a nálIsIs de resultados

For creativity to become a fixture in the classroom, we must also embed it in professional learning. Staff must consistently engage in the explora- tion and development of new ideas insulated from fear of retribution from other colleagues, fear of losing the support of leadership, and fear of failure (such as a short-term dip in test scores). Consider David Thielen’s explanation of how Microsoft manages creativity:

1. Hire smart people who think. The company’s interview process is designed to separate the people who think from those who simply per- form tasks.

2. Expect employees to fail. If you work in an environment in which the best route to job security is by working to outdo the company’s competi- tion, you focus your energy on developing new products and new ways to solve problems.

3. Keep repercussions small when conquest-oriented employees make mistakes. If employees don’t fail, they’re not taking enough risks. In some cases they’ve even been promoted because of what they learned from their failures.

4. Create an us vs. them mentality. Microsoft employees are constantly reminded that their competition is other companies, not colleagues. 5. Sustain the company’s start-up mentality. There’s an ever-present sense of urgency that the business must succeed. Make it everyone’s responsibil- ity to watch costs.

6. Make the office feel like home. Create a work environment that is as nice or nicer than home, and employees will want to be there. . . . There’s a big connection between enjoying your work and doing good work. (Cited in Florida, 2004, p. 131)

What corollaries are there between this set of guidelines and the way we treat staff within our own organizations?

• Do we treat our staff as “smart people who think”? Or do we treat them as cogs in a larger K–12 curricular wheel?

• Do staff fail gloriously when trying something ambitious and/or new and improve based on the experience, or do they avoid failure at all costs?

• Do we create a sense of urgency around fi nding a way to support every learner, or do we decide success is not possible for some?

• Do we make the school feel like a family, or do staff retreat from the building as quickly as possible?

• Do staff celebrate the accomplishments and successes of other staff, or do they begrudge them the honor?

Staff must become reinvigorated by the possibility that their school can be a true learning organization, not just for students but also for them- selves. They must model the courageous pursuit of the unknown, the willingness to develop new capacities even when existing ones seem suf-

ficient, the fascination with areas of expertise outside of their own, and the grace of growing from failure instead of becoming devastated by it.

Leaders can create a research and development committee in their school to explore new opportunities for students to engage in their schoolwork. These fl edgling ideas can be shepherded through their development by a handful of enthusiastic staff and students. Staff can create a shared reading library based on a blend of education literature and other genres that inspire their thinking, with a breadth of titles that will inspire a range of new connections. Staff can adopt journaling as a fi xture of their professional work to capture new ideas that occur to them in the midst of designing and facilitating learning for students. They can seek feedback from their colleagues based on the inspiration for their ideas as well as how to improve upon them. During part of their assigned meeting or preparation times, staff can create their own pet projects with the potential to improve the quality of learning in the organization. Google management is renowned for its creation of the “20 percent rule,” under which employees can spend one day per week working on a project of their own choice. Workers share their special projects with their colleagues, and the most promising ideas are pursued at a larger scale. This trust in the employees to work hard on the com- pany’s pursuits for 80 percent of their time and chase small and large dreams during the other 20 percent nourishes the creative, upstart spirit of this powerful company. The percentage of time is not as signifi cant as the sincerity of the intent and the transparent and deep commitment to growing ideas. Whatever directions you pursue or choices you make, know that the work of education is by nature a dynamic, collaborative, creative endeavor that requires the voluntary dedication of staff in order to achieve the desired achievement results.

Conclusion

Learning organizations measure their success by the demonstrated abil- ity of learners to achieve mission-driven goals. Authentic tasks must play a dominant role in an assessment system so that students can experi- ence true rigor in the disciplines they pursue. This chapter reviewed five

characteristics of this type of task design as well as the significance of creativity to this work.

An important subtext throughout the chapter has been challeng- ing the nine myths from Chapter 1. You may want to refl ect on what you have learned in light of that connection. Can you see how learners would need to rethink those axioms if the nature of the work they were asked to do was more authentic? You may also want to think about the extent to which the content of subsequent chapters has infl uenced your thinking about the original refl ection question.

Original Chapter 1 Refl ection Question

Is fundamental change possible given the myths our culture holds related to schooling?

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