No matter your position in education, you can influence change. If we are waiting for “someone else” to create meaningful change, it might not happen. In this podcast, loosely based on the “5 Ways to Influence Change” blog post from May 2014, mixed with a story I discuss in “Innovate Inside the Box,” I will … [Read more…]
Author: George
Ever read a sentence or two, and it just stopped you in your tracks? This quote from Seth Godin’s blog did just that for me: “Ruts don’t dig themselves. Most of the time, we’re in a rut because that’s precisely where we put ourselves.” Yup. Sometimes it is easy to feel lost professionally and personally, … [Read more…]
Success can lead to failure. The Blockbuster video example has been used over and over again because it is a great cautionary tale of how success can lead to comfort, and comfort can eventually lead to failure. I was asked recently to share what makes a successful school, and my answer was the same as … [Read more…]
I discuss the story below more in my most recent podcast. You can check it out on Apple iTunes or Soundcloud. Years ago, I had the opportunity to do my first presentation for a conference outside of the country. I was asked by a group in New York to lead a session at a conference. … [Read more…]
In “Innovate Inside the Box,” I discussed three types of learning essential for educators: Being a master learner requires that we look at learning in three ways: learning about our students, learning for our students, and learning from our students. In the video below, I talk about each concept in under a minute. I made … [Read more…]
Sanée Bell shared the following quote from her book, “Be Excellent On Purpose,” and it has stuck with me: “Students should have rich, relevant, and authentic experiences at school, across the board. If every educator in every school pursued excellence instead of allowing excuses about what students can and cannot do, we would meet … [Read more…]
I shared this video on the idea of “traditional practice” about a year ago: A couple of thoughts: 1. Traditional practice does not equal bad practice. We can’t use the terms interchangeably. 2. Innovation is ONLY innovation if it leads to something better. “New” is not enough.#InnovatorsMindset pic.twitter.com/2VcFbuFcVp — George Couros (@gcouros) February 13, 2019 … [Read more…]
Read More “New” does not equal “good” and “traditional” does not equal bad.
“We are developing the leaders of tomorrow!” This statement has excellent intentions, but it also assumes that students can’t make a significant impact in our world today. What are some of the mindsets and actions that we can take within education to ensure that we develop our students as leaders immediately so that they can … [Read more…]
Read More 3 Ways to Develop Leaders in Your School or Classroom #Podcast
I was recently participating in a FlipGrid book study on “The Innovator’s Mindset” and was asked this question by one of the participants: In writing a book on innovation, did you ever struggle with the idea that you were using a very “traditional” format? I loved the question, and here a couple of thoughts. 1. … [Read more…]
This blog post by a student was something that really resonated with me and challenged my thinking. I did an accompanying podcast to talk about some of the ideas here, but you can also check out the full post below. Karen’s (the student) post is a must-read for educators. Check out the podcast on iTunes … [Read more…]
Read More “I hate doing school things, but I love learning.”
In October 2017, I posted the article “4 Ways to Not Let Others Dim Your Light.” Often, when I share articles like this, it is an opportunity to use my struggles to help others. I decided to revisit this post in the form of a podcast and talk it through, but I also wanted to … [Read more…]
Read More 4 Ways To Not Let Others Dim Your Light (#Podcast)
This week, I have released episode 1 of a weekly podcast that I have planned for years but, finally, have taken the initiative to put together and release it to the world. Each podcast is meant to be 10-20 minutes long and discuss something I have been thinking about, and hopefully provide some inspiration or … [Read more…]
I am excited to announce that Katie Novak and I will be starting an Instagram book study on January 22, 2020, on my co-authored book, “Innovate Inside the Box: Empowering Learners Through UDL and the Innovator’s Mindset.” There are three main goals of this book study: To dig deeper into the ideas of the book … [Read more…]
Read More #InnovateInsideTheBox Instagram Book Study! (Starting January 22)
For the last three years, I have shared some of my favorite quotes from the past year that have inspired me or made me think deeper about a subject. I wanted to provide some for this year as well. Have an amazing year and beyond!! 2017 | 2018 | 2019 “Students should have rich, relevant, … [Read more…]
From James Clear on the idea of”Giving Up”: Life is a constant balance between giving into the ease of distraction or overcoming the pain of discipline. It is not an exaggeration to say that our lives and our identities are defined in this delicate balance. What is life, if not the sum of a hundred … [Read more…]