Even though school is out, the learning never stops. Especially for the many school and district leaders who have already started preparing and finding ways to improve for the next school year.
From June 12-14, Atlanta Public Schools administrators and district leaders met for the 2023 APS Leadership Retreat at the Georgia Tech Hotel.
In addition to the many panels, discussions and team workshops that filled their schedule, the guest speaker that opened Day 2 delivered a dynamic and motivating message that jolted more momentum into the conference.
George Couros, an Innovative Teaching, Learning and Leadership consultant with experience working at all school levels as a teacher, technology facilitator and an administrator, delivered an engaging and important message about “Innovation Inside the Box.”
He is also an adjunct instructor with the graduate school of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “The Innovator’s Mindset” and “Innovate Inside the Box.”
Couros not only matched the energy in the room, but also brought his own innovative way of speaking to interact with the audience and leave them with a new perspective on what innovation can mean for their departments, schools or classrooms.
“Often when we talk about innovation, people connect it with technology,” Couros said. “Innovation is about doing new and better things. What we focused on is how do we continuously rethink our professional learning time? How do we rethink running our organizations to ensure that people have the most opportunity to serve the kids in front of them, the students. It’s just about doing new and better ways of leadership, teaching and learning.”
Throughout his presentation, Couros shared anecdotes from his own experiences working in education and through the lens of watching his own family learn and grow to present a relatable message for APS.
“I really loved today’s session,” Alpachino Hogue, the Executive Director of Strategy and Engagement, said. “We were talking about innovation and I loved how he left room at the table. It’s not just about technology. We’re innovating how we build relationships, how we make space for kids, listen to kids and we ourselves as adults to be the learners. It was really inspiring.”
There wasn’t a dull moment during the presentation. Couros encouraged the audience to engage, share their experience and participate with one another in order to really drive home his point.
“He was dynamic,” Joi Hunter, APS’ Executive Director of Partnerships and Development said. “He did it in such a way the storytelling was great, and I think everybody could relate to it. It allowed us to connect with each other through storytelling.”
At one point, he had the whole room involved in a Rock, Paper, Scissors Battle Royale just to prove a point. As each winner advanced to face another colleague, the winners gained a following of cheerleaders that culminated into a room full of people cheering for a final with no prize at the end.
When it was done, Courso highlighted the phenomena of everyone enjoying the spirit of collaboration even while competing.
“One of the concepts that I’m really focused on is this idea of competitive collaboration,” Courso said. “I truly believe that the answer is somewhere in the middle. That we create a community that we both push each other and support each other.
“When we did the Rock, Paper, Scissors challenge, one of the things that’s really fascinating is people start off, they play and then they inherit cheerleaders and immediately a room of 4-500 people are all cheering for one another,” he continued. “What I loved about it? No one is really focused on who’s winning, but they’re really focused on getting better and supporting one another. They got so into it.”
Couros laid out his beliefs and hopes for education by emphasizing the benefit of innovating how we do things, how we approach our work and how we approach the kids in our stead. Every conversation should lead back to what is best for the learner.
Learners should feel welcomed and valued. The focus should start with the learner’s strengths and passions. And learners should feel that their contributions are necessary to the success of the class or school.
Couros’ message to APS leaders was an energetic start to the morning and had everyone equipped with new perspectives on how they can innovate within their own box.
“This was a really incredible experience,” Couros said. “There was such a great energy to kind of set the tone for the day. I know that their focus is not just doing that on this day, but this is the norm for what the experience is for kids in classrooms and for teachers on their professional learning days. I just felt really blessed to be here today.”