanctions.
I agree with Pink that we will need to improve upon our right-brain abilities (inventiveness, empathy, meaning) in order to be successful and happy in life. The trick is to foster these qualities in our students while not losing sight of our accountability standards. It's an unfortunate reality of ours.
In our groups, we discussed the environment which is necessary to promote symphony. One notion that came from our discussion is a sense of security and trust. In order for people to freely contribute to discussions, brainstorms, etc., they need to feel like they are not being judged or attacked. Mistakes should be part of the learning process.
So, how would I motivate people (colleagues, constituents, etc.) to participate in symphony? I would promote collaboration by carving out physical spaces for people to people to meet and collaborate. I would also try to lower threat-rigidity by being accepting of mistakes made and learning from them. I think this is something I am currently doing at my workplace and I'm happy with the results. People are not afraid to identify areas for improvement, come up with solutions as a team and implement the solutions. We are are already reaping the rewards!
I agree about making mistakes! We are way too afraid of mistakes in our culture at large and especially in our schools. I think many of the people drawn to careers in education are compulsive rule followers--and this does real damage.
ReplyDeleteMistakes ARE apart of the learning process. So, why are we always so afraid to make them? Let's start doing everything wrong and blame it on the learning process, k?
ReplyDeleteGreat job Joel, I am glad you have a safe space at your workplace.
ReplyDeleteAs difficult as it is to make mistakes it helps us learn and cement a concept or life lesson. I have always heard the saying "Practice makes perfect" but just the other day I heard "Practice makes permanent". I think the second saying allows us to make mistakes and learn for them.
ReplyDeleteJoel, that is inspiring, you have created space and the ability for individuals to take risks. What an achievement. Kudos to you.
ReplyDeleteFear of making mistakes seems to be a thread that rings somewhat true for many of us. And….for some reason that fear seems to grow as I get older. As we talked about in class, what we do is very public. That probably has something to do with it. However, as you also mention, trusting relationships and collaboration go a long way toward providing safe places to innovate and create without much reprisal. I think you are motivating people in that way….to work together for the common purpose of making things better for children.
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