TED Talk: Simon Sinek - How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Posted by Danyelle 

Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why, turned his fascination with people into a career convincing others to do what inspires them.  His premise is simple, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” Using examples such as Apple, the Wright brothers and Dr. Martin Luther King, he makes the case that success in business and in life is dependent upon purpose.

Here’s a quick look at the touch points of Sinek’s philosophy:

Sinek uses what he calls “the golden circle” to help us visualize his concept of starting with why.  At the center of the bullseye diagram is “why,” followed by “how” and then “what”.  Individuals who are focused on the outer ring—what they have to gain from an enterprise—rarely succeed.  Likewise, businesses that tout what they do, for example, the benefits of their particular product or service, fade into the status quo. Those companies that begin a conversation with consumers and potential employees by invoking their beliefs and their purpose for existing rise above the rest.

The human brain isn’t just the organ responsible for rational thought, it’s also the center for feelings, emotion and “from-the-gut” decision making.  As Sinek says, “[Martin Luther King, Jr.] gave the ‘I have a dream’ speech, not the ‘I have a plan’ speech.” He moved a nation because he began with why, not how or what. He connected with our limbic brain, not with our rational mind, and we were driven to act because of what we also believed deeply to be true.

Loyalty to a cause, a product, or a company depends upon sharing a common belief system.  “If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears,” Sinek says.  When it comes to educators, this concept is particularly true.  It’s often been said that education is a calling, not a profession. Teachers teach because they are motivated by something greater than the glory or the paycheck.  As an educational service provider, we strive to connect with this higher purpose that is innate in great teachers and great schools.

Sinek’s inside out thinking inspires us all to revisit how we tell the story of ourselves and of our product or service.  As innovators in the field of education we constantly must reconnect with what makes us tick.  For Thesys, it’s making education more relevant, stimulating and effective for 21st century learners. We believe our motivation matters so much that we’ve created a document dedicated to what we believe. It’s our why. What’s yours? 

Innovator Profile: Bill Gates

Posted by Leslie 

Bill Gates played as starring role in the personal computer revolution and through the phenomenal success of Microsoft has become something of a cultural hero. Here are some lessons we can learn from this innovator in technology and business.

• Look for ways to make your work better. Gates once said that “intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.” He was well aware that once the first personal computer was introduced, imitators and competitors would spring ahead by copying the Microsoft model. Gates challenged himself by continually looking for ways to improve. He knew if he didn’t, his competitors would.
• Empower your teams. Although he had a reputation at Microsoft for being a direct and demanding leader, Gates was also respected for encouraging his employees to share ideas–even if there was a chance they would be shot down. In the early ‘90s, right before the Internet’s rise in popularity, Gates wrote a memo to his employees, explaining that it would be a game-changing opportunity for Microsoft. The memo went on to say that he looked forward to receiving feedback on how to improve strategy to prepare for how the Internet would affect Microsoft, its products and customers. Gates understood the power and creativity that can come from a team that feels respected for its ideas – no matter how big or how small.
• Focus on the big picture. In spite of being one of the wealthiest men in the world, Gates continues to work to achieve his full potential. Gates stated that “until we’re educating every kid in a fantastic way, until every inner city is cleaned up, there is no shortage of things to do.” Gates has experienced massive success, but realizes that his work is never complete, and won’t give up until it is. 

Guest Post: Heather Lopez

Thesys is part of Fairmont Education Group, an Orange County based organization with sixty years of experience in education. Thesys began as a core out technology integration strategy at Fairmont Private Schools. Key teachers at each Fairmont campus were grouped into TIGER teams to help prefect technology integration in the classroom and train the rest of the teachers on using technology. Heather Lopez teaches second grade at Fairmont's Anaheim Hills campus, and she played a key role in the core out strategy. She continues to serve as part of the TIGER team and uses technology in her classroom everyday. Read more about her take on 21st century classrooms in her guest blog post. 

21st Century Learning at Fairmont

Fairmont is implementing some exciting and innovative technology based education!  Currently, Fairmont is leading the way into the 21st century and it is trickling down to each and every classroom.  The Fairmont 21st century classroom ideology not only influences the physical classrooms at their five campuses, but has led the way with designing and managing hybrid and online courses that are available to the public.

In taking a look at my own classroom, one fun and meaningful way I engage my students is by incorporating technology into my teaching and their learning.  The ways that I use technology in my classroom are with my Interactive Whiteboard (IWB), my Learner Response Systems (Activ Votes), my iPads, and my Neo2s.  Additionally, a typical day in the life of my students consists of them watching engaging visuals provided by our partnership with Discovery Education, BrainPop, Education City, and enVISIONS Math.  They see concepts visually and can manipulate data and interact with the lessons that I teach. This has kept them engaged and thriving.

Learning in my classroom is always an active experience.   If you are not up at my Interactive Whiteboard demonstrating a learned concept, you are in your seat recalling the data just taught with the Activ Votes.  Or, I could simply pass my iPad to a student to use as a tablet to control my IWB without ever having to leave his or her seat.   While the students are learning in their workstations, they interact with the Neo2s, taking AR tests, doing Math Facts in a Flash, or are simply typing up a story.  At another workstation, students interact with my iPad 1 and iPad 3, playing educational apps (where I can e-mail an individual child’s results to their family later that day) or designing their own eBook.  Oftentimes, I have to fight children to leave my classroom at recess time because they want to go back to my iPads and add to their eBooks or to do Math Facts in a Flash.

As a member of Fairmont’s TIGER Team, I train teachers several hours a month on how to use the technology that they are given in a developmentally-appropriate manner that they can easily implement and that the students will find meaningful.  I have been told that teachers find it reassuring and comfortable to be taught technology from a fellow teacher who is using the same technology in her classroom and integrating it into their lessons.  To keep my knowledge fresh, I follow several other tech-savvy teachers on Twitter and Pinterest and share those ideas with my colleagues.  As fresh new tech education ideas are introduced, I plan on exposing my classroom to them.  This is their world and I am happy to teach to them!

Follow Friday: Sir Ken Robinson

Posted by Leslie 

Sir Ken Robinson, PhD, is a leader in education, creativity and innovation, known for his inspiring TED Talks and best-selling books. What we love about Robinson is his philosophy and passion for creativity and innovation. Robinson has spent his life working to shift the perception that creativity is only part of the arts and is a particular skill set that very few are blessed with. Instead, Robinson encourages everyone—whether an accountant, an engineer or a teacher—to tap in to their own creativity to achieve goals and make a difference.

Robinson urges his audience to try without fear of failure. He famously said, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” We couldn’t agree more. 

Follow Robinson on Twitter @SirKenRobinson to keep up with his latest work and learn what motivates and inspires him. 

Check out our Twitter list of innovators at www.twitter.com/thesysintl/innovators for a full directory of our favorite innovators in education and beyond. Stay tuned for our upcoming blog post discussing Robinson’s TED Talk, “Bring on the Learning Revolution.”

Idea Rated: Livescribe Pen

Posted by Alyssa 

The Idea
Note-takers take note, the pen of the future is here! The Livescribe pen does so much more than write. Essentially a computer in a pen, Livescribe writes on paper while recording audio and re-creating the written notes into a virtual, interactive notebook. After a lecture or meeting you can go back to your notebook and click on a specific point to hear exactly what was said. 


Why We Like It 
Who hasn't left class thinking, "I just missed half of that..." The Livescribe pen allows you to focus on listening to the lecture while jotting down just the critical visual notes. Then you can use those notes as a road map to listen back through the recorded lecture--it could just be the precursor to those hologram teachers we see in movies. Livescribe is also keeping up with social media and technology and now allows you to send the interactive notes to yourself via email, Evernote, Facebook, and more. 


Thesys' Rating? 
Finally! 


Image via Partners in Learning

Innovator Profile: Geoffrey Canada - Becoming Superman

Posted by Leslie 

Long before his story was highlighted as a ray of light in the dark plight of today’s educational system in the acclaimed 2010 documentary Waiting for Superman, innovative education reformer Geoffrey Canada was well known for his powerful contributions to education—most specifically to students in Harlem, New York.

His own childhood of poverty in the South Bronx never left his mind, even as he earned a Master’s Degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The educational model he created when he founded Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) in 1990 made him a superhero to the kids and their parents in a 24-block section of Harlem where the project focused his superpowers of increasing high school and college graduation rates—a feat he accomplished by following them closely as they progressed through their academic careers and by supporting them with early-childhood education, after-school programs and tools for parents to take a more active role in their children’s education.

A 2004 profile by Paul Tough in the New York Times Magazine called HCZ “one of the biggest social experiments of our time.” A subsequent appearance on 60 Minutes rocketed Canada to fame for the educational experiment that was proving that kids in poor neighborhoods are capable of learning.

The core principle is a simple one: You can’t separate where kids live from where they learn. HCZ and its guiding values now form the template for President Obama’s Promise Neighborhoods program.

The HCZ project has expanded to cover 100 city blocks and 8,000 children who have learned that with a good education, they can become their own superheroes.

Image via Time Specials 

Follow Friday: Follow these Innovators on Twitter

Posted by Alyssa 

The best source of innovation inspiration comes from the innovators themselves. We love following these five on Twitter to see what we can learn. 

• Richard Resnick (@resnickgq):  Growth-stage CEO; MIT Sloan pedigree; Public speaker/motivator/manipulator. The Genome IS the Universal Diagnostic
• Alan November (@globallearner): wandering educator, Founder, November Learning
• Mike Matas (@mike_matas):  User Interface Designer, Photographer, and Co-Founder of Push Pop Press
• Tom Whitby (@tomwhitby):  Prof of Education. Founder: #Edchat, The EDU PLN Ning, Linkedin group Technology-Using Professors et al. BLOG: My Island View http://tomwhitby.wordpress.com
• Steven Johnson (@stevenbjohnson): Writer. (7 books, most recently Where Good Ideas Come From.) Web site creator (3 companies, most recently outside.in.) Dad (three boys.)

Guest Post: Brenda Huey

To gain a broader perspective on the topic of innovation, we've asked some experts in the education field to share their thoughts. Our next guest post was contributed by Brenda Huey, EPL Teacher at Fairmont International Academy and Online Course Author for Thesys International. Brenda teaches EPL at Fairmont International Academy and helps international students obtain the English skills necessary to advance to Fairmont Preparatory Academy. Additionally, she is an EPL Online Course Author for Thesys International. She attended San Francisco State University and obtained a B.A. in Chinese and an M.A. in English. She has been teaching at Fairmont since 2009, and was the ESL founder, director and teacher for 4.5 years at Cornerstone Academy in San Francisco prior to joining Fairmont.I enjoy scrapbooking, dancing (latin and ballroom), kungfu and teaching latin dancing and gymnastics to toddlers. She loves teaching and having a front seat to watch student improvement.

Engage Your Students Through Innovation

In our world today, we always ask ourselves: “What is new out there on the market?” “What new technology can we get our hands on?” Newness is sometimes scary, but it could also be an exciting adventure if you are the one creating that something new.

I go to TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language) conventions all the time to see what is new out there in the world of ESL (English as a Second Language) or EFL (English as a Foreign Language). I am constantly shocked to see what inventors, publishers or entrepreneurs have come up. Wow, so much money can be made from new things.  All you have to do is take something and make it a little different, and it can be called “new.”

Every year I leave these conferences frustrated because none of the textbooks, computer- or internet-based programs, or simple classroom games are a good fit for the population of ESL students I teach. Finding outside reading books at their English level that are interesting is like searching for treasure. Worse yet, finding a textbook series that will work for my class population is almost impossible. This is because the majority of the materials are written for younger Hispanic learners.  

Here at Fairmont Private Schools International Academy, I teach a group of primarily Asian, high school students, at the beginning levels of English. At these conferences and in the overall scope of all ELL (English Language Learners) materials published or ever created, the Asian high school students are the most under-represented.  Something needs to be done to fix this disparity.

In my very first week, I stood in front of my Asian 5th-12th grade, multi-level students who would not answer a single question I asked. They blankly stared at me for the whole class period, waiting for something to memorize.  Even when I would call on them, I got nothing. I realized that my mission was to make them or trick them into participating in class by using innovative and interactive activities that promote participation. In this way, I would then see learning in action.  

Then, I was given the opportunity to buy books for my school at an ELL publishing company. After an entire day of searching, I was not able to find a single textbook or program that would fit my needs. Instead, I tried re-writing National Geographic articles that talked about the world around them. Eureka! Students were debating, writing, questioning and speaking in class. 

I know now, that if you are looking for something new and it is not already in existence, create it yourself. I am now an online author for Thesys where I write ELL curriculum at different levels based on world issues and current events. {[The curriculum] incorporates technology, TESOL teaching practices, innovative activities, and most importantly it brings the outside world into the classroom. Using innovation, I have created a fit for my students.