I consider myself to be an innovative educator, but know I need to grow and develop in the multitude of ways to use technology as a tool for learning. However, I believe being innovative involves effective communication and listening. When I was teaching I communicated to students what I wanted them to learn and allowed them to take various paths to get to the final goal. I would provide them with choices and even allow them to add their own ideas to the choice board, as long as it met specific criteria. I found authentic learning naturally occurred by allowing students to take charge of their learning while I acted as a facilitator.
The video warned about the negative impact of under communicating, especially during times of innovation. When individuals don’t understand the vision to lead to change, that can cause opposition and kill the proposed change. As we may spend a vast amount of time working on a project, not communicating that work effectively is counterproductive. This caused me to reflect upon the importance of the outline we have to complete as part of our innovation plan. This outline can serve as a way of communicating in a detailed manner plans and steps to reach the final goal. Moreover, communication should take form in various methods. I have seen where school leaders may have a meeting, send an email, do a short video, and share an agenda regarding upcoming activities at the school. This allows individuals to hear the information various times, in various formats, and have the opportunity to go back and reference information as needed. Communicating using various resources and channels allows for individuals involved to have a deeper understanding.
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