Check out this interview with author Steven Johnson, “Where Good Ideas Come From.”
Want to know why teachers aren’t more innovative? They don’t collaborate enough. Johnson makes a good point about how great ideas that have catapulted society forward. We often credit these inventions or ideas to a lone genius, but the reality of it all is that most of the great ideas and innovations came out of collaborative work.
So, if we want our teachers and students to be more creative and innovative, why do we put so much emphasis on “doing things on our own”? Teachers work in solitude all day long, rarely reflecting, discussing, or working with someone to improve their craft. And, even worse, most teachers are really bad at managing student collaborative work in an educationally authentic way.
Will we make room for teachers and students to really collaborate and go beyond the minimum expectations?
