Week 3  

What are the 3 key takeaways from the book thus far?

There are lots of takeaways I am getting from the book -most of them are questions for me to think further on, like-How does what we teach impact a student's future?, What is more, relevant to today's students, an essay or a blog post?, and What is best for the learner?  

1. In the book, it talks about the idea that innovation is a way of thinking that creates something new and better: invention creates something new and iteration changes something that already exists.  I used to think innovation only meant invention, but now that I know it can be iteration-I feel more confident in being an innovator.  

2. Another takeaway from the book that I found inspiring was the concept that students have been learning compliance in school systems but we need to unleash their talent and stop controlling the students.  I wonder what this looks like...and how would you grade this?  Most parents expect grades and that is all they are focused on.  That is what schools focus on- the GPA.  When in reality, we need a mind-shift in the education system of giving a score to the work performed of students.  I think of report cards and the change that needs to happen there as well.  Many schools provide a grade for English overall, while others have changed to having objective-based report cards.  Objective-based report cards at least explain what skills a student is specifically struggling in with each subject.  

3. The third takeaway from the book that I can relate to is School versus Classroom Teacher.  It mentioned that a classroom teacher only looks out for the interests of the class, whereas the schoolteacher looks out for the whole school.  When I was teaching in Elementary, our school consisted of one grade level for each grade.  Occasionally, there would be a large class that was split for a year or two into 2 grades and another teacher would be hired.  Being the lone teacher for that grade and then having another teacher to collaborate with sounds great.  But I would notice, most of the time, one teacher would teach one way and another would teach differently and then they would be compared-which one is better?   And there was no collaboration happening!