As I have the opportunity to connect and work with educators around the world there is a growing consensus that our schools need to evolve to meet the needs of learners. The challenge is often not understanding why, but how. This is why I am so excited for George Couros and Katie Novak’s new book, Innovate Inside the Box! It is an inspirational compilation of stories, ideas, and tangible examples for educators that can be applied in any context. I have loved seeing this book develop and I know that you will love it too!

To say that I am honored to write the foreword for two educators that I have the utmost respect for and who have made such an impact in education is quite an understatement! I can’t wait to hear what you think but more importantly look forward to what you do as a result.

Foreword to Innovate Inside the Box

I met George in 2014, when he spoke at the University of San Diego where I worked as director of professional learning. We had an opportunity to connect before he spoke, and I shared some of what we were learning from our research and how we were supporting educators to shift practice and more effectively use technology. In his own special style (which I continue to appreciate), George validated and pushed my thinking in a way I had never experienced. That day, he encouraged me to write something on my whiteboard that hung next to my computer. It was a question and not-so-subtle nudge that changed me forever: “How can you make great learning go viral?” 

George knew that connecting with others was critical to my own growth and my impact on learners. I have always been passionate about creating new and better learning environments as a teacher and have always learned so much every time I worked with students, teachers, administrators, and families or visited classrooms, but I kept much of this to myself. Up until this conversation with George, I had post-it notes and documents of all my ideas safely tucked away in my office. Periodically, I would revisit and reformat these ideas and possibly add more citations to validate my ideas or try things with a few schools that I was working with, but I never thought that my ideas and successes were quite perfect enough to share more broadly, and so I didn’t. 

I had convinced myself that the strategies I found so successful and the professional learning experiences that I had been leading were similar to what others were already doing. Even when I saw great success and impact on educators and students, I never believed they were quite good enough to share. At the same time, I often felt that some of my ideas were way too grandiose and never truly possible. I have always been passionate about ensuring that students have opportunities to build on their own strengths and interests. I also believe that educators need the same kinds of opportunities to create new and better experiences for their students. As I connected with educators, I discovered that others shared my dreams and beliefs about education.

But, like many educators, I had been paralyzed by the notion of perfection. My own fears had prevented me from achieving the goals about which I was so passionate. George pushed me to share (as he has done for so many educators) because he believed that others could benefit from my ideas and that I could learn from the feedback that others would provide. What quickly became apparent to me was that learners in our education system would ultimately reap the benefits of our collective growth. 

I have grown exponentially in my professional life in the past years because I have been more open about my ideas and have connected with educators around the world who have pushed and expanded my thinking about what is possible in our schools today. As I continue to learn and evolve, I know that I have to model the same practices that I hope to see educators model and practice in their classrooms and be open to learning from success and failure. To be perfectly honest, I still struggle every time I teach a class or lead professional learning and wonder if my ideas will resonate or if the experiences I have designed are the right ones. It takes courage to show up and be vulnerable, and I constantly channel Brené Brown, who says, “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.” Because I have experienced the benefit and know how it has helped me improve and grow, I continue to put myself out there and test my ideas. 

Why Innovation in Education Is Critical

Visiting more than 500 classrooms across the world has provided me insight into the tremendous shifts in education. It’s inspiring to see educators who are looking to their learners, ensuring relationships are the core, continually learning to evolve in their practice, making evidence-informed decisions, and creating empowering learning experiences based on the needs of the learners. I have also noticed the discrepancy in the range of access and opportunities kids have in schools. As I am encouraged to see more and more learner-centered practices, I also feel a sense of urgency to make these experiences and environments the norm throughout education for all children.

The challenge I see in classrooms and hear about in conversations with students, teachers, administrators, and families is that there is misalignment between our aspirations—what we believe that learners need—and what we actually do in schools. Too often, our past practices and mindsets about change prevent us from developing learner-centered experiences aligned with our vision. I get it. The potential cost of failure feels far more risky and potentially damaging than managing the status quo. The more I think about this though, the more I realize that failure is what happens when we allow zip codes to predict test scores and student engagement and motivation to decline rapidly the longer kids are in school. The fact that the tutoring industry outside of the school day is a goldmine is an indication that, although students want to learn and prepare for their future, they are increasingly ill-prepared for the workforce,  underemployed, or just plain lost when it comes to life after school. It’s also evidence that the high-stakes standardized accountability systems in our schools are at odds with authentic learning. 

To redefine success, we also have to define what it really means to fail. If we were really afraid of failing our students and our communities, we would be relentless about looking at the learners we serve, evolving our pedagogical practices, and creating the systems and policies that support a more holistic view of success that aligns with the world we live in and ridding them of ones that impede authentic learning, growth, and innovation. 

Educators are working harder than ever, but I wonder if sometimes we are getting better at the wrong things. Our system was designed for a different era where standardization was the goal and, as a result, is not intended to develop the skills our students need to be successful today. Changing the education system can seem daunting if we focus on all the barriers, but then we must remind ourselves that it was designed by people. The Committee of 10 (in 1892) created the rules that reflected the values of the late 1800s and designed a system to prepare learners for an industrial era. Our world and our needs have changed, and will continue to, and the only way to change the system is through people who believe in themselves and our collective future enough to make the changes that are necessary today. That means you are part of the solution, and that is why we must innovate inside the box.

The Opportunities Ahead

In George’s first book, The Innovator’s Mindset, he helped us see that innovation is needed because our world, and the learners we serve, demand a new and different learning experience. If we understand that the system, as it’s currently designed, cannot fully meet the needs of all learners, we have to also understand that the status quo will never enable all learners to reach their full potential. 

Innovate Inside the Box continues the conversation by focusing on creating opportunities for kids to develop the skills and motivation to solve problems in their day-to-day lives and engage in our global world. Many of today’s kids will have to create their jobs and forge a new path. Yes, we need to teach foundational skills; knowing how to read and write is critical, but possessing these skills cannot be the end goal. Ultimately, we must ensure we remove the barriers and provide opportunities for all students to develop foundational skills and use their knowledge to communicate, collaborate, and solve meaningful problems. When we tell learners to complete an assignment, we get compliance. When we empower learners to investigate and make an impact on the world, we inspire problem-solvers and innovators. 

This book’s co-author, Katie Novak, notes that “Learners are not disabled. Curriculum is. Systems are. But kids are not.” With that in mind, she shares how Universal Design For Learning (UDL) acts as a framework that helps us find new and better ways to teach the required standards and objectives. This framework empowers us to engage learners, represent content and ideas in multiple ways, and provide learners with voice and choice regarding how they represent what they know. 

The power of Innovate Inside the Box is that it combines the characteristics of the Innovator’s Mindset with UDL to help us cast a broader vision of success than test scores. This vision encompasses skills that are critical for learners to develop to thrive in our world today. George pushes us to see what is possible, while validating essential components of effective teaching and learning (like building relationships). He urges us to see all learners for the wondrous, capable, and unique individuals they are. Katie provides targeted strategies aligned to UDL principles to help us create learning experiences and environments that spark curiosity, ignite passion, and unleash genius. 

George and Katie address the barriers all educators face, such as time, resources, and testing requirements. They also show us what’s possible and how many teachers are leveraging the Innovator’s Mindset to find new and better ways to serve their students inside these common constraints.

Throughout this book you will be validated for the great things you are already doing. You will also be pushed to think about how you can recognize, honor, and build on the unique strengths and talents you, your colleagues, and your students possess. Most importantly of all, you will be inspired to put your ideas into action.

Wherever you are in your journey, George and Katie’s collective expertise and accessible ideas will motivate you to take the next step. Ultimately it is up to you to imagine what is possible in your context, connect with others, try your new ideas, and figure out what works best for you and the learners you serve. As you navigate this journey, please know that your ideas, experiences, and even your failures are valuable to us all. As George taught me, when you share, we are all better for it. 

Onward.