When I have to come up with new ideas it happens to me quite often that I think, think, and think … nothing. Only obvious ideas come to my mind. Then I recall Leonardo da Vinci. In the process of looking for new ideas he searched the inspiration in the stains on the walls, patterns in the clouds, ashes, mud etc. He maintained that the connection of the challenge with random subjects produces new insights.
Also Edward de Bono presented a similar technique called Random entry. With a random entry we break obvious thinking patterns. The process is simple:
It is not important what the random entry is. It is important that it is truly random. An example: we would like to find new ways to recognize employee performance. Random word for this challenge will be “kitchen.” Here are some associations that may come to our mind:
Simple and efficient technique. So, next time try this instead of fighting with your brains when the same ideas keep coming up over and over. An experiential approach to teaching entrepreneurship in high and vocational schools raises new challenges for teachers. An experiential approach encourages links between curriculums in different learning areas. But teamwork among teachers is not an everyday practice and some teachers struggle with a lack of the structure in teaching how to solve open problems.
Some of these challenges are present only at the beginning and they evaporate as teacher go through a few entrepreneurship courses. The feeling of a lack of the structure is such a challenge. Teachers start to trust in the process after several projects when they see the inspiring results in the end and when they observe their highly motivated students during the whole entrepreneurial project. Trust in the process emerges with teachers’ experience. Some other challenges need a systematic approach where a team of teacher cooperate with the headmaster’s support. Links between curriculums in different learning areas is an example of such a challenge. Imagine you would like to lead with your students an entrepreneurial project about establishing an eco-market. A good experiential approach to this entrepreneurial challenge encompasses the links among different learning areas, for instance languages for terminology and communication skills, math for price setting and financial planning, sociology for facilitating a stimulating eco-climate at the market and for learning about different eco-markets in other parts of the world. But you also need biology for growing vegetables, chemistry for learning about the chemical processes connected with growing, storing and transporting the vegetables, technical and art learning areas for learning how to build a technological feasible market with a pleasant aesthetic appearance etc. Such an approach is a valuable and memorable experience for students. On the other hand such a project cannot happen without strong teamwork on the teachers’ side. Based on my experience teachers usually start with small entrepreneurial projects, which they are able to lead on their own. Eventually other peer teachers become interested in organizing a broader entrepreneurial project. Small steps lead to a long and inspiring journey of establishing an entrepreneurial school climate, where teachers cooperate in order to develop entrepreneurial skills. Participants in the courses on peer coaching skills usually ask me which coaching questions are suitable for using in everyday life in conversations with their peer teachers and students. Here are some simple examples.
Ask for concrete examples: Tell me an example of this. How exactly? What do you like about this? What is stopping you? Ask for more: Tell me more. What else? Describe in more details. Encourage ideas: What do you suggest? What can you do differently? When have you solved something similar? What sources do you have? Develop an action plan: What will be your first step? What is your next step? What will you do in case of obstacles? Sometimes these examples sound just too simple. They are simple indeed, but we usually do not use them in our conversations, because we are too overwhelmed with talking, giving advices, sharing our own experience and showing how smart we are. Try stop talking and ask questions instead. You will be surprised how valuable can be your support if you show it with questions rather than advices. It is a powerful tool for professional development of teachers. |
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LINKSPrimera's practical handbook for writing high quality Erasmus+ mobility projects.
Pan-European Conference on Digital Education Facebook Community. Primera's FB page. Work with us on Erasmus+ KA2 projects: STEP Institute. |