What If...The Beginning of Innovation

After reading some recent blog posts about innovation and pushing the thinking to the next horizon of possible, we took time as a staff to have a "What-If" session. I loved the ideas. Some of them will blossom, some will fade, and one might be the next big thing. Here is the raw data from the teachers responding to "What if MRH had..."

• open classrooms
• a boarding school
• a money tree
• BioGas golf carts
• a working farm
• no schedules
• outside Smartboards
• an unlimited budget
• two teachers per class
• an industrial arts program
• iPads for all
• a mute button for 7th graders :)
• a climbing tower
• whatever, whenever
• a pottery wheel
• individual bathrooms
• better restrooms
• potions class
• camels
• a slide from the 4th floor
• a Go-Cart track
• a roof golf tree
• archery range
• segways
• a new teacher's lounge
• a short bus
• free coffee
• teacher could make big messes and not have to clean them up.
• bat houses all over
• went year around
• had a separate building from high school
• one hour a day for student-driven passion learning
• added sixth grade
• hosted the the beekeepers association
• got too big
• stopped using technology
• went to single gender classes
• adopted an international school partner
• received a 10 million dollar grant
• went broke
• lost its diversity
• grew all its own food
• eliminated all paper and pencil use
• students were the teachers
• did no standardized tests
• got rid of tables, chairs, and desks
• had classic languages
• more water fountains
• had a rehabbed Steinway Grand
• sinks
• had publishing abilities
• did summer school differently
• a mentorship program with kids
• hugged more
• more dog time
• robots
• started at 9 a.m.
• all afternoon electives
• school swaps with the city
• popcorn machine
• mandatory service hours
• collaborated more with lower grades
• endless dry erase markers
• endless tissues
• a bell system
• skipped Fridays

Do you wish that any of these were a part of your school?