INTRApreneurs Don't Wait to be Anointed

INTRApreneur- "A person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation" The American Heritage Dictionary

The term intrapreneur was coined in the late 70's and became part of corporate discussions in the 90's. The big idea is people can work within organizations to make changes rather than having to strike out on their own to create something new to compete with the former organization. 

And with education being historically slow to innovate, this idea is only now catching on. The constraints around education are designed to squash and kill any ideas that result in a radical transformation of what we do. Thankfully, there are places where intrapreneurship have been nurtured in education. These are the schools where teachers are encouraged to innovate and take the lead to help transform education. This has been happening in small pockets for a very long time. 

We have survived over a decade of micromanaged, creativity killing, lists of trivia disconnected from anything relavant to students in the form of state standards. We are now at a critical point where a new set of standards, the common core, are poised to replace the old list and we have the potential to change schooling for the better. Of course the factory mindset is already trying to craft canned lessons based on the new standards in order to ensure "coverage" and "mastery" forgetting there are children who need to create! People are making the mistake of "standardizing" curriculum again rather than raising the standard as Ken Robinson is fond of pointing out.

In this time of instability, education intrapreneurs must push forward and disturb the status quo. We have to do just as Tina Seelig says, "Don't wait to be anointed!" Now is the time to run away from the factory model to one that brings creativity and problem solving back to the core of what students do. Thinking. Questioning. We have to stop forcing kids to collect the dots. It is time to help them CONNECT the dots. They have to engage deeply and care about what they are learning. 

There is a secret all education intrapreneurs know. Our world is about to be disrupted by technology in a way that will threaten the existence of the profession. Information is literally everywhere. No longer do kids need a teacher to give them information. No longer is memorization the key to future success. Most secondary teaching and university teaching still consists of a teacher telling while classes sit the required time copying information only to tell it back to the teacher on exams. This methodology is dead! Information age technology is the asteroid that is causing its extinction of this dinosaur. And all around the traditional education system people are creating alternatives that provide parents an option to the local school. Parents are lining up to be part of lotteries for these schools and this is only going to continue. Unions will be powerless to help save jobs as the number of teachers needed continues to fall. The shift is happening faster than most people realize. If what you do as a teacher can be replaced by a machine, you will be replaced!

Teachers have to shift to a model of education where they help students find understandings and connections. We have to create lessons where students encounter real issues and ideas. Where the exploration of Renaissance becomes about how ideas shape history and reality rather than matching the people to their accomplishments. Studying plants has to become how nature survives and thrives in environments rather than naming plant parts and functions. And in this new process, students must GENERATE content. They must be able to CREATE and EXPRESS their thinking and ideas. Teachers have to learn how to listen. Students must learn how to actively listen to each other and respond to the ideas of others. Not just through text, but through video, speeches, songs, etc. Our children are growing up in a media-centric world where navigating the resources to gain understanding is the new skill set needed. To learn, unlearn, adapt, and see the world from another perspective. INNOVATION is the goal.

Education intrapreneurs, now is the time to speak up. Parents, now is the time to demand more from your child's school than a copy of what happened to you. 

Want another perspective? Try The Future of Education Eliminates the Classroom. The shift is real folks. It is time to lead! If you ruffle some feathers, good! It's about time.