Comments on: Avoiding risk and discouraging creativity http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/04/15/avoiding-risk-and-discouraging-creativity/ Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:15:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/04/15/avoiding-risk-and-discouraging-creativity/#comment-1133 teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk Tue, 18 Apr 2006 18:00:48 +0000 http://www.speedofcreativity.org/?p=927#comment-1133 <strong>Weekly Roundup (16 April 2006)</strong> Lots has been going on during my (brief) blogging break so it’s time to catch up! The break has refreshed me, allowed me to take stock, and hopefully the ideas I have for the blog will meet with the approval of you, my readership! Anyway, on with... Weekly Roundup (16 April 2006)

Lots has been going on during my (brief) blogging break so it’s time to catch up! The break has refreshed me, allowed me to take stock, and hopefully the ideas I have for the blog will meet with the approval of you, my readership! Anyway, on with…

]]> By: Scott S. Floyd http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/04/15/avoiding-risk-and-discouraging-creativity/#comment-1077 Scott S. Floyd Sun, 16 Apr 2006 07:37:22 +0000 http://www.speedofcreativity.org/?p=927#comment-1077 Your theory is accurate save one item. Schools do not see the immediate punishment for mistakes. Only the students suffer them. Ill prepared for a technological world, they flounder with no repercussion on the school that failed them. The system can be better. It just isn’t ready for the innovations (or innovators) that are out there. We are virtually choked off from being innovators in the classroom. Judging by the posts of many other tech-savvy, blogging educators, it is a wide-spread problem. I am a change agent, and I am disliked in many circles in education for that reason. I make administrators uncomfortable because I am always looking to push the envelope in my classroom. While my instructional ideas are sound, they are not traditional. And while I have won several awards for my teaching, it is only the state test scores they want to hear or talk about. I have considered what I do a challenge as opposed to a losing battle. With an IT guy that respects my attempts to affect a paradigm shift, I can at least relish the “black market” he provides me for equipment and software. I am taking distance classes from UT-Arlington and love it. It is disruptive, but the challenge has been awesome. My district is part of a consortium that offers distance education classes for our high school students to earn high school credits. Unfortunately, we have an administration that discourages students from taking the courses because they do not want students to graduate early (thus losing money). So yes, we are part of an organization structured around avoiding change, stuck on the past, and inherently scared of transforming because no one can prove anything is wrong the way it is. I read recently (probably on your blog) that we must start with proving the system is not working. The challenge is when we have Exemplary and Recognized schools. They see no need for change. They are not forward thinking. While Friedman claims the world is flat, I claim it is transparent, and that scares the heck out of the educrats. Technology (especially Web 2.0) furthers that transparency to levels unheard of. It is easy to make claims of nothing to hide, but when the chance arrives to open the doors and let the world see inside, we as an education system avoid that chance. We can avoid the questions that just might make us uncomfortable. We will avoid the questions that just might make us improve. We can claim change, but if we are not uncomfortable in the process, are we really growing? Your theory is accurate save one item. Schools do not see the immediate punishment for mistakes. Only the students suffer them. Ill prepared for a technological world, they flounder with no repercussion on the school that failed them. The system can be better. It just isn’t ready for the innovations (or innovators) that are out there. We are virtually choked off from being innovators in the classroom. Judging by the posts of many other tech-savvy, blogging educators, it is a wide-spread problem.

I am a change agent, and I am disliked in many circles in education for that reason. I make administrators uncomfortable because I am always looking to push the envelope in my classroom. While my instructional ideas are sound, they are not traditional. And while I have won several awards for my teaching, it is only the state test scores they want to hear or talk about. I have considered what I do a challenge as opposed to a losing battle. With an IT guy that respects my attempts to affect a paradigm shift, I can at least relish the “black market” he provides me for equipment and software.

I am taking distance classes from UT-Arlington and love it. It is disruptive, but the challenge has been awesome. My district is part of a consortium that offers distance education classes for our high school students to earn high school credits. Unfortunately, we have an administration that discourages students from taking the courses because they do not want students to graduate early (thus losing money). So yes, we are part of an organization structured around avoiding change, stuck on the past, and inherently scared of transforming because no one can prove anything is wrong the way it is. I read recently (probably on your blog) that we must start with proving the system is not working. The challenge is when we have Exemplary and Recognized schools. They see no need for change. They are not forward thinking. While Friedman claims the world is flat, I claim it is transparent, and that scares the heck out of the educrats. Technology (especially Web 2.0) furthers that transparency to levels unheard of. It is easy to make claims of nothing to hide, but when the chance arrives to open the doors and let the world see inside, we as an education system avoid that chance. We can avoid the questions that just might make us uncomfortable. We will avoid the questions that just might make us improve. We can claim change, but if we are not uncomfortable in the process, are we really growing?

]]> By: Wesley Fryer http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/04/15/avoiding-risk-and-discouraging-creativity/#comment-1070 Wesley Fryer Sat, 15 Apr 2006 20:13:42 +0000 http://www.speedofcreativity.org/?p=927#comment-1070 Sorry, thanks for the correction. I've made the change in my original post! Sorry, thanks for the correction. I’ve made the change in my original post!

]]> By: Carmine Coyote http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/04/15/avoiding-risk-and-discouraging-creativity/#comment-1062 Carmine Coyote Sat, 15 Apr 2006 15:19:18 +0000 http://www.speedofcreativity.org/?p=927#comment-1062 One minor point: I'm a "he" not a "she." One minor point: I’m a “he” not a “she.”

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