1. "Please stop
waiting for a map.
We reward those
who draw maps,
not those who
follow them.“
Seth Godin,
Poke the Box
Innovative Schools, Innovative Students
Jonathan E. Martin
Head of School, St. Gregory College Preparatory School (AZ)
www.21k12blog.net

2. Why Innovate?
Why innovate?

3. Richard Florida: “Human
creativity is the ultimate
source of economic resource.”

4. My Job requires I be creative
1977 2002
45
20
percentage strongly agreeing
Source: Jerald, Defining a
21st century education

5. Win the Future

6. Flow

7. “the prep school
tradition is, in
fact, traditional.”

8. Visiting Schools
The good high
school project
• Picture– bored kids

9. Innovation: It’s not that complicated

10. “Think about the path of evolution as the
continual exploration of the adjacent possible.”
(Where Good Ideas Come From, SBJ)

12. 1. Leverage the Adjacent
Possible
2. Exploit Liquid Networks
3. Cultivate Slow Hunches
4. Seek Serendipity
5. Embrace Error
6. Employ Exaptation
7. Play on Platforms

13. the answers to our
dilemmas are not to be
found on Twitter. They
Solitude can only be found
William within—without
& Deresiewicz
Leadership distractions, in
solitude.

14. Twitter is a “coral reef”
for nurturing creativity.
Steven Johnson
only_point_five

15. Video is the
Killer App.
Don’t write me.
Tell me.
Show me.
Chris Anderson:
Crowd
Accelerated
Innovation
Ted Talk, 9:16-11:23

16. “You can track innovation
online by looking at the
moment a community was
first able to share its talents
digitally.”
Chris Anderson, Crowd
Accelerated Innovation.

17. 6b. Reverse Instruction: Do the Flip

18. 1.Associating
2.Questioning
3.Observing
4.Experimenting
5.Networking
Innovation must
start at the
top, and must be
a core value of
the organization

19. Innovation is everyone’s
job. “the Think
Different campaign at
Apple targeted Apple’s
employees as much as its
customers.”
Steve Jobs explained:
“The whole purpose of
the Think Different
campaign was that people
had forgotten what Apple
stood for, including its
employees.”

20. Essential qualities of
Innovators:
1. Curiosity
2. Collaboration
3. Associative thinking
4. Bias toward action &
experimentation
Play Passion Purpose

21. Essential Ed. Elements
1.Hands on projects
solving real problems
2.Collaboration:
Working in Teams
3.Creating
4.Multi-disciplinary
learning
5.Design Thinking
6.Trial and Error
Play Passion Purpose

23. Seven Strategies for Innovation
1. Be opportunistic
2.Take Time to Mess Around
3.Learn to Fail
4.Think in Metaphors
5.Go to Extremes
6.Look for Crossroads
7.Stand on Other’s Shoulders*
8.Provide the Time & Space
9.Employ Design Thinking
*TEDx

24. “Good Ideas are not
conjured out of thin air–
they are built of a collection
of existing parts.” (SBJ)

25. Suggestions for Innovative Schools & Students
1. Highlight, Spotlight, Model, & Embed
LEAD
2. Provide the Time & Space
3. Network
4. Collaborate
CONNECT
5. Inter and Multi Disciplinary Learning
DESIGN
6. Mess about and Play
7. Fail, Prototype, and Iterate
DO 8. Learn by Doing: Project-Based Learning
9. Use Tech, especially Web 2.0 & Digital Video
MEASURE
10. Use Assessments Which Measure Innovation
& REPORT 11. Post, Publish, Share

26. Lead
Connect
Measure &
Report
Do Design

27. Lead

29. Spotlight, Highlight, Inform

30. Embed: The St. Gregory Egg

31. The Innovation Diploma
Declare your intent, take a core course, accumulate credits, and complete a major project.
 Submit a Declaration of Intent freshman or sophomore year.
 Complete a core L/I course freshman or sophomore year.
 Leadership, Design/Build, or other courses to be named later.
 Meet quarterly with Program Director.
 Update on requirements, check progress.
 Brainstorm opportunities, give feedback.
 Earn 5 leadership credits between 9th and 12th grades.
 Serve in a leadership role in a school extracurricular and reflect on accomplishments. (Required for one
unit).
 Use things you’d be already doing anyway, but choose to set goals and reflect upon them.
 Use Academic Experiences for Credit: Write a research paper on a L/I topic; pursue an extra-credit
laboratory project on L/I; etc. (Maximum 2 units)
 Complete a “capstone project” junior or senior year.
Complete a 20 hour project (can count toward Comm/Serve or be part of another involvement, such as
student council) and write a 400 word reflection. This can be, but doesn’t have to be, done as part of the
peer leadership program in 12th grade.

33. Connect

34. Open the Network

35. No medium in history has ever offered
such unlikely trails of connection in such
an accessible form… An online
newspaper, [compared to a dead-tree
paper], is ten times more serendipitous.
(SJB)

36. “Environments
that block or
limit new
combinations–
by punishing
experimentation
or by obscuring
certain branches
of
possibility, will, o
n
average, genera
te and circulate
fewer
innovations than
environments
that encourage
exploration.”
SJB

37. I use twitter to mine for
teachable
moments, interesting
activities, and ways to
broaden my thinking about
teaching and learning.
If I have questions...there are
people in my PLN who can
help me. It has been a fun
and interesting experiment
for me.

38. “Decades of educational research have
demonstrated that unstructured group
discussion has the potential to teach students
the sort of group creativity that the new
economy demands.” Keith Sawyer, quoted in
Jerald, Defining a 21st century education

39. Collaborate

40. Cross Disciplinary Projects

41. Design

42. Do

43. Fail, Prototype, Iterate

46. Fab Lab and design-build course

47. Measure, Report, Publish,
Post, and Share

48. I have opportunities to be
creative in the classroom
Percentage Strongly Agreeing
90
86
75
STG 2009 STG 2010 All Schools (Averaged)
Collect the right data

49. New Creativity Assessments
Coming Soon
Grant Wiggins: Educators sometimes say
that they shy from assessing creative
thought for fear of inhibiting students, but
this is a grave error in my view

50. We regularly discuss questions
with no clear answers
92
82
72
All Schools St. Gregory 09 St. Gregory 10

51. What Excites & Engages Me?
All HSSSE students
65
60
55
28
Lecture Discussion and Group Projects Projects Involving
Debate Technology

52. Authentically Measuring Critical
Thinking & Effective Problem Solving
CWRA/CLA median percentile,
College Freshman Normed
97
67
50
All College Freshmen St. Gregory Freshmen St. Gregory Seniors

54. Video
Video