Iterate The Secret to Innovation in Schools

Innovate and implement new, effective ways of teaching in your school

In Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools, veteran educator, MIT professor, and incorrigible innovator Justin Reich delivers an insightful bridge between contemporary educational research and classroom teaching, showing you how to leverage the cycle of experiment and experience to create a compelling and engaging learning environment. In the book, you'll learn how to employ a process of continuous improvement and tinkering to develop exciting new programs, activities, processes, and designs.

The author draws on over two decades of experience with educators, education researchers, and school leaders to explain how to apply the latest advances in the academic literature to your school, classroom, or online/hybrid course. You'll also find:

• Complimentary access to two popular courses archived at the MIT Open Learning Library: Launching Innovation in Schools and Design Thinking for Leading and Learning
• Insights grounded in extensive scholarly experience in design and innovation from Prof. Reich and the MIT Teaching Systems Lab
• Strategies for combining the most effective evidence-based teaching methods with the flexibility and creativity displayed by schools during the COVID-19 pandemic

An invaluable strategic playbook for innovative teaching, Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools is perfect for PK-12 school and district leaders, teacher leaders, and educators.

Justin Reich started his career as a high school history teacher and is now an associate professor at MIT and the director of the Teaching Systems Lab. He is the author of Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can’t Transform Education. He earned his doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Introduction: The Secret to School Improvement               7

My Best Teaching Ever: Wilderness Medicine      7

Creating Time and Space for Iteration     9

Iterative Improvement at MIT     10

Three Cycles for Iterative Improvement 11

The Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning          13

Design Thinking for Leading and Learning              15

Collaborative Innovation Cycle   17

Three Principles for Iteration      18

Think In Cycles and Spirals            19

Act in Short Design Cycles             19

Improve in Community  19

Chapter 1: What is the Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning?   21

Changing the Complex, Fine-Grained Work of Teaching   24

Teachers Primarily Change Their Pedagogy in Response to Other Teachers             26

Three Phases to the Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning          27

Experiment        28

Experience         29

Plan       32

What’s missing from the Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning 33

Evaluation and Measurement    34

Loss       35

Power, Difference, and Design Justice     37

Leadership and the Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning            40

Chapter 2: Spinning the Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning   44

Creating More Opportunities for Experimentation            46

Pointing a Light: Targets of Difficulty        47

Making Time: Summer Innovation Funding           47

Finding the Resources All Around You: Students as Designers       49

Innovation Staffing: Department Heads, Coaches, and Teachers on Special Assignment    50

Using the Bully Pulpit      51

Making Team Learning Richer: Looking at Student Work and Instructional Rounds              53

The Proof of the Pudding: Looking at Student Work          53

Getting into Classrooms: Instructional Rounds    54

Institutional Learning: Ramping up Planning through Peer-to-Peer Learning           56

Meeting Times are Instructional Sharing Times   58

Teacher Led Peer-to-Peer Learning          59

Seeing Outside Expertise as the Catalyst Teacher to Peer-to-Peer Learning             61

Rowing in the Same Direction: Creating Common Instructional Language and a Shared Vision        62

Preparing to Communicate Together: Creating a Common Instructional Language               62

Developing a Shared Vision: Right-Sized Goals     64

Iterating Forward with The Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning             66

Chapter 3: What is Design Thinking?        68

From Waterfalls to Sprints: A Brief History of Design         71

From Dewey to Design Thinking 74

The Design Justice Critiques of Design Thinking   76

Getting Started with Design Thinking for Leading and Learning    78

Key Principles to Design Thinking for Leading and Learning            81

Six Phases for Design Thinking for Leading and Learning  84

Discover               84

Focus    88

Imagine 91

Prototype           93

Try          97

Reflect & Share 99

Reflection and Inclusion 101

Conclusion          102

Chapter 4: Getting Started with Design   104

Discover               104

Research to Discover: Surveys, Interviews, and Observations       104

Iterating on Discovery    106

Combining Local Knowledge with Education Research     108

Focus    109

Going from Observable Data to Underlying Challenges    109

Finalizing a Focus Area   112

Imagine 113

User Personas (or Community Personas)               114

Imagine by Analogy         115

Imagining from Flare to Focus     117

Prototype           118

Sketching and Storyboarding      119

Paper Prototyping and Wireframing         121

Physical Prototyping and Rehearsals        123

Try          124

When to Try Out Your Prototypes             125

How to Try Out Your Prototypes 126

Who Should Try Out Your Prototypes      130

Reflect & Share 132

Design Crits         132

Conclusion          134

Chapter 5: The Collaborative Innovation Cycle     136

Four Phases of the Collaborative Innovation Cycle             139

Developing the Collaborative Innovation Cycle with Peter Senge 142

Looking Inwards and Outwards, Setting the Frame for the Collaborative Innovation Cycle 143

Systems Thinking in Schools        143

Who Leads? Distributed Leadership in Schools    145

Key Principles for the Collaborative Innovation Cycle        146

Bringing People Together Around Ideas They Care About               147

Four Questions for Innovation    150

Refining a Vision and Getting to Work     154

Building from Personal Visions to Shared Vision  155

Managing Difference in a Shared Vision  159

The Someday-Monday Dilemma 161

Getting to Work: The Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning, and Design Thinking for Leading and Learning           164

Working Together Through Ups and Downs          165

Four Fields of Listening  171

Tools for Better Listening: The Ladder of Inference           176

Addressing Disagreement Through a Bias to Action           180

Measuring Progress and Adjusting            183

Key Principles for Measuring Progress and Adjusting        184

Distinguishing Assessment from Evaluation          186

Gathering Evidence from Artifacts of Learning     188

Gathering Evidence from People               193

Using Assessment to Revitalize Initiatives and to Get Unstuck      198

Conclusion          199

Chapter 6: Tools and Strategies for the Collaborative Innovation Cycle     201

Activities for Bringing People Together Around Ideas They Care About     201

Visions for a Powerful Learning Environment       202

Four Questions for Innovation    204

Asset Mapping  208

Activities for Refining a Vision and Getting to Work           211

Exploring Possible Visions: Rightboro Scenarios  211

Refining a Vision: The Someday/Monday Starter Kit          218

Part 1 - Someday: What Does Awesome Look Like?           218

Part 2 - Monday: Concrete Steps               220

Activities for Working Together Through Ups and Downs                221

Activity: Left-Hand Column Case 222

Activities for Measuring Progress and Adjusting 225

Assessment Planning Scenarios 225

Assessment Plan              230

From Launching Innovation in Schools to Sustaining Innovation in Schools              232

Conclusion: Cycles, Endings, and Beginnings         234

Balancing Coherence and Innovation      234

When Cycles End              235

Final Thoughts: Inclusion and Joy              237

Appendix 1: Design Thinking Starter Project Walkthrough: Helping a Friend with a Routine or Event           239

Step 1: Discover: Prepare for & Conduct an Initial Interview          239

Prepare & Conduct Interview Template 241

Example Interview          243

Step 2: Focus: Identify a Specific Design Problem               246

Key Takeaways Template             247

Key Takeaways Example 248

Step 3a: Imagine new Solutions 250

Brainstorm Template     251

Brainstorm Template     253

Step 3b: Choosing a Solution for Prototyping       254

Step 4: Prototype Your Solution 255

Step 5: Try out your Prototype, Get User Feedback, and Iterate  258

Design Hypothesis Tryout Template         259

Feedback Template        261

Feedback Example          263

Step 7: Reflect and Share              266

Appendix 2:  Design Thinking for Leading and Learning in Practice Walkthrough   268

Discover               269

Discover 1a: Find Your Team       269

Discover 1b: Review The School Change Status Quo          269

Discover 1c: Identify a Problem of Practice            270

Discover 1d: Identify Stakeholders           272

Discover 1e: Gather Stakeholder Perspectives on Your Problem of Practice through Interviews, Observations, Student Work, or Surveys             272

Discover 1f: Research and Comparison schools    275

Focus    276

Focus 2a: Thinking About Needs (Focus) 276

Step 3: Brainstorm Solutions (Imagine)   278

Step 3b: Evaluate Ideas (Imagine)             279

Step 4: Plan Initial Steps (Prototype)       280

Step 5: Take a Step and Iterate (Try)        284

Step 7: Reflect & Share  286

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