the innovative learning teacher network

Pedagogy Shmedagogy, What's That All About?

Lisa Gottfried, a 2016 Innovation Fellow and New Tech High School teacher, recently blogged about her experience in the program. In it she reflects on both the function and work of teacher and the art and science of teaching, education and methodology. As she reflects on her journey of examining her practice through a lens of equity and innovation, she highlights how her thinking evolved. Read more...

Learning Innovation Lab: LIL Investigations from the Classroom

Here are some explorations of innovative learning design trending now among our network of teachers:

Engagement & Motivation: How can we leverage the unique affordances of today's technology to engage and motivate students?

Universal Design for Learning - UDL Can we design lessons so that every child has access to information and can participate fully regardless of learning style? How can technology support this?
iPads in the Classroom: If iPads are seamlessly immersed in the kindergarten curriculum, how will teaching and learning change? What are the unforeseen benefits?
Project Based Learning: What is the evolution of thought and practice for a new teacher when project-based learning and technology come together?

These are some of the driving questions that inspired the development of this site.

The Challenge of Leading Schools to Become Ready for 21st Century Learning

After years of pondering how to support schools to address the needs of a future workforce, we've decided to launch the Leading Innovation Lab. To garner the wisdom of our colleagues, teachers, principals and other administrators along with engaged business partners, parents, and higher education professionals, we are launching a research study to collect information as to what is needed to develop future-ready leaders at SXSWedu in March.

On March 6, 2018 form 5-6 PM, Dr. Louise Santiago and I will present a Campfire session on the crisis facing schools - where do you find future ready leadership?

Read our first blog on the topic at leadinginnovationlab.com our new partner site. View a video regarding the issues at hand at:
https://youtu.be/yLO9PX4z8uc

Who are Innovation Fellows?

The goal of the innovation fellows program, is to explore ways teachers and schools can make learning more accessible for all students by creating learning opportunities that, by the nature of their design, create multiple pathways to engage students. Ubiquitous access to information and the affordances technologies and digital media bring more tools and resources to the classroom, but our focus is on the learning, not the technology. We ask questions like, what is it that my students need to know? What are their learning needs? How can I best help them to acquire knowledge in a way that they will remember the content? How can I make sure that there's a role for every student in my classroom so that they can contribute to the learning? In essence we believe universal design for learning is not just for special education students - it's for everyone!

Students and teachers encouraged to take risks, embrace play, conduct ongoing action research, and use that data to inform their planning for next steps. Students and teachers alike are empowered to creatively use any type of communication tools to represent knowledge and understanding.

The Innovative Learning Master's Degree program is housed at Touro University California's Graduate School of Education. Through the generous support of the NapaLearns non-profit organization over 120 Napa County teachers are now helping to change the future for the students in Napa county schools.