Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Assessing New Ideas

How do you assess new ideas and practice?

Human nature often negates new ideas rather than embrace them.

Yet, if we think of new ideas with relation to student learning, we can ask the following questions when assessing the idea.
  • Are students engaged, curious and motivated?
  • Does the idea lift the learning quality of individuals and the community?
  • Is the culture enhanced by the idea?
  • Does the new idea help students to become more capable, creative and accomplished?
  • Does the new idea contribute to the school vision and mission?
  • Will students' lives be enhanced by the idea?
New ideas have the potential to move our individual and collective practice forward, and it's important that we evaluate those ideas with students' interest first.