Classroom Engagement, Problem Finding & Content Creation

I am so very excited to be learning with my fellow Indian Hill colleagues as we read the George Couros's Innovator's Mindset book together.

Today's work involves considering how Carol Ann Tomlinson's key aspects to a differentiated classroom might be realized through the eight characteristics of the Innovator's Mindset.  The easiest connection for me to make between Tomlinson's differentiated classroom and Couros's ideas is through Tomlinson's engaging learning environment and Couros's characteristics of students being problem finders.  "Educational thought leader Ewan McIntosh notes that finding the problem is an essential part of learning— one that students miss out on when we pose the problem to them first" (Couros, 2015, Kindle Locations 741-742).  While Problem-Based Learning has been a popular movement in today's classroom, teachers are still defining what problems students are to solve in these scenarios.  Couros and others assert that students need to learn to identify the problems in their environment in order to develop as learners and as innovators.

Another clear connection between engaging learning environments and innovator mindset characteristics is through students acting as creators.  "Consider how much deeper learning could be if “creation” was a non-negotiable in the learning for both us and our students" (Couros, 2015, Kindle Locations 843 - 844).  While student do need to consume education in order to learn, it is equally if not more important that they act as creators of knowledge, content, solutions, and innovations as a part of their school experience.

In terms of serving our students identified as gifted, estimates as high as 5% of gifted identified students, more prevalently from underserved populations, are dropping out of high school before graduating (Renzulli, 2000 as referenced in Landis & Reschly, 2013).  Underachievement is often a risk factor associated with gifted students choosing to drop out of school and additionally, levels of low student engagement can be directly linked to student underachievement.  We need to engage all students in the classroom, but the risk with not caring for our brightest students may be greater than we realized in terms of their educational and ultimately life trajectory.  Gifted students often need a sense of greater purpose for the work in which they choose to engage and do not often follow directions just because that is the expectation.

In my own classroom, students have the opportunity to find problems and act as creators through the projects we offer through Discovery.  Sixth graders identify problems in order to create inventions and innovations in order to solve the issues they explore.  Seventh-grade students have the opportunity to study urban infrastructure and systems of today in order to propose improvements in a city of the future.  Eighth-grade students can create their own projects based on their interests and as a part of that work, their work is an exploration of creating something new under the umbrella of leadership theories.  One area I am looking forward to exploring is to publish and get feedback on our work to a broader audience and to incorporate more community and expert voices as a part of our learning.

While there are multiple aspects of Tomlinson's and Couros's work that will serve our gifted learners well, considering the experience students have in our own classrooms in terms of their involvement, choice, and engagement will go far in guiding us to make the best choices we can to help students to thrive.