Who's Interested? Pee Wee is! Ideas for Changing Education

First check out this link. Pee Wee Gets an IPAD

Now THAT is an interested person!

So I just picked up








Idea Hunter:How to Find the Best Ideas and Make Them Happen by Andy Boynton and Bill Fischer.

Always on the look out for more ideas on ideas… For me, I found connections to all our discussions on 21st Century Learning.

What can we as educators do to be change agents?


BACKGROUND

This book uses the acronym IDEA to present 4 core ideas.

I Interested – Be Interested, Not Just Interesting
D Diverse-Diversifying the Hunt
E Exercised-Mastering the Habits of the Hunt
A-Agile- Idea Flow is Critical
As always, I look for ways to connect the ideas I find to...you.
So what does it mean to be Interested not just Interesting?

It means to be curious.
Boyton and Fischer state that "...curiousity...can more than make up for a lack of brillance." (p.27) and "...a curious mind is on the look out for surprises." (p.27)

So being curious means to look beyond, to not take everything at face value...essentially look past the ordinary. Why? "...because an ordinary idea in one setting could prove remarkable if applied to another setting." (p.28)

Example: Charles Birdseye, a furttrader circe 1910's, noticed that frozen meat from the hunt retained all its goodness when thawed. He wondered, can't we do that for goods sold in stores?....VOILA...the Father of Frozen Foods!

EDUCATION APPLICATIONS
"Ideas need to be found and replicated." (p29)
How can we leverage ideas for use in Education?

KEY POINT: INVEST IN YOURSELF

Did you know about "Sell the Best Hour" or similarily the "20% rule"?

Well, some companies have discovered that when employees are given an hour a day to follow their passions and interests, on company time...good thing happen!

Google employees are given one day a week to "follow their interests and passions"? HALF of the companies NEW products have stemmed from this rule!

Wow! Says the Lit Maven....

SO WHAT IF?
Teachers were given this permission....
Students were given this permission....

ANARCHY!!! I don't think so...what do you think?

I think we need more students that wake up like

this:

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