Laura K Spencer, Ed.D.

Author: Laura Spencer

What is your BIG opportunity for impact? #DesignCamp

Today I had the pleasure of attending #DesignCamp. This event is a participant-driven deep dive into all things related to Design Thinking! The big levers towards deeper learning and equity for all students are: pedagogy, culture, leadership, and innovator methods/mindsets with the goal of spreading more goodness on the world (website). It was my first time attending this event, and definitely won’t be my last. Kaleb Rashad and Eric Chagala certainly know how to throw a party!

The day started with some epic jams by Atlanta-based musician Chavis Flagg (Check him out – it won’t disappoint!). I’m sure the inclusion of Flagg at the start of the day was intentional, as music impacts our ability to connect with one another. According to music psychologist Stefan Koelsch, music “impacts brain circuits involved in empathy, trust, and cooperation” (article). Flagg’s musical talents did a great job building empathy and cooperation amongst the attendees. Energy levels were high, smiles were big, and everyone seemed ready to embrace the day’s learning.

After engaging our empathy, Billy Corcoran and Mike Strong (with a special remote guest appearance by Dan Ryder) defined the Design Thinking experience for us by taking the group through a quick-paced challenge to design a space suit for attendees of a rock concert on the moon. Many assume Design Thinking challenges will take days or weeks away from academic instruction, but this entire experience was less than an hour. And it did not require a huge makerspace. In fact, our prototype consisted of trash bags, cardboard, tape, and a piece of paper.

Once our astronauts were safely launched on their voyage to the moon, it was time to dig deeper into the learning. The variety of sessions addressed many different facets of Design Thinking and deeper learner in the classroom.Having a large group of educators from our district, we were able to divide and conquer, gathering information and ideating on what all these new ideas meant for the work we are undertaking in our classrooms.

Because I was speaking in the second session, I could only choose one, and so decided to spend my time with David Culberhouse, who always leaves me with more questions than answers! David shared the rapidly changing future with us, from Artificial Intelligence and the new gig economy to the skills this new work landscape demands. David challenged us to consider:

– What is your BIG opportunity for impact?

– Where can I have action?

– Where can I make change?

It was the perfect segue to the session I led with Paula and Sarah. In our session, we challenged participants to craft a new story of education, to question the systems, structures, and beliefs that have defined education for the past hundred years and embrace a new vision. We discussed the parts, purposes and complexities that reside in our current educational landscape, and dove into the ways in which design thinking can transform learning so that students develop student agency and cultural intelligence.

After our sessions, I appreciated the fact that the day did not just end. Back together in the common space for some more music and sharing of learning. Sara Schairer, of Compassionit.com, briefed us on the prototype her group of participants developed to help promote the work her non-profit is doing to inspire compassionate actions and attitudes. One of the teachers from our group who participated in this design deep dive definitely heeded the call to action and began sharing her plans to spread the compassion to her students.

Ending our day was a moment to reflect on the day, to consider what we had learned and what we were going to do with that learning. These quiet moments are so few and far between in our work. Often times, we attend trainings and then rush out at the end of the day so that we can get lesson plans ready for the next day. Having that opportunity to just think gave me a chance to consider ideas I want to test back at our district to make a BIG impact on our mission to ignite genius and empower students.

Thanks to everyone who made today remarkable! It was truly mind-blowing!

January 28, 2018
Bringing Industry to the Classroom

“Our two most precious commodities are our children and water.”

Ronald Fay, Retired Hydrologist and Industry Expert honoree

Michael DiTullo, Industrial Designer

Last night, our school board recognized the contributions of the industry experts who have given their time and expertise to inspire our students to change the world. Each of the individuals honored has made a tangible difference in the educational experience of our students. We often talk about making school relevant, engaging, and meaningful, but when you’re studying the human body and two medical students from UCSD are providing you with information and then giving feedback on your human body system adaptation prototype, relevant is the name of the game. When students are using design thinking to develop a better student chair and an industrial designer talks with the class about his own designs, and the importance of being human-centered, engagement is at an all-time high. And when 3rd graders studying the local lagoon to solve environmental problems it faces have an opportunity to participate in hands-on learning with a USGS Hydrologist to determine salinity levels, they are able to make meaningful connections to the science they study and the local problems in their community.

18 industry experts were honored last night. 18 individuals who see that the future

Chris Delehanty, Tech Director, Ronald Fay, Retired USGS Hydrologist, & me

success of our community, our country, resides in the students we teach today. 18 experts who listened to the ideas of children, and honored those ideas, and inspired them to keep ideating. 18 experts who showed students that their voices are heard, and their ideas are meaningful, and their learning is important. To each of them, and all the others that will be joining this list, I thank you.

To learn about all the experts honored, please read our presentation.

(This blog post was also posted on our district Design Thinking website)

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January 19, 2018
Students’ Design Thinking Skills Sets Them Up for a Successful Future
Yesterday I received this email from three 6th grade students:

Dear Dr. Spencer,

As sixth grade students, we have been given the design challenge to enhance our school experience. There are problems ranging from balls left in the field to bathroom catastrophes. We thought that you would be a great person to interview because you are the Executive Director of Innovation and Design.

So today I happily set aside my desk work and traveled over to the school to talk to the students. I can honestly say, I’m not sure who learned more from our experience: them or me.

As they had shared in the email, the students have been given the challenge of enhancing the school experience. In Del Mar, a K-6 district, our vision states that we are in “unrelenting pursuit of the extraordinary school experience” and now, so our these 6th grade students. Their teacher, who has been trained at both Nueva School’s Design Thinking Institute and Stanford’s d.school, is using her Quest elective class to provide the students with the skills and strategies necessary to utilize the design thinking process. Her focus is spot on. Jim Hackett, CEO of Ford, explains. “The old way was about disciplines,” Hackett told Fortune Magazine in September. “The new way will be about projects and understanding what people want.”

During my conversation with the students, we discussed the school, and the needs I saw as rising to the top. But then the conversation shifted, and the students became intrigued more with my job, and the goal of our district to bring design thinking experiences to all students, and not just those lucky enough to have their teacher. One student then remarked, “What happens to us in middle school? They don’t do these things there, do they?” Although I wish I had a better answer for them, all I could say was “not yet…” They continued pressing me. “How will we handle the homework load in middle school? We have a reduced homework load now.”

And so we started to analyze the skills that the students are receiving, and how those skills would translate to middle school (and life!) success. Homework load? No problem! Within these design thinking challenges, their teacher has taught them:
- Backwards Planning: Just like homework, design thinking challenges have deadlines that must be met. But unlike assigned homework, backwards planning ensures students know how to prioritize their work load based on estimated work time, complexity of task, and due date.
- Questioning: Design thinking requires students to define the problem that needs to be addressed. The questions they are formulating are complex, and get to the root of a problem so that they can better ideate and prototype solutions. This means they’ll have a better understanding of what information they need to complete their work. Furthermore, they’ll have the confidence to ask clarifying questions of their teachers.
- Prioritization: When prototyping possible design thinking solutions, a lot of elements must come together. It can be easy to get distracted by wanting to make a prototype pretty, or add “just one more thing.” Learning how to prioritize actions based on a needs statement will also help them figure out if they should start their math homework due tomorrow before or after writing their English essay due next week.
- Iteration: One of the most important concepts students learn in the design thinking process is that the iteration process is not a one time thing. Iterate, prototype, seek feedback, and do it again…and again… and maybe even again. Failure is not a cause for meltdown, but just an opportunity to iterate again. If you doubt me, just watch Audri and his Rube Goldberg machine process!
Carole Bilson, President of the Design Management Institute, states, “There’s a lot of observation, listening and research as you are developing products and solutions.” Evelyn Huang, Director of Design Thinking and Strategy at Capital One Labs, explains that Design Thinking, a “human-centered methodology, coupled with a ‘fail fast’ attitude, allows us to quickly identify, build, and test our way to success. We spend less time planning, more time doing, and, above all else, challenge ourselves to see the world through the eyes of our customers every step of the way.”

With skills like this being developed in our 6th graders , I don’t think the students will have any problems tackling the challenges they face in middle school next year. In fact, I venture to guess that these students will be redesigning the middle school experience in no time! And then high school. And soon, they’ll be solving problems we can’t yet fathom. Homework? Psh! No problem at all.

Backwards mapping mini-deadlines to ensure the project is completed in time.

Defining the Design Thinking challenge and its components
January 12, 2018
The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking

I have to admit, part of the reason I picked up this book at the library was to joke with my daughter. One of the things she will tell you about me is that I am anything but overly peppy or bubbly. It’s not that I am negative, or a “Debbie Downer.” I consider myself more of a realist who likes to look at all potential outcomes of a situation. So when I saw this book displayed on the bookshelf, I thought it’d be a great kick off to my 2018 reading list.

And it truly was. Burkeman, a journalist and author, sets out in this book to explore the negative path to happiness. Motivational seminars and self-help positive affirmation books can actually lead to less happiness. Through his research of various psychologists, philosophers, and religions “…it pointed to an alternative approach, a ‘negative path’ to happiness, that entailed taking a radically different stance towards those things that most of us spend our lives trying to avoid. It involved learning to enjoy uncertainty, embracing insecurity, stopping trying to think positively, becoming familiar with failure, even learning to value death. In short, all these people seemed to agree that in order to be truly happy, we might actually need to be willing to experience more negative emotions—or, at the very least to learn to stop running quite so hard from them.”

You know, maybe I should just let this video explain it:

Some specific quotes that jumped out at me:

“The effort to feel happy is often precisely the thing that makes us miserable. And that it is our constant efforts to eliminate the negative – insecurity, uncertainty, failure, or sadness – that is what causes us to feel so insecure, anxious, uncertain, or unhappy.”

“Confronting the worst-case scenario saps it of much of its anxiety-inducing power. Happiness reached via positive thinking can be fleeting and brittle, negative visualization generates a vastly more dependable calm.”

“Reassurance can actually exacerbate anxiety: when you reassure your friend that the worst-case scenario he fears probably won’t occur, you inadvertently reinforce his belief that it would be catastrophic if it did. You are tightening the coil of his anxiety, not loosening it. All to often, the Stoics point out, things will not turn out for the best.”

“A person who has resolved to ‘think positive’ must constantly scan his or her mind for negative thoughts – there’s no other way that the mind could ever gauge its success at the operation – yet that scanning will draw attention to the presence of negative thoughts.”

“But sometimes you simply can’t make yourself feel like acting. And in those situations, motivational advice risks making things worse, by surreptitiously strengthening your belief that you need to feel motivated before you act. By encouraging an attachment to a particular emotional state, it actually inserts an additional hurdle between you and your goal. The subtext is that if you can’t make yourself feel excited and pleased about getting down to work, then you can’t get down to work.”

“Ceaseless optimism about the future only makes for a greater shock when things go wrong; by fighting to maintain only positive beliefs about the future, the positive thinker ends up being less prepared, and more acutely distressed, when things eventually happen that he can’t persuade himself to believe are good.”

What it means to me

I just keep thinking about the anxiety levels of my daughter leading in to her high school final exams. She was a miserable human being. I saw more tears in a 7 day span than I had probably seen the past year. And I wonder if it’s because our current society focuses so much on positive thinking and goals and “you can do it.” Her fear of not doing “it” was crippling her. Had she been exposed to negative thinking, she would have been able to see that the worst-case scenario (failing the test) would have resulted in maybe a B in a class. And truly, in the grander scheme of things, is that B worth the anxiety she put herself through? (She passed, by the way, and maintained her straight A record…)

Are we teaching students resilience? Are we teaching them how to cope with failure? Or are we just piling on the gold stars for everything they do? Embracing a growth mindset does not mean ceaseless optimism. It means wiping the dirt off our knees when we fall and looking for a plan B… or C.. or maybe even a Plan W. But does it also mean asking students to consider what’s the worst that could happen if it doesn’t work out? Are we helping students to see that their life is NOW or are we always talking to them about “one day” and “in [next grade/school/etc] you’ll need to know this…” When we talk about goal setting, how do we frame it? “There’s a real benefit to finding ways to loosen our grip as goal driven people. When you look at successful entrepreneurs…you find they don’t follow this stereotype.” Instead, Burkeman says, we should remain ready to adapt where we are heading and embrace the uncertainty that scares us.

Maybe that should be added to my one word 2018… can I commit to uncertainty? What are your thoughts on this?

A full review of the book via The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman – review | Books | The Guardian

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January 8, 2018
Commit to read more books
As you may have read, my one word for 2018 is COMMIT. One of my commitments is to read more. So it was only fitting that Daniel Pink would include an article about how to read more in his most recent Pink newsletter. (I sware he included it just for me!)

Five steps to read more books:
1. Download books to your smartphone
  I downloaded the Libby app to my phone, which allows me to check out eBooks from my local library. Figure that it will be a nice way to add an extra book to my bedside stack and give me something to do during all those waiting times, such as at the doctor, the Costco gas line, or waiting for a meeting to start. I also downloaded Read This Next, which suggests books to read based on authors you like. I haven’t played with it yet, but it looks promising. And of course, I have Audible for my commute to/from work.
2. Set a daily reading goal
  It’s hard for me to set a goal beyond just reading every day. I don’t like page or chapter counts, as I feel it stifles my brain. So for now, let’s just say the goal is to read every day.
3. Read before bed every night
  ZZZZZ…. no, seriously, this is my reading time. Now I just need to do a better job of putting down the phone earlier so I can get more reading time in before the eyelids close on me.
4. Keep a stack of tempting books on hand
  I don’t know any educators for which this is an issue. Part of my purpose for the reading goal this year was to get that stack a bit lower. I feel like I add five for every one I read! I do, however, want to add more fiction to the pile so that I have a plethora of choices.
5. Read aloud
  I’m perplexed. I don’t know how this will increase my book reads. First of all, no one wants to hear me. And if I am reading at bedtime, I may have a pretty grumpy boyfriend in the morning! How about an under my breath muttering?Any other tips you’d add to the list?
via How to read more books — Quartz
January 4, 2018
The Sky is Blue. It’s Always Blue.

Today I was binging through season 5 of Orange is the New Black in an attempt to complete the series (to date) before returning to work. In one of the episodes, Suzanne shares with her cellmates that the sky is always blue. She said, “It’s like the sky is blue, right? But when there are clouds, you think it’s gray. But, really, it’s still blue. It hasn’t changed. It’s just covered with gray clouds passing by. And your clouds will pass by.”

Wow!

How many times have we been so consumed by the grayness of the clouds that we fail to remember the sky is still blue? The clouds can take many forms. At work, they may be state mandates, or meeting overload, or high stakes testing. At home, it manifests itself as a squealing dryer, a leaking toilet, or a (near) empty checking account. And I have to admit, sometimes my clouds manifest themselves in those dearest to my heart, when frustrations run high over short tempers or hurt feelings.

“It’s like the sky is blue, right?”

Sure state mandates can be tedious, and meetings get boring, and we all know that high stakes testing isn’t the best accountability measure, but I get to spend my days with passionate, dedicated teachers and administrators who are in an unrelenting pursuit of the amazing school experience for EVERY child. I get to help design experiences that ignite student genius, and empower them to pursue their own passions. How amazingly blue of a sky is that?!? And I get paid for it, too!

“But when there are clouds, you think it’s gray. But, really, it’s still blue. It hasn’t changed.”

I ordered a rear bearing kit from Amazon for my dryer, and with the power of YouTube, should have it back in action before the weekend is over. A toilet seal is only a few bucks at Home Depot, and at least I have a steady paycheck to replenish that checking account. These are just things, after all. Things can be fixed, replaced, or lived without.

“It’s just covered with gray clouds passing by. And your clouds will pass by.”

My family is my center. My daughters fill my heart with so much joy. My boyfriend makes me smile every time I see him. We all have our moments when we are not at our greatest, but through it all, we continue to love and support each other.

Epicurus, ancient stoic philosopher, said, “Not what we have but what we enjoy constitutes our abundance.”

Committing to enjoying the blue sky!

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January 3, 2018