George Couros is a principal focused on innovative teaching and learning. The document discusses creating a compelling vision for the future of education and making meaningful connections with students. It emphasizes focusing on relationships, embracing change, and teaching students for tomorrow's world instead of yesterday's. The goal is to inspire learning by making it exciting and allowing students to pursue their passions using technology and by connecting their interests to classroom topics.

1. Leading Innovative Change
George Couros
Division Principal of
Innovative Teaching and Learning
#PSD70

3. “Transformational leaders don't start by
denying the world around them. Instead, they
describe a future they'd like to create instead.”
Seth Godin
From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdesham/
3259862682/

5. About Me

6. Focus on
Relationships

8. Pier 21, 1958

9. Dad

10. “We need to teach kids to respect the
past but to live in the future.”
Marc Prensky

11. Be More Dog

12. This is not about technology;
it’s about relationships and learning.

13. Why Change?

14. We need to rethink school.

15. “If you don't like change,
you're going to like
irrelevance even less.”
General Erick Shinseki
From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasarobonaut/5478897371/

19. “The Interwebs (slang) allow students to take
their learning into their own hands and give it
life, meaning and apply their passion to what
ever they choose....
But the question is, are the schools
teaching for yesterday or tomorrow?”

22. The world is mobile.

30. Learning happens everywhere.

33. “I decided to drop out of school to pursue
photography...”

36. We are all connected

40. tweetping.net

43. Isolation is now a choice education makes.

44. Tap into the “human” side of the web.

45. “As the Internet has become
more central in our lives,
we have begun to witness a revival
of the importance of being
human.”
Notter and Grant

50. To inspire meaningful change,
you must make a connection to the heart
before you can make a connection to the mind.

51. You have an impact.

55. Our kids look up to what we do...

56. Our kids need our guidance.

57. The biggest shift for leaders
using technology
is not skill set;
it’s mindset.

62. “What we model is what we get.”
Jimmy Casas

63. The Big Question
Would you want to spend the whole day
learning in your own classroom?

64. It is not enough just to be different;
it has to be better.
Notter and Grant
From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/4196773347/

65. Leading Innovative Change

66. Start with the “why”

67. "Create a compelling vision,
one that takes people to a new place, and
then translate that vision into a reality." Warren G. Bennis

68. vision
Parkland School Division is a place
where exploration, creativity and
imagination make learning exciting
and where all learners aspire to
reach their dreams.

70. Learning First, Technology Second

71. Business vs. Education

72. What is best for kids?

73. 4 Guiding Questions For Your IT Department
What is best for kids?
How does this improve learning?
If we were to do _________, what is the balance of
risk vs. reward?
Is this serving the few or the majority?

74. “Freedom is actually a
bigger game than power.
Power
is about what you can
control.
Freedom
is about what you can
unleash.”
Harriet Rubin

75. Create Meaninful Learning
Experiences With Staff

76. “To innovate, disrupt your routine.”

77. http://georgecouros.ca
http://connectedprincipals.com

81. Help move people from their
“Point A” to their “Point B”.

82. Simone Bauer, with a Master of Arts in piano
performance, B Ed in music teaching, is an
innovative music specialist
at Blueberry School.

83. Day 50: Evan, Student (Blueberry School)

84. Original from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bombardier/15371858/
“...And truth be told, teachers should be responsible for their
own PD now. Kids wouldn’t wait for a blogging workshop.
Adults shouldn’t either.”
Will Richardson

85. Narrow Your Focus

87. Literate --> Adaptive --> Transformative

89. Move to meaningful creation.

90. “Learning is creation, not
consumption.
Knowledge is not
something a learner
absorbs, but something a
learner creates.”
Original from: http://
www.flickr.com/photos/
fotologic/410355440/

100. “They have to be interactive
producers, not isolated
consumers.”
John Seely Brown

101. Build Based on Strengths

102. Our job in education is not to control talent,
but to help find and unleash it.

105. How long did it take to
film and edit?
I started in November, but
then I had to start from
scratch a couple months
afterwards, so I spent
months and months on it.
What’s your
background in video
editing?
I just do it for fun. I’m
self-taught.

106. “There are intrapreneurs who bring
significant innovative changes from
within an organization.”
(Swearingen, 2008)

108. “Intrapreneurial spirit” in schools will
more than likely lead to “entrepreneurial
spirit” outside of them.

109. Embrace an Open Culture

110. Everyone is a teacher, everyone is a learner.

111. Learning
Together

113. "Figure out a way to
create systems that
allow those hunches to
come together..."
~Stephen Johnson

124. “But kids often defy expectations, if you give
them the opportunity.” Shelley Wright

125. Steps Towards Innovative Change
(Non-Sequential)
1. Focus on Learning First,
Technology Second
2. Create Meaningful Learning
Experiences
3. Narrow Your Focus

126. Steps Towards Innovative Change
(Non-Sequential)
4. Focus on Strengths
5. Create and Embrace an
Open Culture

127. Concluding Thoughts

128. 128

129. Original from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ben_grey/4582294721/
Make sharing the “default”.

130. Jump!

131. The Biggest Game Changer in Education?

132. Open your world...Open their world.

133. Contact Me
Email - georgecouros@gmail.com
Twitter - @gcouros
Blog - georgecouros.ca