Don't Read Educational Books This Summer. Read These Instead.
You don't become an innovator by reading books on innovation.
You can learn what the process of innovation looks like by reading a book on innovation. It might even give you a starting point to innovate.
But you only become an innovator when you innovate.
Dean Kamen, the inventor of Segway and co-founder of FIRST Robotics, explains that "every once in a while, a new technology, an old problem, and a big idea turn into an innovation." But how? What is the process for creating something new or turning something old into an innovation?
Perhaps the author of the Harry Potter series can answer this best. J.K. Rowling believes imagination is what drives all invention and innovation. According to the author, imagination is the "transformative and revelatory capacity to envision that which is not," because it "enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared."
But how do we see what doesn't exist? How do we find the "that which is not" trail; the Diagon Alley? How do we grow our imagination?
The answer, cheeky as it may sound, is you have to practice imagination; do imaginative things.
One way is to differentiate. Do uncommon things or common things in uncommon ways. The education example I want to use here involves reading.
I'm about to hop on your summer reading list so beware.
if you're a teacher, chances are you've put together a list of books to read this summer or have one or two books you plan to read. You want to learn - and that's great - but what are these books? How many are directly related to education? How many are fiction? How many are non-fiction and seemingly unrelated to something school?
There are many great written-by-educators books on Amazon. I've read a few this year and would recommend them. But here's the thing: If you want to grow your imagination faster, produce more unique and more ideas, and innovate more effectively, read something else.
This may sound crazy to some of you so let's take a closer look at how ideas form in the human brain.
When studying how the human brain forms original and creative ideas, University of Haifa researchers found that such idea formation requires the simultaneous firing of different neural networks. They observed that the brains of individuals who gave the most creative ideas had "associative" and "conservative" brain regions fire together. You may know "associative" as "diffuse" or "unconscious" thinking and "conservative" as "focused," "conscious," or "analytical" thinking.
Succinctly, the more you can tap into your unconscious while ideating, the better and more original your ideas will be.
Since drugs can help with that but are the less acceptable way, the question becomes: What gets stored in your unconscious and how do you make it more diverse?
And, if you've been paying attention you know where I'm going here. And I could but I'll just say this: If you read mostly or only education-related books you're severely undercutting your brain's capacity for original thought and... innovation. This is similar to always staying home - not experiencing the outside and fearing change - but you get to know your home really well.
But that's not fair, because most of us want to learn and get better! That's why we focus on getting better at our craft. We've only been encouraged by friends and admins and never told that this approach might limit us! And it's a good one if you want to become an expert!
But if you want to innovate... you know...
So, read what you want and do read an educational book if it's of benefit to you. But throw in a bunch of game-changing books and take notes when your brain unexpectedly fires off an idea related to your classroom, subject, ideology, or education at large. Then, create something new - a lesson, PD session, classroom procedure, technology use, or a new school - anything just a little bit different. You know... innovate.
Oskar
In my future posts, I will describe why the educator in me wants to read the books below and how I plan to apply what I learn in my classroom and give you ideas you can apply in yours. Up next: Smartcuts. I'm almost done with it. Sign up here and I'll be back in your inbox with it Tuesday.
Here's the rest of my summer reading list:
Smartcuts by Shane Snow
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Brain Rules by John Medina
Contagious by Jonah Berger
Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg
Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday
Unshakeable by Tony Robbins
Hi! I'm Oskar.
I teach, write, speak, rant to make the world better.
BOOKS & TOOLS
CONTACT ME
BLOG ARCHIVE:
- August 2024 2
- July 2024 2
- June 2024 1
- October 2023 1
- September 2023 3
- August 2023 6
- July 2023 6
- July 2022 2
- June 2022 1
- November 2020 3
- October 2020 3
- April 2020 1
- March 2020 5
- July 2019 1
- June 2019 1
- April 2019 1
- January 2019 1
- November 2018 3
- October 2018 2
- September 2018 1
- August 2018 8
- July 2018 11
- June 2018 4
- May 2018 5
- April 2018 2
- March 2018 4
- February 2018 5
- January 2018 3
- December 2017 1
- November 2017 5
- October 2017 7
- September 2017 6
- August 2017 5
- July 2017 3
- June 2017 10
- May 2017 7
- April 2017 7
- March 2017 15
- February 2017 12
- January 2017 13
- December 2016 15
- November 2016 8
- October 2016 7
- September 2016 12
- August 2016 14
- July 2016 10
- June 2016 13
- May 2016 10
- April 2016 8
- March 2016 5
- February 2016 7
- January 2016 6
- December 2015 5
- November 2015 8
- October 2015 2