8 characteristics of an innovator's mindset

A chapter that grabbed my attention in the book, The Innovator’s Mindset was “the characteristics of an innovator’s mindset.” We can all want to effect positive change, but do we have the attitude, the mindset necessary to do so? Looking at the eight characteristics that the author, George Couros, outlines, can be a great help to see if we have a mindset that is open to and willing to cause positive change.

The eight characteristics are: empathetic, problem finders, risk-takers, networked, observant, creators, resilient and reflective.

I would like to focus on empathetic and resilient, as these are the two characteristics from the list with the most room for growth in my own self-observation.

To be empathetic as an educator means that he looks at the classroom environment from the point of view of the student. An example that Couros brings up at another point in the book seemed really interesting to me. One teacher was asked to spend a day shadowing a 10^th grader and another day shadowing a 12^th grader in her school. Can you imagine going back to tenth grade? Would I want to live a day like the 11^th graders I am going to be teaching?

It is interesting, because I think I can honestly say that I liked school. Nevertheless, I have no desire to go back through school again. I am at a school, where the kids form a strong affective bond with the school. I am always amazed at that, since I have never even gone back to the High School from which I graduated.

“Would you want to be a learner in your own classroom?” This is the key question that Couros poses to his reader. And I take this question as my own. Now, I do like the style of classes that I have given, but I am going to make an effort to make sure that things are a little more varied and try to wake up the thirst for knowledge within my students. That should help to make sure that they like it when they are with me. That would be a big win in my classroom.

To be resilient can be a big challenge for me. I definitely feel a bit down when things do not go as well as I would have wished. A lot of times, I think this can be traced back to unrealistic expectations, while other times perhaps I have simply not put in the work necessary to get the job done. But whatever the cause, I can learn to let a few comments slide without affecting me so much.

Couros quotes a Chinese proverb that says: “The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.” While I may not be the go-getter all the time who is being slowed down by those around me, I can learn to plow through in spite of negative comments, which unfortunately abound.

I will be working on these two characteristics of the innovator’s mindset, before choosing two more I can work on. I think I would like to focus on two per grading period. At this rate, I will have gone through all eight by the time Easter rolls around, and will hopefully have become a better teacher.