Skip to main content

23 Years of Breaking the Rules - And It Works

     As someone who has been an educator now for over 23 years, I find myself often trying to pinpoint the key to success. And it seems clearer than ever – break the rules.

     That’s right. Break the rules. I don’t mean break laws, policies and procedures – but rather traditions and standard expectations.

     When I began as a journalism teacher in 1990, I was told by several colleagues to “just play it safe.” The inference was don’t rock the boat and don’t push the envelope. I understood them to mean don’t have students pursue stories that were too serious or too controversial. Well, I ignored them. What happened? There were new and unprecedented levels of success. Our publications won awards, our students won awards, readership increased and many students went on to media-related careers enjoying tremendous success today.

     When I became a Student Activities Director, again I heard the same warnings. Don’t let students be on the microphone, don’t let them have too much responsibility and more. Again, what happened? I ignored those voices and watched while students created and implemented new programs and events aimed at volunteer and community service, education, tolerance and acceptance, involving disenfranchised student groups and a whole lot more. Again, the students and program won awards and received tremendous community recognition. Many students went on to very successful advanced education pursuits and careers directly related to their levels of ownership and involvement in these programs.
     When I was fortunate enough to start Minarets High School (a new digital and project-based high school @ www.minarets.us), again the list of things I was told not to do or warned against were unending. Don’t let students have your cell phone #’s, don’t allow students access to social media, don’t allow students too many choices, don’t survey students, don’t change the name of the library, students can’t handle the internet and so much more. Again, irony reigns. The most successful things that have developed at Minarets High School are almost all related to things that many said not to do.

     As usual, the idea of breaking the rules – remember in this context meaning breaking new ground, altering tradition, changing the standard expectations – are not new to entities outside of education.

     In business, the arts, the sciences and more, breaking the rules has always resulted in the development of new products, new ideas, new technologies, new industries and new types of jobs. In these areas, it’s widely accepted that breaking the rules is actually the key to success.
     In education, status quo dominates and we often try to isolate or minimize those that break the rules, push the envelope, break from tradition and truly try to re-write the expectations.

     In business or other areas, we acknowledge and look to follow innovators like Steve Jobs. In education, we defer to those who continue to perpetuate what has always been done.

     It’s time that we challenge all educators to re-write the traditions and aim for new levels of legitimate student success. Nothing in education will truly be transformative until those of us in education realize that breaking the rules is the only path.

     Learning is about discovery. Discovery is about what hasn’t been realized before. It’s time that education comes to terms with this reality.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evolutionary Education - 5 Things That Could Be Extinct Soon

     It has often been uttered, that “only the fittest survive.” But when it comes to education, it seems things that might not even be that fit have continued to survive. However, just like in living species through time - dinosaurs, saber tooth tigers and the wooly mammoth just to name a few - even things that have lived on for a long time eventually go extinct. So, with that in mind, it seems educational evolution is occurring too and extinction might be inevitable for a variety of standard educational pedagogy, tools and practices. HERE ARE MY FIVE THINGS THAT COULD BE EXTINCT SOON:  Textbooks/Single Source Curriculum: (this includes ebook textbooks too). Regardless of whether they are digital or not, depending on and surviving on one text as the foundational source of information and context - regardless of course, age group and purpose - seems almost prehistoric at this point. Information changes daily and resources are born every minute on line. Anyone d...
11 comments
Read more

21st Century High School Student Bill of Rights

     Since I began teaching in 1990, I have repeatedly heard the term “reform” with regards to our educational system. And as someone who has always believed in and practiced teaching that worked to be real world, relevant and student-oriented, I can still get excited about the “possibilities” of real change. However, even with all of the classrooms, schools and some systems that have embraced new standards, new technology, project-based approaches, democratization/student voice and more, it’s almost appalling how little has changed in many of our nation’s high school classrooms. They are still dominated by outdated pedagogies, resources, activities and learning environments. Many still live and die by the lecture, low level note taking, and low level quizzes and assessments, as well as teacher/administrator mindsets not in line with anything related to 21st century workplaces or careers.       This lack of overall progress has lead me to be more anxi...
5 comments
Read more

Five Things Educators Will Have To Accept & Embrace

     The profession of education is going through unprecedented change. Many aspects of teaching and school will eventually never be the same again. And nor should they. Although wholesale and fundamental change is slow, there are some things that educators will have to accept and embrace (if they plan on being successful and staying in the profession).      These five are: 1) Education is more PUBLIC than ever – I’m tired of the word transparency. And that is really just the beginning of being “public” as an educator in our changing paradigm. We need to showcase our professional work as educators, as well as the work of our students, with larger communities. Venues such as YouTube, Twitter and all Social Media outlets will be a foundational way for us to continue the idea of being public. Whether it’s for parents, administration, district officials, government agencies or others, educators need to fully accept that close doors and private work are...
10 comments
Read more