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How are you innovating in the present moment?

Percolating a lot these days, as many of us are, about how we get from here to there. Our relentless focus on our mission has been hit by the full force of the pandemic. It has made us slow. right. down. Yup, we are in The Waiting Place (thank you Dr. Seuss). And while there is lots of waiting, there is also space for deep creativity, curiosity, innovation and grace in this neutral zone as I wrote about in a recent post on LinkedIn.  And there is the same in embracing the current VUCA (gesundheit!) world:  one of V-olatility, U-ncertainty, C-omplexity and A-mbiguity.
 
At The Learning Partnership, our there has become crystal clear as we lean into our strategic plan and mission: to inspire and equip today's students to become tomorrow''s problem solvers and change makers.
 
How we get from here to there can be kind of messy. Sound familiar?
 
Figuring out the 'how' of innovation is both the joy and the frustration. The true spirit of innovation means having the courage to take not a step but a leap on a road less travelled - maybe a road never travelled - and sometimes where no pathway exists. Leaps are not for the faint of heart, however, leaps are what are demanded of us to meet and re-invent our future.
 
When it comes to leaping into the future, I have been inspired by so many of our public education leaders in Canada and how they are responding not just with small steps to address the new realities of COVID-19 but with some really creative innovations born out of the courage to leap. Things like:

• new innovations in education brought about by the necessity of physical distancing and initiating virtual/distance learning faster than ever before;
• existing ideas that have been given a new twist or new life as a result of COVID-19; and
• innovations that point to best practices that could become essential elements of the education repertoire in a post-COVID-19 world.

We are excited to bring you these stories in a series of guest blog posts, Innovations in Education Leadership, beginning this week. Our first post is by Erin Kelly, Director of Education for the Greater Essex County District School Board. She writes about connection and coherence as drivers of innovation and provides a wealth of examples from across her district. Check her post out here: https://www.thelearningpartnership.ca/about/news-updates/blog/innovation-through-connection-and-coherence
 
It is my deep hope that these stories and examples of passionate and talented Canadian educators will spark your own ideas and stories. And yes, we'd love to hear more of them and connect you to other innovators over the weeks to come!
 
On another innovation front, we are thrilled to bring you a post about two amazing teachers at McMurrich Junior Public School whose Entrepreneurial Adventure students participated in the first-ever Global Innovation Field Trip.

Z?lia Capit?o-Tavares and Kamla Rambaran have integrated The Learning Partnership's Entrepreneurial Adventure program into their regular curriculum. So when the pandemic hit, their students were already familiar with the digital tools for collaborating and contributing to their own and their peers' learning. Still, the transition to learning entirely remotely posed a number of challenges. This incredible group of students worked together to help solve them - and then presented their business ideas to thousands of fellow innovators around the globe on May 14-15. Read more here: https://www.thelearningpartnership.ca/about/news-updates/blog/using-remote-learning-to-build-community
 
Can't wait to continue our adventures with you in the weeks to come as we bring you more exciting innovations in education leadership to inspire your own leaps into the future!

One day at a time. We've got this ~

As we hit mid-summer here in the northern hemisphere I hope you're each taking time to rest and rejuvenate - in safe, socially-distanced ways of course!

Last month, I invited you to take the "Inclusive Innovation" pledge with me. It really meant a lot to know how strongly this resonated with so many of you!  

This month, we're launching a new editorial series - Diversity Drives Innovation - profiling some very special leaders in education, the public and private sectors, and academia who are doing just that. We're going to be highlighting their work and showing how a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion can unleash the innovation potential of students, educators and the communities and systems in which we live in Canada.

At the moment, I am doing my own version of rest and rejuvenation in the beautiful wilds of the Yukon ~ for me there is truly nothing more powerful than time with Mother Nature to ground me in what matters most. Just before I left, I wrote a LinkedIn post reflecting on where we've landed at the end of our fiscal year in June after one doozy of a final quarter - and, looking towards where we're heading at this new moment in time, full of challenges and also opportunities to build future ready students. Together.

Before I flew north of 60, it was my great honour to moderate two sessions of the second Global Innovation Field Trip. Read more about what happened when, for just the second time ever, over 100 innovation presenters from age five up to adult, representing more than 15 countries, got together online to demonstrate their innovative projects and ideas. Exciting? You bet. Inspiring? To the moon and back. Loved learning about their stories, their personal inspiration for innovation, and their ''what next?''.

We're also delighted to bring you Part 1 of how a dedicated approach to Indigenous cultural education is creating a home for Indigenous students throughout Prairie Valley School Division. I hope our interview with Reona Brass will inspire you to continue the learning and act on the social justice priorities set out by the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

And finally (it may be summer, but we are JAM-PACKED with powerful success stories), we are thrilled to present a story about New Brunswick's leading-edge approach to career education. Tricia Berry, from NB's Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, shares how she's used universal design for learning and adapted The Learning Partnership's Investigate! Invent! Innovate! (I³) to develop NB's new Future Ready Learning K-12 career education strategy so that ALL students can participate and benefit.

A favourite quote of mine is that "life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards" (S?ren Kierkegaard). Let''s live forward, together, to inspire and equip today's students to become tomorrow's problem solvers and change makers. Let''s build a future where creativity and critical thinking are possible for every child. We have never needed the full expression of their potential more than now.

#WeAreAllInThisTogether
#EducationForAll #AllmeansALL 

#Rejuvenate #Restore #OneDayAtATime #WeveGotThis

Closing the innovation gap from the inside out

So...how are you holding up?

A month ago - it seems so much longer! - when we launched this newsletter, we had no idea what was around the corner. Like all of you, we here at The Learning Partnership are rapidly pivoting in our work and personal lives to cope with the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19. I hope this finds each of you and your loved ones healthy and grounded as we continue navigating this state of uncertainty. While challenging, I am inspired by the remarkable levels of compassion, community and collaboration that are emerging on so many fronts.

Our immediate priority is to support students, parents and teachers to continue using our programs remotely outside of having access to public school classrooms. To do so, we are leaning heavily on the skills we are striving to cultivate in Canada's youngest students: competencies in innovation, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration, to name a few. These are informing how we deliver programs in the short term as well as how we are building new, sustainable and flexible models to address the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic poses to the education sector and whatever comes after.

In the midst of this we wanted to take an opportunity to celebrate the extraordinary efforts of the people who continue to work with, through and around these ever-shifting realities.
 
Teachers who are going way above and beyond to find new ways to teach. To support them, we are delighted to release a new program, Coding Quest Sampler, which offers a teacher-friendly, project-based remote learning option ideally suited to introducing students in Grades 4 - 8 to coding. Learn more here: https://www.thelearningpartnership.ca/coding-quest-sampler.
 
Community volunteers like Ali Soheil, a first-time mentor in the Entrepreneurial Adventure program at Thorncliffe Park Public School. Ali has shared not only his business expertise but his personal story as an immigrant to Canada with students, many of whom have fled difficult circumstances similar to Ali's and have been in Canada less than two years. Ali's story has touched a place in their hearts and theirs have made a powerful impact on him, too. Read more: https://www.thelearningpartnership.ca/about/news-updates/blog/celebrating-community-volunteers
 
And of course, to all of you who are parents and who may be deep in the struggle of balancing home, work, your children's needs and keeping yourselves and your family healthy and safe . we are by your side. To make it a bit easier to find activities and resources that encourage play-based learning while your children are out of school, we've created a family resource page loaded with fun, educational activities. Find it here: https://www.thelearningpartnership.ca/programs/covid19-resource-centre

I am so grateful to all of you for your ongoing support as we continue to build future ready students. Together.

Let's stay #TogetherApart as we work to support each other.

One day at a time. We've got this ~

Coding Quest Sampler answers the urgent need for remote teaching tools during COVID-19

The Learning Partnership joins 200+ charities seeking financial relief for Canada's charitable sector

These last few weeks have been a massive awakening for me as a leader, as a privileged white Canadian woman, and as a human being.

I thought I was 'woke' and while I may be, on some levels, it is clearly time for me to step up significantly on others.

Racism in Canada is a part of our current reality. As uncomfortable as it is to name, we all must confront the great harm caused by colonization of Indigenous peoples, systemic exclusion and violence towards Black, brown and other people of colour, and unjust treatment of many new Canadians.

It is time for all of us with privilege to step into allyship, truly and meaningfully. To listen, to learn, to educate ourselves, to know that the long-term impact of the work we do is only possible when we address structural, intra- and interpersonal racism.

We are a social change organization. It is our mission to inspire and equip today's students to become tomorrow's problem solvers and change makers - that means every student.

Our intention is to be inclusive of students from vulnerable, marginalized and systemically discriminated-against communities. Why? The evidence is clear that the participation of these students in the innovation economy is too often limited. This loss of the individual potential of these students limits our collective future.

As an organization committed to innovation this is a critical moment for us to double down on the recognition that diversity drives innovation. Without diverse voices at the table at the beginning stages of the innovation process, the result can only ever be the product of an echo chamber.

I believe we can do this across our programming, our impact measures, our outreach to diverse voices, our advisory councils, across our team and Board composition, and in those organizations we choose to partner with.

My invitation to you is a personal one:

Will you take the "Inclusive Innovation" pledge with me?

Step forward with me to acknowledge what must change with a brave and open heart.

Let us begin to open up conversations about race and racism, diversity and inclusion, privilege and power in our lives and in our organizations. Let us do so meaningfully, beyond short-term performative expressions and towards sustainable and significant action. 

Let us begin with curiosity, with humility, with compassion and let us leave our judgement and defensiveness behind.

Let us make this change together.

As we enter September, return-to-school plans across Canada are . in motion. Some provinces and school boards have delayed their return. Some, who thought they'd welcome students back in person, are looking at their COVID-19 case rates and organizing for a blended model. All are coordinating complex schedules, managing teacher, student, staff and community safety, and distributing scarce resources with the dexterity of a master of ceremonies at a 12-ring circus ~ and with grace and a LOT of creativity.
 
We salute you: parents, educators, students, employers, early childhood educators, essential workers, healthcare heroes, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles and so many others who are hopping from one ring to the next, juggling these roles and somehow making it all work.
 
This summer was a brief period to catch our breath and explore new programming for the year ahead. Our traditional planning toolbox and our go-to tools - such as prior years' experience and data - aren't super helpful right now.
 
The good news is that this is exactly the right environment to find or fashion new tools, new skills, new competencies and if we don't have them, tap in to those who do.
 
Sounds like a job for innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship!
 
This month, we're highlighting two stories about doing things in new ways. They draw on lessons from the past to envision and create a new future for students and teachers.
 
First up, Coding Quest. This program has been undergoing a lot of change and COVID-19 clarified exactly how it needed to morph and catalyzed its evolution. We've teamed up with Logics Academy, a leading Canadian provider of experiential K-12 STEM education, to update the Coding Quest curriculum, make it deliverable virtually or through a blended model, and add much more teacher training (live-streamed, no cost, French & English).
 
Coding Quest now covers Grades 1 to 8 making it a fantastic option for meeting provincial curriculum requirements to teach coding starting in Grade 1. Check it out HERE (and please feel free to SHARE WIDELY).
 
Next up is a conversation we had as part of our Diversity Drives Innovation editorial series. Our interview with Karen Hudson explores the Africentric curriculum she and her colleagues have created and implemented at Auburn Drive High School in Halifax. The first cohort of 22 students will graduate from this ground-breaking program in the 2020-2021 school year. It is an eye-opening story of courage, creativity, collaboration, character development, and every other "C" of the 6 Global Competencies you can name.
 
Personally, I'm going to keep the imagery of the sankofa bird top of mind as a busy September unfolds. This West African symbol represents the need to reflect on the past to build a successful future, and it was adopted and adapted by Auburn Drive's students early in their journey. I'm letting it teach me to move forward with curiosity and confidence while honouring the wisdom of the past. And, as Rebecca Solnit suggests, I'm also going to be "tender toward possibilities" and "dedicated to change all the way down to the bottom of [my] heart."
 
I hope you will be, too.
One day at a time. We've got this ~

GET READY FOR SEPTEMBER!
 
No matter what the school year brings, the new Coding Quest provides educators with all the training and support you'll need to teach students to code. 

• Virtual, blended or in-person classroom delivery
• No-cost, live-streamed teacher training - English or French
• Register and sign-up for training today and be ready to teach code to students in Grades 1 to 8!

Dear Kenny,

As you and your family enter a holiday season that will look much different than it did in 2019, here at The Learning Partnership we are wrapping up our own year of learnings, new directions, and next steps.
 
We'll end 2020 and begin 2021 with a renewed commitment to racial and social justice as we continue to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion throughout our organization. We've welcomed five new Board directors, bringing us to gender parity and increasing representation of people of colour on our board from 8% to 20%. This includes two women of colour and Deb Craven, CFO of Longo Brother's Fruit Markets, in the role of chair.
 
We've also joined two important national movements. Along with 400 other CEOs, I've signed BlackNorth Initiative's CEO Pledge committing to concrete action toward ending anti-Black systemic racism and creating opportunities for Black and other racialized people, Indigenous Peoples, members of the LGBTQ2 community, persons with disabilities, and women. 
 
And in December, we signed on to the 50 - 30 Challenge launched by Navdeep Bains, Canada's Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, which asks corporate and non-profit organizations to aspire to gender parity (50%) and significant representation (30%) of members of the BIPOC, LGBTQ2 and disability communities on boards and in senior management.
 
Engaging in these initiatives is not only the right thing to do to address historic inequities but it's also the mission-aligned thing to do. We understand the importance of reflecting the communities we serve and the unique opportunity to bring an equity lens to our work with students and educators across Canada. We know that 'diversity drives innovation' and innovation is the key to solving the challenges that face us in Canada and around the world.
 
At no time has this been more abundantly obvious than in 2020.
 
As I watch courier trucks and planes filled with vaccines roll out across North America, and see health care and personal support workers become the first to be vaccinated, I am filled with gratitude at the ingenuity, compassion, and dedication to service, science and technology of everyone who has worked so hard for this moment.

I stand in awe of those who have persevered, collaborated, held each other close in their hearts if not in their homes over so many months. As Churchill said, "this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
 
After a challenging, pivotal, precedent-setting year, The Learning Partnership's staff is taking a well-earned extended break to spend time with loved ones and to rejuvenate. They join me in wishing you a peaceful end to 2020 and to starting 2021 on a note of hope knowing that, in all we do and dream, #WeAreAllInThisTogether.