The Innovator's Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity

Everyone has an innate desire to make a difference in the world and leave a lasting legacy. Innovator’s Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity is a book that empowers teachers, administrators, coaches, parents, and anyone who cares about a quality education to make a difference-- now! George Couros creatively crafts a story that will touch your heart, inspire the greatness within you to make innovative changes for our kids, and cause you to take pause and reflect. Quotable quotes, research, resources, anecdotes, and actual how-to’s fill every page. He’ll push your thinking, and all the while you’ll know that YOU too can make a significant impact on the lives of kids. There is a leader within whether you have a title or not and George will tap into your strength and model for you how to lead the way for meaningful change in your classroom, school, or learning community. His message resonates, and he’ll meet you wherever you are in your journey and inspire you to take the next step. You won’t be able to sit! If this book doesn’t ignite the fire within, nothing will! George Couros is a master writer, communicator, and leader. His passion and love for learning are clearly evident in his inaugural book. If you love and care about kids, you’ll love reading this book! There are tantalizing tidbits for EVERY learner. Couros says it so well, "Change is an opportunity to do something amazing." YOU can make a difference! Follow his lead. Leaders and teachers, this is your "go-to" book of the year and a MUST READ! I can’t wait to read it a second time so that I can savor all of the deliciousness within its pages all over again! Dave and Shelley Burgess have done it AGAIN! It's a treasure to share with all of my colleagues!

The Innovator's Mindset: Empower, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity by George Couros is by far one of the best educational reads to inspire, motivate, and empower educators. Couros speaks to his audience in a voice that is relatable, empathetic, and practical. I was searching for a book to utilize for a book discussion with the new teachers in the Mentor Program I lead in my school district, and when I came upon this read, I looked no further. Couros immediately captured my attention as he passionately and seamlessly takes the idea of "innovation" and makes it accessible and meaningful to all leaders and teachers! He talks about how innovation does not have to be a complex idea, but can be a movement toward making intentional shifts that will transform an educators' current instructional practices; he encourages educators to reimagine their curriculum, instruction, and assessments while keeping the learner at the center of all decision making. Furthermore, the 8 Characteristics of The Innovator's Mindset should be the cornerstone of how all educators approach leadership, teaching and learning in an educational organization! Couros values the idea of leading with empathy, developing relationships, connecting, networking, and building trust; with relationships at the core of what we do, the important work of risk-taking, creating, problem-solving will propel learners into self-discovery, develop their social, emotional, and academic capacity, while using their imagination and creativity in dynamic, energetic, and rewarding ways! I cannot tell you how much positive feedback the book has received from the educators I work with. They have been extremely excited and motivated to immediately implement the many practical ideas George Couros suggests; one being Identity Day-where educators and people in the educational organization get the opportunity to share their passions and interests with the school community; an extremely empowering learning experience where student voice and choice is the heart of the activity! My advice....RUN to get this book because your lens on education, innovation, creativity, and learning will be impacted in the most inspiring, thought provoking ways!

I recently finished reading the book The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros and am eager to continue the conversation of the book's contents with anyone. Over the past few years, I have read all of George's blog posts because his thoughts on education resonate with my educational philosophy, so to say I connected with the book would be an understatement. We are in an exciting time in education with so many opportunities for ourselves and our students, so George starts by defining innovation "...as a way of thinking that creates something new and better." His positive and straight-forward approach throughout the book encourages his readers to embrace change. He strategically provides opportunities to look at our selves/school/district in the "mirror" through questions posed in the book while opening the door to considering something better because we should never be done innovating, growing, and learning. This book is a must read if you are... 1. an educator or school leader. 2. truly focused on "What is best for each learner?" 3. open to new ideas to ponder, discuss, and develop. 4. ready to challenge the status quo. 5. interested in creating new and better educational opportunities for your students. 6. open to considering well-developed ideas to make school a more innovative place for students. The words in The Innovator's Mindset are not just words in a book, but rather a thoughtful culmination of George's own journey towards an Innovator's Mindset. As a connected educator himself, George connects the dots of current education thought and synthesizes the information in a way that encourages all educators to move forward. Spending some quality time with this book is the perfect place to start. The Innovator's Mindset is another outstanding book from Dave Burgess Publishing. I have read most of the books in the Dave Burgess publishing series and found each one to be though-provoking as each author underscores better educational opportunities for students. These books are outstanding for book study discussions which can lead to positive changes in your classroom/school/district.

Simply put, this book is a must read! Here is the short of it: -#InnovatorsMindset is told in a narrative the draws readers into the learning story. -This book is great for Central Admin, Principals, Teachers and Parents - everyone can be a learner! -This will open the reader up to new perspectives, new ways of thinking and most importantly, new ways of learning. -Not only a passionate narrative, but George lays out a solid foundation and plan to improve school culture and the learning environments in our buildings. -The ideas in this book are transformational! And the long of it: I have read many a resource on supporting learners, assessment, leadership, 21C teaching and learning and innovation. Many of these books, while having some valid points, lack the personal touch and narrative. These two points are extremely important when it comes motivating staff to take action and bring about a change in learning for students. The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros (@gcouros), has BOTH of these and easily engaged our staff. The personal narrative the George winds throughout the book entices readers along in their learning journey throughout all of the chapters. This narrative causes readers to reflect on their practices and asks them if they are bringing out the best in our students. Further to this, the narrative also encourages staff to create a safe culture and to focus on building relationships where all people feel safe as they challenge their current practices and educational philosophies. Our staff have been reading this book as we re-examine our school's vision and we craft our new direction and it meshes perfectly with what we are doing. The discussion questions at the end of each chapter assist staff to deepen their understanding and broaden the possibilities of innovative learning opportunities. The resource links that George provides are current, relevant and engaging and are highly suitable for professional learning opportunities. They really help to illustrate the points that George makes and they resonate with staff. Initially we purchased copies of this book for just our school leadership team. Our staff were so engaged and passionate about the book, we purchased copies for everyone in our school. We are also undertaking the revision of teaching and learning for our entire school board; and we purchased copies of The Innovators Mindset for everyone on the committee. George's book is a must have for any organization looking to help people move out of their comfort zone in order to build innovative learning environments for students.

Fast shipment, very stimulating book especially if you're looking to make changes on your school site! Very inspirational. I definitely recommend.

This book should be read bye every teacher in the world and understand the mindset to teach in the classroom. With a lot of examples, George Couros give us some ideas to develop our own tools so we can innovate in classroom and not only engage with content but empower the students to move on learning. Great book! Thanks

I once said about a principal that while I read to make me think about alternatives, she reads to find "the answer". I hope she reads this book! And while no book provides all the answers, this provides some great questions, ideas and discussions. If you're an educational leader, you definitely should read it. If you're not, reading this may make you want to become one.

I bought the book to return over and over and get new Ideas for implementation. I will recommend it to all people that have any touchpoint with children.