Video: "Where Good Ideas Come From" by Steven Johnson

What are you doing this summer with your coworkers or students to innovate for the next school year?  Um…sorry did I same something about summer?  Who would be so bold as to ask teachers to work over the summer holiday?  Certainly we’d never ask that of our students, would we?  Sorry, please excuse my sarcasm, but now that it’s mid-July I’m starting to get a little restless.  Now before you write a comment about how you worked tirelessly this year and deserve a break, or that you are working on and off throughout out the summer, think about whether your coworkers are as dedicated as you are, because that’s who I’m talking about.

I’ve been in education long enough to know that we all need a break; and not just a small rest, but a nice juicy period of nothingness.  But hopefully that’s happened, and you’re starting to think about how next year could be better.  For me, once I reach this time of the summer I find myself doing a lot of self-reflection.  However, once I come up with a few ideas, I have only a couple of days before the first day of school to share them with my colleagues for refinement.  Unfortunately, everyone is quickly busy again, including myself, that many of my “great” ideas take a back seat to more pressing matters.

I wonder how much we’re missing out in our schools because once we’ve all finally gotten a chance to clear our heads, we’re not around each other to innovate.  What would it take to change this practice of shutting down for the summer, and instead create a way for teachers to come together for a mid-summer innovation retreat?  Many of our schools already spend PD money sending teachers to workshops over the summer, so how about expanding that money or shifting some of it for a retreat with the people you already work with.  Somebody’s got to have a nice summer home in Lake Tahoe you could use, or some other fun and inspiring place.  Although that might get a little crowded for the whole faculty.  So how about a Math retreat in Lake Tahoe, Social Studies in San Francisco and Grade 4 and 5 in Seattle?

Author Steven Johnson, in his TED talk, describes how collaboration has helped stimulate some of the greatest innovations of our time.  Of course collaboration isn’t a new idea in education, but our results might be a little different or unique depending on when and where we try to collaborate.  Do any of you work at schools that host a mid-summer retreat or provide other ways to innovate once the year slows down?  Post below and watch the TED talk to see where I’m coming from