Getting people to support your idea can be a difficult process.  Having that support, however, is key to getting your project off the ground.  But once it’s off the ground, you need it to fly.  That’s why you can’t just sell your idea to other people, and get their support — you have to inspire some sort of change in behavior so that they will not only support your idea, but will actively work toward its success.

Simon Sinek’s TED Talk, “Start With Why” (Sinek, S. 2009) explains how “starting with why” is a great way to promote your idea, because it creates an emotional connection between the target audience and the idea.  You actually start by showing your audience why your idea matters, rather than starting with the product, itself, or the “what.”

So, if I were to start with the “why” of my innovation plan and then go from there, it would look something like this:

Why = The Purpose

Students learn and retain more, and develop important skills for a changing job market when they are given the opportunity to learn in a choice-based, hands-on, creative learning environment.

How = The Process

Students learn through self-directed, creative experimentation using appropriate technology and creative media while teachers guide activities to reinforce core subject learning and collaborative workplace skills.

What = The Result

Students create valuable and meaningful objects of their own design that serve as tangible evidence of core subject learning success while practicing marketable job skills.

Dr. John Kotter also discussed ways to influence other people to support your idea.  He stated that you have to appeal to the heart, but you also need to appeal to urgency.  (Kotter, J. 2011, 2013).  I applied Kotter’s thinking to my three statements, above:

We all want students to learn.  No, we all want students to really learn — to want to learn, and to make learning meaningful, and to want to expand on their learning and to be able to apply what they learn in real-life situations.  This is especially urgent now, as it is becoming more and more apparent that the current ways of teaching are leaving our students behind.  We all want our students to succeed and to develop skills and knowledge that will prepare them for success — success in life, in higher education, and in the future job market.  My “Why” statement speaks to that urgency because it touches on improved learning experiences, retention of learning, and skill development, which are all things that research has shown repeatedly to be strengths of makerspaces.  It speaks to the heart because we all want our students to love learning, to become passionately curious, and also to be prepared for the workplace.  I can back up my claims that our school makerspace will improve learning depth and breadth and will also foster important skills through my research.  I have also learned the proper way to implement my innovation plan to achieve the best possible results.

The “How” speaks to stakeholders’ desire to promote enjoyment of learning while still providing rigor.  Of course, we want students to enjoy learning, but we also need them to learn specific things.  We want students to use technology, but we don’t want them using it in a way that doesn’t provide meaningful learning experiences.  We want to provide students with opportunities to pursue their passions, but we also need to tie their learning to state standards.  So, my statement underscores the balance between giving students freedom of choice in their learning and making, and also providing rigor and direction.  This statement speaks to the heart by promoting the ways we will make students love learning, and to urgency by spotlighting the need to make that learning meaningful in ways that will pay off in student core subject learning and workplace skills.

The “What” speaks to the heart by pointing out that students will create “valuable and meaningful objects of their own design.”  We remember the things we create in school because we can hold them and own them.  They are valuable and meaningful to us because we created them from our own imagination.  We remember the things we learn through creating because we learn them authentically through the process of experimenting and reflection.  The “What” statement speaks to urgency by promising tangible evidence of core subject learning, which is the type of learning measured by standardized tests and collected student data.  Improving learning in those areas will not only benefit students, but would benefit the entire school.  Stakeholders would be able to see and hold evidence that learning is happening, and would be able to see how this learning ties to core subject standards.  Stakeholders would also be able to observe marketable job skill development by visiting the makerspace and watching how students interact with it and with one another.  Stakeholders would have immediate and concrete proof of the efficacy of this project through the products created by the students in this makerspace.

Resources:

Kotter, J.  (2011).  The heart of change.  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=1NKti9MyAAw

Kotter, J. (2013). Leading change: establish a sense of urgency.  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yfrj2Y9IlI&feature=youtu.be

Sinek, S. (2009). How great leaders inspire action. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action