The Innovation & Design Lab: Brainstorming

Where do we start?

This was the question we kept asking ourselves when we decided to offer a brand new class to our students. We have built a viable curriculum over the last five years in our District and in our school. We tangled with the corollary questions: What do we expect our students to learn? How will we know they are learning? How are we assessing what we teach? How will we respond when they don’t learn? How will we respond if they already know it? What are the most effective instructional strategies we can use to help students learn? Of course, there is always work to do in this area. A focus going forward is differentiated lesson design. But we knew the time was right to provide students with opportunities to be creative, to collaborate, and to practice creating rather than consuming. All of these things need to take place in a safe and nurturing environment. So, where do we start?

We know the process for unwrapping standards and developing units of study. We are curriculum driven and student-centered. When you have a solid foundation and a growth mindset, you are always asking, “What next?" and "How do we get better?” Several of our teachers attended the Midwest Education Technology Community (METC ) conference and to say they came back excited and bursting with ideas is an understatement! Two fourth grade teachers, Ryan Lorenz and Jennifer Scott, met with me afterward to debrief and brainstorm. Some words and phrases stood out over and over in our conversations. These included the need for our students to be creators rather than consumers; the need for our students to practice and learn to collaborate and communicate; and the need to ask students to get inside themselves: dig in, find ideas, make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes. This resulted in determining our initial focus: creativity (play with a purpose and a slow integration of vocabulary); collaborative experiences before and during learning the design process; a growth mindset (“What did you learn from that ‘failure’ and how will it help you on your next try?”) and using the ISTE Standards as our guide.

Jennifer and our Technology Instructional Coach, Lisa Boyle, went on multiple site visits. From these we learned this concept looks very different in each school. We met to debrief their thinking, pulling out ideas that aligned with our goals. The last decision was to allow our class to evolve over time and scaffold the growth of the class across our three grade levels. With a slow integration focused on creativity, collaboration, and a growth mindset for all students in grades three, four, and five the first year, the following year we will develop a fourth and fifth grade curriculum. The year after that, we’ll make a third revision creating a fifth grade curriculum. Setting aside time to pilot the curriculum along with establishing a long-range goal helps staff and students to experience something totally new, provide feedback, and have ownership of the vision.

Where do we start? In addition to PE, Art and Music, this school year all students will experience a brand new specials’ class: the Innovation and Design Lab. Stay tuned to see our celebrations and learn along with us as we experience, and learn from, our failures!