NINETEEN years ago I started the 150 point project. A project founded on the idea of student choice. Every year I would get some amazing projects and every year I would get some head-scratching projects. My friend and co-worker Sean Ziebarth decided to improve on my idea last year (2012) with his alt/punk idea the D.I.Y project.
Sean's Ten Improvements to the 20%time concept were just what everyone needed.
Sean's Ten Improvements to the 20%time concept were just what everyone needed.
Even though I taught with Sean and saw what he was doing I still wasn't 100% in agreement with him until I participated in the Chicago Google Teacher Academy during the summer of 2013. At the event a lead engineer spoke to us about Google. At the end of his talk I asked him a question.
"When people try and emulate the Google 20% time concept what is the one thing they get wrong?"
He replied: "People think it's just about free-choice and passion, the process is way more regimented, rigorous, and has several layers of accountability. The structure of the 20% spurs innovation rather than hinders it."
When I came back from Chicago, Sean and I sat down to lunch. I talked to him about my experience and we knew right then and there that we needed to create a "turn-key" process for innovation. A process that any teacher, student, business owner could use to take ideas from conception to reality.
Being English teachers we needed a metaphor. Something that would work with all stages of the poduct. During a teaching conference at our district we participated in a GOA (Google On Air) with Brad Ovenell-Carter. One of the concepts he threw out was the question: "What If?" Sean and I instantly fell in love with this concept, so I started toying around with titles for our innovation process that worked with "What If?" At first I was toying around with the idea of The Idea Factory. To me it evoked the alt/punk Factory records, but I didn't like the connotation of a factory process. Innovation is messier and more organic than a factory. Then the concept of Idea Farming hit me. Now I know I'm not the first person to think of the term Idea Farming. Trust me I checked for books and domains instantly. But Idea Farming isn't something Sean and I want to sell, it's something we want to implement so we ran with it. On this website we will blog, explore, show, and explain each step of the process. Stay tuned: we have a TON of material to share so far.
The motto of our process is "identifying needs, then taking a solution from seed to feed."
One last note. Our students have been helping us design and think about the process every step of the way. It's been fun to hear and use their ideas. Students will add content to this site and be a part of the entire process. Thanks goes to all our students, admins, and parents for being patient with us as we try this new idea.
