George Couros

3-4 Week Course - Although teaching changes in an online setting, the culture we create to encourage and lead our teachers to embrace innovative teaching and learning is the same. How do we model the “Innovator’s Mindset” in our leadership? How do we help others embrace innovation in a time of massive change and uncertainty? Our leadership matters more than ever and George Couros will provide concrete strategies on how to help schools embrace the opportunities in front of us that have been created by our current situation.

For 3 Week Course:

Week 1 - Leading and Learning by Example
As we focus on helping others embrace change? How do we as leaders model our own learning through this process?

In this week, we will focus on why it is so important to model our learning and will provide strategies for sharing the stories of our communities, while also curating resources to best help our staff and students create meaningful learning during this time and moving forward.

Week 2 - Embracing the Core of Innovative Teaching and Learning Now and Moving Forward
Although teaching face-to-face is different than “Emergency Remote Teaching,” the core values of what is important should stay the same. This week, George Couros will focus on the “Core of Innovative Teaching and Learning” and provide examples of how we can create a “new and better” normal now and for when we return to our schools.

Week 3 - Embracing a Culture of Innovation
We cannot make anyone change, but we can create the conditions where new and better opportunities are more likely to be embraced. What are the strategies that will help those we serve to embrace a culture of innovation as they move forward?

The Innovator’s Mindset
Carol Dweck’s work has focused on the ideas of “fixed” and “growth” mindset, yet how do we move further with this ideas personally and professionally to create new and better opportunities? The idea of the
“Innovator’s Mindset” moves to focus not only on what we know, but what we do with what we know. In this talk, George will discuss the idea and characteristics of “The Innovator’s Mindset” and share persuasive examples on why this is so crucial for what we do in our organizations to embrace, but more importantly, create new opportunities.

Leading Innovation in Our Organizations
Change is the only constant in our world today, but learning and growth are always optional. Organizations that focus on developing an “Innovator’s Mindset” at the individual and organizational level, will set themselves apart and ensure continued relevance in our world today. But how do we get ourselves and our people to get to that point? In this talk, George Couros will share concrete examples of what successful organizations from schools to businesses, have done to help people not only embrace change but to create it in meaningful ways. To help our people move forward, it is imperative that we do things differently to empower them to lead at all levels.

Although schools are moving forward, change is always something that many struggle with.  Focusing on an innovator’s mindset and our “why”, this workshop is meant for leaders to help others within their organization not only accept change, but embrace it, to create better powerful learning opportunities for our learners.  It is not focused on the “how to” of technology, but is more focused on the conversations that will help staff move forward in a way that they will be excited yet feel supported in their journey.

The role of school/district administrator is essential to what happens in the classroom, yet we often are unaware of some of the amazing opportunities that social media is not only providing our students and teachers, but ourselves as well.  As school administrators, we need to be the “Learning Leader” for our organization and social media gives us the opportunity to connect, openly learn, and humanize our organization.  When we learn together first, only then can we effectively lead our schools to continuous improvement.

The role of school or district administrator has changed dramatically and instead of people serving the leader, it is more important that it is the other way around.  In this talk/workshop, I discuss five key questions that we need to be able to answer as leaders and the innovative ways that we need to look at our role as administrators.

We know that the role of school has change, but it is important for people to understand why it needs to change.  Once that can be established, then we are more likely to embrace this change, and move forward with the learning of ourselves, and more importantly help our students move forward as well. In this talk, George will discuss the “why” of change, and then using the ISTE Nets, give examples on “how” we can make this happen.

This keynote helps to address some of the “myths” or pushback that many organizations go through in moving technology forward in their organizations.  With many powerful and personal stories of how technology can improve learning and relationships, this has been a great opportunity to help those reluctant move forward in their thinking and adopt a growth mindset.

The focus of the classroom has, for the better, shifted from a focus on the teacher to a focus on the learner.  In this talk, I will share several elements of what we should be looking for in today’s classroom, knowing that focusing on only a few at a time, can start the move towards a transformational learning environment.


We often tell our students that what they do online can affect their future, but do we share or teach them how their online presence can also provide them opportunities that we never had as kids? There are many great examples of people and students doing things to not only improve their own opportunities, but to improve the lives of those in their school, communities, and around the world. Kids have an opportunity to make a difference and we need to focus on giving them both the opportunities and tools to make a difference in their world through the effective use of technology and social media.

Parent involvement in the learning process of schools is the number one factor for student success. As schools look forward towards using social media to improve learning in their schools, many parents are fearful of what this means. Social media provides an opportunity for parents to have meaningful engagement in the learning of their child. This can greatly change the conversations not only at school, but also at home with the child. This talk provides peace of mind to parents while also engaging them in considering the unique opportunity they have to participate in their child’s learning.

When working with groups, I encourage discussing the “why” through a keynote then following up with hands-on workshops. This pushes learning forward, having participants leave with ready to use tools and educators ready to implement their new learning immediately. Examples of workshops on specific ideas and tools that I provide are:

Twitter for administrators/educators/parents
Blogs as a portfolio
Google Apps in the Classroom
Web 2.0 Tools for learning/communication
Digital Literacy
Digital Identity
Creating Blended Learning Environments

Twitter To Improve Teaching and Learning

In this session, we will be working with educators to show them how to leverage Twitter as a vehicle to find their own learning opportunities and bring the world to their classroom, and their classroom to their world.  Many educators are already using this medium to help facilitate great learning opportunities for their students and themselves, and we are hoping to help more educators jump on board.
Hashtag: #twittergc

Blogging as Professional and Student Portfolio

Blogging has become a tool that is used often in the classroom, but has also become a valuable tool for educators to use in their own professional learning.  Aligning with Teaching Standards , this session will show you how to create a professional portfolio that will be invaluable for sharing, connecting, and reflecting on teaching practice.  
#blogasportfolio

Your Digital Footprint (Keynote and /or Workshop)
Description: We all have a digital footprint, as do our schools and organizations.    “Googling” ourselves makes this apparent whether we have had any say in it or not.  As individuals and as organizations, what can we do to actually shape this footprint?  With open sharing of our learning, a digital footprint can easily be developed for either an individual, school or organization.  This is not about branding as much as it is about modelling for our students that we are learners along with them.
#gcourosdf

3 Things Students Should Have Before They Leave High School
In our world today, a resume and a cover letter aren’t going to support our students to create opportunities.  To adequately prepare students for the world that they live in, it is important that we use the opportunities that are in front of us and help students develop a network to connect with others, a digital portfolio that shows their learning and growth, as well as an About.Me page to bring all of these things together. In this presentation, we will look at what these could look like and how we could implement this at the K-12 level.

Google Tools for Administrators

There are many things that you can do with Google Apps for education that will make your life easier as an administrator, and lead to better learning opportunities for students and teachers.  In this hands on session, we will look at things that will make our work much more efficient, while helping lead our communities to innovative opportunities for students.

Creating Blended Learning Environments

An online component should not be “blended”, but the norm in our classrooms. In our world that is extremely connected and digital, learning to create different opportunities to use online resources is extremely helpful for creating innovative learning environments that really tap into and create a true learning community.  In this session, ideas will be shared to build upon for your own classrooms using different online mediums that are “real world” for our students.