A Culture of Innovation Lessons Learned from Sir Ken Robinson

A Culture of Innovation Lessons Learned from Sir Ken Robinson

“You want to free up the abilities of everybody to contribute ideas, because everybody has ideas, and you need to create a climate in which that will happen. The role of a creative leader is not ‘command and control’, it’s more like ‘climate control’.”

On January 28, 2013 I was invited to attend a lecture by Sir Ken Robinson as part of a professional affiliation with Merrimack College. I have been a long time fan of Sir Ken! Sir Ken Robinson, PhD is an internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation. He is also one of the world’s leading speakers with a profound impact on audiences everywhere. The videos of his famous 2006 and 2010 talks to the prestigious TED Conference have been seen by an estimated 200 million people in over 150 countries.

The premise of Sir Ken’s work is the notion that creative people are not rare; creativity is a characteristic of being human.  As young children, people have tremendous confidence in their imagination, but it tends to dissipate, as we get older.  Sir Ken reported that we have forgotten what imagination can accomplish. Robinson stressed the inherent deep natural powers of creativity as evidenced by the way we have created our lives. Each life is lived uniquely; there are no two identical.

Sir Ken asserts that failing to appreciate the true nature of creativity has wider ramifications, too. “Often the culture of organizations inhibits creativity, because to be creative requires certain things.” “It requires you to take risks, and if people are worried that doing something unusual will prejudice their progress through the organization, they’ll step back. The issues are partly conceptual – misunderstandings about what this is and why it matters – and they’re partly cultural. If organizations don’t understand the dynamics of the creative process, they’ll wish for innovation to happen when the conditions for it to flourish don’t exist.”

If we’re to learn to cultivate creativity in a systemic way, definitions are a good place to start. According to Sir Ken “creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value.” In his book Out of Our Minds he goes even further, breaking down creativity as several interwoven processes: the first is generative (‘It may begin with a thought that is literally half-formed’); and the second is evaluative (‘At the right time and in the right way, critical appraisal is essential. At the wrong point, it can kill an emerging idea’). But on whose shoulders does it fall to get the balance right? Is creativity fostered from the top down? “There are some things we know about leadership which tend to inhibit creative thinking,” says Robinson. “Leaders can perpetuate problems when they try and control everything and remove the discretion of people in their organization. What you want to do is free up the abilities of everybody to contribute ideas, because everybody has ideas, and you need to create a climate in which that will happen. The role of a creative leader is not ‘command and control’, it’s more like ‘climate control’. You create a culture.”

To Learn More about Sir Ken Robinson and his work please visit his website located at:

http://sirkenrobinson.com/skr/

January Newsletter

January Newsletter

The winter months provide us with a period of time when we can focus on learning without calendar interruptions. Everyone is excited to return, rested and healthy once again, and students are ready and motivated to learn. We have been off and running since the minute the doors opened! Here at school we are ready to make 2013 a year filled with success through hard work and dedication by providing students with daily opportunities to grow. The hard work is
the responsibility of us all – teachers, students, staff, families, and administrators. I know together we can make learning an exciting venture!!

Recess:

The winter season is upon us. I would like to remind you to send your children to school dressed appropriately for outside recess. Coats, hats and gloves are very important. We will always go outside for recess unless it is dangerously cold. If recess is canceled, please understand that it was canceled due to rain, snow or health recommendations only. It is our belief that students need physical activity and fresh air and therefore we send the children outside for recess in the winter.

Good Study Habits:

An important aspect of schooling is the development of good study habits. These skills are equally valuable for students when doing school related work at home and by reinforcing them in both environments, their academic success will be increased. Some beneficial habits include:

·         Assigning a “settling down” time that is routine and consistent.

·         Including 5-10 minute “breathers” or “mini-breaks” when children are working on a lengthy task or project that requires concentration and effort.

·         Creating a “distraction-free” study space that is equipped with good lighting and necessary study tools.

·         Writing and posting lists to track assignments that can be checked off when completed.

·         Making flashcards and using them to drill and learn math facts, spelling words, and test information.

·         Teaching students from an early age to be responsible for knowing what needs to be done and when it is due.

RMLD Award:

On January 7, 2013 Nicholas Rinaldi was honored at the Reading Municipal Light Department. Nicholas finished in third  place in their recent electricity poster contest. Great Job Nick, we are proud of you!

Bus Behavior:
If your child rides the bus please go over the importance of following the bus rules. Here are my bus expectations.

1.     What is your job on the bus? (To find a seat, to behave, to be safe, to keep our hands to ourselves, to have quiet voices, etc)

2.     What is your job right away when you get on the bus? (find a seat right away. We do not save seats, or look for our friends. Our job is to get on a seat quickly.)

3.     How should you act on the bus? (You should stay seated, no standing. You may talk with the person next to you, but not the person across the aisle or way up ahead or in back of you. You may not tease, push or hit anyone.)

4.     Who can you talk to while you are on the bus? (The people next to you, but not the person across the aisle or way up ahead or in back of you.)

5.     What should you do if you hear someone teasing and making someone feel bad? Or, if you see someone hitting or pushing? (Say Stop. Ask your bus driver or teacher to tell Mr. McKay).

6.     What will happen if you are teasing, making someone feel bad, hitting or pushing on the bus? (Mr. McKay will speak to you & call your parents.)

7.     What will Mr. McKay tell kids who continue to tease or make someone feel bad, hit or push on the bus? (Mr. McKay will tell them that they may not ride the bus anymore.)

8.     What part of the bus can you sit in? (K and grade 1, the front of the bus. 2 and 3, the middle of the bus. 4 and 5, the back of the bus.)

Remember let’s be Safe, Responsible and Respectful!

Lost & Found:

Our lost and found bin is overflowing. The bin was recently relocated to our lobby. Please stop by our lobby and check for any lost items.

December 17, 2012

December 17, 2012

Dear Members of the J. Turner Hood School Community,

Like you, I spent part of my Sunday evening preparing to send my children to school today with my heart heavy from Friday’s events at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.  This morning our faculty and staff met before school started to discuss the importance of helping our students and families during this difficult time. 

Out of respect for family choice on how to respond to this issue, we will not focus on the incident or details in our classrooms. I want to let all of the members of our school community know that we will not initiate discussion of this matter with students. However, should our students need our support we will be ready to provide support in the simplest and most basic ways. We will let our students know that their feelings are normal and that they are safe. We will let them know we have a safety plan and that all the doors are locked. Most importantly we will plan to make the J. Turner Hood Elementary School a happy, warm, and comforting place so that our precious students feel the collective hug from our entire school community. 

I can reassure you that our school continues to be a safe place for our students to learn and develop.  Thank you for trusting us with your children every day. Know that keeping your children safe is the single most important piece of our work at school and that your children are diligently cared for by our school staff. 

As you are aware, Open-Circle is our Social Emotional Learning Curriculum. Please note that they have shared the following link on their Twitter feed.  Please see the link below for a great resource tips for parents and teachers to help children cope:

goo.gl/yvyCT

To all of our families, may you find the peace and love that is so desperately needed at this time.

Respectfully,

                                

Mr. Glen S. McKay, Principal

Helping Children Succeed

Helping children succeed in school and in life is at the essence of what we do daily in the North Reading Public Schools. Twenty members of the J. Turner Hood School Staff have joined together to examine and discuss the latest work completed by Paul Tough to determine how his work can be infused into our daily practices in order to  enable our students to gain all of the skills necessary to succeed in school and in life. This group is actively examining the premise of his work which is the idea “that character, not test scores, is the key to children succeeding in school and in life.” 

Paul Tough is the author of, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character, and an article he published for the Sunday New York Times one year ago, titled  “What if the Secret to Success Is Failure?” In his work he raises important issues about teachers’ and school leaders’ roles in fostering success in academics, and, more importantly, for the long-term in life.
Paul Tough describes the cognitive hypothesis which indicates “That success today depends primarily on cognitive skills, the kind of intelligence that gets measured on I.Q. tests, including the abilities to recognize letters and words, to calculate, to detect patterns and that the best way to develop these skills is to practice them as much as possible, beginning as early as possible.” In his book, “How Children Succeed,” Tough sets out to replace this assumption with what he calls the character hypothesis which is the notion that noncognitive skills, like persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit and self-confidence, are more crucial than sheer brainpower to achieving success. Paul Tough’s book outlines the following seven character traits that he says are key to success:

• Grit
• Curiosity
• Self-control
• Social intelligence
• Zest
• Optimism
• Gratitude

This list of traits was compiled by a couple of schools (one public, one private) in the New York City borough of the Bronx. These schools saw huge improvements in their students when they moved the emphasis from IQ and test scores to building character. Tough doesn’t discount the importance of a solid education, but he says character is as important as academics in helping children become successful adults. In this case, character is "not about morality," says Tough, "it's more about learning a set of skills to help kids achieve their goals."

Tough’s larger thesis is that we need to pay attention to more than academics. Children need to develop persistence and resilience in the face of failure. To him, promoting grit and toughness is in addition to the academic skills and knowledge that most education policy obsesses about these days.