From Big Dreams to Building Blocks: My Innovation Journey

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When I first started the Applied Digital Learning program, bright eyed, with no idea what I had gotten myself into, we were given a challenge to dream big and come up with an idea of something innovative that could help improve our area of education. I definitely dreamed big and went straight to the top. I wrote a proposal letter to ALTA (Academic Language Therapy Association), our dyslexia credentialing organization, skipping my school district all together. My plan consisted of an implementation plan to create an application called "Show Me How You Code" for dyslexia students to practice diacritical coding, a practice often left to the therapy table only. My Literature Review supports the need for something like this, however I feel there is almost another innovation plan that needs to come before it. Perhaps not a complete innovation plan, but it is what my work started pointing to throughout the course.

A New Building Block

As I blogged about being a Self Differentiated Leader I commented on the complexity of my plan. I needed both change strategies. 4DX for the start to finish of creating the application and then the Influencer Strategy for getting therapists on board for using the application. Then it came to me. What if therapists were already on board because they had seen the concepts of the application already at work in their therapy spaces. Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast. Introducing gamification started to become a theme that I was creating around... A building block to my big dream.

I was brand new to dyslexia therapy this school year, so I was also just getting my feet wet there as well. As I got to know my students and colleagues, I started to see changes I could implement immediately that supported my theories and ultimately would support my initial innovation plan. This would soon become critical to my work in the program and I hope a foundation to launching my big innovation plan that I created.

A Growing Foundation

Moving on to Creating Significant Learning Environments, my gamification foundation became stronger. As I was going through this course I started really using applications like Gimkit and Blooket in my therapy sessions for reviews or extra time that we had. Students LOVED this and I saw Thomas & Brown's A New Culture of Learning come to life before my very eyes. I started sharing these games I was creating with other therapists and the feedback was fantastic. "My students love these games." "This is an excellent review!" "My students are so engaged with this concept now!" The games created community, offered choice, and drew on the Power of the Collective (Thomas and Brown, 2011). I was able to write lessons using Fink's 3 Column Table and Understanding by Design that really fit this idea of bringing gamification into my space, while still delivering my program with fidelity.

The Pivot Continues

As I developed an Action Research Plan and Measurement Strategy, and my second Literature Review, it all pointed towards this idea of gamification. This data will be the core component of my innovation plan... Something that was missing from the original. All of this easily fits in to my new type of effective Professional Learning for therapists as well. I even wrote an article for publication encouraging others with how much this can impact a classroom.

Where Am I Now?

So where am I in all of this? The very beginning. And that's okay. I learned a lot through this year as I reflected on what I had written and as I learned a new program as well. This 24-25 school year I was able to get to know my new role and identify the needs more. I got to play with some ideas and see the potential. This upcoming school year, 25-26, the groundwork for my innovation plan will begin. The data collection, getting others to join my cause, leading professional learning on gamification for my team and getting data from their students... all of these things will build a strong layer to then launch the big dream plan that I wrote in the beginning, which I hope to begin in the fall of 2026. Go slow to go fast.

Is my innovation plan on hold? Absolutely not. Instead, I am laying the ground work through real world testing, peer collaboration, and professional learning. I am taking a step back to build this foundation and add another layer that will give myself and my plan more credibility. As far as what worked and what I could have done better, I think that maybe realizing this change was needed a little sooner. My work points to it, but a definite shift might have lead to even more clear work.

Moving Forward

To promote this, I will work with my supervisor for opportunities to share with my team and also will share with those in my training program. I have already shared a little bit about what I've done with my students regarding the gamification and my fellow trainees have expressed excitement and interest in trying these strategies themselves.

I'm grateful for my time in this program and the reflective nature that has allowed me to see where I can change and always improve and grow. Growth Mindset is so important. We've planned it, blogged about it, (& blogged some more) and revisited it, but it feels most important here. There was a time where this would have felt discouraging and like I was starting all over. But now it is just another exciting part of learning and growing. It is truly failing forward. This sets me up beautifully for the next project. To be flexible and reflective and see when things need to change or be added. Failing forward does exactly that, it propels us into what's next, stronger, wiser, and ready for the challenge.

References

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace.