Moonshot Thinking
Newton-Conover Leadership Retreat
July 2015
David Stegall
The Committee of Ten
•
1857 The National Education Association (NEA) became the first, and for over 40
years the only, forum in which leaders in all levels of education could discuss common
concerns.
•
1892 The NEA formed a committee - The Committee of Ten - to specifically discuss
the chief purposes for teaching in public schools.
•
Twelve years of education were recommended, with eight years of elementary
education followed by four years of high school.
•
The significance of the Committee of Ten was its contribution towards liberalizing the
high school by offering alternatives to the Latin and Greek classic curricula and the
belief that the same subjects would be equally beneficial to both academic and terminal
students. The goal of school was to prepare all students to do well in life,
contributing to their own well-being and society's good, and to prepare some
students for college.
Are schools today accomplishing this?
• “Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of
true education”- Martin Luther King
• Throughout human history we’ve revered those
who have acquired the most knowledge, but for
the first time in history, knowledge is a free
commodity. People don’t care what you know.
They can figure it out easily online. Now what
matters is what can you DO with what you know.
Whatever you are thinking, Think BIGGER
Everything in this world was at some point invented
by someone like you and me. –Everyone thought
Disneyland was going to be a disaster!
• "Never doubt that a small
group of thoughtful, committed
citizens can change the
world....it's the only thing that
ever has."
• Change is hard, but stagnation
is fatal.-Peter Bishop
What do I believe?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
All students have gifts.
We are born curious, creative and imaginative.
All students can grow.
Imagination is stronger than knowledge/dreams are powerful
Children are taught that it’s much more important to give the right
answer than to ask the right questions.
Logic will get you from A to B, but imagination will take you
everywhere.
Imagination and creativity are the driving forces of every
invention by our species.
Positive thinking is more than just warm fuzzies. It can change
your life.
Positive attitudes and smiles are contagious, as are negative
attitudes and frustration.
Creativity is the heart of education.
I believe…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Vision comes from the heart more than the eyes.
Hope always triumph over experience.
Stories are powerful.
Everyone deserves a seat at the table.
We are stronger than me.
Successful people take risks.
Creativity is contagious and inspiring.
Ambitious people break away from group thinking and expose themselves
to new ways of thinking.
A kind word can bring healing and gossip can rip chasms.
Children too often are taught to observe in school, not create.
The world wants people who can innovate, bring new possibilities to life,
and solve problems creatively.
Our community are doers and makers.
Love conquers all.
What do you believe?
• List some key beliefs about schools, students, and
our profession on your moonshot
Are schools preparing students for life?
I wish/I hope…
• We could create a district-wide feeling of trust.
• That we could light a spark in every child and find a place for
them to connect.
• We will create great experiences that our students will share
with their friends and colleagues years from now.
On your Moonshot, list your wishes and hopes
for your school or our district.
I Wish/I Hope
What's keeping you from doing it?
Who do you need to help you?
How would your job/life be different if you reach
the moon?
Success isn’t accidental
When People Own Something, They Care About it
• If there were no rules and you were creating public
education, what would it look like?
• How would this
improve your life?
• How would it improve
the lives of students?
• How would this
Improve our community?
My Fears Are…
• That public perception will hinder our ability to
be as successful as we could be.
• That I won’t be the leader that I need to be.
• Funding cuts will limit our resources.
• Teacher and staff turnover will negatively impact
our schools.
On your Moonshot, list your Fears
If we believe it, and we own it, and we wish
it were true, Then why don’t we do it?
I wonder…
• How do/should our belief statements impact how we hire,
how we structure our schools, how we empower our
students?
• How do we teach our children to solve complex problems?
• How do we move from classrooms that are passive and
focused on consumption to ones where the teacher is
coaching and students are problem solving?
• How do we take appropriate risk and remove fears of failure?
• How do we build trust?
• How do we get more play, more passion and more purpose
into our classrooms?
• How do we make our work public?
• How do we bring our community into our schools?
• How do we move past excuses and find new answers?
We need to take a risk
We need to take moonshots in our schools and classrooms
What if
Design Thinking- Let’s model what we expect
Design Thinking
• Empathy-HOW to empathize- Observe, Engage,
Watch/Listen. This is why we shadowed
students.
• Define- What are the Needs? Who will this
benefit? What’s keeping us from doing this?
• Ideate- How Might we…? What if…? No idea is
too wild.
• Prototype- Practical, not pretty
• Test- What did we learn? What worked? What
failed?
Possible Ideas…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Redesign what a classroom looks like
Change what grades look like
Obtain business partners so that….
Change the role of the teacher
Change what lunchtime looks like-thinking games in common areas
with school branded charging stations
SMART lunch
Create a forum for students to exchange ideas
Innovating our learning spaces
Created genius hour/20% time
Build a community
Made “play” a large part of learning
Create our own MOOC for student enrichment
Foster a culture of risk takers
We quit educating creativity out of our students
This year
I want you to build a better school
The goal of school is to prepare all
students to do well in life (not on a
test), contributing to their own wellbeing and society's good.