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1. The most impactful part of the documentary for me confirmed the power of PBL for learning. I already teach at a PBL school and seeing it supported, discussed, and implemented at High Tech High confirmed the feelings I have in my own classroom. I was particularly struck by the idea that PBL should cultivate the right conditions for the students to grow themselves and think metacognitively about their own learning. They called it "teaching as gardening" and I loved that. We are meant to facilitate and support the learner but also provide the struggle and rigor that helps the student grow and develop new skills. The power of students doing and thinking for themselves with proper scaffolding is a lengthy but inspiring process.

2. While I love teaching PBL, it is still difficult to help every student recognize a sense of purpose or find a personal connection to what they are doing. The documentary focused on two students at High Tech High, one more successful and one less successful--but who both developed new grit and skills through the process. While this does happen often, there are still students who don't find that meaning and connection even with support. I would like to find tools and means that help every student make that connection better independently, starting wherever they are in the process.

3. We discuss The Innovators Mindset often at my school. I love how PBL highlights those skills as students grapple with a question and find new solutions. They are resilient, like the boy in the documentary who made his pegs incorrectly for the rise-and-fall kinetic piece. He wasn't ashamed it didn't work on the project night but he went back to the drawing board and discovered what he had done incorrectly. The girl who directed the play was extremely reflective and realized how her role in the project gave her more confidence and voice. The teachers were risk-takers. They presented their students with a project that wasn't expected. The final products were presented to community members. They trusted their students to make choices and run plays and develop their own ideas. They allowed them opportunities for success and failure. This type of learning helps generate many of the mindsets and skills of innovative thinkers needed for the future.

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1. What was the most impactful part of the documentary for you? Or your biggest takeaway?
What impacted me was the truthfulness of the video.  There is not anything that they shared that was not the truth.

2. What is a potential 'sticking point' for you after viewing the film?
What am I as a teacher doing to create an environment that will start a mindset like the students in the documentary had.  I tried to do somethings in my class last year, but the students were afraid to really try.  They have been told what to do for so long that they don't know how to do things on their own.

3. How do you see The 8 Characteristics of an Innovator's Mindset in the students and teachers featured in the film?
Number 3, Risk-Takers, and number 6, Creators are the two that I have noticed my students struggle with. At the first of the documentary the students were afraid to set up the chairs in Socratic Seminar. It seemed to me that they were afraid to take a risk and get something wrong. At first they were also hesitant and hard for them to creating something. Not only did the students struggle, but so did the parents struggle with taking a risk on their Childs abilities to learn in a more creative way.

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- The most impactful part of this documentary for me is that it affirms the work that I am doing with my students at the alternative education high school where I teach. At my school, we have the most at risk, credit deficient students in our city with many not being successful at all at the traditional comprehensive high schools. I have developed and used a project based curriculum since I started teaching there because I am a believer that a skills based curriculum is more constructive and crucial then knowledge retention/standards based curriculum. To hear these experts say that and show how it works is solidifies my approach to learn by doing. I was able to make note of a few of the project ideas that I could implement in my classroom as well.
- The sticking point for me is to find ways to continue to get the resources to continue this type of education. Find a way to get the community involved much like the public exhibitions in the documentary. To see the gap between the economy and median income due to the lack of skills based workers is striking.
- The characteristics of an innovator's growth mindset is exactly to type of friend, person, employee, employer, and citizen we want to have in a productive well established society. Building this mindset will assist the students in getting there.

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1. What was the most impactful part of the documentary for you? Or your biggest takeaway?
For me, it was the statement, "What do we want kids to be accountable for? Higher test scores or higher quality work." When we teach to the test, I feel that students memorize it for the moment and then it's gone. Students are more engaged when they are actively learning and solving real-world problems.
2. What is a potential 'sticking point' for you after viewing the film? The sticking point for me was the need to teach our students the soft skills to be successful in life. By making students aware of these needed skills and how they can help them in life we can set them up for success. They learn to keep moving forward when they fail.
3. The 8 Characteristics of an Innovator's Mindset in the students and teachers featured in the film? I saw empathy, creators, resilience, reflection, problem-finders, and risk-takers. The teachers had empathy for students' failures. I think it is important to let them know that it is okay to not always have the answers. It encourages them to continue trying. The students who put on the play were definitely stepping outside their comfort zones. I really enjoyed the movie and wish it was easier to change the mindset of our population.

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Chris Hansen- Most Likely To Succeed Response

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Chris Hansen- Most Likely To Succeed Response

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1- Most impactful part of the documentary:

The idea of a human capital being the most important thing for our society and economy was the most impactful portion of this film.  Teaching students skills like GRIT, perseverance, empathy and communication was already percolating in my mind, but project-based learning to inspire ownership of knowledge and to further curiosity seems like a worthy goal.  I also really identified with the analogy in the movie that a teacher in today's world needs to be more a gardener and less of an engineer.  With the COVID pandemic fresh in our minds it is hard to not think that the outdated modality of education-- making students who know a specific set of skills, working a specific and constrained schedule with rote memorization, is quickly being turned on its head.  I felt greatly inspired to make small but impactful changes for my students to practice and refine their soft skills.

2-Potential Sticking Point:
I think it's a given with mathematics teachers that we have issues with testing students knowledge of our subject, and the idea of exhibitions standing in for actual assessment is difficult.  Both of the scenes in the movie that dealt with mathematics were parents- and high-achieving students- wanting and requesting that the more traditional way of assessment be kept within mathematics.  Remember the teacher in Colorado that sat down with the students and his best students said they wanted to be working toward acing the test, not "truly understanding" mathematics?  And also the one-on-one meeting between the parent and the mathematics teacher who graduated from Berkley?  I think both of those are prime examples of my own sticking points with the model of High Tech High.

3- 8 Characteristics of An Innovator's Mindset:

The one characteristic that comes jumping out to me is #6- Being a Creator and taking action.  Students and teachers actually had something to present and show the world at the end of their term.  There was something tangible in the wheel, and something performed in the play.  I was also very impressed with the patience of the humanities teacher working within Socratic seminar to #1- Show Empathy.

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1. What was the most impactful part of the documentary for you?

- Our wealth is greater but less people are able to work, or, in other words, we cannot graduate and get a job that is worth the time and cost of our degrees. Personally, as an English teacher, it's sad to see that even writing and assimilation was done by a computer.
- This still shows that despite various skills becoming obsolete, skills of creativity, social interaction, and moral decision making is more important than ever.
- I found it interesting that schools were built in an age or organization and factory-ization. Schools were built to systematize learning for the age they were built, not for today's demands or any human's learning needs.
- Students learn best when they are interested and when they see value in their learning. This is crucial. How can we consistently do this despite our constraints?

2. What is a potential 'sticking point' for you after viewing the film?

A sticking point for me is that even kids and parents *fought back* when people wanted to integrate valuable, skill-based, and creative learning. The reason? They were worried about SAT scores and college acceptance. When the factors we use to succeed in education hinder people from fruitful learning, it confirms a systemic issue. How can we shift, well, the entire system of education from these arbitrary scores and away from an economy that no longer offers opportunities for those pursuing education?  Despite these macro-issues, on a micro-level, I can create a classroom that builds the skills necessary in any field--and in the unknown economic future.

3. Read this short blog. How do you see The 8 Characteristics of an Innovator's Mindset in the students and teachers featured in the film?

I see numerous characteristics represented. First, empathy was shown by the teachers--when they're invested in the student and their learning and growth as a human, their empathy has room to grow. In the students, they have empathy for themselves and each other when working on projects. Next, Problem-solvers were shown in the HTH school itself.. really the school was founded by a problem-solver. The students were incessant problem-solvers because they were given room to make mistakes, test, innovate, and pursue solutions for a valuable purpose. Belief in the students, lack of hand-holding, project-based learning, and valuable work allows this. Creators, resilient, and reflective were all also shown, but I want to focus on reflective becuase I think it's something that's applicable to even traditional school. The process of reflection--both on behavior and skills--quite literally instills the long-term learning in the students. We must create the depth and structure to ask students to reflect, and that might mean (as was shown in the film) that some of the dense content needs to be removed.

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1. What was the most impactful part of the documentary for you?
The most impactful part of the documentary for me was watching the growth that Samantha made throughout the film. She started as a shy person who was scared to share her thoughts. By the end she was confident and could recognize the growth she made. She was truly able to make this growth because she was given the freedom to become a leader and learn on her own. I think so often we tell students what they need to learn and how they need to be rather than give them the tools to do so. Another part I appreciated was one of the girls at the end said I'm going to a "school full of nerds!" I always tell my students its cool to be a nerd because we should always be learning. I think its so powerful when we step back and let the kids do the discovering and learning and we are more of a facilitator.
2. What is one potential 'sticking point' for you after viewing the film?
I think the providing of choice is the biggest sticking point for me. I know in my district we are expected to strictly use the curriculum. I need to get away from the idea of only using the curriculum and that I can use more engaging and innovative means of reaching the kids but still teaching the standards.
3. How do you see The 8 Characteristics of an Innovators Mindset in the students and teachers featured in the film?
Three of the 8 Characteristics stuck out to me throughout the film; problem finders, creators, and resilient. The students searched for ways to improve what they were working on; problem finders. They all created a project in a way that expressed what they learned be that through an engineering project or a play. They were also very resilient. Especially the one boy (I didn't catch his name) who worked to fix his problem through the summer! Talk about resilient!

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1. What was the most impactful part of the documentary for you? Or your biggest takeaway?
Hearing some of the students express their desire to be test-ready in high school means there is more work to be done. The system is structured so that this is the norm and one outlier class may feel unnecessary in an otherwise test-prep space. The bigger picture may be difficult to see and absorb. The tests should measure life-readiness so that test-prepping includes life application.
2. What is a potential 'sticking point' for you after viewing the film?
So much structure goes in to creating spaces for students to do the work. While they are navigating the path on their own, educators build it first. It takes predicting problems and troubleshooting along the way for students to be successful even in their failures. The learning curve is great and the benefits can be greater.
How do you see The 8 Characteristics of an Innovator's Mindset in the students and teachers featured in the film?
#5 being observant and mindful of the environment is crucial for learning from unique individuals and circumstances; making connections between past experiences and new situations. Allowing for the flow is visible in the documentary.

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1. What was the most impactful part of the documentary for you? Or your biggest takeaway?
How long we have used this traditional method of teaching and that it originated from making obedient soldiers.
Learning choice is the ideal way for concepts to stick to students.
The reaction of students to the question, do you want your teacher to teach you how to ace the test or how to succeed in life. Students were more interested in passing the test so they could go to college because that is where you learn about yourself and what you want in your future.
2. What is a potential sticking point for you after viewing the film?
A sticking point for me is that there are options for choice learning and practical application, however, teachers are still healded to establish proof of learning through assessment.  Until the expectations of what learning look like change then teachers will continue to be held to traditional standards of proof of learning.
3. The innovator mindset that I saw represented was that students had the autonomy to create, collaborate, and reflect on their successes and failures. The student, Brian, experienced all of these and was able to learn how his choices inevitably affected his team. However, the student continued to work despite the set back which would go further to show his character and what he learned.

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1. What was the most impactful part of the documentary?

Our breakdown of our educational system that was developed over 100 years ago wasn’t necessarily to help society but make workers more predictable/obedient and not much has changed over time in the educational system but society and the employment industry has changed dramatically. With the advancement in technology in blue and white color jobs has made the worker obsolete. I the past if you earned a college degree you were pretty much guaranteed a job. That is no longer the case. Companies now are looking for employees with other skills such as teamwork, creativity, and problem solving. I wonder if our educational system provide opportunities to develop these skills.

2. What is a potential "sticking point" for you after viewing the film?

There is a disconnect between education at all levels and the employment industry. The math teacher that attempted project based learning was not well received even by the students because their fear of it adversely affecting their chances of getting into college. I question how we improve the educational system keeping in mind students learning differently and how we educate our students so they can be successful and prepare them for jobs that don't even exist yet.

3.  How do you see The 8 Characteristics of an Innovator's Mindset in the students and teachers featured in the film?

In the film I observed all the characteristics based on the blog. From the start, the teachers clearly were deciding on the projects based on their students' needs. Because the process is student centered the students learn how to ask meaningful questions as they encounter and overcome obstacles. From concept to design, students are encouraged to take risks. These are meaningful experiences to learn from their success and mistakes. They work with a team to help them be innovative in their project. Having their final product presented at the end of the year is the accountability needed to encourage their perseverance to complete their project. Having the final presentation be a public forum, I believe motivates the students present a project they are proud of. I appreciate in the documentary showing the student who didn't finish and the reflection on how the student can improve. In addition the positive changes for those students as they reflected on the project. It was very powerful.

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1. The most impactful parts of the documentary were:
* 21st century needs different standards and skill sets than we did 129 years ago.
* Giving students autonomy over their learning helps develop stronger critical thinking skills and a desire to want to learn.
* There are so many people speaking to the fact that standardized tests don't in fact prove learning has taken place in the long term, yet no one has taken a stand strong enough to change it.
* The middle class is in jeopardy, our education system is set at average and yet computers are replacing the very things we are teaching kids to be average at.

2. My biggest 'sticking point' is that I can create more opportunities for my students to interact with each other, collaborate on projects, share ideas and try to problem solve without jumping in.  I loved that in the film it was so easy to see the difference in the students at High Tech High engaging deeply in their work, it was student led and they took charge.  I would like to create more moments like that in my classroom.

3. How do you see The 8 Characteristics of an Innovators Mindset in the students and teachers featured in the film?

I believe the teachers and students demonstrated all of the 8 characteristics of an innovator mindset in the film.  It was truly amazing to watch and listen to the conversations between student and teacher, to see students growth through the year.  Seeing the teachers step back and allow students to fail and keep trying to be problem solvers I thought was amazing.  I loved that all the teachers networked with other teachers to make real, meaningful courses.  The students networked with each other.  I think for me the discussion around resilience throughout the film spoke the loudest to my heart.  I have found too often in my classroom, there is a lack of grit, perseverance, effort, you know resilience.  Kids want that satisfaction now, answers now, to have to struggle through anything is uncomfortable for them and I feel that we as a society have created this situation.  Seeing a student struggle is hard, but it's where most of the learning and self esteem building takes place, instead parents have saved their students from these uncomfortable situations and therefore we have students that don't know how to show grit or resilience.

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1. What was the most impactful part of the documentary for you? Or your biggest takeaway?

The most impactful part of the documentary was:

*soft skills are the most important part of entering the workforce
*college does not equal a great job
*motivation was the key element in the learning for the students
*life is nothing like tests that we give in a school setting
*to truly learn we must create, give and receive feedback, problem solve and be logical
*this type of learning does not have an immediate reward like a test score
*it’s okay to fail, but you must keep trying
*STUDENTS ARE CREATING RESULTS  AND BECOMING LEADERS WITH THE EXPERIENCES THEY ARE GIVEN

2. What is one potential 'sticking point' for you after viewing the film?

My biggest sticking point is that teachers are bound in most public education by test scores and they are paid and scored in evaluations that are tied to test scores. This whole idea is a mind shift that extends past the classroom, and as we saw from the parents in the film, into society itself.
Schools, teachers, administration, are all bound by test scores and students going to college.

3. How do you see The 8 Characteristics of an Innovators Mindset in the students and teachers featured in the film?

I was thoroughly impressed with the students ability to collaborate together and discuss problems in the task itself and in the big picture idea. The students had to have empathy for each other to be able to take risks in discussions in class and during the project creating itself. The students also built a resiliency while working on projects that were multi-faceted. They created personal responsibility and perseverance while working together. I also saw the teachers change their perspective and had to let go of some of their power to allow the students to fail, grow and ultimately learn their own personal lessons. This must have been difficult reimagining learning and taking this risk.

Also, respond to one peer.
Done, but I kept hitting enter. So on one response it is above the written response and one is under it. Sorry!

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| 1.    What was the most impactful part of the documentary for you? Or your biggest takeaway? I really enjoyed how the film really helps document a lot of the frustrations we have as teachers. It was not shocking to find out how much education has not changed and involved since the industrial age. I think that we have had so many issues with moving forward because of the disconnect with education and current world problems.
| 2.    What is a potential 'sticking point' for you after viewing the film? A sticking point for me was how I can change my current practices or what practices seem outdated. I know that a lot of times teaching the basics to my students are important, but then how can we evolve and change from those basics. As teachers we do a lot of this work day to day but the biggest issue, I see are the politicians and higher ups that are not willing to change the system that has been broken for generations.  3.    The innovator mindset is a great way for students to build on their critical thinking skills. We see these steps in the documentary by having students work through their projects. It was amazing being able to see students so supposed when they were asked to be in a Socratic seminar and how confused they were when asked to speak. In a sense if students aren’t feeling like they can speak their own minds in a classroom then how to we expect them to be successful in critical thinking skills.
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1. The biggest parts that stuck out to me was that they didn't have to follow any standards and that the teachers are only on a one year contract. Not following standards goes against anything I've been taught as far as following a guideline. It leaves room for so much more discussion or digging deeper into specific interests of the students. The second part, one year contract, seems like a very good motive to make sure you have good teachers! It seems a little crazy that in our current education system we usually just get raises for the number of years we have taught and the highest degree/credits we have, not necessarily our performance.

2. I am not currently teaching, but in the future I’d say the sticking point for me would be having a big exhibition type of project. I think it would be great to have the students make something and show it off to all the parents and other students, similar to senior projects. Like the video said, it is a big motivator knowing not just the teacher is going to be evaluating your big project.

3. There were some many characteristics shown. One of the biggest things I think for the students would be “resilience.” Since it is a lot of self lead learning and figuring things out on your own, the students definitely need to be resilient otherwise they will fail. All 8 of these characteristics were shown in the film but the next one that stuck out to me was the teachers being “empathetic.” They had to understand how difficult it was for these students coming into a completely new environment at High Tech High but they also knew that they couldn’t coddle them because that’s not what this new schooling was like.

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1. What was the most impactful part of the documentary for you? Or your biggest takeaway?

This was such an interesting documentary. There were several ah-ha points:

People (students) learn in different ways - shouldn’t they be taught in different ways?

When students just memorize, retention is low.

If teachers can teach what and how they are passionate about, their excitement affects the students.

Soft skills, such as confidence, being about to collaborate, time management, problem-solving, flexibility, etc. are skills necessary for succeeding in the ‘real world’.

Transition is scary for parents, but many see the necessity of it.

Projects help students accept responsibility - they know why they are learning.  They feel more accomplished when they make something that wasn’t there before. They learn by making mistakes and doing better the next time. The ‘grade’ is when their projects are presented to parents, friends, and strangers.

May take 15 years or more to gather data.

Data so far:  Students from nontraditional school score 10% higher on standard accessments. 98% of High Tech High students went on to college.

2. What is one potential ‘sticking point’ for you after viewing the film?

I liked that they followed two individual students that were very different, through the school year. Samantha was quiet and shy, but became confident and realized that she could lead others.  Brian’s did not complete the final project in time, but was not deterred by this failure.  He put in extra time and the final result was exciting for him.  I did wonder about the others in his group. He seemed controlling and did not seem to allow much input from others. I would have liked more information on the final interview - it looked like teachers, students, and parents were involved with the student publicly reflecting on the skills and knowledge they had acquired.

3.How do you see The 8 Characteristics of an Innovator's Mindset in the students and teachers featured in the film?

I thought it was interesting that both students and teachers needed these characteristics.  It is very hard to watch a student fail and not want to correct, but they learn better by doing.  Empathy is a characteristic - teachers need to understand how students learn before they know how to teach. They both are problem finders, risk-takers, and resilient - and realize failure is just a stepping stone to success.  Being observant and working well with others (networked) - sharing ideas lead to new and better creations. And being reflective is important - to stand back and learn what worked and what didn’t and what needs to happen next. A teacher needs to embrace ‘innovation’ before students can.

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Wendy Brown

1.       What was the most impactful part of the documentary for you? Or your biggest takeaway?

The biggest takeaway for me was the level of responsibility that was expected from the students, and how by the end of the school year, had risen to that level of responsibility.  For me it shows what students can be capable of, as long as we as teachers can trust in their ability to create, and be problem solvers.  So many students are just going through the motions of getting through a class, and not taking anything away after the class is done.  How many would benefit from being able to take control of their education and actually get something out of it that will stay with them?

2.       What is one potential 'sticking point' for you after viewing the film?

One potential sticking point would be getting parents to trust the program. When I was teaching 5th grade, I tried to have at least one group project per term.  The first one always took the longest because I had to train the kids how to work together to get the project done.  At one point in the third term, I had a parent contact me with concerns about the number of group projects the students had done, and that it was making it harder for her daughter to “ace the class.”  When I explained that I felt it important that the kids learn to work in groups because that was the way the workforce was heading, she replied with, “They’re just kids, they don’t need to worry about that yet.”

People are resistant to change, and to propose something that looks completely backwards to how education “should be done”, I think it could be very hard for some parents to accept the changes.

3.       How do you see The 8 Characteristics of an Innovators Mindset in the students and teachers featured in the film?

One of the characteristics is empathy.  The teachers modeled so much patience and empathy towards their students, especially for the incoming freshmen.  I know there was a lot more to the process than could be shown in a 90-minute film, but what I saw showed that the teachers were focusing on modeling those 8 characteristics to their students.  I was so impressed watching the students evolve over the school year.  Especially Samantha who was so unsure of herself and shy.  To see her gain so much in confidence that she was able to direct a play, and to voice what she wanted and to become a leader was very inspiring.

Another student I was impressed with was Brian, who didn’t get his project done in time for the community event.  To see a student put in so much extra time to finish a project, even after it was due was amazing.  The fact that he didn’t give up showed his level of resilience.

I also admired the fact that they had the students reflected on their experiences.  I think that’s one thing that is missing from a lot of traditional assessments.  Too often students and teachers simply move on instead of looking back and reflecting on the experience.

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Wow. This film was really powerful. I think my biggest takeaway was the personal growth and transformation in the kids that would be hard to create in a regular classroom. I loved seeing Samantha grow from a quiet girl so unsure of herself to someone leading a group in stress reducing breathing exercises and visualization and directing a play. I loved seeing Brian learn from his mistakes in a way no F grade could teach him and to see him gleefully succeed in the end, which I think is what all educators want for their students, was so exciting. 

I think I want to build in more choice and project based learning in my ELA classroom. This is tricky with our adoption of new curriculum this year, but I want to find ways to let kids learn in their own way and create something authentic for a real world audience. We have an exhibition night at the end of the year and I want to use it to push kids to create authentic pieces of learning that showcase new skills and cause them to grow in their soft skills. 

I definitely see all of the characteristics of the innovator’s mindset in the characters of the film The teachers were so empathetic and so clearly for the kids, but in a way that also allowed kids to fail. The kids were most definitely problem solvers throughout their processes of creating the physics cog projects and the plays. They were networked in their groups and then together in the end as they all participated in the exhibition. I loved the final reflection pieces that allowed them to reflect on how they’d grown throughout the year through the project. That part was really powerful. 

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1. I think when the film talked about the students needing to try, fail, learn, and try again is so important today for our students. We live in a system that says if you get As and do well on your SAT then you are smart, but really the student that never stops trying, fails, and keeps learning because they don't give up, is the successful student.

2. A sticking point for me is what am I trying to do for my students? Am I trying to make sure they can do well our their tests or do I want to make sure they are putting what I teach into real life situations and building their confidence, their critical thinking, their perseverance? I think helping them develop their soft skills is just as important as learning  basic math, reading and writing skills, if not more so.

3. Watching the students and teachers not only work on their subject matter, but work on innovative qualities makes so much sense. As students started trying to figure out how to use gears to show the rise and fall of civilization they needed to be able to ask the right questions, to take risks, to learn from each other, to be observant of others, to create. All of these qualities along with many others made them better people. They learned their own weaknesses and will learn to improve. The student who did not complete his work in time did not give up, he persevered and completed his task. No one condemned him but himself. The teachers were good and helping him to see that he had great qualities and to continue using those while improving his weaknesses.
Taking a shy girl and allowing her to step outside her comfort zone will make her more confident and then having her reflect on it only helped to make her more ready to do something risky again.

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1.

The biggest takeaway I had was understanding the deeper connection of 21st Century Learning skills and Project-Based Learning, and why these are necessary for the future if students are to graduate and be equipped for jobs. I have heard and understood this previously, but after having watched the full documentary I now can see through a wider lens the real reasons behind needing to incorporate real-life authentic learning experiences within the classroom, so the students that I am teaching can be better prepared for life.

2.

I found the conversations between the teacher and the students really interesting, particularly as the teacher was using Project-Based Learning and the students were pushing back against it as they would prefer to “ace the test”. It is an interesting conversation. A highlight was when the mom of the student that was the director of the play shared about her own reservations about sending her daughter to a school that didn’t teach to the test. She shared her reason behind willing to send her daughter there because she could see her friends’ children have graduated from elite universities and be back home working for their parents without a job suitable to what they graduated from university in and that she needed to do something different for her daughter. Essentially, understanding how the current school system is failing students is important so that changes can be made to transition towards developing 21st Century Learning communities connected in Project-Based Learning. Seeing and understanding that students have feelings, emotions, aspirations, and lives is critical to a student-centered learning community.

3.

There are a variety of ways these characteristics are featured in the film, however, primarily these characteristics are expressed through the Project-Based Learning activities the students do at the high school. Brian, one of the students featured in the film failed to finish his project in time for the Exhibition. The Exhibition itself is an opportunity for the students to have accountability and to showcase their work. Brian was extremely creative with his ideas for the project, however, as he found out, they were too unrealistic to be completed in the shorter time frame he had. During the reflection, which is a characteristic connected to the Innovators Mindset article, he shared how he had failed to listen to his team and had hurt them. This was important as he was able to demonstrate empathy for his peers. Brian continued to work at the project, demonstrating resilience, problem-solving, and risktaking, and finally, during the summer completed the project! This is just one aspect of some of the characteristics of the innovator’s mindset that were demonstrated in the film, however, this one, in particular, was incredibly powerful to see these soft skills in action through Brain’s actions, and the fruit that was very evident in Brian after he achieved the goal of finishing his extraordinary project.

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1. This documentary contains many impactful components for me.  It's difficult to narrow this to just one.  However, I was most affected by the eloquent way Linda Darling-Hammond, the professor from Stanford, explained what this new form of learning should look like.  She made her comment soon after Larry Rosenstock showed the graphic organizer he used to study for the bar, so I had his picture in mind when I heard Linda's explanation.  She explained it this way, "Real work requires students to be: resourceful, resilient, willing to continue to learn, and willing to have a growth mindset.  When you design learning around these intense projects, that's what builds grit and perseverance and allows students to be successful after they get out of the artificial system we call school."  Linda's statement reminded me that teacher need to allow students to experience real-world decision making opportunities in the classroom and they need to learn to take calculated risks that could fail.  Although most importantly, students need to be expected to learn from their failures.  2.  The sticking point for me  is how we are confined by the industrial model of curriculum procedures enacted long ago by the Committee of Ten.  Instead of this form of lock-step curricular confinement, we need to embrace what Andrew McAfee (MIT economist) explained, "The world is an interesting place, your job is to understand it, probe it, change it, and poke at it..."  This type of autonomous teaching and learning would lead students to be able to make sense of organic connections that can only be made when given the chance think and create in innovative ways.  3. Empathy-Mark Aguirre  immersed himself in the process of Socratic seminar with his students.  He asked pivotal questions like "Define boring" to get his students to really think.  Problem Finders-Scott Swaaley and Mike Strong created a project which required student to ask themselves why ancient civilizations grew or failed and then answer their questions through mechanical representations.  Risk Takers-Mark Aguirre allowed Samantha's group to represent their research through the Pakistan play which went off the beaten path and he continually helped them define what they were supposed to be learning.  Networked-Scott and Mike's project required their students to work in teams in which team members took on different roles.  As students were building they were suggesting ideas to each other to make innovative improvements.  Observant-Andrew McAfee demonstrated how our world has changed and we now have Narrative Science in which a computer can write letters, attorneys jobs are being replaced by computers, and how physical and mental human abilities have been replaced by computers.  Since this is the case we need to teach students to do what technology can't.  Creators-Brian, the 9th grade student, was visionary but he had difficulty finishing his projects.  He needed to be free to offer ideas and then let others try to fulfill his ideas.  Resilient-Scott addressed this with Brian.  Because Brian was unable to finish his project in time for the exhibition, Scott had Brian come in over the summer to finish his project.  Scott showed Brian that he would need to keep tweaking his project to get it to work even if he didn't finish in time.  Reflective-Scott and Mike allowed each student to share about the process they went through leading up to the exhibition.  Scott and Mike asked pointed questions to help each student reflect about what worked and what didn't in their process.

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I enjoyed this film and even dreamt about it last night. What I would like to take from these concepts is the importance of letting go of control. The teacher really needs to place trust in her students allowing them to make decisions and mistakes. I think this is the hardest part about this model of teaching. This however would provide the most benefit to the students giving them the sense of confidence and ownership of their own learning that is lacking in American education today.

The sticking point i think for the predominant educational system is the fact that students are not learning a set curriculum.  If however, the focus shifts to teaching these soft skills: confidence, critical thinking problem solving, collaboration, etc., then we would be setting up our students for success in whatever field they pursue.

Each of the characteristics of an innovator can be seen in the film. The two that stuck most with me is that of being a risk taker and reflective. All students in the film took risks by putting their work on display for the public -failures and successes. The reflective part part of the learning process encourages growth mindset giving them the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and make connections from the work that they did to the skills they acquired.

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1. This documentary was just amazing. I loved every second of it. I know that not every high school or school for that matter can 'BE' High Tech High, but what stuck out to me the most was the fact that the principles talked about and shown in this documentary can be implemented in ANY school.  The students are still learning. Teachers are still teaching. It's just in a different format and it excites me!  2. I think the biggest obstacle is getting the 'majority' on board with moving a school in this direction. We've done school in the same way for so many years. It will be very difficult to get the general population on board. 3. The Innovator's Mindset characteristics are woven throughout the film. Both teachers and students embody them. They may not know that is exactly what they are doing, but they are rocking it! They are truly problem finders and risk takers, just to name a few! I would love to be apart of this school!